Vital Signs
Title: Vital Signs
Chapter: 1/5
Pairing: Tora x Shou (main pairing), Saga x Hiroto x Nao (for entertaining our perverted brains, of course)
Rating: PG-13 to NC-17, for this chapter, PG-13
Genre: Romance, humour, action, AU.
Warnings: AU, male x male, foul language, gore, medical talk, smut.
Summary: Shou, third year medical intern, has only a few hours left to his shift when the mysterious patient he lands just manages to wreck absolute havoc in his life.
Comments: This popped in my head today as I was working, totally randomly, so I came home and slaved away writing it until I was satisfied. I hope you guys like it ;) this is un-betaed, as usual ;)
***
Chapter 1
***
Shou closed his tired eyes for a few minutes, lying down of the wide bench of the hospital's staff dressing room, completely deserted at such an ungodly hour. He had been at that goddamn hospital for close to 22 hours now, and his brain was starting to feel the strain. He'd need an energy drink or two just to get by to the end of his hellish shift.
Such was the life of a third year medical intern. He'd wanted to be a traumatologist ever since starting med school, but after spending the better part of 24 hours extracting coins from a child's throat, tending to some drunken hobo's infected toenails, and sewing up a cheap prostitute's split lip, he was questioning the wisdom of that choice. Why hadn't he chosen something nice? Family medicine? Pediatrics? Maybe he should switch to obstetrics. Screaming, crying women all day would be better than the endless flow of patients in the emergency ward that constantly needed some tending to. But he couldn't really lie to himself. He lived for that rush, when four ambulances would drive in, and he'd awake instantly, with a purpose. Lives to be saved. He lived for it. It was the long stretches in-between, a necessary evil, that got to him. But he was resigned. A patient is a patient, no matter the age, sex, social status. He just wished he'd gotten a few less drunken hobo's and prostitutes lately…
He cursed under his breath when his pager beeped, calling him to yet another patient. He stood up, groaning at the tender soreness in his lower back and knees. He had been on his feet for way too long today, but duty called, so he ignored the pain, and reached in his locker for the small bottle of acetaminophen. He gulped four without water, out of habit, and shrugged out of his scrubs and tee. He pulled on a fresh, white long sleeved henley, and another clean pair of navy blue scrubs. He felt a little better already. Clean scrubs when you were at the end of you wits could be a godsend, it gave the illusion of starting fresh. He gave a quick look at his reflection in the full length mirror, scowling. His mom would throw a fit if she saw how skinny and pale he had become, from spending every waking hour at the hospital. The fact that he was ridiculously tall didn't help one bit, it only made him look sickly. He mussed his tawny blonde hair, which was still a little wavy and crazy from the quick, and obviously interrupted shower he had taken four hours earlier. His chocolate brown eyes looked huge and glassy in his pale face, shaded with thick lashes, tired shadows underneath them. He sighed, giving up on his crazy hair.
"Its not like I'm gonna meet the man of my dreams today, am I…" he muttered under his breath.
***
The two angry policemen in front of the door were a bad omen.
Shou studied the file that the admissions nurse had filled out for him.
The patient was male. The rest was pretty much blank.
Name undisclosed, age undisclosed, medical history undisclosed. There was more empty space than writing on the file. All that was clear was that he had three bullet wounds to the lower back, upper thigh area, and the bullets needed to be extracted. And probably quite a few stitches.
It explained the cops. All firearm caused injuries had to be investigated by the local precinct. But it didn't explain why they both looked so annoyed.
He walked over to the officers, showing them his hospital ID.
"I'm Doctor Kohara. What's up with this one."
"He entered the fine arts museum, after hours, through a side window, tripping one of the silent alarms. He was obviously up to no good so we chased him. He wasn't co-operating so we had to open fire."
Shou's eyes widened.
"Is he dangerous?"
One of the officers chuckled.
"Not now that we busted three caps in his ass. The only dangerous thing about him now is his smart mouth, and trust me he has one. We requested whoever would patch him up the quickest so we can haul him to the precinct for questioning asap."
Out of all the interns, he had the steadiest hand.
"Does he have a name?"
"Not that we know of, he refused to disclose anything unless his attorney is present," the other officer replied, clearly annoyed, "but he responds to 'asshole' quite fine."
The two officers chuckled.
Great. Fucking great. Patching up criminals now? He definitely was changing specialty now, he wasn't cut for that kind of random shit…
***
He entered the examination room, and saw that his patient was lying flat on his stomach on the table, hands cuffed behind his back, facing away from the door. He was tall, too tall for the table, his bare feet hanging off the edge. They had put him in one of those blue, open back examination gowns, and Shou could tell from his stiff, angry posture that he wasn't too happy about it. The patient turned his head when Shou entered, efficiently freezing the young doctor on the spot as the door clicked shut behind him.
The man was gorgeous.
Not merely pretty, or handsome. Downright, fucking gorgeous, his amber eyes glittering with annoyance, softening beautifully when he saw Shou. His features were elegant, exotic, aristocratic even, if it hadn't been for that cracked, swollen lip. Probably a little present from the cops. There were two shallow cuts on the right side of his face too, one on his sharp cheekbone, the other crossing his eyebrow, both caked with dried blood. But those could wait. More important were the three open wounds in his back that oozed blood right through the gown.
The man smirked, showing a small row of perfect, even white teeth.
"Hey."
His voice was a sexy, low purr. A good match to his darkly seductive looks.
He was dangerous alright. Any man this beautiful was always dangerous. Shou had to shake himself out of his outright staring.
"Hi. Doctor Kohara, nice meeting you." he said awkwardly, out of habit, as he walked over to the table.
The man chuckled.
"I'd shake your hand, but I'm a little…impaired, shall we say." he joked, winking playfully at the young doctor, who had to take a large gulp of air to calm down.
"We're probably gonna have to take those off if I want to patch you up properly…"
"Oh wow…they are not gonna like that idea one bit…"
"How should I call you?"
The man seemed to consider for a second.
"You can call me Tora. Its not my real name, obviously, but I answer to it more often than not I'd say."
Tora. It was a nice fit. Dangerous, beautiful. Just like his feline namesake.
I'm so screwed, Shou thought, that man is way too sexy for his own good…
***
True enough, the two cops hadn't been too happy to take off the handcuffs, but they complied when Shou convinced them that it would take twice as long if his patient was restrained. The taunting smirk that quirked Tora's mouth as one of the officers unlocked the cuffs sure as hell didn't help to appease them.
"Don't you fucking try anything sketchy…" the head officer warned, giving Tora a dirty look.
"Fuck you." Tora mouthed at the officer with a smirk, winking at him insolently.
The officer growled in annoyance, back out the door in a flash.
"If he gives you any trouble, we're just out the door." he told the young doctor, who had studied the whole scene with a bewildered look on his face, before the door clicked shut.
Shou snorted, slipping on a pair of gloves.
"Do you really have to be that taunting?"
"Where's the fun otherwise?"
"Annoying a pair of tired cops is your idea of fun?"
"Hey, they shot me in the butt, and smacked my face in a brick wall for the fun of it, so I think I'm allowed my own little entertainment."
He had a point. Smacking someone's face in a wall did sound like a case of excessive force, especially after shooting him first. It explained the cuts and the split lip. Shou picked up a pair of rounded bandage scissors and walked over to the examination table. Tora had pillowed his head of dishevelled, longish raven-black hair on his arms, looking resigned.
"Let's have a look at those wounds, shall we."
He parted the gown and hissed. There was a ragged hole right in the fleshy part of his left hip, oozing fresh red blood when he gently prodded at it with gloved fingers. Tora tensed, hissing in pain.
"Sorry…" Shou mumbled, "you're lucky that one missed your kidney."
Tora snorted.
"Flesh wound. Awesome." he replied, sarcasm plain in his tone.
"Fine, I'll fucking shut up then…" Shou mumbled, annoyed.
"Its just that I'm having a hard time seeing any good sides to getting shot. And don't stop talking, your voice is sexy." he added, offhandedly, as if he was making small talk about the weather.
Shou felt his cheeks burning. Did that hot stranger just tell him he had a sexy voice? Gods.
"So…um…" he started, feeling self conscious of his voice, "I'm gonna have to…um…cut off your underwear to see the other wounds…"
Tora looked at him over his shoulder, a playful glint in his eye.
"Looks like that thought has you flustered…you're cute when you blush."
The observation only had him feel more heat rush to his face. He grunted, annoyed, starting to cut off the blood-soaked, tight black briefs that the tall man wore, trying his best to ignore how the man's broad shoulders and muscular back narrowed into a delicate waist, sharply defined hips. How enticing the small of his back looked, with its two shallow indentations, dipping in a smooth curve before merging with his tight, rounded buttocks. Not to mention the never-ending, lean muscled legs that followed, his entire body covered with fine-grained, smooth, creamy pale skin. The irezumi* that adorned his sides and arms was quite impressive too, all done in shades of grey. He could make out koi fish and waves, a dragon, cherry blossoms, and, not surprisingly, a tiger. It was gorgeous, and very sexy, completing the bad-boy aura that enfolded him. Shou's mouth felt as dry as a sandpit when he finally peeled off the fabric, the tall man pretty much naked on the table. He felt sweat break on his forehead. Why the hell did the man have to be so goddamn beautiful…
"You alright back there? All I can hear is you breathing hard. Am I really that hot?" Tora teased, his voice sultry as hell.
Shou shook himself back to reality, bringing his prepped operating supplies closer.
"Totally fine, I was just studying the damage…" he lied, his voice less convincing than he would've liked.
"Right…So, how bad is it?"
Two more rounded bullet holes marred his pretty skin, one where the waistband of his underwear would've been, fairly close to the one in his hip, the other one just underneath his tight buttock, where his thigh met that smooth curve.
"Not so bad I guess. It looks like the bullets didn't go very far. I'm gonna extract them and stitch you up."
"Sounds like fun…"
***
"Fucking ow…ow…that hurts!" Tora growled, "Did you really have to jab that needle in my butt like that? I've been shot remember…"
"Exactly, you got shot already, so what's a little needle to you? Stop whining. Anyway, if I don't do this first, then its gonna be a lot worse when I start extracting." Shou admonished, prepping the second lidocaine injection.
"Well, its not that I hate pain. Actually, if you were wearing, say, a nice, tight black latex outfit and that the pain involved was you smacking my butt with a riding crop, I guarantee that I wouldn't complain one bit…"
Shou almost dropped the syringe, jabbing it a little harder than was necessary, blushing like mad.
"Fuck! Ow! Are you trying to arouse me now or something…"
"Why don't you shut up for a change…"
"Its all your fault you know. You're so fucking cute when you blush, I can't help it."
Shou snorted.
"Come on, I'm not cute at all. I've been working for 24 hours, I'm sweaty, tired, and the last thing I ate was an apple 12 hours ago. I just can't be cute right now…" he rambled, poking around the wounds with his fingers, "Did you feel any of that?"
"Feel what? And you're really fucking cute, I mean it. I should buy you dinner since you're clearly underfed…"
"Shut up now, I'm gonna start extracting and I need to focus…" he mumbled, feeling oddly flattered, and a little giddy at the compliment.
He dug in the hip wound with a pair of clamps, parting the edges to see the bullet, making the tall man hiss in pain.
"Ow! Owww! Didn't you say this wouldn't hurt?"
"I said it would be less bad, I never said painless."
"Arrrgh! Fuck my life…"
Shou pried again, with another pair of clamps, finding the bullet. He started pulling gently.
"Ow! Holy fuck that hurts! Ow! Ow!"
"You're such a pussy…"
Tora gave him a dirty look over his shoulder.
"Could you please remind me who got shot in the ass, again?"
Another slight pull, a sharp hiss, and the bullet came out in a gush of blood, Shou letting it fall in a stainless steel pan. He pressed on the wound with gauze, sponging the excess blood.
"That really fucking hurt. I think they hurt less coming in…"
"Aww come on, only two to go…"
"Fuck me…"
***
He was finally stitching him up, after much cursing and whining, when he realized that Tora had to get dragged off to the precinct right after. The poor guy wouldn't be able to sit for a few hours, even pumped full of painkillers, he needed at least 24 hours of bed rest.
"I'm gonna see if we can keep you here tonight, at least a few hours." he told Tora as he bandaged him up.
Tora smirked, the corners of his full mouth quirking in that irresistible curve that made Shou's heart beat a little faster.
"I thought you couldn't wait to get rid of me." he teased.
"Oh but I do, since after I'm done with you I can probably catch a bit of shut-eye. But that doesn't mean I don't care about your well being. And you're gonna need some rest."
Tora slipped off the table slowly, wincing as he stood up, Shou handing him a pair of dark blue scrub pants. He blushed and turned aside when the man just shrugged out of the examination gown, without a care in the world that he was fully naked, as he cautiously pulled on the pants, hissing and wincing. Shou couldn't help but sneak another look at his fine body, tight and muscular, the irezumi spanning his ribs, upper arms, shoulders and lower belly, following the delicious lines of his hipbones. His eyes caught on the kanji tattooed on his chest, just at the right height for a deep v-neck tee to reveal it. The tiger kanji. Tora.
His nickname suited him just fine, clearly.
He was staring, again.
"You like what you see?"
"Ermm…um…well…"
"Ha! I knew it…you think I'm hot, don't you?"
Shou snorted, handing the man his own tee that he had found on a side table. It was black, long sleeved and tight. Once again, very sexy.
"I can't say, its against the rules to flirt with patients." Shou mumbled, grabbing a package of butterfly stitches and antiseptic pads to take care of those two face wounds.
Good thing they were of a height, a shorter doctor would've struggled.
"Stay still…" he ordered the tall man, who was just smirking, beautiful, liquid bronze eyes glittering as he studied Shou intently, the latter feeling his composure slip with every second that he stood so close to Tora.
Close enough to feel his warm breath against his cheek as he leaned forward, cleaning the wounds with betadine pads before closing them with the stitches. He focused on his work, desperately, trying hard not to bite his lower lip when the man's slender fingers came up to brush some strands of his hair out of his eyes.
"Alright. All done." he mumbled, relieved, moving back a pace to survey his handiwork.
"Am I still considered your patient? Can I invite you on a date now?"
"You're my patient until I discharge you, so its still too early to ask me on a date."
Shou couldn't help but smirk a little at the thought. A date, with that gorgeous bad boy. It was a pleasant thought.
Tora chuckled.
"Fucking discharge me already…"
"We'll see about that. Here."
He reached on the side table and handed Tora a pain reliever.
"It should help until we can get you lying down. How do you feel?"
"Right now? Pretty good, my butt barely hurts."
"The lidocaine kicked in, its gonna wear off in a few hours, and you're gonna feel it, trust me…"
"I really want to take you out on a date, dead serious."
"Lets see how you solve your little issues with the law first, ne?"
Tora stuck out his tongue at him.
"Alright fine."
"I'm gonna go see if I can keep you here a few more hours so you can rest a little."
Tora's finely groomed eyebrows lifted, mouth quirking.
"Well, good luck with that sweetheart…"
He winked at Shou, making the young doctor's heart race.
"See you in a few, be good."
"Sure…"
Shou gave the tall man one last look before stepping out of the room, letting the door click shut behind him. The cops were a few paces away, leaning at the nurse's station, drinking some coffee.
"Officers," Shou walked over to the two men, who looked like they were having a genuine good time chatting up the nurses, "I have to ask if we can keep the patient for a few hours more. He's in no condition to get interrogated."
The shorter officer of the two, who also seemed to be the underling of the duo, nodded negatively.
"No can do, we have orders to bring him as soon as you're done patching up."
Shou was annoyed. The guy had been shot, couldn't he get a break?
"He won't be able to sit down for a little while."
"Not my problem, they can interrogate him standing up for all I care, all I want to do is end my shift."
Comments like that had always angered Shou.
"What the hell does that even mean?" he retorted, ticked off, "If you were starting to have a heart attack, I couldn't just start walking away excusing myself with 'sorry dude, I wanted to end my shift'! You don't understand, he needs to lie down. I gave him painkillers to make it bearable for him, but as soon as it wears off, he's gonna have to lie down."
The other officer, still distracted by the nurses, finally noticed the arguing pair and seemed to shake himself awake, starting to rush towards the door of the examination room.
"You two left the suspect unattended without handcuffs! Idiots!"
"Ahhh fuck!" the other groaned, rushing along with Shou back to the room.
They entered, the two officers with their guns drawn, only to find the room empty, a warm summer draft coming in from the wide open window.
Tora had simply disappeared.
The two men rushed to the window, cursing, leaving Shou just standing there, completely bewildered. And oddly enough, a little giddy inside too.
"Its the fucking third floor…where the fuck did he even go?" the taller of the two muttered.
"We are so getting our asses handed out to us by the chief, fuck. Lets go alert security, we have to find him…"
The shortest one turned to Shou, who was still standing there trying to figure out how the hell had the tall man escaped.
"Weren't you just telling me that he was in no condition to even be standing?"
"He isn't, really. He's high on painkillers, but as soon as it wears off, it will be bad. Especially if he ran or climbed or did anything strenuous."
"Climbed? Hey lets check the roof!" the short one suggested, the two of them holstering their guns.
"Good idea, and you, don't stray too far, were gonna have to take your deposition when we get back."
The two men disappeared, leaving Shou alone.
Shou groaned. There went his dreams of a hot shower, greasy breakfast food, and hot coffee. And sleep. He needed some fucking sleep.
And yet, he was feeling deliriously happy that Tora had escaped, even though his doctor's instinct wished that he had at least written him a prescription for painkillers. The poor guy would need them later.
He reached for the clipboard with Tora's file, forgotten on a side table.
Tora's file had disappeared too. Instead of it was a folded sheet of paper. He pried it off, unfolding it, and what he read in there made him smile, and blush, and filled his heart with hope.
My sweet doctor,
Sorry that I had to leave so rudely, before a goodbye kiss, but I was required elsewhere. I fully intend to make it up to you, by inviting you to dinner, and probably some late night drinks, and if we are both drunk enough after that, some really intense sex that will knock your socks off, without being cocky or anything. Besides, you've already seen most of me naked, so the convincing is pretty much all done. All that is left for me to do is to sweet talk you out of your clothes…Did that make you blush? Oh sorry, but I couldn't resist…
I'll be back for you, don't you worry…
Tora
His writing was small and elegant, and he had drawn a quick cartoony tiger head beside his signature. He neatly folded the note, shoving it in his pocket, whistling as he started cleaning up his supplies.
"I don't know what you are, tiger, but I can't wait to find out…"
***
*Irezumi: Japanese style tattoos, usually done with traditional methods, and usually sported by yakuza and other bad boys…I just couldn't resist. The idea of Tora with tattoos cleverly hidden all over his body is just…bjdkfbuipvfbvp!
So here goes another AU yayyyyy! I've always been fascinated with medicine so I had to write it hehe. I'd love to have Shou as a sexy doctor tending to me lol XD Anyone wants to find out what kind of business Tora is into? Tune into the next chapter to find out :D Thanks for reading and see you next time xoxo