Medication (boyxboy)

Epilogue

It took two long months and a lot of encouragement from Ashton for Daniel to be able to talk to CJ again.

It was completely too long for both boys. CJ had no clue why Daniel wouldn't talk to him, and although he tried very hard to control himself he found himself asking Daniel twice a week to speak to him, but he didn't for exactly forty three days (CJ counted). Meanwhile, Daniel just wanted to talk to CJ and be his best friend again, but he simply wasn't emotionally stable enough. Phoenix and Rick both asked him all the time why he wouldn't talk to CJ, but he never answered. Every time they did, Daniel ignored them and let Ashton abruptly change the subject.

Finally, after those two months were up, Daniel texted CJ saying he was okay now, and they could talk. He still wasn't 100% over what happened, but he was coping well and Ashton and Jack both helped him through it.

And after a while, the Hospital Squad (the five boys that had been admitted and released named themselves this) was finally able to meet up. Daniel was going to face CJ in person.

CJ JOHNSON HAS BEEN ADDED TO "THE HOSPITAL SQUAD."

CJ: the hospital squad?

Phoenix: yes that's our group name u got a problem

CJ: no, it's fine lmao

Ashton: hi

CJ: hello?

Daniel: this is Ash, he left 3 days after me and he's hella chill

CJ: alright then. glad to see you're talking to me again (;

CJ: no fuck I meant (: I'm not a fuckboy

Phoenix: hello CJ !

Rick: sup tree man

CJ: sup emo

Rick: wow rude

Ashton: hello Rick + Phoenix

Rick: hi Ash (:

Rick: alright so now that we're all free and getting along we need to meet up, yeah?

Daniel: yeah

CJ: yeah

Ashton: yeah

Phoenix: hell yeah!

Rick: dammit Phoenix you ruined the yeah train

Phoenix: ):

Rick: smh. anyways, what days work for you?

Daniel: I have no plans this week whatsoever lmao

Phoenix: ^

CJ: ^

Ashton: ^

Daniel: wow I'm popular

Rick: I got shit to do Monday, but I'm free otherwise

Phoenix: Friday?

Rick: that works

Daniel: I'm good with that

CJ: sure thing

Ashton: yeah fam

Rick: then it's settled. Friday! what time and place tho

CJ: my place maybe? you have to meet my brother. my parents finally let me talk to him (:

Phoenix: YAY!! I'm happy for you!!

Rick: holy shit! that's awesome!

Daniel: that's great!

CJ: noon?

Rick: sure

Daniel: yup

Ashton: that's good with me

Phoenix: a'ight

Phoenix: wtf tho you guys are so chill it's always taken 3 years of back and forth making shit up or something to meet up with ONE friend this took  10 minutes

Daniel: we are cooler than all ur friends

Daniel: all of them.

Phoenix: well I knew that.

So, three days later on Friday at noon, the four other boys arrived at CJ's house, excited to see each other again. Phoenix, Rick, and CJ hadn't seen each other much, and Daniel had isolated himself from everyone but Ashton and Jack.

Ashton carpooled with Daniel, and Phoenix arrived right after Rick (they were both five minutes late, but nobody cared).

CJ practically jumped on Rick and Phoenix in "hugs." He went to do the same to Daniel, but stopped himself.

"You okay?" he asked, not wanting to make the shorter boy uncomfortable.

"Yeah, c'mere," Daniel grinned, pulling CJ into a hug that he never wanted to end.

Finally, Daniel let go so CJ could introduce himself to Ashton. They'd spoken via texts of course, but they'd never met in person.

CJ looked Ashton over. He looked a lot better than he did when he was in the hospital. The color had returned to his face, the volume to his brown hair, and he was still ridiculously thin but he didn't look as sick. Of course, CJ didn't see him when he was sick, but he didn't need to either.

"Great to finally meet you," Ashton said with a smile.

"You too," CJ answered. "Anyways, I want you to meet Zak, c'mon."

The boys followed CJ up to Zak's room, where the short brunette was sitting on his bed, reading a book.

Zak looked up and grinned widely. He didn't look at all scared of his brother, just happy to see him.

"Hey Ceej," Zak said.

"Hey," CJ answered.

"Who're they?" Zak asked, looking behind CJ to see the boys.

"Friends from the hospital. This is Daniel, Rick, Phoenix, and Ashton," he pointed to each of them respectively.

The word "friends" stuck itself in Daniel's mind. They weren't boyfriends anymore. They never were, really. In the two months of not talking to him, Daniel (with Ashton's help) was able to accept and deal with that. They were just friends, and Daniel truly and honestly was okay with it.

All four waved and said hello to Zak, happy to see that Zak wasn't in fact cowering away from his brother. There was no reason to keep them separate, because CJ would kill himself before he killed or hurt Zak, and Zak knew that.

And so, after Zak joined them, all six boys were able to laugh with each other and be genuinely happy for the first time in years. Nobody was sad anymore, nobody was sick anymore, and nobody would ever need to go back to the hospital again.