CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
°⋆∴☽°:۵≼

i. hospital room !

— ANTHONY SWAN GUESSED THAT BY NOW, he should be familiar with hospital sounds. The oxygen mask over his face causing his breath to sound hollow, the beeping heart rate monitor. He'd been stuck with them for at least four years of his life.

Yet when he woke up, this time felt different.

When he opened his eyes, all he saw was white. It blinded him for a moment, and he shut his eyes again before opening them and letting them refocus.

A standard hospital bed, with a window and some chairs.

Reaching up to take off the mask, he caught the attention of Rosalie, who sat up and closed her magazine. Reyes was sat on the floor, surrounded by feathers, but he looked up as Rosalie leaned forward to take Tony's hand in hers.

"Did I kill the bastard?" Anthony's ragged voice asked.

"No, but you broke his nose damn good." Emmett's voice stated as he entered the room, carrying three pudding cups and a few plastic spoons.

Tony smiled slightly, before noticing a pain in his cheek. Reaching a hand up, he felt the rough bandage that clung to his skin there, and then another closer to his hairline.

"That little bitch went right for the face, didn't he?"

Rosalie nodded with a tight smile.

"Alice and I had to pull you off each other, then you passed out." Rosalie stated.

Reyes spoke up from the floor with an annoyed tone, while Emmett stayed quiet and set the puddings on the table next to Anthony.

"I told you to keep your oxygen with you."

"It would have held me back."

"It would have saved you from passing out and waking up in a hospital." Reyes stressed.

Tony rolled his eyes slightly. In the back of his mind, he heard the whisper 'it was worth it' but decided not to voice it aloud, knowing that arguing with Reyes was not something he wanted or needed.

"Where is he?" Anthony tried to sit up but groaned as a pain flared up in his chest and his breathing became involuntarily hollowed.

Reyes scrambled to stand up, the feathers moving with the force of his rush.

"Breathe as properly as you can." He placed a hand on Tony's shoulder. "Build up of mucus can cause chest infections and that would not help you in the slightest."

Tony sighed and let Reyes push him back against his pillows.

"You've got a few bruised ribs. He may have been drunk, but he had one hell of a punch on him." Reyes pressed a hand gently to Anthony's side, right where the supposed the bruising was.

The pressure caused Tony to hiss in pain, to which the school nurse retracted his hand faster than lightning.

"Where is he?" Anthony asked again with a sigh, trying not to move too much.

Reyes glanced up at Emmett, then looked to Rosalie.

"They arrested him for public indecency." Emmett stated slowly. "He was absolutely wrecked."

Anthony sighed again, knowing that meant Isaac had been way more drunk then they thought. It was probably a surprise that he was still talking, let alone strong enough to hit back against Tony's attack.

Tony hummed and closed his eyes for a second. Or maybe it was a minute. Perhaps it was longer than that.

He seemed to be in and out of it.

As always, his weakened body was tired after over working itself.

He was hardly made to run; hell, he was hardly made to walk, but getting in a fist fight? That was beyond him.

His body needed rest.

And seemingly, that's what it got. When he woke up again, only Reyes remained in the room, still sat on the floor but now moved to be closer to Tony's bed.

Anthony turned his head slightly to watch Reyes's fingers as they hovered above the floor where feathers were scattered everywhere. Bits of golden flecks and orange light pooled around him.

Tony watched the feathers slowly raise about seven inches off the ground and begin an odd dance that Reyes was desperately trying to choreograph on the spot.

A binder was open in front of the witch, turned to a page with runes and words written all over in messy ink, like he'd been scrawling them on the paper as quickly as possible.

It reminded Tony of when he took notes in class. The teachers always moved too fast and if you couldn't scribble down words that were even slightly readable, you were screwed.

Tony didn't want to talk and interrupt Reyes' concentration, but a cough came up through his mouth and he had to move his arm quickly to cover it.

The noise and movement startled Reyes, and the feathers fell to the ground as if magnetized to the floor.

"Sorry." Tony muttered.

Reyes shook his head, "S'alright." He said, though his tone was slightly disheartened.

"Where is everyone?"

"They left a little while ago, they have school and all that to worry about. Jasper has been wanting to come see you but Alice has been convincing him to stay home." The Brit informed, groaning slightly as he stood to sit on the chair.

"Good." Anthony nodded. "That's a risk he shouldn't take."

It was quiet between them for a moment before Tony spoke up again.

"Why are you still here?"

"Well I couldn't very well leave you alone, could I?"

Tony smiled ever so slightly at the man's kindness, and watched as Reyes grabbed one of the pudding cups brought in by Emmett.

He opened two of them and slid the wheel-able table closer to the both of them.

Tony chuckled as Reyes held out a little white plastic spoon for him to take, and sat up slightly against his pillows to grab it.

Clinking their spoons together, they dug into their puddings.

— STAYING IN THE HOSPITAL FOR SO LONG, Anthony found out that Reyes was great company to have.

The school nurse had taken the week off work to insure that Tony always had someone with him.

There were only a few moments when Reyes had gone home to get a change of clothes, some cookies for Tony or some board games; it never took long for him to return.

They'd been surviving purely on hospital food, and take out from the chip truck down the road.

The Cullens and Bella had been consistently busy going to school, but Bella always put aside time to visit Anthony and finish her homework.

Anthony didn't really mind being alone anymore, which is why he had no problem letting Reyes go and sign off on some things that would be arriving for his sister. Besides, Tony would likely be sleeping the whole time anyway.

Which is exactly what he tried to do, he left the oxygen mask on over his mouth and nose, and leaned back into his pillows.

Drifting between the moments of sleep and awake, he could hear a new voice from inside the room. One that he hadn't heard in a long time. Long for him, anyway.

"You're an idiot, Anthony Swan." The voice spoke, a sad tinge to the tone. "You're an idiot, and I love you so much."

He recognized the voice anywhere, and the idea of sleep became distant in his mind.

Reaching up to take off his mask, he smiled softly, his eyes still closed.

"You best have brought some Chinese food." He said.

The voice laughed and spoke again, "What do you take me for, a liar? You still owe me five bucks."

Finally, Tony opened his eyes.

"Hey nerd ass." He greeted.

"Hey geek ass." Liv Marigold grinned, moving from the doorway of his hospital room to place a bag of Chinese food on the table.

The sick looking woman sat next to him on his bed.

"You shouldn't have hit him." She said, running a hand through the boy's hair.

"He deserved it."

"I would have been fine. Nothing he says can hurt me." Liv smiled sadly.

Tony sighed, and grabbed her hand.

"Yes it does. It hurts you and when you're hurt it pisses me off. We both know I should have hit him after... y'know.."

Liv shook her head.

"It was my fault," Tony tried to speak up and protest her words but she kept talking. "I should have gotten better. I should have tried to get better for him."

Tony knew that Isaac wasn't the 'him' she was talking about, and couldn't help but glance down at Liv's stomach.

"You did your best. You shouldn't have to get better for someone else, it has to be your choice." Anthony assured.

Liv only shook her head more and allowed a tear or two to slide down her face.

"But my own- my own child?"

"Hey, it was a miracle he was able to get as far as he did. You know it was practically impossible for you to get pregnant."

"Yeah, and now it'll never happen again." Liv cried. "I was ready to be a mother, I was so ready."

"Liv, I know you were, but Isaac wasn't the person you wanted for that." Tony sat up more so he could hug Liv closer to his body.

It was so weird to see them, from an outside perspective, looking in on the room as Daniel Evans did, leaned up against the door frame.

They were both so sick, so weak, so tired.

They were so human.

— REYES GOT ALONG WELL WITH LIV AND DANIEL. The three of them were with Tony every single day, every moment that they could.

"Yeah that's really cute, you ass." Liv's rasping voice said mockingly.

"It's monopoly, Liv. Get over yourself." Tony laughed.

"'It's monopoly'." Liv mocked again in a childish tone. "Get fucked, all of you."

"Hey- mind your language, there's a child in the room." Danny stated as he rolled the die.

"Anthony can take it." Liv shook her head.

"That wasn't the child I was talking about." Danny said, sending a pointed look to Reyes who just groaned and muttered 'c'mon man' under his breath.

Anthony stifled a laugh behind his blanket, trying not to aggravate his ribs.

"That was really-..." Anthony wheezed slightly, "that was mean, guys."

"Point being?" Liv raised an eyebrow as she picked up the dice.

Tony just put his hands up in mock defence and Reyes chuckled.

After a few more minutes of fighting, laughing, mocking and Liv nearly driving a plastic fork into her own hand, the woman decided she needed a break, promptly getting her cigarettes out of her purse and leaving the room.

"Don't fuck with my properties!" She called behind her.

Reyes spoke out about it being around the right time for something to eat. Which, honestly, Anthony wouldn't mind, so Reyes went off to find something decent in the hospital cafeteria that wasn't pudding cups.

This left Tony and Daniel.

They hadn't gotten a lot of alone time. Since Liv and Danny had gotten there, they hadn't left Tony by himself.

Danny had set up a bed on the floor in a corner of the room, Liv slept anywhere she could, whether it be on a chair, next to Tony, or using Danny as a pillow.

Anthony tried to insist they could find an inn or set up in his house, knowing Charlie wouldn't mind. They denied it constantly, claiming they came to see him and they would do so without hesitation.

"So," Danny started, leaning back in the chair he had occupied. "What's this boyfriend of yours doing today?" He asked.

Anthony's face felt warm as he thought about Jasper.

"Alice told me they were playing baseball." Tony shrugged, also leaning back into his bed.

"Isn't there a storm or something coming in?"

Anthony's eyes widened in surprise. He guessed the storm was part of the reason the Cullens could play baseball today, and he didn't have any other lined up excuses.

"Maybe?" He tried to cover. "They don't mind the rain."

Danny raised an eyebrow, but said nothing against it.

"How's dad?" Anthony changed the subject.

Daniel had taken Charlie a coffee and breakfast sandwich when he went to work without eating that morning. They talked for a while, about what, Tony wasn't sure, but he knew they got along well.

"He's fine, kid." Danny smiled gently. "He's just worried about you, is all."

Tony picked at some loose strings on his blanket and nodded.

It was silent again, and for the first time it was an awkward silence.

Tony couldn't remember a time Danny had ever felt awkward around him. He could tell the man had something on his mind.

"You should do it." Tony's breathless voice spoke up.

Danny looked at him in confusion, then understanding.

"I don't know Tony, I don't wanna leave you guys behind."

"We'll be okay." Tony assured. "There are other people that need you." He smiled. "You should go back, I'm sure that John whatever guy would love to see you."

Danny leaned further back in his chair and folded his hands in his lap.

"You're too observant for your own good." His words seemed somewhat harsh, but his tone had a sense of pride and a smile cracked out on his face.

"No," Anthony chuckled. "I just know you too much."

author's note

I have nothing to say for myself 😂

I've been held back on updating, I'm so busy with school ugh. Idek if this chapter is that good because I kept having to break it up and come back to it I'm soRRY, I LOVE YOU GUYS

I really hope to get the last chapters out soon, I'll try my best but working on this is super difficult right now ♥️