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Sion can't remember how long he's sat here for, fingers curling into his cargo pants. He's been a little dazed since the patient they picked up kicked him in the head. He got cleared from being concussed but the laceration on his temple needed to be stitched. One of the nurses, he doesn't remember who, gave him an IV of morphine even though he insisted he was fine.
He hadn't been at the time, Kun made it obvious he knew that when he passed by and insisted the nurse give it to him anyway. He'd have to go home today regardless so Sion conceded easily. Still, he was ready to go and he wasn't going demand anyone rush to help. He knows how busy the ER gets, he brings a lot of patients.
He feels like it's a miracle when some finally comes into the room. Brunette, glasses, and purple scrubs that look particularly nice. He doesn't remember what department gets purple, it's different at every hospital.
"I'm Yushi, I'm surgery student, and I was sent to do this suture as practice by my resident at the discretion of Dr. Suh." He explains as he puts on his gloves, the snap of latex against his wrists making Sion gulp quietly. "You got lucky…" Yushi pauses to look at the name embroidered onto Sion's shirt, "Mr. Oh. The laceration didn't make it into your scalp, so I sadly won't have to shave your head."
"Sadly?" Sion struggles to make his distress sound mild. Yushi just barely grins and then straightens up his face immediately afterwards.
"I'm going to move your head, so tell me if you get uncomfortable." He gently tilts Sion's head to the side, moves his red hair, and then puts a drape around the wound. "I'm surprised you didn't get a concussion, I saw the boots the guy was wearing… And how hard he was kicking." He grabs one of the syringes from the tray. "Are you allergic to lidocaine?"
Sion inhales to himself, thinking it over momentarily. "No, not that I know of."
"Imagine you find out today." Yushi murmurs, mostly to himself.
Sion still hears him because of their proximity. "Why would you say that- Ouch." He hisses as Yushi injects him with the local anesthetic. "Why wouldn't you warn me?" He winces again after the second injection.
Yushi grabs the suture needle and tweezers, "I figured that was enough." He starts sewing the laceration together. "But you're a grown man, you should be able to handle it." Sion can't see his face under the drape so Yushi's sudden pause in movement makes him anxious. "Sorry, I need work on my tone, my resident has already talked to me about that. I'll warn you next time."
Sion scoffs, patting his thumbs against his thighs. "I'm not that bothered by it that much. I won't tell if you do a good job." Yushi snickers, gently tugging the sutures together. He pulls the drape off and puts on the bandage.
"Come back in four days… Keep it clean, take pain medication as you need it, if it becomes infected please come back." Yushi pulls off his gloves and throws them away with everything else to be discarded. He makes sure the needle and syringe go into the sharps disposal. "And Dr. Suh told me you have to go home, and there's nothing you can say to get out of it."
Sion stares him in the face when Yushi grins at him. Watching him even as he walks out of the room, finally pushing himself to trail after. He gets stopped by Kun, checking Yushi's work. "He did a great job," he says as he puts the bandage back in place, "I'm sure Baekhyun is working him to the bone." Sion exhales, relieved he's not in the surgery department. "I'll removed them when it's time, just ask for me."
Then, and only then, is Sion allowed to catch the bus back home.
✦
Sion returns back to the ER in five days, only because he's been too busy. Kun isn't at work, but Sicheng is. He doesn't talk, doesn't have the same warmth Kun offers and Sion guesses he's far more burnt out.
"It's healed well, no tracks, congrats on not needing cosmetic surgery." Sicheng says it as if the damage wasn't a simple laceration. "Whoever did these has been practicing." If only Yushi was around to hear all the praise.
"It was one of surgery students."
Sicheng gives him a face of revelation. "Right, Baekhyun tends to make them practice sutures until they can work with their eyes closed." He explains, instinctively sanitizing the area with an alcohol wipe.
Sion wonders how many sutures Yushi does in a day, when his brain conjures up the idea of more than ten he exhales like he's exhausted. Sion is grateful to not be Yushi, he rather do the 15 months for paramedic certification a second time.
"Thanks, Sicheng."
"Anything to make my job easier." He grins a little before leaving Sion to his devices. Despite how well it went, Sion thinks he could've taken the stitches out at home. The bus ride back to his apartment is gonna take forever and he doesn't even get the opportunity to say thanks to Yushi.
✦
Sion doesn't think he would really trade his job for anything in the world, but his luck does have him considering college again.
"Can you just relax?" Riku asks him, sounding somewhat irritated. "You're not going to die, Sion." He presses his hands more firmly onto Sion's hands, which are applying pressure to the wound he has. "I'll intubate you if you don't start to breathe properly."
It's beginning to get comical how unlucky he's been lately, first getting kicked in the face, now being stabbed. Riku has told him five times it was non-fatal but he just can't believe it. "It feels like I'm going to die!"
"I'm starting to wish you would." Riku presses down on the wound a little more and Sion groans. He ends up shedding more tears, but Riku doesn't give him any sympathy.
"Why wouldn't you take the knife away from the unconscious person?!"
"Because it was your job! I was checking their pulse!" Riku finally starts yelling back, pulling his bloody hands away from Sion's. "I literally said that to you!" The ambulance comes to a stop and Sion suddenly feels like fate favors him again. Riku mutters something about how he should feel glad, so he knows the intubation comment wasn't a lie.
The end of the emergency call concludes with him going into surgery and the patient leaving the hospital in three hours. Even though the wound had been technically non-fatal, he still managed to get an intestinal cut.
It's night time when Sion wakes, and Yushi is standing over his bedside. "I happened to be the person to sew you up again." He gives a thin smile and Sion just sighs. "It was a good learning experience. You're aiding my education, Mr. Oh."
"You've been in my guts." Yushi raises his brow. "Please just say Sion."
"Well, Sion, I wasn't actually in your guts, I was outside of them." Sion has to roll his eyes. "You're surprisingly lucky, there wasn't much intestinal leakage." Yushi explains as he looks over Sion's chart. "You'll only be here a few days too, then you get a few more days out of work."
Sion hates being out of work when he can't do anything at home. "Are you taking care of me?" Yushi looks at him over the rim of his glasses. "I mean, while I'm here."
"Obviously while you're here." Yushi ends up smiling with more teeth. "But not necessarily, the nurses will, and if you get worse then I come. Unless you ask for me, but even then you probably won't get me."
Sion furrows his brows a little bit, waiting for the nonexistent joke. "Asshole." Yushi laughs, a little bit stiffly, but he laughs and Sion feels warm like it's a personal success. "You're not serious."
Yushi then clenches his teeth. "I wish I wasn't, Baekhyun's been breathing down my neck since I got here…" He glances at the open door for a moment like he's waiting for something. "And I'm starting to feel suffocated." Yushi shrugs it off like he didn't say something mildly concerning. Sion is starting to find doctors to be weirder and weirder. "Why? Is there a particular reason you want me?"
"Why are you asking me like that?" Yushi narrows his eyes judgmentally. "I'm not asking for any…" Sion searches his head for a good word. "Any perverse reason." He thinks that there's definitely a better word, but he's choosing to blame the anesthesia for choosing the worst one.
"You said it, not me." Yushi forces his lips out of a grin. "Just click that button if you need a nurse." Then he leaves Sion to solitude. The silence kills his energy immediately, but before he can doze off the nurse comes in with a cup of water. He says something about slow sips and Sion internalizes it as his eyes start closing again.
Despite what Yushi says, Sion finds him at his bedside the next afternoon. "Can you not dehydrate yourself?"
"I'm tired of drinking water, I've had like five cups now." Sion complains. He tried manipulating Riku into getting him a Gatorade earlier, it fell flat because the nurse walked in on him.
He doesn't think Riku would've fell for it anyway.
"You shouldn't be getting stabbed then." Yushi mutters as he pulls out his notepad, flipping to a particular page. He sets it on the table in front of Sion. "I've been practicing visualization, so I draw anatomy in my downtime. These are your intestines."
Sion feels weirdly touched by this. "Seriously?"
"Yeah." Yushi glances towards the hallway. "These are your small intestines, the jejunum are around here then this is the ileum. That's where you'd been stabbed and your stitches are around here."
"You're so interesting." Sion mutters when Yushi flips the page to a drawing of the liver. "Why does visualization require you to draw?"
Yushi presses his lips together a moment. "It doesn't, I do it for fun honestly." Sion starts to feel weirder and that's more concerning than Yushi's problems. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine."
Yushi forces the straw between Sion's lips. He complies because he doesn't like the way Yushi's genuine concern looks. "Please don't vomit." Sion loves the sound of his voice when it's softer. Before Yushi can say anything else his name is called from down the hall. "Call the nurse if it gets worse, please." Then he leaves Sion to mull over his feelings.
✦
Sion doesn't remember how he got roped into taking care of two 13 year olds. He was only supposed to be taking care of Sakuya, who's a little sick. Ryo kind of just materialized, he assumes, even though he needs to be at home now.
"So, I just don't think he's into me though, you know what I mean?" He doesn't remember when he started venting about Yushi either.
"I don't think he is either. I wouldn't want to get into a relationship with someone like you." Sakuya murmurs while trying to focus on the TV.
"You don't have any kind of swagger." Ryo adds afterwards. Sion doesn't think he's heard the word swagger since he was like six.
He's also realizing he doesn't like these kids now that they're older. They've been around Riku five too many times. He would be better off asking all of the EMTs at the hospital for advice, minus Riku.
When sighing about Yushi around Riku for the last time, he suggested that he stab Sion again. Sion decided then he would never ask Riku for romantic advice again.
"Neither of you have had a girlfriend, or boyfriend I don't know, to decide that I have no chance." Sion waves one of his hands around vaguely as he speaks. Ryo is the only one who looks at him, he gives this looks that vaguely says be serious. "Okay, I've heard enough."
Sion takes the remote out of Sakuya's lap, ignoring the way he complains, and changes the channel to HBO instead. He's been watching cartoon for the last four hours, he's tired. "Ryo, I don't even know why you're still here, I told you Sakuya was sick."
"He's my emotional support when my mom isn't here." Sakuya explains while Ryo just grins at Sion like he won.
"Sakuya needs it the most when you're around, Sion." Sakuya nods in agreement, before turning to cough into his shoulder. Sion furrows his brows a little bit but decides to not worry about it much yet.
"You two act like you don't beat on me first." Sion ignores the two of them when they start to talk over each other about he tortures Sakuya first. "I don't do anything to either of you." He doesn't bother moving when Sakuya kicks him a few times, only grabbing his ankle when he goes in for the sixth time. "Quit that."
"Stop lying then."
Sion rolls his eyes. "I need your mother to hurry up… If I knew her errands would take this long I would've said no." He regrets repaying the kindness that comes with buying a bag of sugar for someone. He much rather be asleep right now, especially when he goes right back to work tomorrow.
Sakuya coughs again, this time harder and into his palm. "Gross…" He should probably get concerned now, the blob of yellow mucus is the definite indicator. Sion silent hopes he gets whatever Sakuya has when he reaches to feel his forehead. Sakuya wipes his hand on one of his tissues before dropping it in the little trashcan beside the couch.
"Alright, lets go see the doctor." Sion relents when he feels hotter than earlier.
"I don't have an appointment."
"I work at a hospital. If you have the flu, we need to know." Sion points at himself then Ryo. He picks Sakuya up and puts him over his shoulder despite the protesting. "Your mother will be very happy to know I got you help through the channels of abusing worker's privilege." Ryo scoffs like he said something terrible. "Just cover your mouth if you cough, I don't have anymore masks right now."
"You're a terrible influence Sion." Ryo says as they walk out the door. Sion locks them out of the apartment, so he'll text Sakuya's mother when they get to the hospital.
✦
Sion is very lucky to be a likable guy, the pediatric department was very willing to take Sakuya. More than anything he's surprised by how well Sakuya does getting his throat swabbed. He remembers being terrible at it, he had to ask his mom to hold him still for years. "You probably have a cold… Or worse the flu."
Sakuya furrows his brows at him. "Just shut up."
Sion struggles to not smile, only stopping when his phone starts to buzz. "I forgot to text your mom. I'll go check on Ryo too." Sakuya isn't paying attention when he looks up from his phone, starring at pamphlets on the wall. Sion takes that as his okay to go, immediately calling Sakuya's mother back as he walks out the door.
He apologizes all the way to the lounge, explains why he went ahead and brought Sakuya, asks for their pharmacy. Says he should be home in the next thirty minutes, Sion doesn't mention that most of the time would be spent walking. Ryo is spending all of his money on the vending machines when he finally gets there. "You know, I could've bought you three bags of chips for the money you spent on these." Ryo just grins as he hands Sion his wallet back.
He can't believe he'll go broke for these two.
"Wow Sion, I didn't expect to see you again so soon." Yushi's leaning against the nurse's station, another guy is behind the counter. "This is the guy whose guts I was in a month ago, Daeyoung." Sion feels himself turn bright red when Ryo laughs a little louder than appropriate for a hospital and Daeyoung grins.
"I'm not sick this time, my nephew-not-nephew is."
Yushi makes an 'o' shape with is lips. "Well, when will you be off again?" Sion looks between the two of them, trying remember his schedule.
"Next Friday." Daeyoung makes a face at Yushi, who completely ignores it. He smiles at Sion with all of his teeth and Sion suddenly feels a little bit cornered. He thinks he's coming down with something again.
"I'm off the same day, do you wanna go out to eat together?" Yushi's already pulling his phone out and Sion is embarrassed to say he's already walking closer to take it.
He quickly types his number into Yushi's contacts. "Yeah, just text me, or call me. Whatever works." Before anything else can be said to embarrass him further, he starts walking back to Sakuya's room.
And he manages to hear Daeyoung say "Maybe he does like you." Right before he gets too far away. When he comes back with Sakuya, Ryo looks at him like he has a lot to say.
"That guy has a lot of stuff planned for you, Sion."
Sion covers his mouth before he can start to parrot anything back to him. Yushi seems like the type to remember to hold his tongue when it's too late and Ryo is better off not saying anything else. "I'm sure he does, Ryo. He drew my organs when I was in the hospital, I doubt there's many bounds to his imagination."
"You always attract weird people." Sakuya's words are muffled behind a mask. Sion decides to be nicer to him since he has the flu and can barely breathe as is.
"I don't really try to."
"Then you should try harder to keep them away."
Sion is so glad that he's about to get rid of the two of them in the next twenty minutes. "Yeah, I'll try harder." He doesn't actually mean that, in the slightest.