Archive of Our Own ^beta

You were nervous.

Taking a deep breath, you look down at your clenched hands resting on top of your thighs. You were currently sitting in the waiting area at Akso Hospital, waiting for the moment your name would be called to see the one and only Dr. Zayne for your check-up. 

What were you so anxious about? You’d had several check-ups with him by now, this time was no different.

Except that was a lie, this time it was different. This would be the first check-up you would have with Zayne since officially becoming a couple. Surely that somehow changed things?

‘You’re overreacting. It’s just a check-up!’

Zayne always asked the same questions, and you would give the same answers.

 It was just. A check-up. 

“Young miss, are you nervous?” 

So caught up in your thoughts, you failed to notice someone had sat down next to you. Turning your head, you see an elderly woman. A halo of graying hair surrounds her kind, but aging face. The smile on her face is not unlike the one your very own grandmother used to give you.

The thought of her brings a brief pang to your heart, but you still manage a small smile.

Nodding, you smile and say, “Yes, I suppose I am a bit nervous, auntie.” Bowing your head just so.  

The elderly woman laughs gently then, bringing a hand to pat your shoulder comfortingly. Again, an achingly familiar gesture. 

“Are you here to see Dr. Zayne? If you are, I wouldn’t worry, he’s a very kind and capable doctor,” she says, nodding.

“Oh?” Was she another one of Zayne’s patients? You decide to feign ignorance, just to see what she had to say about your beloved boyfriend.

 “This is my first appointment with him actually, but I have heard many great things.” You smile, finding your nervousness subsiding thanks to her presence.

 Though your first statement was a bit of a white lie, the second part about hearing great things was no exaggeration. Zayne’s name was not only known throughout Linkon, but across the world. 

Still, you looked forward to what this kind auntie had to say.

She chuckles warmly again, removing her hand from your shoulder to rest it alongside her other atop a wooden cane.

 “Dr. Zayne is wonderful. I was just like you when I came for my first appointment, nervous,” she smiles. “I even went as far as to tell him as such, but it turned out I had been anxious for nothing. Dr. Zayne was patient; kind when listening to all my questions, reassuring me all the while he would do everything he could to help me.”

You swallow. “Really? He’s as amazing as they say?” You mean to sound incredulous, disbelieving, though you’re sure your voice is tinged with a kind of loving wistfulness that only Zayne could ever muster within you. You can’t help it. You would never tire of being reminded just how amazing he was with his patients.

Just how amazing he was.

The old woman nods again. “As you can imagine my dear, I’ve seen quite a few doctors in my time, but Dr. Zayne?” she shakes her head, turning to pin you with an earnest, reassuring look.  

“Dr. Zayne, by far exceeds them all.”

Your eyes widen at the praise. Again, not in surprise, but from sheer awe. You open your mouth to speak again; to thank her, to ask for her name but before you can, your own name is called.

“Y/N?” 

Jumping slightly, you look up towards the other side of the room where a nurse smiles warmly at you, using her foot as a prop to keep the door to the hallway leading to Zayne’s office open. 

“Dr. Zayne is ready to see you now,” she beams, gesturing for you to get up and follow her. 

The old woman laughs softly, and you turn to her with an apologetic look. “I’m sorry auntie, I suppose we part ways here. Thank you for making me feel less nervous.” You bow your head slightly in respect with a smile as you stand to leave.

“Go on, my dear. You have nothing to worry about,” she says, that smile never leaving her face all the while.

You nod your head to her in gratitude, before turning to walk towards the nurse. 

“Right this way, miss.” The nurse waits for you to enter through the door before closing it behind her and pointing down the hallway. “Dr. Zayne’s office is right down this way, please follow me.”

You’d never seen this nurse before, so you managed to quell the urge to tell her that you already knew your way to his office just fine, choosing instead to smile and nod at her. 

The floor was thankfully quiet. Only a handful of hospital personnel floating in between rooms and up and down the halls. 

Despite the calm atmosphere, as you draw closer to Zayne’s office, your nervousness returns tenfold. 

That nice old lady had noticed you’d been nervous,  if only she’d known the true reason behind it.

Arriving at his door, you couldn’t help the way your heart begins to speed up. 

“Alright, here we are. Dr. Zayne had to step away for a moment, but he said to tell you to wait in his office and that he’d be there shortly.” The nurse smiles again, opening the door to his office and gesturing for you to wait inside. 

Blinking in surprise, you nod.  “Oh, okay! Sounds good, thank you, I’m in no rush so it’ll be fine,” you say rather quickly before walking past her inside the office.

The nurse nods, and closes the door behind you. It’s only then you let out a breath you hadn’t known you’d been holding.

Gratitude filled you. You didn’t mind a few extra moments to calm yourself down before you’d have to see him.

Breathing in deeply again, you take a moment to look around his office, allowing the scent of it to calm you further. It was a nice clean scent, heightened by the neutral tones of the furniture and neatly placed and kept items within it. It tended to cling to him when he left the hospital and returned home only to meld with his own natural scent to create a warm, heady smell that was uniquely him .

The scent of hospitals otherwise made you anxious. It was sterile, cloying, and often brought to mind all the awful times prior to reuniting with Zayne when you’d come to them due to problems with your heart.

The doctors at those hospitals were always dismissive, the examination room lights cold and harsh. Before Zayne, hospitals were an ill-omen, the sight of them always reminding you of “bad news”.

‘‘Sorry, there’s nothing we can do...’’

‘‘We’ve done all we can...’’’

‘‘Nothing more can be done... We’re sorry...’’

It was only after reuniting with him that you no longer feared the thought of hospitals. You never had to worry about meaningless reassurances or being poked and prodded with cold, steel objects. 

With him, everything was different. With Zayne, you no longer dreaded every check-up, you began to actually look forward to them. The clean scent of his office, the warmth of the sunlight hitting your skin as it spilled in through the windows, his calm, steady presence, and the soft yet serious tone of his voice. Words hopeful and reassuring. 

 His gaze was always focused and intense when listening to your every answer to his every question; the grip of his hand on your shoulder always firm and steady as he gently tugged you forward to press the end of his stethoscope to your chest and listen to the beat of your heart. 

It was only thanks to Zayne that you came to equate hospitals with safety and warmth. That they were spaces meant and designed to facilitate healing and progress. You saw it in the way Zayne spoke to the children at the pediatric ward, in the way people left the hospital looking far better than when they’d first entered, and in the way each and every patient was treated with the same, reverent care Zayne always showed you no matter who they were.

 Lives mattered here at Akso. 

You mattered.

So caught up in your thoughts, you fail to notice the knock and opening of the door to the office. It was only after the silence of the office was broken by a deep, steady voice that you realized you were no longer alone. 

“You’re on time today, what brought this on?” Zayne’s voice, gentle and teasing washes over you from behind, stirring up the nervousness you’d been trying and failing to quell all over again. You turn your head to look at him as he walks past you towards his desk. 

Bad move. 

At this time of day, sun spilled in through the windows to paint the office in a warm, inviting glow not only relegated to the space, but also creating the same effect when it washed over Zayne as well. 

He wore his usual attire: a white lab coat and name tag that lightly swung with every step he took at its usual post clipped to his chest pocket, along with his usual tie and button down tucked neatly underneath. His stethoscope hung loosely across his shoulders. 

As he turned to face you, your eyes were immediately drawn to the deep, emerald depths of his own; golden flecks enhanced not only by the sunlight, but by the glasses he wore. 

Glasses on some people made them look cold, calculating, but on Zayne it always had the opposite effect. 

He mainly relegated wearing them for work where he constantly had to parse and closely scrutinize medical documents both on paper and on his computer screen or at home when he had time to settle down with a book, but if the steady uptick of your heartbeat whenever you saw him wear them were any indication, you’d be lying if you didn’t secretly wish he wore them more often. 

You blush, as he swiftly makes his way round behind his desk to pin you with a gentle look. It was nothing overly affectionate but heat rose to your cheeks regardless. The sunlight seemed to create a kind of halo around him and you were finding it hard to find the words to speak. 

Surely he hadn’t always been this radiant.

Had he?

“....Are you alright?” The sound of your name on his lips abruptly pulls you from your thoughts. The look on his face is now tinged with concern at your lack of response, and you resist the urge to physically shake your head to clear your mind as you focus in again on his words. 

Right, he’d asked you a question.

“Yes! Sorry, it’s just a little warm in here so I got distracted.” You lie as you settle down into one of the chairs facing his desk. “It’s such a nice day, I wanted to be on time to make sure you could get through seeing your list of patients as fast as possible and go out and enjoy it before it’s over!” Not a complete lie, the main reason for being on time being that despite your nervousness, you couldn’t shake the unbearable urge to see him as soon as possible.

Zayne tilts his head slightly as he regards you, concern giving way to amusement. “Ah, is that so? Was the number one hunter in Linkon City always this considerate?” The tease brushes past his lips easily, but it’s the kind of behavior you’d grown accustomed to and comfortable with. It was nothing out of the ordinary.  

And for some reason that realization caused a strange feeling to sprout within you. Were you really the only one that was nervous? 

Pursing your lips, you look down at your hands, wringing them lightly. “I’ve always been considerate, you’re just too busy to notice.” Despite the odd feeling rising within you, the come-backs that usually accompany and the banter between you readily surfaces.

Met only with a resigned chuckle, you look up only to see him get up to walk over to the water dispenser tucked away at the corner of his office. As your eyes follow him, you take in his relaxed, unhurried stride, the lack of tension within his shoulders. 

You furrow your brow. Again, you don’t know why the fact Zayne is so calm seems to send a pang through you. You watch him as he smoothly grabs one of the paper cups within the holder attached to the dispenser and begins to fill it with water. As he turns back to you, you make sure to look away. 

 If Zayne wasn’t affected, why should you be?

The sounds of his footsteps draw closer, and you suppress the urge to jump as you feel the warmth of his hand lightly grip your shoulder. You turn to look at him only to be met with that very same cup of water he just filled being held out to you within his other hand. 

“Here. If you’re warm it’s best to drink some water, it will help cool you down,” he says this gently, the grip on your shoulder tightening just so. Reassuring but not overly affectionate. 

You can’t help the blush rising to your cheeks as you nod and take the cup within both your hands. “Thank you, Dr. Zayne....” you murmur, biting your tongue to prevent you from saying anything more.

Instantly, you’re aware of the abnormal chill of the cup within your hands. Zayne must have used his Evol to cool the water down further when you’d been lost in thought. 

He was always doing little things like this for you, it’s one of the many things you loved about him. 

But again, nothing out of the ordinary. Unbeknownst to you however, was the way in which he subtly narrowed his eyes at the way you formally addressed him. 

Zayne nods as you grab it from him, swiftly returning to his place at the otherside of the desk and taking his seat across from you. In one swift motion, he reaches down to pull open a file cabinet and places yours onto the table; clipping it to a clipboard before flipping into it a few pages and grabbing a pen.

“Let’s begin. I’ve already had a chance to look over the updated patient file you submitted while out in the waiting room, so unless you’ve anything else to tell me, I believe we can skip the preliminary questions,” he says this without missing a beat, not even sparing you a glance as begins to rattle off his usual line of questioning.

“Have you been experiencing any unusual changes recently while out in the field? Such as abnormal breathing or erratic heart rate? ”

The casual and composed way he usually asked such questions regarding your heart condition again sent an unexpected wave of disappointment surging through you. 

He begins rattling off his ordinary questions, and you ordinarily answer.

It really was the same. Gripping the cup of water within your hands you watch as his eyes never even once leave the clipboard he was diligently scribbling your answers onto

‘Zayne.... Is it only me? Do you really not feel any different?’ . 

Zayne had always been insistent on making sure you made your health a top priority,  often nagging you affectionately about taking better care of yourself, especially when he wasn’t around. More probing, deeper conversations concerning your heart were rare outside of the hospital. Whether this was an unspoken conscious or unconscious decision between the two of you was hard to say, but what was certain was that inside the hospital he may be Dr. Zayne, but outside of it, he was always just your Zayne.

And you suppose, as you begin to tune out and numbly murmur answers long since embedded into your brain as if on auto-pilot, you can’t help but think that that was who was sitting across from you today. Of course, officially being a couple wouldn’t change that, and you were silly to even think so. Of course the realms of your relationship and professionalism should never meld. 

When you entered the hospital as his patient, you would remain so; expecting different treatment of any kind was absurd. Rationally, your mind knew this, but your heart was a different story. The irony of such a stark difference in expectation when it also happened to be the topic of discussion was not lost on you.

Suppressing a sigh, you bring the cup of water to your lips and begin to take a sip, already prepared to mechanically answer his next question. 

“Are you sexually active?” 

That one was new. 

The nonchalant way in which Zayne asked this caused you to sputter and choke on the sip of water you’d just taken.

Between your embarrassment and effort to catch your breath, the blossoming of a dark blush woefully staining your cheeks was impossible to stop. 

“Ex-excuse me?!” you exclaim, setting down the cup of water on the desk rather hastily. 

“Ah... so you are listening to me after all.” The amused smirk tugging at the corner of Zayne’s lips is not lost on you, a playful glint dancing subtly within the emerald gold depths of his eyes as he looks at you. It only causes your blush to deepen. 

“You-!... Of course I was listening!” Huffing, you look away, unable to hold his gaze. “And besides, you already know the answer to that question!” The truth of that statement causes you to bring your hands to your cheeks in an effort to cool down the warmth that continues to gather there.

Despite your embarrassment, the sound of Zayne’s warm and amused chuckle doesn’t fail to cause your heart to skip a beat.

“You seemed so lost in thought, I had to make sure,”  he hums, a teasing edge to his voice, voice laced with mirth that arose whenever he successfully caught you off guard. 

Which was to say, quite often. 

Blushing further, you quickly set the cup of water onto his desk and look away. Usually, at this point you’d shoot back some kind of response to the tease, however it dawned on you that if he had half a mind to tease you, then it only confirmed what you had been thinking since you first sat down. 

You really were the only one that was nervous. 

Before the thought could settle within the pit of your stomach however, the sound of Zayne standing up catches your attention. 

With practiced ease, Zayne reaches towards his shoulders to take hold of the stethoscope hanging from his neck and moves around the desk towards you. You hold your breath then, watching as he takes the empty seat next to you.

“Zayne?” The familiar, more intimate use of his name slips past your lips before you can stop it. You hate how meek you sound. 

As he sits down, Zayne holds his hand out to you, the movement slow and unhurried. “Come, closer.” 

Had his voice grown softer? Or was it simply because he was so close?

It was an ordinary, simple request he made of you at least a dozen times by now whenever it was time for him to listen to your heartbeat. The very thing of which began to race regardless. 

‘Calm down... It’s just your heart playing tricks on you. Zayne clearly isn’t affected by you at all...’ You rationalize internally, no matter how much the thought pained you. 

The lines between Dr. Zayne and your Zayne wouldn’t cross, and that’s something you just had to respect. 

But as you take in the gentle smile playing at his lips as he regards you, even as your mind knows better, your heart simply refuses to listen. 

‘Why can’t I be like him? Does he even realize the effect he has on me?’

Swallowing, you nod and lean in towards him, keeping your gaze downwards towards some unforeseen point on the floor, unwilling to meet his own.

You feel more so than see him move close. You intake a sharp yet quiet breath as you feel his fingers gently come to wrap around your forearm.

 “Closer...”  The sound of Zayne’s deep, calm voice washes over you, and the fingers wrapped lightly around your forearm tug you forward ever so slightly; coaxing, not demanding.

You could never deny him whenever he spoke to you like that. 

Hell, you could never deny him period. 

But this time, you cursed the inability. What would he say when he found out that your heart was beating so fast? It would be impossible to hide your true feelings then...

Dreading the inevitable, you clench your fingers resting atop your lap and lean in closer, trying your best not to shiver from his touch as your heart continues to drum within you. It was absolutely pointless to try to hide your blush at this proximity, yet still you tried, hoping the curtain of your hair as you continued to look downwards would hide at least some of it. 

‘Here we go.....’ you think dejectedly. 

From the corner of your eyes, you can see Zayne begin to lift the end of his stethoscope towards your chest with one hand, though his other hand rises higher and...

You gasp, feeling his fingers comt to lightly pinch your chin between his thumb and forefinger.

“Hey...Look at me...”  His grip, though light and gentle, unmistakably urges you to match his gaze as he holds your chin between his thumb and forefinger. 

The action was so that you could easily turn your head away and ignore his quiet command if you wanted to, only, you didn’t. Despite the continued thundering of your heart within your chest and the nervousness threatening to overwhelm you, you wanted nothing more than to behold the face of the man who literally and figuratively held your heart within his hands.

And so you did. 

And you’re completely unprepared for the intensity you find there. 

Over the rim of his glasses, concern swims within the golden emerald eyes of his eyes, clear in the furrow of his brow as he regards you. A slight frown tugged at the corners of his mouth, causing a pang so sharp within you that you quietly gasped. 

“Zayne....” you can only whisper, your mind woefully going blank.

Zayne says nothing for a moment, an unexpected sadness taking root within his expression that causes your own eyes to widen as you behold it.

 “...Why won’t you look at me?” The low and aggrieved timber of his voice makes you feel as if you've been doused in ice water, despite the warmth of the sunshine spilling in through the windows.

 “Is there something wrong? Are you truly feeling alright?” The abject concern lacing his words cuts you deeper than any knife ever could. 

“Why would you?..” your voice trails off, realization dawning on you. 

So caught up in your anxiety, you’d neglected to consider how your demeanor might come off to him. Your reluctance to meet his gaze, your one word answers, the way your body stiffened as he drew near. 

To anyone else, you definitely seemed uncomfortable.

Or worse, guilty.

Zayne’s brows crease further in concern as he continues to gaze at you, his eyes seemingly searching your face for an answer he’d clearly been trying to come to on his own. He must not have found it, as he opens his mouth to speak again, his gentle grip underneath your chin wavering just slightly though his gaze remains steady. 

“If I’ve done or said anything to upset you.... “ He murmurs, eyes now boring into yours as he continues, quieter,  “Please...Tell me...” He begins to remove his hand from underneath your chin.

You couldn’t let him think such thoughts for even a moment longer. All traces of your prior nervousness vanishing in the face of this new resolve. 

“Of course you haven’t!” You exclaim, shooting your hand up quickly to stop the retreat of his own by wrapping your fingers around his wrist. You notice his eyes grow wider at your action and outburst, and you take the chance to take a deep breath in.

“At least not on purpose..” You stammer and curse internally, seeing as how that only seemed to confuse him further, evident by the way his brow creased further. You sigh in exasperation, realizing you’d now have to come clean about your feelings, no matter how embarrassing they may be. 

You bring both of your own hands to cover his own, your eyes roving over the scars that laced the skin across the back of his hand. 

“I mean, of course you haven’t done anything wrong. It’s me that’s the problem...” As you struggle to find the words to say, Zayne says nothing, only leveling you with a quiet, expectant gaze intensified by the sunlight that continues to spill into the office through the office windows. You knew it was his way of silently encouraging you to continue and explain what you meant at your own pace, without fear of interruption.

Knowing this, as if on impulse, you begin to fiddle with his hand still held gently within your own. Your fingers begin to lightly trace along the scars your fingertips drift across; the slight dips and valleys created by the veins prominent across his hand, and the calluses between the creases and tips of his fingers. You hear Zayne inhale deeply through his nose, but he makes no attempt to stop you. 

Zayne told you a while ago that this was the hand he usually used to hold his scalpel with, which was why the skin was rougher than that of his other hand. He told you in much the same way you would hold your weapon in combat, the scalpel was his own weapon. Zayne would never say it, but you knew it was one he wielded with such precision and focus that it left your own fighting skills much to be desired in comparison. 

He never thought much of what he did on a daily basis, always seeming to be surprised or becoming shy whenever you praised or complimented him.

Even though he amazed you every single day, he clearly wasn’t aware of just how amazing he himself was. He seemed to always know what you wanted or needed even before you yourself did. 

Like right now, somehow so tune with your mind and body’s wants and needs without you even having to say a word.

You truly could never hide anything from him, and it was foolish to have even tried. 

“I....” your voice is meek, barely above a whisper as you reluctantly tear your gaze away from his hand and raise your head to look into his eyes,which were staring directly into yours over the rim of his glasses. 

You close your eyes briefly and take a deep breath, fighting against the surging tide of embarrassment that threatens to swallow your words whole. 

“I.... I was...” you pause, shaking your head slightly. “I am nervous, but it’s not because of anything you did...It’s just..” you trail off, desperately wracking your brain for the right words to explain the overwhelming feelings inside you. 

Just as you begin to look away from him in order to press on with what you wanted to say next, you remember something. 

You read somewhere, about how “in the face of love men grow timid and women grow bold”. As you consider this, you can’t help but think whoever had come to that conclusion had surely never met a man like Zayne before. 

Even so, remembering this gives you the courage to maintain eye contact with his increasingly intense gaze. You can’t be shy, not when came to your feelings about him.

“This is.... This is my first check-up with you since becoming...” your cheeks turn redder, as you speak the next part more softly, “.... a couple.”

“I know it doesn’t actually change things, but I can’t help but be nervous... it really struck me today just how amazing you are...” Your mind drifts back to your conversation you had with that elderly lady in the waiting room. The way she praised the man sitting across from you right now. 

You notice a flicker of emotion you can’t quite place, flash across his eyes at your words, but you press on, lest you lose what little nerve you’d somehow found.

“The hearts of hundreds have been in your hands and now.... That includes mine as well..” Your blush deepened, sure that Zayne knew your words held a deeper meaning. 

“It’s stupid.... Childish I know but... It dawned on me that someone as amazing as you even spares someone like me your time of day, beyond that of being your patient.” you trail off, the momentum you’d found beginning to taper off. 

‘He’s probably just as if not more embarrassed by you... ’ you berate yourself internally. 

Zayne still says nothing. You notice his Adam's apple roll as he swallows, and his hand remains motionless within your grip. He was undoubtedly waiting to make sure you’d said all you needed to say. 

Realizing this you take a deep breath. “That’s... why I’m nervous... you didn’t do anything wrong. I know this is just another patient visit to you, it’s nothing special...” 

You squeeze your eyes shut. “I just...couldn’t help feeling otherwise....” you finish meekly, still unable to meet his gaze. Ashamed, you begin to pull your hands away from his, but are stopped when he grabs the both of them. The action is so sudden your eyes shoot open, shocked by the firm way in which his one hand was able to encapsulate both of your own. 

You notice his eyes imperceptibly flit across your face, before an unexpected deep chuckle comes from him.  

“Just another patient visit to me...” Zayne echoes your words back to you, in a kind of amused, quiet hum which takes you by surprise. His grip around your hand tightens, and he brings his other hand up to cradle them both within his own. 

“Is that what you think?” he murmurs, levelling you with a gaze filled with such affection it takes you aback.

“I...” you don’t know what to say, unsure of where he was going with this. You watch as a small smile tugs at the corner of Zayne’s lips, as he removes his hands from their place wrapped around your own to reach up and remove the stethoscope from around his shoulders. 

He gently holds it out to you. “Here, take this.” 

Your eyes widen at this, but you don’t deny his request. Confused, you reach out and take the stethoscope from within his hands. 

“Zayne... what’re you-” Your words are interrupted as Zayne brings a finger to his lips, a silent gesture for you to simply trust him. 

“Listen...” he says this almost in a whisper; a soft but undeniably urgent command. You swallow, nodding and placing the earpieces within your ears. 

“You truly think I don’t feel anything, don't you?” Although it’s phrased as a question, Zayne’s tone is both gentle and matter of fact. 

Knowing.

Though you’d never specifically expressed that out loud, the fact Zayne knew exactly the true cause of your distress pulled a soft gasp from you. 

Again, you truly could never hide anything from him. 

Zayne’s intense gaze never leaves yours even as he grabs the metal chest piece in one hand and yours in his other. In the face of such intensity, any words you might have offered in a weak attempt at a rebuke to his spot-on claim disintegrated in an instant.

Zayne presses the chest piece into your palm, his touch lingering before he presses his fingers across yours, coaxing you to wrap your fingers around it. You swallow, glancing at your clasped hands and  before lifting your eyes to meet his gaze again. 

Zayne says nothing, simply leveling you with a steady, loving smile before guiding your hand holding the chestpiece up towards his own chest. 

You hold your breath, as you watch Zayne pull his lab coat aside with his other hand. He tilts his head towards you. “Tell me... What do you hear?”  he asks quietly, before finally pressing his hand over yours to his chest. 

You only have a moment to furrow your brow, before your ears are filled with the sound of the drumming of his heartbeat.

You can’t help the gasp that escapes you at the sound. As your eyes lock with his at the revelation. A small blush now begins to flourish across his own cheeks and tips of his ears. 

‘Zayne’s heart... it’s not just beating... It's...’

His hand tightens over yours, pressing it further against his chest. 

“Well?” He prompts, the affectionate and amused look on his face only growing further, along with the rosey blush staining cheeks.

 You could barely hear him over the rapid pounding of his heart within your ears, and if the heat you felt gathering on your own cheeks were any indication, you were sure you had one to match his own. 

“... Racing... Zayne... Your heart is-!” You stop yourself, feeling Zayne chuckle underneath the palm of your hand still pressed over his heart. You realize you must have been speaking louder to hear yourself over the stethoscope still blasting Zayne’s heartbeat within your ears. You hastily bring your free hand to remove them from your ears.

“See? You have just as much an effect on me as I do on you,” as he says this, he squeezes the hand he still has wrapped around yours.

At this you blush harder, from equal parts joy at discovering he felt the same way and at the truth that his mere presence and proximity was able to rattle you so thoroughly.

“You!- Who said you had an effect on me?” you stammer with a huff, pulling your hand away to cross your arms across your chest and look away. 

“I believe it was you.” Zayne muses smoothly. “If I remember correctly, you said-” before he can finish you hastily stop him, bringing your hands up to cover his mouth. 

“Ah, ah ah! No more!” Although it had felt good to be honest in that moment, being reminded of such vulnerability so soon was too much. 

You feel Zayne exhale a laugh against your hands as he brings his own up to lightly wrap around your wrists and pull them away, before looking down to caress the fleeting pulse there with his thumbs.

You huff. In that moment, you realize just how silly you’d been. You’d been so caught up in your own feelings, you’d forgotten that the Zayne you knew, and the Dr. Zayne others knew, weren’t entirely mutually exclusive. 

 He was analytical, extremely intelligent and precise, yes, but he was never unfeeling. 

You knew this very, very , well.

Zayne sighs then. “From the moment I walked in here and saw you, it’s been racing like this...However,” he pauses, brushing his thumbs across your knuckles once before letting them go and returning his gaze to you.

 “I can’t let my feelings get in the way of my responsibility to safeguarding and maintaining your health.” He tilts his head slightly towards you as he says this, a gentle smile tugging at his lips. 

It was one of the many things you loved about him. No matter how Zayne felt, that wouldn’t stop him from doing what he needed to be done, and he applied that same line of thinking when it came to you. Whether it was putting your plans together on hold to conduct an emergency surgery or never stopping or discouraging you from performing your duties as a hunter despite the risk it posed towards your heart condition. 

Of course, this wasn’t always a good thing. There were times where this trait, even when it benefited those around him, caused himself more harm than good. 

But in instances like these, you couldn’t help but admire him for it. 

Zayne was amazing, yes, but he was first and foremost, human.

‘ Sheesh....Is there anything there that this man can’t do to make me fall more in love with him?’

Realizing you hadn’t responded yet, you blink and clear your throat, unable to stop the smile tugging at your own lips as you matched his gaze.

You shake your head with a sigh. “I know.... I’m sorry, Zayne, this whole time, I’ve been so stupid....”  

Zayne makes a low sound under his breath. Before you can react he’s grabbed the seat of the chair you’re currently sitting on and tugged it towards him. Unsurprisingly, the motion interrupts your words and causes you to slightly lurch towards him at the same time he leans in closer. 

Your eyes look into his, which bore right back into you with an unexpected seriousness.

Zayne’s eyes search yours in silence for a moment, before a glimmer of amusement twinkled and softened the intensity within their emerald depths, but only slightly.

“You’re a great many things Miss Hunter.... But stupid,” his voice drops a tone lower, a tone he only ever uses with you when he wants to make sure you’re listening to his every word. “...isn’t one of them.” 

Heat gathers across your cheeks again for what must be the hundredth time today. In the face of such sudden intensity you can only swallow and nod. 

Seemingly satisfied with your answer (or lack thereof), Zayne leans back to reach for the long-forgotten stethoscope draped across his knee. You watch as he grabs and rolls the bell and diaphragm of the stethoscope in between palm and forefingers, warming up the usually cold metal chest piece with the warmth of his hand. He’s warming it for you.

The brightness of your smile noticing the action could have rivaled that of the sunshine currently spilling in through the windows. 

To anyone else, it was just Dr.Zayne doing his job; a standard procedure in order to enhance the sound detection of your heartbeat.

 But, as he leveled a warm smile at you and opened the palm of his other hand face up towards you in invitation to move closer, you knew better. 

You will always know better.

Which is why you lean in without hesitation when you hear him say:

“Now, Miss Hunter, I believe we have an examination we need to finish. Won’t you come closer?”