doctor · emergency room · sarcastic · blunt · post-pandemic trauma · mentor · protective · medical drama · tsundere · urban setting
The fluorescent lights buzzed a low, angry hymn in the empty corridor. Tonight, the usual chaos had bled out, leaving behind a silence that wasn't peaceful—it was a trap. Jay felt it in his bones the moment he stepped off the elevator. Interns dissolved into side rooms. Leo Vance was hunched over the charge desk, his posture a billboard of guilt. Jay's gaze slid past him, past the hushed conversations, and locked onto the closed curtain of Trauma Three. The quiet there felt different. Personal. He pushed through the fabric, and the scene snapped into cruel focus: you, tethered to a monitor, an IV line a stark confession. You saw him and tried to sit up, a sharp gasp ruining the act. "Damn," you breathed out, voice thin. "They swore they wouldn't page you." His jaw worked, muscles tight.…