(for ridzithenerd) to save a life ✸ part 1 of 2
❊ for: ridzithenerd
❊ title: to save a life
❊ pairings: kai/d.o, implied!chanyeol/baekhyun
❊ rating: pg13
❊ warnings: blood, violence, gun use, minor character death, slight angst, Kris
❊ word count: 10,095
❊ summary: Kyungsoo works so hard to save other people that he didn't ever think that maybe he was the one that needed saving, in the end.
❊ a/n: Ahh okay first I just want to disclaim that my medical knowledge is pretty limited, so I tried my absolute hardest to research on everything I talked about but if I'm not accurate in some parts then I'm really sorry about that! And sorry that the ending is kinda rushed/messy, I was trying to finish asap hehe >.<
To my recipient, I know this kind of doesn't completely revolve around the (1st) prompt, but I tried to stretch it out as much as possible, and I sincerely hope you enjoy what I came up with~ :D
And to Kaisoommer Mods~ Thank you so much for being so nice and flexible with me and my horrible time management - I really appreciate it. You guys are all so awesome with what you do and how you do it so seriously thanks for that~! ^ ^
(And yes, super creative title, I know)
The heavy rain thundering down onto the windshield of Kyungsoo’s car is a welcome distraction to the fear he feels at being caught in a thunderstorm so late at night. Storms in general make him extremely nervous, but being out in one at the dead of midnight after an exhausting twelve hour shift (not to mention the overtime) at the hospital is definitely not his idea of a good time. With a pattering heartbeat that matches the pace of the water droplets pelting onto his small car, Kyungsoo tries to frantically speed home as quickly as the slippery roads allow him. While he’s driving the tires occasionally lose traction of the road, and every single time, he feels his breath quicken at the temporary loss of control. Kyungsoo hastily glances at the roadsigns as he drives by and sighs a little in relief. Almost there.
The nineteen year old practical nurse is glad to be on his way home from work, but he would just prefer if it were not during the middle of the night in the midst of a heavy rainstorm. The hospital he works at being thirty minutes away is also not a huge help, so he’s glad when the industrial style buildings change into the residential brick houses of his relatively small town. At least Kyungsoo feels like he can breathe easier once the familiar streets come into view and there isn’t long left until he reaches his apartment complex, only thinking about his bed that’s waiting for him. His speed decreases considerably when he notices the rain flooding the roads and building up in the side ditches that are overflowing as well, slightly fearing for his life when his car hydroplanes for a few seconds once again.
With hands gripping the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles are white, Kyungsoo makes the final decision that maybe driving in this weather is not really an option at the moment if he wishes to continually live on this planet. He slows to a stop at the side of the road, right next to the rain ditch that leads to the back end of a park with a few scattered trees around. Kyungsoo remembers playing in the field and climbing the trees of this park when he was younger, but right now as he stares at the dark field, the memories provide no comfort as the rain keeps pelting down and the thunder rumbles angrily not too far away. By this point, Kyungsoo is panting again, trying to keep his panic of being caught in this nasty storm at bay, but to no avail. He jumps when lightning flashes suddenly, lighting up the whole park to his right, followed by a clap of thunder so ominous that it makes him shiver visibly. But then Kyungsoo has to shake his head and remind himself to stop being such a big baby. It’s just thunder. It’s just a storm. Nothing to worry about .
Except the self-assurance doesn’t really work as he twitches in his seat when there’s another flash of lightning, and this time when Kyungsoo looks into the field, he notices a shadowy figure lying on the ground a few meters away from him past a cluster of trees. He would have never noticed it if not for the blinding lightning setting the entire area alight, and his first thought is that there’s a wild animal there, waiting in the shadows to run out and attack him. But then there’s another flash of lightning and Kyungsoo realizes it’s a person lying there in the muddied grass, and if not for the realization, he almost wants to laugh at himself for thinking it was an animal. He wonders if he should call someone about the seemingly lifeless body in the park, but when he checks his phone he sees that there’s not signal anyway. The teenager glances around quickly, hoping maybe a car could be driving by to offer him assistance, but then he stupidly thinks that only an idiot would be driving this late at night in as violent weather as this.
Another bolt of lightning zaps across the sky and with Kyungsoo intently staring at the spot where he saw the body, there’s no mistaking the sudden shift of the person lying on the ground, as if reacting to the crack of thunder that rings all around them. It’s in that moment that Kyungsoo’s nursing training finally kicks in, and he realizes this person must be badly injured, or worse, if they can’t even get up from the dirt to get away from the terrible weather.
Leaving the lights of his car on to offer some semblance of light in the murky dark of the night, Kyungsoo shakily undoes his seatbelt after finding an emergency torch in the glove compartment, slowly stepping out of the car with trembling legs at the thought of what might await him across the ditch in the trees.
Slowly, blue scrubs already completely soaked in rainwater, Kyungsoo makes his way to the person and realizes with a jolt that it’s actually a man. Or more of a boy, who looks about his own age. He’s dressed in only a white t-shirt and shorts, with bruises littering ever expanse of skin he can see and two small pools of blood trailing from - were those bullet holes?! - in his chest. And he fleetingly thinks that if the man is not deceased already by the multiple wounds he’d been inflicted upon, then hypothermia will surely get him instead.
Kyungsoo is used to seeing injured, bloody people everyday in his line of work, but he can’t help but feel a little queasy at the sight before him. The thought that someone would inflict these kinds of serious injuries on someone else and then dump them in a random place to die is absolutely sickening to him. And that’s when Kyungsoo becomes completely determined to do everything in his power to help this poor guy.
The boy on the ground suddenly lets out a groan, and Kyungsoo jumps at the sound, shocked that a person in this bad a state could still be living and breathing. He cautiously leans down on his knees beside the other, shining his light so he can see all of him, trying to assess his breathing and if it would be a bad to move him somewhere safer until he could call for help. The hurt guy decides for him as his shaky inhales and exhales cause more blood to flow from the bullet wounds on his torso, making the white shirt stain in a gruesome maroon colour. So, moving him would definitely be a bad idea. The boy on the ground suddenly opens his eyes, gaze piercing straight through Kyungsoo’s, and the latter tries not to whimper at the hard look he receives. Slowly, he opens his mouth, wincing in obvious pain, and Kyungsoo realizes he’s trying to talk to him.
“Y-you-” The bruised boy lifts a shaky hand and Kyungsoo just stares at it dumbly, not sure what the other is asking of him. After a few seconds of this, Kyungsoo realizes that the best idea is to probably offer the boy some help, and not waste away seconds of his life that could mean the difference between life or death for him.
“My name is Do Kyungsoo. I found you on the side of the road. You’ve been hurt really badly. I can’t get a signal right now, but when I do, I’m going to call an ambulance, okay?” At his words, the boy’s eyes widen and he tries to vehemently shake his head, only succeeding in putting himself through even more agony at the action. “N-no ambulance. No hos-hospital.”
Kyungsoo frowns at the other, completely dumbfounded that a person in this critical of a condition wouldn’t want help. He gasps when more blood soaks through the injured boy’s shirt, “Look, you’re losing a lot of blood, you need a doctor, now.”
The boy still shakes his head, more gently now but just as serious in his statement. “Please, help me. But no hospitals. No hos…” His words fade away as his head lolls back, completely out cold.
Kyungsoos stares wide-eyed at the other male, trying to figure out how the hell he’s going to help an almost-dead boy without taking him to a hospital. He wanted to help as much as possible to save this boy, but he didn’t want to disrespect his wish of not being treated at a proper facility. Kyungsoo looks at the unconscious figure, and then looks back at his car.
This was going to be a long night.
[-]
Lugging the injured boy into the car is a surprisingly easy feat because he turns out to be pretty light, and Kyungsoo tries not to grimace at the fact that it’s probably because he lost a lot of blood from his injuries. The hard part about it is trying to keep his car seat clean of any blood stains, just as it is difficult for Kyungsoo to not jostle the boy around too much whilst he drives as fast as humanly possible in the stormy weather (which is thankfully finally letting up some). When he finally pulls up to his small apartment complex, the hurt boy is slowly stirring awake.
“Wh-where am I?” Kyungsoo looks over at the other, round eyes staring in worry when the boy shakes his head in confusion.
“You’re at my house, I’m going to help you, alright?” The nursing student tries to explain calmly when the boy looks like more and more alarmed by the second.
Kyungsoo carefully pulls the boy into his arms with a hand on his waist and his uninjured arm pulled over his shoulders. Together they hobble into his house and the nineteen year old slowly sits the other down on his couch and then gently lies him down after placing a few towels from his closet onto the cushions. Pulling out his first-aid kit and anything else he might need to help, Kyungsoo feels his medical training instincts take over when he notices that the bleeding on the other’s chest for the most part has stopped. He quickly cuts away his shirt and staunches the rest with a clean, wet towel. At this point, the injured boy has passed out again, and Kyungsoo is secretly grateful because it means helping him will be less painful for the both of them.
He quickly sets to work on healing the injured boy; wiping down the bloody cuts with alcohol wipes before and applying ointment to the all the bruises he can find. Kyungsoo tries to focus all of his attention on helping the boy to keep himself from fretting too much about how someone could hurt someone else this horribly and just leave their body in that field. A lot of worrying thoughts wrack the edges of his mind, but Kyungsoo reminds himself that he can’t think about anything else right now other than trying his best to save this poor guy’s life.
Upon further inspection, Kyungsoo finds that only one of the two bullets made it through the other male’s torso completely, so after disinfecting and patching the one up, he pulls out his pair of tweezers from his first-aid kit to tend to the last bullet wound on his left shoulder. The nursing student meticulously pulls out the three fragmented pieces of a 9 millimeter bullet and drops them in a metal bowl. Kyungsoo cleans up the rest of the boy and places his injured arm in a sling so as not to aggravate his shoulder in his sleep and places thick layers of blankets over the other to keep him warm.
He notices that the boy’s eyebrows are furrowed and his cheeks are rosy from the pain he must be enduring, so Kyungsoo kneels down by the edge of the couch, running his fingers through his hair until the other’s forehead smoothens out and his breathing evens. He can’t help but think how young and innocent this person looks, how cruel it is that someone would harm a boy to this extent with the obvious intent to end their life. What a terrible world we live in, Kyungsoo thinks bitterly.
After a while of this, the nurse stands up after confirming that his patient was in a deep sleep. Leaving a bottle of water, two aspirin tablets, and a set of clean bandages (to remind himself to change them tomorrow) on his coffee table for when the other wakes up, he proceeds to clean up the clutter of bloodied towels and bandages, glad to be able to get rid of the mess that he made.
When Kyungsoo later falls into bed after changing out of his bloodied scrubs, completely exhausted, he realizes that he totally forgot about his phobia of storms because he was so focused on helping the poor boy. The thought makes him smile a little. He doesn’t even think about the fact that he’ll have to have a serious conversation with this person about what the hell happened to him, or that the boy might even be dangerous if he did something horrible to have been given those injuries. He doesn’t think about any of this because Kyungsoo’s so drained that he falls asleep almost immediately, mind only on a nameless, injured boy with eyes too intense for such a young face.
[-]
When Kyungsoo wakes up the next morning to the sound of his alarm waking him up for work, he’s suddenly reminded of his little adventure of the previous night and shoots out of bed immediately to check on the injured boy. When he skids into his small living room, however, he’s shell-shocked at what he sees. Or rather, what he doesn’t see.
The hurt boy, the aspirins, and the bandages he left the night before have all disappeared.
Five Years Later
“Mister Do, how come you don’t smile so much?” Kyungsoo looks up from the medical chart of the patient he’s taking care of, only slightly put-off by the random question.
“Is it important to you that I smile more? And I’ve told you before, Yerim, you can just call me Kyungsoo.” He’s at the foot of his nine-year-old’s patient’s bed, more curious than offended as to why the little girl thought that this was the most important issue to address right now.
“I know that, Mister Do. And I just meant that you always have a frowny face, so you should try and smile more so you look happy!” Kyungsoo masks his skepticism well with a small grin aimed to please Yerim. It seems to work somewhat as she beams back in approval, so Kyungsoo shrugs and tries to appease her with a, “Just for you, I’ll smile more so I’ll be less frowny.”
Apparently this is not the answer Yerim was looking for as she shakes her head, “No, you can’t pretend to be happy just for me. You have to find something to smile about, Mister Do, and then you can be happy.” Kyungsoo had to admit, he was pretty impressed with the girl’s logic. And well, maybe she did have a point. It’s not as if Kyungsoo had many things to smile about these days. He supposes working as a nurse in the pediatric ward of the hospital full of sick or injured children can do that to someone.
“Since when did you get so smart, huh?” Kyungsoo puts the girl’s chart back into a bin by the bed and walks around to the side to ruffle her hair, feeling a rush of affection for her when Yerim giggles in response. “I’ve always been smart.” The nurse can’t say he didn’t believe that, having known her for only a week now but already he could easily tell that she was much brighter than the other children her age.
“I guess that is true. And how are you feeling, Miss Kim?” Kyungsoo points to the girl’s leg which was almost completely encased in a plaster cast, purple colour and all (as per Yerim’s request).
“I’m okay I guess, my head still kinda hurts and my leg is just really itchy,” the little girl emphasizes her point by scratching at the hard cast, not succeeding in relieving the itchiness with the action. Kyungsoo can’t help but smile softly at the sight. “Well, I’ll give you a paracetomal for the headache, and maybe I can find a long stick somewhere that you can stick in your cast to make the itchiness go away, okay?” Yerim smiles and nods as Kyungsoo makes sure to watch as she swallows the medicine with some water. He records it all on her medical chart before getting ready to move on to the next patient in his rounds. He stops when Yerim suddenly tugs on his scrub sleeve, worry etched in all of her petite features.
“Is my mommy…Is she better yet?” Kyungsoo silently sighs at the question, knowing it was going to come up sooner or later. He really didn’t want to be the one who had to answer this question for the nine-year-old everyday, but it seemed that Yerim only trusted talking to him. Kyungsoo thinks it’s probably because he was the first one to greet her the day after she came into the intensive care unit with her mother after suffering an awful car crash during a heavy rainstorm.
“She’s still- she’s still asleep. But I’m sure she’ll wake up soon, Yerim. We just have to wait and see,” The nurse tries his hardest to paste a hopeful look on his face, but even without his extensive medical knowledge could he easily tell that the poor girl’s comatose mother was not going to make it for very much longer. Yerim seemed slightly comforted by the other’s words, but Kyungsoo could tell that she was just trying not to get her hopes up. “Do you promise?”
“What?”
“Do you promise that you’ll make her better?” The nurse feels a red flag rise at the girl’s innocent inquisition; he knows he could never guarantee such a thing. He sits down beside her with a sigh and puts his arm around her, like how he remembers his mother used to do to him to comfort him as a child.
“I- I can’t promise you anything. I’m really sorry.”
[-]
Kyungsoo sighs yet again as he paces around the nurse's break room, waiting for the kettle to boil the hot water for his tea. It had been a long morning of rounds, especially because of the conversation he’d had with Yerim earlier. Even though he’s only known the girl for a week, he can’t help but feel some sort of attachment to her, as her situation reminds him so much of his own.
Kyungsoo’s so lost in his thoughts that he doesn’t notice someone entering the break room, but he definitely does notice when said person’s hands land, hard, on both of his shoulders, making him jump at the sudden feeling.
“Baekhyun?! What the hell was that for?” Kyungsoo tries not to show how frazzled is because of it as he glares at his best (and only) friend when the other just cackles at his reaction.
“I was just trying to wake you from your daydreaming, geez. Why’re you so jumpy today anyway? Like, more than usual I mean.” Kyungsoo doesn’t appreciate the insulting tone his friend always seems to use, so his only reaction is to glare harder at the other nurse.
“You’ve got to stop glaring at everyone, Soo. One day your eyes are gonna fall out.” Kyungsoo decides to ignore the other in favour of pouring his tea when the kettle is ready. “Like seriously, how are the kids not afraid of you; you just look permanently angry.” Baekhyun, though Kyungsoo’s best and (sometimes) dearest friend, is also a person that does not know his limits which is proved true as he goes on and on about how Kyungsoo must make all the kids cry because of his scary, thick eyebrows and his soul-staring, round eyes.
“Okay first of all, the children all like me because I am a good nurse, unlike some people,” He grumbles as he sits down and tries to enjoy his tea, though it’s hard to with his friend still in the room.
“Hey, I’m a great nurse! We graduated with our bachelors’ together, didn’t we? What point are you trying to make?” Baekhyun joins him at the table, much to Kyungsoo’s chagrin. It just means he’ll be enduring twenty minutes of his friend talking his ear off about the tall, hot physician he shares a few patients with, and frankly Kyungsoo is not in the mood to hear it.
The younger nurse is ready to tell Baekhyun just as much but then they’re interrupted by a knock on the open break room door. Kyungsoo doesn’t even attempt to hide his glee at the disruption.
“Kyungsoo? I need to talk to you about Kim Yerim. Do you have a moment?” The said nurse looks up to see Doctor Kim Junmyeon, one of the pediatricians he works with, standing by the door with a frown on his face. For the perpetually compassionate doctor, a frown on his face was never a good sign.
Kyungsoo hesitantly approaches him by the door, apprehensive about whatever news Doctor Kim was about to tell him.
The pediatrician cuts right to the chase, not bothering with formalities as the two had worked together long enough to not need them. “As you know, CPS have been visiting Yerim everyday since the accident.”
Of course Kyungsoo knew about it. The Child Protective Services were keeping tabs on the nine-year-old whilst her mother, her only surviving next of kin, was in a coma - obviously unable to take care of her daughter. Kyungsoo also knew that if Yerim's mother were unable to survive through the aftermath of the accident, CPS were going to take her little girl away to a foster home until she could find a proper family. A life Kyungsoo would never wish upon anyone.
Doctor Kim goes on when Kyungsoo nods to show he’s listening. “We’re doing our best to try and get her mother to respond to medication but so far it’s not working. We’re trying our best but it’s not looking good.” The nurse nods grimly at the statement, knowing not much more could be done for the woman at this point. “I know Yerim is most comfortable with you, so I’d like you to keep spending time with her whenever you can. And when it’s time to tell her the news, I think it would be best she hear it from you.” Kyungsoo nods seriously at what the other says, knowing the duties he was being assigned.
“Of course, Doctor.” Kyungsoo quickly excuses himself to back to the break room, sitting down opposite a curious-looking Baekhyun with his head in his palms.
“What was that about?” Of course the other nurse immediately pesters to know what Doctor Kim had been so somber about, having never seen the physician in such a state before.
“I have to tell Yerim that her mother’s dying…will die soon.” Kyungsoo leans his head completely on the table in defeat, the thought of destroying his patient’s whole world forever worrying him beyond belief.
“Hey, it’ll be okay. Like you said; you’re great with kids, and it’s obvious this Yerim girl already adores you, so she’ll trust that they did everything they could to help her mom because you told her they did.” Baekhyun comforts in a rare show of empathy, and Kyungsoo is actually slightly alleviated by his words for once. He nods in thought, mulling over the other’s words. He really does hope that Yerim will eventually come out of this terrible experience with as little damage as possible. Kyungsoo just doesn’t want her to be in pain anymore.
“Hey speaking of trust, you want to do a favour for me?” Baekhyun instantly changes the subject (as usual) and Kyungsoo half thinks he’s doing it to get his mind off of his anxiety over how to speak to Yerim about everything that had been going on. But then again, this was his best friend he’s talking about. There’s never just good intentions behind Baekhyun’s words.
Kyungsoo looks up from where his head had been buried in his arms, deadpan. “What does trust have to do with me doing a favour for you.”
“Well, you trust me and I trust you, so I trust you’ll do a good job covering for my individual rounds later while me and Doctor Park take our dinner breaks together. Sound like a plan?” Baekhyun is already smiling brightly like he knows he’s won the argument, which is something Kyungsoo does not highly appreciate.
“Why would I cover your rounds for you, we’re not even in the same departments.” Kyungsoo just wants to see what is in it for him if he does this for the other, he’s really not bothered about covering rounds for his friend if it means extra time away from his patients to ponder over his Yerim situation.
“Oh, come on, we’re both Registered Nurses we can work any department. What if I bought you lunch everyday for a week, would you do it then?”
“Baekhyun. We get free food anyway. We work here.” Kyungsoo tries to hide his amused snort as the realization finally dawns on his best friend. “But, sure, I’ll do it.”
Baekhyun immediately perks up at this, excitement only dimming slightly when he adds, “But you still owe me. I don’t know what yet but you owe me.”
“…Fine.”
[-]
By the time Kyungsoo is on his way to the last patient of Baekhyun’s rounds, patient clipboard in hand, he’s still not sure what to tell Yerim or how to break the heartbreaking news to her. It had been a long day of running around the pediatrics ward, asking patient after patient questions and administering medication for the most part. The only lively thing that happened was that one of the young boys had difficulty breathing so Kyungsoo was paged for an emergency endotracheal intubation procedure. Just another usual day.
“Good evening, Mr. Kim,” Kyungsoo walks into the private room at the end of the hallway, curious as to who this person could be to be given such special treatment to be put in a location far away from the other patients.
Mr. Kim is sitting up in his bed, a bandage wrapped around his head and his left arm in a sling. The nurse hadn’t expected the younger to look so good-looking, nor as young as he was. Kyungsoo looks over the patient chart and reads that the other was admitted two days prior, having apparently been found battered and bruised near the edge of the city where the hospital is located.
“You’re not Nurse Byun.” Kyungsoo quickly snaps his head up from the chart, slightly flustered that he was so lost in thought that he forgot to introduce himself and address the patient’s injuries.
“Ah, sorry about that Mr. Kim, I’m just a bit distracted today. But I’m Nurse Do, I’m just here today since Nurse Byun was unable to make it,” Kyungsoo quickly turns his professional mode on, offering a polite smile along with his apology.
“Jongin.”
“What?” This time Kyungsoo takes a good look at his patient. He really does seem quite young, perhaps a college student. The nurse couldn’t stop wondering about how he must have ended up in such a bad state, though.
“You can just call me Jongin. And don’t worry about it, I’m sure your job must get pretty hectic sometimes, right?” Kyungsoo can’t really explain the feeling, but he feels almost touched by the patient’s words, since he usually isn’t really acknowledged for the work he does by patients. But then again, all of his patient’s being young children to teenagers was probably the reason for that. Still, the nurse greatly appreciated the sentiment.
“I suppose it does, sometimes. Anyway, on here it says that you dislocated your shoulder and suffered a minor concussion, so how are you feeling at the moment?” Kyungsoo looks back up from the patient chart to see Jongin staring at him in an almost intense manner, and he has to admit it makes him uncomfortable. “Sir?”
The other seemed shaken out of his reverie, but he’s still staring up at the nurse in unmasked interest. “You’re Kyungsoo, right? Do Kyungsoo?” Now Kyungsoo was feeling uneasy at Jongin’s words. He clearly remembers that he never stated his first name before when he introduced himself.
“Um, yes. How do you know my full name? I never said it.”
“Oh, uh, Nurse Byun mentioned you before,” Jongin states quickly. Kyungsoo couldn’t really tell if Jongin was lying or not by looking at the reassuring smile on his face, but he decides to leave it at that.
“And how are you feeling?” The nurse restates his previous question, feeling more than wary in front of Kim Jongin.
“I’m doing alright. Still a little dizzy and sore. Doc says I’m not allowed to move around yet or watch any TV, so I just lay here all day, reading and writing.” Jongin seemed not at all affected by his serious injuries, casually grinning at the other in an overly friendly manner. Kyungsoo briefly wondered if he was this…sociable with all the other nurses and doctors.
“Well, since I’m not your nurse, I can’t give you any painkillers but I’ll make sure that Doctor Park knows so he can administer you some.” Kyungsoo flips his clipboard papers closed, ready to excuse himself, “Any other questions or concerns?”
“Will I see you again tomorrow?” Jongin doesn’t even looked abashed at the blunt question, just keeps staring up at Kyungsoo with that same infuriatingly expectant look on his face.
“…I’m not sure; you’re not my patient so there would be no reason to. Why?”
“Oh, I was just wondering.” The nurse tries not to notice that Jongin almost looks upset at the thought. There’s no way that this handsome, and obviously popular guy would want to spend time with Kyungsoo, a nurse who isn’t even his for that matter.
“But…I can try to drop by after my rounds if you would like that?” The older can’t even say that he regrets proposing the idea as Jongin flashes him a blinding smile with a few vigorous nods, clearly pleased. “Alright, then I’ll see you later. Bye, Jongin, get some rest.” With a grin, a genuine one for once, Kyungsoo exist the room and closes the door, only just hearing Jongin’s “Bye, Kyungsoo!”
The nurse was already feeling apprehensive about their next meeting.
[-]
When Kyungsoo walks through Jongin’s room door the next day, he’s surprised to see him struggling to get out of bed with a determined look on his face.
“What are you doing? You’re not supposed to move around yet, you have a concussion, you know,” Kyungsoo rushes to his side and tries to get the patient to sit down again, only to have Jongin wave his help away.
With an insistent shake of his head, the other tries standing up again. Just as he’s about to tip over from dizziness, Kyungsoo quickly pulls his right arm around his neck, and places his other arm around his waist.
“Thanks,” Jongin sounds like just standing up alone is taking a great amount of effort, with the way he’s panting and heaving afterwards. “I just wanted to stretch my legs for once. Staying in that bed all day is like torture for me.” Together they take a few steps around the private room, Kyungsoo making sure the other doesn’t suddenly collapse from dizziness.
“You know, I really wouldn’t recommend this, medically. You could just make your concussion worse,” Kyungsoo looks up at the taller, surprised to see Jongin looking down at him already, the close proximity of their faces making him turn away.
“I just get so restless in hospitals, they’re not exactly my favourite place to be in,” Jongin leans heavily on the other, leading them back to the bed so he can sit down on the edge again. The nurse belatedly realizes that his arm is still around the injured man, so he pulls himself back quickly.
“Well, lucky for you, you’ve got me to keep you company, right?” Kyungsoo jokes with a teasing grin aimed at the other.
He doesn’t expect to look up to see Jongin with an almost shy smile on his face, his right hand rubbing his injured shoulder. “Yeah, lucky for me.”
( part 2 )
❊ title: to save a life
❊ pairings: kai/d.o, implied!chanyeol/baekhyun
❊ rating: pg13
❊ warnings: blood, violence, gun use, minor character death, slight angst, Kris
❊ word count: 10,095
❊ summary: Kyungsoo works so hard to save other people that he didn't ever think that maybe he was the one that needed saving, in the end.
❊ a/n: Ahh okay first I just want to disclaim that my medical knowledge is pretty limited, so I tried my absolute hardest to research on everything I talked about but if I'm not accurate in some parts then I'm really sorry about that! And sorry that the ending is kinda rushed/messy, I was trying to finish asap hehe >.<
To my recipient, I know this kind of doesn't completely revolve around the (1st) prompt, but I tried to stretch it out as much as possible, and I sincerely hope you enjoy what I came up with~ :D
And to Kaisoommer Mods~ Thank you so much for being so nice and flexible with me and my horrible time management - I really appreciate it. You guys are all so awesome with what you do and how you do it so seriously thanks for that~! ^ ^
(And yes, super creative title, I know)
The heavy rain thundering down onto the windshield of Kyungsoo’s car is a welcome distraction to the fear he feels at being caught in a thunderstorm so late at night. Storms in general make him extremely nervous, but being out in one at the dead of midnight after an exhausting twelve hour shift (not to mention the overtime) at the hospital is definitely not his idea of a good time. With a pattering heartbeat that matches the pace of the water droplets pelting onto his small car, Kyungsoo tries to frantically speed home as quickly as the slippery roads allow him. While he’s driving the tires occasionally lose traction of the road, and every single time, he feels his breath quicken at the temporary loss of control. Kyungsoo hastily glances at the roadsigns as he drives by and sighs a little in relief. Almost there.
The nineteen year old practical nurse is glad to be on his way home from work, but he would just prefer if it were not during the middle of the night in the midst of a heavy rainstorm. The hospital he works at being thirty minutes away is also not a huge help, so he’s glad when the industrial style buildings change into the residential brick houses of his relatively small town. At least Kyungsoo feels like he can breathe easier once the familiar streets come into view and there isn’t long left until he reaches his apartment complex, only thinking about his bed that’s waiting for him. His speed decreases considerably when he notices the rain flooding the roads and building up in the side ditches that are overflowing as well, slightly fearing for his life when his car hydroplanes for a few seconds once again.
With hands gripping the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles are white, Kyungsoo makes the final decision that maybe driving in this weather is not really an option at the moment if he wishes to continually live on this planet. He slows to a stop at the side of the road, right next to the rain ditch that leads to the back end of a park with a few scattered trees around. Kyungsoo remembers playing in the field and climbing the trees of this park when he was younger, but right now as he stares at the dark field, the memories provide no comfort as the rain keeps pelting down and the thunder rumbles angrily not too far away. By this point, Kyungsoo is panting again, trying to keep his panic of being caught in this nasty storm at bay, but to no avail. He jumps when lightning flashes suddenly, lighting up the whole park to his right, followed by a clap of thunder so ominous that it makes him shiver visibly. But then Kyungsoo has to shake his head and remind himself to stop being such a big baby. It’s just thunder. It’s just a storm. Nothing to worry about .
Except the self-assurance doesn’t really work as he twitches in his seat when there’s another flash of lightning, and this time when Kyungsoo looks into the field, he notices a shadowy figure lying on the ground a few meters away from him past a cluster of trees. He would have never noticed it if not for the blinding lightning setting the entire area alight, and his first thought is that there’s a wild animal there, waiting in the shadows to run out and attack him. But then there’s another flash of lightning and Kyungsoo realizes it’s a person lying there in the muddied grass, and if not for the realization, he almost wants to laugh at himself for thinking it was an animal. He wonders if he should call someone about the seemingly lifeless body in the park, but when he checks his phone he sees that there’s not signal anyway. The teenager glances around quickly, hoping maybe a car could be driving by to offer him assistance, but then he stupidly thinks that only an idiot would be driving this late at night in as violent weather as this.
Another bolt of lightning zaps across the sky and with Kyungsoo intently staring at the spot where he saw the body, there’s no mistaking the sudden shift of the person lying on the ground, as if reacting to the crack of thunder that rings all around them. It’s in that moment that Kyungsoo’s nursing training finally kicks in, and he realizes this person must be badly injured, or worse, if they can’t even get up from the dirt to get away from the terrible weather.
Leaving the lights of his car on to offer some semblance of light in the murky dark of the night, Kyungsoo shakily undoes his seatbelt after finding an emergency torch in the glove compartment, slowly stepping out of the car with trembling legs at the thought of what might await him across the ditch in the trees.
Slowly, blue scrubs already completely soaked in rainwater, Kyungsoo makes his way to the person and realizes with a jolt that it’s actually a man. Or more of a boy, who looks about his own age. He’s dressed in only a white t-shirt and shorts, with bruises littering ever expanse of skin he can see and two small pools of blood trailing from - were those bullet holes?! - in his chest. And he fleetingly thinks that if the man is not deceased already by the multiple wounds he’d been inflicted upon, then hypothermia will surely get him instead.
Kyungsoo is used to seeing injured, bloody people everyday in his line of work, but he can’t help but feel a little queasy at the sight before him. The thought that someone would inflict these kinds of serious injuries on someone else and then dump them in a random place to die is absolutely sickening to him. And that’s when Kyungsoo becomes completely determined to do everything in his power to help this poor guy.
The boy on the ground suddenly lets out a groan, and Kyungsoo jumps at the sound, shocked that a person in this bad a state could still be living and breathing. He cautiously leans down on his knees beside the other, shining his light so he can see all of him, trying to assess his breathing and if it would be a bad to move him somewhere safer until he could call for help. The hurt guy decides for him as his shaky inhales and exhales cause more blood to flow from the bullet wounds on his torso, making the white shirt stain in a gruesome maroon colour. So, moving him would definitely be a bad idea. The boy on the ground suddenly opens his eyes, gaze piercing straight through Kyungsoo’s, and the latter tries not to whimper at the hard look he receives. Slowly, he opens his mouth, wincing in obvious pain, and Kyungsoo realizes he’s trying to talk to him.
“Y-you-” The bruised boy lifts a shaky hand and Kyungsoo just stares at it dumbly, not sure what the other is asking of him. After a few seconds of this, Kyungsoo realizes that the best idea is to probably offer the boy some help, and not waste away seconds of his life that could mean the difference between life or death for him.
“My name is Do Kyungsoo. I found you on the side of the road. You’ve been hurt really badly. I can’t get a signal right now, but when I do, I’m going to call an ambulance, okay?” At his words, the boy’s eyes widen and he tries to vehemently shake his head, only succeeding in putting himself through even more agony at the action. “N-no ambulance. No hos-hospital.”
Kyungsoo frowns at the other, completely dumbfounded that a person in this critical of a condition wouldn’t want help. He gasps when more blood soaks through the injured boy’s shirt, “Look, you’re losing a lot of blood, you need a doctor, now.”
The boy still shakes his head, more gently now but just as serious in his statement. “Please, help me. But no hospitals. No hos…” His words fade away as his head lolls back, completely out cold.
Kyungsoos stares wide-eyed at the other male, trying to figure out how the hell he’s going to help an almost-dead boy without taking him to a hospital. He wanted to help as much as possible to save this boy, but he didn’t want to disrespect his wish of not being treated at a proper facility. Kyungsoo looks at the unconscious figure, and then looks back at his car.
This was going to be a long night.
[-]
Lugging the injured boy into the car is a surprisingly easy feat because he turns out to be pretty light, and Kyungsoo tries not to grimace at the fact that it’s probably because he lost a lot of blood from his injuries. The hard part about it is trying to keep his car seat clean of any blood stains, just as it is difficult for Kyungsoo to not jostle the boy around too much whilst he drives as fast as humanly possible in the stormy weather (which is thankfully finally letting up some). When he finally pulls up to his small apartment complex, the hurt boy is slowly stirring awake.
“Wh-where am I?” Kyungsoo looks over at the other, round eyes staring in worry when the boy shakes his head in confusion.
“You’re at my house, I’m going to help you, alright?” The nursing student tries to explain calmly when the boy looks like more and more alarmed by the second.
Kyungsoo carefully pulls the boy into his arms with a hand on his waist and his uninjured arm pulled over his shoulders. Together they hobble into his house and the nineteen year old slowly sits the other down on his couch and then gently lies him down after placing a few towels from his closet onto the cushions. Pulling out his first-aid kit and anything else he might need to help, Kyungsoo feels his medical training instincts take over when he notices that the bleeding on the other’s chest for the most part has stopped. He quickly cuts away his shirt and staunches the rest with a clean, wet towel. At this point, the injured boy has passed out again, and Kyungsoo is secretly grateful because it means helping him will be less painful for the both of them.
He quickly sets to work on healing the injured boy; wiping down the bloody cuts with alcohol wipes before and applying ointment to the all the bruises he can find. Kyungsoo tries to focus all of his attention on helping the boy to keep himself from fretting too much about how someone could hurt someone else this horribly and just leave their body in that field. A lot of worrying thoughts wrack the edges of his mind, but Kyungsoo reminds himself that he can’t think about anything else right now other than trying his best to save this poor guy’s life.
Upon further inspection, Kyungsoo finds that only one of the two bullets made it through the other male’s torso completely, so after disinfecting and patching the one up, he pulls out his pair of tweezers from his first-aid kit to tend to the last bullet wound on his left shoulder. The nursing student meticulously pulls out the three fragmented pieces of a 9 millimeter bullet and drops them in a metal bowl. Kyungsoo cleans up the rest of the boy and places his injured arm in a sling so as not to aggravate his shoulder in his sleep and places thick layers of blankets over the other to keep him warm.
He notices that the boy’s eyebrows are furrowed and his cheeks are rosy from the pain he must be enduring, so Kyungsoo kneels down by the edge of the couch, running his fingers through his hair until the other’s forehead smoothens out and his breathing evens. He can’t help but think how young and innocent this person looks, how cruel it is that someone would harm a boy to this extent with the obvious intent to end their life. What a terrible world we live in, Kyungsoo thinks bitterly.
After a while of this, the nurse stands up after confirming that his patient was in a deep sleep. Leaving a bottle of water, two aspirin tablets, and a set of clean bandages (to remind himself to change them tomorrow) on his coffee table for when the other wakes up, he proceeds to clean up the clutter of bloodied towels and bandages, glad to be able to get rid of the mess that he made.
When Kyungsoo later falls into bed after changing out of his bloodied scrubs, completely exhausted, he realizes that he totally forgot about his phobia of storms because he was so focused on helping the poor boy. The thought makes him smile a little. He doesn’t even think about the fact that he’ll have to have a serious conversation with this person about what the hell happened to him, or that the boy might even be dangerous if he did something horrible to have been given those injuries. He doesn’t think about any of this because Kyungsoo’s so drained that he falls asleep almost immediately, mind only on a nameless, injured boy with eyes too intense for such a young face.
[-]
When Kyungsoo wakes up the next morning to the sound of his alarm waking him up for work, he’s suddenly reminded of his little adventure of the previous night and shoots out of bed immediately to check on the injured boy. When he skids into his small living room, however, he’s shell-shocked at what he sees. Or rather, what he doesn’t see.
The hurt boy, the aspirins, and the bandages he left the night before have all disappeared.
Five Years Later
“Mister Do, how come you don’t smile so much?” Kyungsoo looks up from the medical chart of the patient he’s taking care of, only slightly put-off by the random question.
“Is it important to you that I smile more? And I’ve told you before, Yerim, you can just call me Kyungsoo.” He’s at the foot of his nine-year-old’s patient’s bed, more curious than offended as to why the little girl thought that this was the most important issue to address right now.
“I know that, Mister Do. And I just meant that you always have a frowny face, so you should try and smile more so you look happy!” Kyungsoo masks his skepticism well with a small grin aimed to please Yerim. It seems to work somewhat as she beams back in approval, so Kyungsoo shrugs and tries to appease her with a, “Just for you, I’ll smile more so I’ll be less frowny.”
Apparently this is not the answer Yerim was looking for as she shakes her head, “No, you can’t pretend to be happy just for me. You have to find something to smile about, Mister Do, and then you can be happy.” Kyungsoo had to admit, he was pretty impressed with the girl’s logic. And well, maybe she did have a point. It’s not as if Kyungsoo had many things to smile about these days. He supposes working as a nurse in the pediatric ward of the hospital full of sick or injured children can do that to someone.
“Since when did you get so smart, huh?” Kyungsoo puts the girl’s chart back into a bin by the bed and walks around to the side to ruffle her hair, feeling a rush of affection for her when Yerim giggles in response. “I’ve always been smart.” The nurse can’t say he didn’t believe that, having known her for only a week now but already he could easily tell that she was much brighter than the other children her age.
“I guess that is true. And how are you feeling, Miss Kim?” Kyungsoo points to the girl’s leg which was almost completely encased in a plaster cast, purple colour and all (as per Yerim’s request).
“I’m okay I guess, my head still kinda hurts and my leg is just really itchy,” the little girl emphasizes her point by scratching at the hard cast, not succeeding in relieving the itchiness with the action. Kyungsoo can’t help but smile softly at the sight. “Well, I’ll give you a paracetomal for the headache, and maybe I can find a long stick somewhere that you can stick in your cast to make the itchiness go away, okay?” Yerim smiles and nods as Kyungsoo makes sure to watch as she swallows the medicine with some water. He records it all on her medical chart before getting ready to move on to the next patient in his rounds. He stops when Yerim suddenly tugs on his scrub sleeve, worry etched in all of her petite features.
“Is my mommy…Is she better yet?” Kyungsoo silently sighs at the question, knowing it was going to come up sooner or later. He really didn’t want to be the one who had to answer this question for the nine-year-old everyday, but it seemed that Yerim only trusted talking to him. Kyungsoo thinks it’s probably because he was the first one to greet her the day after she came into the intensive care unit with her mother after suffering an awful car crash during a heavy rainstorm.
“She’s still- she’s still asleep. But I’m sure she’ll wake up soon, Yerim. We just have to wait and see,” The nurse tries his hardest to paste a hopeful look on his face, but even without his extensive medical knowledge could he easily tell that the poor girl’s comatose mother was not going to make it for very much longer. Yerim seemed slightly comforted by the other’s words, but Kyungsoo could tell that she was just trying not to get her hopes up. “Do you promise?”
“What?”
“Do you promise that you’ll make her better?” The nurse feels a red flag rise at the girl’s innocent inquisition; he knows he could never guarantee such a thing. He sits down beside her with a sigh and puts his arm around her, like how he remembers his mother used to do to him to comfort him as a child.
“I- I can’t promise you anything. I’m really sorry.”
[-]
Kyungsoo sighs yet again as he paces around the nurse's break room, waiting for the kettle to boil the hot water for his tea. It had been a long morning of rounds, especially because of the conversation he’d had with Yerim earlier. Even though he’s only known the girl for a week, he can’t help but feel some sort of attachment to her, as her situation reminds him so much of his own.
Kyungsoo’s so lost in his thoughts that he doesn’t notice someone entering the break room, but he definitely does notice when said person’s hands land, hard, on both of his shoulders, making him jump at the sudden feeling.
“Baekhyun?! What the hell was that for?” Kyungsoo tries not to show how frazzled is because of it as he glares at his best (and only) friend when the other just cackles at his reaction.
“I was just trying to wake you from your daydreaming, geez. Why’re you so jumpy today anyway? Like, more than usual I mean.” Kyungsoo doesn’t appreciate the insulting tone his friend always seems to use, so his only reaction is to glare harder at the other nurse.
“You’ve got to stop glaring at everyone, Soo. One day your eyes are gonna fall out.” Kyungsoo decides to ignore the other in favour of pouring his tea when the kettle is ready. “Like seriously, how are the kids not afraid of you; you just look permanently angry.” Baekhyun, though Kyungsoo’s best and (sometimes) dearest friend, is also a person that does not know his limits which is proved true as he goes on and on about how Kyungsoo must make all the kids cry because of his scary, thick eyebrows and his soul-staring, round eyes.
“Okay first of all, the children all like me because I am a good nurse, unlike some people,” He grumbles as he sits down and tries to enjoy his tea, though it’s hard to with his friend still in the room.
“Hey, I’m a great nurse! We graduated with our bachelors’ together, didn’t we? What point are you trying to make?” Baekhyun joins him at the table, much to Kyungsoo’s chagrin. It just means he’ll be enduring twenty minutes of his friend talking his ear off about the tall, hot physician he shares a few patients with, and frankly Kyungsoo is not in the mood to hear it.
The younger nurse is ready to tell Baekhyun just as much but then they’re interrupted by a knock on the open break room door. Kyungsoo doesn’t even attempt to hide his glee at the disruption.
“Kyungsoo? I need to talk to you about Kim Yerim. Do you have a moment?” The said nurse looks up to see Doctor Kim Junmyeon, one of the pediatricians he works with, standing by the door with a frown on his face. For the perpetually compassionate doctor, a frown on his face was never a good sign.
Kyungsoo hesitantly approaches him by the door, apprehensive about whatever news Doctor Kim was about to tell him.
The pediatrician cuts right to the chase, not bothering with formalities as the two had worked together long enough to not need them. “As you know, CPS have been visiting Yerim everyday since the accident.”
Of course Kyungsoo knew about it. The Child Protective Services were keeping tabs on the nine-year-old whilst her mother, her only surviving next of kin, was in a coma - obviously unable to take care of her daughter. Kyungsoo also knew that if Yerim's mother were unable to survive through the aftermath of the accident, CPS were going to take her little girl away to a foster home until she could find a proper family. A life Kyungsoo would never wish upon anyone.
Doctor Kim goes on when Kyungsoo nods to show he’s listening. “We’re doing our best to try and get her mother to respond to medication but so far it’s not working. We’re trying our best but it’s not looking good.” The nurse nods grimly at the statement, knowing not much more could be done for the woman at this point. “I know Yerim is most comfortable with you, so I’d like you to keep spending time with her whenever you can. And when it’s time to tell her the news, I think it would be best she hear it from you.” Kyungsoo nods seriously at what the other says, knowing the duties he was being assigned.
“Of course, Doctor.” Kyungsoo quickly excuses himself to back to the break room, sitting down opposite a curious-looking Baekhyun with his head in his palms.
“What was that about?” Of course the other nurse immediately pesters to know what Doctor Kim had been so somber about, having never seen the physician in such a state before.
“I have to tell Yerim that her mother’s dying…will die soon.” Kyungsoo leans his head completely on the table in defeat, the thought of destroying his patient’s whole world forever worrying him beyond belief.
“Hey, it’ll be okay. Like you said; you’re great with kids, and it’s obvious this Yerim girl already adores you, so she’ll trust that they did everything they could to help her mom because you told her they did.” Baekhyun comforts in a rare show of empathy, and Kyungsoo is actually slightly alleviated by his words for once. He nods in thought, mulling over the other’s words. He really does hope that Yerim will eventually come out of this terrible experience with as little damage as possible. Kyungsoo just doesn’t want her to be in pain anymore.
“Hey speaking of trust, you want to do a favour for me?” Baekhyun instantly changes the subject (as usual) and Kyungsoo half thinks he’s doing it to get his mind off of his anxiety over how to speak to Yerim about everything that had been going on. But then again, this was his best friend he’s talking about. There’s never just good intentions behind Baekhyun’s words.
Kyungsoo looks up from where his head had been buried in his arms, deadpan. “What does trust have to do with me doing a favour for you.”
“Well, you trust me and I trust you, so I trust you’ll do a good job covering for my individual rounds later while me and Doctor Park take our dinner breaks together. Sound like a plan?” Baekhyun is already smiling brightly like he knows he’s won the argument, which is something Kyungsoo does not highly appreciate.
“Why would I cover your rounds for you, we’re not even in the same departments.” Kyungsoo just wants to see what is in it for him if he does this for the other, he’s really not bothered about covering rounds for his friend if it means extra time away from his patients to ponder over his Yerim situation.
“Oh, come on, we’re both Registered Nurses we can work any department. What if I bought you lunch everyday for a week, would you do it then?”
“Baekhyun. We get free food anyway. We work here.” Kyungsoo tries to hide his amused snort as the realization finally dawns on his best friend. “But, sure, I’ll do it.”
Baekhyun immediately perks up at this, excitement only dimming slightly when he adds, “But you still owe me. I don’t know what yet but you owe me.”
“…Fine.”
[-]
By the time Kyungsoo is on his way to the last patient of Baekhyun’s rounds, patient clipboard in hand, he’s still not sure what to tell Yerim or how to break the heartbreaking news to her. It had been a long day of running around the pediatrics ward, asking patient after patient questions and administering medication for the most part. The only lively thing that happened was that one of the young boys had difficulty breathing so Kyungsoo was paged for an emergency endotracheal intubation procedure. Just another usual day.
“Good evening, Mr. Kim,” Kyungsoo walks into the private room at the end of the hallway, curious as to who this person could be to be given such special treatment to be put in a location far away from the other patients.
Mr. Kim is sitting up in his bed, a bandage wrapped around his head and his left arm in a sling. The nurse hadn’t expected the younger to look so good-looking, nor as young as he was. Kyungsoo looks over the patient chart and reads that the other was admitted two days prior, having apparently been found battered and bruised near the edge of the city where the hospital is located.
“You’re not Nurse Byun.” Kyungsoo quickly snaps his head up from the chart, slightly flustered that he was so lost in thought that he forgot to introduce himself and address the patient’s injuries.
“Ah, sorry about that Mr. Kim, I’m just a bit distracted today. But I’m Nurse Do, I’m just here today since Nurse Byun was unable to make it,” Kyungsoo quickly turns his professional mode on, offering a polite smile along with his apology.
“Jongin.”
“What?” This time Kyungsoo takes a good look at his patient. He really does seem quite young, perhaps a college student. The nurse couldn’t stop wondering about how he must have ended up in such a bad state, though.
“You can just call me Jongin. And don’t worry about it, I’m sure your job must get pretty hectic sometimes, right?” Kyungsoo can’t really explain the feeling, but he feels almost touched by the patient’s words, since he usually isn’t really acknowledged for the work he does by patients. But then again, all of his patient’s being young children to teenagers was probably the reason for that. Still, the nurse greatly appreciated the sentiment.
“I suppose it does, sometimes. Anyway, on here it says that you dislocated your shoulder and suffered a minor concussion, so how are you feeling at the moment?” Kyungsoo looks back up from the patient chart to see Jongin staring at him in an almost intense manner, and he has to admit it makes him uncomfortable. “Sir?”
The other seemed shaken out of his reverie, but he’s still staring up at the nurse in unmasked interest. “You’re Kyungsoo, right? Do Kyungsoo?” Now Kyungsoo was feeling uneasy at Jongin’s words. He clearly remembers that he never stated his first name before when he introduced himself.
“Um, yes. How do you know my full name? I never said it.”
“Oh, uh, Nurse Byun mentioned you before,” Jongin states quickly. Kyungsoo couldn’t really tell if Jongin was lying or not by looking at the reassuring smile on his face, but he decides to leave it at that.
“And how are you feeling?” The nurse restates his previous question, feeling more than wary in front of Kim Jongin.
“I’m doing alright. Still a little dizzy and sore. Doc says I’m not allowed to move around yet or watch any TV, so I just lay here all day, reading and writing.” Jongin seemed not at all affected by his serious injuries, casually grinning at the other in an overly friendly manner. Kyungsoo briefly wondered if he was this…sociable with all the other nurses and doctors.
“Well, since I’m not your nurse, I can’t give you any painkillers but I’ll make sure that Doctor Park knows so he can administer you some.” Kyungsoo flips his clipboard papers closed, ready to excuse himself, “Any other questions or concerns?”
“Will I see you again tomorrow?” Jongin doesn’t even looked abashed at the blunt question, just keeps staring up at Kyungsoo with that same infuriatingly expectant look on his face.
“…I’m not sure; you’re not my patient so there would be no reason to. Why?”
“Oh, I was just wondering.” The nurse tries not to notice that Jongin almost looks upset at the thought. There’s no way that this handsome, and obviously popular guy would want to spend time with Kyungsoo, a nurse who isn’t even his for that matter.
“But…I can try to drop by after my rounds if you would like that?” The older can’t even say that he regrets proposing the idea as Jongin flashes him a blinding smile with a few vigorous nods, clearly pleased. “Alright, then I’ll see you later. Bye, Jongin, get some rest.” With a grin, a genuine one for once, Kyungsoo exist the room and closes the door, only just hearing Jongin’s “Bye, Kyungsoo!”
The nurse was already feeling apprehensive about their next meeting.
[-]
When Kyungsoo walks through Jongin’s room door the next day, he’s surprised to see him struggling to get out of bed with a determined look on his face.
“What are you doing? You’re not supposed to move around yet, you have a concussion, you know,” Kyungsoo rushes to his side and tries to get the patient to sit down again, only to have Jongin wave his help away.
With an insistent shake of his head, the other tries standing up again. Just as he’s about to tip over from dizziness, Kyungsoo quickly pulls his right arm around his neck, and places his other arm around his waist.
“Thanks,” Jongin sounds like just standing up alone is taking a great amount of effort, with the way he’s panting and heaving afterwards. “I just wanted to stretch my legs for once. Staying in that bed all day is like torture for me.” Together they take a few steps around the private room, Kyungsoo making sure the other doesn’t suddenly collapse from dizziness.
“You know, I really wouldn’t recommend this, medically. You could just make your concussion worse,” Kyungsoo looks up at the taller, surprised to see Jongin looking down at him already, the close proximity of their faces making him turn away.
“I just get so restless in hospitals, they’re not exactly my favourite place to be in,” Jongin leans heavily on the other, leading them back to the bed so he can sit down on the edge again. The nurse belatedly realizes that his arm is still around the injured man, so he pulls himself back quickly.
“Well, lucky for you, you’ve got me to keep you company, right?” Kyungsoo jokes with a teasing grin aimed at the other.
He doesn’t expect to look up to see Jongin with an almost shy smile on his face, his right hand rubbing his injured shoulder. “Yeah, lucky for me.”
( part 2 )