[CLOSED]

[sweetlies]

who: Ciel, Jason Todd, Undertaker, Beverly Crusher
what: Ciel has an asthma attack
when: 9/17
where: Book store, hospital
warnings: None?

He'd had time during the day, business was slow and if he stayed, he might have fallen asleep in his office. So he'd sent a message to Jason, inviting him to join the teen at a local bookstore to pass the time. And with the intent of picking at his brain a bit for more reading material, things he could read to keep himself up at night until he was too tired to dream.

If he couldn't dream, he couldn't disturb anyone.

He got himself a cup of tea while he waited, resisting a cough. What an inconvenient time to get sick. Hopefully it wouldn't spread to Jason- maybe he should have thought this meeting over more carefully.

Comments

[sweetlies]

In that, they could agree, a mutual hatred of hospitals. Ciel was accustomed to his aunt coming to the manor to tend him or his mother when an asthmatic fit became too much for Vincent or Tanaka to handle with their normal methods.

Right then he'd prefer to be in his own home, or apartment, rather than a sterile smelling room. Wrapped in warm blankets, with tea and something sweet. Or warm milk and honey like his brother would sneak for him in the night so he'd sleep better.

"Jason." He managed a smile of his own, glad his hair was no longer sticking too his face, that he could breathe better again. "I apologize for worrying you."

[hititwithacrowbar]

Leslie or Alfred were the only doctors Jason ever let near him. Usually he'd dig the bullets out of his own skin and stitch himself up if he had a choice. Last time he had gone to a hospital it was because of Roy. Sitting at his former best friends beside praying he made it through the night. Ciel wasn't burned and on death's doorstep, but Jason still felt the same anxiety, he didn't know the kid well enough to go over and old his hand but he did offer a weak smile and finally making his way over sitting The Outsiders book down beside him.

"Don't apologize, Ciel." He spoke as he stood and crossed his arms, trying to not let the worry show but it did. "Your alright and that's all that matters. How do you feel?"

[sweetlies]

He could definitely see the worry and, for the moment, Jason has more of his attention that the book. It does get a glance though, and a little more of a smile. That was a gesture he hadn't been expecting. Gifts, he'd gotten some before. Usually Elizabeth insisting on getting him something for his birthday

"Better. Doctor Crusher took good care of me. I am tired though." He was always tired afterward.

[hititwithacrowbar]

Jason liked giving gifts when he could, growing up as poor as he had it was never a choice, and when his fortunes changed, he had had no real friends to speak of. Now, in adulthood he took any chance he could to try even if he wasn't the best at gift giving, he enjoyed trying.

Jason looked away a second to reach back and pull a chair over, taking a seat next to the bed so he wouldn't hover around. Nodding as Ciel explained. "I figured you might be. Hospital visits always tire me out even when I'm not the one being admitted. I'm glad to hear the doctor took care of you. Did she get you an inhaler in case this happens again?" he asked, making sure to mask the worry but not as well as he'd like.

[sweetlies]

"I've actually never been. Except to visit my aunt, she worked in the Royal London Hospital before she was killed. She treated my fathers butler."

Tanaka had been in good hands. He would have been too, if he'd ever been there as a patient and Angelina had found out. She would have too, the Phantomhive's were never unnoticed in places like that.

"Mm, a prescription for one. And a nebulizer." He hoped they wouldn't be anything he would need again. Not for awhile. It would get cold before long though, and he tended to get sick more often then. Of course, he probably wouldn't be allowed to go out and about unprepared after this.

[hititwithacrowbar]

"I've been more times than I care to count. Luckily, people in my line of work learn to patch themselves up. So, not to much in recent years." The image of Roy's burned arm played in his mind but, he just offered a soft look to Ciel. "She sounds like Leslie, she's one of the people who raised the man who took me in when my parents died. She was the finest doctor I ever knew. You trusted her, I'm guessing?" He asked, always curious to learn a little more about the young Earl.

It was like a Wayne going into a hospital, not only would the whole staff be on alert, but so would the media. Sometimes, Jason was glad they never fixed his legal status from dead. That was a pain in the ass he got to avoid.

"Good, good, those will help. There's no shame in it at all. Lot's of people have asthma, namely in the big cities."

[sweetlies]

Had he trusted Madam Red? Oh yes, absolutely. She was his aunt, the doctor who had delivered him and his brother, who had treated himself and his mother when either got too sick. She'd also been a part of his group of Aristocrats, one of his trusted few and informants.

"I did. I knew Madam Red my entire life, it was impossible not to."

Maybe if he hadn't trusted her so completely, he might have seen that something inside her had snapped. Or maybe if he hadn't become the Watchdog, he might have cared enough to see.

"I suppose not." He wasn't so sure. "Mother had asthma and she managed fine."

[hititwithacrowbar]

Jason really liked that name, but he was partial to the color red. It seemed alien to him to know someone your whole life, but, Jason knew his situation was far from normal. Namely when comparing to a noblemen.

"It makes sense. In a way." Bruce trusted Alfred like that. So, it seemed normal enough.

Sometimes busy men didn't notice things they didn't have time to. Which, was one of Jason's problems with Bruce. Ciel was a child though, even so adult in every other way but age and body.

"Not at all. You will find this modern era that we are much more accepting of such things. It's no shame at all. So, when you get home after maybe a day of rest you can be up to full speed with no more worries of it. And if you do feel bad you just come back and see Doctor Crusher... god her name is cool." He let the last part slip out.

[sweetlies]

His aunt had been as well. With her hair such a vibrant red, like spider lilies, her spirit as passionate as the color. It was a shame, the path she'd gone down, the end she'd suffered.

"The Watchdog can't be seen as having any weaknesses though, so perhaps most of the modern society would accept it, but the crown needs a strong and reliable servant to manage the underworld." His brows do go up at the comment about Beverly's name being 'cool.'

"Cool?"

[hititwithacrowbar]

Those that loved Red so much, tended to go a darker path and lead to their own doom.

"This is true, but while your here you should relax, maybe look into modern medical texts that could help you manage it when or if you return home?" he offered before he shrugged.

"It's a cool name. Crusher, like something being crushed. I have a weird sense of what I like."

[sweetlies]

"I've certainly got the time now. I doubt very much Undertaker will let me out of his sight over the next few days." When he wasn't working anyway. Ciel probably wouldn't be, and hopefully a few days away wouldn't do any harm to Funtom.

He couldn't help a soft chuckle at Jason's admission, shaking his head.

"You may enjoy my family name then. We're named, quite literally, a hive of phantoms."

[hititwithacrowbar]

"Good on him, if he wasn't going to, I would insist. I don't have many friends Ciel, I don't intend to let one leave so easily." He spoke, feeling a little lame for the open sentiment, but Roy had awakened it in him, and at Ciel's age he didn't let himself have friends.

"I do like your name, it is much cooler than Todd. A hive of Phantoms would be pretty terrifying." he spoke with a grin.

[sweetlies]

It was a little funny to think about Jason insisting anything to Undertaker but he also knew what Undertaker was. It might be worth seeing someday but then again, maybe not. He didn't want anything ruined for Undertaker here, oddly enough.

"Friends, hm?" That was... new. Kind of. "I never really had friends." His position didn't allow for it. And having a foot in the grave, it didn't make sense to try having friends.

"We tend to be. We police England's underground, eliminate the queen's sorrows."

[hititwithacrowbar]

He liked to think he was unstoppable when he put his mind to things, but in truth, he generally went along with what other people wanted as long as it was sound.

Jason offered an almost bittersweet smile hearing that. "I was the same way at your age. I had no time for friends. Last few years have showed me you always have time for whatever you want. You never know when time could stop for you." He explained, not wanting to give away much.

"I wonder if that is still something people do in my time. Alfred never talks about England to me."

[sweetlies]

He had a lot to think about here. Even after a few months, part of him was still stuck in his ways from home. No friends meant no one to miss him, no one for anyone to use against him, no attachments, nothing left undone. Not that it had worked in Prince Soma's case.

"My duty would endanger those close to me." It was an easier explanation. Nobody would want to know he'd been on stolen time. Maybe he didn't know when his times would come to an end but it would.

"Perhaps. Scotland Yard knows about the Watchdog, the crown obviously, other Aristocrats of Evil would, and criminals in the underground. Beyond that though, you don't much hear of us. Your Alfred would have to have a number of connections to know."

[hititwithacrowbar]

Jason gave him in an unamused look before shrugging. "And while that does all make sense, it's lonely and I know it. I am glad at least you have Mr. Undertaker here for you." Though why someone that felt like Nico was around such a young boy gave him ideas, things he might open up to eventually, but not while the kid was in the hospital.

"I don't know, Alfred knows a lot of things people don't expect him to, but its possible." He shrugged. "Hey, I have an idea, want to do something we do in the future?"

[sweetlies]

Don't give him that look, Jason. Ciel had spent years adhering to that lifestyle. No one misses him if no one liked him. Even if that was something he was letting change in his life since he'd arrived.

"He's always looked out for my family." More than Ciel had realized, more than he ever might but that was Undertaker for you.

The question caught the boy a little by surprise, he can't help but stare for a moment, and then managed a smile. This place was far ahead of what he was used to, it would be smarter for him to learn and experience.

"Sure. I could do with trying something new."