jikan_rpg | 1 Doctor + 1 Jealous BF + 3 Gangsters = ?

Comfortable? That's not happening anytime soon.

Vegas is wary when Wen Qing approaches, but nods in response to her question. She can check whatever she needs to, she's the doctor after all -- one sent to him by his cousin, who seemed genuinely worried, but who could say why.

"I was shot five times," he explained. "A superficial wound to the arm," thanks for that, Pete, "and the rest in the abdomen."

She's relieved when Cheng does as she asked but she knows she'll need to talk to him privately later. He's not going to be happy about any of this.

With her index and middle fingers extended, she moves them over Vegas' body, starting from his head to his lower abdomen where, if he were a cultivator, his core would be. She frowns as the wounds aren't ones she would've expected from an arrow. That doesn't really matter though as she can sense his life energy isn't getting weaker.

Taking his wrist, she puts her fingers against his pulse and closes her eyes. Faint blue light can be seen on her fingertips as she shares a little of her energy to help his healing.

"You'll be able to be moved without further damage if we're careful. How's your level of pain right now?

Shit was he so glad he warned Vegas about magic. Because everything this doctor did was magic in his eyes. His eyes widened a moment but he stayed calm, giving the hand he was holding a squeeze. As amazing as all of this was it would have gone so badly if he hadn't warned Vegas in advance.

"The bullets were removed and he's past being in dangerous," he informed her just so that way she would know what she was dealing with here.

Then his attention was focused on Vegas. "Can you sit up, Vegas? I can get you to the wheelchair when it gets here."

A very good thing Pete warned him. The still didn't stop Vegas from wondering exactly how high on medicines he was to see her fingers glowing like that. Those dark eyes followed everywhere her hands went, half expecting a knife to his gut. If Kinn wanted him dead, there was no one to stop him. But, if Kinn wanted him dead, he probably wouldn't have gone through the trouble of sending an assassin disguised as a doctor.

Vegas swallowed, then wet his lips. He was still tense about all this, but at least getting out of the strange hospital would be a step up.

"It only hurts if I move too much." If he's still, if he keeps his breath even, he can almost forget that organs had been punctured and that he'd nearly bled out on the ground of the main family's estate. To Pete, he nodded, using his arms to push himself completely, if slowly, upright.

"Bullets?" She asks at that strange term. "You mean 'bolts'? Like from a crossbow?" She doesn't react except a small nod when Pete is explaining things that she just discovered herself- didn't he see her examine him?- as this is common among caregivers. They eagerly share details with her about her patients that are obvious or repetitive.

She moves when Vegas does, slipping an arm behind him to help him sit up. She gives Pete a stern look. "You shouldn't encourage him to use the muscles in his abdomen. While the wounds are clear and healing, it would be easy for him to tear the healing flesh."

"No. Bullets. From a gun." Oh boy. Vegas was not going to like that she didn't know what a gun was. That was going to be a lot of fun to deal with but he kept quiet about it and instead made sure that most of the weight of Vegas was on his own body so that way the man wasn't using his muscles so much.

Rather than be upset by the stern look though, he just nodded. "I've been encouraging him to rest and to stop moving around so much on his own."

And since he was the person that Vegas would listen to the most? It had been largely successful.

Cheng finally makes it back with the wheelchair after getting turned around a bit. He pushes it inside the room, glancing at Wen Qing first to make certain she wasn't harmed. These people were going to be in her house and while the injured one looked harmless, Cheng knew better. Injured animals backed into a corner fought harder.

He brought the wheelchair over to the side of the bed and fumbled for a moment with the brakes. Giving up, he took a couple steps back to give Pete and Vegas room to maneuver. In fact, he took up a spot by Wen Qing. While he wanted to be between the strangers and her, he knew better and settled for being a silent sentinel by her side. If he could protect her by being an intimidating presence, he would do so even if he thought no one seemed to be intimidated by him.

Mental note: Be over at her place more often.

Vegas blinked at the whole conversation. Did this doctor not know what a gun is? How the hell can she treat bullet wounds if she doesn't even know what they are? He started to get a little fidgety. Maybe Kinn's trying to kill him, after all!

"It's true," he adds to confirm Pete's story. "Until he got here, I was gonna escape on my own." To find Pete. Not that he'd have gotten very far, but A for effort, right Pete? Right? He definitely needed all the help he could get to get from his bed to the chair.

Oh right, that was the thing Khun Kinn had been asking for when she first met him. She still doesn't know what a bullet is, but makes the guess it's the gun's 'arrow'.

She isn't going to argue with them about who told Vegas to sit up or told him to rest. It didn't matter so long as she'd helped him sit up and now she carefully maneuvered to get him onto the chair. "Hold his arm," she instructs Pete, drawing Vegas' other arm over her shoulders. Her hand rested on his back to help steady him. "Careful."

Between the two of them, they manage to get Vegas situated without harm.

As it turned out Pete understood what to do better than she realized. He had some medical knowledge thanks to being a bodyguard for a crime family for a number of years. However, he didn't say that and instead just helped Vegas into the chair, actually managing to hook the break with his foot so it wouldn't roll.

Once his boyfriend was in the chair, he made sure that he was as comfortable as possible before going to take the handles. He'd show her respect but he and Vegas were sure to be more comfortable if he was in change of where the wheelchair was going.

"Okay. We're ready."

So this was going to be easy, right? Just walk the visibly injured man out of there. And no one was going to bat an eye? Sure. It was that easy. Not.

"Wait." Something else needed to be added so there was less chance of being noticed. He pulled a small qiankun pouch from his belt and opened it, pulling out a deep eggplant-colored silk tunic from a bag that looked infinitely too small to house the item. Tying the bag off again, he looked at the two and slowly offered the item like he was offering it to a feral dog. "If your torso's covered, they'll be less likely to stop us. We don't have anything for your pale complexion, though, so don't look half dead when we pass the staff." Make up wasn't his thing.

If he was going to be a part of the breakout shenanigans, he was going to at least offer some acting advice so they hopefully wouldn't get stopped on the way out.

I am half-dead Vegas thought. At least, that's how he felt with limited mobility and no weapon. He quite literally couldn't fight to save his life. It was a harrowing feeling. He wondered if this was how Pete felt in the safehouse. Helpless. Useless. No wonder he ran away. Vegas would have run, too.

Feelings are so gross.

Vegas was a little distracted by getting settled in the wheelchair when Jiang Cheng pulled the clothes out of his pouch, though, even after the fact, Vegas wondered how such a garment fit in such a small bag. More magic, he supposed. Too bad they couldn't just magic him out of this hellhole of a hospital back to his own comfortable bed.

"I'll do my best," he replied dryly.

Edited 2022-10-05 15:35 (UTC)

Qing notices Pete is more helpful than she'd initially suspected. That'll make things easier. Once her patient is in the chair, she is pleased when Pete goes to the handles. To be honest, she hasn't had any experience on that end of the chair, just sitting in it. Also, while she could push her luck asking Cheng to go get the chair, wanting him to push some stranger around in it would've ended very poorly for everyone.

At least, that had been her assumption. When abruptly there are purple robes being offered, she looks to the sect leader with surprise. She could've kissed him! "Please be careful with that," she can't help herself say softly.

Drawing out her communicator, she sends a quick message to Kinn to let him know they're on the way to her house.

"Let's go. I'll speak with anyone if we get stopped." As she walks toward the door, she finally explains. "Khun Kinn is going to meet us at my house where you can recover."

Pete was quick to lock the chair again and move around to take the tunic himself. Then he very carefully and gently helped Vegas into it. Unable to help himself, he pressed a kiss to his hair once it was on before going back to the handles to unlock the chair again.

To Jiang Cheng he gave a nod of thanks. To Wen Qing he gave another nod to say that he was ready to wheel his boyfriend out of here and to her place. If Kinn was going to meet them there then he could just make sure to protect Vegas along the way.

Alright. That was something he could manage. Easily. Even without a weapon he was prepared to do everything he had to.

Fine. It seemed like they were all ready to go now. Cheng watched over them all as he hovered by Wen Qing, his hand occasionally going to brush the small of her back. He didn't know how to handle this sort of situation with people who he didn't know-people Qing didn't really know, either!

"She's the best doctor you could find here," he said unprompted. "Many here trust Wen Qing with their lives, myself included."

Vegas watches their interactions closely. He, too, is wondering what the relationship is here: bodyguard, lover, both? Jiang Cheng was definitely protective of his woman. Guess no one told him that her virtue is safe from ~~the queer mafia~~ them.

A brow lifts at the unprompted comment and Vegas nods. "Kinn trusts her. That's good enough for me." And if that gets back to Kinn Vegas will deny ever saying it, witnesses be damned.

He instinctively lifts a hand to reach for Pete's on the handles of the wheelchair. He knows he's in good hands with him. Pete was a bodyguard for the Theerapanyakul family. Vegas has no doubt he could kill a man with anything conveniently handy if need be.

Then he nods to Wen Qing, his tone more subdued. "Thank you."

Qing doesn't get why Cheng is crowding her so much. It's starting to irritate her until she remembers the last time he did this when she had that Ayakashi caught on her leg. Between that memory and suddenly being declared the best doctor in the city, her cheeks color a light pink.

"You're welcome," she says to Vegas. As a thank you to Cheng, she slips her hand in his and briefly gives it a squeeze.

Not wanting him to something else embarrassing to mark his territory, she heads out of the room. With her head held high and walking with purpose, there aren't as many people who question what they're doing. Anyone else gets told she's taking 'her patient' out for some air.

Bodyguard? Dating? Both like Kinn and Porsche? He wasn't entirely sure until he saw them holding hands. Then it quickly became Dating or Both. Either way he nodded in agreement with Vegas. He trusted them because Kinn did. That was all he needed.

Though he was going to pretend he never heard that for the sake of Vegas if asked later.

Shifting his hand forward, he made it easier for his boyfriend to hold it while still having control of the wheelchair. And when they were outside he still didn't relax. Because they still had to make it back to her place now and there was no telling what could happen between here and there.

That entire interaction eased him. From the hand to Vegas finally expressing gratitude, he smiled easily, watching her lead the way. From there, he motioned Pete to get a move on and took up the rear. He wasn't expecting any trouble in terms of fighting but if Wen Qing couldn't disperse any questioning person, he would push the pair right through and out the door.

The walk home was more relaxed on his part, mostly because he knew they were safe here and he could let his mind wander. Of course, Wen Qing would have a fully stocked medicine pantry, but he was sure she would run low sooner than later without knowing the extent of the man's injuries. It was one thing to say he had been punctured but by a bullet? What was that? Was it a spear, did it have a serrated edge like some of the sabers he'd seen in Qinghe? Was it more like a bolt?

As they travel closer to Wen Qing's home, he remembers something and chuckles behind him. "Looks like you have a new chair-cart, A-Qing!" Not only did they steal a patient, but they stole a wheelchair! Wuxian was not going to believe it. His jovial mood fades a bit when he sees a man pacing by the door of Wen Qing's home. That must be that Kinn guy, who stopped pacing when he saw them coming. He sees the man grin and wave at them.

Lovers, definitely. It has to be with the way Jiang Cheng relaxed once he realized Vegas and Pete were together. He guessed he can sympathize. He'd be more than a little jealous if Pete let two strange men stay with him. Okay, more than just a little.

But that's not the case here. Pete's with him and this woman and her boyfriend are helping them. Vegas may be an asshole, but he's an asshole who remembers his debts. He'd rather owe them to these strangers than to Kinn. He's still not sure where they stand.

Speaking of Kinn... there he is. Goddamit.

Wen Qing keeps an eye out for anything that could cause problems like ayakashi or changes in energy, particularly with Vegas. At Cheng's remark, she smirks and glances at him. "We can always return it later. For now we needed it more than they did."

What's that saying about asking forgiveness vs permission?

The last time she saw Kinn, he hadn't been smiling and looking so well so she's pleased at the improvement. "Good evening, Khun Kinn." She takes a quick moment to introduce Kinn and Jiang Cheng before bringing the focus back to Vegas and Pete. "Would you mind helping us lift the wheelchair up these stairs while I get the door?"

Pete had this feeling that Vegas was going to steal the wheelchair for himself but didn't bring that up to the couple. Or to Vegas. Let the man think of it on his own rather than give him ideas. Pete only looked like an idiot sometimes.

Seeing Kinn was a relief though. The man looked good and he was grateful to have his help to get the wheelchair up the stairs to get inside. Hopefully the room he had with Vegas was on the first floor but he'd make whatever room they got work regardless.

Seeing both Pete and Vegas did ease his mind some. It also brought about more worries as in who would be next and would they be an ally. But that worry was for another time. Again, Vegas was crawling his way from death's door and all the work they had put in the past half year was gone. Again, not to worry, too.

Upon Qing's request, he makes a move towards the front of the chair, aiming to pick up that half. "Kick me, and I'll drop you," he warns before he bends to lift the chair up. The sooner they got Vegas settled in bed, the better. Seemed like the tall guy in purple wanted to say something and he'd gotten the impression it was specifically for him.

Fucking rude, Kinn.

"Nice to see you too, cousin," Vegas sneers in turn. He'd probably drop him anyway, asshole. So Vegas is extra still and clings a little harder than absolutely necessary to the arms of the chair. Until the chair is back on stable ground, Vegas is barely even breathing. He hates this: being helpless.

Okay, so far so good. No fights with her angry grape and no harm has come to her cripple.

Leading them into the house, she guides them to a large bedroom with practically nothing in it but some three rolled futons, a small dresser, and some blankets, cushions, and a large basket to store them in. "You may use this room and there's another spare room upstairs. While you settle in, I'll make us some tea."

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