Chapter Text
Steve let out a groan, opening his eyes and looking around. He was in a medbay, a very unfamiliar medbay. That wasn’t good. He didn’t know how long he had been out, or where he was. And he hated that he had no clue.
“Hey, take it easy,” a calming voice said, and Steve tensed up as a puppy dog hybrid leaned over the bed and met his eyes. Steve just stared at him for a moment, then started to try and sit up. They hybrid placed hands on his shoulders though, and that pissed Steve off to an extent.
“Get away from-” he started to growl, shoving at the much stronger hybrid. He cut himself off though as the fluorescent lights of the medbay reflected off the green suit and revealed a symbol on the hybrid's chest he hadn’t seen before. One that he knew. “Northernlion,” he murmured, staring at the symbol of the search and rescue commanding officer.
“Yeah,” the hybrid's voice was soft and Steve looked at his face again. “I’m Apollo Willems. I work with the NLSS and I’m the current medic on duty,”
“What happened?” Steve asked, tilting his head a little bit. He hated that he didn’t fully remember what happened to him, he barely remembered the damn mission he had been on.
“We found you on Polus, wandering around and hurt. Ryan’s been worried about you Steven, how you feeling?”
“Hurt, I guess,” he muttered, dropping his gaze. “And it’s Steve. I hate being called Steven,” he grumbled a little bit, seeing the hybrid nod. Then he huffed, getting impatient with the hybrid who didn’t seem to be doing anything. “Go get me Northernlion,” he ordered, only to see the hybrid cross his arms and pin his ears.
“No,” Steve froze at those words, he had just given an order and he had been told no. Did this guy not know who he was? The power he held in the damn corporation?
“Excuse me?” he asked, voice low and dangerous. “That’s an order and I-”
“Am a commanding officer. I know,” the tone was stern with a hint of sarcasm that caught Steve’s attention. This guy was so willing to disobey his orders, he had never had someone disobey before. “And I’m the medic while you're in a medbay. I’ll get Ryan in a bit, but first I need to check you over now that you're actually awake,”
“I…” Steve just went quiet, he wasn’t sure how to actually even argue with this guy. And honestly he didn’t want to. “Fine,” he agreed, instead of making life more difficult. Instead he decided to study the hybrid who was checking him over.
“You have a concussion, but you’ll be fine. Two broken ribs, a sprained ankle, and had a dislocated shoulder that should be healing fine,” Apollo explained as he finished up and stepped back. Steve hadn’t spoken the entire time, but he tensed a little when Apollo started to speak. “I’ll go get Ryan now-“
“Wait,” he closed his eyes and sighed, deciding he would rather have Apollo in there with him instead of the other commanding officer. “Just…just wait. Wait till morning, I don’t wanna wake him up,” he hoped the lie would work, he didn’t actually care about Ryans sleep schedule. Clearly the hybrid was confused, as his head tilted and his tail flicked.
“But you said-”
“I know. Just…wait for a bit?” it was more of a question than an order, and he saw the man narrow his eyes for a second before correcting himself.
“Besides, Ryan’s also on duty so he’s just in his office and awake so don’t worry about waking him up,” Apollo started to explain and Steve hated that this guy didn’t seem to want to listen. Hated how much it intrigued him. “Actually waiting till morning would cause the next medic to wake him up and-“
“Fine. Go grab him,” he felt defeated, clearly this was someone who was very much so by the books. He saw Apollo nod and tap his com,
“Ryan, Steve is awake and has requested you,” Steve got a glance from the hybrid but didn’t actually bother to react, choosing to focus on the wall in front of him. After a few seconds Apollo hummed, not speaking for a few seconds.
“How long will this take?” Steve huffed out, he was bored and he wanted to get back to his crew. Even if it meant leaving the pretty hybrid behind. Well, not pretty but, not that he wasn’t pretty but describing someone he barely know as pretty seemed like a big no and
“Steve!” Ryans voice boomed in the medbay, causing him to snap from his thoughts and flinch. He must’ve missed the medbay doors opening.
“Hey Ryan,” he muttered, watching as Ryan waved his hand towards Apollo and the hybrid left with a sigh. Which left the two commanding officers alone together. It was a little disappointing but oh well, Ryan most likely had information for him.
“You alright?”
“Fine, what happened?” he asked, not caring to make small talk right now.
“Your dropship went down on the way back from a mission,” oh right, he forgot about that. His hand went to his pocket, where he was supposed to have a flashdrive. “I already uploaded that to Toast, so don’t worry about it. Just breathe and focus on relaxing and getting better,”
“Right, cause that’s so easy,” he grumbled sarcastically and looked around the medbay again. “Can I leave? Please?”
“No, you’ll be on the NLSS ship for a day or two, maybe longer. Plus you cannot be up and moving right now. The less amount of stress on your leg and arm will make it heal faster,”
“Right, because I’m known for being patient,” he said and Ryan shrugged.
“I can’t help you. If you want out of the medbay early then you have to talk to Sin. And he’s not one to let someone out early just because they don’t wanna be in here,”
“Great, thanks Ryan,” he grumbled sarcastically.