Alfred cradled his thumb in his not-fucked-up hand, eyes glancing about the waiting room of the ER for something to distract him from the throbbing pain of the injury. He had been dicking around on his phone with one hand since he'd arrived at the hospital, in order to preoccupy himself, but as his phone died so did his ability to ignore how much his thumb hurt.
His head turned as he heard the automatic doors swish open, and he watched as a lean blond man went to the sign in desk, was probably told he had a ridiculous amount of time to wait before he could get help, and then scanned the room for a free seat. All while tightly clutching the bridge of his nose. Alfred pretended he hadn't been watching the guy as he spotted the empty chair next to him and made his way over.
"Hello," Alfred said with a half-wave of his good hand. The man smiled slightly.
"Bonjour." He replied, sounding horrendously nasally due to the seemingly broken nose he was trying to hold gently. Alfred made a sympathetic sort of face.
"That looks rough, dude. Get in a fight?" He asked. Some person by the last name of Carriedo was called up by the desk clerk. Broken-nose guy shook his head.
"Not unless getting hit in the face by a flailing toddler counts as a fight, non. Just a rather embarrassing accident." He chuckled and then cringed in pain, shifting to face Alfred in his seat. His face was good looking and well groomed, but the purplish color spreading from his nose looked pretty bad and distracted from his nice appearance.
"I bet that you'd think how I broke my thumb is more embarrassing." Alfred offered with a grin.
"I am not the type to gamble with someone I do not know, but I also very much doubt that." Said the man, crossing his ankles. He had one brow arched in what was likely intrigue. Alfred laughed a little.
"I'm Alfred. And I didn't mean it literally, of course. I wouldn't make a bet with a random guy either. But dude, trust me, my story is more embarrassing."
"Francis," The blond introduced himself, taking one of his hands away from his nose long enough to give Alfred's outstretched non-damaged hand a quick shake. "Alright, then, tell me how you came to injure your hand."
"Well, to make the story simple, I was playing Mario Kart with my brother and we both got really into it and he accidentally flung his controller and it smashed my thumb against my own and I'm pretty sure it's broken. That's about it." Alfred admitted quickly, cheeks a little red as he shrugged his shoulders. Francis snorted and then winced.
"You win, definitely. Also, how old are you? /Mario Kart/?" Francis told Alfred, trying not to laugh to avoid hurting himself. Alfred carefully crossed his arms.
"I'm nineteen. I'm an adult. Mario Kart is a classic for all ages, don't fight me on this." He replied with a deadpan look that caused Francis to roll his eyes and nearly snort again.
"Whatever you say,"
"Mr. Jones," called the desk clerk, causing Alfred to look up and away from Francis. "A doctor will see you now." Alfred threw a big grin at his new acquaintance and then stood, still holding his thumb.
"Nice to meet ya, Francis. Hope the doctors fix your nose up nicely." He walked off and shortly disappeared through the ER doors, leaving Francis alone. He sat back in his chair and found himself wondering about the charming young man who had broken his thumb playing video games. And, oddly and unexpectedly, he hoped that he would see him again.