Work Text:
Your eyes snap up at the sound of the infirmary door opening and hurried footsteps entering. A staff member is currently dragging an ixian into the room. Not just any ixian however, it’s the captain of the Blackmore fencing team. “Hello, how can I help?” You speak up and your eyes instantly notice the blood-soaked cloth pressed against Apollo’s palm.
“Where’s the head nurse?” The man huffs, his face clearly displeased as he looks around the empty infirmary. Apollo remains quiet, but you can feel the anger radiating off of him.
“She’s on break. I’m happy to help if there’s any trouble though.” You put on your best smile. The staff member sighs, gesturing to the injured boy beside him. “Alright, I trust he’s in capable hands then.”
You bow your head slightly and the man leaves you to your task.
“Mind telling me what happened?” You ask, taking the dirty cloth away from Apollo’s hand. Your eyes crinkle slightly. It wasn’t that deep of a cut, but it looked bad due to the bleeding. You gesture for him to sit down on one of the beds as you go ahead and grab the necessary tools you need to patch him up.
Apollo’s eyebrows furrowed. “Fencing practice. Someone was being reckless and refused to listen to me. While showing off, they accidentally nicked me.” He rolls his eyes. You hum in acknowledgement as you dab the cut gently, cleaning the blood and preventing possible infection. Apollo flinches slightly and you pretend to not notice.
“You’re lucky the wound isn’t deep enough to need stitches. But I need you to not put too much pressure on this hand for a bit.” You inform him. Apollo scoffs but says nothing. So you continue to the next step, wrapping bandages around the cut. The boy hisses when you tighten the bandage to secure it and you quickly apologize with an awkward smile. “Replace the bandages once per day for the next few days. If you need assistance with it, you can always come back here. Though, I can’t guarantee it'll be me that will be helping you since I have classes of my own.” You tell him as you put away the things you’ve gathered back to their rightful place.
Out of the corner of your eye, you see Apollo clenching and unclenching his hand, testing your work and you swell with pride at the way he smiles in satisfaction. When you turned around to face him though, he was quick to wipe the smile off of his lips. “Will that be all?” You hum.
“Will you be participating in the ritual next week?”
His question made you quirk an eyebrow up at him. “No, I don’t think I will. Why?”
“I could use someone like you on the battlefield.”
The surprise on your face must be obvious because Apollo smirked, trying to hold in his laugh.
Was that a compliment?
Apollo, the Prince of Ixia, the captain of the fencing team… is complimenting you?
You laugh. “Oh, I’m sure there are much better medics out there that would be participating in the ritual than me.” You wave your hand dismissively. “I don’t have anything to contribute in a team fight besides healing anyway. But thanks for the offer.” You joke.
The ixian stands up proudly, your teasing tone clearly flying right over his head. “Of course.” He runs his hand through his hair and tidies himself up. “May I have your name before I go?”
You perk up. “Oh! Sure,” You introduce yourself to him and Apollo smiles, introducing himself back to you with pride, even if you already know who he is. How could you not? “Don’t forget about what I said. Don’t put too much pressure on your hand.” You add as he approaches the exit door.
Apollo only hums before he exits the infirmary.