Archive of Our Own ^beta

Zayne flops onto the couch after a long day at work.

He immediately takes off his glasses and rubs his eyes. Between the cold weather and the increase of Wanderer activity, he’d been worn barren. The only reason he’s home is because he was forced to. Actually, they’d been trying to force him home for several days now, giving excuse after excuse.

“ A doctor doesn’t work well on low sleep. You should go rest,” Yvonne had attempted to say. Zayne promptly refused, and was called upon for surgery two seconds later.

“ Akso Hospital has a limit on how much overtime someone can have. Where are you at?” It was a good attempt, and did get Zayne to think about it for a moment. But, Greyson’s words weren’t nearly effective enough. While there was a clause about overtime, in times of emergencies, all medical personnel were exempt from overtime restrictions. And with how many patients were being admitted on a daily basis, Zayne considered this one of those situations.

His eyes opened, staring at the ceiling, recalling the words that actually made him go home.

“ Zayne,” Yvonne had sighed. “ If you don’t rest, you won’t be able to treat her if she gets hurt. And you know she wouldn’t want to see you like this. Go home. For her sake.”

With a rough laugh leaving him, Zayne shook his head. “I’d be quite horrible in a hostage situation, wouldn’t I?” he mused to himself. “All it takes is your name to make me fold.”

A notification lit up on his phone, and his head immediately snapped to it. Was there another situation? Did they need him? The blaring screen blinded him for a moment, activating a dormant headache that he didn’t realize was there. He grumbled, looking over the message on the screen. No, it wasn’t anyone from Akso Hospital. That would have been far more preferable than what was there.

Zayne, I trust you know why I’m contacting you. We have a unique patient that we believe is best left in your capable hands. Xander Sciences will provide you the best equipment, the best staff, the best--

The screen went dark, and the phone flew across the room to the opposite wall.

In the wake of the CRACK and drop to the floor that followed, Zayne leaned his head in his hands, his elbows locked on his knees. Shaky breaths left him, his nails digging into his forehead. This emotion… it wasn’t normally in his repertoire. Anger wasn’t something typically entertained. It didn’t lead to anything proactive, at least to him. It only muddled thoughts and messied solutions.

But he was tired. Worn. Hungry. And Carter had continued to try and contact him through a long series of disposable phone numbers. Zayne had made his position clear, multiple times. Yet Carter continued to bother him, bringing up her name more and more. Sometimes, he’d find patients that he thought were “similar” to her. In truth, Carter was nowhere close, but the association was what got on Zayne’s nerves.

How did she calm down from anger again? He remembered how, when she would get in a fuss, she would stop everything and take a deep breath. Even in the middle of a ranting sentence. Or just about when she was about to sling a flurry of curse words at the claw machine. She’d let go, put her hands in the air, close her eyes, and take a few deep breaths.

Logically, Zayne didn’t know how taking your hands off of anything would help, but the root cause of her decompression seemed to be the deep breaths. So, he tried that. The breaths came out shaky, and his hands moved to the back of his head, and he found himself tightly shutting his eyes. His tear ducts pricked. This wasn’t working.

What else would she do?

…She… tended to call him. And soon after that, he would see her face in his office. Even if they were silent, she swore up and down that “just being there helped”.

With a heavy breath, Zayne untangled himself and walked over to his phone on the floor. The black screen was cracked. Reluctantly, he picked it up, the screen lighting up as soon as the phone recognized his face. Thankfully, it was just the screen protector that’d shattered. Still, he didn’t have the energy to peel it off. He expertly dodged Carter’s message, blocking and deleting the phone number, and swiftly dialed hers.

She picked up right away.

“Zayne?”

She sounded breathless, like she was running at the same time.

“Are you busy?” He hoped he wasn’t interrupting something. A wave of guilt washed over him immediately. “If so, I can call back later.”

“I just got done with a mission,” she panted into the phone. “Home wasn’t too far away, so I figured I’d get a late night run done. Why? Is something wrong? Hasn’t there been a lot going on at the hospital lately?”

“Yes and… yes.”

Her tone turned serious, and he could tell that she’d stopped running. “What’s going on? Are you at the hospital? I can come by.”

“I--” Why was this affecting him so much? He didn’t expect it to. There was a warmth in his ears and his cheeks, and he found himself leaning against the wooden column that the phone had smashed against. “It’s… nothing too serious. If you need to get something else done--”

“Zayne.” Her voice came in sharp and stern, shutting him up. “You don’t call people for help.”

A long silence permeated the space, as she patiently waited for Zayne’s shaky breaths on the other side of the phone. Eventually, he gained some composure.

“...I need you. Please.”

He could hear a sharp intake on her end. Whether she interpreted it as sexual or not, who was to say, but in her voice was a steady determination.

“Where are you?”

“Home.”

“I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

“Alright…”

Hearing the trepidation in his tone, she changed her statement.

“Make it five. Be there soon.”

While she couldn’t see his nod, the call ended nonetheless. Zayne wordlessly dropped his phone to the ground, the thud ringing around his empty home. His body turned, his back resting against the glass, slowly sliding down to the ground. His hands found themselves in his hair again, his knees raised up. Five minutes felt like an eternity, but soon, he heard the sound of running footsteps approaching his door.

It swung open, and a beautiful hunter, her hair frantic and lungs fighting for air, began to immediately search the home. “Zayne?!”

His head raised slowly, looking her over. Her quick reaction speed caught it immediately, and their eyes met. Her expression went from the frenzy of someone who was called for an emergency, to sorrow. She looked at him like she was taking a part of his pain. She left the door open, immediately rushing to him, meeting him on her knees on the floor.

“Zayne! Are you okay?! Are you hurt?! What happened--”

Absent-mindedly, Zayne’s arms reached out, and pulled her into his embrace mid-analysis. The warmth made him only want her more, his nose burying into her neck, his hands entangling themselves in her hair. It took her a moment to process, but the moment she wrapped her arms around his neck, his breath hitched, and he hugged her tighter.

“Ow, ow ow ow.”

“Sorry,” he said with a light laugh, and slightly loosened his hold. “I’m fine. It’s just been… a very hard week.”

He felt her muscles relax at that, and a relieved sigh left her. Effortlessly, her hand ran through his hair, rubbing his scalp. In response, his legs criss crossed over hers, her knees holding herself up in the middle gap. 

“Wow, I didn’t know the legendary Dr. Zayne could have a bad work week,” she hummed, a soft giggle following. 

“Dr. Zayne is still a person in the end,” he grumbled.

“Who no doubt had to be convinced to go home.”

He frowned, and finally looked up at her. While there were bags under her eyes, they still held a fondness to him that never failed to increase his heart rate. “Which one of them told you?”

She grinned mischievously. “I knew it! You did need to be dragged out of work! C’mon, tell me, what’d they say?!”

Zayne huffed and buried himself in her neck again. “I’m not telling you.”

He could feel her pout, and he couldn’t help but sport a small smirk himself.

“Why not?”
“Because a certain hunter will try to use it against me, when I could still easily be working.”

“Well, maybe this certain hunter is just concerned that her primary care doctor will work himself into becoming a patient himself!”

“I’m still not telling you.”

She huffed and lightly flicked the back of his head. He smiled. It was as if all of his stress and worries melted away. He could feel his breath regulating, his muscles untensing, and a familiar exhaustion threatening to take over. He felt her adjust so that her cheek laid on his head, and he soon felt the frown just after that.

“Zayne… your phone.”

Her arm reached out to grab it, but quickly froze. All of Zayne’s muscles had involuntarily seized up again, his grip on her iron tight. His head instinctually turned away from it, as if the very idea of the phone repulsed him. Maybe it did. This was an emotion he wasn’t used to, either. Maybe… the phone meant that he wouldn’t be able to hold her anymore, whether that be from work or… something else.

As expected, she was intuitive. Her arm dropped, no longer reaching, but instead staring at the shattered screen. Her hand gripped shirt, a long sigh leaving her as she counted the wood chips that lingered with the fiberglass shards. He could feel her eyes gaze upwards to the impact point. Based on her reaction, there was a sizable dent in his wooden column.

“It’s rare for you to get angry,” she said, her voice hushed.

Zayne didn’t say anything. He simply attempted to make his arms cease their tremblings. Thankfully, she never needed an explanation. And while depending on someone was new to him, he found himself immediately missing the closeness when she pulled back. Her hand cupped his cheek, a small smile playing at her lips, eyes as soft as a new winter’s snow. 

“C’mon, let’s go somewhere comfier.”

“Will you stay?”

The words left him before he had time to bite them back.

“Of course,” she giggled, leaning up to place a gentle kiss on his forehead. “You did call Linkon’s best hunter, after all. And I always make sure I thoroughly handle my missions. Speaking of, have you eaten recently?”

Zayne was dragged from the floor to wherever she went. She didn’t let go of his hand, even as she made a basic meal for him. She talked about her day, some of the recent updates at work, and the general gossip around. That smile continued to stay with her, and her energy was infectious. Soon enough, Zayne forgot all about the phone. Instead, he continued his banter with her, teasing her on her inability to work with one hand. She deemed it as a challenge, and was determined for him not to help her. So, Zayne watched this entertaining game of hers, slowly but surely relaxing his mind.

But, that wasn’t the truth. His hand, his arms, his body, they all trembled. His eyes were glazed over, and she was very clear that the only reason he was still awake was because she was there. At the same time, she knew that Zayne hadn’t had any time to himself. With instant ramen in his free hand, and a cup of hot coco in hers, she led him upstairs to his bedroom, making a very conscious effort to swerve around the phone on the ground.

It wasn’t long until he passed out. With food in his system, he’d stopped trembling. Finally, a sigh of relief was shared between the two of them. She wasn’t tired, however, and once she knew that Zayne was fast asleep, she wiggled out of his strong arms and went back downstairs.

It’d be an understatement to say it was a “little” impact. If that phone had hit the window, it would have shattered. The wood around the impact area was splintered, coating the ground in shavings. Upon investigating the phone, the only reason that Zayne was able to use it was because the screen protector held the broken shards of glass from falling out. If she peeled it off, she was sure the screen would crumble like dust. Quietly lingering in the impact zone, a spike of ice greeted her.

Zayne needs a new phone, she texted Greyson. Does Akso Hospital have a replacement program?

Then, she quickly located the broom and swept up the mess, and turned Zayne’s phone off. She carefully placed it somewhere that he wouldn’t be able to spot right away, but close by, just in case. After corresponding with Greyson for another minute or so, she wandered back upstairs to a half asleep Zayne.

“Where did you go?” The lower, sleepy voice caught her off guard.

“I just went to the bathroom, that’s all.”

Zayne frowned. “You were in there for a while, then.”

She rolled her eyes, easily climbing back into bed with him. Immediately, his arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her to his chest. “I’ve been out all day, of course I was in there for a while. More importantly, why are you still up?”

“Someone’s wiggling woke me up,” he grumbled, his words muffled as he nuzzled into the top of her head.

“You noticed that? I thought I did pretty good.”

“It’s hard not to notice, especially when said wiggler makes the bed frame creak. Besides…” Zayne tightened his embrace on her, his voice barely above a whisper. “It’s a lot colder without you here.”

Her breath fluttered. No other words were needed, especially when an even set of breaths came from Zayne soon after. With a peace that transcended worlds, the two found solace in each other’s embrace. In another section of the city, Dr. Greyson looked over the messages once more, brow furrowed in concern.

I came into him clutching his head, and his phone completely shattered. He’s handled busy times like this plenty of times in the past. I don’t think that’s what caused this.

Greyson looked over that text in particular. The hospital business had died down as people began to sleep, and they hadn’t had a new patient in an hour, at least. Maybe even two. It gave him plenty of time to envision what an angry Dr. Zayne looked like. The moment he got shivers down his back, he decided to give up on that feat, considering the picture of the impact looked as big as a golf ball.

I’ll talk to them about getting Zayne a day off tomorrow, he’d quickly texted back. At least he has you to keep him home. Could you do all of us a big favor and keep an eye on him? Make him rest all of tomorrow?

Already on it.

The text came in seconds after he’d sent his. A weight lifted off of Greyson’s shoulders, leaning back in his chair. Yvonne wandered over soon after.

“All the patients have been checked up on and tended to. Two of them needed new IV drips, and they’ve all been recorded.” Yvonne glanced up from her report to see Greyson’s expression. It was an odd mix of horror and relief. She raised her brow, curious. “Are you alright?”

“Hm? Oh, yeah,” he said, leaning back up. “Apparently, according to Miss Hunter, Zayne got angry and shattered his phone. I’m just imagining what angry Zayne could possibly look like.”

Yvonne’s eyes widened, the possibility flashing through her. “Dr. Zayne can get… mad? Mad enough to throw something of his?” She shivered in much the same way as Greyson did. “Is he alright now? You said that Miss Hunter was with him, yes?”

Greyson smiled, took a glance at the messages, and nodded.

“He’s in the best hands Akso Hospital can provide.”