"Pay up, Neptune. I told you she'd crack."
That's the first thing Neptune is greeted with, having finished an early morning appy. Sun was waiting for him at their usual congregation spot in the lobby, having just finished his rounds. Pulling out a 20 dollar bill from his wallet, Neptune sighed and slapped it into Sun's hand.
"She's totally not Blake's type," Neptune complains, sinking down onto the nurses station's desk and pulling his scrub cap lower over his messy blue hair. "Not to mention she complains for about 10 minutes nonstop every time she comes here."
"Well then what is her type?" Sun asks, looking down at his friend. Neptune pondered the thought for a few moments before coming up blank.
"Okay, fair point," He says, waving a lazy hand in greeting as Jaune approached. He took a seat behind the computer of the nurses station and typed away aimlessly. "But I swear every time I see them together, she holds her scalpel like a goddamn machete " Jaune looked up in interest - he knew exactly what Neptune was talking about. "All I know is that there has got to be some godly intervention around this, Yang is practically her worst nightmare."
"I can vouch for that," Jaune chips in, not looking up from the screen. "Blake looked like she lost 10 years of her life the last time I saw her leaving Yang's procedure room."
"Yeah, you can take that point." Sun concedes, "Maybe it's a love hate relationship? Like whatever Weiss has going on with her entire extended family?"
Neptune laughed, "No, I think that's just a hate relationship."
"Go figure," Sun says, remembering the girl's burst of anger whenever they mentioned her family. "I swear she has a picture of her dad's face on a dartboard somewhere in her apartment." That garnered some laughs, bringing back at least a little bit more energy to pull themselves through the early morning.
A familiar click of shoes on the linoleum floor queued for the three of them to immediately disperse, Blake arriving at the desk soon after. Shehanded over her chart to Jaune as Sun cracked a wide smile.
She shot a glare at him, taking a blood sample from Jaune. "I know exactly what you guys were talking about, now drop it. It's nothing."
Sun held up his arms in defense, "Woah there, I haven't even said a thing and you're already attacking me. Don't come crying to me when you fail your bedside manner assessment at boards."
"I'd like to believe that patients that are dying are more tolerable than you," Blake replies back, looking over the sample's label. "And wear your scrubs right for once before you get banned from the OR again."
She gazed pointedly at his exposed forearms, light blue scrubs rolled up to his elbows. The attendings always chirped him as they passed, hastily undoing them - only to roll them back up once he turned the next corner.
"Sorry, I didn't know my mom worked here too." He bit back sarcastically, pulling his sleeves up even higher.
Blake gave him a dead look as he smiled at her unbothered. She shook her head, "Help me with Weiss's spinal tap in room 211. She dumped it on me to clip an aneurysm."
"I don't blame her," Sun says as they start to walk out of the lobby. The familiar path to pathology barely took a second thought at this point, winding through the long hallways and floors. "I would dump anything for an aneurysm, all I get are just blunt traumas and the occasional ex lap."
"Hey, at least you're logging general hours," Blake responds, "I can't remember the last time Weiss was on any other specialty than neuro. She may as well start her fellowship now."
"You're going to feel a small pinch and some discomfort but this shouldn't hurt."
The man nodded nervously and turned back forwards. Positioned on his side, a sterile drape over his back was positioned to expose a small square of workable area to perform the procedure. Blake wiped at the area with some antiseptic and injected some lidocaine around the area.
"Oh," the patient says, audibly relieved. "That wasn't so bad."
"Sir," Blake says, trying to put on the nicest smile she could muster. "I hate to break it to you, but that was just the local anaesthetic. I haven't started the tap yet."
The room went silent for a few moments, the man at a loss for words. Sun was trying not to snicker from his position on the other side of the bed when all three of them turned towards the door. Ilia stepped through the doorway with a brief greeting.
"Hey, I heard the news, congrats," Ilia says, approaching Blake and Sun near the bed. "It's been ages since you've dated someone, is this what character development looks like?"
"We are not dat- wait, you too?" Blake says, before cutting herself off promptly. "I thought you were too good for hospital gossip." She turned back to the patient with an apologetic look. "I'm sorry sir, we can continue with your procedure as soon as that doctor finds something better to do."
"No, it's fine, actually," the man says quickly, looking back and forth between Ilia, Blake, and Sun's faces. "Your conversation is actually helping to distract me, and I'm invested in this narrative now."
Sun and Ilia just shrugged at Blake, who begrudgingly picked up the needle and resterilized the area. "You'll feel a light pinch-", she says, sliding the second needle in cleanly. "And that's it, we just wait a bit and you're done. The tube beside you, Sun."
He handed her a small vial to collect the small droplets of spinal fluid that leaked out of the tap. It was a tedious wait - one that unfortunately gave Ilia ample time to interrogate her.
"Do you have a thing for blondes now?" Ilia says, leaning against the doorframe.
Blake nearly drops the collection vial. "What? No!" she denies. "God no, I already have enough blonde in my life with Sun over here."
"Thanks for the inclusion, guys." Sun says, "I'm really feeling the love right now."
Both girls just waved him off, with Ilia pausing for a few moments. "Is she rich? Did she buy you a car?" She asks.
"Are you stupid?" Blake says blandly.
"Well, you're not giving us much to work on." Ilia responds, looking over to Sun. "Do you know anything?"
"Well," he starts, trying to remember anything. "She did give me $20 once to page Blake for a cardio consult on a broken finger." He smiled at the memory. "I bought so many chocolate bars with that money."
The vial finally filled up, and Blake slowly pulled the needle out. Dabbing at the site with some gauze, she placed a small dressing over the area and helped him lay back down onto the bed. After handing the sample over to Sun, who prepared and packaged it for lab testing, Blake pulled off her gloves and tossed them into a waste bin.
"Alright, sir, we're done here," she says, taking one last look over of his chart. "If you feel any discomfort or pain, just notify a nurse and we can redress it."
Ilia's pager went off - vibrating and chirping from her scrub pocket. She glanced down at the display. "Damn, OB is paging me. We aren't done talking, you will tell me more." She says, before disappearing out of the room.
They both left the room soon after, bag of samples in hand. The walk to the hospital's labs was rather long, having to pass through to the next wing and down a few floors. The silence was pleasant as they walked - a peace that Blake hadn't been able to enjoy all morning since she had arrived at 4 am. On second thought, unusually quiet - Sun was usually more talkative than this.
"So, you and Yang, huh?" Sun says - right on queue. "Never pegged you to dig biker chicks." He cracked a smile as Blake's annoyance started to grow. Being her best friend gave him the god given right to annoy the ever living shit out of her - it was in the contract.
"There is no Yang and I, we are not to be referred to in the same sentence like some package deal." She says, avoiding eye contact. "All of you talk like we're getting married or something."
"Wait, you're not?" He says, "then who's wedding invitation did I just RSVP to? God, I need to return the gift now. I got Yang a helmet."
"Haha, very funny." Blake says sarcastically, continuing along the hallway as traffic started to pick up. The first year residents were filing out of the lounge to start their mid-morning rounds. "She just asked me out, it's not that big of a deal."
"Yeah, but you said yes , and that's a big deal." Sun points out. "Honestly, it was only a matter of time before you finally said yes to her." He let out a huff of air in exasperation. "Hell, even I would say yes."
Blake turned the corner sharply as Sun bumped into a nurse, mumbling out a quick apology before running to catch back up with her unusually brisk pace.
Sun continued, "Not only do you get to stitch up a hot girl every freakin' week, but she asks for you specifically every single time." He says, annoyed at the lack of response he was getting. "Do you know how many more ER hours you've logged than us?" He started counting on his hands before running out of fingers to prove his point. "You're not even specializing in trauma, I am."
Blake pointedly ignored him and handed the lab tech a bag of samples as they approached the window. Going over some patient details, she nodded to the worker as they told her when to come back for the results. She finally looked back at Sun with an annoyed glare.
"Sun, just leave it." She says, hoping that it would shut down the conversation. "It's just dinner and drinks, nothing to get this excited over."
"Dinner and drinks?!" His eyes widened in shock. "Did she say where? Neptune said that he only heard that it was dinner."
"Hold on," Blake cuts in, holding up a hand. "Where did Neptune hear this?"
"From Ilia?" He replies.
"And where did Ilia hear this from?" She asks again, narrowing her eyes.
"A nurse? I don't know, everyones talking about it. I can't exactly put a pin on where it all started, besides you, I guess."
Blake rubbed at her temples, already feeling a headache forming - she'd have to have this exact same conversation with likely every staff member she meets today. She sighed in exhaustion. "Do you really have all this time to spread gossip like this? Don't you have a job to do, boards are only a few months away."
Sun went silent for a second, visibly processing the fact that he did indeed have a job.
"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!" he proclaimed, scrambling down the halls and pushing himself off the walls. "I completely forgot I'm on Dr. Nikos's service today, she's gonna put me on scut for being late!"
Just as Sun left, a woman whizzed past her on heelys going a speed much faster than what was safe. The only person that had the energy to wear those all day was Nora, the Orthopedic attending.
"Blake, meet me in room 247 in 30 seconds!"
Blake could barely catch what she said by the speed of which she was passing her. Sighing, she picked up and jogged after her in the parting of startled staff that Nora made as she traveled down the hall.
"Camilla Quinones, age 53, here for a partial hip replacement after sustaining a femoral neck fracture from slipping on stairs wet from rain."
The older woman clicked her tongue in distaste as Blake presented her case to the attending and intern in the room. "I swear, I should have moved away from here when I had the chance." she says, smoothing out the hospital bed's covers. "All this goddamn rain, I knew it would kill me someday."
Nora placed a hand on her shoulder and flashed a dazzling smile. Her nails were painted an electric blue - a colour that her husband Ren took over a year to get used to. Polar opposites attract, is what everyone said about them - or rather, no one could explain how their relationship worked in any other way.
"Well you're not dead yet, ma'am," Nora says, giving the woman's shoulder a light squeeze. "and you're certainly not going to die anytime soon. I have done more hip replacements then you could imagine."
That seemed to put the woman at ease as she rested back into her pillow. The small stand beside her held a vase of flowers and some get-well-soon cards, probably from some grandchildren visiting their nana in the hospital. The change of scenery was nice - Camilla seemed to be great at taking care of the plants and flowers that were scattered around the room; Doctors were notorious for being terrible at taking care of plants.
"Dr. Belladonna over here will be assisting me with your surgery," Nora says, gesturing to Blake behind her - she gave a small wave. "If you don't have any more questions, we'll get you prepped and up to the OR soon." She smiled again as the patient shook her head. Handing the chart she was holding to Blake, Nora kicked out her heelys. "Alright, Blake. Prep her for surgery, I'll be in OR 2 and Oscar will run her coags one last time to be sure."
The intern lagging behind the attending, Oscar, quickly dashed out of the room behind Nora as she rolled out - leaving Blake alone to adjust some machines and write down a few numbers on the patient's chart.
It wasn't a long surgery, a few hours at most, and Nora was right - she was good at what she does. On average, she cuts down her operation times by almost half an hour and has one of the highest success rates in the hospital. Seems like the thousands of dollars of benefits the hospital spent to woo her away from the Mistral General Hospital was worth every penny.
A shock of blonde caught Blake's eye from the hallway. "Wait, Sun," She calls, as he passes by the doorway. "Get in here."
He poked his head curiously. "Yeah, what's up?"
"Prep her for surgery, she's Nora's in OR 2." She says, finishing a last scribble on the chart.
"What?" He retorts, "No way, Weiss finally forgave me and put me on a valve replacement with Dr. Nikos. I can't even remember the last time I've been on a cardio case."
Blake walked past him in the doorway and shoved the patient's chart into his chest. Just on time. Pyrrha was wheeling said heart patient to the elevators across the hall. "Exactly," she says, waving over to the doctor. "And last time I checked, you're still scut monkey for four more days."
Sun groaned in protest, but relented, walking into the room and greeting the patient tiredly. He turned around before Blake could leave the doorway. "Then I'm coming over after our shift," he says. "You're going to tell me everything about this Yang fiasco."
She made a face of disgust at the proposition. "What? No, I won't let you in. Don't you dare follow me to my apartment."
Laughing, Sun didn't bother looking up as he pulled on a pair of gloves. "I know where you hide your spare key, I'll crawl through your window if I have to."
The elevator doors started clattering open and Blake started running to catch up before it closed without her. She called back, "Don't you dare Sun!"
"See you tonight!"
"LET ME IN! LET ME IN!"
It took Blake's entire body weight to keep the door closed as Sun shook at the doorknob violently. She would have had to apologize to her neighbours, but this was not the first time this has happened, or will happen.
"YOU CAN'T KEEP ME OUT! JUST MAKE THIS EASIER FOR YOURSELF!" He yelled, punctuating his singsong holler with an extra hard shake. "I'LL CLIMB THROUGH YOUR VENTS! I'VE DONE IT BEFORE."
The memory of that incident seemed to be traumatizing enough that the door immediately swung open - Sun fell through and slammed onto the floor of her apartment with a yelp.
"God, maybe a heads up next time?" He says, groaning.
"Try this again," Blake says, closing the door behind his limp form on the ground. "And I'll pop your tires."
Blake left him without a second glance, throwing her bag onto her couch and pulling off her coat and boots. She didn't have any time to do anything when she first arrived home - it mostly entailed running up the stairs and closing the door as fast as she could with Sun following full sprint behind her. He likely broke several traffic laws trying to follow her on the highway.
"You forgot to take off your lab coat." Said says, holding up a shaking arm to point at her from his position still remaining on the floor.
"Oh, shoot," she says, realizing that she had just put her coat over it in her exhausted state. Pulling it off, a black stain, or rather some sort of scribble, materialized on its front. She looked it over curiously. "What is this?"
"Wait, you didn't notice? For the entire day?" Sun says, pulling himself up. He dusted off his shirt and kicked off his boots in the general direction of the doorway. "Yang took the OR marker and wrote her number on you while you weren't paying attention."
It only took her two strides to cover the space between them - she grabbed Sun by the collar of his shirt. "Are you telling me that you knew that this was on my coat? And you let me walk around like this!?" She tightened her grip as he chuckled nervously.
"We all thought that you knew," he starts, trying to wiggle out of her grasp. "Everyone was looking for the marker for at least twenty minutes because they couldn't schedule anything. Who knew we only had one." He finally escaped and flattened out the wrinkles of his shirt. "Why do you think she was escorted out? Something about inciting chaos, I guess they don't care if it was intentional or not."
Blake whipped her head back towards him. "She got escorted out?!"
"Do you just not process anything that's going on around you or in the hospital?"
"Well, unlike you, I actually do my job. We have boards in literally four months, have you even started studying for it?" She waved him off, searching through her pockets for her phone. "WHatever, it doesn't matter. I'll block her number before-"
Her phone started ringing the second she pulled it out of her back pocket, screen lighting up as an unnamed phone number rang. They both stared at it in silence, before Sun lunged at her and grabbed the device out of her hand. He tapped to accept the call before Blake could wrestle it out of his grasp.
"Hi, this is Blake's phone," he says, turning back to see Blake staring at him with murder in her eyes. "Yeah, she's here. Nice talking to you again, too."
She made another attempt to grab the phone, but Sun just pushed her away with an arm. "I know right?" He says to the mic, "She's definitely ecstatic about tomorrow, right Blake?"
He smiled as Blake held up two middle fingers. "She just gave a thumbs up, so happy."
Sun was silent for a few seconds, nodding occasionally. Walking around to find a pen and paper, he scribbled down an address. "Gitanes, 8 o'clock, okay. She'll be there, alright, thanks, bye."
As soon as he hung up Blake punched him in the ribs - hard - and snatched her phone back. He cried out in pain and clutched his side. "What the hell, that hurt!"
"That's what I was going for," she retorts, quickly unlocking her phone and going through the call history. "How did she get my phone number, did she stalk me?"
"Blake, I don't think anybody could do that. You have a social media presence of a grandmother, no one can find a single thing about you on the internet." He says with some effort, still clutching his side. "Weiss gave it to her. I think you broke my rib, I'm gonna die."
Blake shot him a glare. "Stop being dramatic, I didn't hit you that hard."
Opening her contacts, she changed Yang's number to 'ANNOYING' - comparable to Sun's contact named 'STUPID'.
Giving up, Blake sighed and pushed past Sun towards the fridge. Rummaging around, she produced two cans of beer and tossed it at him; he caught it, seemingly forgetting about his apparent broken rib he had. "Out of all people, I didn't expect Weiss to do that." Blake says, opening her drink.
Cracking open his own can, Sun took a noisy sip of the foam before throwing himself down on the couch. "Me neither, but she gave it to her before she left yesterday. Something about you guys being a good match." He says, fishing around for the TV remote buried under some blankets. "Weird though, she always looks so traumatized whenever Yang comes and talks to her."
Blake scoffed and took a seat next to him on the couch. "She's out of her mind, Weiss knows how much she drives me crazy."
Shrugging, he switched on the TV and absently scrolled through the channels before stopping on a random soccer game. "Well you are going on a date with her tomorrow, and I think she's right. You guys would look good together, she's so fucking tall."
"It's not a date, Sun." Blake says, annoyed.
"Uh huh, keep telling yourself that." He draws out, trying to remember what he had written down earlier. "Hold on, lets search up the restaurant name that she told me on the phone earlier." Sun pulled Blake's laptop onto his lap from its place on the couch and typed in the password.
"Wait, how do you know my password? I literally just changed it last week, again ."
"Everyone knows your password." He responds, opening up a browser.
"What?"
"There, here we go," Sun says instead of responding - the main page opened to show a fancy website for a high-dining french restaurant. "Holy shit, this looks like the real deal."
"Let me see," Blake says. She pulled the laptop towards her to Sun's protest, scrolling through the website until she found the menu. Both of them gaped as they saw the prices. "$150 for a single dish!? What the fuck."
Sun grabbed the laptop back from her and held the screen closer to his face as if the prices would magically reveal themselves to be lower. "I'm so broke, I can't even comprehend what a $200 steak would taste like."
He got up quickly and dashed towards Blake's bedroom. After some rummaging, he returned with a black dress on a coat hanger. "You can finally wear this now!"
She narrowed his eyes at him. "I'm not wearing that, that's my good dress. And this is not a date." She says, laying back into the couch and crossing her arms. "This is dinner with an idiot that cuts her face open every business week."
"You say good dress like you own more than one," he cuts back - it was definitely effective; Blake couldn't think of anything to come back from that one. "And I don't care, you have to wear it. By god you have to be presentable if you're going to a restaurant with a goddamn michelin star where a porkchop costs more than my monthly salary."
He held up the dress to his body, looking back and forth between the dress and Blake until she finally gave in. Grabbing it from him, she tossed it over the back of a chair and pulled Sun back onto the couch.
"Okay, whatever. Now stop talking about it, I haven't gone more than five straight minutes for the entire day not being constantly reminded of it." She grabbed a bag of chips off the counter behind her and opened it, letting Sun take a handful before taking some herself. "Now shut up so we can watch TV. I'm relaxing as much as I can before tomorrow."
"Are you really that stressed out over just dinner?" He teases, shoving some snacks into his mouth.
"Please don't tell me you already forgot that the new interns are coming tomorrow," she says, groaning as he looked back at her oblivious. "Ugh, I can't believe you're a doctor."