Just a Head Doctor

[Matt Davis]

Matt stopped in front of the door and took a deep breath. It was just an office. ‘Just’ was his sane word. It was how he was keeping cool with all of the change. Just quickly lost it’s original meaning just after that man came to his door. Now he didn’t even believe it, but it did give him some comfort. It was just an office and this was just a head doctor.

With a final deep breath Matt knocked on the door and waited for permission to enter, slipping inside as soon as he was welcomed inside. “I’m Matt Davis… You called for me, Sir?”

[Dr. Sean Neville]

It was just an office.

Sean understood how he could intimidate the students: by appearance, by position, and by powers. After all, he was tall and solidly built with large hands and age lines earned through the decades of life experience that he had accumulated. He was the school psychiatrist, and that brought with it connotations of medication as well as all of the stigma attached to mental health professionals. Additionally, he was a member of the administration, and he doubled as the low-level disciplinarian, so many students came through his office for a variety of reasons. Additionally, he was a telepath, and made no secret of his powers. He did not rub them in the face of students, but Sean knew the rumors that flitted about the school.

If only the students knew the half of it. Such as the fact that the psychiatrist did, in fact, keep tabs on the students.

He had privileges regarding student records, and he had access to the files of every student who came through the school. Sean made it his business to check new students’ files to see if he had reason to keep an eye on them: past psychiatric history, difficult backgrounds that might lead to adjustment problems, histories of abuse or trauma, or if the student had manifested psychic powers.

Upon reading Matt Davis’s background, he had tagged the boy’s file and requested an introductory meeting. Which brought them to the presence.

He offered the young man a smile. “I did, Matt. I’m Doctor Neville; you can call me that, or ‘Doc’ if you want to be informal, but ‘Sir’ isn’t necessary.” He offered one large hand to the boy for a handshake.

[Matt Davis]

Matt looked over the man for a few seconds before he had to take a breath to break the nerves. He stepped forward and offered the man his own hand to meet the older, firm shake of the doctor. The Doc looked like a normal man… Just a head doctor after all. Nothing superb. Matt’s grip was firm and he looked directly at the man’s eyes while they were introduced.

“I meant no disrespect, Docter.” Matt had met a few men in his life that had a title above ‘Sir’. He never believed he was capable of getting one. ‘I didn’t serve fifteen years for the country to be called ‘sir’, call me ‘Cpl’' recited in his head. This man didn’t work his hide off at a degree giving school to be called ‘Doctor’. It was a rookie mistake.

“S’ya called for me, Doctor? How can I help ya?” Matt took one of the seats and sat up straight while looking at the Doctor. “I haven’t already done somethin’ have I? I don’ know where to get the tutorin’, if it’s about that.”

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Sean took the boy’s hand for a handshake, pumping twice but not so hard as to hurt the boy or otherwise make this into a contest of wills. It was not; this was a first meeting intended to help Matt get adjusted to the school, as well as to establish a relationship between them.

His objection to the use of Sir had little to do with his professional title; instead, it was cultural. In his persona life, Sean was fine with children using his first name to address him, and the children of friends, or Josh’s nieces and nephews, or any of Ryan’s social circle, had done so since time immemorial. He insisted on his title at work in order to establish professional boundaries. But nowhere did he like to be called Sir. That title was authoritative and it held connotations of the military, with which the psychiatrist was uncomfortable at best. Authority he held here was medical and professional, the result of inevitable power dynamics between doctors and patients and teachers and students. It was not based on a ranking system that required compliance in order to function. And he corrected anyone reflexively so that they did not get in the habit of addressing him that way, although he was always gentle in doing so.

To that end, he said, “I know. We’ve only just met, after all.” To demonstrate that he had taken no offense, he smiled at the boy.

“And you haven’t done anything wrong. I wanted for us to meet while you were still new to the school; I try to check in with the students when they first arrive, since adjustment to a new environment can be difficult.” And assisting with emotional adjustment was a large part of his job.

[Matt Davis]

Matt sat down and looked over the doctor as he spoke. He had a gentle voice, soothing and soft. He probably was worried about setting Matt off or something, he reckoned. He, of course, didn’t have any powers that were dangerous. In truth, he wasn’t sure if he had any powers at all. He had been told that was the case, but beyond that, he didn’t have much in the way of proof. He probably had some sort of… mental retardation thing instead. That made more sense to him. He did have some family that was a bit off the normal track.

“Check in?” He asked with a raised brow, curious what all of that would entail. “Well I...I guess I’m jus’ glad I aint done nothin’ wrong yet. N-not that I plan to, ‘course but… Y’know, I don’t know all th’rules or nothin’... an’ not used t’alot’a stuff. D-...Am I supposed t’have questions prepared, ‘r somethin’?”

He asked nervously while looking over the good doctors desk, looking for anything that might make him feel less uncomfortable. Pictures, or maybe bobble-heads.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

“No,” Sean replied with an amused smile and a shake of his head. “That would make this a test, and it isn’t a test. It’s a getting to know you.” The psychiatrist never expected students to have questions for him during establishment sessions; he had no intention of putting them on the spot at all.

“And while I’m glad to hear that you don’t plan to get in trouble, I promise that I’m not worried about it.” Sean did not believe in preemptive punishment, even if he did believe in direct intervention. That had led him to mark Matt’s file for a meeting in the first place. He had no concerns about Matt cheating on exams or getting into fist fights (no more than that of the average teenager at Hammel), but he had great concern about Matt’s childhood home and the effects that his parents, particularly his father, had on the boy.

Not that they would get into that, not in any real depth, today. No, today he simply wanted to meet the boy and establish trust before putting him on a more regular schedule.

“Have you been able to meet your roommates yet? I think you’re on the co-ed floor?” That was what he’d seen in Matt’s file, but assignments changed.