Chapter 6
Thor could see that Loki was tipping more and more forward, but it was as if he was in shock. He could only watch but not do anything about it. Luckily, Mike was right next to him because he was watching the transfer closely. A small step forward and the young man was caught before any serious injuries occurred.
Only when Natascha approached the therapy bed, Thor came to himself again. Since he was the one standing right in front of Loki, he put his arms around his patient's upper body so that he had a better and more secure hold. The blonde could feel Loki, leaning heavily against him, his shoulders tense and he also took in the shaky breath in his neck. The two men stayed in this position for a while, too absorbed in their thoughts.
Only Mike's hand got the attention of the blond man.
"I think we should finish the session for today. But don't worry, Thor. Everyone started this way once. Next time, you just have to make sure that you keep a hand on your patient, so you can feel if he needs your help or loses his balance."
These words should have a calming effect on Thor, but it seemed they were more likely to trigger the opposite reaction. From Loki. The young man leaned back, as far as possible and used his arms to sit alone on the therapy bed. Natascha and Mike were immediately there to catch him if he should lose his balance again, but Loki shook their hands off.
"Next time? I'm not a doll which you can use to practice as it pleases you. It seems to me that our dear Thor has two strong arms, which are great for women, but he clearly doesn't have the experience to use them for nursing and I won't serve as a guinea pig!"
Loki turned his face away from them. He probably wanted to hide how much the incident upset him, but Thor had seen the tears shimmering in his eyes. He stepped back so that the physical therapist got better access to his patient and was able to quickly and efficiently transfer him back to the wheelchair. Loki still tried to avoid any eye contact, even the calming words of Mike seemed to miss their effect.
The blond man didn't know where to go. Should he help, should he apologize to Loki or should he just wait until his colleagues were ready? He didn't even know what he had done wrong. Well, his mistake had been obvious, but as Mike already said, everyone had to start somewhere. Thor had even been glad that it had been Loki he could transfer. He didn't know why, but he liked the young man, he even thought he might have a connection to him. He was probably wrong.
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Thor had hoped that the bad mood would disappear on the way to Loki's appartment, but the tense atmosphere had only worsened. Natascha had offered to sit in the back so Loki could calm down a bit, unfortunately, Clint brought new papers with him, which had to be signed by the young nurse. So, Loki had had to endure the presence of Thor for a little longer.
As the car finally arrived at the desired address, the blond man took a deep breath. During the ride, he hadn't dared to start a conversation with Loki because he still avoided any eye contact and had only looked out of the window. But what should Thor have said? He still didn't know why his patient suddenly showed him the cold shoulder. Of course, he could understand that situations, like those that had happened in the therapy center, were unpleasant for both sides, only it was incomprehensible to Thor that Loki had now completely withdrawn and every progress that the two had made today, again had disappeared.
Every human being made mistakes and the blonde was also sorry that he hadn't paid enough attention to Loki during the transfer. But you couldn't forget that it was his first day after all. He had never had to work with patients before like his sister did, hadn't completed any training that could have taught him basic moves which needed to be mastered in nursing. He didn't even have a college degree. Thor was an intern and nothing else. Even if in the past, he had liked to pretend that his father's company had been his for a long time. Which, from today's perspective, was just a ridiculous memory because after all that had happened, the blonde man was only sure about one thing, that he wasn't able to manage his own life.
"Hey, big guy! Are you coming or what?"
Because of his inner monologue, Thor hadn't noticed that the others had also climbed out of the car and that Natascha already pushed Loki in the direction of the entrance. Clint laughed, realizing that he hadn't pay any attention to his environment.
"Ok, listen. I don't know what happened during the therapy session, but you and Loki are both quite upset. However, you should talk to him. Would be a pity if you two lovebirds would be separated."
With a pat on the shoulder, Clint turned away from Thor and headed back to the car, packed all papers into his bag and then, drove slowly away. The blonde, on the other hand, was thunderstruck. He knew that he had to follow his colleague and that she and Loki were already waiting, but he couldn't get his body to move. Clint's words repeated themselves over and over again in his head.
Had the driver made fun of him or why should he say something like that? He had worked together with the black-haired man for the first time and had failed miserably. Thor was certain that Loki would be happy when he would leave the appartment tonight. Maybe one of them had already called his father and demanded that he should end his internship as a nurse. The blond man didn't dare to hope for Odin's sympathy. He knew, if one complaint would reach the old man he wouldn't only dishinherit Thor, would take the company from him or would throw him out of the house, no, he'd certainly make sure that he would never again get a job in New York City. His life would be ruined. Well, more than it was already ruined.
"Thor? Is everything ok?"
The person in question turned and could see Natascha at the entrance, who looked at him worriedly.
"We've been waiting for you for ten minutes now. I had already feared that you went back to the headquaters with Clint."
Had he been out here for so long? He had been so absorbed in his thoughts and fears that he hadn't gotten how fast time had passed. Cursing himself, he approached the female nurse, who had meanwhile turned in the direction of the entrance door. Thor followed quickly.
As he took off his shoes, he looked around carefully. Natascha had told him that the flat belonged to Loki. When his grandfather had died and he had been accepted at law school, the young man had been looking for an affordable apartment in the city, which wasn't an easy task here and the reason why the blond man still lived with his parents. Back then, Odin had refused to pay him and his sister a move, probably to be able to control them better. Loki, on the other hand, had had the luck that he had inherited a small fortune and that he had used his time in highschool to earn a bit extra through various mini-jobs and not, like himself, wasted his school years with parties.
The apartment was on the first floor, so obstacles such as stairs or larger bumps fell away. Thor wondered if the place was chosen before Loki was bound to the wheelchair or afterwards. He wanted to ask his colleague but it was unfair to question her about patients behind their backs. When he followed the young woman into the kitchen, he could see that everthing was wheelchair-accessible. First of all, there were wide door frames, so that a wheelchair could be pushed through without further problems. Other things that he noticed were, for example, that the cabinets hung lower on the wall or the handles on the furniture were larger, making them easier to grasp.
Only one thing, he couldn't discover and that was Loki. He was probably in his romm and waiting for the food to be ready. Thor could well imagine that he had already counted the minutes until his caretakers would left the apartment. So he joined Natascha, who again took care of the preparations for dinner and cut vegetables into small pieces.
"Can I help you somehow?"
The young nurse looked at him sceptically, then shook her head.
"I'm not a friend of prejudice, but I doubt that you're well versed in cooking. Besides, I'm almost done anyway. But could you please explain to me why you behave so strangely? I can tell that the first day is never easy, which was the reason that I let you breathe for a moment after our arrival, but you have to pull yourself togehter."
Thor knew that he would get into trouble, but he couldn't explain why the incident bothered him so much. He probably was just scared he would mess everything up.
"I don't know. I'm just wondering why Loki acts like this. Of course, I can understand that it wasn't an pleasant situation for him, I was also schocked that I could easily hurt someone just because I didn't support him enough. But he knew that I'm an intern. Why is he showing me the cold shoulder now? I didn't do it on purpose."
Natascha looked at him for a long time.
"I want you to listen to me very well, Thor. I know that you're an intern, just like Loki does. But I want you to see it from his perspective. Loki was like you, an independent young man, was successful in his studies, had his whole life in front of him and overnight, everthings changes. Can you imangine that you wake up in a hospital and a doctor told you that from now on you have to sit in a wheelchair for the rest of your life? It would be a nightmare for me. Loki now has to re-learn everything, piece by piece. It's just too understandable that it affects him so deeply."
By now she had completely turned to him.
"And you shouldn't take it too seriously. Today, I introduced you to patients whom I knew to be quite sociable. But there are also cases where people become insulting or even aggressive. As a nurse, you have to be tough a lot. You'll probably get used to it. But you have to keep in mind that the patients are depend on your help. That's why you can't just stand in a corner for minutes and isolate yourself from your environment. We don't have time for that. Don't worry, I won't report it to your father because you're new to the job, but I don't want it to happen again. Are we clear?"
Thor could only nod. Maybe Natascha was right and he shouldn't get all worked up about the situation. He would love to talk to Loki and explain everything to him in peace. Could he leave his colleague alone, even though she said ealier that she didn't need his help. But before he could ask the young woman, she seemed to be able to read his thoughts.
"He's in the living room."