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Butch hovered in the entrance to the clinic with one hand gripping the door frame. His jacket and jumpsuit were unzipped so he could slip his other hand inside and press it against his wound. At the clinic's front desk sat the doc's kid. Her legs were crossed and an open book rested atop them. She had her hair tied back, and she wore her glasses and a lab coat. That meant she was the one on duty. Shit.
Jordan had always been a daddy's girl, hanging around the clinic and watching James work. After the GOAT clocked her as a chip off the old block, she began working shifts alone. Butch wondered what James and Jonas could possibly be doing whenever they fucked off and left the kid to run the clinic for them. He wondered, but he didn't care.
A slight movement brought Butch back to his current predicament. Jordan turned the page of her book, and her tongue darted out to wet her chapped lips. She wasn't going anywhere, and the doc probably wasn't coming back anytime soon. Butch would have to get her help. He sighed, released his grip on the door frame, and stepped forward. "What's up, doc?"
Jordan raised her head to meet his gaze. Her eyes looked a little dazed, like she was coming back from wherever that book took her. As she blinked, her eyes came back into focus. When she finally registered who was talking to her, her brow furrowed. "Butch." She grabbed a page from a prescription pad to use as a bookmark. "What did you get yourself into this time?"
Instead of answering that, Butch asked, "When's your dad getting back?" It was worth a shot.
"Not for a while."
"What about Jonas?"
"Same story. What do you want, Butch?"
Butch shifted his weight and smirked. "What, are they sneaking off to play doctor with each other?"
"You want to join them?"
"I - no!"
"Then what do you want?"
Butch looked around. "Are they allowed to just leave you in charge like this? What if there's an emergency?"
"Dad said to call him if anything shows up that I can't handle."
"You think you can handle me, girl?"
Jordan opened her book and returned to her reading. "Door's over there. Have a nice day."
"Wait wait wait, don't kick me out just yet! I need help, for real." Butch took a deep breath, swallowing his pride. "I need something looked at."
"This isn't a setup for you dropping your pants, is it?"
"Do you want it to be?"
Jordan shut her book and raised it like she was about to hit him with it. Butch jumped back. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry! I'll stop! I got fucked up, and I need you to patch me up."
"What is it?"
Butch withdrew the hand that was inside his jumpsuit. It was covered in blood. "That."
With quick, focused movements, Jordan set her book on the desk and stood up. "Take your shirt off and lie down on the exam table. I'll be over there in a moment."
As Butch crossed the room, he shrugged off his Tunnel Snake jacket. The movement made him wince in pain. He dropped the jacket in the nearest chair. Then he unzipped his jumpsuit to the waistband, pulled his arms out of the sleeves, and tied the sleeves around his waist. That left only the white t-shirt he wore under the jumpsuit. On the side of his stomach, the shirt was ripped open and soaked red. Butch peeled the shirt off, wadded it up, and dabbed at his wound in an attempt to mop up the blood on his skin.
"Stop that!" Jordan called from across the room. "I'm going to clean you up. Just lie down."
"Yeah, yeah, sure, doc." Butch tossed the shirt into the nearest trash bin; it was beyond salvageable. He sat down on the examination table and then slowly lowered himself into a lying position, groaning in pain all the while.
Jordan grabbed some nitrile gloves from a dispenser and pulled them on. "Alright, what'd you do to deserve this one?"
"Nothing!"
"Uh huh."
"I swear!"
Jordan ignored him as she twisted open a bottle of antiseptic. She soaked a cotton pad with it and set to work wiping down the wound. Butch flinched and hissed at the cold sting of the antiseptic. "Don't be such a baby," Jordan muttered.
"Try it from this side, and we'll see how tough you are."
"It's generally not a good idea to threaten your doctor."
"I didn't think doctors were supposed to talk this much shit."
Jordan dropped the blood-soaked pad in the garbage and then knelt down to take a closer look. With her gloved fingers, she gently pressed at the wound. It consisted of one long, deep cut surrounded by a few smaller ones. "This doesn't look like a knife injury. How'd you get this?"
"Broken bottle."
"Huh." She stood back up and walked over to the cabinet.
"'Huh,' what?"
"Nothing, I've just never seen that before." She shut the cabinet and returned to the side of the table. "You don't need a stimpack for this. The big one just needs to be sewn up."
"You gonna sew your mouth shut while you're at it?"
"How about I sew your asshole shut instead?"
"Only if you kiss it afterwards."
Jordan opened up a tube of anesthetic ointment and squeezed some onto a cotton swab. "As much as I would love to watch you writhe around in pain, I'm going to do the right thing and numb the area first."
"I didn't know you were into that freaky shit."
Jordan ignored him and got to work applying the ointment to his cuts. Butch breathed deeply and willed himself to relax. As he did so, he noticed Jordan's eyes flick to watch the firm muscles of his stomach rise and fall. Her cheeks pinked, and she quickly returned her gaze to his wound.
Huh. That was interesting. Butch watched her face as she worked, noting the loose strands of hair that framed her glasses, the curve of her cheek, and the way her lips parted ever so slightly when she was focused. He had never heard anything about Jordan having a boyfriend. She was always cold and standoffish towards everyone save Amata. The doc's kid and the Overseer's kid, so prim and proper and separate from everyone else. If either of them had a secret boyfriend or a messy hookup, word would spread fast. Butch and his gang used to accuse them of being an item, but it made sense the two girls became each other's only friend. Both of them were quiet and nerdy and under a lot of scrutiny because of who their dads were.
Jordan finished with the anesthetic and dropped the swab in the trash. "Give that a minute to take effect." Butch did not answer. Instead, he just watched her walk back to the desk. She picked up a clipboard, flipped to a blank form, and wrote something down. Butch propped himself up on his elbows to get a better look at her. He was confident she was a virgin. He doubted she had even fooled around with anyone. His bare stomach was probably the most she had ever seen of a boy. Man. Whatever they were at this age.
Jordan set the clipboard down, retrieved something from the cabinet, and returned to Butch's side. She pressed her thumb around his cuts. "How does that feel?"
Butch was still propped up on his elbows. He shrugged. "Fine."
"Is it numb?"
"Yeah."
"Alright." She laid out her tools. "This won't take long." She selected what looked like a pair of scissors and used it to pick up a curved needle. With her other hand, she threaded the needle. "Lie all the way back for me." Butch did so. As a test, he stretched his arms up and then rested his hands under his head, flexing his biceps. If Jordan noticed, she gave no indication of it. She was laser-focused on her task. Butch felt a pinch and a tug as she punctured his skin with the needle. She pulled the needle and thread through, and then with deft fingers, she tied the thread in a knot. She was gentle as she pulled the knot tight, careful not to pull his skin too much. Now that the thread was secured by that first knot, she picked up the needle and pierced his skin again to begin a running suture.
Butch took a deep breath, exaggerating the movement of his stomach to try and provoke another reaction. It worked this time. Jordan's hand stilled, and her eyes flicked up to watch his stomach flex and roll. Her expression did not change; she was stone-faced, like her dad. But when she forced herself to look back down, her ears were red. As she began working again, her hands were slower than before, as if it took more effort to stay focused.
"This is kinda nice," Butch said, "you and me playing doctor. All we need is a sexy, little nurse outfit for you..."
Jordan set her tools down and walked away. "I'm calling my dad."
"What?! No, no! I'm sorry!" Butch tried to roll over and reach out to her, but it hurt too much. "Come on, he'll harvest my kidneys or something just to get back at me!"
Jordan returned to the table, eyes burning with unspoken threats. "Are you done this time?"
"Yeah, I'm done."
Jordan picked the needle back up and resumed her stitching. Butch laid back down and propped his head on his hands to watch her work. "What's your dad even doing, anyway?"
"Running tests."
"Tests 'bout what?"
"The overall health of the vault."
"And that takes two people?"
"It goes faster with two people. Much like how this would go faster if you shut up."
"Okay, I get it. Real subtle."
Jordan finished the stitch, tied it off, and cut the thread. "Almost done." She applied an antibiotic ointment to the smaller cuts and then taped a bandage over the whole area. "Alright, you're good to go." Butch sat up and swung his legs over the side of the table. Jordan said, "Come back in a week, and we'll see if the suture is ready to be taken out."
"Don't I get a sucker?"
"You are a sucker."
"Oh, ha ha, real funny. Come on, I was a good patient."
"No, you weren't. You sassed me the entire time."
"And you know what would shut me up?"
"A fist?"
"Something to suck on."
Without a word, Jordan grabbed the dish off the counter and held it out for him. Butch picked out a red one. "Thanks." He peeled off the wrapper and stuck it in his mouth.
Jordan set the dish back down and then sat next to him on the exam table. "So. You wanna tell me about it?"
Butch spoke around the lollipop in his mouth, "Tell you 'bout what?"
"Who hit you with the bottle."
He tossed the wrapper in the garbage. "No."
"Was it one of your friends?"
"I ain't a fink."
"Was it your mom?"
"Fuck you, man."
"You're old enough now that you can probably get a room reassignment-"
"It wasn't my mom."
She held up her hands in defeat. "Alright, fine." She lowered them again and looked at Butch, examining his profile. "You can come back here if it happens again. Just so you know."
"Yeah." Butch slid off the table. "I know." He held the sucker in his mouth as he pulled his sleeves back on and zipped his jumpsuit back up. It felt weird without a layer of cotton between his chest and the rough denim. He grabbed his jacket off the chair and donned it, popping the collar in an attempt to reassert his status as a badass. "Thanks for the patch-up, doc."
Jordan was still seated on the edge of the exam table. She leaned forward and propped her elbows on her knees. "Tell your mom I said, 'hi.'"
Butch turned around to meet her gaze. He saw the knowing look she gave him through her glasses. He could have responded with another snotty remark, but she would have a smart-assed comeback ready to go. She was too quick to beat in a battle of wits. But there was one area of study in which Butch was more knowledgeable, one thing he could do to throw her off her game.
Without breaking eye contact, Butch grabbed the stem of the lollipop. He tilted his head and fixed her with a full-on smolder as he slowly withdrew the sucker from his mouth. Jordan's eyes grew wide with shock, panic... and intrigue. Butch sucked on the candy as he pulled it out, pouting his lips around it, until he freed it from his mouth with an obscene pop. Jordan flushed as red as the candy. Butch watched the delicate skin of her throat move as she swallowed. Satisfied, he turned around to leave. "See ya next time, doc."