(Aka the chapter everyone figured out what Pinterest prompt I'm using)

Emilio walked into Tobias's room to check his vitals. Three days had passed since the mysterious man had been brought to the hospital. His brother had woken and gone in and out of consciousness, though this wasn't quite unusual for the narcoleptic patient. Another of Tobias's family members had visited and brought a black book. Emilio didn't dare touch it.

He gazed at Tobias, wondering whether he'd wake up or not.

There was a small sound.

Emilio blinked. Had that happened or was it his imagination? He watched for three minutes and when there was nothing more, he dismissed it. He turned back to his work, but listened for more sounds just in case.

A small groan sounded and when Emilio turned back around, he was met with a shocking pair of ice-blue eyes. He found himself unable to contain his gasp of astonishment.

"Tobias? Tobias Schneien?" He asked.

The ebony-haired boy furrowed his brow and croaked, "Yes." Tobias frowned, cleared his throat, and tried again. "Yes," he said, slightly louder but in the same broken voice. He sat up and attempted to pull out his IV, but Emilio rushed in to stop him.

Once he had convinced Tobias to leave the needle in his arm, he said, "You've been unconscious for three days now. Your brother has already woken up. Do you remember what happened?"

"The church caught fire. Did it burn down?"

"No, it's mostly okay."

Tobias didn't look relieved.

Tobi didn't feel relieved.

He had been secretly hoping that maybe if the church was gone, the horrible memories tied to it would be too. But now his throat burned, and his eyes stung, and his lungs ached, and his skin felt raw, red, and painful. And it was all for nothing. He wasn't dead, the church wasn't gone, he was stuck in a hospital with a nurse who looked at him oddly.

He squinted to read the nurse's name tag. It said "Emilio Murkmere" on it.

Emilio has strangely cut black hair and freckles covering his cheeks and nose, and— did he have purple eyes or was it a trick of the light?

Suddenly Tobi remembered something.

"My journal?"

Emilio pointed to a bedside table. Tobi breathes a sigh of relief. Though the dreams were horrible and he hated to be reminded of them, he didn't want to lose his journal.

Emilio handed him the black notebook and he leafed through the pages, searching for any form of damage. Aside from some smudges of dirt and soot, the book was unharmed.

"What is it?" Emilio asked.

"A book," Tobi stated obviously. This nurse already knew too much about him, he decided

Emilio was about to rephrase the question before deciding against it. Tobias just needed a chance to fully recover. His mood would improve then.

Emilio estimated that Tobias only had a few more minutes left before losing consciousness again. He could learn the basics about his patient in that time.

"Quite a few people came to visit you— your siblings," Emilio began. "Do you have a large family?"

"Yes," Tobias responded. Emilio expected him to elaborate. He did not.

"And your brother that was admitted with you, Mattias. Your twin?" Emilio asked.

"No."

"Adopted?"

"No."

"Then your..." Emilio trailed off, hoping Tobias would answer for him.

"Octuplet," Tobi huffed after some time.

Emilio winced. "So seven siblings, then?"

"No."

"How many?"

Tobi sighed in annoyance. "Are you usually this talkative with your patients?" he snapped.

"No," Emilio replied simply, then asked again, "How many siblings?"

"Twenty-three," Tobi answered.

Emilio gave Tobi a look somewhere between astonishment and pity. "Jeez..." Emilio muttered.

Tobi fell out of consciousness shortly thereafter.

Over the next few days, Tobi recovers from his coma. The duration of the time he's awake increases slightly each time he regains consciousness.

Though he never says anything, Emilio is always a bit disappointed whenever Tobi wakes up when it's not his shift. He enjoyed talking to the patient and getting to know him, even if Tobias's responses were often short and sarcastic.

After Tobi had fully recovered, he began dreaming again. And the black notebook was added to once more. Nurses often asked what he was writing. Tobi always ignored them. He was rarely as snippy with the others as he was with Emilio, though. Emilio seemed to take this as a compliment.

In truth, it made him feel special. He liked being the only one Tobias would risk hacking up black mucus just to get a biting remark in for.

One day, Emilio made the mistake of inquiring about the cross-shaped scar on Tobi's back. Tobias's eyes became much icier when filled with anger. Emilio physically shivered when the piercing gaze turned on him. Emilio never dropped a subject when he wanted to know about it. He dropped this one. Tobi hadn't spoken to him the rest of the shift. Emilio never brought up the scar again.

From then on, Emilio avoided deeper questions and instead asked trivial ones such as "Do you own any pets?" (Tobias did not) and "What's your favorite candy?" (Black licorice).

A week and a half had passed since the fire and, though the dynamic never changed, Tobi found himself less and less annoyed by Emilio's presence. It was alarming.

Emilio's shift began and he walked into Tobias's room. He was surprised to see a mound of pillows in place of Tobi's usual ice-blue glare. He stopped in the doorway, looking around in confusion before a cough sounded from underneath the pillows.

"Fight me," Tobi said. It had meant to come out intimidating so that Emilio didn't suspect he wasn't quite so annoyed by him anymore. It didn't.

Emilio merely chuckled and said, "Maybe later."

Tobi huffed bit allowed Emilio to rearrange the pillows in a more comfortable position for him.

A/N Merry Christmas, guys!!! Be proud of me, I woke up at the ass crack of dawn to get this to you. Title from "Hold Me Tight Or Don't" by Fall Out Boy. Sorry this one took so long. They will probably take longer in the future, unfortunately, because school is like "there is no life outside these walls. If you're not doing schoolwork at all hours of the day, you are wasting your pathetic existence." This one's a bit shorter because I've been plagued with some writer's block which I hope to get over very soon. Thanks for reading! I really appreciate the support.