Rivals Turned Friends… or Maybe More than Friends?
Cooper Dejean x Pediatric Nurse!Reader
Word Count: 1.8k
Warnings: n/a
Summary: After three-straight losses, Cooper decided something that can pick his spirits back up is visiting the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. What he doesn’t expect to find is a sassy nurse that keeps him on his toes with every next comeback.
A/N: alright my first nfl!imagine… it may be a little rough but i’ve been toying at this idea for a while. kind of feel like i should make it a series lol! lemme know!!
One of the top priorities that the Philadelphia Eagles had as an organization was giving back to their community. Whether it be through helping at nonprofit organizations that dealt with food insecure families and nonprofit children’s organization. All the way to the Eagles own ‘Eagles Autism Foundation’, the team cared about giving back. The thing that really hit home though for Cooper Dejean was visiting the Children Hospital of Philadelphia.
Walking into the children’s ward and visiting all the sick kids reminded him back of his Iowa days. The children’s hospital that looked right over his universities football field. The one he would visit with his teammates on a regular basis, just to brighten those kids’ days. Most importantly, of the tradition that the university did, the Hawkeye Wave. What is the Hawkeye wave? At the end of the first quarter, all the fans, coaches and players turn and wave to the patients and families that are in that very hospital that looks over their field.
When Cooper visits CHOP with his team, it helps to remind him of his roots. Of where he first started, up until now. It always gives him a little boost to his mood as well. Which was why he was walking in with some of the other Eagles defensive player right now. After a three-week losing streak, Cooper needed some positivity to help get his mind back into the game. Especially with a home game on the horizon.
“Dude, you need to wipe that pout off your face. We’re trying to make these sick kids happy, remember? Not even sadder than they are.” Reed said pushing Cooper’s shoulder a little bit.
“I know, I know. It’s exactly the reason why I’m here. To boost my mood by boosting these kids’ moods as well.” Cooper said, shrugging his shoulders as he put his hands into his sweatshirt’s pocket and started to walk around room to room.
Cooper and Reed had already been able to make a bunch of the patients’ days. Signing footballs for them to keep, sitting down, and talking to them. Not about how they were feeling or what they were experiencing, but by asking them silly little questions that brought smiles back onto these sick kids faces.
It wasn’t until the next room that Cooper’s spirit was really brought back to them. There was a little girl sitting on the bed. She couldn’t had been any older then 8, but you could watch what the girl was feeling based on the expressions on her face. First, you could tell that she was shocked to see them, and Cooper could tell she must be an Eagles fan. Based on the little trinkets in the room and the stuffed Swoop stuffed animal she had tucked under her arm. The next expression was almost a look of mischief, like she knew something that the two of them didn’t know.
“Oh! You two better get out of here before nurse y/n sees you! Or she’s gonna have some words to say!” the little girl said giggling.
“What? Are you not supposed to be having any visitors?” Cooper asked her as he quickly turned his head to the media team that was with them. Knowing that some rooms were listed as ones that they could not go in, due to children having immunocompromised immune systems. Yet, this one was one that they were allowed to go into.
“No! Not that silly! Miss y/n just isn’t an Eagles fan!” the little girl said laughing, and with the expression that now crossed her face. Cooper clearly knew that the nurse was walking in right behind them.
“What’s this about me not being an Eagles fan? Quinn! I thought we talked about not ratting me out with how diehard the fans are here!” y/n said as she quickly snuck into the room to check the little girl’s vitals. Cooper couldn’t help but stare at the nurse that was in front of him. How the light purple scrubs hugged her body just right, and how she looked so natural being in the sick child’s room, whose name he now knew was Quinn.
“You said not to! But I can’t lie to two Eagles players when they’re right in front of me! I need to protect them from all the bad juju you might try to cast on them!” Quinn exclaimed to her nurse, while y/n checked the little girl’s IV drip to make sure the measurements were appropriate for her.
“I’m not going to cast any bad juju on them like you think. Besides the team I like doesn’t even have another game against them this season.” y/n said to her patient as she sat down in the chair next to the girl’s bed. Allowing the girl to feel relaxed, as if this was just the two of them hanging out. Instead of standing over her to check her vitals and just looming over her.
“Oh yeah? And who might this team be that’s better than the Eagles for you to like them so much?” Cooper asked the nurse with a playful glint in his eyes.
“Did I say they were better than the Eagles? I don’t think those words came out of my mouth hotshot.” y/n said. Not even taking her eyes off Quinn, as she threw the little girl a smile.
“Nurse y/n is a New York Giants fan!” Quinn squealed with a laugh. Which caused the two defensive players to exaggerate their reactions.
“You can’t be!” Reed exclaimed, trying to hold back the laugh that wanted to come out of his body.
“That literally treason! You live in Philadelphia; it is your duty to root for the Eagles!” Cooper exclaimed. He couldn’t help but smile when he heard the laugh that rolled out of Quinn’s body. It made you forget that there was anything wrong with her. In this moment, she was just a normal girl laughing at two people bickering.
“It is not my duty to root for the Eagles at all!” y/n exclaimed.
“Yes, it is! If you live in Philly, you root for all of their teams… it’s in the rule book.” Cooper joked.
“Well, I grew up in New York into a Giants family.”
“The Giants are absolutely terrible this year! They literally are the first team in the NFL to be knocked out of playoff contention.”
“Hmm well the way I remember it, is that we were the first NFC East team to beat you guys… with our second-string quarterback in… rookie too I should add.” y/n said smirking over at Cooper while she took Quinn’s blood pressure.
“Yeah yeah yeah, well who won the Superbowl last year?” Cooper said to her smiling which just made y/n roll her eyes. “Oh, that’s right, the Eagles.”
“Okay big boy, talk to me again when you guys have as many Superbowl wins as the Giants. So go win two more and then you can talk to me again.” y/n said, smirking back at him before standing up from her seat. Cooper couldn’t help the flutters in his chest when he heard y/n call him big boy. “Alright Quinn, everything’s looking good. I’ll be back later to check in on you and give you your next round of medicine.” y/n told the little girl smiling before she walked out of the room.
Cooper and Reed stayed with Quinn for a little longer. Talking to the little girl for a few minutes before they went to visit some other kids. Yet, all while Cooper was visiting the other kids, Cooper could not stop thinking back to the snarky nurse that caught his attention. She seemed to keep him on his toes the whole conversation. He couldn’t help wanting to talk to her more, learn more about her.
While Cooper and Reed started to make their way to the elevator, Cooper say that y/n was standing by the desk filling out charts. He stopped walking and looked back over at Reed. “Hey, I’ll meet you down in the lobby.”
“Oooo, you’re gonna try to shoot your shot with that cute nurse, aren’t you?” Reed asked, smiling at his friend.
“Oh shut up, I’ll meet you downstairs.” Cooper said before turning back around and heading towards the desk. “So, I was wondering if I could possibly get your number. You know… so I can finally talk to you after we catch up to the Giants in Superbowl wins.” Cooper told her smiling. He knew if he didn’t try to get her number, he would be thinking about it for days, wondering what could have possibly happened.
Y/n rolled her eyes before closing her chart and looking up at the curly blonde guy that stood in front of her. “Alright, how about this proposition.” She started, crossing her arms, and leaning up against the desk. “You give me your number… and maybe if the Eagles win this Sunday against the Raiders, I’ll text you.”
“I’ll only agree if I can gift you and one of your friend’s tickets to the game. That way I can make sure you actually watched the game and know if you can text me or not.” Cooper said, following her stance and crossing his arms as well.
Y/n mulled over his proposition before letting out a huff. “Fine, and I’m only agreeing to this because I’m already off of work that day and I know my roommate will kill me if I pass on free tickets to the game.”
Cooper couldn’t help the smile that came over his face as he quickly found a spare piece of paper and quickly wrote down his number for her before passing it over. “Perfect! I’ll leave the tickets with will call at the stadium!” he said as he started to walk backwards towards the elevator. “Just give them my name! I’ll tell them the pretty pediatric nurse is picking them up!”
“You are absolutely crazy!” y/n exclaimed. Letting out a laugh when she watched Cooper bump into one of the Doctors who just came up onto the floor.
“I may be crazy, but I know what I want… and that’s to get to know the cute nurse that has awful taste in football team!” Cooper exclaimed before heading onto the elevator, giving y/n a slight wave as the doors closed.
When the elevator doors opened, Cooper saw Reed leaning against a pole. “So, did you get her number or what?” Reed asked.
“No-”
“No! Then what was the whole point of you going back to her.”
“Well, you didn’t let me finish! I didn’t get her number… but she got mine. Plus, I got her to agree to come to the game on Sunday.” Cooper said smiling.
“You sly dog! You better be able to get her to switch to being an Eagles fan if you even think about dating her. ‘Cause if you don’t… you are going to have some awkward games when we are playing against the Giants.” Reed said laughing as the two of them walked out of the hospital. Cooper feeling a bit lighter than when he walked in there.
