Butterfly Attack! (Zeke)

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Speaking of exercise, Zeke was starting to build up a little bit of a sweat. Despite how small the girl was, it still took some effort to carry her the distance that he was, but he wasn’t about to complain. And he wasn’t surprised that she hadn’t heart of his degree – many people hadn’t. “Um, I w-want to be a physical therapist or a s-sports medicine physician,” he replied quietly. Granted, he had a lot of schooling to do before he could get to that point, but at least he had his internship, which helped. “… What about you…?” he asked vaguely. Whether he was asking about her degree aspirations or occupational plans, even he wasn’t certain, but it felt polite to ask.

His hands started to feel even sweatier and clammier the closer they got, and he was actually glad that they were both still damp to hide that fact. He nearly tripped (not really) when Rina made her comment about him being good boyfriend material. Zeke shot her a stunned expression, caught completely off-guard. “Th… thanks?” he stammered, uncertain how to reply. “I’m… sure… a guy would b-be lucky… with you too….” Was that the right way to respond? He didn’t know! Zeke swallowed heavily and kept walking, feeling his face heat up all over again. “Mm… What room do you live in…?” He shifted how he was carrying her in his arms slightly and headed up the stairs towards whichever floor she told him. Once at the right room, he carefully managed to open the door to the living quarters and placed Aerina gently on the couch. “Um… Will you be alright here?” he asked quietly.

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“Ohh, that sounds interesting!” So he was a fellow health professional….not that Aerina was a professional, but she was prospective. She just hadn’t quite decided what field she wanted to go in. “I’m still only in my basic classes, but I’m thinking I want to go to pharmacy school, or nursing school.” Maybe even become a medical assistant. Why not doctor? some people asked her. Well, there were plenty of doctors, but they needed help too. Also, she was a girl, and being a doctor would be too ambitious for her.

This guy would probably make a good doctor, she though. The way he so obviously cared about people, and taking care of them…he had a great bedside manner. That made him prime boyfriend material as well. He would probably take care of any girlfriend he had with the upmost care, like she was a princess. Aerina giggled at his obviously flustered response, and dipped her head shyly. “Oh, you’re just saying that. You’re making me blush.”

He was strong too! Though Rina was really small to begin with, how many other guys would be willing to carry a girl all the way back to her dorm room? When he asked her, she gave him her dorm room number, giggling over the idea that she was about to have such a cute boy in her room, omg! “I think I’ll be okay,” she said, but made a sad, pouty face. “But…do you really have to go? I have some towels so you can dry off too. It’s cold out, and it’d be terrible if you caught a cold.” It wasn’t that cold out, but it was still fall weather. She hoped he would stay. Then she could take care of him!

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Zeke nodded quietly to confirm what Rina was saying. He wasn’t a professional yet either, but he was gaining valuable hands-on experience at his internship while he went to school, so he was definitely on a good path. “Those are, um, imp-pressive career choices,” he replied softly. There was no way he could be a nurse, he would be a nervous wreck constantly. So he was very awed by people that could do that line of work. “I… Bet you would m-make a great nurse. Ch-cheerfulness is really important.” Wow, had he actually just managed a compliment that long? Amazing.

Zeke hoped he would be good for the field he was getting into. Doctors seemed to be able to get away with being quiet and even a little shy as long as they were good at they were doing. So he worked hard and studied a lot (at least when he wasn’t playing Minecraft). As for being boyfriend material, well, he didn’t intend on being a boyfriend anytime soon… “I wouldn’t do that,” he insisted softly, even though, yes, he had sort of said it because it felt like he needed to. But Zeke was sure she was a very sweet person, so he didn’t think he was lying either.

He hadn’t really had the opportunity to go into the girls’ dorms before, although he noticed pretty quickly that they didn’t seem to be much different than what he could remember of his old dorm room. “Alright,” he replied, about to leave, when Rina asked if he had to go. Zeke hesitated, looking over his shoulder. His training still wasn’t for a little while… And it would be good to make sure she really was alright before he left. “I can stay for a bit l-longer, but I do have, um, training soon,” he told her. “A t-towel would be great, though. Um, where are they?” He figured he would have to get them himself, since Rina was stuck on the couch nursing her injury (as far as he knew).

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“Do you really think so?” she asked, yearning to hear more well-phrased compliments form him. Because compliments meant he though she was interesting, right? That she was indeed ‘impressive’! “I like helping people, but I don’t think I could be a doctor, that’s too hard. Besides, doctors don’t really spend as much time with patients as nurses.” And pharmacists talk directly with patients over their medications, so that was a lot of interaction too. Aerina liked people too much to be a gloomy old doctor who shut theselves away.

But back to the boy at hand! The boy who had his hand on her back and under her legs….it suddenly occurred to her how easily it would be for him to feel her up. The fact that he hadn’t so far meant that he really was a true gentleman! Aerina really hit the jackpot with this one, so much she felt like gleeing right there in his arms. She wouldn’t though, even Rina wasn’t that shameful. She couldn’t stop the color in her face though. “Aww…well…thanks then!” she said in response to his honesty. Honesty was an important quality too, and he seemed to have a lot of that already.

Rina had never been in the boy’s dorm before, so she couldn’t say for how similar or different they were from one another. She did know that the rules said that boys weren’t allowed on the girls’ floor, but….but this had to be an exception! She was injured! How else was she supposed to get up the stairs?? (Though they would probably argue that she should have been taken to the nurse’s office instead). Either way, Aerina didn’t know when it would be again that she would have a boy in her room, so it was imperative that she keep him there for as long as she could manage. Unfortunately, her attempts at keeping him there would soon foil her initial plan of getting him there. “Oh, they’re over here!” she said mindlessly, getting up from the couch to grab a spare towel from the closet(since she was short, she kept everything within her own arm’s reach, which mean there was little stored on the top shelf of the closet).

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Zeke really wished he could just listen to her talk instead of talking himself, but he would feel bad, too, if all he did was nod and hum in agreement. Apparently the latter won over the former of his two worries. “I’m, um, sure you could be a d-doctor if you wanted to,” he told her quietly. Of course he had no evidence to back that up, but it seemed the right thing to say. “I, um… I am too shy to be a nurse, I think.” He would be much better at being shut away doing research more than talking to people, he thought (although in his current internship he did interact a lot with people, and he managed somehow).

He definitely wasn’t the kind to try and cop a feel while carrying a girl. Or anyone, really. Not only was he too shy, but he thought that kind of behavior was totally inappropriate, rude, and disgusting. Of course, he didn’t mind when Danny did it to him by surprise… But that was a totally different situation. Zeke nodded at her thanks, glancing to the side and unsure how to respond. Hopefully a nod was enough.

Zeke didn’t even really think twice about going into the girls’ dorms. He wasn’t really a student anymore, after all, and he had absolutely no intentions of doing anything indecent. And, yes, the main reason was that he didn’t want the young woman to try to walk there by herself and possibly worsen her injury. However…. “Wait, you shouldn’t-!” he protested as Rina went to get the towel. How could she have forgotten so soon?? Zeke rushed over and tried to usher her back to the couch. “I c-can get the towel, you just need to, um, sit and rest your leg, okay?” He wasn’t really suspicious yet, and quickly grabbed a towel to dry himself off with before going to hover around the younger girl. “Do you want me to, um, ch-check your ankle to make sure it’s alright?” he asked quietly. He wanted to see how swollen or inflamed it was.

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Luckily for Zeke, Aerina was very good at holding a one-sided conversation. Sure, she loved when she could rapid fire comments and exclamations like young school-girl she was with her friend Bunny, but she loved telling people all about everything that was going on too! There was so much to tell, after all! From her biggest worry, to the littlest thing that got her a grump, she loved having someone to tell all these things to. And Zeke was talking plenty, in her opinion, because she only noticed that he was being self-conscious and shy, and that was adorable to her.

Rina smiled and pushed him playfully. “I’m sure you could be a nurse too, if you really put your mind to it. You don’t get better at talking to people by not doing it,” she pointed out. But not everybody was comfortable with that. Well, they would be if Rina had anything to say about it! She would help Zeke push past his limits, if they ended up seeing each other again after this.

Aerina hoped to the gods that they would, and she was almost afraid that he was going to find out that she’d been faking her injury and decide that he didn’t want to see her ever again…which wouldn’t have been a problem if Rina could have remembered that she was supposed to be faking in the first place! But she was too focused on the fact that there was suddenly this super hottie in her room, who had carried her here like a princess, and she wanted to get him to stay for as long as humanly possible! Rina stared up at him slightly confused when he mentioned her leg and her eyes went wide with the realization. “Oh…oh you’re right, um…ow! Oh, I really shouldn’t have done that, ow ow, owiee~” she said, feigning distress in her ankle. Oh dear, she hoped he hadn’t noticed. But then he was offering to look at her ankle and she was torn between letting him, because hot guy touching her tenderly, or refusing because he might find out the truth.

Desire won over logic, and she nodded her head dumbly, staring up at his gorgeous face with stars in her eyes. “Uh-huh…go right ahead~” she said, a giddy smile curling her lips.

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Rina was actually probably the kind of girl that Zeke would feel alright being around – without the pressure to talk a lot, he could just sit back and listen and nod when appropriate. He’d come to learn that girls typically seemed better at talking a lot than men… But then again, Danny was his favorite person to be around and he was a man, so that didn’t mean a whole lot.

He nodded slightly to what Rina said, although the slightest of grimaces also touched his face at the comment about talking to people. “I guess it’s g-good that I don’t really want to be a nurse…” he murmured softly. “I… I talk to patients at m-my internship, though.” It didn’t seem to make him any less shy or awkward, though, in his opinion. Zeke just tried to deal with it as best he could. And hid behind Danny whenever possible.

His eyes widened in alarm when Rina seemed to suddenly remember her injury, and quickly offered an arm to help her back to the couch. “You sh-should be more careful…” Zeke suggested in a meek voice as he helped her sit. He really hoped she hadn’t injured it worse by putting weight on it. He was glad when she agreed to let him look at the injury, though – that way he could see how bad it was.

“My hands might b-be a little cold…” he murmured as he knelt down beside the couch. Tenderly, he pulled up the hem of her skirt just enough so he could get a view of the injured ankle. Zeke tilted it carefully, looking for signs of swelling or redness, and frowned curiously when he saw neither. “Hm… It must not be too bad, I can’t see any swelling. But I would still, um, put ice on it and keep your weight off of it f-for a while, at least a day or two.” His voice had gone a little more professional when he talked, but once Zeke glanced up at her face, he felt himself blush and quickly covered her ankle with her skirt again. “Um… I-I should probably get going now... Please, uh, t-take care of your ankle, okay?”

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“I’m sure you could do it, if you really needed to,” she said, trying to encourage him. “You’d be surprised at what you can do when you really gotta.” Even if it was talking to people, she was sure that he’d be able to do it in an emergency.

Then again, she didn’t really know Zeke at all.

Zeke didn’t know Rina either, nor that she was totally yanking his chain on the matter of her hurt ankle. She was surprised, though, that he didn’t seem to notice that she hadn’t been limping at all when she got up to get the towels. “S-sorry…” she said guiltily. “I just get really excited sometimes and forget things, teeheehee~”

She let him look at her ankle…and immediately stiffened when he obviously found nothing wrong with it. Of course, why would he, it wasn’t even hurt! But still….she could’ve swoon as she watched him take care of her ankle with such a serious and intense expression. He really was so much more attractive when he exuded such natural confidence. Rina found she was smiling at him the whole while and didn’t really hear much of what he said…until he announced that he was going to leave again.

“Eh? W-what? Why?” she exclaimed, sitting up and leaning forward. “Surely you can stay a little bit longer! I mean…” Aerina blushed and stared up at him, then drooped her head, her face growing sullen. “I guess…if you really have to.” Dammit. “I was hoping to talk to you more…” Rina raised her eyes to his again, batting her lashes and giving him the most adorable pout she could manage.