Neighbor AU - @wolfstarmicrofic - word count: 351
His mother had drilled it into him since childhood: always greet your new neighbors.
Of course, Remus turned out to be a grumpy, introverted twenty-something with the personality of an elderly old man but he still stuck to Hope's advice. So, every time someone new moved in nearby, he plastered a smile on his face and arranged a plate of cookies, hoping against hope (ha!) that the newest neighbors weren't chatty people.
They usually were. That was the type of place he lived in: everyone wanted to know everyone's business, and everyone was just a bit too friendly. So when someone move into the flat next door to him, he mentally prepared himself for an hour-long conversation about Mrs. Next-Door's kids and Mr. Down-The-Hall's door decorations, cursing the building for being so transient.
But when he knocked on the door of Apartment 208, he almost dropped the tray he was holding.
This neighbor was not the norm. He was Remus's age, with a leather jacket and a ripped band tee, long hair that made Remus want to grab at it a bit and streaks of eyeliner under his eyes that made him look sort of...punk.
God, he looked lovely.
"Cookies?" The man asked, blinking down at the tray Remus held loosely. "Are you part of the greeting committee or something? That lady down the hall already tried to get my whole life story."
Hardly able to help himself, Remus snorted. "That's Mrs. Nelly, she's a gossip. I hope you didn't tell her a word."
But the other man grinned mischievously. "Oh, I did. It was all lies. She thinks I'm a prostitute from Las Vegas. I've never seen anyone leave so fast."
Remus let out a bubble of laughter. "Well, all the ladies on this hall love to gossip with me, so I happen to know that her son ran off with his wife's sister last month."
"No shit!" The man grinned. "I'm Sirius. Come in and tell me more?"
And for the first time, Remus wasn't dreading the possibility that this get-to-know-you conversation might take up his entire afternoon.
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Prompt 17 - Hospital AU
@wolfstarmicrofic April 17, word count 995
CW- Cuts, Animal attack, Bite marks
Sirius stretched across the gurney, carefully holding his cup of coffee so he didn’t pour the scalding liquid down himself.
“Hey, James. How long have we been on shift?” He asked his equally prostrate best friend. James groaned as he lifted his arm to check his watch.
“8 hours.” He yawned. They were on the night shift, and the cases were either dull easy to diagnose stuff that could have waited for a GP in the morning or total calamities.
He raised his head to take a sip of his drink when his pager went off.
“Damn it,” He cursed as he dodged the liquid that came flying out of the cup. “That was close. I almost marred my beautiful face.”
“Come on, urgent call to A&E,” James told him, grabbing him and jogging down the hall.
The room was utter Bedlam. People were shouting at each other. A nurse was carrying a handful of bloody cloth to the hazardous waste bin. More nurses were fitting IVs and monitors to the patient lying still in the bed. Nurse Evans moved out of the way, and Sirius got his first glance at what they were working with.
In the bed lay a twenty-something young man. Who could have been quite good-looking but now had long gashes across his face, one of which sliced his face in half from the corner of his eye, across his nose and finishing just above his lip. Sirius sucked in a breath as he took it in.
“That’s not the worst of it.” Nurse Evans warned. Sirius glanced down as his eyes darted across the rest of his body. There were more slashing cuts, and the soft flesh of his waist and abdomen had huge puckered holes dotted about in stretched-out crescent arches.
“Are those bite marks?!” James exclaimed, moving closer to the man. Nurse Evans nodded.
“His back is all cut up, same as his front. Whatever attacked him got him good.” She sighed. “Poor man, he’s going to be in a lot of pain and shock when he wakes up.” She handed over his notes to James and busied herself cleaning the wounds.
Sirius couldn’t take his eyes off the man.
“Do these look like dog bites?” He questioned as his fingers ghosted above the damaged skin.
“They look too big but definitely canine. Wolf, maybe?” James screwed up his face as he tried to figure it out.
“There aren’t any wolves in Britain.” Sirius objected. “Where was he found?”
“Er, notes say in the car park next to the—oh, for crying out loud. Next to the woodland park.” James scanned the text.
“Still no wild wolves in Britain,” Sirius muttered, only half paying attention to James.
He grabbed some of the disinfection materials and helped Nurse Evans clean out the wounds. James began spouting off multiple tests he wanted to carry out and leaned over Sirius. Speaking quietly so only Sirius could hear him, he murmured.
“Be careful, yeah. I’ve seen that look before. Don’t get too invested.” Sirius shook his head.
“I’m a doctor, James, I care. That’s all it is.” He lied.
“Make sure it is,” James replied, knowing full well Sirius wasn’t telling the truth.
Nurse Pettigrew appeared with his camera and began documenting the wounds in case it was a police matter.
“Should I send these to a bite specialist?” He asked Sirius and James. James nodded.
“Yes, that way, we will know what we’re dealing with. Send a couple of the slashes as well. I swear they look like claw marks.” Nurse Pettigrew disappeared as quickly as he’d appeared after taking countless photos and only disturbing the cleaning once to get shots of the man’s back.
It took hours to get the man’s wounds cleaned and sutured. He’d had multiple scans, including a brain scan. To make sure he didn’t have a brain bleed. But he didn’t wake up. They weren’t worried yet. His body had sustained a lot of damage, and nothing in his scans showed any reason for him not to be conscious.
Sirius’s shift had ended hours ago, but he stayed sitting at the man’s side. James had tried to convince him to leave.
“Sirius, he’s a patient. You need to leave. Please don’t get overly attached to him. You don’t even know anything about him.”
“He’s all alone, James,” Sirius sighed. He already knew he was treading the line between a caring practitioner and becoming too personal with a patient. “No one has called looking for him. The police say no one matching his description has been reported missing. It’s been hours. How can no one be missing him?” James sighed at Sirius as he roughly ran his hand through his hair.
“I know, I know. Just be careful, Sirius.” He clapped his friend on the back and left him to it.
Sirius slept in the uncomfortable visitor’s chair. He kept waking up to check on his patient, but he was always asleep. Morning came, and one of the Nurses brought him breakfast and took the patient’s vitals. It wasn’t until the afternoon, a full 24 hours after he’d been brought in. The man’s eyelids fluttered. Sirius watched with bated breath as slowly, slowly, the man regained consciousness.
“It’s okay,” Sirius said in his most calming voice. “We think you’ve been attacked. You’ve got a lot of cuts, so I need you to keep still so you don’t rip any stitches. But you’re safe, and so far, no complications.” He realised he’d taken the man’s hand and promptly dropped it. “Sorry,” He mumbled under his breath. He watched the man wiggle his now free fingers. Sirius’s training finally kicked in.
“I’m Doctor Black, Sirius. Do you know what your name is?” He asked as he pressed the call button. The man thought for a second.
“Remus Lupin.” He said faintly.
“Well, it’s lovely to meet you, Remus Lupin.” Sirius smiled at him as Nurse Evans wandered in.
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