DISCLAIMER – I do not own Kingdom Hearts.
WARNING – Homosexuality, Minor Sexual Content in later chapters.
RANT – Don't read too much into each scene, just enjoy the story. I know that can be hard for some, but I wasn't writing this with 100% seriousness and it certainly should not be read that way either.
These days mornings at the lab would begin with a piece of paper laid out under an Einstein paper-weight. As usual, the sheet was written in an uneven, cursive scribble that was hard to read without squinting one's eyes and turning one's head left to right with every spin and spiral of the especially curly letters. Today it was being translated in the hands of a young brunette whose azure eyes were beginning to water from the effort of deciphering the "f"s from the "g"s and "t"s. His lips were set in a lop-sided pout (his bottom lip sticking out almost far enough to cover his top lip) and his brow was scrunched tight.
"To My Little Geniuses,
I fear I will not be attending this morning's experiments once again. I am certain all of you are used to my absence by now and will not hold it against this old man for yet another unexpected schedule change. As you know I have the utmost confidence in all of you- even Squall.
Today is a very special day for all of us! We have finally been granted permission to work with a living, human specimen- within limits. I know our policy at work, the state laws, and our personal policies have prevented us from working on animals so if there are objections to a human candidate I will understand but must advise that being as our work surrounds the human brain there was always the possibility we would work on humans directly and that we will several times in the future, and you should have chosen a different career path. I do not mean to come off so harsh but I feel it is necessary. I doubt that there are objections, however, so allow me to continue to your assignments and to the details of the subject- "
The brunette turned to a blonde standing patiently to his right and held the letter to him.
"Here, Tidus, that's all I can read. You know, for a man who can work on some of the most delicate of experiments he sure does shake a lot when he starts getting excited."
Tidus extracted from his pocket a narrow, black case as he took the paper with a gentle grip. It turned out to hold a pair of small bi-vocals, which he slid up to the bridge of his nose.
"You know, Blonde, those make you look like an old man."
"Shut up, Squall. And don't call me 'Blonde'! I got these just so I can read Doctor Ansem's writing."
"It's Leon."
"Can we get back to the letter, guys?"
"Yes, gladly," Tidus said with a superior sniff and a small cough to clear his throat. He straightened the paper with a flick of his wrists before leaning in close. Despite the magnifying half of his lenses he was still forced to pinch his eyelids.
"Hmm..."
"Well, what does it say?"
"Basics, mostly. Like cleaning up before the patient gets here, setting up for introductions, checking on current experiments which are under time limits, etcetera. Nothing special, really..."
"So I can take a nap?"
"No naps until after work, Leon," Tidus said with a roll of his eyes before continuing to skim through Ansem's strange writing.
"Though, isn't it a little odd he wouldn't be around for something this important? I understand he's been having difficulties lately, but..."
"Stop worrying so much, Sora," Tidus waved a dismissive hand at the brunette. "He shows trust in us by leaving us with these responsibilities- it's much more than just he 'couldn't make it'."
"Stop trying to act smart, blonde. No one to impress here but me and the kid."
"I am not a child!"
"Anyway," Tidus said with an exasperated sigh, "now the important stuff."
"Now allow me to introduce to you your human subject. Of course, I can't physically show him to you but I have included below a full description of his psychoses.
- BMPD (Border-line Multiple Personality Disorder)
- Chronic Stress Disorder
- Intermittent Explosive Disorder
- Clinical Paranoia
- OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder)
Beyond the typical symptoms of each of these disorders the subject is surprisingly without phobias. The most apparent of these disorders is his I.E.D. and O.C.D. (mainly in alphabetical and horizontal versus numerical and vertical), the rest are fairly minor.
I am certain you will all behave as wonderful hosts to our new edition.
Love,
Dr. Ansem Wise"
"Goody goody gum drops..."
"Well," Sora began cheerfully, "I suppose it is something we can do on our own. We don't need Dr. Wise if all we're doing is just the basic introductions. I just feel so nervous when we do these things without him."
"When aren't you nervous?"
"Shut up, Leon."
"Hey, guys," Tidus waved his hand to get the two brunette's attentions. "There's a little note at the bottom that says 'warning'."
"Warning?"
"WARNING: My children of science, I do have one last note to make that I only discovered by accident on my way out last night... DO NOT USE THE BUNSEN BURNER IN THE FAR LEFT CORNER NEXT TO THE CHEMICAL SHELVES. This means you, Squall. Sora and Tidus, do not let him so much as cough in its direction! I mean it!"
"Why? Is it broken?" Sora asked with a curious blink at the paper.
"I guess so," Tidus said with a shrug.
"Let's find out for sure..."
Leon had disappeared from the shoulders of his co-workers as they read the warning. Within a few seconds' time he had a pair of safety goggles, gloves, the handle of a long flicker in hand, and was right next to the very Bunsen Burner they had been warned to stay away from. He slowly turned the handle on the gas until the sound and smell filled the room.
"LEON! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Both boys on the other side of the room screeched as Leon began to click the flicker against the nozzle.
By the time the two had begun to fling themselves toward the tall brunette it was already too late. The gas sparked into a little flame, and for a second things seemed fine... Until the fire began to turn blue and the tip began to wave about like a tail.
"So that's why," Leon said to himself in a casual manner as he began to back away from the flame. He jumped behind one of the large concrete tables plugged into the floor and held his head.
"Fire in the hole!"
Tidus hadn't realized what happened as his shoulder hit the cold, tiled floor. All he knew was the intense feeling of panic and the confusion from standing upright to suddenly being shoved behind a desk. Sora still had his arms extended toward the blonde from the push and his face turned toward Leon's flame. The tiny brunette only had enough time after that to hug his face with his arms before everything was engulfed in white.
By the time the white veil disappeared Sora was gone… along with the roof, walls, and anything not tied down.
Tidus and Leon began to slowly come out of their hiding places behind their respective desks- Tidus coughing up small puffs of smoke. Their clothes were singed almost to nothing, their skin spotted with red patches, and some of Tidus's hair was still on fire. The blonde patted at his sun-drenched locks until he knew his hair was safe again.
"Well," Leon began with a cough as he waved away the remaining smoke, "that was fun."
"Fun! Fun!?" Tidus shouted angrily, throwing a blackened chair at Leon. "You may well have killed Sora! I'm surprised we aren't dead, you maniac!"
Leon barely managed to duck in time to miss the chair being flung at his head.
"You're stronger than you look," the brunette shrugged casually. "Well, I don't see his corpse anywhere... Some tiny pieces of his clothes are here, but we'd at least have bits of him. He can't have vaporized."
"How can you be so calm right now?! If he isn't dead... then...!"
Tidus and Leon simultaneously looked up toward the sky.
"You think that might be him? That flailing thingy?"
"Shit!"
"I'm sure he'll be fine."
Tidus jerked his head back to Leon.
"YOU'RE INSANE!"
oo00oo00oo
The park was lovely that day. The flowers were blooming along the paths in the warm Spring sun, there wasn't a cloud in sight, and thanks to it being the middle of the week it was virtually empty. A perfect day for a man between shifts to enjoy a small lunch and a good book.
The silverette ran a hand through his long, silver locks- each thread glittering like a string of crystals in the sunlight as they snaked through his fingers. He was so enthralled in his book he hardly heard or saw a thing, not even the explosion that went off behind him barely a mile away. There was a silver hoop in the middle of his bottom lip which his tongue proceeded to lick and his teeth gently nibbled with more and more frequency as he continued through each page with hardly a blink.
"… And thus, she landed at the base of the tower; the knight who had come to rescue her stared from atop his noble steed completely baffled. The autumn leaves that had fallen so thick upon the once green grounds had been enough to cradle her small frame and cushion her landing…"
There was a sudden noise that even an avid reader could not ignore during the best parts of a book. It was like a ready kettle- a high-pitched kind of whistle that was steadily growing louder. The young man blinked and set the book on its binding over the old, wooden table. Yet, no animals or humans besides himself and one curious canine sniffing some flowers were around.
The noise continued to grow louder... quickly becoming less of a whistle and more of a scream.
The silverette slid his bookmark between the pages, the book was closed, and then quickly stuffed into a pocket as he scrambled to his feet away from the bench.
"What the hell?"
It was definitely human... and definitely coming from over-head, not from the park field. The man's aqua eyes swam quickly toward the sky..
"Holy shi- !"
Without thinking, the male's arms instantly reached out and his feet ran forward with the intention of catching the scorched body plummeting toward the Earth.
"Uh- !"
The man had caught Sora, but the force of his fall caused them both to land back onto the ground. The stranger landed hard on his butt, but he kept his arms secure around Sora's legs and shoulders.
"Dammit, my ass… Fuckin' owwie..."
The silverette turned to the brunette half ripped to shreds from a fire cradled in his arms. Sora's blue eyes fluttered for only a second, but they were dark. The man gasped and began to gently shake Sora to try and keep him conscious.
"Hey, hang in there," he whispered softly, watching as Sora's eyes fell and his head dropped. "Ah, crap..."
The stranger stood with some difficulty but was able to lift the brunette and himself up somehow without falling back down and hardly stumbling at all.
"I'm gonna be feelin' that one for a few days," he said in a murmur as he turned to walk as fast as he could with the load (without tripping himself or bringing further harm to the burned up scientist) toward a large, white building beside the park opposite of the labs.
oo00oo00oo
Sora jerked as if electrocuted up from the tiny bed as he finally came to. His left arm bent to touch his face, but a sudden and sharp sting forced the appendage back down toward the white sheets and sidebar. The brunette hissed with pain as he moved his right hand to carefully touch around what his brain couldn't immediately register as an I.V. In fact, where he was and how he had arrived there stood as a complete blank in his fuzzy, tired mind. There was a large window, metal frames with thin mattresses, beeping machines, an intercom and emergency button near the bed- and that was when it hit him.
"Hospital... I'm in... in a..."
"Good morning."
Just as Sora was finding his bearings on what had happened and where it had taken him a deep, hansom voice interrupted his manic thoughts. Sora's first reaction was to jump- his whole body jolting and tightening with surprise- as his head jerked to address the man that had greeted him. Azure eyes took in the broad form of a male nurse with long, silver hair pulled back into a braided ponytail... His eyes were encased in a thin line of coal that made his aquamarine irises glow and his already light skin seem even snowier. His uniform was a light-green with a white long-sleeved shirt underneath, a uniform that couldn't hide the definition in the nurse's muscular arms and neck. And apparently the uniform policies weren't terribly strict, as the man's face had what looked like white-plastic piercings in his brow, nose, ears, and lip. The brunette couldn't help but stare, and didn't realize that (much less could stop) his eyes were widening with awe at the absolute beauty of the nurse smiling warmly down at him.
I died. I died and went to heaven...
"You had quite the fall," the nurse began with a chuckle. "How are you feeling?"
Sora felt the beginnings of drool threatening the edge of his lip. He discretely wiped it away and moved his hand to sidle under his chin to keep from gaping like a fish.
"I," Sora tried to remember how to talk, but his voice refused to work, "um... you... here... why?"
That warm smile the nurse had sported turned into a crooked smirk- an amused, charming smirk that worked so well with his squared jaw.
"I'm the nurse. You're my patient," the nurse said pleasantly, slowly. A needle was brandished down at his side. "You didn't land on your head, did you? You seem disoriented."
Instead of trying to speak Sora simply shook his head and turned to look out the window. The sky over the park was turning different shades of pink and orange with the growing sunset.
Evening already? But ho-...? That was when the incident of the morning truly bounced back into his memory and caused a small rage to bubble in his stomach. His lips tightened into an angry frown and a low growl gurgled from his throat. When I get back... Leon is a dead man.
The nurse waiting patiently behind him quirked his pierced brow at the quiet growling.
"You alright?" He asked cautiously with a concerned tilt of his head that caused the loose strands of his braid to sway.
The question brought Sora out his thoughts of revenge and mayhem with an involuntary squeak. The brunette turned back to the nurse and smiled shyly.
"I'm... I'm fine. I was just confused a moment... Trying to remember and all. I do, I'm not anymore, and I... I just wonder how I got here now?"
"I carried you here," the man said simply. "You landed on me while I was on break."
"Oh," Sora's face burst red as his fingers moved to play with his bottom lip out of embarrassment. He picked at the soft skin and pulled the muscle around as he averted his eyes down to his bedding. "So-Sorry about that... I'm... I'm Sora. Professor Sora... From the labs across the park... M-My friend blew me up through the roof."
There was a chuckle to follow, as if being blown up were an everyday thing.
"I see," the nurse said thoughtfully. "Well, we're still running a few tests so you may be here awhile. Do you need anything?"
"Just... I need to thank you for saving my life!" Sora turned back to look at the nurse. He sounded so excited, so appreciative... and so small. Like a little schoolboy addressing his favorite teacher or crush. "Who are you?"
The silverette blinked before pointing to a name tag. It read "Nurse Cuddles".
"Office name. The real one's Riku. Unless you prefer… 'Cuddles'," Riku sounded as though he surely didn't. He finally chose to sit down next to the brunette.
"I like 'Riku' best!" Sora said with an affirmative nod. "Why 'Cuddles'?"
"Comes with the job," Riku shrugged. "Every nurse has a name here... Nurse Sweety-Pie, Nurse Wuv, Nurse Tickles... I could go on."
"That seems weird," Sora couldn't help but chortle a little. "Did they at least explain why you have to have nicknames?"
"This is an all-gay hospital... we treat our patients with rainbows, unicorns, love and care!" The line was said in a playful, lispy tone. Riku even posed, crossing his legs and waving a hand in a girly salute.
Sora couldn't himself as he laughed until he snorted. It just sounded so ridiculous, coming from a guy who looked more like a biker rather than a prissy nurse.
"I'm kidding," Riku smiled. "The nicknames are for the kids. This is primarily a children's hospital."
"Ah," Sora nodded again as he came down from his amused high. The laughing, though it did make his whole body feel lighter, caused a sudden pulse in his head. He used his free hand to gently rub at his forehead, groaning softly from the ache in his brain.
"Are we feeling any better?" Riku asked as he stood back up from the chair with kindness and genuine concern- the way any nurse should sound with a patient. The needle he brought into the room loaded with a clear liquid was still very visible in his hand as he approached. "Or does it still hurt?"
As Riku approached Sora's vision first caught on the exotic green of the nurse's eyes, and the question was lost for a moment... But the last rays of light from the window glinted off the tiny metal of the needle just enough for Sora to finally notice it-
And to realize in that same horrible second that Riku was approaching him with it.
A panicked screech was what came out instead of words. Sora nearly toppled off the bed in his scramble to back away from the needle drawing ever closer- staring at the small thing with as much horror as a victim in a horror movie close to the fatal stab.
Riku stopped quickly and took a large step back.
"I-I- " Sora noted the confusion and quickly back-petaled. He sat normally in the bed, even smoothing the sheets out a little, and gave a tiny flash of teeth between two nervously smiling lips. "Sorry... I just hate needles... I'm okay, I promise! No need to prick this patient- I promise!"
"Prick you?" Riku blinked. "No, this is for your I.V. Its morphine, if you're still hurting?"
"Oh," Sora blinked. The blush that had crossed his face before was nothing compared to the deep red of shame that formed a bridge from cheek to cheek over his nose at that instant.
Riku seemed like he was about to say something comforting, but Sora spoke up again before he could.
This is my fault, so I'll change the subject!
Sora looked up at the other with a grin wide enough to stretch his whole face. Somehow, it made his already boyish features seem even younger.
"Thanks, Riku! I owe you my life!"
"Eh?" Riku laughed, placing the needle on a medical tray on the bedside table. "Nonono, it's my job."
"Still, thank you," Sora turned back to his arm and began to gently take out the I.V. "But I need to get going... My friends must be worried. Probably think I'm dead!"
"I don't think so," Riku said casually as he pulled Sora's hand away from the I.V. "You aren't going anywhere until we have you checked out, understand? After a fall like that we have to make sure there aren't going to be any lasting consequences."
Sora laid back with a small laugh as Riku pushed him down.
"I'll be fine! You're worrying for nothing. Last time all three of us, me and my two co-workers, were blown out of a third story window and I landed on a pile of rocks! After that we were banned from the main science building... Heh."
"I... see," Riku replied with amused disbelief at the brunette's attitude. Is he serious? He seems sincere, but that's so... crazy. Rocks? Out of a third floor window? Really? "Well, that's just more reason to have you examined, then."
Riku flicked Sora's nose playfully, which caused the brunette to pout.
"Riku... How long am I going to stay here?"
"Until I give the clear," Riku stood from his chair as he spoke and straightened his scrubs. "It'll be at least a few hours... First come exams and then the doctor will want to see you."
"Ugh... Do I at least get to call someone, officer?"
"Of course you can. Here, use my cell."
Riku dug into the pocket in his pants for a second before pulling out a cell phone and handing it to the brunette.
"Thanks!"
Sora quickly dialed the first number that came to mind as soon as the device was in hand. It took a lot of energy to keep from thinking about how often Riku's face and lips have brushed this phone as he raised it to his ear.
"Hey, Tidus, it's So- Ow! No, I am not dead- what? Professor, how did you get this cell? I know you're just concerned, but please stop yelling! Hah, thank you. Yes... Uh huh... Tomorrow? But- Yes, I understand. What? Oh... I'll try."
"So what's up?" Riku asked as Sora hung up the phone and handed it back with a deep sigh.
"That was my boss. Apparently I'm going to be kicked off the project if I can't make it in tomorrow morning... We're being rushed, I guess."
Sora shrugged slowly, moving to look out the window.
"Ah," Riku pocketed his phone with a sympathetic smile. "I'm sorry, but I'm sure you'll be able to make it. Just remember: your health comes first, so don't stress too much about it."
Riku turned to grab the needle from the tray, knocking over a box of tissues with his elbow in the process. The silverette sighed and bent down from the waist to grab the little box. The scrubs stretched across his backside as he leaned down.
Sora couldn't help but look. It was only a few seconds but even that short amount of time was more than enough to cause the brunette's face to burn. Sora quickly smacked his face to force his eyes away.
Riku blinked and turned to look back at Sora after hearing the sound of the brunette's cheek being clapped. He quirked one fine, silver brow.
"Are you feeling alright?" He asked as he stood back up and placed the little box on the dresser beside the bed.
There was a nervous laugh as hesitant blue eyes returned their gaze to the silverette.
"Ye-Yeah... I'm just feeling a little hot, I think. Is the air conditioner on?"
"Yes, it is. Maybe you have a fever?"
Riku pressed sensitive skin of his wrist to Sora's forehead.
"AAAHHHH!" Sora accidentally screamed as his forehead was touched. His heart was hammering fast against his chest.
"I mean," he said as he recovered from the shock, "I... I'm not homophobic or anything- not saying you're gay or anything if you aren't- it's just you're kind of hot- I MEAN, kind of close! TOO CLOSE! Not saying you aren't hot, because I'm sure many people find you attractive- but not saying that I- "
Riku blinked at the brunette's panicked sputtering. He smiled again as he let his hand fall back to his side.
"Whatever you say."
Riku lifted up a thick, tan cord with what appeared to be a speaker on the end. He handed it to Sora, or rather placed it over one of the sidebars of the bed.
"I need to check on other patients now, but you can always press this button if you need something," Riku pointed out a large red button on the remote. "This is also the remote for the television. I'll be back with your dinner, okay?"
Riku waved good-bye and gave a parting smile as he left the room without waiting for a response. Not that the brunette could muster up the right words of response in his current state anyway... As his nurse left Sora was watching the way Riku's hips would sway just a little with every step, and felt deeply ashamed of how hard it was not to stare. He was glad the silverette was too busy thinking of work to turn back and notice. Once he knew for sure he was in the clear Sora groaned, closed his eyes tight, and turned toward the ceiling with a deep frown.
Great... I have a hard-on for my nurse... Wonderful...
Read, please review, and no flames.