Of Movie Stars and Medics

It was god awful hot on set that day. Atlas was having trouble concentrating for long periods of time and the mugginess was making him a little bit cranky. By the time lunch break was called, he felt just overall exhausted and wasn’t really paying that much attention to the crowd around him.

That was, until, he caught sight of a new crew member. Or, maybe he wasn’t a new crew member, and the only reason he noticed him was the armband with a blue cross on it indicating that he was part of the medical team.

Mostly the other Knitten was dressed pretty much like any other crew member with a dark polo, though he also had cargo khakis on, probably to add to his carry capacity as one of the medical team. The lanyard around his neck had been flipped so Atlas hadn’t been able to discern his name in passing. He would have blended in pretty well if it weren’t for the obvious military aura around him that drew Atlas’s curiosity.

It was one of Atlas’s sixth senses to be able to tell who had been either in a former military school or had actually served. Years under General Eddington’s roof and then going to the Idris Military Academy sort of impressed upon him this ability to just sort of know.

He let his eyes linger on the handsome crew member for a moment too long. They made eye contact and Atlas felt a flush swelling up his neck that caused him to quickly look away and make a quick escape to his trailer. The other Knitten was very handsome and it brought a little bit of a crush stirring in Atlas’s chest.

“When was the last time I had that sort of feeling?” He asked himself aloud as he changed out of his costume to cool off. “I wonder if I’m having a heat stroke or if I really just developed an instant crush like a teenager?”

Atlas decided a cold shower would benefit his muddled mind and after he got done with that, he changed into a set of work out clothes. The afternoon was set to be a fight choreograph, so changing back into his costume would be pointless for the time being.

He ran his fingers through his wet curls and puffed out his cheeks before exiting the trailer to go get some food. He was hoping the day wouldn’t be too much longer, but they were halfway through an 18-hour work schedule already. It would take the heat getting far worse for the director to call an early day.

As he headed to the catering table, Atlas became acutely aware that the crew member was watching him. He felt the heat climbing back up his face and he shyly walked toward the table attempting to not make eye contact.

‘Oh dear gods, I do have a crush,’ Atlas thought to himself as he tried to stare holes into a plate of sandwiches.

“Oh, Hey…” an unfamiliar voice pulled his attention directly to the exact crew member that he was attempting to avoid. “You’re that Atlas guy, right?”

Atlas smiled brightly at him, his heart fluttering. “Why, yes, that would be me! Doctor Atlas Stella Cornelius at your service.” He said, offering the taller Knitten his hand. “I am so sorry, I’m usually very good at knowing crew members names and faces, but I’m not sure I know you.”

“Doctor you say?” the stranger spoke as he gently reached for Atlas’s small wavering hand, softly grasping it in his own.

The Knittens’ hands seemed strong and masculine, but his light grip felt oddly comforting to Atlas, despite his now stunned state. Raising his hand towards the medic’s face, Atlas’s cheeks began to burn a bright red - was this guy really just about to full-on kiss his hand? The medic stopped lifting their hands shy of his own face, and shook Atlas’s hand gently, his glistening button eyes locked into Atlas’s stare.

‘Bloody hell, he’s a bold one,’ Atlas thought, his eyes locked with the other man’s.

“Well Doctor, it’s quite a pleasure to meet you.” spoke the stranger, a charismatic grin spread on his face.

Atlas, thoroughly flustered and blushing quite visibly now managed to croak out, “It’s a pleasure to meet you as well… Uh… You didn’t give me your name, good sir.”

“Oh!”, the knitten chuckled and released Atlas’s tender hand. “Where are my manners? My name’s Gunner. I apologize, I’ve never been in the presence of someone so talented before!” Gunner took his now free hand and placed it inside his pants pocket.

“I certainly hope I wasn’t interrupting you?”

Atlas let out a light laugh. “No interruptions here, Gunner. I was just going to grab a light snack.”

Atlas was trying his best to play it cool and went to lean his palm onto the easily collapsible catering table. As suave as he was attempting to be, Atlas missed the mark as the entire, heavily ladened table decided to fold like wet cardboard under his light lean.

Atlas flailed in an attempt to regain his balance but unfortunately, he overcorrected and went from falling forward to falling back right into a heavy, metal drink container. His head hit the container with a definite thud and the television star was blinking away dark spots in his vision.

His ears were ringing and he found himself surrounded by crew members with Gunner knelt in front of him, shining a light in his eyes. Atlas was very confused for a moment before he was aware enough to understand that he had been knocked unconscious for a moment.

“What happened?” Atlas blinked blearily at Gunner as the other crew members muttered to each other in concern.

“Shit, Doc.” Gunner muttered. “You hit your head pretty hard back there, ya know?”

“Oh… Did I?” Atlas wrinkled his nose some, reaching back to touch the goose egg that was forming under his hair. He flinched and hissed a bit. “Oh, bloody hell, that stings.”

“Hey hey hey hold up,” Gunner quickly tucked the flashlight away onto the side of his holster.

Turning behind him, he motioned to a staff member for something Atlas couldn’t quite make out. Taking the object from the crew, Gunner offered Atlas a small-wet bag of ice. “Place this on it, might help a bit better.”

Carefully, Gunner placed the ice pack against Atlas’s throbbing head. Atlas now took the bag from him, holding it in place.

“Well, this is embarrassing,” Atlas let out a light laugh but flinched because it caused his head to throb a bit more under the ice pack. “Is it really bright out here or is that the concussion?”

The director came over, having been alerted to his star’s accident. Upon seeing Atlas, he let out an irritated groan. “Damn it. Can someone take him to the ER and make sure he isn’t dying or something?” Now he looked straight at Atlas with a cold glare, a fake smile plastered across his face. “And Atlas, dear, please don’t joke about brain injuries again, we have a show to film here.”

Atlas scrunched his face up in much the way a child does when they hear something from a parent they don’t particularly care for. “I’m fine, really.”

As if to try and prove himself to be fine and tried to stand up only to sway and almost fall right into Gunner. The medic seemed to have a sixth sense for injured fools playing tough and slipped an arm around the star’s waist to keep him steady.

The director pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed heavily. “Clearly, it’s best you be sent home, dear. We’ll just film scenes that you’re not in for the rest of the day. You,” he pointed directly at Gunner. “Get his fancy-ass to the ER and then home. We can’t have the lead down and out for longer than 24 hours.”

“Yes, sir.” Gunner replied. He turned to look at the dazed film star, his workout clothes stained from servings of leftover pizza and day-old potato salad. “You think you can walk, Doc?”

Atlas gave him a dizzy smile. “I think I can manage.”

Gunner had to crouch a bit as he was a bit taller than the small actor, but he eventually managed to sling Atlas’s small arm around his shoulder. He was a little wobbly on his legs, but with Gunner’s assistance, they made it to the film’s on-set Ambulance.

The lift of the truck was a bit high for injured Atlas to climb up, so Gunner knelt beside him. “Hold on to me.” Gunner exclaimed.

Shyly, Atlas wrapped his arms around Gunner’s neck, and with that Gunner reached under Atlas’s legs and lifted him upwards bridal-style. The two caught each other’s glance and for a moment, it felt like the whole world stopped spinning. It was like everything went quiet all for the sound of Atlas’s heart beating out of his chest. Gunner’s eyes were warm and kind as a smile beamed across his face. Bright-eyed and in complete awe, Atlas was totally fixated on the handsome Knittens gaze.

“Ahem,” Gunner vocalized, “you can let go now, Doc.”

It took him a moment to break from his stare and realize his feet were already standing on board the truck. Atlas’s face turned bright red as he released the medic. He took a step back to allow Gunner room to also climb into the cab of the Ambulance. Gunner motioned towards Atlas to take a seat on the stretcher occupying the aisle of the truck. Meekly, Atlas wandered over and sat himself on its bed.

“I am so sorry. I must have hit my head harder than I thought. I am a little bit of a space cadet,” Atlas tried to laugh off his embarrassment.

Gunner chuckled, “Don’t worry about it, accidents happen.”

“Yes, they do,” Atlas replied as he shifted himself on the stretcher, trying to get more comfortable. A few more moments of awkward silence resumed.

“Space cadet, huh?” Gunner suddenly spoke up, “Is that why your eyes are out of this world?”

Atlas blinked a few times after the question. “Well, I was more making a joke about how I am an astrophysicist and also play a space captain, but sure?” He said, his pale cheeks flushing with a bit of a blush. “Wait… Are you saying that you think my eyes are pretty?”

“I don’t think they’re pretty, I know they’re pretty.” Gunner smiled a tender grin and winked.

“O-oh.” Atlas sputtered a bit, blushing more. “Thank you?”

It was clear that Atlas was a little out of his depth. He ran his fingers through his hair and flinched when they brushed his goose egg.

“Ow,” He wrinkled his nose, squinting a bit from the momentary reminder of his injury.

For a moment, Gunner’s smile disappeared into an expression of serious concern. “Hey Doc, please, use the ice pack. It’ll help with the pain.”

“Oh, right. I have an ice pack.” He gave Gunner a cheeky little grin and picked the pack up out of his lap to place it to his head. “You would think that being as clumsy as I am, I would remember to ice goose eggs, but here we are.”

“Here-” Gunner stood up from his seat and gingerly walked over to Atlas. “Would it help if I held it for you? I promise I’ll be careful, I’ve been told I have gentle hands.” Gunner smirked, and put his hand over Atlas’s which held the ice pack to his head.

Atlas swallowed and looked up at the handsome medic. His mouth was a little dry all of a sudden and he had to swallow in order to be able to squeak out a soft ‘sure’ in reply to Gunner’s offer.

The television star seemed a little star-struck himself as he looked up at the other Knitten. He leaned slightly back into the hold of the ice pack, his ears flicking against Gunner’s wrist lightly as he tried to stay focused.

“Hey, what’s that?” Gunner spoke, reaching his free hand towards the bashful knitten’s face. He placed his fingers on Atlas' chin and used his thumb to brush against the movie star’s cheek. “You got a little something on your face, Doc.”

Atlas stiffened, his ears pointed and his tail straightened as the medic had his full attention. “What?”

Gunner brought his hand back, his thumb now covered in a foreign pink substance. He lifted it to his nose and took a sniff, then proceeded to give the blob a small lick. “Frosting.” Gunner laughed out loud, “were you saving this for later I’m guessing?”

Atlas’s mouth went dry again as he watched the medic intently. ‘Oh bloody hell, that was very enticing.’

“I did fall into a full table of catering and didn’t get to eat any of it.” Atlas replied as playfully as he could manage.

Gunner stopped laughing as his expression became more apologetic. “Oh, of course, again I’m really sorry you had to go through that, Doc. Shit happens I guess.” Gunner went to tug at his lanyard and began fumbling with its tags.

Atlas smiled and shrugged some. “It’s not nearly the worst accident I’ve had on-site. I am fairly graceful when I’m concentrating, but it seems when I’m presented with a handsome stranger, I lose all sense of balance and return to a clumsy klutz cat.” He managed a cheeky grin at the medic. “I’m sure you get people stumbling all over themselves often.”

“Maybe figuratively.” The medic replied shamelessly. “Can’t say physically, not until today at least.” Gunner returned a sly grin.

Atlas put his hand to his forehead dramatically. “Oh dear, you are going to make me swoon, Gunner.”

“Careful, can’t have you falling for me twice, Doc.” Gunner winked and gently rubbed his thumb across the ice pack that he held to Atlas’s head. “Tell you what. Since it was technically my fault this whole thing happened, can I make it up to you with some dinner tomorrow night? My treat.”

Atlas flushed a bit and smiled at him. “I think I would like that. Hopefully, I’m not so concussed that I forget that you asked me out.” He teased a bit, giving a light laugh.

“Maybe you could give me your number so I’ll be sure to remind you? I could never forget your face.”

Atlas blushed and laughed at the comment. “Alright, you’ve got my attention, Gunner. My number is---”

The Knittens exchanged numbers and chatted back and forth to learn about each other. Atlas was enamored with the charismatic medic and was sad when the ambulance pulled into the bay to the hospital. Gunner helped him out of the back of the ambulance.

“I will see you tomorrow, yeah?” Atlas smiled up at Gunner, still holding the ice pack to the back of his head.

“Yes,” Gunner replied and smiled back at him. “I’ll call you to remind you of our date.”

Atlas felt a happy flutter in his chest. “I look forward to it.”

A nurse came out and ushered the actor into the ER to be checked over. Atlas tried to keep sight on Gunner the entire time until it was impossible for him to do so. He was admitted overnight for observation for a minor concussion and the bruising.

In the early hours of the next morning, Atlas was released under his own reconnaissance. He was sat in the back of a cab when he turned his phone back on to a text from Gunner reminding him about their date later that day. He smiled as that fluttery feeling came back to his chest as he sent a text back about his excitement.

Their first date was a lovely evening and over the next few days the two continued to get to know one another. They talked about their lives, careers, and aspirations. Atlas felt so at ease around Gunner, really connecting with him in a way that he had never connected to anyone before. He looked forward to spending time with Gunner at any chance that they could.

One date turned into many until eventually Atlas asked Gunner to actually be his boyfriend on a date to a nearby park to the filming location. He was nervous when he asked but his nerves were put to rest when Gunner beamed at him and said yes. The two became inseparable after that.