<i>Smartass. </i>It captured a grin on his handsome face that was smothered into a smirk instead as the younger man's voice warbled at him from under the influence of the pain killers being pumped into his bloodstream, though the voice hit his ears rapidly enough that the doctor chuckled under his breath during the rest of his examination.<br/><br/>“We at least know that the painkillers are wearing off,” he commented during the space of time it took him to draw his hands back from his body and step away from the bed. He tinkered with the IV that pumped fluids into his arm to redistribute another dose of the good stuff during the withdrawal. However...<br/><br/>There was still that lingering moment in time between then and now, where Dr. Callaghan's eyes jacked up from his inspection on the other male's mostly nude body to meet the young man's stare with eyes gone gold and molten. There was something predatory in the stare, like a hunter who had just sniffed out his prey. His nostril's flared as the sharp intake of breath was pulled into his lungs. Even briefer was when his fingers roved too personally along his leg to his thigh and up to his hip to grip briefly before the doctor clenched his jaw tight. It was a glimpse into something else, mostly likely triggered by the sight of his erection through his underwear. It was something that Ian was used to seeing; put enough painkillers in anyone to relax them enough to keep the blood flowing<i>somewhere</i>, and you had quite a few grown men squirming in embarrassment while the doctors maintained a neutral expression. It was the same reaction that caused unintended bowel movements.<br/><br/>Except the kid was openly flirting with him. And as much as Ian laughed underneath his breath at his induced commentary, it had also stirred something else that relied on instinct. It was an aspect of himself that he kept under tight lock and key during his work hours, something that had taken him years to achieve, and only allowed to be let loose during his most … private moments when he locked himself away outside of the scoping eyes of people who either wouldn't understand or who would simply fear. Both had their places in this world – the secrecy of what he was, a<i>monster</i>, tempered with the fact that he was a<i>dangerous </i>monster underneath the skin of Dr. Callaghan. That it had even stirred around a boy who was only barely able to drink and still relied heavily on his parent's support made Ian second guess his own abilities to keep<i>himself </i>in check.<br/><br/>It was why it was a relief to him when the sounds of Eryx and Isla tickled his ears from a distance down the hall, though now he questioned his wisdom in giving the kid his card in the first place. The goofy smile that breached the realm of lucidity spoke that this young man was going to breach the privilege of using that information for emergencies only at his first available opportunity. The<i>I plan on it, doc </i>might have been his cue.<br/><br/>He turned away from Dax after a while when his gaze kept drifting from the line of his jaw, to the curve of his mouth, down across bare expanse of his chest uncovered by the hospital sheet on a less than professional level to review his notes thus far. It was with an averted stare that he spoke again, “I'm going to keep you here over night, yes. It's standard procedure to do so even though your CT came back normal. You still had a nasty fall. And you'll be fitted for a boot before you're discharged, OK?”<br/><br/>He looked up once, eyes overcast in yellow over his usual hazel, and scribbled on a pad. The paper ripped, he handed Daxon his referral to see a specialist. It was that look that lingered the longest until he took the prescription from his hand and his parents finally took front and center. His attention was grabbed away by the coax of desperate voices coated with worry that were Mr. and Mrs. Ripley. A welcome distraction, the doctor in him answered all of their questions calmly and with the occasional dimpled smile that he flashed in the direction of their son; a flirtation of his own, but also simply a sign for his parents that everything was not so bad as they might have initially feared.<br/><br/>Even though the doctor left the room several minutes later, it was still several hours later until he could leave the hospital itself. His nurse, Zoey, took over the care of his patient for the most part, with the resident doctor this shift checking on the young man intermittently. Perhaps it was intentional on his part to avoid the young man during the remainder of his shift, but he still left the building to return home without even a glance back into the triage room he had left the boy.<br/><br/><br/><br/>~~~<br/><br/><br/><br/>“Daxon Ripley,” came the reedy voice behind the twenty one year old tenant. He was late on his rent again, this time by two weeks.<br/><br/>It was going on a week since he had been released from the hospital with tight instructions on how to wear and maintain the boot he was required to wear on his foot until he had arranged an appointment with an orthopedic specialist to take another look at the fracture. The man who had spoken his name was tall and broad, though too many beers through his life made his stomach bulge over the greasy slacks he wore and the blue polo he wore was too big. Resembling a bear,<a class="link link--external" data-proxy-href="/proxy.php?link=http%3A%2F%2Fcdn.collider.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fhangover-3-zach-galifianakis.jpg&amp;hash=83ef9117392134d189775a422289cca4" href="http://cdn.collider.com/wp-content/uploads/hangover-3-zach-galifianakis.jpg" rel="nofollow ugc noopener" target="_blank"><b>Robert Rogers</b></a>had a thick head of dark brown hair accompanying a beard that engulfed much of his ruddy features. Underneath his ill-fitted clothes, he had enough hair on him to put down a new carpet in Daxon's bedroom. His beady dark eyes glared at the young man when he tried to use his key on the lock that had been changed to the loft apartment that was in bad need of repairs.<br/><br/>“I'm afraid I can't let you back in there without paying rent this time. I know this isn't unreasonable. Two months you've been late on your payments – you and that other little shit. Or are your parents going to bail you out again this month, kid?”<br/><br/>His question came with a sneer that rode underneath his mustache. Which then transformed into more of a leer as his stare landed on the boy's rounded ass in his jeans. Robert Rogers knew the kid was a fag from the<i>company </i>he invited over occasionally. Normal young men brought him drunken girls from clubs; this kid liked to play with other men. Rogers lived on his own property and had been witness to many of the goings on of his tenants for many years now. He knew when they were hitting hard times and when the best time to strike was.<br/><br/>“I'm willing to make a deal with you, kid. I'm a nice fella like that, yea? So you don't have to go begging to those parents of yours so you can get your place back. How embarrassing is that anyway?”<br/><br/>He hitched himself up, his finger idling by his notched belt as he moved past the young man to dig through the ring of keys of procured from his pocket to find the shiny new one he'd had made for the new lock. He opened the door and stepped inside first, letting it swing open to let Dax step inside behind him. And then past him. Rogers' eyes trailed the boy as he moved deeper into the apartment, where his roommate was nowhere in sight. He grinned cheerfully and reached behind him to twist both locks on the door, then shoved the key ring back in his pockets. He wasted no time from that point. Coming up casually behind the kid, he draped his arm heavily over his shoulders while his free hand moved to unbutton the tops of his slacks.<br/><br/>“See, I'll take lots of different compensation. Those lips of yours look like they can suck for hours.” His arm became heavier still, then curled forward so that his hand clasped around the young man's throat, yanking him suddenly. Rogers took advantage of his weakness – the leg – to maneuver his weight around enough that he was pulled forward and then down. With his one hand remaining around the boy's throat, his other unzipped himself, then reach up to tangle in the other's dark hair. He yanked hard so that the young man's scalp felt the pull, then tightened his hold times two as he guided him down toward his crotch.<br/><br/>“So suck me, faggot, and I'll make sure to overlook your lateness and give you your new keys,” he snarled dangerously.