I need a doctor
It only took one brief visit to the hospital for Alfred to become infatuated with Toris.
Okay, maybe infatuated wasn't the right word. It was more like captivated, or intoxicated, or whatever—It didn't matter what anyone called it. All Alfred knew was that he wanted to see more of the doctor, and he wanted to see him soon.
It would be in bad taste to call falling down the stairs a stroke of luck, but with Alfred's bright attitude any small mishap could be contorted into a blessing. It was early in the morning—7 AM, just early enough to shower, eat a quick breakfast, dress, and catch his train, when Alfred clumsily slipped down the stairs and bumped his head against the railing. He didn't let that stop him, though. He got up like a true, American-born man would do, grabbed his briefcase, and headed off to work, his chin held up high in spite of the throbbing pain in the back of his head.
All it took was Alfred passing out at work and his boss yelling at him for being irresponsible and "not taking care of himself", whatever that meant, until he swallowed his pride and hauled himself over to the doctor's office, ashamed of his idiotic (and unheroic) mistake. He kept his head bowed as he entered the waiting room, partially because the bright, fluorescent lights where only aggravating his headache, and partially because he was embarrassed to be there.
"Mr. Alfred Jones?" Alfred looked up as he finally heard a polite, high pitched voice coming from the nurse that was at the counter. "The doctor will see you now! It'll be right this way." The nurse instructed him, gesturing to a small hallway as she held the door open for Alfred with her other hand. Alfred nodded at her with a friendly smile, following her through the hallway and into a smaller, more intimidating white room.
It took another twenty minutes of patiently waiting on the cot before the door finally opened again.
"Hi, Mr. Jones?" A short brunet said, lifting his green eyes up from a clipboard to meet Alfred's. "My name is Toris Laurinaits, and I am the nurse practitioner. The doctor is out today, so I am filling in for him. It's nice to meet you." He enthused, holding out his hand and smiling at him.
Alfred didn't know how to react. He hadn't ever been too scared of the doctor's or needles or syringes or anything like that, so why did he feel so nervous? His heart was beating so intensely that he could feel it in his throat, and as much as he tried to force himself to talk, nothing would come out. Alfred took Toris's hand, shaking it gently as he continued to smile like an idiot.
"H-Hi!" He finally squeaked, quickly blushing as he met his eyes once more. "Hi. My name's Alfred—er, but you already knew that, obviously. Hah." Alfred stuttered, looking away with embarrassment and scratching the back of his neck.
"It's a pleasure to meet you." Toris repeated as he took another glance at his clipboard. "It says here that you bumped your head and that you wanted to get that checked out? What are your symptoms?"
"J-Just… I'm really dizzy, and I have kind of a headache, and also I fainted for like, twenty minutes the other day." Alfred nearly whispered, nervously staring at Toris's long, slender fingers as he wrote the symptoms down on his keyboard. "S-Sorry, I don't know why I'm so anxious!" He blurted out, quickly blushing and bowing his head.
"Don't worry about it! Lots of people your age are scared of the doctor. Don't worry, I probably won't have to give you a shot or anything like that. Can you show me where you hit your head?"
Alfred nodded, pointing to the spot and hunching his shoulders when Toris gently touched it. "I-I'm not scared! I'm just… distracted." He insisted, staring at Toris's legs in the mirror in front of them. If there was any decent time to stare, it would be now, while the object of his attention had his back turned.
Toris nodded, pulling away and jotting down a few short words on his keyboard before looking at Alfred seriously. "Would a joke help make you less nervous?"
"What?"
"Alright, I'll tell you one of my favorites. What did the farmer say when he lost his tractor?"
Alfred looked at Toris, his eyes wide with confusion. "Um… I don't know…?"
"The correct answer is 'where is my tractor?'"
Alfred met his eyes, keeping silent for a second or two before bursting out in raucous laughter. "Oh my god, that's so freaking funny! I totally didn't expect that!"
Toris giggled softly, pressing his hands against Alfred's head once more. "You're the first person to laugh at that joke."
"Haha, yeah, it's a really funny joke! And your accent only makes it funnier—Uh, not that your accent is bad! I just think it's kind of cute. Um, shit, wait," Alfred stuttered, blushing intensely as he looked up at Toris like a kicked puppy. "Th-that's not what I mean! I meant it was… interesting. Your accent was interesting. Where are you from?"
Toris laughed with embarrassment for Alfred's awkwardness, before stepping back and writing a few more things down on his paper. "I'm from Lithuania."
"Never heard of it! Where's that?"
"Most people haven't," Toris said dryly. "It's near Russia."
"Oh, that's cool!"
An awkward, silent minute passed between them as Toris continued the examination, and then another, and then another.
"You… You think it is cute?" Toris finally asked again. "My… My accent, I mean?" His face was several shades redder than it had been prior to his question, and his eyes were shining with anticipation.
"Er…" Alfred nodded shyly, grinning at him as he shrugged. "Well, yeah! It's a cute accent, I'm not gonna lie."
"That's…" Toris laughed, covering his face with his hands before shaking his head. "Thank you, either way. Now, I believe that you may have a concussion, but I won't be sure until we take an x-ray. The machine is broken today, but it should be working tomorrow. Do you think you could make it back here…?"
Alfred nodded, his heart beginning to pound again. "Yeah! I'll go make an appointment." He said, hopping off of the cot and making his way to the door. "Thanks so much for all your help and stuff!"
"Not a problem!" Toris called after him, holding the door open for Alfred as he exited and smiling at him excitedly. He didn't know what it could be, but suddenly, Toris was very much looking forward for tomorrow.