Zedd reached a hand up to run his fingers through the boy's hair as he followed his doctor.
"Do you know his weight?" the doctor asked, stopping by the scale that stood in the hallway. After some hesitation, the doctor sighed. "Alright then, Nathaniel, was it? Can you step onto the scale here?" the man asked, trying to sound as polite as possible, when internally the other was eager to question how Zedd got a hold of a child with no legal documents whatsoever. That was when Zedd knelt closer to the ground. "It's just standing there until a little number pops up, okay? It won't hurt you."
"O-Okay…" Nathaniel did as he was told, hesitating before stepping onto the scale. After a few seconds, the number came up.
15.2
Nathaniel was unaware that his hollow bones would make his weight unusually light for someone his age and size. While he did look thin, he didn't look thin enough to warrant such a low weight under normal circumstances. He glanced over his shoulder at Zedd when the number had popped up, quivering nervously where he stood.
The doctor nearly gasped in surprise noting the weight. There had also been a ruler behind Nathaniel, and his height was quite short compared to the average child. That probably affected the results some, but no matter what calculations, the boy weighed less than a four year old should!
"Nathaniel, can I ask how old you are?" the man asked politely. Zedd had moved to offer his hand to the boy if he wished to take it. And knowing the angel, he probably did. The man also felt a bit embarrassed as he too had never asked how old Nathaniel was.
"I'm eight years old, sir…" Nathaniel replied weakly, holding tightly to Zedd's hand and keeping close to his side. When he was weighed in heaven, he was still underweight for someone his age, but not alarmingly so. Everyone up there had hollow bones as well, after all, so most angels were about half the weight of the average human of their age and size. Their light weight allowed them to fly more easily, but also made them quite fragile.
Oh stars, this wasn't good. The doctor took into account that the boy had wings and would be lighter than the average human or half-breed would be. Even so, the boy was too incredibly light for him to be eight. The man stood from his crouched position before gesturing for the two to follow him into one of the rooms in the hallway. Zedd carefully lifted the angel into his arms again as he followed the other. After the two entered, the door was shut behind them. "Mind explaining to me how you came into custody of this child without so much as a birth certificate?"
Zedd shifted in his seat, unsure of where to start. Well, there was one way…
"So… he's an angel and he was banished from Heaven and can't exactly go home. I helped him out after he was nearly run over by a car, and then he kind of just wanted to stay, and I couldn't exactly say no when his wings were all beaten up and then it's been a few days and he's kinda showing severe signs of depression after getting thrown out."
The doctor just stared at him a moment.
"I never took you as the type to tell stories, Zeddicus," the doctor deadpanned.
"I never said the truth wasn't going to sound crazy. Look, he needs help, and I want to give it to him," Zedd argued, holding Nathaniel closer. The doctor sighed, putting his head in his hands.
Nathaniel rubbed at his eyes a bit as Zedd explained, trembling in the man's arms. "H-He's not lying, sir… I've… um… I've been down here for a month or two now, and I was living on the streets, and he helped me in the market first because people were knocking me over and I couldn't get up… then the whole car thing, and he brought me back to his house and he put some liquid stuff on my wings, and that hurt… and um… I-I've kinda been staying with him since then, sir…" He huddled closer to Zedd, wrapping his crumpled wings around his quivering form.
The other male looked back up at the two a moment before giving a small laugh. "I never thought in my entire life I'd hear something so crazy…" he started before standing up. "I don't see any other explanation, however. Heed my warning though. Get this boy some official records or something because there's a lot that can't be accepted from just a story," the doctor stated, before moving towards a laptop on a desk. He seemed to type at it for a moment before turning back to the two. "Alright, what are we dealing with here? I need to know the basic symptoms before I just hand out the OK."
Zedd seemed to relax immensely after the short interrogation was over. "Well-" the man was cut off.
"I would like Nathaniel to tell me. If he feels comfortable to do so."
Nathaniel swallowed nervously when the man asked him to speak instead, his heartbeat quickening. "U-Um… I…" He hesitated, unsure what to say. "I just… I-I feel really sad and drained like, all the time? And… and I always think that things are my fault even if Mr. Zedd says it isn't, and I-I… I can't exactly sleep alone? I-I get really bad nightmares that are like memories from when I was up in heaven, and then I get really scared and I start having scary thoughts and then I go and stay in Mr. Zedd's room instead… um… my parents used to hurt me sometimes, but Mr. Zedd said that people aren't supposed to hurt their kids, s-so…"
The other man frowned as he took notes of all the symptoms. "They aren't," he agreed, feeling really bad for the young boy. Battling his own emotion and past before he was even ten. That shouldn't happen to anyone. The doctor then turned to Zedd. "If anything, it sounds like there's a lot of PTSD there as well. In simple terms, stress from the past that continues to make the person unhealthily sad. I'll write up a note of recommendation for therapy. If they deem it necessary, they might recommend he take low doses of an antidepressant. I should hope he wouldn't have to," he said as he finished on the laptop. "I've also created a file for Nathaniel. Until you are able to sort this out, I doubt a children's doctor is going to allow you inside without proper documentation," he added, now standing. Zedd could barely believe what he was hearing. Oh stars, he was so grateful for this man. "I can't thank you enough," the man said, standing with Nathaniel again. "Oh, I believe you can, by acting as a good guardian for this boy," the doctor said, now smiling softly. "You have something that's completely normal considering what happened. I am sorry you had to be so young and this happen, but I believe you'll recover well. It was good to meet you, Nathaniel," he hummed, holding out a hand to shake.
Nathaniel quietly listened to the man as he talked, sniffling a bit and trying not to start crying. He seemed confused when he mentioned PTSD, as it wasn't something he'd heard of before. He figured he could ask Zedd about it later after they'd left, and maybe whatever therapist he was being referred to as well. "U-Um… it… it was nice to meet you too s-sir…" He stammered nervously, pausing before fitting his tiny hand into the man's to shake it. "What are we supposed to do now?"
(You asked me to bump so uh)
(Beep bop)
The man took his hand back after a moment. “You’re allowed to go home now. Your guardian will need to get you official papers that show he’s taking care of you,” the doctor replied simply, handing Zedd the recommendation paper. In actuality, the process was about making it look less like the boy was kidnapped and entered as an official resident of the country. It was such a complex thing to explain, so the man didn’t bother.
Zedd thanked his doctor once again before exiting the room.
“You did it. All done,” Zedd whispered softly to Nathaniel. He wanted to make the angel feel better about the whole situation. In all honesty, he had half expected Nathaniel to have had a full physical in addition to what was already done. That… would probably be the next time. Which would likely include vaccinations. Oh stars, Nathaniel was not going to take the idea of needles well.
Nathaniel buried his face in Zedd's shoulder, quivering in the man's arms. He was obviously still anxious about the whole situation, and he wasn't entirely sure what to do with himself. "W-What was he talking about, dad…?" He asked weakly. "What's… PTSD? Is it bad? Am I sick? Is it gonna go away?" His wings puffed up a bit as he worked himself up, obviously upset.
Despite the fact that many angels likely had at least one mental disorder due to their upbringing, the subject was never even mentioned up there. They wanted the angels to think that their problems were unimportant so they wouldn't talk about it and distract themselves from their work with it. There was no medication for angels; no therapists to talk them through their worries. They were alone.
Zedd bit at his lip, trying to think of how he could explain it as not-scary as possible. “It’s just being scared that the past is going to happen again. Like… when you expected me to hit you…? You were used to it so it scared you,” he attempted. Stars, he was so bad at explaining things in simple terms. “It’ll go away with time, yes. You’re not sick.”
"Oh…" Nathaniel nodded weakly in understanding. "And… and when I get scared when I hear loud noises and can't breathe and stuff?" He asked. "And when I got really scared when you took me flying that one time?" He shifted his wings uncomfortably and glanced around, seeming pretty uneasy.
“Mhm,” Zedd hummed, trying to calm the boy down again. They were going to head home for the day. Oh stars, all of this was going to be a lot of work. He was going to have a lot of paperwork to do on top of work and taking care of the angel, who still needed therapy. Maybe he could call up Cal and his boyfriend and ask if they’d be willing to help somehow? Either by getting to know Nathaniel and babysitting him in a sense every now and again or with the shop itself. Either way, that would be a lot of training. Option one was lecturing about all of Nathaniel’s triggers, what he liked, what he didn’t like; and option two required an extensive amount of training on potion making which was very difficult to learn in days. The skill took months to be decent at.
“Anything you feel like doing when we get home? Watch a movie, drawing, read a book- ah, wait you can’t read. Um, I could read something I guess?”
"I dunno…" Nathaniel huddled up closer to Zedd and sighed, toying with the tips of his wings. "Maybe drawing? And… and I can read, just… not English…" He looked away sheepishly. "I can only read Latin, but I've never seen a book written in Latin down here…"
It was hard to say how Nathaniel would react to being taken away from Zedd for a bit to be babysat by people he hardly knew. He'd been shown to be both overly trusting and terrified of new people, so it could honestly go either way.
(D: your previous bump says '2020' now i feel so old)
(Babe i literally had no way to get back on here in weeks lmao)
"I dunno…" Nathaniel huddled up closer to Zedd and sighed, toying with the tips of his wings. "Maybe drawing? And… and I can read, just… not English…" He looked away sheepishly. "I can only read Latin, but I've never seen a book written in Latin down here…"
It was hard to say how Nathaniel would react to being taken away from Zedd for a bit to be babysat by people he hardly knew. He'd been shown to be both overly trusting and terrified of new people, so it could honestly go either way.
“Right,” Zedd replied. He glanced down at the boy in his arms a moment before pushing open the door to leave. It was highly unlikely there was anything to read in Latin aside from thick textbooks lined with names of flora and fauna. Much less children’s books. “Don’t really think there’s much in Latin you’d even like,” he added.
