Warnings: Mention of injury (nothing graphic)

Word Count: 1809

"It's fractured?" you asked, shocked by what you were hearing.

About a week ago, Josh had started complaining that his right leg was bothering him. You both brushed it off at first, just assuming it was sore and the pain would probably go away in a few days. It wasn't until he finished a 5k and was practically in tears from the pain by the time that he finished that you decided he needed to get it checked out. Now here you were, learning that he had fractured part of his leg.

"Yeah, they're going to put a cast on it," Josh explained. "My mom was saying that she wants me to come to their house while I rest for the first few days, so you should get in touch with her."

You sighed and rubbed your temple, "Ok, I'll call her while they're putting the cast on."

"Thanks, I love you."

"I love you too," you said, standing up so that you could hug Josh.

Hugging was a bit awkward with the crutches that he was borrowing, but you managed. He hugged you tightly and rubbed your back to help you calm down a bit.

"I'm going to be ok, don't worry," he said, pressing a kiss to your forehead.

"I know you are."

He gave you one final squeeze before hobbling back off to wherever it was that he needed to be. You were thankful that they had let him come talk to you and let you know what was going on. Now you had to call his mom and figure out what to do.

The phone only rang once before she picked up, evidently she had been anticipating your call.

"Hello, Y/N!"

"Hi, Laura. Josh and I just talked and he mentioned that you wanted him to come and stay with you after he gets his cast."

"Yes, I don't want you to be in charge of taking care of him all by yourself. That just isn't fair to you!"

"Thank you so much for being willing to help me. I was just wondering if you want me to bring anything over for dinner or anything?"

"Oh no, we have everything we need. All you need to bring is Josh and your overnight things. The two of you can stay in Josh's old room so you don't have to waste gas driving back and forth."

"Alright. He's getting his cast right now, so it shouldn't be too long until we're over."

"Ok, drive safe! We'll see you soon."

"Bye, Laura."

"Bye, dear."

You hung up the call and immediately opened up your texts. Tyler would want to know what was going on too. Once he was informed, all you had to do was wait for Josh to get his cast on.

Half an hour later, Josh appeared now sporting a bright yellow cast on his leg. The nurses had given him crutches to use when he needed to move, which he was currently using. You stood up and walked over to him, just to make sure that he was getting the hang of walking.

"You doing ok?" you asked, resting a hand lightly on his back.

"Yeah, my leg feels a little better now."

"That's good. Do you want me to pull the car around so you don't have to walk all the way to the parking garage?"

"No, I can make it."

You sighed, "I shouldn't have phrased that like you had a choice. Wait here and I'll go get the car."

Josh muttered something under his breath, but didn't protest. You gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before walking off to find the car.

Laura had already made the couch up with a variety of pillows and blankets by the time that you and Josh arrived to the house. You helped him over to the couch and made sure that he was adjusted in such a way that allowed his leg to be where it needed to. Once he was settled, you quickly ran your things upstairs and put them in Josh's old bedroom.

"Do you need anything, Josh?" you asked once you reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Could I have some water?"

"Sure," you said, but you were promptly stopped by Laura.

"I'll get it, Y/N. Don't you worry."

"Alright," you shrugged, deciding it wasn't worth fighting her over.

You walked over and sat down on the other couch, allowing yourself to finally rest now that Josh was healing and out of the hospital. It was nice to have Laura helping you take care of Josh, and you knew it wouldn't be long before the rest of his family showed up to help as well.

"Y/N?" Josh said.

"Hmm?"

"Will you sit with me?"

You looked over at Josh, who was currently taking up the entirety of the couch.

"Where exactly do you expect me to sit?" you giggled.

He looked from side to side, as if looking for space that would somehow magically appear for you.

"What if I rest my head on your lap?"

"I think I can manage that."

You got up and helped Josh to sit up without totally disturbing his leg. Once you were comfortably sitting on the couch, he laid back down so that his head was in your lap. He smiled up at you, causing you to smile in return.

"See, is this so bad?"

"I guess not," you said, brushing a couple strands of his hair out of his face.

Laura walked back into the room, carrying two cups of water and a plate of food for you and Josh. She smiled upon seeing the two of you sitting together on the couch.

"Well, didn't you manage to find yourself a nice pillow?" she said, handing him the plate of food.

"The best one there is."

"Thanks," you said as Laura handed you some water.

"I thought you two might be hungry after your wait at the hospital," she explained.

"Thanks, Mom," Josh said, resting the plate on his chest.

Laura walked off again, leaving just you and Josh. You reached over his shoulder and grabbed one of the strawberries. Josh was leaned forward slightly, trying to see what was on the plate.

"Need help?" you smiled.

"Yes, please," he leaned back and grinned up at you.

"Let's see, we have some strawberries, raspberries, crackers, and some cheese."

"Ooh, can I have a raspberry?"

"Sure thing, babe."

You grabbed a raspberry and went to hand it to Josh, but instead he had opened his mouth and was looking at you expectantly.

"Your leg is injured, not your hand," you giggled before dropping it into his open mouth.

"Do you really expect me to not milk this as much as possible?" he smiled.

You rolled your eyes and gave him a light pat on the shoulder. He continued to ask you for food, only to make you feed it to him time and time again. The only thing he would do for himself was drink water, but that was only because you had nearly dumped the entire cup of it on him on accident.

You were in the middle of giving Josh another raspberry when the front door swung open. Josh's dad walked in, followed closely by Jordan.

"Josh! Look at you, man," Jordan said as he walked into the living room. "Wow, that cast is...bright."

"I'm supporting the new album!" Josh said, gesturing in the general direction of his hurt leg.

"How are you feeling?"

"Better now that I actually have a cast. Man, that 5k was killer on my leg."

"Yeah, you're not really supposed to run on a fractured leg," Jordan laughed.

"Hey, now I have an excuse to lay on the couch all day," Josh joked.

"You're going down at Mario Kart later."

"You wish."

The rest of the night went on as normal. Getting Josh to the dinner table had been a bit of a struggle, but Bill had been a big help in getting him off the couch. Laura had cooked up some of Josh's favorite foods, and you were just thankful that you didn't have to cook for once. Most of dinner was spent discussing Josh's injury, although Jordan did occasionally interject with his own stories. Unfortunately, Abigail and Ashley were out of town so you didn't get to see them.

After dinner, Jordan and Josh decided to play video games for the rest of the night. You played a few rounds here and there, but mostly you just made sure Josh didn't do anything too stupid and mess up his cast. After all, watching the two brothers trash talk one another as they raced cartoon cars was entertainment enough.

Once they were finally done, you helped Josh upstairs to his room. It was a struggle to get him up the stairs, but with some help from Jordan you made it happen. He collapsed down on his bed and looked over to you.

"Not exactly as nice as our bed back home," he smiled.

"Yeah, going from a king bed to a twin bed is definitely going to be an experience."

You stripped out of your sweatshirt and changed into one of Josh's t-shirts instead. After you finished changing, you tossed Josh his pajamas so that he could get changed on the bed. While he was doing that, you brushed your teeth and washed your face.

Josh had just finished changing into his sweatpants when you walked back into the room. You turned off the light before carefully making your way across the dark room to where his bed was.

"Sorry," you said as the hand you meant to put on the bed ended up on Josh's chest instead.

"No worries, it's the leg you have to look out for," he laughed.

"Right."

You crawled under the covers and immediately wrapped yourself around Josh, although that was more because you were trying not to fall off the bed than a desire to be right next to him. You couldn't complain, though.

"Is your leg comfortable?" you asked.

"Yep. I'm more worried about us sleeping comfortably in this bed."

"We've been through worse."

"I can't argue that."

You adjusted your head slightly on Josh's shoulder. He reached his arm around you and rested it on your hip.

"Thanks for taking care of me today, it means a lot."

"Of course, Josh. I love you."

"I know, but that doesn't mean you have to take care of me like you did."

He pressed a kiss to the top of your head. You turned and leaned so that you could give him a proper kiss.

"I promise I won't be this much of a pain for the next few weeks."

"I'm holding you to that."

"Deal."

"I love you, Josh."

"Love you too, Y/N."