Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Chen Yu sighed as he stepped out of his car. He really didn't want to go to the hospital. Yes, he was stabbed in the forearm, and yes it had hurt, but it wasn't the worst injury he had gotten in his career. He just had to keep the wound clean, dress it well and he should be good in a few days. But his supervisor had threatened him with a pay cut if he didn't get it checked out, so he begrudgingly went. Locking the car door, he crossed the parking lot and walked to the entrance of the ED.

Since it was late at night, the ED was not as busy as it was during the day, when he went there just yesterday to send a colleague who had gotten shot in the arm. They had been rushed to the nearest bed when Woodz's arm had been dripping with blood, but now Chen Yu had to queue to even get to the receptionist. Right at the front of the queue was a pregnant lady with two crying children holding each of her hands. Behind her was a young couple, where the boyfriend was wincing in pain every time they shuffled forward; he was also hunched over from pain, his girlfriend rubbing soothing circles on his back seemed to not help him much at all. 

Chen Yu was third in line and he heaved another sigh. He could have been sleeping and resting his arm instead of queueing up like this.

Chen Yu looked around the ED waiting area to stave off his increasing boredom, lazily taking note of the other people in the room, a habit ingrained into him from his job. There was an old couple sitting right in front of the triage room, an old man walking slowly supported by a wheelie walker, a couple of teenagers with an adult who looked like she wanted nothing more than to d-word, whom Chen Yu assumed to be their teacher. He also saw a few potential trouble makers, likely the druggies who came in every now and then just to futilely try their luck to get some morphine from the hospital.

When it was his turn at the reception, he slid his ID to the lady at the counter, and when asked what was wrong he told her that he had a cut in his arm. The lady pursed her lips unamusedly (a sentiment Chen Yu shared) and was told to take a seat, and that a nurse would call him to take a look at his injury. 

He waited for nearly an hour before a nurse called his name and he walked into the triage room.

"Mr Chen, could you please show me the cut? If it's not too bad I'll clean it and dress it and you can be on your way," the old nurse told him kindly. 

Chen Yu then rolled up his sleeve and showed it.

"Mr Chen! This is a big cut, why didn't you say it earlier? We could have gotten to you faster!"

"It's not a big deal."

"But it is! Goodness. What is it that a nice looking young man like you do exactly? And where did you get this cut? Mr Chen, we might need to call the police -"

"But I am the police," Chen Yu said cheekily at the nurse and stopped her from making a phone call. "I had to stop a suspect just now and was stabbed in the process. I have had worse so I thought that this is not a big deal. I am sorry to have worried you." Chen Yu hung his head as he gave the old nurse a regretful, chastised look. He knew that it was his only key of getting out of trouble with a fretting matronly figure such as the nurse in front of him. 

The old nurse heaved a sigh as she stood up. "Alright. Follow me in, we'll get a doctor to assess it. I think this would require stitches."

Chen Yu pursed his lips at that. Honestly, he really thought that it wasn't that bad. But if the doctor who would be reviewing him also thought that he would be needing some stitches, who was he to argue? They were the health professionals, not him. So he would be good and listen to them.

Chen Yu waited for nearly thirty minutes before his curtain was pulled back and a doctor stepped in.

"Ah, it's you again, Officer Chen."

"Um.. Do I know you?" Chen Yu asked, perplexed. He did not remember meeting this handsome young doctor before, and he was not one to forget a face like that.

"Ah, I was the one who triaged Officer Cho whom you brought in yesterday."

"Oh."

"He's doing much better now," the doctor said with a smile, and that smile did things to Chen Yu's heart.

"I see. But could you really tell me that? I mean patient confidentiality and all?"

The doctor laughed at Chen Yu's question, but he answered him with a gentle smile. "I think I could tell you as much. I didn't get into the specifics, did I?"

"Ah."

"Let me take a look at your wound, officer. Let's get this over quickly so you can go home. It would be more comfortable to rest at home than in here I would imagine."

Chen Yu nodded his head in agreement as he pulled up his sleeve again. The doctor put on a pair of gloves and moved Chen Yu's arm this way and that way. He asked him if there was any pain, changes in sensations or power as he did his examination.

"Not really. It's just sore around the wound area, and painful when you press on it, but it feels just like any normal cuts really," Chen Yu replied. He also told the doctor that he thought that the knife had looked clean and that it wasn't some kind of weird rusty blade that had goodness knew what growing on them. 

"This would need about five stitches I think. I have a medical student with me tonight. Would you mind if she's the one putting in the stitches? I would be supervising as she worked, but please do note that the stitches might not be as neat and it might leave a scar that doesn't look very nice."

Chen Yu nodded as he smiled at the doctor. "It's fine. Let her practice. I'm a man anyway, what's a scar or two? Besides, with my job, this won't be the last."

The doctor was silent for a few seconds before speaking, "... let's not hope for more scars. I know it's inevitable but let's not jinx yourself."

Chen Yu snorted as the doctor told him that he would be back shortly with the stitching equipment and the medical student.

Gu Wei returned with a medical student in tow, wheeling a trolley filled with medical stuff. Chen Yu's eyes widened as he saw a syringe and a needle on the tray. It wasn't that he was afraid of pain, far from it. It was part of his job. But more than anything, he despised needles. There was always something about them that unsettled him. Maybe he could push the blame on that one school nurse who used to tell him to not move around too much during their scheduled school immunisation lest the needle would break and get into his bloodstream and pierce his heart and kill him. But as he grew older, with so many times he needed to watch someone being hospitalised, and seeing so many of his colleagues getting needles either for an IV or for some kinds of injections, he had seen medical professionals wiggled those needles around like nothing. When he once asked, (definitely not pale and shaky as what Yin Zheng had claimed), the medical officer had told him that it would be alright for needles to bend a little, and that the needles were actually pretty sturdy so he shouldn’t have to worry about them breaking. But whatever was said that day did not reassure him at all.

So a medical student holding a needle was a terrifying sight for Chen Yu. 

"What's the injection for? I thought I only need sutures?"

"Ah, it's a local anaesthetic, Mr Chen. So it doesn't hurt so much when I'm stitching," the medical student, who had introduced herself as A-Qing said. 

"Just put the sutures in, I won't need the local."

A-Qing looked at Gu Wei when Chen Yu told her to forgo the anaesthetic. Gu Wei looked at Chen Yu, and at his nod, nodded at A-Qing to start suturing.

"Is this the first time you put a stitch in?" Chen Yu asked A-Qing who was fiddling with the forceps and suture holder for a few moments. 

"In a real patient, yes."

"Hm. Do your worst then." 

A-Qing halted whatever she was doing to look at Dr Gu.

Gu Wei only shook his head and laughed. "Do your best, A-Qing. He doesn't mind some scars."

"I'll treat it as a badge of honour," Chen Yu supplied as he smiled kindly at the student who had just lost all of her composure from Chen Yu being a little shit.

"Just do your best, at any time you need to tap out, I'm here to take over," Gu Wei said kindly as he rummaged through the trolley drawer to prepare the dressings. 

A-Qing took a deep breath and began to clean the wound and its surrounding area with a cotton soaked iodine. As she began to suture, Chen Yu winced a little as the needle first pierced his skin. He gritted his teeth as he looked resolutely away from where his arm was being patched up, and stared ahead at the doctor instead. Looking at something nice would hopefully ease the pain.

"It's not too late to get the local in," Gu Wei said when he looked up from watching A-Qing stitching up Chen Yu's arm to find Chen Yu's gaze on him.

Chen Yu shook his head lightly. He inhaled another sharp breath and bit his lips as A-Qing placed another stitch on his arm.

Gu Wei snickered at the background as Chen Yu winced again at the third stitch.

"The offer still stands."

"It's fine," Chen Yu gritted out as the fourth stitch was placed. 

"Are you sure, Mr Chen? The local would help to numb your pain even after I'm done," A-Qing said as she looked up at Chen Yu. 

"It's fine. Just one more right?"

"From the looks of it we might need three more," Gu Wei said as he grabbed the needle. 

"I can handle three more stitches," Chen Yu chewed his lips once more as A-Qing stabbed him yet again without a warning. 

By the end of it, Gu Wei had disappeared and reappeared with a few pills and a water bottle. 

"Take these painkillers. You’ll need it, unless you're a masochist," Gu Wei said as he offered the medications to Chen Yu. Chen Yu merely glared at Gu Wei, he did not expect that a man with such an angelic face could have the tongue of the devil. He quickly drank the painkillers and then glanced at the red-faced A-Qing. 

"You sure you could talk like that in front of a patient and a student?"

"I'm sorry A-Qing," Gu Wei said as he patted her head. The grin on his face, however, showed that he was not repentant at all.

A-Qing just nodded as she wheeled the trolley away.

"Is she gonna be okay?" Chen Yu asked with a frown as A-Qing disappeared without even looking back. 

"She will be. It's late at night, but usually, she's one of the students who are brave enough to join in on the crudeness."

"Huh. Didn't expect doctors to be like that."

"We're all jaded man and woman," Gu Wei said. "... and persons," he added after a pause. 

Chen Yu laughed boisterously at that. He had always thought that doctors were one of the few professions who were lucky enough to be able to see things in black and white. But turned out, he was wrong.

"I'll write your discharge summary. You should be able to go home in about five minutes," Gu Wei said as he moved the curtain aside. "But remember, if the pain suddenly gets worse, or if it starts bleeding, or you develop any fevers or suddenly feel unwell, please come back to the ED."

Chen Yu said nothing but saluted at Dr Gu, causing the latter to grin brilliantly. 

Chen Yu contemplated telling the staff that his heart felt funny. Maybe he would be able to stay for the night and catch more glimpses of that beautiful face.. 

But a child wailing a few beds over shook him out of his thoughts. His bed at home was much more comfortable anyway.

Chen Yu thought that it would be okay for him to leave his bed for a bit to go to the loo. As he was coming back, he walked past the nursing station. He saw Dr Gu and another doctor, Dr Wang Zuocheng, as well as a few nurses. A-Qing was sitting quietly as she read a heavy-looking medical textbook. 

"Do I really have to deal with bed 24?" Dr Wang asked in resignation.

"It's not the first time you retrieved something from the depths of a human body, right?" Dr Gu asked with what looked like a sadistic grin.

"It isn't, no," Dr Wang said dejectedly as he moved from his seat. "A-Qing, would you like to.."

"Ah! I just remembered that bed 13 needs a cannula, I'll be back!" A-Qing chirped as she ran away.

Wang Zuocheng pursed his lips as he glared at the guffawing team. 

"Ah, and when you're done, Dr Wang, you can report to Dr Ayanga. I will be doing a quick round so I won't be around," Dr Gu chirped.

"Why can't you do this, Dr Gu? You're far more experienced than me!"

"Exactly, that's why you need more practice in fishing things out of the caudal end of the alimentary canal," Gu Wei continued to chirp as his lips curved up into a large smile, and his eyes disappearing into twin crescents. Chen Yu would have thought that it was a beautiful smile had it not for the slight narrowing of Gu Wei's eyes which glinted rather dangerously.

Chen Yu shuddered at the sight in front of him. That totally reminded him of his rookie days where his sergeants would delegate the more menial and sometimes gross tasks to the junior. Huh, turned out being a doctor and being a cop were not that much different.

Not long after he returned to his bed, Gu Wei appeared with his discharge letter. However, before Gu Wei could even speak, a loud scream was heard from the bed next to Chen Yu’s.

Almost as if on instinct, Chen Yu leapt out of his bed and was ready to pull the curtain aside when his wrist was gripped. Chen Yu looked quizzically at Gu Wei for a few seconds before settling back into his bed. 

Again, before Chen Yu could open his mouth to ask what was going on, a voice was heard.

“Mr Jin! Please stay still. I know that it is painful, but I really need to get the bottle out.”

“What the hell took you so long for? And aren’t you a doctor? Shouldn’t you be better at this?” The patient shouted as he continued to groan in pain. When Chen Yu picked his brain, he recalled that the man sounded exactly like that boy who was shuffling in front of him on the queue to see the reception.

“Baobei, don’t be rude to the doctor,” the girlfriend scolded from the other side of the curtain. “Doctor, I am sorry for his behaviour. But why is it that this time we can’t get it out? The previous times we used something even bigger but we could take it out just fine..”

Chen Yu’s eyes widened. Could it be…?

“I am afraid that this time around, you guys used a bottle instead of something completely solid. And you guys inserted the mouth of the bottle first, so it created a suction that makes this bottle so much harder to be removed.”

Yep, Chen Yu was right, and he couldn’t help the mad cackles that slipped past him. He looked at Dr Gu who was shaking, laughing into his elbows to try to make as little sound as possible.

“You assholes, stop laughing at me!” The boy with the surname Jin shouted over the curtain.

Chen Yu couldn’t help himself. Maybe it was the painkillers, maybe it was so late past his bedtime. “Who asked you to be so stupid?” He shouted back before falling back into laughter. 

Gu Wei continuously tried and failed to stop himself from laughing. In the end, he decided to just shove the discharge papers into Chen Yu’s uninjured hand and motioned him to follow. Chen Yu took the papers and got up, still laughing his ass off.

“I’ll bring you to see your friend,” Gu Wei said after walking down halfway through the hallway, when his laughter was finally slowly subsiding. 

“Ah, thank you, you don’t have to. Just let me know where he is and I’ll find him. I overheard just now that you need to do a round?” 

“Oh, don’t worry about it,” Gu Wei said with a cheeky smile. “I was just trying to run away from having to deal with bed 24.”

“You don’t like these butt stuff?” Chen Yu asked and both him and Gu Wei let out a snicker.

“My least favourite part of the job. People should really stop shoving things up or down places that should remain unobstructed,” Gu Wei said as he pulled the curtain of bed 57 to reveal a bored looking Cho Seungyoun fiddling one-handedly on his Nintendo Switch. 

“Yo,” Chen Yu said as he unceremoniously sat at Seungyoun’s foot. He remained unmoving even when Seungyoun swatted him with a pillow.

“Get off me, you’re heavy.”

“Your legs are weak.”

Seungyoun rolled his eyes before he spotted the person in a white coat.

“Ah! Dr Gu, hello,” Seungyoun greeted as he tried to shove Chen Yu once more, to no avail. 

“Hello, Officer Cho. I take it that you’re feeling much better?”

“Yes. I think you can discharge me now.”

“You bled a lot yesterday, due to delayed medical attention. We have given you some blood transfusion, and I’m glad that you’re feeling well enough to go home, but I think it would be best for us to observe you for another night before discharging you,” Dr Gu said as he took a look at Seungyoun’s wound. When he noted that everything was normal, he let out a content hum. Dr Gu excused himself after he had done his check on Seungyoun.

“Right. I’ll get one of the juniors to pick you up tomorrow, just give us a call,” Chen Yu said as he patted Soungyoun’s foot that he had just sat on.

“Alright. Goodnight, Yuyu,” Seoungyoun said, ignoring the pain he received from the smack Chen Yu delivered to his foot. 

As Chen Yu was finding his way out of the ED, he heard some shoutings. He was tired and he wanted to go home, but something in his gut told him to follow the commotion, so he did. 

Chen Yu was glad that he followed his gut instinct because what was happening made his blood boil. There was a nurse lying on the ground after her face was struck by a man, who reeked of alcohol and had a crazed look in his eyes. He was advancing towards a young woman, the med student who had just stitched him up.

A-Qing let out a whimper as she covered her face with both arms, expecting the blow, but it never came. Chen Yu had been fast enough to get in between them and blocked the incoming hit. He then quickly twisted the man's arm behind his back and pinned the man on the ground. Just as he had subdued the man, footsteps echoed across the hallway and Chen Yu looked up to see Dr Gu running in front of two security guards towards him. 

Chen Yu kept the man down as one of the guards placed a handcuff on the man, and only got off the man once he was sure that the two guards had sufficiently and securely restrained the man to move him elsewhere. 

He turned around to ensure that A-Qing was alright only to see that A-Qing had latched onto Gu Wei and sobbed on his chest as he held her, and stroked her hair tenderly.

Chen Yu awkwardly stood a distance away, not quite sure on what to make of the sight in front of him.

His eyes almost bulged out of his socket when he saw Gu Wei placing a kiss on top of A-Qing's head. What. The. Fuck?

"It's okay, Qing-Qing, it's okay. Tang-ge is here, you don't have to be scared," Gu Wei said as he tried to peer into A-Qing's face. A-Qing's sobs had lessened and Gu Wei began to wipe her tears with his thumb. Gu Wei could see that Chen Yu was still standing near them from the corner of his eyes, and his lips curled into a smile. "Alright, A-Qing, let's dry the tears and we can patch up Officer Chen again. I think his wound has reopened."

That seemed to work like magic, and A-Qing immediately stopped crying. She stepped away from her older cousin and wiped her face vigorously as she looked at Chen Yu. 

"I'll get the sutures, Dr Gu," she said as she sped walked towards the storeroom. 

Gu Wei sighed fondly as A-Qing gathered the equipment. 

"She used to be so cute, calling me Wei-gege all the time. Now she only ever called me Dr Gu, she grew up so fast and turned so cold," Gu Wei faked a sob and faked wiping a non-existent tear off of the corner of his eyes. 

"I still can't believe that you talked about masochism in front of your little cousin," Chen Yu said with a cringe. 

"She has said worse things during family dinners," Gu Wei replied wryly. "I guess she was just shocked that I made that kind of joke in front of a patient."

"Do you joke like that in front of all your patients?"

"Do you think I would still be able to practice if I do?" Gu Wei shot back. "Not to mention the lawsuits. Contrary to popular beliefs, we don't actually make that much."

Chen Yu hummed. 'Not that much' was a relative term. Chen Yu followed Gu Wei when he motioned for him to follow to where A-Qing had gone. They entered a storeroom where A-Qing was picking a few sutures to go with the rest of the equipment she had prepared on the trolley. 

"Do you want to patch him up again, or do you just want to watch?" Gu Wei asked as he gloved up and began to peel the dressing on Chen Yu's arm, which had started to soak with blood. 

"I'll just watch and assist," A-Qing said as she slumped down on a chair. 

"I'll patch this up quickly. Go get your things, I'll send you home after I'm done with this," Gu Wei said as he started to clean Chen Yu's arm. 

"I'll wait at the station," A-Qing said. Before she left, she hesitated. "Officer-Chen, Wei-gege, thank you." A-Qing flashed them a bright grin before walking out of the room.

"She's a cute kid," Chen Yu commented after the girl had left. 

Gu Wei raised an eyebrow at him. 

"Not like that," Chen Yu said as he rolled his eyes. "She's still a kid. I'm not some disgusting old man."

Gu Wei laughed at that. "Alright, alright, I believe you, Officer."

After a beat of silence, and after Gu Wei had cleaned the wound, Gu Wei spoke again. "Your wound may need more sutures this time around because of the additional trauma just now. Can I please recommend a local anaesthetic?"

"Sure," Chen Yu replied. The local would likely help Gu Wei finish patching him up quicker. And that meant that A-Qing would be able to go home sooner. Chen Yu merely avoided looking at his arm when Gu Wei started to attack his whole arm with the local.

"Did you act tough just now because of A-Qing?" Gu Wei asked after he was done injecting Chen Yu. 

"I don't trust med students with syringes and needles."

Gu Wei quirked his eyebrow up at that. "Bad experience?"

"You can say that," Chen Yu said. There was no way that he was going to tell this handsome doctor that he had an irrational crippling fear of a little injection needle.

Gu Wei only nodded his head and began to suture. The doctor was quick and precise, and Chen Yu couldn't help but stare at those skilled, elegant fingers, pulling and twisting and tying. Huh, even the flick of the doctor's wrist was attractive too. Wait, where did that come from? Did he lose more blood from his stab wound than he originally thought?

"All done," Dr Gu said, snapping Chen Yu from whatever it was that he was thinking.

"Ah, thank you."

"No problem," Gu Wei said as he cleared up the equipment and wastes. "Do you need a ride home? I don't think it's safe for you to drive with a hand like that."

"Do you offer to send all your patients home?" Chen Yu asked in surprise.

Gu Wei laughed at Chen Yu's question. "Definitely not," he answered easily. "Only those I would be working with in the future."

Chen Yu's brows were drawn into a confused frown. 

Gu Wei smiled as he closed the equipment room door shut. "The raid in a week's time, I will be there to help out with the injured," he said with a lowered, hushed voice.

Chen Yu's lips parted as an 'oh' escaped just as softly from his lips.

Gu Wei opened the door again as he started to walk out. Chen Yu promptly followed him.

"I was a military doctor before transferring here a month ago," Gu Wei said.

"What caused the change?" Chen Yu asked curiously. Military doctors usually stick around for quite a while. Dr Gu looked too young to leave the post.

"My mother would call me and cry a lot all the time," Gu Wei said with a soft sigh. "I feel bad for worrying her too much."

Chen Yu laughed at the little spiel. Gu Wei rolled his eyes, he was just trying to be a good, filial son. Besides, he could still go on stints like the upcoming raids. He was pretty happy with his life and career.

"Oh I'm not laughing at you, Dr Gu," Chen Yu reassured him with a smile. "In fact, my story is a little similar to yours. I was a recruit at the army," he said. "But my mom always fretted over me and she would cry every day, bawling her eyes out. So before I could finish my training, I decided to quit and switch over to the police academy instead. She's still worried about me, especially given the division I am in, but at least she's not bawling her eyes out all the time anymore."

Gu Wei laughed at the story. Turned out, they were both more similar than he had thought they were.

"Alright. I'll be bothering Seungyoun till tomorrow morning," Chen Yu said as they reached the nursing station. "Goodnight, A-Qing. Try to get a good rest tonight."

A-Qing smiled and nodded her head. "Thank you, Officer Chen, and thanks again for earlier. I'm sorry that you get hurt because of me.."

Chen Yu laughed as he ruffled her hair. "It's fine. It's my job anyway."

A-Qing smiled shyly as she tugged on Gu Wei's white coat. 

"You sure you don't need a ride home?" Gu Wei asked. 

"Nah, it's more fun bothering hyung," Chen Yu grinned impishly. "Besides I'll get one of the juniors to pick both of us up tomorrow and then they can come back and fetch our cars too." 

"Geez you guys are bullies," Gu Wei said as he took off his white coat and draped it on the back of a chair. "Let's go, Qing-Qing," Gu Wei called as he walked out of the nursing station. "And I'll see you around, Officer."

"See ya," Chen Yu waved his uninjured hand as he walked to where Seungyoun was. His steps were light and he whistled softly. He had a feeling that his life was about to get really interesting.

Chapter Text

A-Qing opened her door quietly, and she tried to enter her house just as quietly to not wake the rest of the household inhabitants. But the light was suddenly turned on, making her jump up as she yelled out a surprised scream.

"Nightshift shouldn't be done for another six hours," a voice said as a hand reached out to ruffle her hair. A-Qing, however, had expected it and ducked out of the way quickly.

A-Qing sent a glare to the man in front of her who began to cackle loudly.

"Did you get bored of your Wei-gege, hmm? Are you finally missing your own brother?"

"In your dreams," A-Qing bit out as she stuck out her tongue. Her brother continued to cackle as he leaned on the wall, waiting for her in the hallway as she took off her shoes.

"Did anything happen though?" He asked, seriously this time.

"Ah, just a drunk patient being violent."

Her brother frowned at that. He stepped forward, placing both hands on her shoulder as he began to inspect her for any injuries. "Is the drunkard still in the hospital?"

"He was taken away to the station, and I'm not hurt," A-Qing said as she stepped out from her brother's prodding. His tense shoulder began to relax as he reached up to ruffle at her hair instead, drawing an indignant yelp from his sister.

"Ah, your Wei-gege saved the damsel in distress?"

"Ugh, stop it Yang-Yang," A-Qing rolled her eyes. "You're always way too obsessed with Wei-ge."

"Can you blame me? He is just too handsome," Xue Yang replied as he made kissy faces, mimicking the girls in their class, which made A-Qing cringe in disgust.

"Ugh. Please don't remind me of those thirsty girls. They are still shooting me mean looks every time Wei-ge walks a little too close to me and they know that we're cousins."

"I can gouge their eyes out. You just have to say the word."

A-Qing grimaced as her brother let out another mad cackle. Everyone else, including their adoptive parents would think that he was joking, but A-Qing was not his biological twin sister (as much as she refused to believe that they really were related) for nothing.

"Please don't," she said instead. Xue Yang hummed as he followed A-Qing inside the house.

"So if Wei-ge didn't save you what happened? The security guards there are too slow and fat to be useful," Xue Yang said as he hopped on the sofa, stretching his whole length on it. A-Qing settled her bag on the coffee table and plopped herself where Xue Yang's feet were. She pushed them to the back of the sofa to create a space for her to sit.

"There was a police officer who saw and intervened. His wound reopened because of it though," A-Qing said with a frown as she remembered blood dripping from Officer Chen's arm.

"Well, just bake him some thank you cookies. I'll bring it bright and early tomorrow. Is he still there?"

"I think so."

"Great! Now bake those cookies."

"You just want to eat some cookies, don't you?" A-Qing asked accusingly.

Xue Yang beamed at her in return as he kicked her off the sofa. A-Qing retaliated by smacking him right on the tibia. But instead of screaming in pain, Xue Yang's laughter boomed like the psycho that he was.

A-Qing grimaced in disgust but walked off to the kitchen nonetheless to start baking her cookies.

Xue Yang was almost late for ward rounds. Did he regret watching a serial killer documentary until four in the morning while his surgical rounds start at seven? Definitely not.

But he definitely did not have the time to run around in ED to try to find 'Officer Chen' to give him the cookies, and even less time to give him his best psychotic look to tell him to stay away from his little sister unless he was there to help her. So Xue Yang skidded to halt his run when he spotted his cousin.

"Wei-gege!" Xue Yang hollered. Gu Wei turned around with a smile at the voice. But before he could reply the greetings, two boxes were shoved to his hand.

"One for you, one for Officer Chen from A-Qing. Bye, I'm late," Xue Yang bolted without waiting for any replies or acknowledgements and proceeded to run to up the stairs to the tenth floor. The lift sucked and would take forever, and he needed to be there quick.

Gu Wei chuckled at Xue Yang's retreating form as he walked to where his bag was and placed one of the cookie boxes inside. He then wandered over to where Chen Yu and Seungyoun was to hand him the other box.

Gu Wei snorted as he pulled back the curtain and saw the sight in front of him. There was Chen Yu, playing one-handedly on Seungyoun's switch while lying halfway on Seungyoun's back, and half on the bed, his one leg perched on the chair beside the bed. Seungyoun had his face mushed into his pillow, injured shoulder and arm hanging halfway off the bed while still snoring loudly.

"That's not how you're supposed to treat an injured person," Gu Wei said as he offered Chen Yu the cookie box.

"I'm injured too," Chen Yu grinned as he paused his game and took the box. "Hoo, breakfast, yum," he said after opening the box. The cookies looked amazing.

"A-Qing baked those. She wanted to thank you again," Gu Wei said as he fished out his phone and showed Chen Yu the text A-Qing had sent at 3 AM.

"Oh, tell her it's no big deal, and these cookies are amazing," Chen Yu replied around a mouthful of cookies. It was one of the best butter cookies he had ever had.

Gu Wei typed a short text into his phone and pocketed it back. He then pumped some hand rubs and cleaned his hands, before proceeding to take two slices of cookies out of Chen Yu's box.

"Hey!"

"Delivery fee," Gu Wei shrugged as he popped a cookie into his mouth.

Chen Yu rolled his eyes but did not protest furthest. Fair enough, he thought.

"Hmm I can't wait for A-Qing to come bringing in more cookies tonight," Gu Wei hummed after swallowing his last mouthful of cookies. "Pretty sure she'll be bringing her chocolate chip cookies and if we're lucky, maybe even some other fancy ones too."

"I'll come over tonight then," Chen Yu grinned. "What time does the night shift start?"

"Eight," Gu Wei replied as he tried to reach for more cookies. Chen Yu, however, hid the box behind his back, making Gu Wei pout.

Chen Yu felt his heart melt at the sight. There was a flutter in his heart as his heartstrings moved. He gave in, and offered more cookies for Gu Wei, causing the doctor to beam. At that smile, Chen Yu realised that he would be willing to forgo any cookies, no matter how delicious, just to see that smile on that face again.

"Well then, I'll see you tonight. Come early if you can or the cookies would be all gone," Gu Wei said as he stepped out of the curtain, still holding the cookies between his lips, drew it back close and applied some hand rubs before continuing to munch on the cookies, unaware of the palpitations he had just caused on Chen Yu.