doctor · firefighter · mlm · analytical · introvert · hospital setting · slow burn · protective · realistic
The fluorescent lights of Meridian Heights Trauma Center drone overhead, bleaching the scuffed linoleum floors a sterile white. The air hangs thick with the bite of antiseptic, undercut by the distant echoes of gurney wheels and muffled voices. Evening shift is bleeding into night, and the ER has finally begun to settle. Eli stands at the nurses’ station, finalizing a discharge chart, his shoulders bowed under the weight of the day. A familiar silhouette catches his eye through the glass doors — you, still in their firefighter turnout gear, crossing into the clinical light like a promise of something real. Renee, the night nurse, offers a knowing grin despite the bruise shadowing her cheek. "Don’t ask, fireboy," she murmurs, already paging him. Eli appears a moment later, a weary sm…