Dead Dove (Do Not Eat) [ZhongChi]

Stick it In Leave it In

"How long are these two going to chase me?" Dottore rounded a corner and glanced behind him. When he turned his head back he skidded to a halt, seeing the eye-patched man standing there. He turned around promptly to skid to a halt again, seeing the angry redhead. 

"Do I know you people?" Dottore frowned. 

"I sure as fuck know you." The redhead took out a knife and flicked it open, gunning for Dottore's face. He dodged and the knife went straight for the eye-patched man. Dottore grabbed the redhead's arm, forcing it in another direction. "Shit," he cursed. He should've just let him stab the guy. 

"That sure didn't seem like something a ruthless man would do, Diluc," the eye-patched guy shook his head, shrugging his shoulders just a tad. 

"Just hold him!" 

The eye-patched man grabbed Dottore from under his arms and held him up in the air. Dottore waited for Diluc to charge at him and then swiveled to the side, arms falling out of his coat as he made another escape. 

"Kaeya?!" Dottore heard the man utter the name after a painfully familiar noise of a knife hitting skin. 

"Don'tlookbackdon'tlookbackdon'tlookbackdon'tlookback," Dottore muttered to himself under his breath. "Fuck it," he turned on his heel and went back. He grabbed Diluc's wrist before he could pull the knife out. "Stop stop stop! Leave it!"  

"W-what?" Diluc was far too panicked to register he was taking advice from the person he was trying to stab two seconds ago. The only thought on his mind was fixing his (possibly fatal) mistake. 

"Take the knife out and you run the risk of damaging the organs inside. Since this is close to the intestinal area you could cause internal bleeding and waste spill which would only lead to bad infection and instant reasons for death," Dottore gave a snapshot answer in a simple way. "Hospital, big guy, now!" he pointed in the direction of the nearest one. 

Diluc motioned to pick Kaeya up but Dottore took off his mask and slapped him on the head. 

"No! Not like that. What did I just say about the knife?" Dottore moved to help Diluc carry him. The two on either side of Kaeya and holding him without bending his torso in any way. "Luckily for you, the hospital is close by." 

...

Dottore tapped his foot, knee bobbing up and down with his arms crossed. Mask in his hand, poking the side of his chest. He'd lost his white coat along the way. "Fuck this place, ugh. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck." He placed his hand over his mouth, glancing around awkwardly. "I hate places like this." 

Diluc sat next to him on the bench with his elbows resting on his knees. He was leaning forward, staring at the ground. Hands clasped together. 

"Hey, uhm, it should be a simple operation," Dottore tried to give words of comfort but he was awful at it. Why did he help him anyway? He had more important things to do. Plus the guy was trying to stab him. 

"I'm still going to kill you," Diluc's eyelid twitched. "But, you helped me...I don't understand why." That makes two of you. "I don't plan on killing you in a hospital either. That would be counterproductive." 

"Fair enough," Dottore forced a laugh and scratched his neck. His knee still refused to stay still. 

"Do you even know why I'm trying to kill you?" Diluc sat up straight, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed in front of him. 

"I've got lots of people trying to kill me. For some reason, it's always me," Dottore placed his hand on his chest. "There are lots of me running around but I'm the one that gets all the shit." 

"You killed my father." 

"Oh, yeah, that'll do it," Dottore nodded. "I'd apologize but I don't re-" The red hair conjured images. Images he wanted to forget. Dottore held the side of his face, turning three shades paler. The stench of the hospital hallways made him feel even worse. 

"Listen," Dottore gritted his teeth, voice menacing even though the anger wasn't necessarily at Diluc, "maybe I did but trust me that man did things you can't even imagine. He more than deserved it. I ain't gonna tell you to forgive me because I sure as hell didn't forgive him." 

"The knife removal was a success," one of the nurses said. "We'll need to keep him overnight but thankfully it wasn't a horribly deep wound." 

"Thank you very much," Dottore plastered on a smile. 

"Follow me, he is waking up as we speak," she said, guiding the way. 

Dottore stood up and shoved his hands into his pockets. "I've got a wife and kid to go back to, so before you try plotting your next assassination attempt, at least look up your father first." He walked off in the opposite direction of the nurse. 

As soon as he exited the hospital he slammed his hand up against the wall and hacked, even though there wasn't anything in his stomach, acid came up, burning his esophagus on the way. "I can't stand hospitals." He rubbed his hands up and down his arms, walking mindlessly away from the hospital until his brain could register where he was. 

"Aw fuck, I lost my mask AND coat," he kicked a rock on the ground, irritated. "Whatever," he rolled up the sleeves of his shirt. "I'll just let people see the tattoos then."