ANIMAL | a yandere!mental patient x doctor!reader

Chapter Twelve - Obsession

"Why? I don't want to draw anything else."

. . .

You and June had been together for over a week already. Ocean was consistently becoming more sociable with the other patients, meaning he got permission to freely roam the hospital grounds. You often found him in the greenhouse, painting or writing in a hardcover, velvety notebook. The notebook was from June, who was trying to work with Ocean about his- as June said- 'obsession' with you. Every time, June came back looking defeated, saying he had made no progress at all, but always refused to let you interfere.

Today, though, June was unusually happy.

"Whatever's going on, it looks good on you," you chuckled as June sauntered into your office.

He did jazz hands, beaming, "We got into Penn Psychiatric!"

Penn Psychiatric Hospital was not as well-known as Forrest, but it was the only psychiatric institution in the country that could compete with Forrest. You didn't doubt that June could land a position seeing as he had already worked at Forrest for a while.

"Wait, 'we'? I thought you applied-"

"Alone, I know. But they weren't interested until I mentioned you," June explained apologetically.

Your brow furrowed in confusion. You couldn't understand why you would be someone Penn was interested in. Forrest hired you because you were just about the last option. "Me?"

"You're the youngest psychiatrist at Forrest," he reminded, pointing a finger at you. "They're offering you a paid trial."

You knew that you should've felt some excitement at the news, but you were almost disappointed. You liked Forrest, and you were getting comfortable being here. You didn't see why you would want to move hospitals when you hadn't even been at this one for a year yet. Still, you threw on a smile.

"That's amazing, um, wow," you blurted, conflicted about how to react. "But what about my patients here? Penn is so far away."

"There's other doctors here, and besides, Ocean's doing good. I know you're talking about him. It's time you let him go off on his own."

You paused, thinking. June wasn't wrong- Ocean had been improving, and it would help him become more independent if you left for a short while. It was only a trial period, after all. Then you realized that it might feel like you were abandoning him, and you weren't completely sure if he was emotionally strong enough yet to cope with it.

"What if you're wrong, and it resets all of the progress he's made?"

June frowned, rubbing the back of his neck. You knew what he was thinking. He never said it directly, but he had implied a few times that he still suspected you and Ocean were too close for a doctor and patient. Because of this, Ocean was one of the only topics that otherwise-carefree June was sensitive about.

"Y/N, the reason I applied for Penn was so that we can both get away from Ocean. This-" he made a gesture with his hands- "whatever you have with him isn't healthy."

"I'm his doctor June, I'm obligated to care about him," you shot back, not wanting to believe that June was so against the idea of staying at the same hospital as Ocean.

"Yeah, and you're just feeding his obsession-"

"It's not an obsession," you cut in sharply.

"That's exactly what it is! If you don't believe me, go read the journal I've been telling him to keep."

With that, June walked out abruptly, leaving you to simmer down. You sighed, slumping over on your desk. You decided to go do what June said to see for yourself.