//One Week later: Authors POV//
As soon as Izuna arrived at work, Itachi and Konan ran up to him examining him. Izuna tried to avoid getting as much attention as possible that morning, but it didn't seem to work out since everyone was asking him what happened. It didn't necessarily make him mad, but he just didn't like receiving so much attention for such a bad thing. He tried to change the whole topic and conversation by turning to look at Itachi. He'd noticed something different about his friend and leaned too damn close for comfort. Itachi quickly backed away and slightly frowned at Izuna.
"Err, what are you doing," Itachi said. Izuna slightly sniffed the air and smirked at Itachi. The younger looked at Izuna and blushed deeply. Konan caught on and decided to join in on the fun and teased Itachi.
"Ooh~ you smell like some other person's pheromones. Where have you been?" Izuna giggled and continued to see how his words affected Itachi.
"Well, Itachi here has been skipping lunch and being led into a particular doctor's office from the Neurology Unit. I believe his name is Kisame" Konan said in a teasing tone. Izuna and Konan snickered between each other as Itachi stood dumbfounded with a nervous look on his face. Izuna and Konan felt a strong alpha presence behind them, and slowly they both turned around only to see a tall and buff guy behind them. Izuna quickly recognized Kisame as the guy who held his assailant back. They looked at Itachi who could only stare back at Kisame and visibly tensed.
"Sorry to intrude on your conversation, but Itachi and I have something to discuss." Kisame smiled before practically yanking Itachi away from his spot and pulling him into the elevator. Itachi's whines followed by the elevator's doors closing only made Konan and Izuna look at each other with a smirk.
"He's definitely getting some" Konan said.
.
.
.
.
Itachi covered his face in embarrassment with a clipboard as Kisame continued to pull him out the elevator and through the unit floor where he worked at. Obviously, they both were getting stares from left and right. That was mainly because the nurses and doctors on that floor were wondering why Kisame was hanging around a "measly" Pediatric Nurse. Kisame only shot glares at people looking before practically shoving Itachi into his office and shutting the door. Locking it. Itachi roughly pulled his wrist away from Kisame and refused to face him.
"Itachi, you know I don't like it when you try and give me the cold shoulder," Kisame said. His voice was cold and stern, but that didn't make Itachi flinch one bit. What did get a reaction from him was Kisame grabbing his arm, twisting it behind his back, and bending him over the desk. Itachi let out a loud yelp before turning to look at Kisame and glare. His black scrubs getting crinkled in the process.
"What the hell, Kisame!?!" Itachi struggled against his strength but continued to berate Kisame for his behavior.
"Why have you been ignoring me, dear? The avoided messages, calls, and even coming to work later than I do in hopes that we don't run into each other." Itachi blushed deeply and put his head down against the wooden desk. He was finally caught.
"I- I don't know" was all he could say before Kisame released him and turned him so that they faced each other. "Are you scared of me?" Itachi's eyes widened as he looked up at Kisame and saw a hurt expression on the older one's face. That's when Itachi began to ramble. "N-No! I never said that. It's just that this is all too new for me. I've never been serious with anyone and working at this place has made it difficult to indulge in any relationships. So, when I saw that you slipped your phone number in my pocket, I panicked. Naturally, I tried to avoid you, but you kept insisting that I eat lunch with you to get to know each other better, and I found that really sweet of you to do."
Kisame smirked before leaning closer to the Uchiha. Itachi froze and felt his heart beating in his chest. He expected Kisame to kiss him on the lips, but instead, his lips planted a kiss on his forehead. Itachi's eyes widened and Kisame pulled away before grabbing a few files on his desk. "I'll see you later, Itachi-san~" Itachi watched as Kisame left the office and he stood there dumbfounded. He had no idea how he was going to explain all the pheromones lingering over his body. It made Itachi shiver at the thought.
.
.
.
.
"Come on Kagami, it's not that hard to get the kid to calm down." Tobirama's annoyed voice made Kagami who was currently chasing a little boy around his room turn and glare at Tobirama. They had been trying to get the poor kid into surgery for hours and it was an urgent case. The kid, Aki who was 4 years old, had to get a tumor removed from his brain before it caused any more tissue around it to die. The kid was a bright and spunky one who always brought smiles to the worker's faces. However, it did hurt most of the people who heard about his condition and why surgery was needed. Tobirama was not one of those people. To him, this was something he had to operate on constantly, and having some sort of connection with them was something he wasn't interested in. He had enough of the child running around and not wanting to be sedated.
"Listen, kid, if we don't get into surgery in a couple of minutes, your parents are going to get me fired. . . Not that I care though." Aki looked at Tobirama and glared before grabbing a couple of pillows and blankets from his bed before throwing them at Kagami and Tobirama. They dodged the small attack and simply walked out of the room to let Aki have his temper tantrum. The child's sobbing and screaming could be heard through the glass doors as Tobirama rubbed his temples in frustration. He just felt as if he didn't have time for this. Suddenly Nagato and Kisame appeared out of nowhere. Tobirama groaned knowing that Kisame was about to be on his ass about the kid not being in the operation room yet. On top of that, Tobirama and Kagami weren't in their sterilized uniforms or scrubs.
"What's going on here? You both were supposed to be getting prepared for operating-"
"BANG!!"
Tobirama yawned in his hand and didn't even pay attention to Aki throwing something against the glass door. Kisame and Nagato looked perplexed. "Err- was that a whole-ass portable patient toilet?" Kisame sounded more perplexed than angry while Tobirama simply nodded. "Yes, and you're lucky it's empty," Tobirama said. Kisame and the others instantly cringed at the thought of it having any bodily substances inside of it.
"So what do we do now? This can't be postponed or rescheduled for another time" Nagato said. Apparently, the front desk was getting on all their asses, including Kisame's for rescheduling appointments, surgeries, etc. "Who is the one who takes care of him in the Pediatric ward? Maybe if we bring them down then they can possibly get the kid to calm down." Tobirama for once agreed with Kagami's idea and didn't think it was absurd. Kisame flipped through the child's chart and smirked. "Well, looks like these coincidences just keep happening." All the others looked at Kisame who smirked and flipped the chart over and pointed at the one in charge of caring for the young boy.
Pediatric Unit: Uchiha Izuna & Nakano Konan
Tobirama's brow slightly raised, and he instantly recognized the name once more. Indeed, it did feel like a coincidence. Almost as if someone was fucking with him at this point. Having been at that hospital for 10 years, never had he heard someone from the Pediatrics unit name so often. Nagato grabbed his cell phone from his pocket and dialed the number under Izuna's name. Instead of a guy answering, a female voice rang through the speaker. Nagato instantly panicked and tossed the phone to Tobirama who glared at the guy. Nagato was extremely shy around women, so it wasn't at all surprising that he tossed the phone over to someone else.
"Umm, hello~ I don't got all day. Unless you goofballs want to change these children's diapers then I expect you to answer."
Kisame and Kagami tried to hold their laughs aside from Tobirama who looked done with life and Nagato who didn't even want to look at the phone.
"This is Senju Tobirama, Neurosurgeon and the one who is . . . was going to operate on Tanaka Aki. Is it possible if you and Uchiha Izuna to head over to our floor and into room B1570 to help us possibly calm the patient down? He's throwing a tantrum of sorts and these idiots are trying not to lose their jobs because of one child." Tobirama said the last part a bit too bluntly, and the other end of the line went silent for a few seconds before Konan yelled at someone on her end of the line.
"IZUNAA!!! GET MR. SQUIGGLES. WE'RE GONNA NEED HIM!!" Tobirama and the others winced at the loud voice as another voice was heard on the other end. This time it was a much softer one, and Tobirama recognized it as Izuna. "Konan quiet down, I just put them all down for a nap. Now, why do you need Mr. Squiggles?" Izuna said.
"Because Aki is acting up again right before his surgery." A small hum was heard from Izuna before he ran over to something, knocking a couple of things down in the process causing more noise to be heard through the phone." Konan panicked and quickly put the phone down to help Izuna.
"We will be right there in 5 minutes-" The line went dead, and the guys couldn't hold their laughter anymore. Tobirama sighed and tossed the phone back to Nagato who struggled to catch it. Konan and Izuna seemed like a troublesome duo that didn't make Tobirama any happier about having to interact with them.
After a couple of minutes passed, the elevator down the hall dinged and two nurses with the most colorful scrubs on the floor hopped out. They were getting stares from left and right, but it wasn't the scrubs that were attention grabbers, it was the stuffed caterpillar Izuna carried in his arms. It had a rainbow body and was almost half the nurse's body size. Izuna and Konan smiled as they approached. Nagato instantly hid behind Kisame."If you don't mind, let me just scoot on by." Tobirama opened the sliding glass door for Izuna and the small nurse just walked past him and into what looked like a war zone. Everyone peaked through and watched as the kid was ready to throw something until he noticed that it was Izuna.
"IZUNA!!" The kid screamed in excitement and dropped whatever he was going to throw before running over to his favorite nurse and knocking him over. Izuna felt the air being knocked out of him before rubbing the kid's back comfortingly. "Aki, I heard you weren't being nice to the doctors and surgeons. Is this true?" Aki pulled away before wiping his own tears with his small hands. He slowly nodded and stared at the floor. Izuna sighed and put Mr. Squiggles to the side and sat Aki up in his lap. "Look, I know you're scared about all of this, but you have to understand that once this is all over you can go home with your family. Don't you want that? I sure hope you do, because Mr. Squiggles here also wants you to get better." Aki smiled brightly and nodded. "Ok then, so I want you to be a brave boy and listen to them. They are only trying to help. I promise that I won't leave you alone until it's all over." Aki sat there in thought before finally standing up and holding Izuna's hand. Izuna smiled and stood up before picking the small kid up. Konan walked in and grabbed Mr. Squiggles and placed him on the bed before fixing up the room. " You can go ahead and go; I'll clean this mess up," Konan said to Izuna who nodded and walked out with the child. He followed close behind the four men and went into the room to prepare for surgery. Aki was handed off to Nagato and Kagami who went in a separate room.
"Tobirama-san, can I ask you a favor?" Tobirama stopped in his tracks and turned to look down at Izuna who had a serious face. "What is it?" Izuna slightly bit his lip nervously and looked back up at Tobirama.
"If you will allow me, can I be in the operating room to watch over Aki? I promised him that."
"Well, you shouldn't make promises you can't keep," Tobirama said before turning away. Izuna stood there frozen before grabbing Tobirama's hand and pulling him back. Tobirama was stunned since it was the first time someone has even tried to initiate physical contact. What surprised the surgeon more was the fact that as soon as Izuna placed his hands on his own, a shock of electricity passed through his fingertips. Izuna also looked slightly stunned before pulling his hand away slowly, slightly startled. "S-Sorry." Izuna was disappointed and it was pretty obvious to the Senju. A sigh of defeat left Tobirama's lips before he opened the door to the changing room and pulled Izuna in. Izuna was shocked and slightly yelped by the sudden action. They stopped in the middle of the room and Tobirama walked over to a shelf before grabbing a sterilized change of clothing. Izuna's eyes followed every movement Tobirama made, even as he pulled his black top over his head and revealed a toned body. A blush appeared on his face before he swiftly passed Tobirama and grabbed a small pair of scrubs. He hid behind one of the shelves to change.
//Tobirama's POV//
From the corner of my eye, I saw Izuna slipping off his attire and placing it to the side. I only saw a glimpse of his figure, but something in my head felt as if it was short-circuited. I almost felt like a creep for looking at him, but we were both men. I shouldn't really care if I saw him or not. My thought process was interrupted as Izuna appeared in front of me. I quickly led him to the operation room where we finished getting prepared and sterilizing the environment. Aki was already lying down on the operating table getting ready to be sedated. He mumbled something through the oxygen mask as Izuna walked over and held his hand through his gloved ones.
"Are you ready?" Izuna said before receiving a nod from Aki. Slowly, Nagato being an Anesthesiologist looked at me to confirm the start of the surgery and began allowing anesthesia doses to make the child go into a state of calm. His eyes shut slowly and Izuna let go of his hand before backing away and letting Kagami and I do our thing. The hair on his head was already shaved off which gave me clean access to his scalp. I grabbed the scalpel before cutting an incision on his head and pulling the skin flap back revealing three more layers I had to get through. Once I managed to get past that, I got a surgical saw and cut a small section of his cranium. I could see Izuna slowly back away and turn his head in the opposite direction. It was pretty obvious that this was his first time witnessing surgery. I give him points for at least keeping his promise to the kid. Not many had that kind of dedication.
"Kagami, forceps." He nodded and passed them to me in order to keep the skin back. As soon as I pulled the brain membrane back, I could already see the tumor. It was pretty small considering that it was just in its early stages. I carefully cut around it and attempted to not damage any more tissue that was still healthy. Slowly, I managed to finally get around all of it and pull out the tumor before setting it in a little bowl. Izuna's eyes followed my hands, and I could see how he tried so hard not to cause a scene by leaning up against a wall.
I continued to focus my attention on the little kid and began removing damaged tissue. It really wasn't much, but even just a little bit of it being left over could cause issues later on that the family for sure wouldn't want to deal with or face all over again. After all, this would be a nightmare for anyone.
.
.
.
.
After six hours, I managed to finally get the part of his skull back in place along with his tissue and slowly began to stitch his scalp back in place. My hands felt sore after keeping them still for such a long time, and I just wanted to collapse right on the floor and possibly not wake up again if it allowed me to sleep a restful night. By now, the anesthesia had already been cut off and worn off, I began doing some final finishing touches before calling it. Kagami made sure to transfer Aki onto the bed we prepared for him on the side and changed his clothing extremely carefully. Izuna finally straightened himself and helped. His hands were trembling, and he was wavering a bit but managed to keep himself standing. The doors to the room opened and a couple of nurses walked in before taking him out and to another room. Kagami and Nagato left to go and change. I stood there taking off the soiled covering over my scrubs along with my gloves.
"How do you do this every day without freaking out?" I looked over to Izuna who had already removed his covering and stared deep into my eyes with his onyx ones. His eyes looked slightly lidded since he had stood in the same spot for six whole hours without moving or taking a break. "I do it not because I want to, but because it's a necessity that this hospital has someone to perform these kinds of things. I don't break down on this job because I'm already mentally drained enough and have no time to deal with petty emotions. It's not worth it." He only stared at me as a small smile appeared right back on his lips. "Good job." Those were the words that sounded so meaningless coming from other people but sounded different from him. A strange feeling passed through me as I looked at him closely and my eyes slowly scanned over him. He shifted a bit as I got closer and closer until there were only a few inches between us. The sweet scent of chocolate and strawberries became slightly prominent as it entered my lungs.
"I- I think we should get going and change into our uniforms." He said with a stuttering voice. Those big doe eyes looked elsewhere but at me before he headed towards the door. I followed suit and we changed out of the hospital-issued clothing before getting into our own. Kagami suddenly burst in causing Izuna to scream and hide behind me. He was still completely naked and one of his hands held his shirt against his chest while the other clutched onto my arm tightly. I turned and glared at Kagami who took a hint and backed out before shutting the door. Izuna sighed in relief and let go of my arm before backing away. I didn't turn around to allow him to have some sort of privacy, but it seemed like life had other plans. The feeling of his hand grasping my arm and pulling me down with him caught me off, guard. He had tripped on thin air and managed to make both of us fall over. I groaned and looked down to see Izuna whining in pain. His scent was much stronger now since our bodies were pressed down against each other. The slight notes of chocolate and strawberries made a slight shiver pass through me. Slowly, I began to process what position we were in, and I knew that if anyone were to walk in, we'd both get into some serious shit. I sat up quickly and pulled my hands away from his shivering body. His eyes were still closed tightly, and he was trying the best he could to cover up any bare skin showing with his two arms.
"I'll take my leave," I said before standing up and clearing my throat. Izuna slowly opened his eyes and swallowed slowly. After that, I walked out of the changing room and down the hall. I internally rolled my eyes and saw the sight of Kisame, Kagami, Nagato, Konan, and the guy I assumed was Itachi conversing with each other. I tried to sneak past them, but Kisame instantly noticed me.
"Tobirama, Great job today. We were all thinking about grabbing dinner, wanna come?" Kisame sounded excited and the others looked at me expectantly. I wanted to say no, but I also didn't wanna look like the bad guy in this situation. I did feel like I needed a distraction for once.
"I guess."
They started to pick places to eat until Kagami decided to open his mouth. "What if we go to Tobirama's place? He can cook some really good food." I looked at Kagami and glared. That was a secret between the two of us. I only ever cooked for him once, and that was when he was too drunk and crashed at my place.
"What do you say, Tobirama?"
I begrudgingly nodded and Kisame looked at me strangely, but after seeing where his eyes were looking, I turned around to see Izuna walking up. His face was still bright red after what happened earlier and didn't even try to make eye contact. At least he wasn't throwing himself onto me like the other nurses in this unit.
"Izuna wanna go eat out with us? Tobirama is cooking" Konan said. Izuna's eyes slowly looked up at me and when I stared back his cheeks heated up more. It was kind of.... Cute.
"I- Uh I guess."
Just hearing the nervousness in his voice made me wonder when he was going to finally stop being nervous. Sure, I loved it when people knew where to draw the line with me, but for some reason, I didn't feel like that around him. Like that feeling of nervousness didn't suit him.
.
.
.
.
.
- To Be Continued