fandom: code blue
pairing: aizawa/shiraishi
summary: haitani has a request and shiraishi can't bring herself to refuse.
a/n: shiraishi's so protective of haitani, so much like a mother and son lol so this happened. And this story might remind you of "Still Too Soon" in my oneshot collection.
"Shiraishi-sensei, can I have some of your time?"
Haitani confirmed there was no one else in the medical office before he gathered his courage to ask the Lifesaving's staff leader something that has been burdening him for a few days now.
"What is it?"
Shiraishi paused from writing some documents and swiveled her chair around to face Haitani, her eyes staring straight at him.
Her eyes seemed curious at first before quickly turned worried as Haitani realized he'd been stammering for a while. Haitani gulped, clenching his fists, still hesitating whether he he could actually dare to ask such a thing.
Was this really okay?
Shiraishi-sensei, wouldn't get mad, right?
"Haitani-sensei, what's wrong?" Shiraishi asked concerned, her voice soft and Haitani felt like running away again.
But it was already at this point, if he didn't ask now he might not be able to catch Shiraishi again alone at a time where no one else was around to hear of his selfish request.
Shiraishi thought she hadn't seen this cowardly side of Haitani in quite a while. "It's okay, Haitani-sensei. Just calm down and take your time."
Her junior took in a deep breath and finally managed to find his voice.
"Actually, there is this senior back from college, and he wanted me to introduce Shiraishi-sensei to him!" He quickly said before he lost his courage again.
Shiraishi wrinkled her eyebrows. "Well, why didn't you bring him here? He can come see me here now, I just have a few documents to look over and I can make some time - "
"T-That's not it!" His voice unintentionally raised and Shiraishi couldn't help but jump a bit. "S-Sorry, Shiraishi-sensei! What I mean is, he wants to get to know you personally, like that."
Shiraishi blinked a few times. "Okay?"
Haitani felt like his heart was going to burst out of his chest already but his staff leader still didn't seem to understand. He guessed it was true Shiraishi was a tad clueless about this topic. It was too bad Shiraishi wasn't already in a relationship or he would have had a solid reason to turn down his senior's request.
"I know Shiraishi-sensei isn't interested in such things but…" Haitani took in another deep breath and continued, "maybe if you could just have one dinner date with him?"
"Date?"
"I-I tried to refuse a number of times but..!" Haitani tried but his voice became small again. "I'm sort of…indebted to this senior. Is it really impossible?"
Haitani squeezed his eyes shut, bracing himself for the rejection. There was no way he could ever ask such a thing again, this was one time. He couldn't bring himself to try convince Shiraishi anymore than this. What should he do now? So far he had been doing a good job of avoiding his senior since he hadn't had the courage to ask Shiraishi until now, not to mention Lifesaving is constantly busy. But one day his senior would catch him off guard and –
" –what do you mean? Who's this senior?"
"He's from the Cardiovascular department in this hospital and two years my senior."
"Then isn't he quite young?"
" He has been…interested in Shiraishi-sensei for a while now." Haitani voiced out nervously. "Somehow, just once please have dinner with him!"
The young fellowship member lowered his head making Shiraishi hesitant to refuse. She was not all that experienced in relationship matters and neither had she been asked to dinner in such a way before.
"I understand. Lift your head, Haitani-sensei. Please email me for details."
Haitani looked up to Shiraishi giving him a reassuring smile and was hit with a huge sense of relief, the burden on his back for a few days now finally seem to be lifted. Suddenly his anxiousness sprouted itself again at a sudden realization.
"P-Please keep it a secret from the other Lifesaving staff!"
This request almost seemed even more desperate than the first. Not that Shiraishi knew why Haitani was being so desperate in the first place. Just one dinner appointment being revealed to some other people wasn't such a big deal. But Haitani must have had his reasons and Shiraishi didn't want to ask further in case he became more anxious.
"Okay, I understand."
"Thank you, Shiraishi-sensei!"
Haitani bowed a couple of times before leaving the office in a hurry. The anxiety that radiated off of him made Shiraishi worry. Maybe she should preach to this younger doctor who was "interested" in her to focusing on his studies and improving his abilities rather than pressuring his juniors to do something as troublesome and unnecessary as this.
She returned to reading the documents on her desk without thinking about the request much further.
