My First Year with Austin

This story is a sequel to My First Year in College and My First Year in Prison.

Tyler is finally ready to commit to a serious relationship when he moves in with his former College crush, Austin. After years of entertaining the idea, it is time for those two to figure it out: is their relationship meant to last?

This story is entirely fictional and all characters featured are above 18.

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MY FIRST YEAR WITH AUSTIN

Chapter 20: A blond Janice, a hot nurse, and a tiny hospital bed

I started crying like a baby when I heard Janice say 55 days.

I was not prepared for that.

Who would?

I had missed so much; a whole chunk of life had passed while I had been stuck in that bed, dreaming about God knows what.

Another crippling thought started to form in my straddled mind. Being out for that long, I must have been severely injured. Would I ever be able to live like I did before?

I was having somewhat clear thoughts and I did feel like myself. This must have meant that, at least, I was not brain-dead. Right?

But then, a third concern came up, even more terrifying than the last ones.

I grabbed the pen and piece of paper back. I was heavily shaking. Janice repeated that I had to calm down... As if I could!

I scribbled down (poorly):

"AuST??"

Blond Janice, - it was going to take time to get used to that hair! -, deciphered my writing. She then smiled at me. (Phew!)

"Austin is fine. He's been here all this time, day and night, holding your hand. He had to go for a few days but he's gonna be so, so, so relieved to learn that you're awake."

I held Janice's hand tighter.

He was fine, then. What a fucking relief indeed!

"He's gonna be sad not to be here though. He really wanted to be there when you would wake up. He's with Lena at the moment."

I could not care less.

He was not dead.

He was even feeling good enough to travel!

A nurse came in the room. I recognized him immediately, although his black beard had grown a little since the last time that I had seen him in the ambulance. It was the hot nurse, Hassan Kumar... lucky me!

Had I really seen him though back in the imbulance, or had it all been just a vivid dream?

"Fully awake, it seems." The nurse said, seemingly satisfied.

Mallory was carefully walking inside the room behind him.

"Is he okay?"

"He's bothered with the tubes." Janice told. "Can we get them out?"

The hot nurse walked towards me, his biceps in full display underneath his pale purple tee-shirt. Yes, I was definitely still myself if I were focusing on these kinds of details. His furry and black chest hair was coming out from the top of his tee-shit.

Sexy.

Hassan held my hand. In a medical caring way, okay... but I had been through a lot, let me have this one!

"This is totally normal to feel disoriented and uncomfortable with the tubes, and the machines, Tyler. Can you nod at me if you understand what I am saying?"

I nodded. It hurt like hell.

Mallory gasped. A little gasp of pure joy.

"Good. Do you understand where you are right now?"

I nodded yes again.

"He even wrote down some stuff already." Janice intervened, pointing her index to the crumpled piece of paper.

"Impressive. Tyler, I need you to stay still, ok? You have suffered from some massive injuries and we had to induce you into a coma. For the past couple of days, we have noticed signs that you may just wake up, the fact that you seem fully awake now is an excellent news. Doctor Ploaz will be here shortly."

I must have looked scared as fuck. Probably because I was, but Hassan Kumar was talking in a very smoothing voice, explaining the situation I was in, calmly.

"The tube here has been helping you breathing while you were in the coma. This one here was supposed to help you eat, but none of these will be necessary from now on. You need to remain still for just a little longer and we will get you rid of some of the tubes."

The nurse had a solar smile all while he was speaking.

With Janice being blond and this handsome nurse taking care of me, I wondered for a split second if I was truly back to reality. I guessed I was feeling too much pain to be in the coma so this must have been real life.

"It is expected that you feel overwhelmed but everything is going to be fine now."

Mallory and Janice were both silently sobbing on my side. I felt bad for them, being so worried for me. They had probably been for the last two months.

I think the pain killers were doing their job because as the day went by, I zoned out often and I let more people take care of me, two more nurses came in, a few doctors too, although everything was in a blur.

I barely noticed when my main surgeon, Doctor Ploaz, came into the room. I was rarely staying up more than twenty minutes. Although, I was waking-up from my sleep each time which was good news.

Not too sure what had happened in between, but when I woke up in the middle of the night, my brother Ryan was sleeping on a chair next to me.

The first thing I realized was that the damn tube was finally out of my throat! What a relief that was!

I looked at my brother. He had lost some significant weight. He still looked very good though, but not as athletic as he was when I had seen him for the last time.

I cleared my throat and I turned my head to get a clearer picture of Ryan. The slightest movement was taking so much energy out of me.

My brother woke-up immediately. I noticed that he was wearing a purple bracelet around his wrist, the type of bracelet you wear when you are a patient in an hospital. Actually, we were wearing the same one.

"TY! FUCK!" He shouted before whispering. "Sorry, I got excited."

I smiled at him.

"Hello, brother." I mumbled.

My first words.

Very carefully but yet, very warmly, Ryan held me in his arms.

"Oh God, Tyler... You're back."

He kissed my cheeks.

"What happened to you?" I asked.

My voice was weak and hoarse but I could speak. Barely, but it was enough.

"To me?"

I pointed to his bracelet.

"Oh this... Well... That's no big deal."

"Ryan..."

"I'll explain that to you later, how do you feel? Should I call a nurse?"

"Is the hot Indian nurse on call?"

Ryan laughed.

"Don't think so. He was here all throughout the day so I doubt he has the night shift as well."

"No need to call a nurse, then."

I attempted a smile, not sure of how it looked, maybe I made a face instead. I still had trouble to move around in my bed but I was feeling better than before already.

"Here's some water. You should drink."

Ryan gave me a cup a water and I struggled to drink it but I did. My big brother was a surgeon, I knew that I was in good hands. The most capable hands, in fact.

I did not insist to find-out what had happened to him. I was very tired and I had to save my energy. I just enjoyed the moment, having him nearby. Ryan was doing most of the talking anyway.

We had a lot of catching-up to do.

"Austin is taking a flight tomorrow morning, well, in a couple of hours actually. He'll be here very soon; I think he threw his phone in the air of excitement when we told him you were awake."

I smiled faintly.

"Mallory is staying at your place, I mean, at Austin's place while we are here, the kids are at her parents'. Everybody is doing fine; the twins really want to see you, Ty. Mom and dad should be there tomorrow night also. Mom is so relieved already but I think she needs to see you with her own eyes."

"So, nobody else was hurt that night?"

"No... Austin and you were brought to the hospital but no one else in the bar got attacked or anything."

"What happened to Richard?" I muttered.

Ryan lost his smile.

"He's free, waiting for his trial."

I did not know how I was feeling about that.

"Janice is feeling very guilty." Ryan added.

"She should not..."

"She texted him that night. That's why he came to see her, and apparently, he was angry... Janice's been beating herself up since then."

"She should not feel guilty." I repeated, weakly.

"Austin too... He thinks the attack is his fault... Well, we never really understood what had happened in these restrooms..."

"A maniac has stabbed us. End of the story."

I tried to talk in a firmer tone but my voice broke at the end of the sentence.

I also attempted to straighten up and hurt myself.

"Don't get upset, Ty. Sorry, I should not have brought this up anyway. Everyone is okay though. That's the only thing that matters. Austin was out of the hospital in a week after the... the attack... and since then, he has been squatting the hospital to be at your side pretty much 24/7. A lot of people came. Ralph was here a lot too. Sergio, Allison, Jasper... Griffin sent me a DM on Insta to know how you were doing."

I chuckled at the mention of my ex-fiancé.

"If even Griffin was worried..."

Ryan caressed my hair.

He kept on telling me all about the people who have come by and wished me a good recovery. Without realizing, I fell back asleep. I still had a long way ahead to feel better.

But things were looking up for me!

When I opened my eyes again, it was because someone had kissed my forehead. I think I recognized his scent before seeing him.

"Hi, Ty." Austin said shily.

"Hi, babe." I replied.

"It feels good hearing your voice. So good."

His eyes were teary. Damn it, it was a real cry fest around here!

"Well guys, please make sure he does not talk too much!"

The room was full. This was a comment from Ralph standing on the other side of the bed. He was already mocking me.

Austin, Ryan, Janice and Ralph were all there as well as my favourite nurse Hassan, and Doctor Ploaz.

"I think I can update everyone at the same time, then. Welcome back with us, Tyler." The surgeon told me.

"Thanks. And..." I looked at the entire room smiling at me, and back at the doctor. "Thanks for saving my life, I guess."

"Oh, your family and friends would not have seen it any other way... We really did not have a choice to bring you back up!" Doctor Ploaz grinned at Ryan and Austin.

They looked at the floor. How bad had they pressurised that poor Doctor?

"Your big brother did a large part of the work here." The nurse added.

The alarm in my head started blasting off right away.

"What?"

Ridiculously, I imagined Ryan operating on my body.

Doctor Ploaz walked closer to me.

"Tyler, when you got admitted here 56 days ago, you had many injuries, some were manageable and not life-threatening, while others, particularly on your left kidney, were more concerning. Although a man can live a very normal life with only one kidney, we noticed a defect on your right kidney making the outcome of losing the left one rather... hum... uncertain. Although we tried to save both of your kidneys for several weeks, the lesions were too deep and we had to ultimately appeal for an organ donation."

Everybody was looking grave now. Even Ralph.

"Wait... Does this mean that I could still... die?"

"No, Tyler. The transplant was performed three weeks after your admission to the hospital. It was successful. We believe that you are recovering well and..."

I cut the doctor off.

"Someone already gave me his kidney? Who?"

I looked at my brother.

Fuck! Of course! How dumb could I be?

"RYAN?!"

"It worked, Ty." He said calmly.

"But you... You were a patient. You are a patient, still, weeks later."

"Your brother did encounter some complications right after the surgery but for the past week, we have only seen improvement. He'll be discharged today, actually. As I was saying, any person can live with a single kidney..."

I cut the doctor off... again.

"Ryan?! What if something really bad had happened during surgery? And what if something were to happen to your kidney now? Did you think about that? And Mallory was on board? Mom was on board? Your three kids were on board?"

Ryan rolled his eyes. He seemed pissed by my reaction.

"I told you he would react this way." Austin said sheepishly.

I tried to signal him to shut up by showing him my hand before I realized I did not have the energy to move my arm.

My brother held my hand:

"Tyler, let me ask you something. Would you have done the same thing for me?"

"Of course, I would have!"

He had the smuggest smile on his face. He thought he got me there.

"But it's different, I don't have kids." I insisted.

"My kids need an uncle, Ty."

Frankly, it was hard to fathom to what extend my closed-ones had been affected by what had happened to me. I felt terrible about that.

All of them had put their life into parenthesis to make sure I was receiving the best care possible. And my brother... Damn... He can say whatever he wants but he is the sole reason I am writing these lines right now.

I will eternally be grateful for that.

The doctor went into more details about my health, the transplant, and the rehabilitation ahead of me.

During my time out, I had healed for most of the injuries linked to the knife attack but now, I had to fix the issues anyone would suffer after a couple months in a coma.

I had lost a lot of weight and a lot of muscles -- seeing me for the first time was a real shock, my cheeks were hollowed out, I looked ten years older --, so I would need to learn to walk again.

I mean, I would pretty much have to learn to live again.

I also had a very large and nasty scar all across my abdomen. And some more traumas to add to the list of the ones I was already supposed to work on. Don't worry, I did start a serious therapy since then.

"Do you have any question?" The doctor asked after our one-hour meeting.

"I have two actually."

"Ask us anything, we can also talk more privately if you wish."

"No, no, I like it better with everyone in here."

"Go ahead, then."

"First, am I wearing a diaper right now? Because it feels more and more like it and I need to know if and how I am supposed to poop from now on."

Ralph giggled. I knew I would get him with this type of questions.

"You are wearing a diaper indeed. Nurse Kumar has been taking care of your hygiene for the last weeks... Although, now, we will work together to get you to become more and more autonomous."

Great, I thought, the hot nurse had seen me shitting all over myself and he had to deal with changing my adult diaper. I would have been very pissed if it were not for Austin.

Imagine if I had been single, what a way to kill your chances with someone!

"OK... So that's awesome..." I said sarcastically. "My second question now... There is this one thing I need an explanation on... Like... I am not even sure you guys are real right now. In what universe would Janice go blond?!"

Everybody bursted laughing at this one, including Janice.

"You, prick!" She spoke. "Really the first thing you say now you can talk again?! Ralph was right, maybe it was better when you were in the coma."

Some more laughs in the room. I laughed too but it kind of hurt my ribs.

"That does not answer my question though..."

"I just needed to feel different! What? You hate it?"

"No, actually, I sort of like it!"

"Well, I do hate it but get your best friend in a coma for two months and we will see how you react!"

On these wise words, the doctor left the room. If I could argue with Janice, it meant that I was doing pretty fine.

Austin asked for a special request to stay with me for the night which was granted.

I guessed we were still together then. Yeah!

We talked a little more seriously once it was only the two of us.

"Tyler, I saw Richard walked into the restrooms. It was right after you told me what he had done to you and I... I snapped... I had no idea he would react this way... Trust me, at first, I just wanted to have a serious word with him, I never imagined that..."

"Austin, stop it. I know you feel guilty but really, we have no time for this. We could both be dead. I'm just so..." I looked for my words but truly there was only one sentiment in my mind. "Grateful for you... and for everyone else."

He kissed my forehead again.

"Kiss my lips, babe." I requested.

He smiled at me and he obliged.

"You're right, babe. I'm grateful too."

"Don't you think I'm too ugly now?"

"Oh no... I think you're beautiful."

That was a lie, well, I assumed that it was a lie, but I took the compliment anyway. I needed all the support I could get.

"How is Lena?"

Austin's eyes lightened as soon as I had said the name of his daughter. How endearing was that?

"You should see her; she's growing so much. She's like a real fat cute baby now. She smiles too. A lot! She even laughs. She loves it when I sing rap tunes!"

He pulled out his phone and showed me some pictures and videos. Damn, I could see the two months which had passed by when I was looking at that baby, she had changed a lot for sure.

I had to give it to Austin though, she definitely looked cute.

"Cassie came to L.A. twice last month so I could stay here but this week, she could not get to a plane. I had not seen Lena in three weeks, that's why I went for a few days... The doctors were telling me your state was improving."

"You don't have to justify yourself. You could not stay at my side 24/7, Austin. I know you've been here for me."

"I just... I wished I had been there the moment you woke up... I wanted to show you how much a priority you were for me. I mean. How much of a priority you are for me. I thought I had you back, I thought we were going to be good, finally, and then... That asshole came in the restroom and everything went..."

"You're here now."

I caressed his arm.

"Yeah..."

"I promise you, Aust, life is fucking too short to torture ourselves on what we should have or could have done. All I can see is that, right now, we're together."

"Almost dying has made you wise." Austin joked.

"I guess. Or maybe, it's the pain killers."

"More likely."

I fell back asleep with a large smile on my face and Austin holding my hand.

Maybe I had not realized how hard the rehabilitation was really going to be.

The month which followed was a pain in the ass, quite literally. Everything was hurting but I had to follow every damn instruction from the staff, and from Hassan in particular, if I wanted to get a full and smooth recovery. Which of course I wanted!

Ryan being at the hospital a lot made things even worse because he would not let me deviate one bit from the "rehabilitation plan". I was almost relieved when my brother had to go back to the East Coast.

I knew they were all doing it for own good but for fuck's sake, this was hardcore!

Hassan had me walk in the damn corridors of the hospital hours a day, breathing into various tubes, standing still or lying down in the most uncomfortable positions, he was forcing me to eat at precise hours and always, I had to finish my plate, like a kid...

I started to hate the guy!

Thankfully, this torture also came with some perks.

For instance, Hassan was the one who was helping me shower every single day, which required some pretty hands-on work, especially in the beginning. That reminded me a lot of the time after I got hit by a car in college and Ryan had been the one helping me out.

One of the most erotic moments of my entire life.

With time, I needed less and less of Hassan's help, but he was there, ready to catch me if I were to fall.

I was mostly taking care of the front but for the first couple of weeks, Hassan was washing my back, - it was impossible to reach for me with my limited capacity of movement -, which Austin was getting increasingly jealous of.

I mean, my ass cheeks did not look as good as they were a few months back, but they were still his... Austin offered several times to take care of this part but sadly, shower time was also a medical activity as the nurse had to change my bandages every day.