Chapter Text
Tommy Innit was not having a good day in the slightest.
First, his alarm didn’t go off and he overslept, so he only had 10 minutes to get ready and couldn’t even eat breakfast. Then, he got to school and found out he accidentally put his shirt on backwards in his hurry. After a very unsatisfying lunch where he couldn’t even rant to Tubbo, his best mate in the world, because he was working on “a project” or something, he realized he had also forgotten his English homework at home. Homework he had stayed up all night working on. Then, like the cherry on top of the horseshit sundae, he got hit by a car.
He could only vaguely remember what happened- one second he was crossing the street on his way home, like the big man that he is, and the next second a horrifyingly ugly green truck barrels down the road and hits him straight on. Like the biggest “fuck you” from the universe, a gigantic middle finger saluting him as his bones get popped like fucking bubble wrap.
As he drifted off into sweet unconsciousness, liquid fire flowing through his nerves, he felt what seemed like a hand curling through his golden locks, silently reassuring him. Even through the haze of endless pain, something in his mind seemed to quiet as his vision finally faded to black.
***
“Don’t worry, Toms, everything’s gonna be fine. I’m here.”
“You’re not alone. Never again.”
***
He woke up slowly, hearing the beeping of machines next to him and an intercom loudly calling people as doctors and nurses hurried outside. Oh. He was in the hospital again.
As he slowly opened his eyes and took stock of his aching body, he heard a door creak open and footsteps lightly coming closer to his bed.
“Oh! You’re awake!” A nurse (?) exclaimed. “Wait just a second, dear, I’ll call your doctor.”
He felt more than saw the (probably) nurse exit his room, too busy gritting his teeth at the spikes of pain continuously coursing through his nerves.
After a few minutes, he heard the click of a button, and felt the pain recede as blessed painkillers started to flow through his body.
Opening his eyes once more, only barely aware he had closed them before, he saw a large, beefy man with dyed green hair wearing a graphic tee and ripped, worn jeans. Though Tommy would never admit it, he looked quite intimidating.
With a deep, calming voice, the man spoke. “Hello Thomas, my name is Dr. Awes and I’m the doctor responsible for you during your stay here.” Though he gave the impression he had given this speech thousands of times before, he nonetheless seemed genuine and Tommy felt himself imperceptibly relax.
“What are your preferred pronouns, and is there a different name you would like to go by?”
Tommy curled a bit into himself. “…Tommy. And I’m a man. Uh, he/him, I guess.”
Dr. Awes nodded placidly. “Ok, Tommy. Do you remember what happened?”
He concentrated, slowly piecing the hazy memories together. “I was walking home from school, alone, because Tubbo is a traitorous dickhead who prefers people too tall to be human over the company of The Biggest Man To Ever Exist, and then… Oh shit. I got hit by a fucking car!”
“Oh shit is right,” Dr. Awes saif wryly and Tommy found himself letting out an involuntary bark of laughter. How the fuck did they let this guy be a doctor? Weren’t doctors supposed to be like, all serious and lab coat-y and shit?
“I would prefer to have this discussion with your parents here, but as we haven’t been able to get a hold of them yet,” he said with a slight frown, “I’ll update you right now and share the information with them at a later time.”
He sighed deeply and continued speaking. “To be completely frank with you, the fact that you’re currently awake and able to talk to me nothing short of a miracle. You were brought into the ICU in critical condition, with several broken ribs, a broken leg, severe road rash, a spinal cord injury and internal bleeding. After several hours of surgery, you were put into a medical coma in order for your body to heal itself. However, many of your more serious injuries seem to have almost healed overnight, and we had no reason to keep you under.”
Tommy sputtered. “Wh-what the fuck? How?!”
Dr. Awes shook his head slightly, “I don’t know. Maybe you have a guardian angel looking out for you,” he said, winking at Tommy. “Anyways, while the internal bleeding has stopped and your spinal cord seems to be fine, we’d still like for you to undergo another CT scan, and stay here for a few more nights for observation. Afterwards, you can be released, but you’ll need to come every so often so we can see your progress and make sure that everything is healing correctly. For your ribs, you should refrain from any strenuous activity and give them time to get better. If anything starts to hurt again, I prescribed you this pain medication,” He showed him a name on his medical chart, “so take it whenever you need it, but no more than once every 6 hours. You’ll also need to come in about six to eight weeks in order to remove the cast on your leg.”
He smiled. “If you need anything, this is my card,” he handed Tommy a sleek card advertising Dr. Sam Awes, Pediatric Surgeon, “And if you feel unsure about anything about your treatment and recovery, you can call.”
“Now, do you have any questions about what I just told you?”
Tommy definitely had questions.
“Nope, all good! Nothing gets past Big Man Tommy!”
He didn’t understand shit, but he was sure it would be fine. Take some Advil, put some ice on it and he’d be back to normal in no time. Tommy Innit was no pussy, and he definitely didn’t need any “treatment plan” or “prescribed medication.”
Dr. Awes seemed a bit skeptical, but let it slide. “Great. I’ll also pass this information on to your parents, so don’t worry about remembering it all.” Yeah, like they’d do shit about it, Tommy thought bitterly.
“Well, I’ll give you some time alone,” the words shook Tommy out of his thoughts, and he gave the doctor a slightly more genuine smile. “I’ll see you later, Tommy!”
He raised his hand in a half-hearted wave as the doctor left the room and laid back down, exhausted. A guardian angel, huh? He huffed. Like anyone’d want to help me.