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Ziggy had been waiting in the ER for a fellow officer and his little brother, Lorenzo, to get patched up after a rough morning of chasing a few criminals. He'd had lost track of the time, not to mention the amount of cups of coffee he'd had- and it probably wasn't helping the anxiety building in his core.
He was pacing back and forth beside the waiting room chairs, deep in thought about the aftermath of the chase. There was a shootout after they had finally caught up to the robbers, and he was surprised he only got a couple scrapes from all that gun fire.
Dr. Drake walked past and glanced at the ranger before doing a double take,
"Well, well, well, what have we here-" he spoke aloud and enough to nab Buggs attention; albeit briefly.
Noah stepped over to Buggs with a curious look,
"Whats eatin' you green ranger? excuse me- Eh-Eh- was it?" a grin crossing his face
Ziggy rolled his eyes and frowned at the Doctor,
"Lissen okay, I'm just worried about my brother- can you just step off Drake-?"
Drake cocked his head to the side with a raised brow-
"You mean Lorenzo?" he scoffed, "He's a trooper- if you'll excuse the expression- he'll make it through, what are you so worried for?"
Buggs continued to pace lightly in the waiting room for a few more seconds,
"But what if- what if when he wakes up he can't feel his legs or something? what if when he wakes he ca-cant even talk??- what if--"
Drake cut him off in the midst of his anxious rambling-
"Ziggy, stop it. Shut up- Sit down- and Stay cute for one god damn minute would yah? I'll go in and check on your brother alright?" he snapped, before Drake stepped off and into the back for a while.
Buggs plopped back into a waiting chair, dumbfounded at Drakes words for a moment...
Did- did Drake just call him... cute?
Ziggy felt his face flush a bit after receiving the surprise bomb of a compliment,
What the hell was he gonna say when Drake came back out? should he even say anything?
he sat there for a moment temporarily forgetting about his brother.
~~
When Drake did come back out he stood before Ziggy and spoke calmly;
"Your brother, is as I said before, perfectly fine. 'Told you he's a trooper Buggs, next time believe me and don't dig yourself a hole of fears- alright?"
Ziggy nodded and rubbed his face with a heavy sigh of relief.
"Yeah, I'll keep that in mind... Thanks..."
Drake was taken aback by the slight sincerity in the ranger's voice-
"Yeah, your welcome..."
Noah scratched the back of his head for a moment, unsure of what to say.
Buggs kept running the shootout in the back of his mind, and then pulling forward to what Drake just said-
should he, bring it up...? Would he even admit he said it?
Drake stood there for another few seconds, wondering if he had gone too far with something he had said,
Did he make Ziggy feel this bad with saying all that silly stuff about the green ranger shit or something...?
"Uh- Ahem So- he'll make a full recovery, he's just gonna have to take a few days to relax."
Ziggy nodded and looked up at Drake,
"R-right, yeah I'll keep an eye on him for a while-"
"You'd better, he better not be up doing any stupid shit while he's recovering, for all I know he could bust his stitches and hurt himself- he's a good kid and a good cop, I don't want to see him get more banged up that he already is."
"Yeah tell that to him, he'll tell you that's part of being a cop, getting hit is one of the 'perks'."
Buggs chuckled lightly and stood up, looking Drake in the eye for short moment.
"Isn't your job to not get hit?" Drake smirked as he stepped back
"Yeah, yeah, shut up-" Buggs scoffed as he walked into the back, Drake leading him to Lorenzo's room.
~~~
Once Buggs reached Lorenzo, he helped him up and out of the hospital and drove him home, telling him about how Drake had dropped a compliment on him out of no where-
"What? He said that to you? I thought he'd just mock you or something like he usually does."
"Yeah I was just as surprised as you are, if not more- he said it to my face when I least expected it."
Buggs felt his heart warm a little, it had been a strange compliment, but a compliment none the less.
"So are you guys gonna go on a date now or something?"
Buggs swerved the car at his brothers words, clenching his teeth,
"Wh- where the hell did you get that idea??" he hollered trying to straighten his driving
"Well he said you were cute? What, don't you go on like a date or something or like hang out after someone flirts with you?"
"No Lorenzo! Thats not how that works!" Buggs panted as he shook his head, happy he didn't just crash his car
Lorenzo whispered under his breath-
"I dunno, sounds like your MO..."
"What did you just say?"
"Nothing- I said I thought I saw an owl-"
Ziggy grumbled "Uh huh- sure."
Lorenzo giggled and held his chest in a slight spike of pain "Ow- frick that hurt..."
Buggs nodded and chuckled in reply as they continued driving, a calm silence settling the two as they drove towards the apartments.
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