Chapter Text
The first thing Q noticed were the noises. The constant beep… beep… beep… surrounded him, along with muffled chatter somewhere not too far off. The next thing he noticed was pain. The pain was everywhere in his body, but it was particularly strong in his legs, one of his arms, and his head. His head was in unbearable pain. Suddenly, his eyes opened, seemingly activated by the sharp pains coursing through his head. It was horrifically bright, and it took a little bit for him to adjust. Once he blinked, though, his stomach dropped. He was in a hospital room.
Before he had a chance to orient himself, a nurse burst into the room. “Mr. Quinn! You’re awake!” Q tried to speak, but all that came out was a croak. “It’ll be a little while until you regain your voice. You’ve been unconscious for almost a week now.”
A week?! The panic must have been visible in Q’s eyes, because the nurse cocked her head, seemingly thinking about something. “Do you remember why you’re here?” Q shook his head, an action he immediately regretted. “You were filming for your TV show and somehow ended up falling down a couple stories. You broke both of your legs, your arm, and you have a pretty bad concussion that knocked you out for the week.”
Jesus, how the hell did that happen? Would he be able to film? Where is Sal? And Murr and Joe? As if she could read minds, the nurse answered Q’s questions. “Your friends have been in and out the whole time. They feel horrible, especially one of them. Sal, I think? He’s been sleeping here, he only left about 20 minutes before you woke up to go get more clothing. He should be back soon though, he told us to call him if you woke up.” Q felt something warm blossoming in his stomach. The idea of Sal sitting by the bed, night after night… it almost gave him hope. He pushed those thoughts away though. Hope was something he tried to avoid when dealing with Sal. It was easier that way.
── ⋆⋅𖤓⋅⋆ ──
Sal sprinted into the room, completely out of breath. Q couldn’t help but giggle at his appearance, his hair was soaked and he was wearing a shirt from Joe’s bachelor party and pajama pants. He managed to choke out a brief “Bri…” before promptly bursting into tears.
Q cleared his throat and attempted to console him, but all that came out was a raspy “Don’t cry… ‘S ok, I feel great really.” That wasn’t completely a lie, the nurse had increased his pain meds a few minutes ago and the pain in his limbs and his head was lessened.
Sal murmured “Jesus, Bri. You fucking idiot. I was, well, we all were so worried.” He sat in the chair next to Q’s bedside and tentatively reached for his good arm. “Is that ok? I would hug you but…”
Q tried to ignore the blush that was surely making its way up his cheeks right now in response to Sal’s touch. “Yeah, that’s good. Um, what… happened? I don’t really remember much.”
”It was so dumb, Q. I told the other guys we should come up with something else, but… never did. Anyways. Your punishment was to wash windows wearing a dumb costume, but once you got to the third floor, you wanted to do it without the rope we attached you to, for god knows what reason. Um, obviously that didn’t end too well, you fell two stories onto the pavement.”
“Why the hell would I do that?”
”As it turns out, you drank a little before we filmed. If we knew that before… Jesus Q.”
”Oh.”
“Please, god, tell me if we’re filming anything and you’re drunk? I’m not gonna tell anyone, but… it was so scary Quinn. You don’t understand man, I thought you were… we all did.” Sal looked away.
Q looked at Sal, who was staring pointedly at a poster across the room, still holding his hand tightly. Q sighed, then murmured “Sally, I… I’m sorry. I was dumb. I swear to god, I’ll never do that again.”
Sal looked like he was about to say something, but the moment he opened his mouth Joe and Murr burst into the room. “Quinn!” Joe exclaimed. “Didn’t think you were going to make it!”
”That’s not funny!” Murr yelped. “How’re you feeling Q?”
”Probably better now that Sal’s holding his hand,” Joe mumbled to Murr, who giggled. Sal immediately dropped Q’s hand, flushing a deep red. Q tried not to think much of it.
”Shut the hell up Gatto. I’m feeling alright, pain meds are still doing their job. I’ll feel like shit in an hour though.”
Joe looked over Q’s injuries and grit his teeth. ”Why the hell would you come to work drunk, Brian? An’ I’m being serious here. You should’ve told us before you were standing on a windowsill three stories up!” Q rarely saw Joe angry, so the rapid change in demeanor shocked him a little.
”I couldn't've been that drunk, Joe, I never drink a crazy amount if we’re filming. I swear I’ll tell someone next time though.”
”Maybe just don’t drink before work? That ever occur to you?! You can’t make it through filming for like five hours without it?”
”Joe, stop. He’s obviously learned his lesson,” Murr interjected.
“…Fine. ‘M glad you’re alright.”
”We all are,” Murr stated.
“Great. I’m glad to be back. What’d I miss? How’d the crew take it?”
All three guys jumped into recounting everyone’s reactions to Q’s unfortunate fall and events that followed. Q was glad for the distraction, even though laughing hurt like hell. Did I break a rib too? “What about you guys? Did you care, or were you laughing your asses off at my unconscious self?”
”Obviously we were scared as hell, man! Joe thought you were joking for, like a second though,” Murr said.
”Well, it seems like something you’d do! But then we were all freaking out when you didn’t get up. Of course we cared, asshole! You’re our best friend!”
”Shocking. Who cared the most?” Q laughed.
”Oh, you could guess that one,” Joe scoffed, elbowing Murray, who yelped and rubbed his ribs.
“We all cared the same amount, which was a shit ton Bri,” Sal insisted.
”Bullshit! Who stayed at the hospital the whole week?” Joe exclaimed.
”Both of you guys have wives and other responsibilities! I don’t! It just made the most sense!”
”Who stole pillows from other patients’ rooms so that Q could have the ‘best in the facility?’”
“Well I had a lot of time on my hands!”
”Who made a playlist of Q’s favorite songs and looped them over and over again because they read an article that hearing familiar sounds caused unconscious patients to wake up?”
”What songs did you put?” Q said, intrigued.
Sal was beet red. “That’s not the point! You guys would do any of those things in a heartbeat. Nobody cares about Quinn more than anyone else, we’d all do anything for him. It’s not a fucking competition or whatever, and this whole conversation is pointless.”
“Ok, ok. Never mind. Forget I said anything.” Q said. Joe and Murr exchanged another look, and after a few seconds of silence, another nurse walked in the room.
”Sorry, guys, visiting hours are over. Y’all gotta go home. If you’re still gonna spend the night, Sal, you can.”
“Sal, go home. I’ll be fine. Get some rest.”
”No, I want to stay.”
”Fine, suit yourself.” Secretly, Q was very grateful for the company. He also really wanted to see that playlist.
“Bye Q, bye Sal!” Murr waved as he walked out the door.
“Have fun gents!” Joe grinned, winking at the pair of them. Sal rolled his eyes at him, and finally, it was just the two of them. Well, and the nurse.
”Um, d’ya know when I’m allowed to leave? The hospital, I mean,” Q asked the nurse, a little thrown off by Joe’s perplexing behavior.
“We’ll want to keep you for at least a week, due to the severity of your head injury. Then, you can go, but we have a few stipulations to that.”
”Which are…?”
”Your mobility will be extremely limited for the next month, as both of your legs and one of your arms are broken. We require you to have someone else living with you if you are to return home. Do you live alone?”
”Jesus, you don’t have to rub it in,” Q quipped. The nurse stared at him with a deadpan look on his face. “Um, yes. I live alone.”
“Ok, in that case, you’ll need to get someone to live with you for a month. Or you can live with someone. Either way, we just need to know who you’re living with and they need to come in to sign some things that basically say ‘I promise I’ll be living with Brian for a month,’ then you can be discharged. You don’t need to figure this out right now, obviously it’s a big commitment on both parts, so just be thinking about that over the next week.”
The nurse adjusted Q into somewhat of a sleeping position, or as close as he could get to one in his state, then walked out of the room.
”Are you comfortable? I can go get other pillows. A few patients and staff are fans and will give me anything if I come and ask. I’ve already abused this privilege many times,” Sal asked.
”No, I’m good. Seriously, you’ve done so much for me.” Q had another question on his mind, but he was hesitant to ask it. Thankfully, Sal brought it up before he had to.
”Um, have you given any thought to who you want to live with? Because I’d be more than happy to be that… person. Only if you don’t have anyone else in mind, of course.”
“Oh, yeah. I was going to ask you anyways. Are you sure you don’t mind?”
”No, not at all. Of course not,” Sal insisted.
”Well, ok then. Thanks a ton Sally. It means more than you’d know. I do have one more question.”
”Mhm?”
”What was on the playlist you made?”
”Shut the fuck up. I did not make a playlist.”
”Sure seems like you did. M’not sure why Joe and Murr would both lie.”
”Go to bed asshole.”
”Fine… maybe another time. Goodnight Sally.”
”…Night Bri.”