Rises the Moon (solangelo)

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Will groaned and pushed himself away from his desk, looking outside of his window. "Well, no point in going to bed now." He yawned, rubbing the tiredness out of his eyes and pushing himself out of his office chair. He closed the textbook he was reading and turned the lamp off before gathering new pants and a new shirt to take to the bathroom. He showered and put them on, the dirty clothes now in the hamper, forgotten until laundry day. Which was... Today's Friday, so it's three days away. Not including today. Right. 

He went downstairs, and his dad already made breakfast. He sat down at his plate of toast and eggs, pouring himself a glass of orange juice. 

His dad cleared his throat from across the table. "Good morning, Will." 

Will looked up at him. "Um... 'Mornin, dad." He went back to picking at his eggs. 

"I hope you slept well, you have a test today." His father reminded him. "I have a surgery scheduled for this afternoon too, so we'll both be very busy today. I hope you don't mind taking the bus again." 

Will winced internally when his father mentioned the surgery. If it didn't go well... If the patient died... 

"Oh, by the way, your doctor's appointment is tomorrow, between your tutoring and internship. Now..." His voice got very low, and very serious. "... If anyone asks you, you knocked over a vase, and tripped, and fell in the glass, ok?" 

Will grit his teeth and nodded, feeling the bandages on his chin and cheek stretch taut as his skin jostled them. 

-

"Why? Why did I have to take custody of you? Why couldn't your mother have just... Been a mother, for once!? If you were living with her, I wouldn't need to look after you, and I could focus more on my patients, and they wouldn't fucking die on me!" He threw the now empty beer bottle at his son. 

Last week's incident wasn't the first, and it wouldn't be the last, no matter what his father told him. It wasn't on purpose, of course. If he really wanted to hurt him, he wouldn't patch him up afterwards, right? 

-

He finally took a piece of toast and began to eat it, just as his father spoke again. "I really hate to make you lie, but... You know I don't want to lose you, and... It could cost me my job, too. A job that gives me purpose. That... Well, it's hard to put into words, but you'll understand when you become a doctor yourself." 

"Dad, can I be honest with you for a minute?" He asked, blurting it out before he could stop himself. He had to be brave, for once. 

He looked up from his eggs and bacon suspiciously. "... Sure." He decided. 

"I don't, um... I'm not sure I wanna become a doctor." 

There was a long silence. Will nervously swallowed his mouthful of toast. 

His father looked like he was holding back a whole slew of insults, just waiting for him to let himself go. His hands were clenched into fists, and Will tried not to look nervous. 

Finally, he spoke. "And what were you thinking of doing instead?" He asked, almost dangerously. 

He shrugged. "I dunno, teaching? Or... Something?" 

"So you don't know what you want, but you know what you don't want. How does that make any sense?" 

"It just seems like a really stressful job-" 

"Oh trust me, it is. That's why the world is in such dire need of people who can handle it." 

Will chewed the inside of his cheek. "I'm not sure I can handle it." 

His father's jaw clenched under tanned skin. It was scary how much he looked like his father. "Look, you come from two doctors. You do well in all your classes, you have nice, steady hands.  You have the gift. It would be selfish not to share it with others. So, whether you like it or not, you're becoming a doctor." 

Will stared down at his unfinished plate. "Understood, sir." 

His father had the nerve to laugh. "There's no need to call me 'sir', Will. I'm your dad!" He patted Will's shoulder, and he held back a flinch. "Now, you go catch the bus. I'll put this in the fridge." 

Normally, he did his homework on the bus, but he had finished it last night, so he just stared out of the window numbly, closing his eyes and feeling the rumble of the window against his skull. Not even the chatter of the school bus could keep him awake. 

"...ome on.... Will, come on, wake up!" Will snorted awake and turned to Leo. "We're here. I know you don't wanna be late, you nerd." 

Will huffed a tired laugh. "Yeah, ok." 

He followed his friend out of the bus, watching him as he stared at a tall woman with long legs and strawberry blonde hair. Miss Calypso. 

Will nudged his shorter friend. "Yeah, you have no room to talk." 

Leo spluttered. "What!?" 

"Dude, you think Hazel's crush is weird, and you've got the same thing going on with your geography teacher." 

"I..." Leo huffed. "First of all, he's not just her teacher. He's my grandpa! And second of all, he's, like, 70 something! She's way younger. Like... 30 maybe. It's not weird!" 

Will shook his head. "Whatever you say. I've gotta head to class, alright?" 

Leo pouted. "But I'll be bored if I don't have you around." 

"Leo, you're one of the least boring people I know. I'm sure you can entertain yourself."