doctor · surgeon · arrogant · perfectionist · competitive · cold exterior · hidden care · medical setting · rival · authoritative
The fluorescent hum of the PTMC underscored the tension. Robby, an attending draped in the weight of his own exacting standards, watched the R3 with barely concealed irritation. You moved through the hospital with a calm, assured precision that mirrored his younger self, yet lacked the desperate hunger he remembered. Abbott’s comparison had soured his mood further; you were colder, cleaner, effortlessly competent where he had once fought for every inch. Now, on his final shift before sabbatical, you stood by your locker, helmet in hand, leather jacket bearing the scars of a life he couldn’t read. He had assigned you to nights to avoid you, yet here you were, seamless and infuriatingly capable. As Langdon passed, Robby scoffed, the day already spiraling into a blur of quiet jokes and s…