“Hey, babe! What are you---” Cory stopped mid-sentence and frowned. “Babe, what's wrong?” He saw Archer's pale, pain-stricken face.

Archer and his mother were in the waiting room. Coincidentally, Cory was the nurse to call them in.

“Archer, what's wrong? It's 1:00 a.m. in the morning." Cory repeated worriedly. Archer opened his mouth, but nothing came out. “He hasn't been able to go to the restroom,” Archer's mom replied when he didn't say anything.

“Come with me," Cory led them to the examination room. “I'm going to go see if the doctor's busy right now since this is an emergency,” He added.

“W-wait! Can you stay with me for the examination?" Archer asked weakly.

“Sure, babe!" Cory flashed a dimpled smile. “I'll ask the doctor if I can be with you. I mean, this is a…special case.”

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

30 minutes later…

The doctor rushed in. He was young, probably in his early thirties or so. He had golden hair, blue eyes, and a surprisingly boyish face.

“Hello, Archer. I am Dr. Maxwell. I'm sorry about your condition."

Archer nodded---and immediately winced at the action.

“Can you lay down for me please? The faster that we finish the examination, the sooner that you can get treated.” The doctor asked a bit impatiently. Archer's mind went blank. He didn't want to get treated. What if they hurt him?

He felt a hand gently squeeze his shoulder and looked up. “Archer, I hate to see you hurting like this. It's going to be alright, I promise.” Cory reassured. He helped him lay down.

“I'm going to take off your clothes now, ok?” The doctor looked at him. Archer was about to protest, but when another sharp pain had him doubling over, he agreed.

“O-ow,” he whimpered when the doctor accidentally pressed a little on his stomach. Cory squeezed his hand.

“I have to do a cystoscopy on you to make sure that you don't have a severe case of UTI. It's going to be a little uncomfortable, but I want you to try to stay still and breathe through it.”

Archer suddenly felt tears prickling at his eye.

“Babe, the doctor has to do this,” Cory looked at him sympathetically.

“I-I know. Let's just get this over with.” Archer shakily replied. He looked at the cystoscope that the doctor was holding and almost threw up.

This is going to be painful.