#mandatory courses

This is how Henrik met Jackie: 

Henrik was due to get his CPR certificate renewed again for the next 5 years. And because of circumstances, Henrik had to miss the hospital’s colleague-specific CPR course. Later, his boss had told him the only other way to do the CPR course that was required for him, was to go through a 2-day similar course offered to the outsiders by the ambulance company. This meant he was put with a mix of college/Uni adults getting their certificates for school, as well as parents and EA’s, CYW’s and ECE’s. Henrik was originally dreading having to do the CPR course with complete strangers. Though he didn’t realize that things were about to get so much better for him. 

You see, a certain superhero was also going to be taking the 2-day CPR course. In fact, it would be the exact same day and time as Henrik’s CPR course would be. Jackie had been wanting to keep his own CPR course up to date. And thanks to the connections he’d made with the ambulance team over the years, Jackie was able to get into the class without having to worry about revealing his secret identity to the surrounding strangers…So long as he wore his super suit to the CPR course. That was the only downside. His suit was built for handling the weather outside! Not to be cooped up in a classroom for hours on end. But…you gotta do what you gotta do. 

When Henrik looked around the room before the course had started, he had quickly noticed the bright red suit and the blue mask the person was wearing. Wait a second…Was that Jackieboy Man?! THEE Jackieboy Man, the most well-known superhero of Brighton, England, was actually here in the room with him?! Doing a CPR course?! Who decided this?! What are the chances of ending up in this rare situation?! 

At the beginning of the course, the course teacher had taken the time to welcome everyone to the course, and especially welcome Jackie personally to the course. She was honored to be able to teach everyone in the room, and vowed to treat Jackie like a fellow student in the class. 

They went over the usual things like the heimlich maneuver (Or abdominal thrust, as it was now renamed), the CPR hand stance, the different types of CPR for different age groups, and steps for navigating a person with a lodged object in their throat. They made sure to go over what to do when the part of the airway is blocked and the person is conscious, when the object is completely blocking the airway while the person is conscious, and what to do when the person goes unconscious as a result of lack of airflow. They emphasized how important it was that everyone knew how to do the abdominal thrusts and CPR correctly, so people can be helped sooner, which in turn increases their chances of survival. 

Despite knowing this stuff like the back of his hand, Henrik still found it helpful to review some of these maneuvers. It helped remind him of the different mistakes people often make when doing these maneuvers, and helped him remember what reminders to give his surgical residents when he gets back. By the time they had finished going over that part of the curriculum, it was time for a 30 minute break. To be honest, Henrik had forgotten about how hungry he was until the break was ordered. When he pulled out his lunch, he quickly grew famished. He pulled out his sandwich and started scrolling on his phone while eating the sandwich. He was so busy scrolling, that he was barely even registering the taste of shaved roast beef and ham sandwich with mustard and lettuce that he had put together that morning. He was already halfway done with the sandwich and was quickly going down a rabbit hole of updates on Reddit. Right now, he was currently updating himself on the latest posts that filled the community known as r/medicalgore. It was a community for medical professionals, patients’ experiences and curious normies who love to see things like that. He was currently looking at a picture of the small intestines present outside the stomach from Abdominal Compartment Syndrome. 

Suddenly, he felt a finger touch his shoulder. 

“Whatcha up-” 

Henrik yelped and jumped, dropping his phone and freezing for a moment. 

The person who had talked and touched him, quickly wheezed and doubled over. “HAHAhahaha! Ohoho my god- Did I scare you? Ihi’m so sorry!” The person reacted. “That was not my intention.” The person said, walking into Henrik’s field of view. 

Henrik slowly groaned and sighed as he calmed down, rubbing his forehead. “Heilige Scheiße…” He mumbled to himself. “It’s fine, it’s fine. Just didn’t expect to-” Henrik looked up and widened his eyes when he saw who was talking to him…

It was Jackie! Jackie was not only looking at him, but was actually talking to him!

Jackie smiled and pulled up a chair. “Didn’t expect to get jumpscared today?” Jackie asked with a laugh as he sat down in the chair the wrong way. “Or didn’t expect to make friends?” Jackie asked as he leaned his arms on the back rest in front of him. 

Henrik thought for a moment and shrugged his shoulders. “B-Both.” He replied as casually as he could muster. 

“Do…you have a name?” Jackie asked him. 

“Oh!” The doctor quickly cleared his throat and nodded. “Ja. I’m Henrik.” He said. “Henry?” Jackie asked, holding out his hand.

“No, Henrik.” Henrik corrected, shaking his hand. “Henrik Von Schneeplestein.” Henrik replied. 

Jackie widened his eyes and gasped as he slowly covered his mouth. “W-Wait…The German doctor from Brighton General?!” Jackie asked. 

Henrik widened his eyes. “V-Vait…You know-” Henrik had to pause. 

“Yes! People rave about you all over the city!” Jackie said. 

Henrik smiled a bit and scratched the back of his head. “O-Oh…” He mumbled.

“And yet, no one seems to be able to tell me where to find you, how to get ahold of you...” Jackie explained. “Hell, there are people who barely know what you look like!” Jackie added. 

Henrik bit his lip. “I try to keep a low profile.” Henrik admitted. 

Jackie looked down and picked up something, before handing it to Henrik. “You kinda suck at that, by the way.” Jackie told him. 

Henrik tilted his head as he took his phone, before looking at it. He widened his eyes when he saw the graphic picture that was still visible on his phone. Henrik chuckled awkwardly and closed it before putting it back into his pocket. “Ups…” Henrik muttered, sounding out the U as more of an OO sound. 

“So…” Jackie leaned in slightly. “I don’t have anyone as a partner for practicing abdominal thrusts or CPR.” Jackie admitted. “You uh…” He bit his lip. “...You interested?” Jackie asked. 

“You…vant me to vork vizh you?” Henrik asked. 

Jackie nodded. “A MD with a PHD? and a superhero who uses it daily?” Jackie reacted. “We would be unstoppable.” Jackie told him quietly. 

Henrik chuckled. “You sound like a villain yoining forces vizh ozher villains.” Henrik chuckled. 

Jackie shrugged his shoulders. “I hear the monologues constantly.” Jackie replied. “I could play the part of a villain for a movie, and be given the award for ‘most accurate villainy’.” Jackie joked. Henrik hung his head and laughed at him. “Vhyhy can I see zhat?” Henrik asked. 

Jackie laughed as well. “Ohouch! My reputation is in shambles!” Jackie joked. 

“Alright everyone, break will be over in 5 minutes.” The leader told the room. 

Jackie sighed with overly dramatic annoyance on his face, while Henrik smiled slightly. “Ound yes.” Henrik said. “I vould love to be your partner.” He replied as he stood up and closed his lunch bag. 

Jackie smiled brightly as he closed his own lunch bag, before putting it back into his big backpack. 

When the class started up again, the teacher placed down CPR dummies in front of everyone. “Before we start with practicing on each other, we’re going to help you figure out how much you need to push down on the chest to get the heart pumping. To momentarily save everyone the pain of experiencing CPR in person, we will do this by practicing CPR on the dummies first.” The teacher told them. 

Henrik put the CPR dummy down onto the ground and started pushing down on the dummy while watching Jackie do the same thing. The teacher walked around the room, making sure everyone was pushing down in the middle of the sternum until the plastic click went off in the middle of the dummy’s chest. Henrik was doing CPR on the dummy, but the teacher noticed that he was actually pushing slightly too hard. “Careful, careful Henrik.” The teacher stopped him and sat down in front of him. “You’re pushing too hard. If you keep going, you’ll break a rib and cause internal bleeding.” The teacher told him. 

Henrik looked at the teacher, and intertwined his fingers before placing his palms on the chest again, waiting for the teacher’s instruction. 

“Now: Push down lightly, to see how much pressure you really need.” She said softly. 

Henrik pushed down a bit lighter, and found that the middle piece still clicked in the chest. 

“Good, good. Now keep up that same pressure.” She said. 

Henrik nodded and kept up a similar pressure. “Okay.” He replied. 

She moved onto someone else before moving onto Jackie. 

“Wow…Not bad at all, Jackie. But your elbows are bending a bit when you’re pushing.” She told him. 

Jackie stopped pushing, and adjusted his elbows so they were a little more straight. 

“Good.” She said. Now make sure you push with your body, not just your arms.” She said. 

Jackie nodded and kept going. 

She went over everyone else, before stopping the group CPR lesson. “Wonderful job, everyone. You can take a break.” She told them. 

The students all stopped practicing on the dummies, and sat back into their seats. 

“Put the dummies onto the floor under your desk.” She told them. When the students did as instructed, she cleared her throat. “Now, I would like you all to get into partners. We are going to try acting out the abdominal thrusts as well as the CPR. HOWEVER:” She spoke louder to make them listen. “You will not actually put force onto your partner, especially for practicing CPR. We don’t want to have to get an ambulance over here because one of you broke a rib while practicing.” She told them, making the class laugh slightly. She continued. “I would like you all to focus more on your hand placement rather than how deep your hands are going.” She added. 

Henrik turned around to look behind him and smiled at Jackie. Jackie waved to him, and walked up to him when they were given permission to disperse. 

Jackie looked at Henrik, and bit his lip. “Wanna go first?” He asked. 

“As vhat? Zhe victim? Or zhe bystander?” Henrik asked. 

“The bystander.” Jackie replied. 

“Ok.” Henrik replied. “Heimlich? Or CPR?” Henrik asked. 

“Heimlich first.” Jackie replied. 

Jackie started to pretend to be choking. Henrik was about to cringe at first because…you don’t need to act it out…but…he quickly jumped into gear when he realized he was ‘wasting time’. Plus, Henrik quickly took back his initial reaction when he noticed Jackie’s choking act was eerily realistic. Henrik placed his right fist on the diaphragm, and placed his left hand over the fist to stabilize his position. Then, he started pretending to do abdominal thrusts before leaning Jackie forward and giving him 5 back blows. 

Henrik continued this a couple more times before Jackie stopped him. “Okay, okay.” Jackie said. “I lost consciousness, and my lips are turning blue.” Jackie said, laying himself onto the ground. 

“Right into zhe CPR, huh?” Henrik asked. 

Jackie grabbed Henrik’s arm and pulled on it. “Dude, I’m gonna die!” Jackie reacted with a slight laugh.

“Okay, okay, mein Gott.” Henrik said before kneeling down and starting chest compressions. He did 30 of them, before pausing for a moment and starting another 30 chest compressions. 

When Henrik finished the third 30 chest compressions, Jackie sat up and patted his shoulder. “Okay. That’s enough. Good job.” Jackie said. 

Henrik rolled his eyes and shook his head with a small smile. “You’re a leetle bossypants.” Henrik teased. 

“Well, yeah. Someone’s gotta be the boss when the world’s in danger.” Jackie added. 

Henrik chuckled and helped Jackie up onto his feet. Henrik smiled and cleared his throat. “Okay. Your turn.” Henrik said. 

“You gotta act it out first.” Jackie told him. 

Henrik shook his head. “No can do.” He replied. 

Jackie rolled his eyes. “Fine.” He wrapped his arms around Henrik’s belly and felt around. “Okay. So where is-” 

“eEK! Jahackiestop-!” Henrik yelled. 

Jackie grumbled slightly. “Dude, stop wiggling around! I’m trying to save your life!” Jackie reacted. 

Henrik grunted and tried to pull himself together. “Okayokay. You got the posi-hihition- HAHAHahaha!” Henrik doubled over and started laughing. “Jesus christ, you’re ticklish. Are you sure you can handle this?” Jackie asked with a laugh. 

A few of the students had stopped practicing, and started giggling at the boys. Jackie quickly noticed this, and smiled a bit as he shrugged his shoulders. The man was going crazy, even though Jackie wasn’t even moving his fingers anymore. He was being all dramatic for no reason, and his drama was creating a crowd of gossipy women.  

“Okayokahay-” Henrik pushed himself out from Jackie’s hands and turned around. “You did zhat on purpose.” Henrik spat at him, clearly angry. 

Jackie chuckled. “I really didn’t. I was trying to make sure that my hands were in the right spot.” Jackie admitted. “And you’re just being a big baby about it.” Jackie added, crossing his arms. 

Henrik narrowed his eyes at him, before freezing when he heard giggles from the other side of the room. Henrik looked over, and noticed a few of the other students were watching him, and either whispering to each other or giggling at Henrik. 

Henrik quickly grunted and sighed. “Fine. Ve’ll try it again. But NO tickles.” Henrik ordered as he turned himself around. “I am embarrassed enough as it is.” Henrik added. 

Jackie wrapped his arms around Henrik. “No guarantees.” Jackie said. This just made Henrik roll his eyes. “But if you don’t wiggle around too much, we might get this done faster.” Jackie said. “Now…” Jackie placed the side of his fist on the upper abs. “Here?” Jackie asked. 

“Ja.” Henrik replied. 

Jackie started pretending to do the abdominal thrusts before bending Henrik over in front and doing the 5 back blows to the back. 

Jackie did this a couple more times before watching Henrik bring himself to the ground. “Okay. I passed out from lack of oxygen.” Henrik told him. 

Jackie knelt down and interlocked his fingers before placing his palms in the middle of Henrik’s upper chest. Jackie focused more on placement instead of how deep he was going, and pretended to do 30 chest compressions. When he was done, Jackie paused for a moment before starting up another 30 chest compressions. 

“Not bad, Yackie.” Henrik said. 

Jackie chuckled. “You’re supposed to be unconscious.” He reacted. 

“Eeeh.” Henrik waved his hand. “It’s yust a demonstration.” Henrik mentioned. 

Jackie smirked and poked Henrik’s belly in response. 

This just made Henrik jump and sit up super quickly. “HeY-” Henrik lightly punched Jackie’s shoulder, which made the superhero laugh. 

“Sorry, sorry. Couldn’t resist.” Jackie admitted with a giggle. 

“Alright everyone, stop what you’re doing.” The teacher said. 

“Aw man…” Jackie muttered. 

Henrik got up onto his feet. “It’s time to go back to your seats and begin learning about medical conditions and assistive devices like inhalers and EpiPens.” She told the class. 

Jackie and Henrik sat at their tables again, and continued to pay attention as the teacher moved onto the next thing. The teacher went over the assistive devices before telling them what they would learn the next day. After the class, the teacher gave the students all tests. If they pass the test, then they earn their first part of the certificate. And once they finished the test, they were free to go. Jackie and a few others finished their tests early, meaning they could go home early. When Henrik finished his test, he handed it to the teacher and let her mark it. “Thank you, Henrik.” She said before going over the test. It didn’t take long for the teacher to mark it, and tell Henrik that he passed. “Congratulations, Henrik. You can go home now. See you tomorrow.” She said with a smile. 

Henrik nodded and waved to her before leaving the room. He left the building through the front door, and started to walk to his car. But the man paused when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see who it was, but found there was no one. But Henrik wasn’t stupid. He looked up and turned around enough to find Jackie flying in the air above him. “Vell look who it is.” Henrik said. 

“Finally finished, doc?” Jackie teased. 

“Ja. Vhy are you still here?” Henrik asked. 

“Because maybe I wanted to wait for my new friend!” Jackie reacted. 

Henrik raised an eyebrow. “You…vant me to be your friend?” Henrik asked. 

Jackie shrugged his shoulders. “Only if you want to be.” Jackie explained. 

Henrik slowly smiled and shrugged his shoulders. “Okay.” Henrik replied. “See you tomorrow?” He asked. 

“Right-o!” Jackie replied. 

“Okay.” Henrik hopped into his car and closed the door. “Tschüss.” Henrik said. 

“Gute Heimfahrt!” Jackie replied before flying away. 

Henrik had to do a double-take when he heard Jackie. Did he just speak almost-perfect German?! 

Henrik quickly looked out the window, and opened his car door, hoping to catch him again. But he was gone…Completely gone. Nowhere to be found. It was…a little freaky, to be honest.