Stories Unknown

Almost Kiss

A/N: IF YOU CAN'T HANDLE BLOOD AND/OR NEEDLES THEN DON'T READthis is a part two to the shot Butterfly's Kiss

"Are you sure you're okay with this?" Kai asked, his hands shaking as he pulled his saline syringe from its plastic covering. "Because if you're nervous, I can just not do it."

"Shut up, will you?" Cinder grumbled, shaking her head as she watched Kai unwrap his equipment. "And stop trying to put your nerves off on me. I couldn't care less what you stick me with." Cinder blushed. "I mean, I don't care if it's a butterfly, a straight, or an IV. It's all the same to me."

Kai mumbled something incoherently, trying to keep his thoughts straight as he assembled his tape, needle, and gauze. They were doing IV's today, something that Kai had been dreading since he read the class's curriculum, which in all honesty hadn't been until his third day in class, but still. The weeks leading up to this moment had been pure torment.

It was their fifth week in class, and while Kai had gotten used to sticking people with needles— sort of— he was absolutely terrified of the prospect of IV's. With normal draws there was little that could go wrong if he followed all the right steps. But with IV's there was a whole new world of issues that could spring up, from the catheter twisting to him not ecluding enough and blood flowing freely.

"Or you could do me first," Kai said, sticking three strips of tape to the back of his glove just as Iko had instructed them. "You have a far better track record with sticking than I do. It only makes sense."

"Kai," Cinder said his name with an intensity that caused him to stop in his tracks as he looked into her eyes. There was kindness in her features, but also a firmness. "I already did an IV on Jacin last class while you were finishing up your dermal punctures with Thorne. And besides," she waved her hand through the air. "You need to just get it over with. It's not bad at all."

"Oh," was all that Kai could say. He finished arranging his equipment on the chux pad, making sure that nothing touched the table.

They waited in silence as the instructors made the rounds. Though the class was small, IV's were time-consuming, and it was most everyone's first day trying it. Only Cinder and Jacin had already done IV's, being the best stickers in the class. If the two of them paired up more often, Kai was sure their pass-off sheets could have been filled in ten times over. But for some reason, Cinder kept pairing up with Kai despite all his nerves. He was glad for it. Because while Jacin was his dear friend, he didn't have the same level of patience Cinder did. And, well, Kai didn't exactly feel the same way toward Jacin as he did Cinder.

Darla came to their table then— for they practiced IV's at their desks rather than the phlebotomy chairs— a smile plastered onto her face as she took in Kai's set up. She nodded her approval. "Have you selected a vein?"

"Yeah," Kai mumbled, rubbing his index finger over Cinder's cephalic vein. It wasn't quite as big as her median vein which would have been preferable, but she had a nasty hematoma from a rather unfortunate partnership with Carswell Thorne just a few days before and Kai didn't want to cause her pain.

"Alright, looks like you're good to go then. Did you make sure it's straight? You don't want it any bunching with the catheter."

"I did," Kai said, pulling out his blue tourniquet. "It gets a little bendy further up but I'm going to start here," Kai pointed at a point about an inch below the bend of her elbow. Cinder held perfectly still as he traced the curve of her arm.

"Did you check your needle? Make sure the catheter is functional?"

"Yes," Kai responded, touching his recapped needle. "I also got the connecting tube set up, though I didn't draw the air out of it. I figured I'd do that by drawing it out with the plunger. And the saline flush it set up as well."