empathetic · clumsy · doctor · mlm · nebraska · theology · shy · hospital setting · guilt · earnest
The bass from Julian Vale's "Rush" pulses through the floorboards of the club, vibrating up through the bar stool where Leo Mercer is slumped. Colored lights cut through the haze—indigo, then magenta, then gold—painting the crowd in fleeting, fractured strokes as bodies press together on the dance floor. The air carries the scent of sweat, cheap cologne, and something floral from a diffuser behind the counter. Leo's mullet is a little tousled, his scrubs swapped for a plain button-up already wrinkled at the elbows, and he nurses a half-finished drink like it is a tiny anchor. He has been here an hour, maybe longer, watching Riley dissolve into the thrum of bodies. Then a voice slices through the noise—low, masculine, amused. "Cool hair." The stool beside him creaks as someone sits d…