Might go to Heaven || Plague Doctor × Reader

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Fortunately the nausea has subsided. It took a few days for it to completely be gone but at least I can walk around now. I've been feeling better, I still get pretty bad headaches and chills at times though. With my illness lightening up, the doctor has reduced his visits to about two per day. I wish I didn't miss him at times, but I definitely do.

Not that him and I have conversations very often. However, I've been bold enough lately to have some small talk with him. Nothing too special but we've talked about what his business is and the current weather. Turns out he wanted to run a pharmacy, but offering in-house treatments made him way more money. Although he can only do long-term treatment one patient at a time.

The small talk hasn't quelled my curiosity in any way. I've actually been more curious as of late. Thus I've decided to try to sneak out of my room today. Maybe I'll try and ask him some questions, but even going out there makes me feel nervous. I might get in trouble, y'know?

I splashed some water onto my face from my porcelain basin. I wanted to freshen up since I haven't gotten to bathe in weeks. I also swished some water around in my mouth in an attempt to be somewhat hygenic. I tried my best to freshen up and fix my hair with the water. I didn't exactly look my best, but there was effort.

It felt so strange to touch the doorknob for the first time in a week or so. I really haven't left my bed much at all as of recently. I sort of expected the door to be locked like it usually is, but it swung open with relative ease. I crept out of my room and into the main area, the floor boards creaking beneath my bare feet.

I didn't exactly expect the doctor to be there but he was. He didn't seem to have noticed me yet, as he was focused on writing in his journal. His hand remained steady as he wrote neatly yet quickly. I walked up to his desk as quietly as possible. "What're writing about, doctor?" I had a lot of nerve interrupting him whilst he was very obviously intent on writing something. His head snapped up to look at me.

"Dear heavens, you gave me a fright. I was just writing down some of my observations, nothing interesting. Why have you left the guest room?" He spoke rather fast compared to how he usually does. Probably because I snuck up on the poor man. "I get bored in there, all cooped up with nothing to do other than talk to myself and peer out the window. Do you mind if I leave the room?" I explain with some discretion, I don't want to be a nuisance at all. "I suppose it would be alright for you to come out here, as long as you don't try to leave and put the general public at risk."

I nodded silently and sat down at the familiar chair in front of his desk. I leaned forward on his desk and placed my head on my hand. "May I ask what you're currently observing, doctor?" He stared at me for a while and then finally broke eye contact to look down at his journal. "You see, I've been studying some elixirs to see what may be relevant to your current state. It's been time consuming, really. However, I think I may have had a breakthrough recently." My eyebrows immediately shot up, I do know that he's been giving me some sort of medication but I didn't exactly know that it was actually multiple different elixirs.

I hummed in response to urge him into telling me more. "It seems that a mixture mostly based on ginseng seems to have helped you the most. I've been trying to see how to best combine it with other elixirs that aided you as well. Although, it seems the one also combined with green tea leaves caused you to experience worsened symptoms. I'm terribly sorry for that, but I've never worked with an ailment like yours before so it's surely mostly trial and error."

I have to admit, it was quite angry at him for worsening my symptoms. However, I am aware that he didn't know that it would do that. "I trust that you'll come up with something soon enough, doctor. You work very diligently, I must say." He nodded and resumed staring into my eyes. "However, I did come out here for a reason-" He leaned forward in his seat a bit. "I wanted to ask you some pressing questions, if you don't mind."

He closed his journal, "Not at all, you may ask whatever you'd like." I wired my lips shut for a bit, is it inappropriate to ask him for his name? Surely not, it's just common courtesy. "Not to be rude, but what is your real name, doctor? I've found it somewhat hard to trust you not even knowing your name whilst I'm staying in your guest room." He cocked his head a bit. "It's not rude, but I didn't necessarily expect you to ask that of all things. My name is Aiken. I don't think you need to know my last name as of the current moment."

It's a start, I don't think I've ever heard that name before. Not that I would know, I don't interact with people too often. "Aiken... I like that name, it suits you very well." He averted his eyes and started to fiddle with his gloves a bit. "Thank you. However, I must ask, why were you curious about my name in the first place? I don't think that it was based on trust issues."

I took my arm off the desk and leaned back in my chair. "If I had to be totally honest, doctor, I was just curious about you in general. I haven't been able to talk to anybody except for you for a couple weeks or so. My mind likes to wander and I wanted to quell my queries for a bit." Aiken looked me in the eyes once again and began to tap on the beak of his mask.

"I guess that's understandable. You can ask any questions you'd like, it would be nice to have someone to talk to." I felt myself squirm a bit underneath his intense gaze. Can't say I'm too shocked though, he's always came off intense and serious. "Any question?" He nodded in response.

"What got you into medicine in the first place?" Aiken leaned forward and placed both his arms on the desk. "Well, I think it may have started when I was around fourteen. I used to work as a doctor's assistant, grinding herbs and cleaning the utensils. I did it as a small job at first to get money for my family, but the small tidbits I had learned from the doctor made me interested in medicine. I eventually went to school for it many years later, now I have my own small clinic of sorts. Although, I usually just do pharmaceutical services."

It was interesting to say the least, so much so that I found myself leaning forward as I got lost in his words. I don't know if it quelled my curiosity at all, I just have more questions now. "Whoa. How long have you owned this business?" His gaze veered to the side a bit as he calculated it in his head. "I would say maybe a decade or so."

My jaw dropped unintentionally and I quickly closed it once I noticed. Wow, he's must be old. I'm in my early twenties, so he must be thirty or so? I never would've guessed that he was in his thirties. "I'm not old, thirty isn't considered even remotely old. Especially not for a medical man such as myself." I blushed and averted my eyes, I didn't know I was speaking out loud.

"I'm sorry, doctor, I didn't know I was speaking out loud. You're definitely not like a grandpa or something, I just didn't expect you to be that old. Not that you're old or anything. I should probably go back to my room." Words just flew out of my mouth as my face reddened. Aiken let out a deep chuckle, I like how that sounds. I've never heard him laugh before, I hope I'll hear it more often.

"Don't worry about it, I know that you aren't trying to be rude. Get some rest, dear." You could hear the smile in his gravelly voice. I nodded and awkwardly speed walked back to my room. I quietly shut the door behind me and put my back against the door. An embarrassed smile then made its way across my face as I remembered his laugh. It kept replaying in my head, igniting a tingly feeling in my chest each time.

I really want to hear that laugh again.