Disclaimer: The author of this piece does not, in any way, profit from the story and all creative rights to the characters from Glee belong to their original creators.
Summary: Future AU. Blaine is a young professor, who never thought he'd stumble right into the arms of somebody he could potentially fall for during a routine flu shot vaccination.
The bird flu. Swine flu? For all Blaine could care it was probably the latest string of some hopefully harmless but probably deadly monkey flu making its rounds around the world to the sound of news anchors everywhere echoing things like 'Pandemic!' and 'It could already be too late!'.
Or perhaps it was just SARS rearing its ugly, cat-eared head after a couple of years of hiatus.
It didn't really matter, because Blaine had been given a couple of minutes out of his busy schedule to get a shot by the temporarily visiting doctor, currently vaccinating students and faculty members at the nurse's office until every consenting person at the college had been thoroughly protected against this winter's latest threat. And the reason it didn't really matter to Blaine was because the only thing he could focus on as he let heavy steps lead his way down the hallway was how much he hated shots. Or rather how absolutely terrified he was of shots.
"Are you here to get the vaccination?"
He'd barely reached the doorway when a tall figure in a white doctor's coat turned around to face him, extracting a liquid out of a small glass vial via an ugly syringe.
"Yes."
It took him just an awkward moment too long to actually move inside the room, because after having been able to tear his eyes off of the various needles set on the metal cart by the bed Blaine took a look at the tall figure in the coat. A good look.
The doctor turned his back to him as he finished up getting the shot ready, and that was probably a good thing because all of a sudden Blaine was feeling a little flustered for more reasons than the prospect of being stung with a needle. "You can take a seat on the bed and fill out this form, and I'm going to need you to roll up your sleeve all the way up." He looked over his shoulder at the dark haired man sitting down almost awkwardly on the bed, making a note of his long-sleeve button down shirt. "Or perhaps in your case you should take your shirt off."
Nodding, mostly to himself as the doctor turned his head away once again, Blaine quickly filled out the form and started unbuttoning the first buttons, sliding his left arm out of the sleeve once he had finished to see the other man turn towards him, probably imagining eyes darting from a half-exposed chest to his shoulder in just a short, insignificant second. Blaine let his own gaze wander from the what could really only be described as incredibly handsome face and down to the name tag pinned to the breast pocket of the coat. 'Smythe'.
"Aren't you a little old to be a student?" 'Smythe' flashed a set of perfect teeth as their eyes actually met for the first time during their so far brief encounter, and Blaine hoped he didn't look as nervous as he felt.
"I'm a professor, actually." He laughed nervously as he let his gaze fall promptly onto the grey wall on the other side of the room.
"Oh." The doctor nodded his head as an impressed smirk painted his face, long fingers examining the naked shoulder in front of him before patting a cotton ball soaked in alcohol against the exposed skin. "Aren't you a little young to be a professor?"
The sight of a ridiculously long needle caught his attention for a second, prompting an audible gulp in his throat. The doctor smirked again, almost endearingly this time.
"Are you Ok?"
"Yeah." Blaine nodded, taking a deep breath through his nose. "It's just… I haven't had a shot in a really, really long time. As a matter of fact it's been so long I think the last time the doctor gave me a lollipop afterwards." Another nervous laughter escaped his lips.
"It'll only take a second. I promise." He smiled at him again, and for a moment the little wink in his eyes was far more distracting that any needle, no matter how scary looking or long.
"Ok…" Blaine nodded, attempting a smile in return. He closed his eyes, and let in a sharp intake of air as something stung his shoulder only to open them up merely seconds afterwards to the sight of the doctor holding a piece of cotton against the barely noticeably bruised skin.
"All done. Hold this." Blaine's hand replaced the one on his shoulder, something stirring in the pit of his stomach as their fingers just slightly brushed against each other before the doctor held up a plaster, motioning for Blaine to remove his hand as he pressed the skin colored Band-Aid onto prickled skin, careful as he smoothed down the edges.
"Aren't you a little young to be a doctor?"
The taller man chuckled. "Maybe I'd have taken a little longer if my professors had been a little less old and grumpy and a little more…" He trailed off for a second as he let his fingers linger just an instant too long before removing them. "…you know."
Blaine took a moment to stretch his arm out before putting it back into the sleeve, starting to button up his shirt when something red in front of him caught his eye. A lollipop.
Smythe smiled at him again, almost obnoxiously this time as Blaine looked up sort of baffled at the tall man standing in front of him. "I usually keep one in my pocket. Just in case."
Accepting the offered candy into his hand, Blaine let the first non-nervous laughter escape his mouth for the first time since he set his foot into the nurse's office. "Thank you?"
"You're welcome..." The doctor took a look at the form lying next to Blaine on the bed. "Professor Anderson."
And there was the nervous laughter once again. "You can call me Blaine."
"Can I?"
Blaine stood up as he finished the last button on his shirt, raising a confused eyebrow. "Can you what?" The other man was still smiling at him.
"Call you?"
Before Blaine had a chance to answer, a student of his poked her head through the door. "I'm sorry but I have a two hour test in like ten minutes so I really need to get this shot like right now."
Blaine looked over his shoulder at the intruding figure in the door. "We just finished." He looked at the doctor feeling a little awkward all of a sudden before reaching for the door handle to open it fully. "Thank you for your time." He held up the lollipop as he gave a little wave before passing the student in the doorway, the faint sound of "My pleasure" chasing him out into the hallway.
He'd probably gotten a good 20 steps away before questions started to seep through his mind. 'Did one of the hottest guys he'd ever seen just ask him out?', 'Did he, a 30 year-old professor just receive a lollipop from a doctor?', and 'Did he just say nothing when said hottest guy he'd ever seen just asked if he could give him a call?'.
Damn.
The last hour and a half of Blaine's day were spent sitting in the front of a lecture hall behind a desk observing an exam, a piece of red strawberry candy attached to a thin, white stick wrapped in transparent cellophane burning a hole through his pocket. He stuck a hand inside to retrieve the distracting object, tossing it into the desk as the last student in the room walked up to his desk, seemingly setting down a set of stapled A4's in defeat in front of him.
"Thank you Andrew…" Blaine stood up and grabbed the stack of papers, pushing them into his briefcase as the student slipped out of the door without a word. He had just turned to leave when he threw one last glance at his desk, the stupid lollipop almost calling out to him. He grabbed it and quickly tore off the wrapper and tossed it into the bin, proceeding to bite off the hard candy off the stick and tossing that as well because he kind of wanted to eat it, but he also kind of didn't want to look like a four year old kid.
Strawberry candy tasted sweeter than he recalled.
By the time Blaine was out of the building, it was already dark outside. Snow fell onto the ground as he made his way to his car, wrapping his arms around himself to pull the duffel coat a little tighter around his body. A sort of familiar figure stood over the open trunk of a car besides his, stuffing a case inside before letting it shut. He turned around, and Blaine almost got the candy stuck in his throat as he swallowed hard, looking into those eyes he'd been thinking off throughout the whole afternoon.
"Hey. Again."
"Hi. Blaine, was it?" There was that smile again, those pearl whites even more protruding now in the dark.
"Yeah." Realizing he'd frozen in his steps, partly due to the cold but also because of the situation, he took the last three steps to his car door to get it unlocked.
"You never answered my question, Blaine."
He swallowed once again, thankful that there was nothing in his throat that could potentially kill him this time. "Uhm." He fumbled with his key, looking down.
"Can I call you sometime? Unless I'm getting the wrong idea here…" For the first time since Blaine had first laid eyes on the self-confident Dr. Smythe, he almost looked a little unsure.
Finding the right key, he stuck it into the lock and the door opened up. He smiled from ear to ear, happy not to be the only nervous person in the conversation for once. "No, sure you can call me."
"I'm sort of going to need your number in order to do that." The taller man snuck a hand into the pocket of his winter coat, proceeding to pull out a small, black notebook. "Got a pen?"
Blaine walked over to him, shrugging the briefcase off his shoulder as he put a hand into one of its outer pockets. "About a million."
"When are you free?" The smile on the doctor's face had returned as he looked at Blaine jotting down his number on a free page, looking up as he finished the last three digits.
"This weekend."
The taller man nodded in approval. "How's your shoulder?"
Blaine chuckled as he closed the notebook, pushing it back into the other man's hands. "Not too bad."
The doctor smiled at him. "How was the candy?"
This time it was Blaine's turn to nod as another chuckle escaped his mouth. "Not too bad…." He stuck the pen back into his briefcase. "Hey, I have a question for you."
"Shoot."
Blaine turned his head to the side, looking as if he was trying to figure something out as he for once didn't shy away from looking into the other man's eyes. "What's your name?"
"Sebastian."
"Nice to meet you, Sebastian."
"Likewise."
Taking two steps back, Blaine put a hand on the handle to the car door before looking back at Sebastian one last time.
"Call me."
TBC
