carpe diem

5

"I need you to do me a favour."

Regulus openly and loudly sighs. Nothing good has ever come from anyone asking for a favour, especially when they’re asking him something at work. 

He's just finished cannulating a 17 year old girl who probably had the most extreme fear of needles he's come across in his years of training and since qualifying, and he's barely got two feet out the cubicle before Euphemia is stepping up to him. 

"Where you waiting for me?" He asks, stepping round her to put his already stripped off gloves in the waste bin. When Euphemia doesn't answer him, he turns around and admits quick defeat. "What's the favour then?"

"We've got a trainee coming to the ward this week," Euphemia starts, and Regulus already does not like where this is going. 

"We always have trainees in every week," Regulus retorts. "Why is this one so different?"

"He's second year, so he knows his basics but this is his first time on neurology," Euphemia says, but Regulus really knows that translates to he’s second year and therefore is going to either be incredibly cocky and a pain in the ass, or he’s going to so scared of messing up in his second year that he’s going to be entirely useless. Regulus doesn’t know which one he was, but judging by his general personality, he’s pretty sure he was the former.

"Please," Regulus drawls, "Tell me more. This sounds riveting."

Euphemia flashes him an unimpressed look. Regulus appreciates he’s being slightly cranky today. 

"He's meant to be shadowing me today, but they've just paged me up to maternity," Euphemia says.

Regulus crosses his arms over his chest and stares at her tiredly. "What does this have to do with me?"

The older woman sighs, running a hand to push her fringe off her forehead. It springs back, messy and untidy. He feels bad for a short nanosecond, because Euphemia looks stressed and the older woman rarely ever looks stressed, but then he realises that she's more than likely going to ask for more than just one favour now if she's going off the ward and he's the next in line to be the doctor in charge. 

"You're the best doctor on shift today," she says, and Regulus rolls his eyes. "I wouldn't be asking if I thought there was anyone here more suitable than you—"

"Flattery won't get you very far, Euphemia," Regulus deadpans. "If you are about to ask what I think you're going to ask, then please save us both from this awful ass-kissing—"

"I need you to run the ward and mentor my student today."

Regulus should have made a bet she was going to ask that, then at least he would have made some money as well as be thoroughly miserable. Despite only being qualified for 16 months and remembering very well and very recently what it was like to be a student on a busy London hospital ward, Regulus has absolutely no sympathy for those in his previous shoes. 

None at all. 

Literally none.

Regulus hates all doctor and nurse students that walk through that door and he has no shame in admitting it. They're all annoying, they're too eager, they try to run before they can walk and they ask too many stupid questions. 

Thankfully, because Regulus hasn’t been qualified for long enough and he’s also studying again himself, he isn’t given the personal responsibility of students that spend time on the ward. Not officially, anyways. He’s covered for senior staff before and even mentored one of Dorcas’ students six months ago for a stretch of shifts (it ended with the young girl crying in the mess room because Regulus pulled her to the side and said she should never promise a patient an outcome because nothing is promised in health care - which Regulus still stands by to this day that he was right, even if he had used harsh enough words to put him in the dog house with Euphemia). 

"I know you hate having a student, Regulus, but it’s only for today and you’d be doing me a huge favour," Euphemia pleads, speaking as if she could literally read his train of thought.

Regulus huffs. "Isn’t there someone else you can ask? You know I’m not good with—"

"You are great with students," Euphemia interrupts, tone stern and in-arguable. When Regulus raises an eyebrow, she rolls her eyes at him. "You’re mean but you’re fair. You’re a fantastic doctor and they look up to you for it. Plus, as much as you claim you hate them, you’re a damn hell kinder than someone of the doctors in this place to them."

Regulus scoffs. 

"How have you come to that glowing conclusion?"

"Because you’re one of the few that won’t embarrass a student in front of a room full of qualified staff," Euphemia smiles. "Even that time with Dorcas’ student, you still pulled her to one side before you made her cry."

"And that makes me good with students, does it?"

"It makes you different from the rest."

Euphemia is right: Regulus does make sure to never embarrass a student unless absolutely necessary. There is nothing worse than learning and being called out, having your confidence shattered and ego irreversibly bruised in front of a room full of qualified and skilled people. It happened to him many times when he was learning, and it’s one thing he promised himself to make sure he never did to anyone else. 

Regulus likes to be impressive, he likes to be good at what he does, but he refuses to believe belittling others when they’re trying in front of superior staff makes anyone feel better about themselves. It reminds him too much of his parents, and if there is one thing Regulus does not want to be, is to be like them.

He sighs, meeting her gaze again.

"What do they need you up in maternity for?" He asks.

"Epileptic young mother," she replies. "Lots of risks on the table, and they need someone from neurology there to be on hand if anything goes wrong with the mother."

Damn. That’s a pretty understandable excuse to go. 

Regulus groans, rubbing a hand down his face. He knows he’s not going to get out of this, and even if he argued till his throat was raw and he had no voice left, he can never truly say no to Euphemia Potter. She has that effect on people. Regulus sometimes hates her for it.

"Fine," he snaps, and Euphemia’s face lights up. "But! You owe me a drink at the Christmas party and you can give Slughorn a glowing report of me next time he’s in so he’ll give me all the surgeries to assist on."

Euphemia smiles softly, "I don’t need to say anything to Slughorn to make him think anymore positively of you, but of course I will."

Regulus juts his chin out. "And you owe me a coffee."

"You say that as if my son won’t be in here in a few hours giving bringing you one himself."

Regulus flushes suddenly, hot and red. He opens his mouth, sputtering. 

"I—" he laughs weakly, pathetically, shaking his head. "I don’t— he doesn’t—"

Euphemia chuckles at him, resting her hand on his shoulder. He stares at her in shock.

"Don’t worry about it, love," she murmurs softly. "I know he doesn’t come in to see me anymore."

Regulus sputters again, "No, it’s not—"

"You’re blushing, Doctor Black."

Regulus knows that, he wants to shout at her. He is more than aware that his face is burning as bright as a stupid beetroot right now in the middle of the ward. Euphemia does not need to point it now. 

Does she know? Regulus suddenly panics. 

Does she know that James has come into the ward on almost every shift Regulus has been on during the last month and given him pastries and sandwiches and coffee? 

Does she know that James has been more than obviously flirting with Regulus, even though he didn’t actually realise until Dorcas witnessed their chat one afternoon and told Regulus that the guy clearly wanted to jump his bones?

Does she know that the eye rolls every time James speaks are slowly becoming less hostile and simply just sarcastic?

Euphemia is smiling, so she clearly isn’t annoyed about it. If anything, she looks pleased.

Regulus has decided that’s just as bad. 

"I am not blushing," he growls, ducking his head regardless. His phone burns a hole in his pocket where he knows James’ phone number is saved since he wrote it on the coffee cup he gave to Regulus yesterday. At the time, Regulus had told James he was going to throw the cup away and to stop harassing him. James, the idiot, had just smiled and said he knew Regulus wouldn’t. He was wrong, slightly, because Regulus did throw the cup away, but not before he put the number in his phone. 

The same number that he hasn't used yet, and doesn't plan to. He doesn't know why he put it in his phone, or why he's looked at it multiple times since adding it. He also doesn't know why he now looks forward to James coming in, but he does. He looks forward to seeing his stupid smile or hearing his contagious laugh. He also enjoys free coffee and food, considering he rarely has time to get away from the ward to get his own and very often relies on Barty getting him something when they're on shift together. 

Regulus scowls at Euphemia as she laughs, breaking him out of his internal crisis. 

"Have you forgotten that I’m doing you a favour today?" He snaps, cheeks still hot. "A huge favour in fact, considering you've said multiple times I'm the best person on shift to do it."

"No, I have not forgotten," she smiles. 

"Good, then stop mocking me."

"Oh, sweetheart, I’m not mocking you," she says, and her voice isn't mocking, it's kind and soft and Regulus despises it. "I’m just observing."

"There is nothing to observe," Regulus says, feeling slightly twitchy. For the first time ever, he wants his pager to go off just so he has an excuse to make a brisk exit from this moment. 

Euphemia stares at him, smile small but knowing. 

Finally, she nods. "Of course."

"Good," Regulus nods back, clearing his throat. "Where’s your stupid student then?"

"Downstairs getting changed into some scrubs. He’ll be up any minute," she explains, glancing down at her fob watch. "I’ll stay and explain to him the change and then I’ll go up to mat. You got a good team on today, you’ll be fine."

"I know I will be," Regulus replies. "You should be worried about your student."

"I’m not worried at all. If he’s got you today, he’ll be half qualified by the time I have to mentor him tomorrow," she grins as she claps him gently on the shoulder and walks back to the reception desk. 

Regulus grumbles all the way as he follows her, dropping into the chair with a largely exaggerated huff. He pointedly ignores Euphemia's side smirk at him as he logs onto the computer. Sometimes he feels like half of his job is writing stuff down to prove he’s done it, but it’s moment like these that he’s grateful for the annoying amount of paperwork and documentation being a doctor comes with because it means he can purposely have a valid reason to ignore Euphemia and her stupid observational skills. 

Regulus Black does not get flustered, that is a known fact. Regulus is cold, calm, collected. He is everything but flustered, so he will not admit to anyone in his life that he felt a strange swarm in his stomach when he stared at the handwritten scrawl of a phone number on the side of the coffee cup that day. Even after James had gone, Regulus was left looking at it, trying to decipher the consuming pit in his stomach. 

"Uh, hi, I’m looking for Doctor Potter."

Regulus looks up, and it takes all of his control to not let his jaw open in shock, or laugh manically, or throw up into the waste bin beside him. 

On the other side of the reception desk, is Frank Longbottom.

Frank, who Regulus met at The Leaky Cauldron three months ago.

Frank, who Regulus drunkenly kissed and went back to his apartment.

Frank, who Regulus slept with and then proceeded to walk away the next morning because that’s what Regulus Black does: fuck and then leave.

So far, it’s never come back to bite him on the ass.

Until today.

"That’s me," Euphemia stands up, smiling and shaking Frank’s hand over the desk. She’s completely oblivious to Regulus’ silent crisis, but Frank isn’t. He’s looking at Regulus like he’s his dead grandmother resurrected from the dead. "You must be Frank Longbottom."

Frank’s eyes take a second to snap away from Regulus. He laughs suddenly, awkwardly, letting go of Euphemia’s hand.

"Uh, y-yeah. Yes, I’m— I’m Frank," he stammers, eyes flicking to Regulus once more. 

"Well, welcome to Neurology ward!" Euphemia says. "You're with us for a week, yes?"

Frank nods. His face is red, cheeks blushed. Regulus is worried he looks the same, but he's had plenty of years of practicing his poker face to remain calm enough in this situation to not give Euphemia any sort of queries. 

"I'm sure you're going to enjoy yourself here. It's a fantastic ward, you'll see plenty of stuff," Euphemia smiles. "I'm afraid, however, I won't be working with you today. I've been paged up to maternity, so Doctor Black here is going to be your mentor for this shift."

If possible, Frank’s face becomes more red at Euphemia’s announcement that the pair are going to be working together all day. Regulus would be worried about the man looking like he’s about to combust if he wasn’t so focused on trying to not verbalise that he personally wants the ground to swallow him whole.

Euphemia looks at him, then smiles sympathetically at Frank. "He looks intimidating, but don’t be worried. Doctor Black is the best doctor on this ward after me, and he may look like he’s five seconds away from attempting murder, but he’s actually a sweetheart."

Regulus glares at her, clearly his throat harshly.

She laughs at him, squeezing his shoulder. "All bark and no bite, aren’t you, Regulus?"

Regulus smiles, tight lipped as his eyes snap towards Frank. 

"I bite."

He watches Frank swallow thickly while Euphemia chuckles.

"I am sorry about today, Frank. Please don’t think I’m abandoning you on your first day here, but Doctor Black will take good care of you."

Frank smiles at her. "It’s fine, Doctor Potter. I’m sure we’ll have fun."

Regulus wants to punch him in the face, and the urge becomes almost in-ignorable when Frank winks at him. 

Asshole.

"Doctor Black?"

Regulus tears his eyes away from where they’re burning a hole in Frank’s face to look up at Euphemia.

"Be nice, please," she says, voice slightly hushed. "You were in his shoes once, remember that."

"How could I ever forget the glory days of being a med student on the neuro ward," Regulus replies, a mean twitch pulling at the corner of his lips. "Don’t worry, Doc. I’ll make sure to give him the full experience."

He glances at Frank, who’s beet red in the face again. Regulus smirks, and then he winks at Frank, who instantly looks like he’s going to bolt from the ward.

Ha, Regulus thinks. Payback, bitch. 

"Okay," Euphemia says, rounding the desk. "I’ll leave you two boys to it. Frank, best of luck, darling. Regulus, I won’t forget the favour you’re doing me today."

Regulus hums, unimpressed.

"Oh!" Euphemia adds, leaning over the desk, "And just to let you know, James won’t be in today."

Regulus quite literally chokes on his own saliva in surprise.

"What?" He sputters. 

"It’s Monty’s birthday," she explains calmly, and Regulus’ brain has come to some kind of halt. Not because James isn’t coming in and Regulus won’t get to see him while pretending he doesn’t want to see him, but because Euphemia is telling him this as if she has a reason too. "So, he won’t be dropping by to see you."

Regulus blinks stupidly. He can feel the heat in his cheeks. 

"Who’s James?" Frank asks.

Regulus’ eyes snap to him, and his lip curls as he snarls out, "No one."

Frank swallows visibly. He looks uncomfortable. 

Good, Regulus decides, because he’s also really uncomfortable about all of this too. 

"So, um," Frank rubs the back of his neck, shifting from foot to foot. "Listen, I know we—"

"Shut up!" Regulus interrupts shortly. "There is no 'we'. There was no 'we'. Whatever you are thinking about, stop it, because we don’t have a choice about working together today, but we do have a choice about we what we talk about, and if we want the next ten hours to be even remotely tolerable then you are not going to mention that. Understood?"

Frank nods, eyes wide and mouth firmly closed. 

"And stop fucking fidgeting!" Regulus snaps. He lets out a short sigh, flicking his curls off his face. "You know how to do obs, yes?"

Frank nods quickly. "Yes."

"Good, then you’ll be competent enough to do Mrs Mason’s in side room 401," Regulus slams the file down on the desk. "She’s in for a check up. Take her obs, come back, and then if something more important hasn’t come up I’ll show you around the ward so at least it won’t be my fault when you get lost later."

Frank nods again, taking the file. "Uh, where—"

Regulus points at the first door on the left silently, and it’s only when Frank scurries away does he let out a heavy breath. Dropping his head in his hands, he groans to himself. This has been a horrible start to the shift. First, Euphemia turned him into a sputtering blushing mess just by mentioning her son, and now he’s got to work with a bloke who Regulus deep throated and shagged two months ago. 

Regulus isn’t going to pretend Frank Longbottom isn’t attractive - Regulus wouldn’t have slept with him if he wasn’t, because even drunk Regulus has exquisite taste in his men. He’s lovely, and he was kind and he was a fantastic kisser. He didn’t hold it against Regulus when the he left the morning after, and didn’t get defensive when Regulus told him blankly that it was a drunken one night stand, that he had fun but now it’s done because Regulus doesn’t date. Instead, he smiled and said he had fun and made Regulus a coffee before he let him leave. 

When Frank is done with the obs, Regulus shows him around the ward and follows Regulus’ instructions when he told him to stay silent during the tour. Frank follows him round like a lost puppy when Regulus does a few ward rounds during the first hour. He smiles politely when Regulus introduces him to patients, does as he’s told when Regulus asks him to pass over equipment during checks and a consult. He asks Frank afterwards if he's ever done a consult, to which he replied he hasn't and he was grateful Regulus didn't ask him to do one, but flushed under the warning that he’s going to be doing them by the end of the week. 

"Look," Frank starts when Regulus gets off the phone at the reception desk. "I know you don’t want to talk about it, but I just need you to know I’m not that kind of guy."

Regulus blinks at him, huffing. "And what do you imply with that?"

"Y’know," Frank shrugs. "The kind of guy that sleeps with colleagues."

Regulus barely resists the urge to roll his eyes. 

"You didn’t know we’d be working together today. In fact, you didn’t know I worked here at all or that we would be stuck together today. So how would it imply you 'sleep with colleagues'?"

"I just. . ." Frank runs a hand through his hair hastily. 

"I already told you," Regulus says, "what happened that night doesn’t come onto the ward. It happened. It’s done. So feel free to stop bringing it up."

"I— just please don’t let it affect what you’re going to write in my report after today—"

"I wasn’t planning to," Regulus snaps. "That report is for me to document if you’re an incompetent doctor or not, but if you keep trying to talk to me about my personal life, I might just be a little less understanding in how lenient I am towards your report."

Frank nods, swallowing. "Right. Okay. Sorry."

Regulus caves this time and rolls his eyes. 

"Why aren’t you more freaked out by this?" Frank asks.

"Because I’m not a child who can’t mask my emotions," Regulus sneers. "So stop thinking with your dick, and start thinking like a doctor."

Frank steps back. "Okay. Y-yeah, sorry."

"We’ve got a patient coming up who’s complaining of spinal pain. You can run it."

Frank’s face pales. "Wh-what?"

"Don’t panic. I’ll be with you the whole time," Regulus says. He almost feels bad. "You know what to do, don’t play stupid. I won’t let you make any mistakes."

The older man nods. "O-okay."

"And stops stuttering," Regulus says as he grabs the file and shoves it into Frank’s hands. "It’s unprofessional."

Twenty minutes later, Regulus is walking out of the cubicle and has Frank storming after him.

"What was that?" The student shouts.

Regulus raises an eyebrow, turning around slowly. "Excuse me?"

"I asked, what was that!" Frank snarls. "You completely embarrassed me!"

Regulus glares at him with a look that can kill. His tone comes out harsh when he speaks, cold and chilling because he doesn’t appreciate being shouted at on the ward by an inferior student.

"That man is here for pain," Regulus hisses. "Pain management is the first part of your job so when someone says they are in pain, it is your duty of care to give him relief."

"He’s an addict!"

"You do not know that."

"I can see it!" Frank shouts. "He’s covered in pinpricks, his obs don’t match the pain he was complaining of. He was lying!"

"Lying or not, if a patient is in pain, you manage it," Regulus snaps. "Do not shout at me on my ward, and don’t ignore my instructions. If that man is a morphine addict, we deal with it later, but addict or not, you can not discharge him when he’s withering on the bed complaining of something you can fix."

Frank scoffs, shaking his head.

"Take your break, Longbottom," Regulus glares. "Get out of my sight and cool down." 

He watches Frank walk away, and rolls his eyes at the students retreating back. 

Stupid egotistical student.

Regulus appreciates it’s frustrating when a patient comes in and you know you’re being bullshitted, but when someone comes onto the ward wailing of spinal nerve pain, a doctor can’t refuse them just because they have an inkling that they’re using you for morphine.

Regulus is more than aware of the track marks on the patients arms, which is why when Frank has gone, he logs onto the reception computer to see that the man has been in and out of hospitals 15 times in the last three months just receiving high painkillers for all excuses of pain.

Frank wasn’t wrong - the man is bullshitting them, but Regulus knows how to deal with bullshitters, and sometimes the easiest way is to give them what they want for a moment. 

Regulus goes on his break a few minutes before he knows Frank is coming back. He doesn’t want to see him again for a little while. The last thing he wants is to see the students stupid face that Regulus remembers kissing or to hear his childish attitude at not agreeing with his mentor.

Regulus makes his exit from the ward and sends a text to Barty.

Regulus (14:47) got time for a coffee?

Barty (14:53) always for you my darling. cardio mess room or neuro?

Regulus (14:54) outside. bring your cigarettes

Barty (14:55) yes captain

Regulus grabs a coffee from the hospital cafe before going outside to the staff smoking area. When he steps out, Barty isn’t there so he takes the small moment he has to take a deep breath of fresh air. He’s exhausted, from the combination of this being his fourth shift out of five and the last three all overrunning in a row, he is also dealing with a stupid student. 

"Darling!"

Regulus looks over his shoulder in time to see Barty come skipping out the double doors, face split with a grin and hair its usual puffy mess.

"Wow," Barty laughs, coming to stand next to him and lean on the railings. "What happened?"

"You’d never guess," Regulus sighs, taking a cigarette out of the box offered to him. 

"Well, you look rough so my wildest guess is that Euphemia ditched you and your sorry ass is carrying the ward today?"

"That is correct," Regulus takes a greedy drag after he’s lit it and on exhale, he breathes, "but that’s not all."

"If your day is worse than mine I’m going to throw a shit fit."

Regulus looks at Barty. "What’s so bad for you?"

"Snape and Mulciber are on my shift today," Barty grumbles. "That a good enough explanation?"

Regulus laughs bitterly. "Hate to break it to you, but I still have you beat."

Barty gasps, "How? What is possibly worse than Snape and Mulciber?"

Regulus takes a lengthy toke from his cigarette. 

"I'm mentoring Euphemia's student for her today."

Barty raises an eyebrow. "Okay, and? Sure, students suck and they're a pain in the ass. Actually, no, scratch that - they're a massive pain in the ass, I'll give you that. I absolutely refuse to ever believe we were as annoying as the runts they shove through those doors nowadays."

Regulus chuckles, "We were the last generation of decent students."

"Amen to that," Barty nods, exhaling a mouthful of smoke. "What’s so bad about this student then? They too happy for your emo ass to handle? Do they smile too much?"

Regulus rolls his eyes. "No. It’s not that."

"What is it then?"

"The student that I’ve been blackmailed to mentor today," Regulus sighs for dramatics, "is the same guy who fucked me up the ass drunk two months ago."

There’s a beat of silence, and then Barty is choking next to him, hacking and sputtering so hard he’s hunched over like he’s been stabbed in the gut. His coughs echo loudly, they sound hard and painful.

"Are you alright?"

"What the fuck!" Barty squeaks, hacking so hard Regulus is worried he’ll bring up a lung. After a minute, the older doctor straightens, eyes red and tears streaming down his cheeks. He looks at Regulus like he’s grown a second head, panting and coughing a few more times. 

"I told you, I win in the most fucked up day," Regulus shrugs, stubbing out his finished cigarette.

"You win," Barty rasps, nodding, still catching his breath. "You win, holy shit. That. . ."

"I know," Regulus nods. "You can’t make that shit up." 

Barty seems to have recovered enough to stand next to Regulus. They share another beat of silence.

"Is he fit?"

"Barty!"

"What?" He shrieks, throwing his hands up in surrender. "It’s a valid question!"

Regulus groans, closing his eyes. "Yes. Fine, yes. He’s fit."

"And was he good?"

"We were drunk."

"Not the question."

Regulus groans again.

"Yes," he admits. "Yes, it was good. But it takes two too tango, you dick."

"Ironic of you to mention dicks, you whore."

"Barty!"

The other doctors bleeper goes off, cutting his howling laughter short.

"I fucking hate you," Regulus snarls.

"Yeah, yeah," Barty laughs, "Love you too, my little hooker. I’m going to go save lives now, have fun bossing around your one night stand."

"Fuck you."

"Say that to—"

"Barty!"

Regulus goes back to the ward 10 minutes after Barty left him outside. Annoyed and fed up, he tiredly strolls back into the neuro ward with his unfinished coffee. It’s not even half past three - he still has 4.5 hours left of the shift. Thats 4.5 hours of pretending he hasn’t had sex with his student. 

Frank is surprisingly not trying to make it awkward. Regulus thinks he’s doing a decent job of also not making it awkward. It’s the elephant in the room that Regulus is pointedly avoiding that’s making Regulus feels like all the hairs on his arms are standing on end every time Frank smiles at him. There’s no connection there, and Regulus is normally far from a prude when it comes to mindless sex, but he’s always stuck by the rule of not sleeping with his co-workers, and today Frank ruined that. 

Commitment is something that Regulus is not familiar with. Commitment requires trust and dependency, and Regulus’ track record with relying on people has been unsurprisingly shattered by his family history. Sure, he loves his friends platonically, but he knows if anything was to happen between them all he could live without them. 

Regulus has never liked, or loved, someone enough to ever fathom the idea of learning how to commit to them. Hence the one night stands, because Regulus may have issues but his dick certainly works. 

Regulus is draining the last of the coffee when he spots Frank making a beeline for the reception desk.

"Look," the blonde starts, "I just wanted too—"

"You ever looked at CT scans before?" Regulus interrupts. 

Frank blinks in surprise, then nods though he looks uncertain. "Yes, why?"

"Ever looked at a brain scan before?"

"A few," he shrugs. 

"Good," Regulus nods, tossing the empty cup in the bin. "Come with me, our patient in 406 is going in now. You can figure out if there's anything obvious on the scans as to why Miss Richards is having random bouts of leg paralysis."

He's turned around, walking away and is half way down the ward by the time Frank has caught up with him. Regulus knows he's half-ran to get to his side, and falls in line with him but still trying to keep up with Regulus' natural speed walking. 

Regulus isn’t going to mention the small spat they had before their individual breaks. He isn’t going to mention to Frank that he’s looked up the patients history and he’s going to deal with it when the pain management is finished. Instead, he leaves Frank to fester on the fear that Regulus hates him. 

"Do you have ideas what's wrong with them?" Frank asks. 

"I have an idea, but scans will confirm it," Regulus replies, which is true, because Regulus is almost certain what is wrong with this patient but it’s a bit of a long shot and he wants the scans to confirm it. "And it will give you a chance to figure it out."

"How have you already got ideas on what could be causing it?"

"Experience and intelligence," Regulus answers simply. 

Regulus knows he's smart, but a lot of the assumptions in this line of work comes from experience as much as it does knowledge. Health care is rarely textbook, and never are two patients the same. Learning the theory is one thing, but adapting it is often paired with experience. Something Regulus can't blame Frank for lacking, but he can use his own to make himself seem impressive. 

And Regulus enjoys being impressive. 

They meet Miss Daisy Richards, a 19 year old girl laying on the hospital bed, outside the CT scan room. 

Regulus goes into the room with her, Frank hot on his heels. Daisy smiles when she see’s them.

"Doctor Black," she says, and Regulus can see the tension in her body swamped in the hospital gown. 

"Daisy, I hope it’s safe to assume the nurses have been taking care of you up here," Regulus smiles, keeping his tone soft. She’s young, she’s scared, he’s not that much of an asshole to refuse any kind of comfort to her. 

She nods shakily, eyes glistening like she’s a second away from bursting into tears.

"Have you ever had a CT scan before, Daisy?" He asks.

She shakes her head.

"They’re nothing to be scared of," he assures. "You literally don’t have to do anything but lie down. The machine does all the work, you can even go to sleep if you want to."

"How long will it take?"

"Anywhere between 10 to 20 minutes. We’ll be right outside, we even have mics that we can talk to you through. Anything you say we can hear, so you only need to say if you need anything. But, it’s essential that you stay as still as you can so the scans come out clear."

"Okay," she nods. "I can do that."

Regulus smiles. "Good. I’ll leave the nurses to get you ready."

He turns around and nods at Frank to follow him out.

They last a total of 14 long, blissful minutes of peaceful silence before the serenity is shattered.

"Um, Re-Doctor Black?"

Regulus sighs. "What?"

"Why do you wear green scrubs?" Frank asks.

"I’m a surgeon student," Regulus replies as he continues to look through the observation window. When Frank doesn’t reply, Regulus looks across at him slightly to see the other male wearing a surprised look on his face. "What?"

"How old did you say you were again?"

"I didn’t," Regulus retorts. He sighs, and adds, "I’m 23."

Frank’s eyes widen like saucers. 

"Jesus," he laughs, shaking his head. "That’s. . . that’s. . ."

Regulus raises an eyebrow. "Surprised?"

"Impressed," Frank replies. "Really impressed, in fact. Euphemia wasn't lying when she said you're one of the best. I mean, I’m 25 and I’m only two years into my doctors degree. By the time I even qualify you’ll—"

"Still be in training," Regulus interrupts. 

"Well, yes, but—" Frank laughs, shaking his head, "It’s still mad. Impressive, but mad."

"Yes, you’ve already gushed about your surprise," Regulus says, matter of factly, eyes focused on the screen. "What do you see on the scans?"

Frank jumps forward, eyes eagerly staring at the computer as the scans come through. Eyes darting everywhere, he drinks in the sight and his face is twisted in a serious, concentrated expression. 

"What are her symptoms?" Regulus asks, seeing the signs of a student struggling. It was something Euphemia always did with him when he was learning, to look at the answer but work your way towards it from the beginning. The best way to learn and recognise things it to connect all the dots. "Start from the beginning to make sense of what you’re seeing."

"Back pain, numbness and weakness in lower back and legs," Frank lists.

"She’s also mentioned pins and needles symptoms in her feet and she admitted to losing her control of her bladder before," Regulus adds. 

Frank nods. He’s quiet for another long moment before he says, "Spinal stenosis?"

"That a question or an answer?"

Frank nods, this time more firmly. "It’s spinal stenosis."

Regulus smirks slightly. "It is. So advanced, in fact, I’m not surprised at all that she’s experiencing paralysis in her legs. Normally cases don’t progress this far till people are in their 50’s or 60’s."

"Why is it so bad then?" Frank asks. "She’s only 19."

"Did you read her file?"

Frank nods.

"She was in a car accident two years ago. Spinal injuries or trauma are the most common cause for young people to develop spinal stenosis," Regulus spares a glance through the window where Daisy is still in the CT scanner. "It’s just a case of shire bad luck that her’s has progressed faster than others might have."

"You knew it was spinal stenosis before the scans even came through, didn’t you?" Frank asks.

Regulus shrugs a shoulder. "I told you, I had an idea."

Frank scoffs. "Are you good at everything?"

Regulus feels the corner of his lips twitch up and he side-eyes the student doctor.

"Yes."

"Can you go and check Mr Cohen’s obs," Regulus asks when they’re sitting at the reception desk later.

Frank looks up sharply from where he’s scribbling down notes in his little notepad. "What?"

"Are you deaf?" Regulus almost snaps. "I said go and check Mr Cohen’s obs. I’ll be in in a minute, just need to finish prescribing—"

"Why do I need to check him obs?" Frank scoffs. "There’s nothing—"

"If there was nothing wrong with him, emergency wouldn’t have sent him up here," Regulus replies simply. He doesn’t add that the reason he was sent to neurology ward is a load of bullshit, but the fact still stands: there is something wrong with the man, just not for this ward. "Now go. As I said, I’ll be in in a minute."

Frank sighs heavily as he stands, practically throwing himself out of the chair. Regulus wouldn’t have been surprised if he stomped his foot like a toddler throwing a tantrum before he stormed towards the bay where Mr Cohen is.  

Regulus rolls his eyes, following a minute later. Frank has a sour look on his face as he’s taking Mr Cohen’s blood pressure.

"Mr Cohen," Regulus greets, voice sickly sweet. "How are you?"

"All the better now, doc," Mr Cohen grins. He’s an overweight man, with a mousey face and patchy facial hair. Just the flash of his smug smile makes Regulus want to slap him.

"Wonderful," he smiles. "And the pain? On a scale of one to ten?"

"Zero, doc," the man replies. "Your morphine did wonders."

"Fantastic. In that case, I think it’s time to discharge you from neuro."

The man’s face drops. "What?"

"There’s a bed down in psych ready for you," Regulus replies, tone unchanging. He refuses to look at Frank, who’s paused suddenly in his movements of taking the mans temperature. "The mental health team down there are ready to help you with a consult on your morphine addiction."

"E-excuse me?" The man scoffs, face growing red with either embarrassment or anger - Regulus doesn’t care. The man can get as riled up as he wants, the deal is done and the cat is out of the bag.

"We managed your pain," Regulus says. "Me and Doctor Longbottom have done our jobs, now it’s time for psych to give you an assessment and treatment so you don’t have to keep abusing hospital services to get a hit."

"You can’t do that?" The man whispers.

Regulus smiles, tight lipped. "I just did."

The man is gaping, as is Frank. Regulus doesn’t falter. He’s seen this before, and he’s handled it in the easiest way for the patient. Now though, it’s time to get asses in gear and get the man some help with the real problem.

"Addiction is a disease, Mr Cohen," Regulus continues. "A disease that we take very seriously, which is why I’m not prepared to throw you out on your hind like others have done just to have you come crawling back with another excuse of being in pain. Be assured that you’ll be taken care of very well down in psychiatric."

"I don’t— you don’t— this—" the man stammers, shaking his head. 

"It was a pleasure to meet you, Mr Cohen. When Doctor Longbottom is finished taking your obs, I will page down to psych and someone will come and transfer you." 

He doesn’t give the man to argue any further, instead spinning on his heel and exiting the bay. 

He's finished writing the email down to psych ward when he sees Frank come out. 

"That was badass!" He breathes when he comes to the desk. He's grinning from ear to ear, looking quite idiotic.

Regulus hums. 

"Seriously, I didn't think you believed me earlier when I said about him being an addict," Frank says. 

"It wasn't a case of not believing you," Regulus replies shortly. "I saw the track marks too, but it didn't affect the fact that the man was here saying he was in pain. Duty of care means pain management comes first, after that you then deal with the secondary issues next. Once his pain was managed, it was appropriate to address that his physical state and medical history showed clear signs towards addiction."

Frank frowns, "You looked up his medical history?"

"In and out of hospitals for months claiming pain medication," Regulus nods. "Have you ever dealt with addiction before? Not yourself, but in patients or friends?"

"No."

"I recommend doing some research on it. It's a growing condition in health care, and commonly mistaken for a burden. Addictions aren't burdens like everyone seems to jump to treat them, but they're a form of disease. Just because most people have put themselves in that situation doesn't make it any less of a problem for us to solve. They need our help, and sometimes the kindest thing to do is give them the hit they need before giving them the psychiatric help."

Frank blinks, nodding. "Why do you know so much about this? Do you know someone who’s an addict?"

"No," Regulus replies. "I don’t, but I have a lot of time for those that do."

"Do you deal with a lot of addiction on this ward?"

"Not many, but when we get transferred to other wards like emergency or cardiac it can be quite common," Regulus sighs. "It's important even when you pick a speciality to make sure you keep your skills in other departments. You don't have to be a master at everything, but you need to be able to deal with all kinds of patients."

"I will," Frank smiles. "Thanks." 

Regulus nods in reply. He looks at the time, and it’s a little past seven, which means they’ve got less than an hour to go. The ward is calm, but he knows the moment he discharges the four patients ready to go then they’re going to get a fresh wave down from emergency. He doubts he’ll get off on time, not that that surprises him anymore.

He demonstrates a discharge procedure to Frank with one of the more complicated patients before he lets Frank take the reins and do the following three. Regulus observes the first two before saying to Frank he can do the last one on his own. 

Frank comes back to the desk beaming, clearly pleased with himself the last one went successfully. By this point, it’s almost eight o’clock, so Regulus tells him to grab his report booklet from his bag so Regulus can sign it before the rush from emergency comes up.

"You can go," Regulus says when he gives it back. Frank takes it gingerly, and Regulus can tell it’s taking all of the students self-control to not immediately look at what Regulus has written down. 

"Are you sure?" Frank asks.

"Yeah. Emergency have already dialled to say they’ve got a bunch of new patients coming up, so if you stay you’re going to be off late."

"Okay," Frank nods, smiling widely. "Thank you. Today has been great."

"I have a lovely track record of making students cry, so it’s a good sign that you’re not running out with your tail in-between your legs."

Franks eyes widen, and Regulus scoffs.

"Don’t act surprised, makes you look like an idiot."

Frank laughs at that, and Regulus feels like the moment is about to get mushy and soft so he waves his head.

"Go. Get out, before you get trapped and get off hours late."

"Okay, okay," Frank smiles, "Thank you, again."

True to his theory, there is a rush almost as soon as Frank leaves. It gives Regulus no time to think about the day, which is nice. No time to fret over the fact he’s had to spend 10 hours with Frank, or that there’s a nagging feeling in the back of his mind because a certain person hasn’t been in to see him. 

It’s a long hour and a half of consults, blood works, scans and paperwork. It’s gone 9:30 by the time Euphemia comes back to the ward. 

"I wasn’t expecting to still see you here," she says.

Regulus looks up from the file he’s finishing up. He tiredly brushes his curls out of his eyes.

"I could say the same for you," he replies. "All okay up in brats and twats?"

Euphemia rolls her eyes at the crude nickname for the ward, but nods and smiles warming. "Yes. It went well, no complications. Mother and baby are well."

"Good."

"Frank gone?"

"Sent him home before the rush," Regulus replies. "Didn’t see the need to make him stay an hour and a half over his shift. He has plenty of time to do that in later shifts."

"Generous of you."

"I was also tired of having a shadow, and getting all this work done would have taken double if I had to explain why I was doing everything."

Euphemia laughs a bit at that. "How was Frank?"

Regulus sighs, leaning back in the chair.

"Abysmal," he says, "but I guess he could have potential."

"You are horrible, Doctor Black," Euphemia laughs, shaking her head. "If he’s traumatised for his shift tomorrow with me because of you—"

"I wasn’t that bad," Regulus rolls his eyes. 

Euphemia hums, eyes twinkling. "Well, go home. Hand over to Doctor Meadows and get yourself out of here before you’re here all night."

"Yes, mam," Regulus nods.

"And, Regulus?"

Regulus hums in reply, looking up from his pager that he’s used to summon the night shift team.

"Thank you for today. For covering the ward and taking my student. You did me a huge favour, and I promise I won’t forget it."

Regulus smiles, "You’re chief."

"I am," she nods. "But there isn’t enough credit where it’s due in this job, and I want you to know I give you credit for everything you do for this ward."

Regulus heaves a heavy sigh, because she’s right - there is rarely any credit given to even staff as high as doctors.

"Thank you."

"Good night, Regulus."

"Good night, Euphemia."

He hands over to Dorcas in quick time. Apologising for being so late, but Dorcas shrugs it off with a laugh -  it’s the norm, she says, and she isn’t wrong.

He gets out a little after 10, and the effects of the 14 hour day have him dragging his feet to his car. He’s got a missed text from Barty, saying that he managed to get out on time and waited till 8:30 till he got bored and has gone home. Regulus replies to say he’s only just got out so probably a smart move from him. 

When Barty asks how it went with Frank, Regulus ignores the text. He doesn’t have the energy to get into that, because as modifying as it was, it’s over now and hopefully Regulus will never have to see him again.

He’s about to shut off his phone when he finds his finger hovering over James’ contact. Regulus doesn’t understand the sudden swoop in his stomach. He doesn’t understand why his brain is fighting with the idea of texting him.

He left his number because he wants to text, surely?

But why would Regulus text him?

Why would James want Regulus to text him? 

Brown eyes flash in his mind. Round glasses, chocolate skin, a wide smile. 

Regulus just closes his eyes, locking his phone and resting his forehead on the steering wheel. James is taking over his conscious thoughts and he hates it. He hates how someone Regulus has only met a handful of times, doesn’t know anything about apart from he’s his bosses son, can consume so much of his time and space in his head. Regulus hates how attached he already feels, how it felt like a punch to the gut when Euphemia said he wasn’t going to see James today. 

The amount of times James has visited him at work is border-lining harassment. Regulus is half convinced he’s managed to get ahold of the hospital rota to know exactly when Regulus is scheduled to be in as he manages to get it right so many times.

He’s always so happy as well. No matter how much Regulus tries to shoot him down, or belittle him, or simply tells him harshly to go away, James never falters is his happiness to see Regulus. 

Regulus hates it.

He hates that he enjoys James coming to see him. He hates that it’s starting to become a conscious part of his mind while he’s working. He hates that he wonders frequently during his shifts when James is going to come in.

He hates that he’s gone from Euphemia’s son to James.

But after all, that’s the life engraved in his road, isn’t it? When you spend enough time surrounded by everything hateful, it’s easy to hate everything else beyond it.

— tbc.