- Chapter 128 - Hospital Troubles with Elmer, Buttons, and Elmer's Siblings -
Warnings: ✨angst✨ (but y'all seem to love that, don't ya?), crying, injuries, blood, hospitals, needles, screaming, abuse
Modern AU (minus Covid)
Third Person POV

"No."

The doctor blinked, stopping in his tracks. "No?"

Elmer (13) nodded. He was sat against the wall, on the floor. His knees were against his chest, his hospital bracelet on his wrist, a hospital gown on his body, and his eyes red from crying. "No. Don't come near me."

The doctor sighed, still holding the needle. "Elmer, you need to have an IV in," he told him. "You were severely dehydrated when they found you and we need to keep an eye on your vitals."

"I don't care." Elmer shook his head, eyeing the needle in the doctor's hand. "You're not bringing that close to me."

"Elmer," the doctor sighed, "I don't like intruding on your personal space, or forcing you to do stuff, but you need to have an IV in." He was clearly pretty tired.

Elmer nuzzled his head in his arms. "Elmer has left the building. Please call again soon," he mumbled, his voice muffled.

The doctor sighed. He sat down on the floor in front of Elmer. "Elmer, I've known you since you were in your mother's stomach," he reminded him. "I'm being lenient because I know you, but you need an IV in," he stressed. "Is there someone who could help you? Should I grab one of your siblings?" he questioned.

Elmer looked up a bit. He was silent for a moment. "Buttons," he whispered finally.

The doctor nodded. He got up and went to the door, opening it and sticking his head out. "Is someone named "Buttons" out here?"

Elmer blocked out the rest of the conversation, zoning out until he saw familiar shoes.

Rainbow shoes, with little patterns sewn into them.

Elmer's eyes lit up. "Buttons!" He looked up.

Buttons (14) looked really worried, though slightly relieved. "El, oh my gosh. I got so worried when I found out," he said, sitting down next to Elmer. He looked over him, searching for his injuries.

Elmer frowned when he noticed. He slowly turned his head around, revealing a large spot on the back that had blood all over it and slowly dripping down the back of his neck.

Buttons gasped. "Elmer! Did you take off the bandages?" he asked, his eyes wide.

The doctor turned around from his cart and back to them, his eyes wide. "Elmer Kasprzak! You did what?!"

Elmer cringed a bit. He looked up at the doctor with a pout. "They were uncomfortable..." he mumbled, defending himself a little bit.

"Nope." The doctor instantly shook his head. "That's where I draw the line. We're putting the IV in and putting bandages on," he decided, quickly grabbing something to call a few more nurses in.

Elmer's eyes widened. "No! No! Please!" He quickly tried to get up, struggling due to the pain in the back of his head. "I don't want to do that!"

"Hey, hey, El, it's okay," Buttons tried to reassure him.

"Please, please," Elmer pleaded, tears streaming down his cheeks. "Please don't."

The doctor frowned. "Elmer, I'm sorry, but we have to," he responded, grabbing bandages. "That wound is gushing blood."

Elmer quickly shook his head. He grit his teeth at the pain that shot through him.

A few more nurses entered the room.

"Elmer, it's okay," Buttons tried to calm him down, knowing not to touch him until he said it was okay. "It'll be over quickly and then we can cuddle."

Elmer shook his head more, tears streaming down his cheeks. He screamed when he felt someone touch him, trying to kick their hand away.

The nurse who had tried to touch him looked to the doctor.

Buttons kept trying to talk to Elmer while the doctor talked to the nurse in the background, but Elmer was sobbing and trembling, and it was clear he was too distraught and scared to listen.

All of a sudden, three boys came into the room.

Buttons felt arms wrap around him, and he instantly recognized them. "Jack..." he whispered.

"I'm here, Benny," Jack (16) assured him softly, holding him close and moving him away from Elmer a bit so they weren't in the way of the people who were trying get to Elmer. "He's going to be okay."

Buttons didn't respond; he watched Elmer and the doctors and people, his brown eyes full of concern.

"Elmer, hey, it's okay," someone tried to sooth him. "We're here."

Elmer instantly recognized the voice. More tears streamed down his cheeks. "Avery," he whispered, opening his arms to hold onto him.

His older brother instantly pulled him into his arms, sitting down on the floor.

Elmer wrapped his arms around Avery's neck and nuzzled his head into the crook of his neck, soft sobs escaping his lips.

Avery (18) worriedly looked at Jedrzej (22).

The eldest brother looked at the doctor, his brown eyes identical to his brothers' and full of worry.

The doctor sighed. "I came in to check up on him and he had pulled the IV out, but what I didn't realize was that he took the bandages off due to them being uncomfortable," he explained.

Jedrzej sighed. "Oh, El..." he mumbled, looking at his younger brother.

Avery gently touched the wound on the back of Elmer's head. His face was contorted with worry as he looked at the blood dripping down his fingers. "Ellie... this is a really bad injury," he whispered, mainly to himself. He looked at Jedrzej. "We have to get the bandages back on or he'll lose more blood."

Jedrzej sat down next to his two brother's on the floor. He sat behind Avery so he could see Elmer. "El, I know you don't like needles or bandages, but we need to put them back on," he told him gently. "Avery or I can hold you, and after, you can have cuddles and even soda."

Elmer's eyes opened slightly, and he looked at his brother, not moving his body. "Obietnica?" he whispered.

Jedrzej nodded. "Obiecuję." He gently wrapped his hand around Elmer's little pointer-finger and squeezed it lightly.

Elmer swallowed and carefully pulled his head out from the crook of Avery's neck. He bit his lip to hold in a whimper, squeezing his eyes shut in pain.

Avery frowned. "It's gonna be okay, I promise," he whispered, pressing a gentle kiss to Elmer's forehead. "It'll be quick."

Elmer nodded a bit, slowly opening his eyes. He looked at the nurses and the doctor. "I only trust you," he mumbled, pointing to the doctor. He paused, "and maybe you because you're pretty." He pointed to another nurse.

Jedrzej sighed slightly, while Avery laughed a bit.

The nurse smiled, stepping forward. "My name is Nurse Talia," she introduced herself. "I know you don't know us very well, but I can assure you, my fellow nurses are all very nice."

Elmer looked at them, fear shining in his eyes.

"However, time is running short and I think this has been stalled a bit too long," Talia told Elmer, a kind smile on her face. "How about you and your brother sit on the bed so I can look at that cut, okay?" she suggested.

Elmer nodded a bit.

Avery picked Elmer up, standing up with him in his arms.

Elmer clung to him, still looking a bit scared as he was carried over to the bed. He made eye contact with Buttons, who sat in the corner of the room with Jack, but it was only for a moment before his view of the boy was blocked.

Talia smiled. She pulled a chair over and sat down. "I'm just going to take a look, okay? Just going to move your hair a bit." When she got a nod from the thirteen-year-old, she gently brushed his hair back to look at the wound.

Avery held onto Elmer as the younger boy clung to him. Avery's hand gently kept Elmer's head still as the boy squeezed his eyes shut.

"Elmer, I need you to tell me if it hurts when I touch it," Talia told him, moving a bit more of his hair away.

Elmer tensed a bit more, his eyes squeezed shut. "It hurts to the touch..." he whispered, "and to the not touch..." he added.

There were a few chuckles in the room, and Talia smiled as she pulled away. "Thank you. It's helpful to know that." She gestured for two of the nurses and the doctor to join her. "How are you doing, Elmer?" she asked him.

Elmer swallowed. "It hurts," he mumbled, his head leaning against Avery's shoulder.

"I know it does, but you're being so brave," Talia told him.

"So brave," Avery echoed, whispering it to his brother.

Elmer smiled a bit against his shoulder, his eyes still shut.

"We're going to clean the wound and bandage it now, okay, Elmer?" Talia said. "I can keep telling you what I'm doing, if you'd like me to?" she offered.

Elmer nodded. He winced. "My head hurts..."

"I know. We'll help it, I promise," Talia assured him, taking the wet cloth. "I'm going to gently dab this cloth on the wound to clean the blood off," she informed Elmer.

Elmer squeezed his eyes shut to brace himself. He hissed when the cloth touched his head, trying to pull away.

Avery kept a firm, but gentle, hold on him.

"I know it hurts," Talia told Elmer, a frown on her face as she tries to be as gentle as possible. "We're almost done, I promise."

After a few more minutes of trying to clean the wound and get a good amount of the blood off of it, Talia informed Elmer that they were done.

Tears streamed down Elmer's cheeks silently as he clung to Avery, his forehead still resting against Avery's shoulder.

Someone sat down on the bed behind Avery. They took Elmer's hand carefully. "Świetnie sobie radzisz. Prawie gotowe, obiecuję," they assured him.

Elmer felt a burning behind his nose as more tears streamed down his cheeks. "Nie odchodź... proszę," he whispered desperately, trying to squeeze their hand.

"Nie będę. Jestem tu z tobą," Jedrzej promised him, squeezing his hand back.

Elmer let out a quiet sob, trying to nuzzle his head into Avery's shoulder.

Jedrzej could tell that he was exhausted from the stress of the day's events and just the injury in general. He was honestly glad that Elmer hadn't seen their mother get arrested as it would've made the situation far worse for him.

At least they protected him from something, even if they failed at protecting him from everything else...

"Okay, Elmer, we're going to wrap the bandages around you're head this time," the doctor informed the boy, unwrapping the bandages.

Avery and Jedrzej exchanged a look, silently wondering how they did it the last time.

Elmer's grip on Jedrzej's hand snapped him out of his pondering. "It's okay, El. I promise," he assured him.

Elmer didn't get to respond before a large patch was pressed against the wound on the back of his head.

A nurse lifted Elmer's head up a bit so the doctor could wrap the bandages around his head.

Elmer winced in pain, a whimper escaping his mouth as tears continued to slide down his cheeks.

At this point, Buttons turned around and nuzzled into Jack's chest, not wanting to watch anymore.

Jack frowned and gently covered Buttons's ears with his hands so he didn't have to hear Elmer's cries.

When the doctor finished, the nurse gently rested Elmer's head on Avery's shoulder again.

"Avery," the doctor started, "would you like to lay down?" he suggested, gesturing to the pillow on the other end of the bed.

Avery nodded a bit, careful not to hurt Elmer as he slowly maneuvered them to lay down. He laid on his back, his head on the pillow, and laid Elmer on him, their stomachs touching. He laid Elmer's head on his chest, making sure Elmer wasn't putting pressure on the back of his head.

Elmer was still crying quietly, but he had sort of calmed down due to being drowsy.

"Last thing," Talia mumbled as she gently took Elmer's arm. She laid it down with his underarm facing up, instructing another nurse to hold it there. She grabbed a wipe from another nurse, carefully wiping the spot on his arm that she was going to insert the IV into, before grabbing the needle. She carefully inserted the IV into his arm.

Elmer cried out in pain, a semi-loud shriek leaving his mouth as he tried to jerk his arm back.

The nurse holding Elmer's arm kept it where it was.

"I'm sorry, Elmer." Talia quickly put the tape on the place where the needle was so that it stayed in, before letting go. "There we go, all done."

The nurse let go too.

Elmer pulled his arm back and cradled it against his chest.

Avery carefully held it as well, mainly to make sure Elmer wouldn't pull the IV out again.

Jedrzej thanked the doctor and the nurses, especially Talia.

Talia smiled. "He'll be okay," she assured Jedrzej, seeing the clear worry in his eyes. She carefully pulled up the guardrail on the bed. They used the guardrail for patients who moved around a lot when they slept or for children, along with some other cases.

Jedrzej smiled, taking a deep breath. "Thanks," he mumbled.

"We'll leave you all be for a bit," the doctor told Jedrzej. "You may have your siblings and Elmer's friends come in, though don't overwhelm him," he instructed him. "He will probably have a headache from crying and the injury.

Jedrzej nodded. He watched as the doctor and nurses left the room. He sighed and looked at his brothers.

Avery was lulling Elmer to sleep, probably assuring him that they were with him and he was okay.

Jedrzej looked over at Jack and Buttons, realizing they were still there. He frowned a bit and walked over, squatting down in front of them. "Hey, guys."

Jack looked up a bit. "Hey," he whispered.

When Elmer had first found his group of friends, Jack was the first one Jedrzej had met, and he instantly trusted him.

If there was anyone who Jedrzej trusted with his youngest brother as much than his own siblings, it was Jack, and his two siblings as well.

Jedrzej knew Jack's adoptive siblings and how he was basically the older brother of Elmer's friend group, and he was incredibly grateful for everything the boy had done for Elmer, whether it was getting him out of the house on a rough night or helping him stay distracted.

Jedrzej's gaze shifted to Buttons. He frowned. "Buttons," he whispered.

Buttons seemed to notice he was there. He pulled his hands off of his ears and sat up quickly, his eyes wide. "Is he okay? El? He-"

"He's okay, Buttons," Jedrzej assured him, a soft smile on his face. He trusted Buttons too, especially knowing the feelings his brother and Buttons had for each other.

Buttons instantly breathed a sigh of relief. "Ringrazia la madre di tutta la salute," he whispered.

Jedrzej smiled a bit. "If you'd like, you can go lay with them," he offered, gesturing to his brothers on the hospital bed. "Elmer would like it."

Buttons looked a bit wary of the idea. "What if I accidentally hurt him?" he asked softly.

"You won't," Jack assured him.

Buttons looked at him for a moment, before looking back at Jedrzej.

Jedrzej nodded as if to confirm what Jack said.

Buttons swallowed. "Okay," he whispered. "If I don't hurt him, I'd like to." His eyes flicked over to the bed. "I want to hold him."

Jedrzej smiled a bit. He moved back so Jack and Buttons could get up.

Buttons slowly walked over to the bed, and Jack helped him climb on after a moment.

Avery smiled. "Hey, Beniamin," he greeted softly.

Buttons smiled a bit. "Hi," he whispered. He looked at Elmer, the nervous frown returning to his face when he sees the bandages around his head.

Avery noticed his wordy. "Come lay with us," he mumbled to him, moving just slightly so Buttons could lay down.

Buttons nodded a bit. He laid down next to Avery, smiling a bit when the boy wrapped his arm around him. He carefully cuddled Elmer close.

The almost-fully-asleep boy peaked one of his eyes open tiredly. "...Benny?" he whispered, clearly in pain.

Buttons felt tears sting his eyes, but he smiled. "Hi, El."

The last bit of tension in Elmer seemed to leave when he realize his best friend (crushhhh) was with him. He tried to cuddle closer to him.

Buttons gently wrapped his arms around Elmer's waist, resting his head on Avery's arm and near Elmer's head.

It didn't take long after that for Elmer to fall asleep, his heart filled with a sense of safety from being with his brother and his best friend.

"I love you," Buttons whispered to Elmer when he was asleep. "Jestem tu dla ciebie. Obiecuję."

2934 Words
Yeah, there will definitely be a part 2 to this and maybe a part 3 haha. I have many ideas, I'm just too tired to write them tonight because it's Midnight as I write this authors note (: btw, sorry if parts of this one-shot are bad lol

Also, thank you to iwantaferret_ and berrythenewsie for your help because I'm an idiot (: