Chapter Text
“I’m sorry, what did you say?”
“Yeah sorry Smith,” the hospital administrator addressed Blue in an unbothered tone and expression whilst flipping through a clipboard clipping way too many papers a clipboard should be clipping, spinning around their chair like a child discovering it for the first time, “you’re in charge of clinic duty. I know it’s tiresome, and frustrating but—”
“No, I don’t mind that, I just didn’t hear you just now.” Blue clarified, thanking the hospital administrator before leaving their office.
It took a while for Blue to figure through their phone’s Google maps, changing everything like their home location and things like that to get here at the hospital that offered them a job to be the senior neurosurgeon, but for some odd reason, they were put on clinic duty for the first day there. It didn’t matter to Blue in all honesty, all they cared about was making sure their patients were treated and cured, even if it meant being a general practitioner for their whole life.
Blue settled into their little clinic office, slipping their arms into their white lab coat, and quickly strapping on necessary scrubs like a face mask and scrub cap. Just a push of a button signalled to every patient in the clinic that they were clocking into work already.
Almost immediately, someone already pushed open the door without even knocking, rubbing their eyes with their index finger. To Blue, their first patient of the day already looked familiar, especially the striking bold lime coloured hair, but they were dressed in rather casual clothing, with a brown t-shirt and oversized denim jeans donned on.
Blue tapped on the torn leather cushion right beside them, plastering a smile on their own face, before focusing back on the computer in front of them. “Alright, what’s your name, and how may I help you today?” Blue chirped, immediately looking at the patient after typing in some things with more charm than the patient seemed to expect.
“Your name is Blake Smith?” The patient yawned, barely covering their mouth.
Blue glanced over the patient’s shoulder, looking at the slightly ajar door to see their name slab slotted into the glass slot screwed the door. “Yep, typically white person name, white person look, yada yada.” Blue replied, crossing their arms while ranting slightly to the patient. They glanced at the computer, with the document there said that the patient is just doing a vaccine shot which led Blue to frantically look through the drawers nearby.
“Flu vaccine today?” Blue asked for clarification, rummaging through many drawers at once.
“Yeah,” the patient sighed, “I don’t believe it works, but it’s company mandate.”
“I still haven’t got your name yet,” Blue reminded, a little bit of frustration seeping through their voice, “Need to confirm the report.”
“Who’s this report going to?” The patient asked, shifting in their seat uncomfortably and every two seconds, “Is it the CIA? The FBI? Or the Illuminati?”
Blue shut the drawer loudly accidentally, wincing slightly when the impact caused such a loud sound from the wood, but they were holding a syringe and a small bottle labeled “For flu” instead of any other actual medical term on it. They slid the syringe and the bottle on the table by the decade-old keyboard before confronting the patient.
“It’s probably going to be put in a folder in the hospital administrator’s office. It probably won’t even be touched.” Blue reassured the patient, “It probably won’t even be looked at unless you make another appointment with the hospital.”
“It’s a public hospital, and there’s cameras everywhere, the government is watching us, Dr Smith, they really are. They put a tracking device in all the vaccines to track us and make sure we aren’t commies—”
“Are you a commie?” Blue asked, interrupting the patient.
“N-no, BUT—”
“I’m sure you’ll be fine, now, I just need your name and your identification number—”
“Dr Smith, I don’t think you realise you’re under the manipulation of the darn government, people like you and I just trust the government so aimlessly, and—”
Blue started rummaging through their cabinet drawers again, cutting off the patient entirely before whipping out another syringe. Tossing that aside with the other syringe prepared for the patient sitting beside Blue, they frantically started typing on their keyboard again, biting their bottom lip.
“What are you doing, Dr Smith?” The patient asked softly.
Blue didn’t even answer the patient till they spun their chair to the patient again, opening a pack of alcohol swabs. “I don’t trust the government either—” Blue stated, turning to the computer screen for the patient’s name, “—Lin, but sometimes, we got to dismiss the government’s wrongdoings and tell ourselves that though they may be the most evil being we’ll set our eyes on, everyone has some good in their heart. So, maybe, just this once, think of this vaccine as the government helping you for once. It just needs to be this one time, Lin.”
“Who am I to trust the government about this, Dr Smith?” Lin protested.
“Don’t trust the government, trust me.” Blue countered, “And though it’s not my appointment for my shot, I’ll file it today and do it today as well. Just so if the government suspects anything wrong about you, I can be your witness.”
“Al-alright f-fine!” Lin resigned, pulling up their sleeve and turning to their side.
“I hope you’ll be my witness too if I end up being swept by the government as well.” Blue murmured, rubbing an alcohol swab on Lin’s skin.
The sun was about to set beyond the horizon, and pink splattered across the sky with dark clouds accompanying it, which looked amazing with the sub-urban houses lining up along the empty streets. As Blue was coming in closer to their house, they noticed their neighbour playing with their dog on the front lawn, and they were standing proudly as what it looked like from where Blue was. That was until, Blue squinted their eyes to see the same shade of green in their hair, and the same oversized jeans and brown plain t-shirt they were wearing, the exact same clothes their first patient was wearing.
Blue wanted to toss a wave, but their arm was aching from the vaccination that morning, so they just turned into their front porch, looking through their tote bag for their keys. Until, the realization kicked in for Blue. They left their keys at the hospital.
“Need some help, Dr Smith?”
Blue turned to their neighbour watching over from their fence, arms resting on the jagged edges as their dog was panting and demanding for another round of fetch as they tossed the slobbish ball in their hand.
“That’d be appreciated, thanks.” Blue nodded.
As Blue’s neighbour approached to help unlock their door, they crouched in a position that was definitely not comfortable for any normal human being.
“You’re…Lin, right?” Blue asked while watching their own neighbour work magic on the lock.
“I didn’t know we’re on a first-name basis.” Lin mumbled, looking half-asleep whilst meddling an extended hairpin in the keyhole.
“Why…are you helping me? You were so suspicious about the whole vaccine thing this morning, even accusing me of working with the government.” Blue questioned out of curiosity.
“I need the government to think I’m a good neighbour, especially with journalists in my walls 24/7, waiting to hear the slightest things about my life that I’ve done wrong.” Lin said through their teeth.
“Well thanks for helping me anyway, Lin.” Blue smiled.
“I’m helping myself more than you, Dr Smith.” Lin said.
“…thanks.” Blue thanked Lin again, after the locks clicked into place as Lin opened the door for Blue for them.
“…you’re welcome.” Lin muttered before closing the door behind Blue.
But before Lin could close the door fully, about to leave Blue’s front porch, Blue rushed to hold the door, which led Lin to have massive disbelief on their face.
“Want a drink?”
“What?” Lin asked, the rash in their voice growing slightly stronger.
“Think of it as a sort of neighbour-bonding moment, not because you did a good thing for someone. Or both, journalists will see it as a good thing.” Blue added.
“You have lemonade?” Lin shrugged their shoulders, leaning against the door frame, wincing slightly.
“I’ll make some,” Blue nodded.
“Y’know,” Lin said before Blue walked away, “that hair would make you very recognizable, maybe you should dye it fully or go back to being fully blonde, so the government doesn’t notice you immediately.”
“Yours too,” Blue smiled, “it’s a very bold choice, and it looks good on you.”
“It blends in, yours doesn’t, Dr Smith.” Lin argued against Blue’s compliment.
“Yeah it doesn’t,” Blue twirled two locks of hair, one blonde and one blue, “So much so that my old friends called me Blue because of how much I liked the colour blue.”
“I can tell.” Lin chuckled.
Silence sat between the two as Blue gazed at the pink skies outside with Lin. The birds chirped wildly outside, usually right before the night goes quiet completely.
“Come in, Lin, I need to make you some Virginian lemonade.” Blue finally spoke, holding the door for Lin to go in, biting their bottom lip to hold in the pain in their shoulder.
“I’ll criticize this, Dr Smith, one thing I learnt about escaping from authorities is how to make amazing lemonade.” Lin commented, heading immediately for the couch in the living room.
“You’ve got to teach me this, Lin.”
“Nah, you need to earn it.” Lin laughed.
“Alright, Gordan Ramsay, let me work my magic.”