I made my way down the long hall of the ward, fuming. I’m fairly certain my coworkers could see the steam radiating from my red face. If one of the girls under me had a temperature as high as mine, I would have sent them home. But…it was different in my case. I had been perfectly fine until now. I just needed to go to the break room and get some water. I couldn’t tell if I needed it more to quench my burning thirst or my burning face. Though, lo and behold, when I expected the break room to be empty, I saw that Penny was there. Penelope Pacheco, my best friend, a blonde chihuahua who, despite her reputation of being a bit of an airhead, is a very skilled medic, known for her bright smile and big, brown eyes that can easily light up a room. I was just as surprised as everyone else upon first meeting her, trust me. At a whopping 4’ 10”, I have to admit that I laughed a little when I heard that she would be training me. Penny, upon seeing my red face, was concerned. As any medic would be.
“Rex…are you all right?” She asked, placing a paw on my shoulder. God, it still feels strange to see that. I’ve been here for almost a year now, but still can’t comprehend that I haven’t seen another human yet. I made jokes about being the only human on Corneria for a while, but now I’m genuinely starting to believe it. I just grabbed my water bottle, misting my face before taking a huge swig. At least I was less likely to catch on fire at this point.
“Penny, he requested me again! What’s his damage?” I asked, sitting down. Technically, I wasn’t supposed to be on break, but I needed to shape up before General Pepper saw me like this. Admittedly, the general has become a father figure to me. My own father leaving before I was born, it was an absurd experience. It would have been absurd to me even if he was human, but this just made it even stranger. But this wasn’t about General Pepper. This was about him. Surely he had some sadistic intentions.
“Oh my god! Rex, you need to ask him out! He keeps requesting you for a reason!” Penny squealed. I sighed. Seriously, whose idea was it to let patients request who they want to care for them?! I understand it for long-term patients who want to be cared for by their favorite medic and everything, but someone coming in for a mandatory health check? Absurd! Absolutely absurd!
“Oh, I can give you the reason, Penny! That damned McCloud finds pleasure in driving me crazy! As soon as I get told that someone in Exam Room A requested me, a part of me dies inside. I drag my feet down the hall, open the door, and see him in there, that smug look on his face. He calls me “nursey” in that smooth voice of his, knowing that I absolutely despise that nickname. Penny, for the whole damn health check he insists on relentlessly teasing me!” I said. Admittedly I was a bit pissy at the moment, if you couldn’t tell. I was always pissy when Fox McCloud was in the ward. General Pepper seems to like him for some reason. Admittedly, he’s a very skilled pilot. From what I learned, he’s carrying on his late father’s legacy…but it’s hard to live up to the legacy of a dead man when you keep bloody hurting yourself! Every single time he comes back for a post-flight health check, there’s always some blood I have to wipe up. As usual, I scold him, and as usual, he leans back on the exam table, kicks his dirty feet up, and tells me that it’s “all good.” That man finds delight in torturing me, but…I always blush when I see him. Am I really some kind of masochist? No, it must not be blushing. It has to be something else. I want to make up some kind of illness, but as a medic, it feels wrong to.
“Oh, Rex! You know that people like to tease each other when they’re in love. He obviously cares for you. It’s obvious that you like him,” Penny teased. My face started to grow red again. What is her problem? I never really grew up around a ton of girls. Back on my homeworld, Capulet, most kids near me were guys. The only real girl I hung out with was my good friend, Helen. Are all girls like this? Maybe I’m just oblivious. I know boys do stupid stuff when they have a crush on a girl, I’ve experienced this several times throughout my childhood, but come on, he’s an adult! Is he really hurting himself to get the special treatment? There’s no reason. Everyone has to get an incoming health check to even come into the ward. Not that he would like me anyway. That’s against basic biological rules! Our species evolved specifically to not be attracted to each other…I of all people should know that. I didn’t take advanced biology courses during my medical training for nothing! I mean, sure, we’re not cavemen anymore, but I believe we all still have the natural instinct to find partners suitable for procreation. I believe that even someone like me, who can’t have children, does. And it doesn’t take a biologist to realize that a human and a fox couldn’t conceive even if they tried.
“And why do you assume that?” I asked with a huff, unbuttoning a few buttons on my uniform top to let off some steam. Then again, Penny’s family was a lot more wholesome than mine was. The few times I was invited over to her house for some kind of celebration, I was culture shocked. The Pacheco family is genuinely one of the closest, most loving families I’ve ever met. Better than my own, at least. I almost died several times as a child and no one cared. Penny knew more about love than I did.
“Are you serious? What about all those drawings you have of him in your sketchbook? I couldn’t look at all of them, but I’m pretty sure you had one of him nak---”
“Those are for anatomical STUDY, Penny!” I shouted, my face growing red again. “You have to remember that I’m still learning here! My anatomy’s different than yours. He’s the only fox I’ve ever seen, how else am I supposed to study them? It’s not like he’ll just let me cut him in half.”
“I don’t know, with how much he seems to be into you, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d let you get pretty close!”
“ENOUGH!” I yelled, my voice cracking. In my defense, I had a point. Here on Corneria, I have to study the anatomy of a bunch of other species. Fox is the first of his kind that I met, so of course I based my sketches off of him! And of course I didn’t sketch it to look exactly like him. And no, I didn’t sketch in his reproductive organs. I already know what those look like. It’s not like Fox is the only guy I’ve based my sketches off of, anyway. Yeah.
“Why were you looking in my sketchbook, anyway?” I asked, raising a brow. If there was one of us who would be looking at sketches of reproductive organs, it would be Penny. Before she decided to go towards the military route, the told me she was studying to be an OB-GYN, so she knows more about ladies than she does gentlemen. It’s pretty rare that we get female patients with most of the military being guys and all, but when we do, Penny is immediately assigned to them. Though, it’s probably just because she wants to see my art. I shouldn’t judge her like that, after all. I know that I’ve had my…curiousity. N-Not with anyone here, of course! That would just be…absurd.
“Oh, I’m sorry, Rex. I didn’t mean to offend you or anything,” Penny said. I shook my head.
“No, Penny, it’s all right. You can look at it if you want to. It’s supposed to be for everyone to learn from, after all,” I said with a smile, looking at the book on the table. It was open to a different page, not one with a sketch of Fox on it, but rather a diagram of a heart. Considering this deathly subject of love that Penny and I were discussing, it seemed all too convenient. No, no. Something like this can’t be love! Penny and her silly ideas are just dancing around in my head! The heart is a physical thing, not emotional. Love being in the heart is all just a ruse. It was just a coincidence. I shook my head.
However, before either Penny or I could say something, there was a knock on the door and another medic called for me.
“Rex, Mr. McCloud says that he needs to ask one more thing of you before he leaves,” she said, making my face turn a bit red again as I took one last drink.
“What do you think he’s going to ask, Rex?” Penny said, her teasing tone back. I shrugged it off.
“Well, whatever it is, it’s probably not going to be important,” I said, fixing my hair before I opened the door, leaving the break room and making my way back to the cursed exam room.
), and I may be giving out some cash money as prizes so look out for that later lmao
