Little King (Seoksoo)

Joshua

"Joshua, I've got to give you another one. Bay two. Overdosed downtown. He got two doses of Narcan in the ambulance already, stable and holding his own airway."

"Got it." Joshua nodded, typing quickly to catch up on his charting.

So much for a night off.

He'd been finishing a late dinner—if you could call stale cereal dinner—when he'd gotten a frantic text from his work asking if he could come in. The staffing center knew he was always up to pick up extra shifts. He was exhausted enough that he had almost said no for once, but then had reminded himself that student loans didn't pay themselves, and he had two nights off in a row coming up if he could just get through this one.

The chaos in the ER was in direct contrast to the night before. Just after midnight and they were already almost full, even if that wasn't saying much considering their small size. It was the normal variety of a not-so-big city: some dehydration from stomach bugs, a few broken bones, now apparently an overdose. He was supposed to have gone on break a half hour ago, but these things weren't guaranteed on busier nights.

He had just gotten his patient assessed and settled in, making sure his vitals were being measured every fifteen minutes in case the Narcan wore off before the drugs left his system, when Chloe stopped by his station.

She crossed her arms and gave him a stern look. "I'm covering your patients. Take your break—I know you're overdue."

Joshua gave her a relieved smile, unable to even pretend to put up a fight. "I promise I'll be quick. Just need some fast calories and caffeine."

She shook her head at him. "Full half hour, mister. I've got 'em, I promise."

He was about to protest further, but she cut him off before he could start. "You need to eat some real food, Joshua Boy. Not gonna lie—you're looking wrecked. I'll text you if we get slammed. Scout's honor."

Choosing to ignore the less-than-flattering assessment of his appearance, he widened his eyes at her in mock surprise. "Chloe, were you a Girl Scout for real? Tell me there are pictures of a mini you in a Brownie uniform. I need them in my life."

She rolled her eyes at him, but her lips quirked up. "It's a figure of speech, dummy. Go eat."

He gave a huff but got up from his chair, mumbling some choice words about getting a boy's hopes up for embarrassing photos with no intention of follow-through, but she blatantly ignored him.

Ten minutes later, he was sitting in a cafeteria booth, eyes glued to his book as he shoved half of a slightly soggy turkey sandwich—cafeteria pickings were slim in the middle of the night—into his mouth.

A tall figure slid gracefully into the seat across from him. Figuring it was Seungcheol by the size of him, Joshua didn't bother to finish chewing before giving him a friendly, "Fuck off, I'm reading."

"And a good evening to you too."

He knew that voice.

He looked up to find a pair of familiar bright-blue eyes gazing back at him.

And now Joshua was choking on his turkey sandwich.

Eyes watering, he covered his mouth with an arm as the coughing fit took him over. When he finally choked the bite down, he managed to get out a strained, "—not who I thought you were."

Mr. Handsome Creep—or was it just Mr. Handsome now?—gave him an even look. "I figured."

Joshua waited for his stranger to continue, ideally to explain what he was doing interrupting Joshua's sandwich time, but that was it.