Forever Mangled - NatePat

Matt's POV

I felt my eyes flutter open as I looked around. I was in Nate's living room laying on his couch. The lights had been dimmed slightly and there was no sign of Nate anywhere.

"Was it all just a bad dream?" I thought as I slowly sat up. I rubbed my eyes and went to stretch, wincing a little at the pain I felt in my back.

My eyes widened a bit as I realized why my back hurt. I slowly raised my hand to the side of my head. Sure enough, there was dried blood still there that had dropped down my cheek, but my head had been wrapped in a thick bandage. I looked down at my wrists and saw bandages around them as well.

"Guess it was all real." I thought as I rubbed my back, massaging the sore muscles that had remained so confined for so long. I heard footsteps coming towards me as I looked up to see Nate walking out of the kitchen.

"Oh, you're awake. You sure slept a long time. 7 hours dude! Not that I blame you, you've had a rough time." Nate said, carrying in a tray of hot soup and some bread. "I figured you'd like something hot after not eating for 2 days. The soup Steph made is really good."

He laid the tray in front of me and I quickly began eating, shoving the food down my throat.

"Slow down dude!" Nate scolded, grabbing my hand to slow me down. "You're gonna choke."

I felt a pang of fear at him grabbing my wrist and quickly pried my arm away from him and curled up in a ball, slowly rocking myself back and forth.

I heard Nate gasp as he quickly leaned away from me.

"I-I'm sorry Matt," he quickly apologized, looking down as though he was a child that had got caught stealing sweets before dinner. "You're probably still jumpy from what happened."

"It's ok," I said, slowly uncurling myself and going back to eating again, slowing down this time.

There was an awkward silence again while I finished my meal. Once I was done, I looked up at Nate and saw that he was already looking me.

"Hey." He said, giving me a side-mouthed smile.

"Hey." I repeated back, beckoning him to come closer to sit with me on the couch.

He stood up from his spot on the floor and sat next to me. He seemed really nervous to touch me so I made the first move and wrapped my arms around him. He immediately followed suit as we hugged each other tightly.

"Is it morning already?" I asked, unsure what time it was. I'd lost track of time and the days since I'd be kidnapped.

"Afternoon actually", Nate corrected. "I freed you in the early hours of the morning. You pretty much passed out immediately once we got upstairs and you slept in my arms for a while. Once it got a bit darker outside, I laid you down on the couch to rest a little more and I went to make you something to eat. It's was good the soup was still in the fridge from before yo- ...well, before what happened...."

More silence filled the room as we sat there thinking for a while.

"Thanks for saving me Nate. I'm so glad you're back and that this whole mess is over." I said, breaking the silence and squeezing Nate tighter. "What made that....th-that thing let you come back?"