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Why did he agree to it?
Julien, accompanied by Clover, had come to the cave hospital earlier during the day. He was complaining of ‘feeling like he was about to die’, which was translated by his bodyguard to mean that he had sat on a log and gotten a splinter.
During the delicate and risky operation to remove the bit of wood, Julien had invited both Rob and Dr.S to a dinner party that he was having that evening. It was a rapidly fired question and Rob had accepted on pure impulse; Dr. S out of his usual manic willingness, Rob assumed.
As soon as Julien and Clover had left, the nurse suddenly felt very ill. It had been so long since he had gone to any public events — and did it have to be a Julien party?
It was nearing the end of the day and Rob was assisting Dr. S during one of the lemur kids’ monthly health checks. When the child’s mother briefly left the cave for a break, the child had looked up at Rob and asked,
“Nurse Phantom? What happened to your face?”
When he and Dr. S had first begun to treat patients, most of them did stare. Rob was expecting as much. Lemurs were known for being unnerved by things that were out of their ordinary.
Some would stare at him for a bit; some would for a while.
What are the patients thinking?
Rob would keep himself wide awake at night with the thoughts racing through his brain.
What is everyone thinking?
‘Is that ..? Rob McTodd?’
‘Party Animal Rob? The one whos parties used to get folks killed?’
‘And he looks like that now—‘
‘No wonder he spent so much time under the knife.’
Was that what they were thinking? Was it just his own insecurities?
Shying from the cave’s entrance, the lemur crawled to his favourite dark corner and hunched into the protective shadows. Why could he not get over this?
Stop it, Robert!
Technically, it would be the first dinner date he and Dr.S had ever been to. He was sure Dr. S would be disappointed if they didn’t go.
He so badly wanted to make this relationship work.
Despite their collective unstable tendencies, which they both frequently joked about, Rob had never felt a love so stable.
He noticed his hands were shaking.
What would their reactions be? Would they be frightened? Disgusted? Perhaps they would just laugh. He didn’t want it to go bad.
What if it went bad?
He could no longer rely on his outer appearance to carry him and he wasn’t about to begin relying on drink or narcotics to give him confidence. He had promised Dr. S that he would never go down that destructive path again, no matter how temping.
He thought of seeing Maurice and wasn’t sure that he could face him yet. Xixi was probably going to be there too. Growing up in the same scene, he knew for sure she had seen him in some of the most intoxicated, obnoxious states before.
God, no!
He was raking his paws through his wispy custard hair, breaths coming shallow and panicked.
Even when his face had been stretched as tight as one of Julien’s trampolines and he was limited to perhaps, two different expressions, at least no one could ever tell what he was feeling.
At least no one would be able to see him in states like this one.
The Party Animal was not insecure. Rob McTodd, though...
The sifaka then felt a surprisingly warm presence settling up against his side. He gasped and looked up to see Dr. S who was currently pulling him into a gentle hug.
“It is okay, Nurse Phantom.” The snake said softly, the tip of his tail rubbing the lemur’s trembling shoulder.
“I’m s-sorry.” Rob choked between sobs. How long had he been crying in this corner? He felt so embarrassed, having the cobra see him like this.
“Why are you sorry?” The snake doctor asked, sounded genuinely perplexed.
Rob hiccuped and wiped his mouth. What was he sorry for? Many things.
Many things which he had mentioned many times before, although Dr. S had told him repeatedly that they were not to be worried about.
He was sorry for not being as confident as he had been when they first met. He was sorry for not being as beautiful.
He was sorry that the thought of going out to a bar or a diner, not unlike the ones he used to frequent, made him so anxious he could barely move.
“I just— I don’t want the villagers to be so afraid of you. But they’re afraid of me too. I can see it when they look at me.” Rob paused to take some slow breaths, upon his boyfriend’s nonverbal tail prompt. “I’ll only make things worse for you.”
“Let them be afraid! I always have done.” The snake grinned. “It’s not your fault some have such a dramatic reaction.”
The reactive side of Rob’s mouth curved into a tiny smile. Given the maniacal giggling he guessed that Dr. S had gotten a happy memory of a time (or several) where he had terrified a lemur one way or another.
“But I don’t want people to be scared of you. Even though you do find it funny.”
“Because it is funny!”
“But...you really are just very lovely and I just —!”
“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about them. They’ll come round. Or maybe not; who has time to care?” He exclaimed happily.
As long as he could spend his time with the lovliest lemur he knew, he didn’t care what anyone else in their weird villiage did with their time.
“It’s probably just because I’m larger than them and practice medicine out of a CAVE—!”
“I think it might be your teeth, too. It must just be instinctive for lemurs to scream and run when they see anyone with big sharp teeth at this point.”
“You never screamed and ran.” Dr. S gently pressed his partner’s nose with the tip of his tail. “Is it because of all your bat parts?”
“No.” Rob giggled. “That’s not why. I’m still a lemur. Just...a lemur in love with a snake.”
The doctor’s presence had calmed this lemur. Rob wriggled to get more comfortable while gently wrapped up within the cobra’s coils.
“Admittedly, I see more of a —heh— arangement of organs and bones when I look at others, mostly, and lemur beauty standards are not what my forged degree is in but I can assure you; you are my favourite thing to see! Maybe even more than my dried spleen collection...”
Rob gave a little chuckle and nudged him gently. “Oh, stop, you. Even...even now?”
“Especially now!”
“But why?”
Dr. S straightened his brow — why?
“Because it is in the now, silly! Are you telling me you would prefer to be looking at your loved one now, or have it be later, when you do not get to look at them?”
Rob couldn’t help but start to laugh fondly. “You always make me feel so much better.”
“I would hope so; I am a doctor.”
After about an hour of appreciating the warmth that came with the two of them being nestled together so closely, Rob took a deep breath and admitted it.
“I’m sorry. I don’t think I can handle going out tonight. I’m sorry— I promise I’ll-“
“Oh, thank goodness!” The large reptile exclaimed with joyous shrill. “Me neither!“
The nurse gave a surprised slurp. “You don’t wan’t to go either?”
“Of course I was willing to try it if it would make you happy, but I have a feeling that by now I’m inexperienced in—heh— understanding social rules. I wouldn’t want to show you up.”
“Goodness, no!” Rob cut him off immediately and went to kiss his nose. “I can always explain anything you don’t understand. Since I’ve navigated that world before.”
“Ooh, this time I will be a student under you? How exciting! I will look forward to it.”
Until then, though, the kingdom’s only two medical practitioners settled in for another nice and quiet night at home. Both were openly glad that they had decided to stay in in the end —after all, whenever they spent time together in their cave was always when they felt their happiest.