THE LONG AWAITED CHAPTER ONE OF MY HOSPITAL SMOPKINS FIC IS FINALLY HERE!!
"Jimmy and Gary beat each other so badly they both landed in the hospital, and then realized they were stuck in neighboring beds." -@lazkbully, jan 9th; 2026. [fic started on jan 25th]
Jimmy laid stiffly in the hospital bed, his lips pulled taut into a soft frown and his eyebrows pinched together, nose aching under it's bandage. The nurse had left the room only a few minutes ago, and he didn't miss her at all; the staff here sucked and he half thought they were gonna take his roommate to a fuckin' ward out of spite.
Speaking of his roommate, Gary was still asleep— unconscious, maybe? the nurses were so vague. —and looked half dead. His skin had been a grotesque pale since Jimmy first woke up, which made the heavy bags under his eyes look purple and like they were sagging into his skull, similar to his cheeks and collarbones. Not that Jimmy was going out of his way to look down Gary's gown, of course! It's just; the fabric was loose and baggy on Gary's thin, bony body and the neckline was far lower than strictly necessary! There's no reason medical wear needed to be slipping off his shoulders like a fuckin' girl. Not that Jimmy thought Gary looked like a girl-
Jimmy closed his eyes tighter than he needed to and drew in a sharp breath from between his teeth, silently ramming that train of thought off its tracks with a completely different, more reasonable train of thought. The fight that took place just yesterday— was it yesterday? that seems like a small time window to get both boys to the hospital and all wrapped up in casts n bandages, and get Gary hooked up to a bunch of random tubes. Than again, Jimmy would be a little worried if Gary had been unconscious for more than 24 hours.
Jimmy felt his chest rise and fall under the uncomfortable hospital gown as he recalled the argument that started this whole thing; a stupid prank Gary wanted to pull, involving a few people Jimmy was on relatively good terms with and would rather not cover in superglue and glitter, including Zoe. Gary was always so weird about Zoe, and he seemed to be targeting her more and more after Jimmy first mentioned dating her— he has yet to mention their breakup, doesn't seem relevant considering they're still good friends.
God, anyway.. Jimmy wanted to wince as he remembered the overwhelming metallic smell mixing with the sound of the heavy breathing of the two of them, the sight of Gary slipping in the puddle of his own blood and losing just enough balance to send them both tumbling down the side of the school stairs, the loud rumble of students suddenly going dead silent the same second Gary went completely limp in the wet grass, the rain and mud making the puddle of blood underneath him seem bigger than it was— At least, that's what Jimmy hoped was the case.
He almost spiraled at the memory of it all, it was such a useless fight that didn't need to happen at all, and now they're in the fuckin' hospital!— He could only hope Gary's parents didn't sue his ass or something, that'd be a mess..-
"Jesus, Hopkins.." Gary's voice, hoarse and low, slammed into his skull like a golf ball dropping into the hole after one swing, "The hell happened to yer' foot..?" Jimmy opened his eyes just in time to see Gary vaguely motion to his casted ankle before the brunettes attention was drawn to the tubes swirling around his arm and stabbing into his inner elbow, his eyebrows furrowing with a bit of dazed confusion. "…Broke it fallin' down the stairs." Jimmy finally spit his words through his teeth, watching Gary inspect the tubes in his arm like a cautious cat.
"Mmh.. makes sense.." The bedsheets crinkled under the motion of Gary's legs kicking away the weirdly textured blanket, "Why am i-.. what's with the tubes, man..?" he let his gaze drift to meet Jimmy's as he spoke, giving the shorter boy a better view of his face— His cheeks and eyebags didn't look sunken, they are sunken. his skin is definitely paler than usual, giving the visual appearance of having a coat of purple tinted ash, especially under his eyes, but his cheekbones and the tip of his nose were shining rosy through the dead look.
"You look fuckin' horrible, Gary." The words spilled out before he could mask the actual worry that went along with them, "I mean, you're all… purple, almost? i- i dunno, you just look dead.." Jimmy and Gary stared at each other for a moment, Jimmy's face slightly softened with worry while Gary's face goes blank, until; "i feel purple."
another pause, this time it was an odd mix of pure worry radiating off of Jimmy while Gary looked and sounded dazed, and a snaking sliver of amusement at the sheer ridiculousness of the situation.
"..What does that even mean, Gary-?"
"What's with the tubes, Hopkins."
Pause. Jesus fuck, Jimmy, this isn't a video game, stop pausing.
"i-" Jimmy clears his throat, moving his gaze to the shitty box TV set across the room as he slides down in his bed, "The doctor said you're malnourished as fuck, so he put a buncha' tubes in ya.." He tilted his head against the pillow, glancing towards Gary to make sure he hadn't ripped the tubes out the second he heard 'malnourished'— he didn't, he was instead watching Jimmy with rather unnerving eyes. Jimmy looked back to the TV.
"The nurses said somethin' about bruised ribs, a fucked up shoulder, a broken wrist.." he paused, swallowing the lump of guilt building in his throat, "uh.. said you needed some stitches, too.. The room fell into a mix of their breathing, the soft chatter of the TV and the faint beeping of the machine besides Gary's bed, and jimmy felt like the hospital sheets were going to swallow him whole. "…Sorry about your foot, Hopkins." Gary's voice is still rough and low, of course it is, but it still startles Jimmy in a way he didn't know how to process. he was oddly relieved that he was talking, but he was also a little irritated that it sounded so forced and scratchy. "Uh, yeah, it's.. it's fine, Gary… Sorry i fucked up so bad, too." He shifted in the bed once again, hating the feeling of the shitty sheets on the hard mattress.
"so, How long was i out? i feel like i just slept for 7 years." Gary shifted as much as he could in the bed, the tubes and cast making movement harder than he'd like, "God, seriously, I'm exhausted." he drawled, his usual nasally twinge — it made him sound more alive, Jimmy realized— slipping into his discomfort, fading with his words as Gary's jaw stretches into a yawn, eyes slipping closed for a moment only to sleepily open with unshed tears, making him look scarily young and soft. only for a second. "'dunno. you've been out since we fell down the school stairs, but i don't know how long ago that was." Jimmy shrugged, turning his head to look towards Gary, cheek pressed into the cold pillow as he watched the skinny boys side profile.
Gary pressed his lips tight and attempted a groan, though it sounded more like a sad cat whining in pain, before speaking again, his voice softer and pausing than before; "And when did you wake up?" talking must hurt like hell, Jimmy realizes, considering the bruised ribs and torn up throat— yeah, turns out screaming and coughing up blood kinda fucks up your throat, Gary. "Uh- just, like, an hour ago? an hour n' a half?" Jimmy shrugged loosely, watching Gary's eyebrows furrow and unfurrow and few times over again in a span of just a few, silent seconds, shadows carefully shifting over his features like they wanted Jimmy to see him as a walking, talking corpse.
"Anyone care to visit yet? don't doubt everyone's worried sick about you." Gary rolled his dark eyes, gaze set on the socks on his feet, the way they hung loose around his ankles, "Sure your girlfriend is cryin' her pretty little eyes out over ya.." he sounded so bitter and almost angry, chewing his words like a lemon-head.
Why he hates her so much is beyond Jimmy; Gary acts like Zoe ripped his heart out and spit on it, or something.
He let his eyes wander over the stretch of the scar across the right of Gary's face, absentmindedly wondering where he got it from before registering what Gary said, letting out a soft hum of thought before answering; "Doubt it, we're probably not allowed visitors yet." his voice was soft and almost careful, gaze set lightly on Gary, like a brick on a glass table— one wrong move and it all shatters into a sharp pile of shards.
They continued their moment of silence, Jimmy's eyes stuck to Gary's side profile while Gary himself looked anywhere but Jimmy— To say they were going to be interesting roommates would be an understatement.
weird chapter end cuz this has been ROTTING in my notes for weeks 💔
cross posted on ao3! my account uses the same username as all my socials; @raynewaseaten
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