Chapter Text
Foggy woke up screaming, but no sound came out.
“Foggy. Don’t try to talk. There’s a lot of... damage. Just squeeze my hand, ok?”
Foggy squeezed Matt’s hand, and Matt let out the breath he was holding.
“That’s great. How about one squeeze for yes, two for no?”
Another squeeze.
“Do you want me to go get your mom? She’s in the waiting room outside.”
Two squeezes.
“Ok. I’ll stay for a while.”
“Are you in pain?”
One squeeze.
“There’s call button by your other hand. You can call the nurse and they’ll come check on your meds, ok?”
One squeeze. Foggy reached around until he found the call button.
“It looks like his lungs weren’t damaged. His mouth and throat were severely burnt and we had to remove what was left of his tongue, so he may not be able to swallow.”
Foggy’s mom had left the room halfway through the doctor’s explanations, but Matt stayed in the corner, looking away from everyone but still asking questions in an even tone.
“When will he be able to breathe on his own?”
“His trachea was also burnt by the acid, so we’re waiting to let it heal. It’s likely that he will continue to need the vent at night for some time to avoid aspirating anything in his sleep.”
“How much more surgery will he need?”
“If everything keeps healing nicely then there will just be some plastic surgery for his lips. If there’s not too much damage to the underlying muscles he might be able to speak understandably after speech therapy. We will just have to wait and see.”
Matt clenched his hands around his cane. It wasn’t until he went home hours later that he started breaking things and sobbing.