ANIMAL | a yandere!mental patient x doctor!reader

Chapter Four - Tulips

"Stop pretending you're different and quit already, or you'll keep getting hurt."

. . . 

As you predicted, the salt stopped most of the roads from freezing over, but snow was still coming down, and your neighbors were sweeping their stairs. Andie was up already and sitting at the island when you went into the kitchen. He was talking on the phone with someone- some client or client's manager, you assumed- but quickly ended his call when you appeared and offered to warm up the car for you while you got ready. 

When you arrived at the hospital, a heavy tiredness swept over you. It was only your second day, but it felt like you had been working for weeks already. You tried to not think about how your day might go and instead busied yourself with switching your tan puffer coat for your white coat. You had learned your lesson about the cold and wore a beige cardigan buttoned over your black dress shirt. 

You went to pick up Ocean's breakfast, pancakes with strawberries and scrambled eggs, and it seemed like a sign of good luck. You started to wonder why Ocean looked so thin when he had three, average-sized meals a day and realized that he didn't. The times when your job was vacant, nobody wanted to interact with him, and even when someone filled the position, they always settled for giving him meals whenever he was hungry enough to cooperate. You shook your head. The hospital treated him like a hostile dog. 

You knocked before opening the door to Ocean's room, nudging it closed with your foot. He instantly stiffened and gave you a suspicious look.

"Why are you here?"

You put on an innocent smile. "I happen to work here. Can I sit?"

"You should've quit," he said darkly, turning away from you. 

You kept your composure and set the tray of food down on the floor between the two of you, kneeling but not sitting. He couldn't get rid of you without a fight, not when you had the job that you would have killed for before you were hired. Besides, you had health insurance now. 

"Do you at least want breakfast? I won't talk if you don't want me to."

After a moment, he reluctantly nodded, and you began to cut up the pancakes with the fork. You were making a mental note that they would be nicer with syrup when you felt a something poking you from inside your cardigan pocket. You tried to ignore it, awkwardly leaning to one side. You had taken the sweater from Andie's closet, so it was probably one of his safety pins that he carried around in case something didn't fit a client. You went rigid as you held a bite of pancake up for Ocean. The pin had fallen out of your pocket. Ocean's eyes snapped to it, and he shot up, forcefully tipping the tray over. Orange juice drenched your clothes and your white coat, trickling down onto floor. 

"I'm so sorry," you apologized quickly, picking the pin up. Ocean tensed. You paused, closing the pin and putting it back down away from you. "It's okay, see?"

To your relief, he sat back down, cradling his head with his knees. You released the breath you had been holding unknowingly and called in the mess, saying that you accidentally knocked it over. Ocean stayed seated and watched as a woman poured detergent on the padding and washed out the faint tangerine stains. When she left, she took the pin with her, but you didn't notice, since Ocean strangely had no reaction at all. You thanked her, but you were more focused on unbuttoning your cardigan. You could already feel the wet silk of your shirt clinging to your skin. 

"Is that why the doctors didn't put the mask on me?" Ocean asked suddenly as you were picking up a strawberry. "Because you didn't tell them I bit you? Like you didn't tell them I spilled the juice?"

"I guess so. I thought they'd overreact and it wasn't too big of a deal," you said, realizing your instincts were right. Ocean hadn't bitten you since, and that mask would only aggravate him more.

He continued to eat the food that was untouched by the floor and finally spoke again when you were leaving.

"I," Ocean started quietly. "I didn't mean to."

Your heart ached at his brittle tone, like he was about to cry.

"I know, Ocean. It's not your fault."

There were four hours until Ocean was scheduled to have lunch, so you stopped by the store on your way home to change and bought one of each kind of flower seed that they had. In his file, it said that Ocean liked gardening, so you thought it would be nice for him to have something to think about in that bleak room of his.

Ocean seemed surprised to see you since you were visiting him out of the blue, but he wasn't as on-edge around you anymore, which you took as a victory.

"Hi," you said, holding up a kraft-paper grocery bag. You would keep the seeds in the spacious pockets of your white coat, but you had left it at the dry cleaners. "I got you something. Can I sit?"

He nodded, sliding back against the wall to give you space. You got down on your knees and sat, a couple feet away like always. Ocean watched silently as you took out the seed packets and arranged them by color, facing him.

"I read that you like growing flowers, so I thought maybe you might like to pick some out to grow."

He looked at you, confused. "These are for me?"

"Mhm." It was your turn to nod now. "I just didn't know which ones you liked best. I can always return them if-"

"Tulips. Tulips, tea roses, and lavender."

You smiled and sorted through the packets, placing the other kinds of seeds back into the bag.

"Can I ask you to do something for me, Ocean?" you blurted out.

He eyed you skeptically.

"Could you teach me how to plant these? I'm not very good at gardening."

Ocean's face lit up. "Really?"

"Yes, really. There's an old greenhouse on the side of the building that's empty. I'll ask if we can use it."

"We?" he asked expectantly. You knew there was no way Dr. Monroe would approve of him leaving the confines of the hospital with him being as uncontrollable as he was now.

"If we can get you permission to take that off-" you gestured at the straitjacket- "we'll go outside together."

"Do you promise?"

"I promise."

"Then I'll try to be on my best behavior," he said sincerely. "For you," he added.