Chapter Text
The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was a white ceiling. He had to blink several times before registering where he exactly was.
He was in the hospital. The smell of antiseptic was horrible as usual.
“Finally awake, huh, my dearest Subedar.” A familiar voice made him look to the side to see an older man walking towards him.
He just looks confused. Why was he here? And as if reading his mind the man answered, “You passed out. Was in a coma for- what? A day? Yeah. A day.”
“Sir Baden-”
“We aren’t at work right now, Subedar.”
“I’ll call you by name if you stop calling me by my last name.”
“Why not? Subedar is really fun to say.”
The brunet on the bed sighed as he checked his body. He couldn’t remember why he was bedridden in the first place. He was about to ask when Jose cut him off with the answer to his question.
“Overwork. Anemia. A college student brought you here and called me. Didn’t think that you’d have me in your emergency contacts.”
There was a pause. What was he going to ask next? How this man just answers his questions without him asking or how he got here? His eyebrows furrowed as he opened his mouth only to be interrupted again by the door opening. An unfamiliar man came in. He squinted at the stranger. Black short wild locks framing his face, a nasty burn scar on his upper right face, and brown eyes. Yeah, Naib had no idea who this man was but he has an inkling as to why he was here.
“You are…?”
The stranger smiled, “Norton Campbell. Better take care of yourself more, Detective Subedar.”
Naib paused. “I will keep that in mind. I take it that you’re the one that brought me here?”
“Yeah. Well, I just came in here to check on you and mister Jose. I’ll be leaving for classes now.” Norton said as he checked his phone. He frowned for a split second before smiling back again at Jose and Naib. That switch in expressions did not go unnoticed by the two detectives in the room.
“Wait, I’ll have to thank you somehow- Can I ask for your contact information?”
“Mister Jose has it,” Norton answered as he checks his phone again and walked towards the door. “Good day. I’ll be leaving now.”
When the door closed, Naib just stared at the closed door, wondering about the suddenness of the visit. Norton came in only to leave a few minutes after. What was he trying to do? There was no way he was here just to check on Naib and Jose.
Naib had so many questions in his head.
“Oh? Did he interest you so much?” Jose’s voice made the shorter man look at him in confusion.
“No?”
“Well, I’ll send his number to your phone. Be sure to thank the kid.”
“You know him?”
“Yeah. I used to tutor him a few years back. He is a good kid. Quite mischievous though.”
“No wonder but I wouldn’t be so sure with the good kid part. I can see why he’d be mischievous.” Naib stated as he properly sits up from the bed and searched for his phone, not realizing it was on the table beside his bed. When he finally saw the device he blinked at it.
There was another pause before a sigh could be heard in the silent room.
”You need a vacation, Subedar.”
After grabbing his phone, he looked up at Jose, “I actually don’t.”
“Look at the mirror and say that to me again.” Jose crossed his arms when he said this.
“I don’t see what’s wrong with my appearance-”
“I’m talking about the dark circles under your eyes, Naib. For the love of god, just take a few months off. You have been working nonstop. You will die soon from overwork.”
“I’m fine.” He didn’t really mind if he died from overwork.
“You literally just woke up from a one-day coma you little shit. Listen to me for once and take a few months off. You’re banned to go to the office. Jack told me to tell you that.”
“What?! Then I’ll have nothing to do!”
“Oh my god, go get a hobby! Go look for a lover! Go rest! There are so many things you can do.”
Naib just groaned in annoyance as he checked on his phone. Only a message from Jose and Jack. He’ll read those later.
“Come on. Would it hurt to just take care of yourself for once?” Jose sighs again. This time, in disbelief, as he takes one of the bottled water that was on the table beside Naib, “Here.”
The younger man took the bottle and just held it. He looks at it and at Jose. His eyes showed the other brunet how he felt. There was no need to answer that question.
A few hours later Detective Naib Subedar was discharged from the hospital. He walked and walked until he halted in front of the man from before. This was the lobby. This made Naib raise an eyebrow. Why was this kid back? Also, why was this kid so tall? He had to look up just to see his face.
“Ah, finally discharged aren’t we, Detective Subedar?” There was a big grin present on his face and voice. Naib squinted at him.
This doesn’t look like a ‘good’ kid like what Jose described him as. (Jose, you fucking liar.) Not with that shit-eating grin and with that dry way of speaking. Naib felt like there was a headache in front of him.
“Have your classes ended, Mister Campbell?”
When he heard his last name being used, he frowned. “Don’t call me that. Just call me Norton. And yes. It has ended.”
“Why are you here then? Is someone you know in the hospital?”
Norton stared at Naib before answering, “Yes but now he seems to already be discharged. I want to talk to him more about how he was going to thank me.”
"Oh," Naib's expression softened a bit. “Alright. What would you like? Money? Food? Coffee-”
“You.”
There was silence followed by several blinks as he heard this. He never got used to flirting. He had relationships before but he never got them from flirting, surprisingly. His face flushing a bit as he sent a glare on to the younger man. “It’s not nice to tease your elders, Campbell. It's better if you find someone younger.”
“I’m not though. I just want an excuse to piss my parents off. That should be enough time to annoy them. Also, they wanted proof that I have a boyfriend to cancel some kind of arranged marriage thing.”
“Ha?” Judging from what Norton was saying Naib understood that this brat was going to be in some kind of arranged marriage but is opposing it to get a boyfriend. In shock, Naib just looks at Norton.
“Why me?” Was what came out of his mouth instead of asking what exactly the taller man meant. The request was already quite incredulous as it sounds and yet Naib isn't turning it down yet... well, more like he didn't have the heart to.
“Because it’s convenient. Oh, just to make sure, you just have to pretend. It's only for a month.”
Naib was about to have a migraine. He was not expecting anything like this. Should he say no though? This kid was just asking for his time and energy to piss his parents off. While Naib does not want to be involved in any of the drama Norton’s family was in, he didn’t really think that hard about it. It’s just a month and he was going to be very bored either way since he was banned from working now. Why not humor this kid? He nods.
Norton gives Naib a big smile and pulls his phone out. He really didn't expect it to go that easy. He was expecting to spend more time persuading the older man. “Your number?”
There was something very off about this kid but Naib couldn’t catch on with what it was. He continued staring at Norton’s smiling face.
“Detective Subedar~” Norton tried to get the detective’s attention using a singsong voice only to be ignored.
“Ah-” Naib finally snapped out of it and figured it out. He continued looking at Norton as the taller man continued smiling at him.
It was the smile. Naib used to do that smile. So fake. So wrong. He feels like he is looking at his past self. How infuriating.
“Don’t smile when you don’t mean it. It pisses me off.” He blankly states as he pulled his phone out and sent a small ‘Hi’ to Norton. “There, my number.”
The corner of Norton’s mouth twitched. What a grumpy man. This was a convenient way to piss his parents off but that would mean he would have to deal with this grumpy older man in front of him. Currently, the spite to his parents was higher so it didn’t really bother him that much. Naib, on the other hand, already regrets everything. He has not even said yes verbally but Norton already took his answer as affirmation.
…
Why did this kid even want to spite his parents? He didn't want to get into some family soap opera.
Naib, you should have thought things through more.
“Wait, don’t drag me to whatever drama you and your family have. I'll just be there to annoy them. I don't want to be involved in anything else.”
“It’s not drama. It’s just annoying them.”
“Why do you even want to annoy them?”
“Are you sure you should be asking these questions, Detective Subedar?”
There was an uncomfortable silence when Naib asked that. Naib thought that was an unfair question to ask, however, he doesn’t say anything. He looked at Norton for an answer. For some reason Norton's phone because a million times more interesting, he wouldn't stop looking at it.
A sigh escaped the shorter man. There was no point in waiting for an answer if Norton was that unwilling to say anything.
What an awkward relationship. They were off to a good start… probably…