cw: starbound au. mild medical talk.
Taking deep breaths, slowly in through your nostrils and out through pursed lips, you realize that you haven’t ever seen this much of your blood in one place at the same time. Your eyes shift away from the tubing that extends from the soft of your elbow, but the reddish pink glow doesn’t leave your mind. You have a vial that you’ve kept close to your own person for such a long time, never clotting, just for emergencies, but now there will be reserves on the Starbound Pirates’ ship for the crew to keep you safe, and even some for the sake of research.
It’s a good thing for you and for science, you think. It doesn’t hurt too much, but the anxious look on the ship doctor’s face as she watches your expression carefully is starting to affect you a bit by proxy. You offer her a gentle, empathetic smile.
“How are you doing?” she asks. She means to sound reassuring, but you get the feeling that she’s prying really, trying to make sure you aren’t feeling bad. You wonder if she’s on to you, that naturally you’d be unlikely to say anything unless you were about to crumple.
“Good, we’re almost done.”
She checks the tubing and switches into one last collection tube, setting it on ice. Then, crouching closer next to you, you watch her eyes scan the venipuncture site, then once you avert your eyes for a moment, quickly retracts the needle, replacing her gloved fingers with gauze which she applies to your tiny puncture wound with gentle pressure. Your breathing stops sharply for a moment, and once she places a bandaid, she rubs the surface.
“Thank you so much. Ooh wait, not too fast!”
You’ve pulled yourself up to a sitting position perhaps a bit too quickly, and while your head doesn’t swim yet, you feel slightly lightheaded as you thread your hands through your hair, before placing them in your lap. Once she’s sure you’ve settled, she disposes of her sharps and caps the tubes a little tighter, writing labels carefully onto each one.
Her eyes shift back to you quickly, dark brown and inquisitive.
“Do you think you’ll be able to figure out a formula?”
She grimaces for a moment exaggeratedly, which actually has you laugh, but quickly nods.
“I’m pretty sure. I don’t remember if I told you, my mentor had been trying to figure out how to do artificial transfusions for different races… like the Fishmen in case humans couldn't or wouldn’t provide blood…” she trails off, then looks around her, something that you think might have been habit, before she leans in, “we’d even tried to come up with a formula for Buccaneers or Lunarians, but you know how that would have turned out if the World Government ever found out.”
The World Government causes more than its share of problems, you’re well aware of.
“Have you ever met a Lunarian?” you ask. She seems almost surprised by the question.
“No… but to be fair, I didn’t expect to meet you either. So I hope so someday.”
You grin and she smiles back. Rolling back in her chair as she pulls off her gloves and sticks her foot on the open mechanism of a bin, you call over to her attempting to make a joke.
“You’re not going to make clones of me, are you?”
She balks almost immediately, but then quickly regains her wit.
“I would never! Unless they’re all as sweet as you.”
Before you can come up with something clever to say back however, you can hear the door to the clinic practically burst open, with Zoro - who you find yourself almost embarrassingly glad to see - and Luffy in tow.
Luffy’s voice is loud, as usual, and he practically bounds over to the end of the room where the two of you have been speaking. You can see your crewmate panic, almost trying to shield her collection tubes from him with her body, but he really is nowhere near them. Zoro, however, takes more of your attention away from the dramatic scene even if he’s coming in in a manner far less boisterous, heading straight towards you. His eyes slide from your face to your venipuncture site first, then return to you, offering a look of gentle concern, even if he knows you would never be hurt on the ship.
“It’s just a blood draw, Zo,” you remind him, gently punching at his shoulder, but he takes your first gently in his hand, bringing your knuckles to his lips.
“She’s around Luffy too much, she could have forgotten how to do medicine,” he quips.
She feigns annoyance at his remark, but she’s too busy trying to protect her tubes away from Luffy’s curiosity, answering his questions to the best of her ability while having swatted his hand away at least once.
“I’m just trying to look! It’s weird-looking!”
“Are you calling my blood weird, Luffy?” you call over. Luffy looks back at you, the way his head tilts much like a dog that knows it’s misbehaved.
“It’s a little weird, isn’t it? I’m not saying it’s bad-”
“How about you say nothing?” Zoro replies. Luffy pouts, but Zoro lets it go as you laugh instead. His attention quickly returns to you again, his hand finding its way protectively curled just at the base of your left forearm.
“Do you need water? Are you hungry?” he asks.
“I could eat!” calls the man on the other end of the room.
“No one asked you!” both Zoro and the doctor say in unison. Luffy shakes his head in defeat, but decides to take the doctor with him, whether she likes it or not, in search of food.
“Well, I’m starving. You guys come join!”
The two disappear out of the room in a hurry, leaving just you and Zoro in each other’s company. Zoro rolls his eyes, but you find yourself giggling.
“You know, she was nervous the whole time,” you point out.
Zoro shrugs. “She should be, in case she hurts you.”
You give him a cutting look with your eyes, but he presses his lips on your forehead affectionately.
“As you know, this is just a silly precaution. I’ll never let anyone hurt you,” he reminds you.
You accept his kiss and his promise with eyes closed, reassured. “I know you’d never, either. Thank you.”
A healthy precaution but one practically unnecessary, because despite an overabundance of caution, you will always have Zoro to make sure you never lose blood, not even a single drop.
