Work Text:
"Okay, so for tonight, I'm thinking 10 Things I Hate About You."
George looked up from his 14th read-through of the Prisoner of Azkaban and glanced at the door to see a very familiar face. Or someone that has since become very familiar.
"What for?" George asked.
"Movie Night," Karl said. "Duh, it's Wednesday."
George sighed and closed his book, letting a finger hold on to where he last left off, his head shaking slightly in disapproval.
"But yesterday was movie night," George said pointedly. "We watched Pretty Woman yesterday."
"Tuesdays are also movie nights," Karl answered pointedly.
"We watched My Cousin Vinnie the day before that," George chuckled.
"Mondays are also movie nights," Karl said in the most matter-of-factly fashion. "Every night is movie night with me."
"Don't you have some better things to do?" George sighed, suddenly figuring out that he wasn't going to win this fight, and placed a more permanent bookmark in between his pages. "I don't know, go save some lives."
Karl walked further into the room, his hands stretched out as he twirled around.
"I have left my white coat, I changed out of my scrubs, I'm officially off duty," Karl said proudly. "You can't get rid of me even if you tried."
George continued to shake his head, placing his book away before crossing his arms, the IV lines on the back of his hand tugging slightly.
"Come on," Karl coaxed. "It's not like you have better things to do."
George's jaw dropped slightly in shock, scoffing at the absolute audacity coming from the young doctor, only to be met with the cheekiest smile.
"Bad hospital joke, sorry," Karl apologized, though his little giggle doesn't make it sound like he was sorry at all. George appreciated the snark though.
"You gonna steal some popcorn or am I going to have to live with green Jello?" George asked, finally conceding.
"I sent an intern to get some popcorn and also chocolate pudding because you're my favorite patient," Karl told him as he walked closer.
"Ah so you admit, I'm your patient," George suddenly said. "Therefore, this isn't allowed."
"You're my favorite hospital inhabitant," Karl corrected. "You're not catching me on a technicality."
George simply rolled his eyes.
Three months ago, George walked into the hospital. To be more specific he actually got wheeled in through the emergency room on a stretcher from the back of an ambulance. Three months ago it wasn't looking like he was about to leave anytime soon. Not with a broken heart, anyway.
No, not metaphorically. It's actually quite literal that George has congenital heart disease, one of his valves simply decided not to work. George was quite upset about that. Sure there are more precise and intelligent terms in which George could explain what was happening to him, but it all seemed pointless. It's all futile. He was dying, seemingly sitting on a ticking time bomb as he waited for a heart transplant that isn't happening.
Three months ago he was ready to sign an AMA form clearing all of his doctors from any legal issues and allowing him to go home and possibly succumb to his conditions
Two months, 3 weeks, and 6 days ago, a young oncology doctor walked into his room.
"What are you doing?"
"Pardon?" George turned his head towards the door to see a doctor wearing a white coat standing in his doorway. George would soon learn his name was Karl.
"British," The doctor hummed. "I guess that explains the pessimism."
"Excuse me?" George asked again.
"I heard from the grapevine that some young guy was signing an AMA just because he doesn't wanna wait for a heart transplant," He said.
"Isn't that a HIPAA violation?" George tilted his head.
"Not if it's a consult," The doctor answered confidently.
"Okay, and what exactly are you consulting on, doctor-" George squinted to see the little embroidered name on the white coat.
"Jacobs," He introduced himself. "Karl Jacobs."
"Doctor Jacobs," George said with a dry smile. "Please enlighten me."
"In my department, we see hundreds of people living with a ticking time bomb, all of which are willing to fight for their lives," Karl told George.
"And your department is?" George asked.
"Oncology," Karl replied.
"I don't have cancer," George said pointedly. "What was that consult about again that's not a HIPAA violation?"
"That's not the point," Karl immediately changed the topic, causing George to smile slightly out of amusement. "Look, I'm just saying that- I, I think you're making a mistake."
"You do?" George said sarcastically.
"You're young," Karl exclaimed. "Barely lived your life. You're in relatively good health-"
"Apart from the busted heart," George interjected.
"Minor inconvenience," Karl shrugged causing George to snort. "You've got so much to live for. Your wife, your kids."
"Not married, no kids, and gay," George replied just as fast, pointing at himself.
"Perfect," Karl exclaimed. "That means you're too hot to die. I mean, come on, look at you."
"Right," George drawled, his arms now crossed in front of him as he stared at Karl like he was evaluating his every move.
"Chance of you accepting a donor's heart and going to live long and prosper because of it is huge. Massive. We've got people who are too old, too sick in other places that wouldn't be able to accept a donor's heart, and that's honestly one of the bigger risks in a transplant. Even bigger than the surgery itself," Karl rattled off. "Okay, that last one is a lie, but I'm exaggerating to prove a point."
"I think you just broke like 7 laws from the second you stood there and started talking to me," George muttered.
"What are you, police?" Karl scoffed.
"Worse," George grimaced. "Lawyer."
"Oh dear lord," Karl gasped. "Is the broken heart why you're so good at it?"
George gasped, his jaw agape as he stared at the stranger wearing a white coat that walked into his room. The corner of his lips twitched very slightly.
"Foot-in-mouth," Karl apologized. "Chronic, incurable really, I apologize-" But all George did was chuckle.
George was about to say something when Karl looked down to check his pager, cursing before looking back up to George.
"Listen, I'm getting paged, someone may very well be dying right now, but-" Karl said. "You're a lawyer, right? Give me like, until the end of my shift to construct a list of arguments of why you should stay."
"Doctor Jacobs, I really-"
"How are you gonna call yourself a good lawyer if you don't hear arguments from both sides?" Karl interrupted. "I'm going to take you to court, I'm gonna blow your socks off so hard that you're gonna wanna move into this hospital."
"Look, I appreciate whatever it is you think you're doing-" George attempted to say, but the buzzing pager.
"Just-" Karl said, walking backward out of the room. "Just don't leave, at least not until I come back."
"What?" George said.
"You promised," Karl said immediately. "I gotta go save a life, but you promised to stay until I can talk to you again," He yelled louder as he started running down the hallway.
George was left sitting on his bed confused.
"I didn't promise anything," George muttered to himself.
"Knock knock," George looked up to see another, a different man in a white coat in his doorway.
"Did you just say knock knock?" George asked.
"Don't make fun of me, it's a force of habit from pediatrics," Dream defended himself. "Where's Karl? I thought he'd be here."
"The intern was taking too long stealing the popcorn and the chocolate pudding, so he left to get them before we start our movie," George told Dream.
"Ah, what's tonight's movie?" Dream inquired.
"10 Things I Hate About You," George answered. "Karl's got a thing for romcoms, you know this."
"For that he does," Dream agreed. "I just wanted to check in on you, see if you needed anything before I leave for the night."
"You can go home, I'm fine Dream," George assured him.
"Okay," Dream nodded. "But you have my phone number if you need anything, and Sapnap's still on-call, and-"
"Hey, you don't have to give me special treatment just because your co-worker got himself into a predicament and got attached to a dying heart-disease patient," George said lightly. "I'm fine Dream."
"You're not getting special treatment," Dream said. "I do this to all my patients."
"Right," George said sarcastically. "Because all your patients have your personal cell number, calls you by your nickname because you wouldn't respond to Doctor Walker, and also gets near-daily visits."
"Well, the daily visits are mandatory actually, they're called rounds," Dream said just as snarkily.
"And what crimes have I committed in my past life that I get to see you twice a day?" George said. "Sometimes even three times."
Dream gave him a weak smile, watching carefully as George rubbed his shoulder, his hand pausing on his chest, almost like it was a habitual resting spot.
"Chest pains still there?" Dream asked. "Shortness of breath?"
"They're better at night," George answered. "But you knew that."
"I just had to be sure," Dream replied.
"Dream," George stared flatly at him. "I'm fine. Go."
"I'm calling UNOS," Dream said. "I've been calling UNOS, I've been trying, you know. I'm-"
"I know," George stopped him before he could say anything more.
"We're gonna get you a heart," Dream said adamantly. "I promise."
"Doctors are supposed to make promises," George sighed, shaking his head at Dream.
"Yeah, I know," Dream looked down towards the floor.
"If you don't leave soon, I'm gonna report you to Techno under that treating family members clause," George jokingly threatened. "Have him do the transplant instead of you."
"Shut up," Dream said. "I'm just waiting till Karl comes back."
"No, you're staying because you feel guilty," George could see right through him. "Go, I'm sure you have plans tonight."
"Punz is in the lobby," Dream confessed.
"Oh, Sapnap must be livid," George laughed.
"Well, Sapnap got to have a date night with Punz when I was stuck working the graveyard shift, so now it's my turn," Dream shrugged. "Balanced, as all things should be."
"Will you go already?" George urged. "Say hi to Punz for me."
"Fine, fine," Dream raised his hands in defeat. "If Karl still can't find the pudding, Sapnap stashes some in the mini-fridge in the on-call room on the third floor."
"Go!" George yelled.
"That's him, officer," George said jokingly, the second Karl came into the room. Dream turned around and stared at Karl with the most exasperated look on his face. Karl could only curse on the spot. "That one right there."
"What the hell do you think you were doing?" Dream demanded.
"I-" Karl hummed softly. "-don't know what you're talking about."
"Don't act stupid, Mr. Davidson told me all about you little stunt," Dream said.
"It wasn't a stunt, I was simply telling him the success rates and wonderful statistics to attempt to persuade-" Karl slowly said.
"Coerce," George coughed.
"-properly educate him on the positive and hopeful chances of heart transplants," Karl finished.
"I didn't even tell you about him," Dream said before turning to George. "I did not tell him, I apologize for this level of unprofessionalism-"
"Relax, I'm not gonna hit you with a HIPAA lawsuit, you're fine," George rolled his eyes, though he was still thoroughly amused.
"I heard from the grapevine," Karl explained.
"You mean Tubbo," Dream sighed.
"I didn't say that," Karl exclaimed.
"Who else would talk about it? And Tubbo was also on my service," Dream said, slowly puzzling two and two together.
"You should try harder to try and convince your patient to receive care," Karl said, gesturing towards George. "I don't know why I'm doing your job for you."
"I don't know either!" Dream explained. "Why do you think that I haven't been trying to talk him out of it?"
"Him is sitting right here," George piped up.
"Fuck, I'm so sorry Mr. Davidson, this behavior is completely-" Dream was apologetic.
"It's fine," George held his hand up with a little smile. "I'm actually pretty curious at what Doctor Jacobs has come up with."
"What?" Dream questioned.
"Well," George looked smug and amused. "Doctor Jacobs promised a list of arguments of why I should stay and rack up a bunch of medical debt. He said because I'm a lawyer, I'm obligated to listen to his side of the story," George said dramatically.
"Aren't those judges?" Dream looked puzzled and George simply chuckled.
"Go on," George looked at Karl expectantly. "Convince me that I wanna move into this hospital."
"First of all, were you really about to leave without saying goodbye?" Karl asked.
"You don't know me," George laughed. "I was going to sign AMA papers, yes."
"You're too pretty to die," Karl said.
"Karl!" Dream yelled.
"What?" Karl exclaimed back just as loudly. "He's not my patient. Cancer, heart disease, there's zero intersection in the Venn diagram"
"I'm so sorry," Dream muttered, pinching between his eyebrows.
"And that's worth potentially gaining an innumerable amount of debt?" George said.
"You're a lawyer, can't you finesse your insurance company," Karl said. "See, I think you need a fun consult."
"A fun consult," George repeated in all its ridiculousness.
"Yeah," Karl nodded. "Morale booster. So you won't be so keen on letting fate take you whenever it wants to."
"What does a fun consult look like, doctor Walker?" George asked.
"Your guess is as good as mine," Dream confessed.
"We start with movie night," Karl declared. "And we go from there."
"Sorry, sorry, sorry," Karl apologized profusely, walking into George's room after about an hour. At this point, George had begun reading again. "I'm so sorry, a patient of mine came in through the ER, had a big scare. I know I said I was off the clock, but she was scared and I had to-"
"You don't have to explain that you cared for your patients, Karl," George said. "It's fine."
"Movie time, movie time," Karl said excitedly.
"Actually, it's about time you go home," George declared. "I've heard from some of the nurses that you haven't gone home in a few days."
"What? They don't know what they're talking about," Karl scoffed. "And people shouldn't gossip about other people. Plus I have-" He looked down and cursed. "I left the popcorn and pudding in the ER, it's fine I can go get it."
"Karl," George's voice was stern. "Go home."
"No, I'm all good," Karl assured. "I'll run down and grab the food and we'll watch the movie. My patient's here for overnight observation anyway, so I should be here in case something happens."
"That's it, isn't it?" George took a shot.
"What is?" Karl asked.
"If this is about what Dream said last week, and you're scared to leave me alone-" George accused.
"What? I'm not allowed to spend time with my-" Karl said.
"Your what, Karl?" George said though it wasn't much of a question.
The room fell silent, George could feel the nurses outside talk in more hushed tones. It was unclear if they were doing it out of respect or in an attempt to listen in to Karl and George's conversation.
"I'm not your boyfriend," George clarified.
"Only because you won't let me," Karl answered without another thought.
"I don't know how you do it," George said.
Karl was sitting cross-legged on the end of George's bed, the two of them currently in the middle of a game of Go-Fish. Karl looked up from his hand and simply raised an eyebrow.
"You're so-" George looked him up and down. "Colorful, and bubbly, and fun. I would think you work in Pediatrics or something. Being an oncologist is like the most depressing thing ever."
"That's a misconception," Karl said.
"Cancer's not all that depressing?" George mumbled as he placed his card down.
"Not that," Karl shook his head. "Pediatrics are a bunch of monsters. They're mean."
George looked at Karl's face and saw a little glint in Karl's eye that told him Karl was lying. Karl was joking or trying to deflect the topic.
"You said to me, the first day we met that your department has hundreds of people sitting on the time bomb every day," George recalled. "You said if people with no guarantee that they will survive even after trying to save themselves still fight to the end, why wouldn't you?"
"And it worked didn't it?" Karl smirked proudly.
"Okay, so I was depressive and tired of this condition that I've lived with my whole life, sue me," George rolled his eyes.
"I think suing is your job," Karl said. "And my job is winning this game because you suck."
Karl placed down his last card and did the wave with his arms, a little victory dance that managed to make George crack a little smile.
"Seriously," George said as Karl collected the cards and began shuffling. "I don't know how you do it."
Karl continued to shuffle the card, choosing to look down at his hands that were shuffling the cards rather than make eye contact with George.
"I don't know," Karl confessed, his shoulders rising slightly. "I think me being the way I am is essential. It's so easy to fall into despair when you get that first diagnosis that a lot of people would want to give up. And I think, if you can't fight, don't have the energy to, don't want to fight- You should have someone there to fight for you."
"And that's you," George hummed.
"That's me," Karl smiled. "I force them to focus on the 2% chance that they survive and their cancer doesn't come back, and the chemo doesn't ruin them, and they live the rest of their lives happy and healthy," He told George. "Because if they won't, then I have to."
"And you don't give up do you?" George chuckled.
"You still pissy that I made you stay?" Karl questioned.
"A little bit," George admitted. "It's been like 6 straight weeks of hospital food, and they won't even give me the red Jello."
"I'll sneak you some dinner, I promise," Karl winked. "Something healthy though so that Dream doesn't absolutely murder me."
"You don't have to do this, you know?" George said.
"I mean I was just gonna buy an extra wrap when I order my dinner later, it's not a huge deal," Karl told him.
"No, I mean your fun consult," George mumbled. "I'm here to stay. You don't have to keep playing cards with me, eating your lunches with me, all the movie nights. It's been 6 weeks, I think if I wanted to leave, I would've by now. I'm not going this long just to humor you," He smiled, his eyes gazing fondly at Karl. "I'm here. I'm fighting."
"Maybe I just-" Karl shrugged, dealing the cards like he wasn't emotionally bothered. "-like hanging out with you."
"That's gonna bring you a lot of problems," George sighed. "I'm dying."
"Hey," Karl scolded, flinging a card at George. "You literally just said you were fighting."
"You can still fight even if you don't think you can win," George replied earnestly.
"And that's why you still need the fun consult," Karl said. "Until you believe that you can win, I'm gonna keep doing the fun consults."
George sighed, looked at Karl sadly, his heart starting to beat irregularly though, for the first time in his life, he doesn't think it's because of the broken valve.
"Look," George sighed. "Time's running out, that's just something you have to accept."
"No, no," Karl shook his head. "We're moving you up the list, Dream's been on the phone with UNOS."
"Karl, your life can't stop because of me," George exclaimed. "You can't live in this hospital for the past week because you don't want to go home. And don't bother lying about it, I know your schedule."
"I happen to really like sleeping in the on-call room," Karl said. "And there's better shower pressure here than in my apartment, actually."
"Karl," George called, his eyes sad and filled with pity. "You have to go home. You have to get over it-"
"You're not dying," Karl said adamantly.
"You have a life, go live it," George said. "God, Dream managed to get himself two boyfriends and you-"
"Can you stop with my love life?" Karl interrupted. "I don't want-"
Karl didn't need to finish that sentence. He doesn't want to finish that sentence. It was an unspoken statement that the two of them knew but chose to skillfully ignore despite the rest of the hospital, maybe even the rest of the world, known to be the truth.
Doctor Karl Jacobs made a mistake and chose to fall in love with someone with a broken heart.
"Can we please just watch a movie?" Karl pleaded. "Any movie? I don't even care at this point."
Karl Jacobs wasn't the only one who made a mistake. George Davidson, despite his best efforts at keeping people in arms-length in fear of leaving them far too soon, didn't do such a good job at rejecting the young doctor with the weird sense of humor and relentless attitude.
"Go get that popcorn," George replied.
Karl nodded slowly before leaving to get their movie snacks.
If you've ever felt something was coming -an impending doom just over the horizon- if you've ever watched any videos or movies that show you the seconds before a disaster and you feel the unease in the pit of your stomach, then you know exactly how Karl and George felt.
About a week ago, George started crashing. It was completely out of the blue, randomly while he was trying to get some work done on his laptop at 4 in the afternoon. Karl wasn't sure what happened, no one was. Not even Dream. Truth is, there was no explanation.
The clock was ticking. With every passing day, George's heart grows weaker.
Karl could probably try to put two brain cells together and make sense of the diagnosis Dream gave George. He could probably stand there and try to remember something from the cardio folder in his brain from his years in medical school before he got into his specialty. None of that happened.
All Karl knew was that when Dream got that page, both he and Dream sprinted across the hospital.
And when they got there, Karl thought that he may have needed a crash cart for himself. His heart stopped and he couldn't breathe. All he could remember was being pushed aside and dragged away.
George was alright a few hours later. As alright as someone who was soon told that he didn't have much time left. Weeks, maybe a month or two if he was lucky.
Karl hasn't gone home since.
And maybe there was a reason for it too.
"Only the best chocolate pudding for the best British congenital heart disease patient on the floor," Karl said dramatically.
"I'm the only one that matches that description, wow," George replied sarcastically. "Am I really the best?"
"In my eyes you are," Karl winked.
George doesn't have the energy to fight it anymore, resorting to a smile of endearment as he shifted to one side of his bed.
"No, I can sit on the chair," Karl told him as he placed the food down on the tray.
"Karl, we have this fight every movie night, get on the bed," George said sternly.
Karl tried to hide his smile, he really did, but George could see his little smirk as he got onto the bed, arms settling behind George's head, wrapping around his shoulders. They didn't cuddle every day, but George, in all his cold and stoic exterior, after a while was also not immune to the Karl Jacobs charm. They got closer, every day a little bit closer.
As much as George pretended to be against the movie nights that Karl plans, it didn't stop him from finding the movie on whichever streaming service it came on and setting it up on his laptop. Maybe that's why Karl knew that he could keep pestering him.
It wasn't a rare occurrence and either or both of them fell asleep before the movie ended. George was too comfortable in Karl's arms while Karl had the whole day's exhaustion on his eyes. So yeah, at the end of the night, George was fast asleep, his head resting against Karl's shoulder while Karl's head was on top of George's. Both of them snored softly.
No one could ever prepare you for the scariest moment of your life.
It doesn't matter if Karl had spent years in the medical field. Even before he got into his specialty, Karl has seen his fair share of gruesome injuries from mass casualty traumas and accidents during his runs in the emergency room. Karl has lost patients before, that's a side effect of being in oncology. Karl has seen them fall asleep only to never wake up, stand by their bedside, and heard the cries of their families.
Nothing could've prepared him for this.
Karl woke up to the sound of George's heart monitor flatlining.
There was no time to be confused, nor was he actually confused. He was expecting it. He's been worried, stressed, and dreading this for the past week. He knew that sound, it's been plaguing his nightmares.
George was dying in his arms.
"George," Karl called out, immediately getting up and upright. "Call a code blue, page cardio, and get a crash cart in here, now!" He yelled out.
It must have been close to midnight, the halls were quiet aside from the few night staff but in an instant, everything came to life. People were running into the room, preparing for intubation, taking out the paddles from the defibrillator. Karl was on top of George, his hands on George's chest compressing it repeatedly.
"Come on, come on," Karl chanted under his breath. "You can't do this, you can't do this to me, not now, not like this."
"Karl let me take over compressions," A familiar voice said behind him, a hand on his shoulders tugging him back.
"I'm fine," Karl barked, shrugging the arm off harshly. "I got it."
"Karl," Sapnap was more stern this time, forcibly pulling him back.
Karl struggled against him so much so that Sapnap had to physically restrain Karl, leaving Techno to step in with the compression.
"Let go of me Sapnap," Karl yelled. "I can help, I can-"
"Against popular belief, I am actually a wonderful cardiothoracic surgeon," Techno replied, his hand didn't stop compressing George's chest onto the beat. "Push one of epi," He said to the nurse next to him. "I already paged Dream, he's on his way. Now leave," He went back to address Karl.
Karl didn't even realize the adrenaline rushing through his body until Sapnap left him in the hallway and it took all of him to stop his hands from shaking. He doesn't know when he'd started crying or when he ended up on the floor, his back against the nurses' station.
"Hey, hey," Punz's voice was calm and gentle as he knelt on the ground next to Karl. "You're okay, you're okay."
Techno and Sapnap had pulled George out of his room and to the first available operating room. Dream, who Karl guessed was the reason Punz was here, was sprinting across the halls to head to that same operating room. Karl felt numb and helpless, like a ragdoll that couldn't stand on his own.
He let himself be held by Punz, pulled slowly up to his feet, and sat down in the waiting room closest to the OR. There were no words, no questions. He didn't know what procedures were happening, who was doing what to George. He didn't want to know. He just wanted George to be okay.
Twenty-six hours later Karl woke up in an on-call room.
It was both the combination of distress of George flatlining in his arms and also the fact that he'd barely had any sleep having lived in the hospital for the past week. It didn't take him too long to run out of the room frantically only to immediately collide with Punz.
"Watch it," Punz said, both his hands on steadying Karl.
"Where- where-" Karl stuttered. "Punz, is he- Punz, why didn't you wake me? Where-"
"George is in the ICU," Punz told him and Karl stopped, gulping.
"He's-" Karl sobbed. "He's alive?"
"Yes, but- Hang on, hang on, before you run off-" Punz said firmly, holding him in place even though the brunette was already struggling to get to the ICU.
"What, what?" Karl asked harshly.
"You might wanna talk to Dream first," Punz told him. "Trust me."
The look in Punz's eyes told him that it was less ominous and more hopeful. So Karl ran as fast as he could to the ICU where he saw Dream and Techno both standing on the door of a bay. Techno walked in and gave him a nod before leaving the ICU. Karl arrived at the bed, George's bed to be exact.
"Hey stupid," George said slowly, a smile plastered across his face even though Karl could tell he was exhausted.
"Punz told me to-" Karl said to Dream though his eyes stayed on George like he was too scared to look away. "Punz told me to talk to you."
"Well actually," Dream hummed proudly. "You wanna tell him?" He asked.
"Tell me what?" Karl asked nervously.
"A miracle happened when you were sound asleep," George said, his hand slowly went up to the collar of his robe and pulled it down to reveal a scar up the middle of his chest currently covered in gauze and medical tape. "Guess who got a call from UNOS."
"No," Karl gasped.
"Well, he was deteriorating fast, and I called UNOS again and he got moved up the list and there was a patient heart from Baptist that got reassigned-" Dream explained but Karl had already begun sobbing again. "Sapnap and Techno managed to keep him alive on bypass while I got on the chopper and retrieved the heart."
It was like a wave of relief washing over Karl's body, a breathy laugh escaped his lips that he quickly stopped by covering it with his hands. He was crying, tears blurring his vision as he looked at a gleaming George. That exhaustion was thankfully from a very successful transplant.
George woke up. That was the most important thing in his life right now.
"I'll leave you to it," Dream said, patting Karl on the back softly, nodding at George before finally leaving them alone.
George had bore IVs coming out of his body, but he still shifted to one side of the bed, creating a space on his bed for Karl, but Karl stood there frozen. His eyes were a little wide, staring rigidly at the bed, not moving a single inch forward.
"What's wrong?" George asked lightheartedly. "Are you only into sick and terminally ill patients? That's messed up."
"The last time-" Karl breathed out slowly. "The last time I held you, you died in my arms."
George inhaled sharply, nodding. Very few people in this world would ever understand the feeling of losing one of the most important people in your world in your very arms. Karl was one of them.
"That was with the old heart," George replied lightly. "I've got a new one."
"And uhm-" Karl gulped. "Are you- Planning to do something with it?"
"Yeah," George answered. "I was thinking of taking it on a test run. Watch a couple of horror movies, get the blood and adrenaline pumping," He chuckled a little. "It would be a change of pace to your movie nights."
"Right, right," Karl said, still jittering in his shoes. "Your heart's no longer broken. You could do other things with it."
"That's true," George agreed.
"Yeah," Karl said awkwardly.
"Oh my god," George rolled his eyes. "Would you just get over here so I can kiss you?"
Karl laughed, god he could not stop laughing even if he tried. He walked over, sitting next to George like he's done dozens of times before, placing his arm around George's shoulders, carefully navigating around the IV lines. George smiled up at him and pressed his lips softly against Karl.
Their lips moved slow and tender, the kiss sweeter than either of them have ever tasted before. It was the smiles cracking through the corner of their lips, the little giggles under their breaths. George linked his hand with Karl's, intertwining their fingers together. And when they pulled away, George whispered.
"Thank you for saving my life," George said.
"That was me, asshole," Sapnap called out from outside of the room. "He didn't do jack shit."
"Leave us alone Sapnap," Karl yelled through his laughter.
"I love you," George confessed.
Boy, if you'd told Karl three months ago that George would ever say that back to him, let alone say it first, he would've sent you to the ER for an inspection. But right now, right this instant, he knew it to be true.
"I love you too," Karl replied before kissing George once again.
"Hey Karl," Sapnap said, though Karl didn't stop kissing George. "I hope you're not too mad at me for giving you a sedative so that you'll sleep through the transplant. I just don't know why you slept for way too long, I could've sworn I gave you the right dosage."
Karl pulled away from George who could only giggle as he gave Sapnap a peek over Karl's shoulder. Karl didn't turn to look at Sapnap, only closing his eyes and inhaling a deep breath.
"I'm gonna kill him," Karl said to George.