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"Intern!" Nurse chided. "Don't drink the maple syrup, we need the supply for patients and anomaly defense and it's not good to have plain."
Intern's lower lip pouted as he took the bottle from its hands. It never got to eat anything fun! Its stomach was full of coffee, and yuck, it felt gross to have only had drinks all day.
But Intern couldn't fight back against Nurse. Of course she was right. And Intern didn't want to look immature by putting its foot down.
It knew how bad it was to disrespect a superior.
"Go back to work now, OK? Head Nurse could use your help in the surgery room since Surgeon's out," Nurse said.
Intern could barely hear. There was a crack in the corner of the floor tile. Its eyes couldnt pull away.
The doctor would be mad.
"Intern?"
Its head snapped up. "Uh, sorry," it apologized hastily, forcing its face into its signature smile.
Act normal or face the contempt deserved of insensible behavior. Intern was so tired.
It left Nurse to work with patients in the regular hall, heading down to the Emergency rooms.
Its smile felt so fake on its cheeks. Its lips never quite met right, always leaving an awkward lopside. Apparently the expression was discreet enough to pass. Intern still felt Dirty Dirty Dirty everytime it saw its reflection.
Its smile fell. Its ears slowly pinned themselves back. It didn't want to face the surgery room. Seeing all the insides and stuff… it was hard to resist… But it was good at the procedures, unfortunately, leading to it always ending up as an assisstant.
It pushed open to door. Head Nurse was already leaning over the patient, inserting an I.V. They perked up when it saw Intern.
"Glad you're here! Can you grab the transplant meat?" it asked.
"Yes, sir!" Intern answered, reaching for a slab.
Wow, it would be so easy to just take a bite. What?
Intern held back a whine, forcing its jaws together as it passed the transplant.
It had to control itself. The second it messed up was the second it failed and… it didn't want to think about that.
"Antibiotics," Head Nurse requested.
Intern quickly reacted under the command, tossing over the bottle.
"Antibiotics, Intern, not meds!" it screeched, voice stressed.
Oh. Intern had grabbed the wrong green container by accident. It scrambled for the correct item, Head Nurse snatching it as soon as it was near enough in their haste.
Intern felt its breathing rising to its throat. It'd messed up. No harm done, the mistake had been caught in time, but still. This was unacceptable. Not allowed.
Head Nurse hadn't kicked it out yet. Lucky. Or… more waiting meant worse consequence, right? More time to think of one.
Intern was Scared. Its mouth wouldnt stay together, lips drawing up into a snarl. Bad. It shouldn't do that. But Head Nurse didn't even look up, merely demanding a scaple next.
Intern felt. Full. Of… fear. Scared.
The surgery finished uneventfully. It was fine. Intern was scared. It ducked out of the room as soon as it could. Stay out of the way.
Dr. Harlow wasn't here right now. Intern shouldn't feel so scared. Its breathing tore at its throat. It needed to stop. Find something hydrating to drink. Anything.
Went to the check-in station. Of course. Secret Agent was there.
It felt it's shoulders loosen. Agent was safe. Agent didn't trust Dr. Harlow. Intern could trust Agent.
Slipped through the door. Wanted comfort. Wanted Agent.
"Intern?" Agent's voice was just as soft as always. Safe.
Intern nodded. Its hoodie string somehow got in its mouth. Whoops. Chew chew. Yay!
Secretary walking by. Leaving this shift. Stopped, turned to talk to Agent.
"Nurse caught it sneaking maple syrup again," they mentioned, narrowing his eyes at Intern.
Sob in Intern's throat. Didn't leave, thank everything, but Secretary was mean. He never left without saying a quick goodbye to everyone, which meant they got all the gossip, which he then didn't mind spreading one bit.
Agent would be mad, right? Intern wasn't supposed to take maple syrup, but it always did.
Secretary walked out. Left Animal Hospital. Intern alone with Agent.
It hiccupped. Agent startled instantly.
"Intern? You alright?" xe asked.
Intern sniffed, slobbering over its hoodie string.
"Don't chew on that, you'll damage it," Agent hummed.
Intern spat it out. Felt tense. Felt stuck. Gonna cry. Gonna be hurt.
It'd been really bad today. Done a lot of things wrong. Agent acting like they hadn't noticed? Why?
Intern didn't want to be hurt. The tears poured out, so sudden. "Bad kit?" it sobbed, hiding its face in its hands.
"You're a..? No, Intern, you are not a bad kit," Agent stated firmly.
Why? Why lie? Inten cried. Something soft. Pressure. Surrounding. So much. Intern clung back.
Agent hugging it. Intern melted. Been so long without hugs. Sobbed.
"Baby, baby," Agent meowed, rubbing Intern's back with one of their gentle paws, "you are not a bad kit at all."
"Liar," Intern choked past the lump in its throat, but unable to stop holding onto the hug with all it had.
"Not lying, honey, I never lie to you," Agent reassured. Xe pressed a kiss to the top of Intern's head.
Oh, yeah… Agent didn't lie to Intern, they just didn't. But? Intern had been bad.
"Steal syrup," it whimpered, pressing its face into Agent's shoulder. "Almos' give meds 'stead of a'tibi'tics. Act like this. Bad."
"Acting Little? Anyone who thinks that's wrong is simply wrong themself, darling," Agent said comfortingly.
But Intern didn't feel comforted. Dr. Harlow didn't approve of self-soothing coping mechanisms getting in the way of testing. And Dr. Harlow Couldn't Be Wrong.
"You're not bad, Intern, you're not," Agent repeated. "You can ask for syrup next time, OK? We also have coffee if you need it. And everyone has gotten those green bottles mixed up before, you know this."
Intern shook its head. Not true. It knew how this worked! Right?
Be good. Be good. Or be in trouble.
Intern was scared. Agent was here. Hug. Felt nice. Still scared.
"It's been a long day, hasn't it," xe hummed. "How about you rest, then? You can sit in Ratthew's spot and help me catch anomalies, sound good?"
Intern peaked up at Agent. Their eyes were really warm. And nice. It noded slowly.
Intern was in the air? Woah! Picked up! Carried! Set down. Sitting on the counter.
Smiling. Agent smiled back.
Intern felt… happy.
Still scared, though. Always did. But Agent gripped its hand, holding tightly. Felt a lot better.
"You're a very good kit, actually. Coming to me for help, right? You're lovely," Agent murmured.
Intern kicked its legs back and forth. Compliments! Very special.
"You can always come to me," Agent said softly, "no matter what it's for. Whenever you're a kit. Whenever you're hurt. Whenever you're scared. Whenever you want me. I'm always here for you."
It sounded really good. Intern felt good. The hugs, the words, the treated-special. It nodded. Agent nodded back.
"You promise me?" they asked.
Intern hummed, shyly meeting xir eyes. "M'k…"
Agent breathed out a sigh of relief. "Thank you, dear."
Agent was pleased. That was good. Intern felt good. Yay! It watched as Agent turned to meet a patient checking in.
Intern watched for the rest of the shift, its hoodie string ending up in its mouth again. It giggled when Agent secretly shoved a fainted patient into the trash can.
Agent kept shooting it concerned glances throughout. Intern felt unable to react to it. All the bad feels to the good feels had its brain soupy and terribly incoherent.
But Agent said it wasn't bad, it knew that. Yay!
Intern liked being good, so so much. Best ever.
And Agent was very, very kind. Intern felt safe. Smile.
An anomaly and a Little, Agent wondered. Just what has corporate done?
And how could xe help, either? They couldn't afford information to anyone who might spread it and, honestly, Agent didn't trust anyone in the hospital past xir whiskers, so asking people to just be considerate of Intern would never work.
But Intern was very obviously Not OK. Agent would have to try xir best to help alone. What, were they going to leave it to just fight for itself like it'd had to be doing for who know's how long now?
No, of course not. Never again. Agent was here now. And xe wasn't planning to leave anytime soon, definitely not.