Highness (Jeongcheol)

Seungcheol

"Paging Dr. Choi to the ER."

Seungcheol looked up from his patient notes and glanced reflexively to the ceiling on hearing the overhead page. Since there was no one else in the dictation room to hear him do it, he indulged himself for a moment in groaning dramatically.

Fuck. He was supposed to be finishing up by now, giving a report to the day-shift ICU doctor, but so far they hadn't even shown up yet. Most likely because today the oncoming doctor was Dr. Lee Jihoon, and that motherfucker always stopped in the cafeteria for his morning coffee after clocking in for the day. It was infuriating, even on a good day.

And today was not a good day.

The overhead page repeated, and Seungcheol logged out of the hospital computer and hustled down to the ER. A patient there must have ended up with a breathing tube down their throat. Seungcheol's fellowship was centered on critical care and pulmonology, meaning he focused specifically on lungs. He mostly took care of patients requiring breathing machines on the hospital's two ICU floors.

It suited Seungcheol, taking care of ventilated patients. He wasn't like Joshua, who was warm and sweet and had the kind of presence that made people—patients, coworkers, randos at the coffee shop—feel immediately at ease.

Seungcheol didn't put anyone at ease. He could be charming sometimes, sure. A leftover sheen from his days as a high school prom king. But it was a superficial charm at best. Because when it came down to it, he could also come off as a bit of an asshole. Gruff when he should be gentle, firm when he should be soft.

But Seungcheol's patients were often sedated, and they couldn't talk with a breathing tube anyway, so Seungcheol was able to care for them in the way he did best—with good medicine, genuine respect, and a healthy amount of emotional distance.

As Seungcheol walked through the ER, his gaze darted to the nurses' station before he caught himself. Apparently he was too used to keeping an eye out for his brother to stop now. He pulled his focus to looking for the charge nurse on duty, hoping they could tell him where his new patient was. He spotted Dr. Lee first, consulting with an ER doctor in one of the bays.

The asshole raised his coffee cup to him in greeting.

Fucking Dr. Lee. At least the ER didn't need Seungcheol anymore, if the day-shift doctor was already there.

"What's up your ass this morning, Doc?" asked a bright, absurdly cheery female voice. Seungcheol knew it well. He looked down to see Chloe, nighttime charge nurse and his brother's work bestie.

Seungcheol shrugged, suppressing the urge to glance at his watch. "Nothing. Just ready to get out of here."

"Funny. You usually seem like you couldn't care less what time you leave." The short brunette raised an eyebrow at him, but Seungcheol ignored the gibe. "Have you heard from Joshua?"

Seungcheol's little brother had left the day before for his belated honeymoon, and Seungcheol was officially on puppy duty. He wanted to be annoyed with Seokmin for not waiting until after the honeymoon to get Joshua a puppy, but remembering the ecstatic look on his brother's face as he showed off the little fur ball made it hard to hold a grudge.

"He texted me when they landed," Seungcheol answered. "Then Seokmin texted to tell me I wasn't allowed to text them unless Ferdy had some kind of emergency."

Chloe laughed brightly. "That's actually pretty sweet. Little lovebirds."

Seungcheol fought the urge to roll his eyes at her blanket approval of Joshua's husband. It wasn't her fault she didn't know Joshua's husband was a monster.