[Fanfic] I 2 I (USUK, Summer Camp 2012)
TITLE: I 2 I
ARTIST/AUTHOR: bukku_oosa
GENRE: Romance, Drama
RATING: T+
WARNINGS: Cheesiness AGAIN, more hospital drama oh god bukkun cut it out already, almost-sex, awesome ring tones (?!), mentions of sex
PAIRING/S: USUK, Alfred/Arthur(America/England)
SUMMARY: Alfred and Arthur’s relationship gets strained too far that it almost, almost snaps, until they talk it all out and finally see eye to eye. FF.net Link
“Clear,” the man called, and all the nurses rushed to the side as he slammed the defibrillator down onto the unmoving man’s torso.
“Still a v-fib,” one called, and the man rubbed the electrodes together. “Keep going.”
“Charging.”
“Clear!”
The body jolted with the hundred Newtons of force that pulsated through it, and the man came to with a start, choking and gasping, as the medical team let out sighs of relief.
“Heart rate?” the man holding the electrodes sighed as he moved away, letting the head surgeon take over, his stiff back slouching in relief as he handed the electrodes to an intern to take care of. The nurse spared a glance at the monitor and smiled.
“We’re a-okay, doc.” She smiled, despite the rings under her eyes and her pale face. The man weakly smiled at her and nodded.
“Good. My shift’s over for tonight, but don’t hesitate to call for me if you need anything.” He looked over his shoulder. “You’ll be okay on your own?” he asked, and the other surgeon merely gave him a thumbs-up, too busy inspecting the patient, who was now being given the usual necessities-IV connection, the sorts.
Sighing tiredly, the blonde doctor ran his hand down his face as he walked out of the operation room-to almost run into his long-time boyfriend. A weak laugh escaped his lips as he tiredly waved at the pathologist standing in his way, arms crossed, smiling knowingly at him. He was already dressed to go home-gone was the white lab gown and now he was dressed in a warm-looking dark green cardigan over a black polo shirt. A silver and green scarf was wound around his neck.
“O-oh, hey, babe,” the cardiac surgeon greeted half-heartedly, before leaning forward to slump over the smaller man, earning him a light-hearted laugh as cool arms wrapped around him to keep him upright. “Man, what a day.”
“What a day indeed,” his boyfriend chuckled, his British accent soothing to his ears. “You’ve just robbed me of a body to examine,” he said, and the man pulled a face.
“That’s not very funny,” he pouted, righting himself and standing properly with his hands on his boyfriend’s shoulders for support. “Criminal or no, he’s still a person.”
“Yes, yes, I know.” His boyfriend rolled his eyes, before giving him a soft kiss. “Can’t you take a dry old Brit joke?” he chuckled, “But then again, you’re bloody tired.”
“And you aren’t?” the man laughed tiredly, leaning in and resting his forehead against the man’s. “Lucky you. All you get to do is poke around dead bodies and push around interns.”
“Ah, the coroner’s life for me.” He replied, chuckling, “Come on, Alfred, love, let’s get you to the nurse station.”
“Oh, honey, you’re the best.” Alfred giggled, but allowed himself to be led away.
---
Dr. Alfred F. Jones, cardiothoracic surgeon, had the life. He had a good job, a more than decent pay, and he had found the love of his life in the form of Dr. Arthur Kirkland, more-feared-than-respected pathologist working in the morgue at the basement of their hospital.
Today is their anniversary, and Alfred had prepared for this for so long. With both of their demanding schedules regularly keeping them apart, Alfred had made sure that tonight would be something they spend together, for once, and not in labs floors away from each other like how last year had went.
Together, they walked hand in hand to their shared apartment, smiling gently at each other as they talked about their day. They were laughing when they stepped out of the elevator at their floor, Alfred fishing out the keys from his pocket as they walked. Arthur unwound his arm from Alfred’s to let him unlock their door.
Smiling, Alfred turned the key in its lock and opened the door, going in after Arthur did. The two set their things down-their bags dumped unceremoniously on the floor next to the shoe cabinet and the Chinese takeout they had bought on their way home onto the table. Arthur got to work on unpacking their dinner, and Alfred went to turn on the heater, plugging in lights at the side of the couch, bathing the living room in a warm orange glow. Arthur handed him his container, and then they curled up on the couch together, Arthur leaning on Alfred like a child curling up against a big teddy bear.
“So,” Alfred spoke up, grinning down at Arthur. He lifted his box of takeout. “Happy anniversary.” He chuckled, and Arthur laughed gently.
“Chinese takeout, how romantic, Alfred.” He smiled, lifting his own box.
“You know I want only the best for you, babe.” Alfred winked, before the both of them burst out laughing. Wiping a tear that had peeked out of the corner of his eye, Alfred sighed, after calming down. He leant in to kiss his lover, smiling, and the both of them laughed softly, rubbing their noses together.
“Love you,” Alfred gently said, and Arthur sighed, smiling.
“Me too.” He kissed his lover gently, before pulling away. “Now, let’s eat; I’m starving.”
“Of course,” Alfred laughed, “Bon appétit.”
“Oh, God, not you too,” Arthur rolled his eyes, but he was still smiling. “I already have to deal with that frog in the records department, now there’s you buggering about?”
“Aw, babe, you know I love you,” Alfred laughed, before tucking into his dinner. Arthur shook his head in fond exasperation, before eating as well. They settled into a comfortable silence as they ate, snuggled up next to each other.
“Artie?” Alfred asked after around half an hour, “Do you think tonight, we can…” he gestured uselessly with his hand, blushing, “Y’know, uh, go,” Arthur raised an eyebrow, half-turning to look at him.
“Love, I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”
“Doyouwanttogohavesextonight?” Alfred blurted out, his face flushing. Arthur took a moment to process what he said (he never bothers asking Alfred to repeat whatever he blurts out, he knows when he’s nervous, he tends to rant, so he tries to make do with what he first hears) and when the message sunk in, he blushed as well.
“Oh,” he stated simply, his ears reddening as Alfred looked at him, also equally flustered. “… Oh.”
“Yeah,” Alfred laughed nervously. “I mean, it’s been so long since we’ve, you know,” he gestured again with his hands, and Arthur chuckled, smiling fondly, before setting his box down onto the coffee table. His smile soon developed into a grin, however, when he got up, straddled Alfred and crawled up his body to look into his eyes. “W-whoa, Artie…”
“Well, then, handsome,” Arthur purred, “What would you like to do to me tonight?” he took the box of takeout from Alfred’s hands and placed it safely next to his own, before turning his attention back to Alfred, licking his lips.
“Oh, babe, I just want to do you,” he replied, his voice turning gravelly as his state of arousal grew more evident, his erection pressing into Arthur’s thigh as the man leaned in to kiss him. Their kiss was heated-cumulated frustration of months of not having sex pouring out onto each other, washing them over with blissful waves of lust-
O say can you see by the dawn's early light
“Ah, shit.” Alfred swore, and Arthur groaned, getting up and off Alfred as he got up and reached for his phone. Annoyed, he held it to his ear. “Dr. Jones. Who is calling?”
Arthur sat there silently, waiting for Alfred to say something, do something, and his face fell when he saw Alfred’s face fall as well.
“… Okay. Fine. I’ll be there.” He almost growled into the receiver, before hanging up. He looked at Arthur, an apologetic look on his face. “Sorry, babe, trauma room got patient with a puncture through the lung. No one else was around.” He walked up to Arthur and kissed his forehead. “I’m sorry.”
“I-it’s alright,” Arthur replied, shaking his head, “Go… save lives. I’ll wait for you here.”
Alfred smiled at him apologetically, before running off to the door, grabbing his bag on the way out.
---
The following days have been similar, Alfred too busy in the operating room or Arthur being pressed hard for quick results of autopsies (the deadline was in thirty bloody days, Arthur had complained, who the bloody hell needs them in 5?) that they saw less and less of each other.
They began to waver as time passed by, until there came a time they were together back in their apartment together, eating dinner (Alfred cooked, Arthur’s cooking was so bad it could probably rouse even the cadavers Arthur performs autopsies on) in an uncomfortable, awkward silence.
“… You’re never around anymore,” Arthur suddenly spoke up, breaking the ice. Alfred looked up from where he was pushing food around his plate to look at his lover, eyebrow raised.
“…Artie?” he asked, and the green-eyed man sighed.
“I miss you, truly, I do,” Arthur said, “But you never have time for me anymore.”
“… Babe, my job-the surgery-”
“Aren’t there other surgeons out there? There’s bloody Ludwig out there, for crying out loud, isn’t he a cardio surgeon too? Kiku’s licensed for general surgery. There’s that new surgeon that came in just last month,” Arthur sighed, “There are plenty of people out there that can replace you for a while, why won’t you make time for us this time round?”
“Babe, you know I can’t do that, there are only so many of us,” Alfred defended, and Arthur shook his head.
“Alfred, there are enough surgeons at the hospital to spare. You just…” Arthur put down his fork and gestured for a moment with his hands, trying to figure out what to say, “You just… you’re too selfless, Alfred, volunteering to shifts and shifts on end back-to-back, that… that you’re not even seeing me anymore, even on whatever sparse break you find yourself in.”
“H-hey, now just a minute, you’re getting like that too!” Alfred replied, pointing at Arthur, who gaped at him, eyes wide. “You’re always nose-deep in autopsies whenever I come down to see you, that I always end up talking to that intern that’s crazy-mad for me instead of you,” he shook his head, “Do you know how damned frustrated I am? At least you can afford to leave your corpses alone!”
“Excuse me; I can hardly leave their side as it is!” Arthur bit back, regaining composure after recovering from the shock at the sudden sharp turn of events. “It’s those bloody lawyers and those bloody families demanding immediate results! I’m not some machine, Alfred!”
“You have interns with you; couldn’t you use them to help you? So you’re not always shit-deep with those dead hunks of meat?” Alfred frowned, his mood slowly souring. “From the way I see things, I can honestly say that if anything, I should be the one missing you; it seems you love them dead old hunks instead of me.”
“What?!” Arthur bristled, getting up from his seat. “How dare you? Those interns have yet to learn everything-I’m the respected pathologist, Alfred-do you think I’d let those new graduates handle my bodies and compromise investigations? I have to teach them everything, all the little details to examine, every bloody little thing that could tell what made that person die.” He glared at Alfred. “I’ve sent enough surgeons to court for malpractice.” He said.
“Are you threatening me?” Alfred growled, also standing up, towering over Arthur. “There is a reason I’m the one on call all the time, Arthur,” he spat, “You’re not the only competent person in that hospital.”
“You’re impossible!” Arthur yelled at him, throwing his hands up.
They ended up arguing, a screaming fest that had people next door glancing in the direction of their shared apartment.
“That is it!” Arthur yelled, “I’m leaving!”
“Go away, then!” Alfred yelled back. “See if I care!”
Arthur glared at him, before storming out the door, bag in his hand, slamming it behind him as he left, leaving Alfred all alone in their suddenly too-empty apartment. He stood there in silence for a moment, gritting his teeth, his hands tightly balled into fists.
It didn’t take long for his anger to subside, though, and soon Alfred found himself sitting down on the couch-their couch-with a tub of ice cream watching some soap drama on the TV that he really wasn’t paying attention to.
Bitterly, he sniffed and grabbed his phone, before calling Kiku.
It rang once, twice, three times, but no one picked up. Soon the monotonous voice of the service provider spoke up to tell him the line was busy. Looks like Kiku was talking to someone. Sniffling bitterly, he turned his attention back to the TV.
He was about to fall asleep when he heard his phone ring.
O say can you see by the dawn's early light
He never let it reach the second line, hand snatching out to answer it, hoping it was Arthur-
“Alfred-san? You called me a while ago?” Kiku’s voice came in through from the other side. The blonde man sighed, slumping back as he shoved a particularly large scoop of vanilla into his mouth.
“Awthuw wosh bein an iffiof.” Alfred mumbled through the ice cream, pouting.
“… I am sorry, but I could not understand a word you just said.”
Alfred sighed, swallowing the ice cream all in one go-and he hissed as his brain began to hurt, icy stabs in the middle of his cerebral cortex.
“Alfred-san, are you alright?”
“O-oh, ‘m fine,” Alfred replied, “Just had a brain freeze. I called to talk to you about Arthur.”
“… Ah.” Kiku said after a moment. “What did you two do?”
“He was being an idiot,” Alfred whined into the receiver. “Complaining about our shifts and shit,” he stuffed another scoop of ice cream into his mouth. “And then he just left!”
“…What did you tell him, Alfred-san?”
“I told him he loved his dead bodies more than he loved me.”
On the other side, he heard the Japanese man sigh. He could practically see him shake his head on the other side, most likely one hand poised over papers. It was his shift this time, which was why Alfred was home at all.
“You two are idiots,” Kiku said after a while, “If I may just be frank.”
“… What the heck, Kiku?” Alfred whined, and Kiku merely clicked his tongue.
“In time, Alfred-san. In time. Now, if I may, I’m going to go make rounds.”
“W-wait, just give me a suggestion-what do I do about Artie?”
“All you two have to do is see eye to eye.” Kiku replied.
“But… he’s left me, that jerk, like as if I’ll be the one crawling back.”
“That’s what he said,” Kiku said. Alfred’s eyes widened and he opened his mouth to ask a question when Kiku spoke again, “Now, rounds. Goodnight, Alfred-san.” He said, his tone final, and he hung up.
… Eye to eye? As if. If anything, it’s Arthur who should apologise. Really, should he just abandon his patients? I think not!
Alfred crossed his hands and sulked on the couch. “Fine. Let him come back to me, then. I don’t need to apologise.”
---
Five days later, and Alfred felt wrecked. Throughout the entire week, he had kept on dreaming of Arthur-his warmth, his beautiful smile, his vibrant eyes, his lovely voice, everything about the man that made his heart flutter.
He couldn’t get over the lack of the man’s presence in his life, there was one time at the kitchen table where he blindly reached for the sugar jar. He couldn’t reach it, and without looking up from the newspaper, he waggled his fingers.
“Artie, could you reach the sugar for me?” he asked no one, and he paused to realise that indeed he was very much alone inside their shared apartment-well, previously shared seemed to be more appropriate, with only Alfred living there.
Sighing sadly, he looked at his phone. “… Should probably change the ringtone,” he mumbled, before randomly chancing upon some song he had clicked on when he was browsing his music files. It played up when he selected it.
Got myself a notion
And one I know that you'll understand
Alfred paused, looking down at his phone. He never remembered having that song in there.
To set the world in motion by reaching out for each other's hand
He looked down at his free hand, and sighed, remembering how perfectly Arthur’s smaller hand had fit in his. Oh, how he missed the feeling.
Maybe we'll discover
What we shoulda known all along
Alfred shook his head. Oh, no. He was positive Arthur hated him now, what with all the stupid things he said to him-even though Arthur was rather stupid himself-he doubted Arthur would even make a move to set things right.
He sighed inwardly. But then again, Alfred was also unlikely to fix this little problem of theirs because of his insecurity that only is triggered when Arthur was around. Around patients and their families, the hospital staff and fellow surgeons, he would act perfectly and professionally, but when Arthur was in the picture, his brain would turn into mush and he wouldn’t be able to talk properly.
He sat down heavily on the couch, sighing, as he looked at his phone.
“… God, I miss you so much Artie.” He mumbled, turning off the music playing from the phone. “I know I belonged better when you were with me. I was less of a socially awkward penguin than a hero eagle.”
Suddenly his phone rang.
Got myself a notion
And one I know that you'll understand
To set the world in motion by reaching out for each other's hand
Alfred stayed still for a moment. Maybe the caller would just go away?
It kept ringing, alarming Alfred.
Maybe we'll discover
What we shoulda known all along
One way or another, together's where we both belong
He froze. Together’s where we both belong.
Taking a deep breath, he picked up the phone to hear, out of all things, sobbing. There was someone crying over at the other side. His eyes widened.
“… Artie?”
“Alfred, I am so, so sorry,” Arthur rambled from the other side. “I said stupid, stupid things to you, and just… utter bollocks kept coming out, I’m sorry, so sorry, I miss you, I need you,”
“A-Artie,” Alfred found himself choking. “B-babe, calm down.” He gently said. “L-look, I’m sorry, too,” he looked around the room, blushing. “I was also pretty insensitive. I promise I’ll take better care of you from now on.”
“Oh, Alfred,” Arthur sighed from the other side, his breathing shaky from crying. “I-I still love you, you know that, right?”
“’Course.” Alfred smiled, “Come home, please, babe.”
“Of course.” Arthur’s smile could practically be heard from the other side. “I’ll be right there.”
“Where are you, anyway?” Alfred asked, and Arthur laughed, a sound so welcome to Alfred’s ears he almost melted into the couch.
“I’m crashing over at my brothers’ place,” Arthur chuckled, “They’re actually currently laughing at me as I sob in the living room, downing cups of ice cream that you absolutely love.”
“I’m eating up your favourite flavour over here,” Alfred found himself grinning. “Now get over here so I can kiss you. And maybe fuck you.”
Arthur laughed brightly. “I’ll look forward to that.” A small kissing sound could be heard. “… I love you.”
“Love you too, babe.” Alfred smiled, before kissing the receiver. “I’ll be waiting.”
“I’m coming.” Arthur assured him, before hanging up. Smiling goofily to himself, Alfred leant back, set down the almost-empty cup of ice cream on the coffee table and played the song on his phone again.
Got myself a notion
And one I know that you'll understand
To set the world in motion by reaching out for each other's hand
Maybe we'll discover
What we shoulda known all along
One way or another, together's where we both belong
He glanced at the door so often he was practically wearing holes in it, but he didn’t care.
If we listen to each other's heart
We'll find we're never too far apart
He smiled when he heard the tell-tale ring of the doorbell from the ground floor to his room. Arthur was coming.
And maybe love is a reason why
For the first time ever, we're seein' it I-2-I
He stood up, turning the music off.
“Better get ready.” He grinned. “I’m going to give Artie the surprise of his getting-back-together-with-me day.”
He began to strip, eyeing the cup of vanilla ice cream on the coffee table.
For a moment, he deliberated with himself, but it didn’t take long for him to come up with a decision. Grinning mischievously, he picked up the cup and looked at the spoon.
Let’s just say with these sorts of things, he had the utmost confidence that he and Arthur see eye to eye.
Uh, what. I'm half-asleep, so please bear with me.