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“You should really see a doctor.” Kinkade spoke like Lance wasn't currently downing his third cup of herbal tea and he wasn't aware of the fact that he definitely had strep throat.
“I'm fine.” Lance's voice was raspy, his throat stinging like hell whenever he swallowed.
Kinkade rolled his eyes so far into the back of his head Lance was scared they'd get stuck there.
“You are not “fine”, Lance. Fine is reserved for people who don't…” Kinkade trialed off, approaching Lance and placing the back of his hand on Lance's forehead. “... definitely have a fever.” Kinkade decided, wiping his hand off on his dress shirt like Lance's forehead was covered in some sort of sticky glue.
“I don't have time for a walk-in visit.” Lance groaned, further hurting his throat. And he had to sing on stage in front of a bar full of people tonight.
“Yes, you do.” Kinkade argued. “I'm covering your shift tonight.” Kinkade stated like an obvious fact and not a topic up for debate. “What? That's not fair!” Lance tried to yell, but instead his voice just came out as a weak squeak.
“You can't sing. I'd say kicking you off of work and making you go to the walk-in is pretty damn fair.” Kinkade had the nerve to flash Lance one of his bright and shining smiles. “I'll tell the boss. Go see a doctor, then get some rest. You need it.” Kinkade ruffled Lance's hair just a bit, making a few stray strands stick out like static. Even his best friend betrayed him, he thought to himself as he walked back to his car and navigated to the nearest walk in. ~~~~~~Lance tapped his feet against the carpeted floor in a rhythmic movement, moving along to a silent beat that only played in his head. The waiting room on a Saturday night was insane. Little kids climbing all over the plastic covered chairs and spreading their germs everywhere, babies coughing and worrying their parent to death, people just like Lance looking like the plague had just overtaken them. For a quick backstory, Lance hated doctors. Hated them so much it boarderlined on despise. Over the years, he'd developed a little fear for these kinds of situations- mostly for visits that involved needles in any way, shape or form. Hopefully this wouldn't be one of those visits.Another thing he hated was having any sort of inspection to his throat. It felt weird having somebody look down there with a mini flashlight and know more than Lance did about his own body with a simple glance. “Lance McClain.” A voice boomed over the waiting room, causing Lance to jolt in his seat and quickly walk over to the nurse holding the door open for him. “Good...afternoon, I think.” The nurse wrote something down on his clipboard, leading Lance to a small alcove with a scale.
“It's ten PM.” Lance corrected, standing on the scale without the nurse asking first.
“I've been here since six in the morning. Time is just a social construct at this point.” The nurse wrote another thing down, took Lance's height quickly, and scribbling it down haphazardly.
“You must be fun at parties.” Lance tried to crack a joke, to which the nurse- Keith, his name tag read- just stared at him with a blank expression.
“Not a joker, got it.” Lance made a mental note as Keith lead him back to a examination room. The paper crinkled under Lance as Keith took his temp and blood pressure, the cuff squeezing tight around Lance's arm. At long last, Keith announced. “Doctor Shirogane will be in soon. He'll have a strep test ready right away.” Keith sounded like he was taunting. Lance laid his head back on the paper-covered pillow, sighing as the pain in his throat seemed to increase. The door opened suddenly, and a buff, cute guy came bursting in with a tray in his hands and a lab coat around his thick shoulders. “Hello, Mr. McClain.” The doctor gave Lance a warm smile as he grabbed the otoscope and pushed the end into Lance's left ear. Even with the man poking around in his ear canal, Lance was smitten all the same. Shirogane moved to the other ear, before clicking something into the trash and attaching the otoscope back to its bracket on the plain white wall. Shirogane pressed a wooden tongue compressor to his closed lips, which made Lance open as soon as he realized.
Shirogane smiled at that, and Lance's heart fluttered. Lance gagged when the tongue compressor pushed forward even a little bit. ‘I'm sorry, Doctor Shirogane’ is what Lance wanted to say, but instead it came out as a garbled mess.
Shirogane understood.
“Gagging is common, Mr. McClain. And just call me Shiro, please.” Shiro removed the stick from his mouth, letting Lance wet his lips for one second before Shiro was picking tools up from the tray. “I'm going to do a strep test now. I've been doing this for years, so there's no need to be worried. Gagging is okay, as is throwing up. Once we get the sample we can deal with any other byproducts.” Shiro explained, snapping on dark blue latex over his hands. Lance obeyed when he was told to open his mouth, and the compressor held his squirming tongue down while a swab hit the back of the throat and Lance was sure he was going to puke- “We're all done, Mr. McClain.” Shiro announced happily, removing the swab and the compresser and plugging something into the computer attached to the wall.
Lance muttered a “Thank God” under his breath. “I do believe you have strep without even seeing the results of the test. That being said…” Shiro removed the gloves and put his hands in his pocket, metal revealing itself for a split second before being hidden again. Lance admittingly hadn't noticed the prosthesis first, but it was seemingly charming. Lance was about to swoon. “I think you should have a doctor check up on you during your recovery.” Shiro dropped the offer like it was nothing, handling Lance a piece of paper from his pocket with numbers hastily scribbled on.
“Give me a call. I'll be there.” Shiro promised with a quick smirk before turning professional once again.“Have a good evening, Mr. McClain. I'll prescribe some antibiotics once I get the official diagnosis.” And with that, Shiro was gone. And now, thinking back on that moment might have been when Lance's fear of doctors faded away. It only took him three years of marriage with Shiro to realize that fact.