Saltburn

"There's no one here to talk to, they just picked me up and dropped me in a room."

He's got a headache and can already feel tomorrow's hangover tentatively knocking to add a second, worse headache as soon as he closes his eyes and falls asleep.

"Yeah, it's a private room," he sighs and looks down at his hurting foot.

"I don't know..." he whines but gets interrupted by the door swinging open and - finally! - a doctor walking in.

"Mr. Catton..." he says without looking up from the iPad in his hand.

"Someone's here now," Felix tells Elsbeth and hangs up unceremoniously.

The doctor stops reading whatever is on the iPad and looks up.

Felix puts the phone face down on his chest and tries to look as pitiful as he can to make sure he doesn't get bumped down on the priorities list in favor of someone with a missing limb or a heart attack.

The guy is young-ish for a doctor - probably thirty or so - with striking blue eyes that slide over Felix...appreciatively?

They are definitely lingering on his face and his mostly naked legs longer than seems necessary.

The doctor walks to the foot of Felix's hospital bed, where his feet are propped up - one of them swollen unattractively and starting to purple.

The doctor looks at the crushed foot with detached but focused interest.

"So, Felix. You have had a...Keg? Fall on your foot?"

"Yes," Felix says.

The doctor winces in sympathy.

"Shame."

Weird thing to comment, but okay.

The doctor slides one hand under his ankle, gently resting Felix's foot in his palm.

"How is your pain on a scale of one to ten?"

"Ten", Felix says.

The doctor gives him a look from the foot of the bed.

"Really?"

"You don't think I'm a ten?" Felix says and realizes too late that he might still be pretty drunk.

The doctor chuckles.

"A ten is usually when your arm gets severed or you get shot in the stomach."

Felix shrugs. "A five then I guess. More if i move it."

The doctor's finger gently touches the top of Felix's foot.

"Can you move your toes?"

"I'd rather not."

"I have to check mobility."

Felix flexes his toes tentatively and pain shoots up his leg.

"Ahh," he groans, his head hitting the backrest of the hospital bed.

"It's all right," the doctor says gently, his hand curling around the ankle for a moment.

Then he puts the foot down.

"Full or empty?" he asks, taking a bottle from a drawer nearby.

"What?" Felix opens his eyes which he had closed from the pain.

"Was the keg full or empty?"

"Half full?"

"That mindset will serve you well in life."

"What?"

"Nevermind."

The doctor places the bottle in the IV stand next to Felix's head.

His blue scrubs are at least one size to small, straining unsubtly around his arms and chest. His biceps contracts as he flicks the bottle with one finger.

That's when Felix notices the plastic ID tacked to the bottom of his top. It has his picture, and in large letters it reads:

Oliver Quick

NURSE

Huh.

"I've never had a male nurse," Felix says.

"First time for everything," Oliver says.

He's flirting, right? This is flirting? Felix looks at Oliver's face which looks carefully neutral.

"Any allergies to medications?" Oliver the nurse continues, matter-of-fact.

Felix shakes his head.

"Afraid of needles?"

Felix shakes his head again and quickly presses his eyes closed.

He can hear Oliver stepping closer, can feel the warmth radiating off his body. He smells like disinfectant and men's deodorant.

"Are you lying to me?" Oliver asks, his voice now low and much closer to Felix's face.

"Um."

Felix feels him take his arm in his warm, calloused palm, turning it gently so the soft inside of his elbow is turned towards Oliver.

"It's okay. And more common among men than you may think."

Felix opens his eyes and finds Oliver's blue eyes looking at him.

"Really?" he asks tentatively.

"You wouldn't believe how many grown men I've seen squealing like little piglets. I'm sure you'll do much better."

Oliver swipes a pad of gauze with disinfectant over the inside of Felix's elbow.

"Look at my face?" Oliver says, voice calm.

He nods as Felix raises his head. "Good."

His eyes flick down, then back up again. Felix hisses and looks down where the IV entrance is neatly stuck into his vein.

"Well done," Oliver says, his finger skimming Felix's bicep.

He clips the tube to the needle, then opens the drip.

"This should help with the pain."

He starts typing on the iPad, leaving Felix to wonder why he kind of enjoyed having that IV put into his arm. He's not thinking too much about it though because a comfortable warmth is spreading throughout his body, numbing the pain in his foot.

"You're gonna need an x-ray but we'll have those pretty feet in order again no matter what."

Felix looks at his own feet. He's never thought too much about them but he guesses they look pretty good, compared to other guys. Slender, not too hairy, his toes straight and proportionate.

Wait...what?

Oliver is standing at the foot of the bed, looking down at his feet almost wistfully.

"Maybe you can...check the other foot?" Felix suggests.

"Did you hurt it, too?"

"No, but..." Felix swallows, his toes flexing against the sheet. "If you want."

Oliver looks up at him, their eyes meeting.

Oliver keeps eye contact as his finger slides between Felix's first and second toe, and gently starts rubbing the soft skin between them.

This is weird, right? But it doesn't feel weird - it feels good.

Oliver's hand slides under his heel, cupping it.

"You wanna suck them?" Felix asks.

Oliver's eyes dart to the door of his room. "I'm at work," he says, sending a shocked rush through Felix. Like he was actually considering it.

"Someone's gonna get you that x-ray soon," Oliver says, still not letting go of Felix's foot.

"And then I'll probably have to stay a few days."

"Maybe," Oliver says, looking at the door again and pulling his hand back.

"Look me up then. I'll get a single room."

Oliver raises his eyebrows.

Felix smiles.