Oh God. Oh God. Oh God.
The mantra you had began a while ago repeated in your mind while you opened the heavy door of the brick building in front of you.
Flu shots this year were being administered in an elementary school gym that was quite a ways a way from your house, but nonetheless, you had decided to get one when you had heard from multiple news stations that the season would be a particularly bad one.
And so, you followed the directions papered onto the walls to the gymnasium, finding its open doors quickly, after you had smelled the sterility from the hallway over.
You took a deep breath in, before walking into the large, brightly lit room. It wasn't that you were deathly afraid of needles, no, but no one was totally complacent to the idea of a nurse jabbing a syringe into their arm. And what if you got a tough nurse?
Shivering at the thought and pushing it out of your mind, you walked over to the fold out table in front of the many stations, each of them paired with a nurse. Each one was occupied at the moment, but only a few patients were in front of you in the line to get started, so you scanned over the few brochures that were fanned out on the table and skimmed through their titles from a distance before it was your turn. You gave your name to the elderly woman who you supposed was the head nurse, before she passively directed you to "Station 4, thank you."
Nodding to the grey-haired lady, you spotted the station, which at the moment had no nurse at it.
Sighing, you walked over and sat down, waiting for your nurse to show up.
"(Y/n)?" A familiar, accented voice came from behind you.
You turned around to be greeted by bright green eyes.
"Toni! What are you doing here?" You questioned, (e/c) eyes widening at the sight of your boyfriend.
"Uh, working?" He smiled, sending you a lopsided smile.
"You know what I meant...why are you here?" You emphasized your last word, trying to get across that you wanted to know why he was at a flu shot clinic instead of the hospital that he usually worked at.
"Oh, that's simple! They needed more nurses to come here for a few days and give shots. I volunteered because I've never really done it before! Worked at a flu shot clinic, that is...I've given plenty of shots before..." He added, noticing your look of uneasiness at his statement.
"O-Oh, okay." You said uncomfortably, feeling the pull in your chest that signified your nerves kicking in.
Antonio leaned down to press a kiss to your cheek in greeting, before he sat down across from you, brandishing a clip board. He asked you the usual questions, filling in things like name and age for you, only inquiring about things like past flu shots and reactions to previous ones.
Once the clipboard had been set down, he pulled out a wrapped needle and tore off its packaging. He then picked a small vial of flu shot vaccine off of the table, and jabbed the syringe lightly into its top.
"Roll up your sleeve for me, amor? You should pick the arm that isn't your dominant one, in case of soreness." Antonio beamed at you, sensing your slight nervousness.
You nodded, quickly doing as he said. He pumped a cotton pad onto a bottle of what you read to be rubbing alcohol, before pressing it a couple of inches below your shoulder.
"Okay, so the usual, sí? Don't look at the needle, and relax your arm. Take a deep breath, you can close your eyes if you'd like as well, querida." The Spaniard's lilting voice explained. With a tilt of his head, he began to bring the syringe up to your arm.
You squeaked when you saw it glinting as he moved it closer to you, making him chuckle.
"It's okay, (y/n). You'll barely feel it." Antonio comforted you, sending you another of his infamous smiles.
"Yeah, ok...just get it done with..." You sighed, accepting your fate and closing your eyes.
You felt a slight pressure above your deltoid muscle, but that was it. After a few seconds, you opened your eyes, confused.
"Toni? Are you going to give me the shot, or what?" You queried to be answered by the tearing sound of a band-aid wrapper, and it being applied to your upper arm.
"What? Oh! You didn't feel it!" Your Spanish boyfriend laughed, as your eyes widened.
"W-What?!" You stuttered, hurriedly looking at your arm in disbelief. The shot had gone in without a single hitch, to your surprise, not one bit of pain.
Your mouth was agape, so Antonio chuckled again as he lifted it closed with an index finger.
"You were very good, (y/n). Lollipop?" He offered, amused, gesturing towards the jar of the candies on the table.
"Sure." You stated as you reached for one, still confounded by the fact that you hadn't felt a thing.
"Looks like my shift is finished, I'll take you home?" Antonio grinned at you, the corners of his emerald eyes crinkling.
You nodded at him, beaming back, half because of how adorable he was and half at how relieved you were to have finally gotten over with your flu shot.
He put on some sanitizer before taking your hand and standing, leading you out of the gym. He, being the nurse that he was, started informing you on all of the benefits of flu shots when he had taken notice of you looking at one of the posters plastered on the door leading outside.
"They're very good to get you know, they help protect not only you, but the people you interact with. It's a good idea to get your flu shots yearly!" He exclaimed happily.
"I'll get my flu shots yearly if I always get such an attractive nurse." You stated cheekily, turning your head up to look at him.
With slightly flustered cheeks and a chaste kiss pressed to your temple, he replied.
"I suppose that can be arranged."
