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[caraetdeul]

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Seventeen

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[caraetdeul]

My thesis partner and I got Top 1 as the best thesis for our batch of architecture graduates. Now I got micro bangs cuz I'm bored.

We livin the life 🤘

[caraetdeul]

Not So Double Date pt. 2

Jack Abbot x fem!reader

Ever since the date at the theatre, you couldn't keep your head and heart in line. This would've been okay if you only had been successful in avoiding Jack at all costs.

TW: angst, unrequited love, not proofread

A/n: I'm so sorry this took so long! I'm also sorry this is shorter than the first one but I really just had to get it out of my system before I make it worse and take longer than it should. Thank you so much to everyone who read the first part and patiently waited for this!

~The Pitt Masterlist~

The following weeks made you want to kill yourself.

After your little all-night long karaoke session with Trinity—and one whole day of nursing your hangover—you were ready to come back to your role as a functioning citizen of society.

The night shift started at its usual pace. Crazy yet steady. For your own sake, you decided to do the right thing and compartmentalize everything that isn't necessary to your job and that includes your big feelings for Dr. Abbot.

Not Jack. Not J. Abbot.

Because if you wanted to survive today, you had to pull yourself together. Preferably, better than you normally would. Because normal meant the usual routine, and the usual routine meant having a multitude of interactions with Abbot throughout a shift—something you deemed disastrous from the moment you learned you couldn't remove the night at the theater out of your mind.

So, you did just that. Patients had been your scapegoat. Trauma emergencies became your haven. The little alcove under the stairs served as the willow tree of your dreams. If Abbot had noticed anything amiss with you, you wouldn't know.

"There you are."

Up until now, that is.

Your head whipped around towards the direction of the doors leading back to the ED, one of them just swinging back into place as Abbot stopped right in front of you. You gaped at him, the sandwich in your hand long forgotten with the way you were grasping for any excuse you could find.

You chuckled nervously, "Hi?"

He raised an eyebrow as he studied your crouched form underneath the stairs, "I know you're a big nerd, but I'm sure Aunt Petunia isn't around to chastise you if you ate elsewhere."

You felt the growing warmth on your cheeks as you hastily stood up, "What are you doing here?"

"Trying to find you."

You scrunched your eyebrows, concern washing over you, "Why? Is there a trauma coming?"

He shook his head, "No. All good out there."

"Oh," you paused, "If its my patients, I just checked up on them. Decided to take a breather for a bit but I'll be back after a few minutes, I promise."

"Not that, too."

You blinked, confusion all over your face, "Then what?"

He shrugged with his hands in his pockets, "Just trying to find you, that's all."

You don't know how to react. Your brain was barely making sense of what was happening in front of you.

What do you mean he's just trying to find you? What do you mean he's basically scouring the whole ED just to find you? What does it mean? Why is he doing all of these? Why is he looking for you? What does he need from you? Why—

A hand suddenly landed on your shoulder, your name coming out of his mouth like dripping honey. That immediately made you snap out of your thoughts. But you're not so sure if that's the best thing to happen to you because now, you were one breath away from closing the gap between your faces.

His face flooded your vision. His own musky perfume flooding all the other senses at once. The warm chocolate swirling in his irises were all you could see. You resisted the urge to comb out the loose strand on top of his forehead, the tight grip on your scrubs the only physical proof of your inner turmoil.

It wasn't far from you how this all felt similar to the main reason of your escapades. The closeness, the positions, the hair. It's practically the same thing, just in different settings. Because of that, you knew you had to get out of there before anything more happens. Before anything happens at all.

You hastily stepped back. One step. Two steps. More steps until you were practically out of arms reach. You ignored the way his eyes followed your every movement. Even then, you couldn't get the unreadable look that flashed on his face out of your head. It only took a second for it to take over his facial features before it was gone without a trace. But that was all it took for you to have it imprinted in your soul.

You've always reveled on the fact that you could read him from a mile away. Even your colleagues took advantage of it, always at your side whenever they needed help in determining Abbot's mood of the day. So when you couldn't get a good read on him right now, you almost stumbled on your last step as you felt something inside of you crack.

 You swallowed, standing even straighter than before, "Well, you found me. Is there anything else you need?"

A corner of his mouth twitched before answering hesitantly, "No, nothing more."

You nodded once in acknowledgement. A tinge of disappointment weighed inside your heart but you did your best to not let it show. Nothing more. It was like he heard your thoughts and answered it in the bluntest way possible. On a good note though, his reply felt like a sign from the universe as it smothered out any hope left inside of you that there would be more to your relationship than just coworkers.

 You thought that was the end of your conversation. Or at least you thought it was when he didn't say anything else as you returned to your place in the alcove, the half-eaten sandwich in your hand returning to the lunch bag you left there unattended. Half of you wished he would just leave you to your own disastrous devices. The other half begged for him to stay and actually talk to you or ask you why you were avoiding him.

"Lara felt bad that your date with Sam didn't end so well. She asked me if I could invite you to another double date with us."

That made you pause entirely. You don't know if you heard it correctly or the sheer amount of caffeine that Shen gave you in the guise of a takeout plastic cup is finally catching up to you. Did he actually asked you out on a double date again because Lara felt bad for you? Is he shitting you right now?

Is that the reason why he was looking for you?

But when you saw the expectant look on Jack's face, you knew you weren't hallucinating at all. You know it was practically your own fault because you did just asked the universe to make him talk to you. But of all the things he could've talked about, you never expected this bullshit of a heartache.

"I'm not so sure," you grimaced, desperately hiding the fact that you were counting your breaths as you answered him, "Besides, I think you forgot one thing."

"Which is?"

"Double date entails that I also have a date… which I don't." 'Cause I want you. Fuck, how badly you wanted to add that to your sentence.

He snorted, "Oh, is that all?"

You blinked, staring at him in bewilderment and slight irritation, "Is that all? I think you overestimate my abilities to find a date way too much."

"Just show up. That's all you have to do."

You zipped up your lunch bag before facing him fully, hesitation practically controlling every movement you make. It was so obvious that Abbot had to reassure you once more.

"Don't worry about the date. I got you."

You dropped your gaze as you murmured, "Yeah, that's not what I'm worried about."

"What?"

"Nothing." You smiled at him as wide as you could, already making your way pass him and towards the ED doors, "Text me the details. Gotta go back to work now."

"Yeah, sure," he replied, blinking at you. You were moving so fast, he honestly had no idea if you heard his reply at all. The doors were already closing before he could even finish his sentence.

The noise of the ED enveloped you in a static embrace—not comfortable but enough to blur everything out. It still wasn't enough though to let you escape the buzz under your skin that kept you from looking back when you heard the doors behind you open again.

Why couldn't you just say no? It's one word. A one syllable word. That's it. And yet, you couldn't even let it stew inside your mouth just so you could have ammunition during that conversation.

The buzz never left your body as you trudged your way through the next set of patients. You never got a chance to be alone with Abbot since then. By the second to the last hour of your shift, you were ready to just drop down on the floor and let the next trauma patient trample you until you were nothing but a glorified floor mat in the middle of the ED.

Walking to the nurses station just as you finished up with the last patient you had to handle for your shift, you noticed that handoffs with the day shift had already begun. You could already see Trinity reading up on a patient's chart as you neared the station.

"Oh, you have no idea how happy I am to see you," you exclaimed, dropping down on the nearest chair from where Santos was standing.

She raised an eyebrow at your form, "What happened to you?"

You gasped, dramatically placing a hand over your chest, "Should something happen to me just so I have an excuse to say how grateful I am to be one of your closest friends?"

"Yes," she replied blankly.

You immediately dropped the act, choosing instead to put your head in your hands, "Fine. I'm doomed, Trin. Absolutely doomed."

She sighed, putting a hand on her hip as she leaned on the counter top, "I can't help you if I don't know what you're talking about."

You dragged your hands down your face as a distraught look washed all over you, "Jack asked me out again for a double date because Lara told him to."

You didn't even got the chance to breathe before Trinity grabbed you by the arm and started dragging you across the ED towards the ambulance bay. Once you were out and away from any prying eyes, Trinity turned to face you.

"Are you out of your mind?" She exclaimed incredulously.

You flinched at her tone, your eyes casted downward like a child being reprimanded by its mother, "Yeah, I know."

"What the hell happened to 'no more Abbot'? I didn't pay for a whole night of karaoke session just so you could take back everything."

You sighed, biting your lip, "I didn't really have a choice on the matter."

She stared at you in disbelief, "Of course, you do! Say no! That's your choice!"

You shushed her, looking around to see if anyone heard it before turning back to her, "Calm down. I know. I should've said no but I didn't." You sighed, your voice turning into a whisper, "I couldn't."

Trinity gazed at you, her face softening when it registered to her how distraught you actually were with your situation. She pursed her lips, rolling her eyes—in her vocabulary, its the most affectionate expression she could give a friend—before taking you to sit on the curb with her.

"So, who's gonna be the unlucky date?"

You smacked her on the forearm which made her laugh, shaking your head with a smile, "He said he'll take care of it so we'll see."

She raised her eyebrows but didn't comment further. Instead, she asked, "When is this double date even gonna happen?"

You fiddled with your hands, "Don't know. I'm still waiting on Abbot to text me the details."

As if he could hear you, your phone dinged with a new notification. Taking it out of your pocket, your screen lit up to show you Abbot's text showing the exact thing you were anxiously waiting for for the past 5 hours. You didn't even get to read the whole thing before Trinity took your phone out of your hand and typed a reply. Once she was done, she gave it back to you with a determined glint in her eye.

"We'll make him regret the day he was born." The smile on Trinity's face was the most sinister thing you've ever seen.

Yup. I'm doomed.

Taglist: @memeorydotcom @sorilyae @the-aspiring-fanfic-writer @peaches-roses-sins @mrsjgbuck @proudlyvastlake @lacontroller1991 @mafercita101 @tall-dark-and-brooding @777bambi777 @whosscruffylooking

[caraetdeul]

Keep It Locked Up

Patrick Jane x gn!reader

Jane had an exciting time during his little imprisonment era. Unfortunately for him and his poor decision to keep you out of the loop, you weren't as enthusiastic about the situation as he was.

TW: hurt/comfort, mentions of arrest and imprisonment, mentions of reader's anxiety over his job, not proofread

A/n: I'm currently watching season 2 of The Mentalist and I can't help but write for Jane! His entire character scratches my brain in the most satisfying way possible. The fact that Simon Baker is also very much attractive doesn't help the case in any way 😭

~The Mentalist Masterlist~

Jane wouldn't admit anything to his colleagues but his time in prison was exhausting, to say the least. What he will admit though was missing the comfort of his couch above all things. He hadn't left the couch ever since he got back to the CBI headquarters. The soft cushion underneath him was enough to almost lull him to the sweetest nap he had taken for a long time.

After his small grateful talk with Lisbon and Cho's incessant questioning of how he got out, he was undoubtedly happy he finally got time for himself. It was a plus that there was no one else in the office right now to bug him even more. Rigsby was out buying their traditional case-closed pizza and Van Pelt… well, he was just glad she wasn't there right now.

It's not that he doesn't like her. God, she's probably the little sister he never had. But with his current situation, he's not so sure if it would benefit him in any way should Grace be here the moment he got out of prison.

Not when he's dating her best friend.

He met you on the day Van Pelt joined the taskforce. You were the roommate that was kind enough to bring her lunch because you knew that she would be too nervous the morning of her first day to remember anything else besides herself. That was also the day you became an unfortunate victim to his unfiltered instincts of laying out a stranger's dirty laundry.

Throughout his spiel, he watched you narrow your eyes at him, your entire body stiffening with every word he says. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the rest of the team watching them with Van Pelt and Lisbon at the front, both already itching to make amends with you but also too curious to know what your reaction will be. By the end of it, he was just about ready to bolt out of there in case you swung at him—if the stern look on your face was anything to go by.

But what he didn't expect was for you to laugh at him. A deep and hearty laugh. He actually flinched at the first sound you made—the tension in the air and the loud noise you suddenly made was enough to short circuit his brain. Since then, Van Pelt never heard the end of Jane's requests to see you.

It's been half a year since you started dating. You were there for him whenever he needed you the most and vice versa. Thus, he knew all about your tendency to be more than worried when it comes to their jobs. That was enough of a reason for him to know that his sudden arrest would only tip you over the edge.

Before he was escorted to the prison, Jane asked Van Pelt to not say a word about this to you. He then immediately promised that he would talk to you once this is all over when he saw the hesitation in her face. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't sure if the promise stuck with her because he was already being pushed out of the office before he could do anything else.

"Patrick Jane. What. The actual. Fuck?"

Guess it didn't.

Even with his eyes closed, he could feel the barely controlled anger in your body. The scratch of your suit bunching up as you glared at him with your arms crossed. The heavy clicks of your shoes as you stomped your way over to him. The heavy exhale you let out as you stood in front of him was the cherry on top.

Yeah, you were angry for sure.

And like the cheeky bastard he is, he opened one eye with a cocky grin as he said, "Hi dear! You might want to tone down the cursing. You can get arrested for that."

He couldn't have braced himself faster for the physical abuse you brought to him the moment those words left his mouth. The bag you were carrying went from your shoulder down to your already swinging hand in a matter of seconds. Safe to say, there would be bag-shaped bruises all over his body by the end of the night.

"Ow! Ow! Oka—Ow! Stop! I'm sorry! I'm—Ow! Sorry!"

"You didn't even call!" Smack! "Not once!" Smack! "I had to bribe Grace just so—" Smack! "—Just so she would tell me what happened to you!" Smack! "My own best friend!"

By this time, Jane was already sitting up on the couch holding up the nearest thing his hand could find as protection. Unlucky for him, it was a flimsy magazine. On the other hand, Rigsby just walked in and the way Jane's eyes widened with hope was enough to light up the room.

"Rigsby! Help! A state officer is being abused!"

You stopped hitting him with the bag, only to whip around with the deadliest glare pointed on Rigsby, "Wayne. Don't."

He huffed a hesitant laugh, about to come to Jane's rescue, when your voice suddenly dropped an octave as your glare intensified, "Take one more step. I dare you."

Rigsby gaped at you, his eyes darting between you and Jane who was still giving him the biggest puppy eyes he could do. But when he locked eyes with you again, he knew self-preservation was the only way to stay alive.

He put up his hands in surrender, slowly walking backwards and away from the bomb zone Jane put himself in, "Sorry dude. Besides, you're not a cop. You're just a consultant."

Jane could only drop his head with a sigh. But before you could even turn back around, he immediately stood up and wrapped his arms around you. He rested his chin on your shoulder, your perfume already triggering his relaxation instincts despite the strong hold he had on you to minimize your squirming.

"Let go of me, Jane," you complained. But after a few more seconds of struggling to get out of his embrace, your body finally got tired of it. You immediately slouched in his arms, still sulking as you refused to look him in the eye. "I hate you."

From the corner of your eye, you could see him turn towards you, a somber look on his face, "I'm sorry."

When you still refused to acknowledge him, he lifted his head from your shoulder and loosened his arms around you. You were about to step away from him when you were suddenly pulled down onto the couch and into Jane's arms once again.

"Wha—hey! What are you doing?" you exclaimed as you watched him basically manhandle you into a comforting position as he laid you down the couch.

"Shah. I need sleep," he murmured, placing his head on top of your chest as he wrapped himself around you. It was a good thing that most of the employees were already gone by this time or your head would've exploded at the PAD you were forced into. Jane couldn't care less, of course.

There's a reason why Lisbon loved you more.

You rolled your eyes, a deep exhale leaving you along with most of your anger as you placed a hand above the arm he had wrapped around your waist and the other over his curls. The immediate hum from Jane as you started combing through his curls finally made you relax your entire body. And with that, other emotions that you were blocking in your mind ever since you heard about his predicament finally came into light.

"You scared me," you whispered shakily, your vision blurring at the edges as you stared at the ceiling. You tried to blink away the tears but one escaped down your cheek. You then felt the weight of his head lift from your chest followed by the gentle touch of his thumb on your cheek as he wiped away any trace the tear left.

When you finally looked at him, his face was painted entirely with a solemn look.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you and I'm sorry I made Van Pelt hide it from you," Jane confessed softly, his deep blue eyes studying every inch of your face. "I didn't want you to worry. I know how bad your anxiety could get and I won't be able to help you at the moment if you ever caught wind of my arrest."

You sniffled, "You still should've told me. I shouldn't have to hear it accidentally from someone else."

"I was about to," he said, "I was just resting for a bit before I call you."

Your gaze softened at him, your voice almost sounding childlike as you asked, "You were?"

He smiled softly, "I was. I promise, I was."

You bit the inside of your cheek before finally responding, "Okay. Just please don't do that to me ever again."

His smile widened, "I promise." He kissed your forehead and your lips before resting his head once again on your chest. A warm contentment feeling filled your body from where you could feel his weight all over you.

Deep down, you knew the likelihood of that promise ever being followed was an optimistic outlook on life. But with Jane, you also know that he wouldn't at least try to keep it for your sake.

[caraetdeul]

The Mentalist Masterlist

~To Main Masterlist~ | ~Request Guidelines~

| 💕 - Fluff | 🌧️ - Angst | 🫂 - Comfort | 🤦‍♀️ - Crack | 🇵🇭 - Filipino | 🖤 - dark themes | °°° - Requested

Patrick Jane

ONE-SHOTS

Keep It Locked Up 💕🌧️🫂

Jane had an exciting time during his little imprisonment era. Unfortunately for him and his poor decision to keep you out of the loop, you weren't as enthusiastic about the situation as he was.

[caraetdeul]

Not So Double Date update~*

Okay so i'm finally getting out of the funk and I'm starting to continue writing on part 2 of this fic. I have a vague idea of how I want this part to come out so I hope I get to write something that wouldn't derail the entire flow of the story especially since it's been so long since I posted the first one.

So wait for me and my messed-up brain for part 2!

[caraetdeul]

God Im so sorry I havent been posting anything. Ive been so burned out these past few months and since ive just finished my thesis, im only feeling all those consequences recently. But i promise ill get back to writing as soon as I can. Thank you all for the patience 🥹💕

[caraetdeul]

Not So Double Date

Jack Abbot x fem!reader

Doing a double date with someone from work shouldn't feel so daunting and stressful for you. But when you unintentionally invited your attending that you had a crush on for years now for a double date with his dating app match, you might as well have signed your own death sentence.

TW: angst, cursing, shitty romcom movies, unrequited love (or is it? 🤔), not proofread at all

A/n: this fic got away from me. I mean 4k+ words??? Dayum gurl i never knew i had it in me 😭 I honestly didnt want to end it like this but I had to cut it short for my own sanity. Because of that, I'll probably post a part two if anyone's interested

~The Pitt Masterlist~

You were casually talking with Jack just as you were doing your handoffs with the newly arrived morning shift when you absentmindedly mentioned the movie date. You didn't know what you expected as a reaction from him, but you couldn't exactly say you were thrilled when he mentioned his own date with a laugh.

Jack shared how they met on a dating app—a part of you wanted to strangle Shen when you learned that he was the one that made his profile—and was actually planning to go on their first date.

The moment the words came out of you in a rush of panic, you knew you were doomed.

"What about a double date?"

What an idiot.

You had to give him some slack though as he initially declined the offer, muttering something about not wanting to spoil your moment with their little awkward first date jitters. But you didn't let up, arguing that going on a double date would only make it more fun. As they say, the more the merrier.

Later that day, Ellis practically chewed you out where your dumb ass could only respond with a grimace.

Now here you were, outside the movie theater with Sam who was your date for the night. You both arrived earlier than the agreed meeting time with Jack and his date just so you could buy the tickets and popcorn without rushing. And if you were being honest, you only agreed to this setup because you needed time to pull yourself together before the actual double date.

Today would be your third date with Sam, and so far, it had been great. Objectively speaking, he was a good looking guy with a nice personality. He did all the sweet things that you could think of ever since the first time you were set up on a date by Trinity. In fact, he was so nice that even Ellis gave an approving nod when he picked you up at PTMC with your favorite flowers in hand just 30 minutes ago.

He's a really great guy. He's just not Jack.

You've had a crush on Jack for years now. If you were being honest, you probably had that crush ever since you first set foot in the Pitt. You were under Robby's wing then, still not entirely sure about the idea of giving up your precious—more like barely there—sleep schedule for a night shift residence. But the more you got to interact with any of the night shift people during handoffs, the more you were convinced that sacrificing your sleep wouldn't be such a bad idea.

The actual decision was made when you finally met Jack, the attending that somehow got everyone on the night shift excited for you to meet.

The way you fell for him wasn't some big fireworks display. It was quiet, endearing in a way that makes your skin crawl with anticipation. It was in the way he looked out for you. A granola bar here, a small compliment there. It was all those little things that merged into one big feeling that took space inside your heart. Whether it's a temporary or permanent residence, you knew it would leave a gaping hole should it leave your life.

But then you remembered where you were. You remembered who you were.

You were a resident and he was your attending. Your boss and his subordinate. Everything about it screamed messy and deep down, you knew there's nothing you could do about it.

That's why you're here, stressfully munching down on the popcorn you were holding, with Sam by your side. He was talking animatedly about something that happened at his work. Throughout your conversation, you nodded and reacted appropriately to whatever he was saying. But in truth, you were thinking about this date and what it truly meant to you.

This was safe. Clean. Nothing like the chaos that would ensue should you act on your true feelings.

But when you saw Jack and his date walking towards you at the corner of your eye, something else laid down over your thoughts.

This hurts.

Jack looks goddamn gorgeous. You never got to see him outside the scrubs—and no, the SWAT uniform was not "outside" clothes even if it did almost put you into cardiac arrest when you first saw him in it—because you never got to see him outside the hospital at all. So when he showed up in simple jeans and a dress shirt, your knees almost buckled.

But what did spoil the moment was when your eyes locked on to the dainty hand on his arm. You then followed the hand to the owner who was equally fucking breathtaking. Holy shit.

Did you forgot about a software update in dating apps or did they only truly work for beautiful people like them?

There goes my non-existent chance.

All night, you couldn't take your eyes off of them. You were silently thankful that it was a movie date and not a date where you were forced to chat with anyone. Because if it was, you knew you would blurt out every stupid thing you were thinking about.

On your way to the theater, you did your best to make small talk with Jack's date, who you learned was named Lara. You offhandedly made a comment about how she had the same name as one of your favorite characters, Lara Croft from Tomb Raider. But the confused look she gave you only made you chuckle nervously, your brain short circuiting as you fumbled your way through explaining who she was and how you thought she was as gorgeous as the character.

You decided to clamp your mouth shut when Lara only smiled politely at you before returning her attention to Jack.

For your sake, you tried to focus on the movie. But not even halfway through it, your mind was permanently fixed on the other side of your double date.

You silently cursed Sam for your seating arrangement. You knew he was only being kind, letting you sit beside Jack as your respective dates were seated at both ends. You did mention to him a while ago that Jack thought he would spoil your evening with their first date jitters. Sam then insisted on letting you sit beside each other to "make it a smoother transition between two dates".

You couldn't exactly tell him that with this situation, you felt like you were on a date with Jack.

The theater was cold enough for a jacket, yet the goosebumps on your arms never bothered you for a second. Because no matter how low they set the temperature in this room, it would never be as cold as the ache in your chest that won't go away as your eyes capture the sickeningly sweet picture of Jack's arm around the back of Lara's seat while she snuggled up to him with a big smile on her face.

You immediately turned away, furiously blinking away the tears slowly forming in your eyes as you clutched the popcorn bucket harder.

You almost didn't catch Sam's voice whispering your name amidst your silent breakdown if it wasn't for him getting closer to your ear to catch your attention more.

"Hey, is everything okay?" He whispered, his voice dripping with concern.

"Mhm," you nodded at him, not exactly trusting your own voice at the moment. But when a small sniffle came out of you and betrayed your resolve, you were forced to say, "Just cold."

"Oh, you want my jacket?"

For some reason, you looked at Jack from the corner of your eye at the question. But when your eyes met his curious ones, you immediately looked away.

"No, it's okay. I'm good."

His eyebrows furrowed, "Are you sure?"

You nodded firmly at him this time, "I'm sure."

Sam studied you for a moment before nodding back and returning his attention to the film. You ignored the curious glances you were getting from Jack's side of the seat, focusing instead on the drama that was unfolding on the screen in front of you. You barely knew what was happening but the amount of tears and screaming from the actors were enough to pull you away from your own tragic love life.

You vaguely remember Sam telling you a summary of the plot of the rom-com movie you were about to watch as you waited outside the theater. Something about a girl who was madly in love with her childhood best friend but couldn't do anything about it because he was in love with someone else. How fitting.

When the movie ended, chatter around the theater rose up along with its owners. Your own group was having their own commentary about the movie as you all walked out of the theater and into the busy sidewalk.

Lara was laughing at whatever comment Sam made about the protagonist when she stopped walking, her words directed at us but her eyes were only on Jack's, "I gotta go to the restroom. Can you hold my jacket?"

"Sure, no worries," Jack smiled, holding out his hand to take her jacket.

But before Lara could step away from the group, Sam stopped her before turning back at you, "I also have to go. Wait for me here? I'll walk you home, I promise."

You nodded with a smile, "Okay."

You watched their backs as they walked to the direction of the restrooms inside the lobby of the theater. It didn't even occur to you that you were left alone with Jack for the first time tonight until you heard him clear his throat.

"So, what do you think of the movie?"

You tilted your head in fake contemplation, amusement glinting in both of your eyes as you waited a moment before answering, "It was shit."

He barked out a laugh, your own giggles following after. And just like that, the night felt lighter.

"Oh my god, I thought I was the only one," he said just as he finished laughing.

"You're definitely not," you replied, shaking your head, "Don't get me wrong, though! I love a good rom-com. But that was just not… it."

"Why did you even choose this movie?" he asked amusedly.

"I didn't. It was Sam," you grimaced, "He had been wanting to watch this movie for so long. So when it ended and I heard him chatting with Lara about how good it was, I couldn't really say anything else."

His eyes softened, a warm smile gracing his lips, "That's very sweet of you."

You shrugged, chuckling nervously as you ignored the heat blooming in your cheeks, "Yeah, that's me."

You stayed silent after that, staring at each other with the warmest grins on your faces. Everything blurred around you and all you could see was him. The loud chatter of the people around you served as background noise to the sound of your own heart thumping its way out of your chest, as if your ribs were at fault for keeping your heart inside your body.

The cold night breeze was gently blowing through your bodies. Out of the corner of your eye, you could see Jack's hand slowly reaching up by your side. A shiver went down your spine as you felt his fingers guided your hair away from your face, the pads of his fingers softly grazing itself across your temple.

You didn't notice how close the two of you were standing until you heard Sam's laugh. You immediately jumped away, both of you scrambling to act normal as your dates got near. You ignored the way your pulse was so fast, it was making you dizzy, or the way the skin on your temple was still buzzing where Jack had touched it.

When you spared a glance on Jack, hurt and disappointment flooded your veins when you saw how unaffected he was. It was as if nothing happened at all.

And maybe, nothing really did happen. Maybe it was just him being kind enough to fix your appearance for you.

Either way, a stab wound would hurt less.

You turned away from him, choosing to focus instead on Sam who wrapped an arm around you the moment he was by your side.

"Well, it was nice meeting you both but we have to go. Little missy here decided it would be a great decision to pull a double shift the day after our date," Sam said teasingly, tickling your side which made you laugh.

"I'm sorry!" you exclaimed with a pout, "I forgot it was right after our date and it was too late to take it back."

"You're doing a double?"

The concerned tone on Jack's voice made you look at him. You smiled sheepishly before answering, "Yeah. They needed an extra hand and Robby asked me yesterday if I was up for it."

He frowned, "Robby didn't tell me this."

You shrugged, "It was an impromptu thing. Maybe he forgot to tell you."

Jack only hummed in response, his concerned frown already making a permanent residence on his face. You couldn't help the reassuring words that came out of you, all so you could remove that frown that was already making your heart clench just seeing on his face.

"Don't worry about it. I got it handled," you smiled brightly, "I'll just take all the rest I could get before I have to start my shift."

Maybe it was the way you smiled at him or the way Lara wrapped her arms around his bicep. Either way, his face softened and finally nodded in content.

"Well, you heard the lady," Sam butted in, already guiding you both away from the two, "Have a nice night!"

You waved goodbye at them before letting Sam walk you towards the direction of your home. You thought you felt Jack's eyes lingering on you as you walked away. But when you glanced back at them, they were already walking towards the opposite direction.

On your walk back home, Sam filled the silence with his review of the movie. You listened to him as he described the way he felt after watching particular scenes, reacting properly whenever the conversation demanded a reply from you. Even then, you weren't that great of an actor to begin with—one you realized too late when Sam paused in his ramblings to comment something about you.

"You're quiet tonight."

You suddenly stopped in your tracks, Sam following you just a second longer. When he saw the hesitant look on your face, he knew this night would turn in a way that he probably should've expected the moment he saw the two of you outside the theater.

"Sam," you sighed, chewing on your bottom lip, "I need to talk to you."

"Is this about Jack?"

You stiffened, your eyes widening at his response. Maybe you haven't been as subtle as you thought you were. You couldn't answer right away, and that was all he needed for him to know.

He gave you a tight-lipped smile, hurt yet understanding filled his eyes, "Yeah, I kinda got that."

Your shoulders dropped, a frown gracing your lips, "I'm sorry." For leading you on. For using you as a distraction. For choosing to sacrifice your happiness to protect mine.

His eyes softened, "It's fine. For what it's worth, I had a fun time with you."

You smiled sadly at him, your hand reaching out to squeeze his own, "Me too."

You stood like that for a bit, the air between you heavy yet steady in a way that a mutual understanding could bring.

Sam was the first one to let go with one last squeeze of your hand. "If there's something I learned about loving someone, it's that nothing else mattered but them. Not your social standing, nor your principles in life. There's nothing worse than losing the love of your life over something as trivial as whatever is stopping you from pursuing him right now."

You inhaled sharply as you let his words sink in, your own voice airy as you blurted out, "I didn't say I love him."

He smiled softly, "You didn't have to."

With that, Sam stepped back and walked back towards the direction where you came from. Your eyes couldn't leave his form as you watched his back get smaller while the distance between you get larger—walking away from you and from the mess you're about to put yourself into.

As you laid down on your bed, you exhaled deeply, your eyes stinging with tears—with relief or regret, you're not so sure. All you knew was that you made the right decision of letting him go. Maybe not for your sake, but definitely for his. You don't have the heart to hold on to him knowing that your heart was already in the hands of another, whether or not Jack knows it.

Safe to say, you didn't sleep a wink that night.

You were grateful you were at least used to pulling an all-nighter as a night shift resident. Even then, you still got enough sleep in between shifts on a regular basis. Which is why you weren't feeling the effects of your less than an hour combined rest until a couple of hours into your shift.

You were finally graced with time to sit down after being on your feet for a whole day, the charting station serving as your temporary reprieve from the exhaustion of facing patients once again despite the station being at the literal center of the entire ED. Your will to live was only fueled by the thought that you were finally done with half of your shift. Checking your watch, you sighed with relief that you were only half an hour away from starting your night shift.

Minutes later, you heard Santos sit down beside you, her own exhaustion evident on the way she slumped down on her seat. You gave her your own tired smile before continuing with your charts.

"How's Sam?"

That made you pause on your words, the microphone you held to your face suddenly feeling very heavy in your hand. It looked like she didn't notice your silent distress as she continued talking to you.

"I haven't heard from him since your little date at that Italian restaurant and I heard you went on another one last night." She turned to you fully now, her eyes pleading, "I beg you, let me live vicariously through you."

You laughed, "I get it. Things are not going well with Garcia, huh?"

She rolled her eyes, huffing as she crossed her arms across her chest, "I don't want to talk about it."

You smirked, putting your hands up in surrender, "Okay, fine. I'll stop."

She pursed her lips, thrusting her chin at you, "So, what's up with Sam? Finally got him to ask you to be his girlfriend?"

You sighed inwardly. You honestly didn't want to talk about it as well but you owe it to Trinity to be honest with her. In fact, you wouldn't be on a date with someone if it wasn't for her.

"We're not seeing each other anymore."

"Who isn't seeing who anymore?"

You turned your head so fast, Jack was concerned you'd get whiplash. You gaped at him, words failing you when you needed them the most. Without missing a beat though, Trinity answered Jack's question for you.

"Her and Sam."

He immediately looked at you, shock evident in his face, "Why? What happened?"

You happened.

You shook your head with a smile, "Nothing. He just wasn't the one for me, that's all."

He narrowed his eyes at you, concern and a hint of protectiveness lacing his tone, "Did he hurt you?"

"No, I promise. It's all good," you said earnestly. Earnest enough that he visibly relaxed right in front of you before frowning at you once again.

"That's unexpected," he hummed, resting his arms on the counter in front of you, "You looked nice together last night." Your eyes shifted from his face to his arms for a second before you forced yourself to look away, catching Trinity's eyes who was boring into you.

Her suspicion only got higher when she heard what Jack said. "What do you mean 'last night'?" she asked Jack despite how her stare never wavered from you.

You could practically hear the smile on his face as he answered her. "We went on a double date with them last night," he shrugged, "Great time. Not so great movie."

"Oh? Is that so?" Trinity reacted, sarcasm coating every single word she was saying.

You grimaced, smiling sheepishly at her as a response. Before she could get another word out, you turned to Jack with newfound interest.

"Speaking of, how was your date with Lara?" you smirked, your eyes narrowing in curiosity. The soft smile on his face when he heard her name, though, made your resolve shake with uncertainty.

"It was great," he replied, "So great that we agreed on a second date."

Yeah, curiosity definitely killed the stupid cat.

"Well, it was nice talking to you ladies but I gotta run," Jack said, his gaze landing on you, "I'm here if you need someone to talk to."

You nodded with a small smile, "Thanks."

He grinned back, "No problem."

You watched him walk away towards the direction of the locker room, your eyes lingering at the spot where he turned a corner and disappeared from your line of sight. It was honestly also a way for you to avoid Trinity's glare that you could practically feel burning through the back of your head.

Taking a deep breath, you finally turned to her, immediately flinching at the intensity of her glare.

"I never thought I would meet someone as stupid as you."

"Hey!"

Her glare only hardened at you. But when she saw the way your shoulders drop slowly and the growing heartbreak on your face, she sighed.

She knew about your crush on the attending. Having a similar situation with her, you knew you could trust her with your secret. That didn't mean you were safe from any teasing from her. But now that she witnessed the truth behind your sudden fallout with Sam, she knew that no amount of teasing would get you smiling for now.

"I was gonna tell him how I felt today."

Trinity's eyes immediately went wide as saucers at your confession, "You what?!"

You slapped a hand on her mouth, effectively shushing her as you smiled apologetically at the people looking at you. When you were sure that the attention of the ED wasn't on you anymore, you turned back to Trinity who was still looking at you like you told her you were actually a ghost taking control over an unsuspecting body.

"Keep your voice down!" you hissed, slowly removing your hand from her mouth.

"I'm sorry," she shook her head in disbelief, her voice turning into a whisper, "but did you just tell me you were about to confess your feelings to Abbot?"

"Yes, I did," you sighed dejectedly, "It's mostly the reason why I ended things with Sam. I couldn't bear the thought of being with him when I knew deep down he wasn't the one I wanted in the first place."

She nodded, understanding flooding through her mind, "At least, you're more mature than I am. I would've, at the very least, fucked him before I dumped him."

You groaned, a small laugh escaping you before you could even think about it, "God, Trin. You're such an asshole."

"Better to be heartbroken and an asshole than just be plain heartbroken."

"Wise words, indeed." You tilted your head back, studying the ceiling for a bit as you exhaled slowly, "But I guess it's too late to do anything, now that he's with dear Lara."

She snorted, "Why are you saying her name like that?"

"Because I complimented her by saying she had the same name as Lara Croft and is as gorgeous as her, only to be met with a slightly judgemental look on her face." You threw your hands up in exasperation, "I even tried explaining to her who she was! But apparently it wasn't enough reason to continue talking to me 'cause she just politely smiled at me then immediately turned to talk to someone else."

"Yeah, that makes sense," Trinity shrugged, "Lara Croft should not be messed with."

You pointed at her with wide eyes, "Exactly." You then sighed, finally turning your attention back to the monitor in front of you, "Anyways, I got to finish my charts before I get called into another emergency. You should go home."

You heard her hum in agreement before standing up. You put out a hand to wave goodbye to her when you were suddenly pulled up off your chair and onto your feet.

"Trinity! Wha—"

"You're going out with me. Right now."

You blinked at her, "I mean, I know we're having problems with our love life but I don't really swing that way."

"What? No!" She exclaimed, "I meant we're going out for some drinks tonight. And maybe a little karaoke for some needed therapy. God knows you need it."

Your body slouched, your bottom lip protruding in a sulky pout, "I can't. I'm pulling a double today."

"No, you're not. I call emergency lifeline."

You gasped, "You're using your lifeline of the month for this?"

She nodded firmly, "I am."

"I—fine," you sighed in surrender, "But I'm not the one talking to Abbot about this."

"Talk to me about what?"

You jumped back towards Trinity, an apology spilling from you when you almost took her down with you. You immediately turned back to Jack who was sporting an amused smirk, "God! You got to stop doing that!"

"Sorry," he snorted, putting his hands up in apology, "So, what do you want to talk to me about?"

You looked at Trinity expectantly, nodding in satisfaction when she answered for you.

"She can't work tonight."

Jack's stare shifted between you two, his eyebrows furrowed, "And why?"

"Heart emergency."

You facepalmed at that. Why you expected anything less from Trinity, you will never know. All you knew was that you were getting nowhere with her answers, which was further cemented when you saw the growing confusion on Jack's face.

"Ending things with Sam wasn't as… easy as I expected. I didn't really get any sleep last night because of it. I'm asking if I could cut my shift short with a promise that I'll make it up to you next time?"

His gaze softened at your words, "Of course. Don't worry about it. You already got your 12 hours today, anyway. No need to push it further. We can handle things from here."

You smiled at him, "Thank you."

He shook his head, fully dismissing you with a small wave, "Go get some rest."

By the time you left PTMC with Trinity by your side, you knew you wouldn't get some rest until tomorrow morning. And if you were being honest, being left alone with your thoughts that night wouldn't make any difference.

Jack and Lara. Lara and Jack.

You've got to admit, they sound good together. Your choice of karaoke songs, though, begs to differ.

[caraetdeul]

That Damn Cowboy Hat

Cowboy!Choi Seungcheol x fem!reader

Because apparently S.Coups' entire existence wasn't enough. They had to add a damn cowboy hat to finally tip us over the edge.

TW: swearing and chaos. Just plain chaos. This is a mess of my own brain.

A/n: WHEN I SAW THAT PERFORMANCE I KNEW I HAD TO WRITE SOMETHING BECAUSE WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT CHOI SEUNGCHEOL ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL US?!?!!??!!?

~Seventeen Masterlist~

GOD LISTEN JUST LISTEN!!!!!!!

CHOI SEUNGCHEOL AS A DAMN COWBOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THAT HUNK OF A MAN RIDING ON HIS HORSE LIKE A MAJESTIC BEAST!!!!

BEAR WITH ME I NEED TO TALK ABOUT THIS

IMAGINE!!!

Watching him at a rodeo as this mysterious champion that only comes out once or twice a year

Everyone's so curious as to why that is

Some say that he's some big shot lawyer or something in the city who only comes home on days when he's totally free

Some also say that he's just some recluse who has nothing to do with his life but practice all year and win the rodeo whenever he deems it important to keep up with his reputation

So when word got out that he was participating in the rodeo this coming weekend, no one was about to pass up the opportunity to watch him

Because nothing was worse in the world than to miss out on the mysterious yet dashingly handsome cowboy who tried to almost kill himself on a horse for some cheap medal and still do it all over again

You've never really experienced any of this before as you just moved here about 6 months ago

Even then, you knew how important these things were and you were excited to finally experience it for yourself

You had even heard about this infamous guy the first week of your move here. Your neighbor, who was the main guy for any gossip around town, was kind enough to let you in on the current happenings. This includes S.Coups' glamorous reputation.

So when you heard about the whispers that he was gonna compete in the latest rodeo, you just had to see it for yourself

That's how you found yourself sitting on one of the metal benches with your neighbor-slash-best friend, his excitement rubbing off on you as you waited for the show to start

Now bear with me again cuz I got no idea what I'm trying to say as I've never been to a rodeo and I'll probably never will, living in another country and all

The moment he was spotted by anyone on the stands, there was chaos

People were cheering for him all around

Men were roaring like there's no tomorrow

Women were screeching their lungs out

Unashamedly, you screamed along with them

I MEAN, HOW COULD YOU NOT???

WHEN HE LOOKED LIKE A DAMN GREEK GOD IN FLANNEL AND JEANS!!!!

You were simply a victim of his damn good looks and talent, just like every other person here

And when the show finally started, it only got crazier than ever

Everyone was having fun, one way or another. Even the nervous competitors, who were scared af at first when they realized that they were about to compete against a legend, were already drunk out of their asses as they tried to calm their nerves down

You watched as each one of them took their turn at the rodeo, some falling down more than the others

And then the moment everyone's been waiting for had finally come

You finally understood what the actual deal was with this guy

From the moment he climbed on his horse to the very last gallop, he was a sight to behold

Every single pair of eyes was on him, not once blinking in fear of missing out on every detail of his show

It was like the whole thing wasn't even a competition at all

The way he performed told everyone in the premises that he was not someone to mess with

He owned the competition without even breaking a sweat

Looking back at the other competitors, you could tell that even they were amazed at what was happening before them, not even fazed about the fact that they've already lost the competition

Returning to the main show, you watched him like a child admiring a candy shop (I MEAN THAT GUY IS A DAMN SNACK AND IM DROOLING)

And as if this whole thing couldn't be more of a cliche than before, the rough movements of his horse made him drop his hat right where you were sitting

You immediately took his hat and got up to the fence, waiting for the right moment that you could return it

When he finally got down his horse with a triumphant grin, the stands roared

But the cheers behind you became background noise when your eyes locked with his

His smile softened into a charming yet genuine one, finally making his way to you

When he was just right in front of you on the other side of the fence, you felt your face warm up at the way he studied you with that damn smirk on his face

You slowly handed him his hat, nervously blabbering about how it fell and you just took it and didn't even think about anything else but returning it to him and now he's here so he can take it from you and just get on with his life and—

Your whole body shut down when he took his hat from you before placing it down on your head, your ears ringing even more as everyone behind you cheered even louder than before

You knew what that meant.

He knew what that meant.

And judging by the wink he gave you, he knew that you knew what it meant.

You didn't register how your best friend had a meltdown beside you as he shook you with excitement

You could only accept the way your best friend practically bulldozed you with his excitement while gaping at S.Coups who was retreating to his horse on the other side of the area

As you walked back to your truck, your best friend rambling about how it was the best damn day of his life and how he was so honored to be your best friend and a witness to that firsthand, you were stopped by someone calling you from the stables

Turning around, your eyes met with another cowboy beckoning you over, one you realized was another competitor in today's rodeo

Once you got closer to him, he immediately passed you a note with a suspiciously giddy smile

Before you could even ask what the note was, he had already turned around and walked away from you

Frowning, you watched him a bit, not knowing what you were supposed to do with it. When you were sure that he was, in fact, not coming back, you finally relented and opened the note

The blush that rose to your cheeks only made your best friend squeal even further as he read the note with you

"Call me. Your cowboy, Choi Seungcheol <3"

Taglist: @moonwonuu @belladaises @porridgesblog @sasaapportela @allys-reads @clownprincehoeshi @yoonzzziino @gyuguys @reiofsuns2001

[caraetdeul]

The Cowboy's Date

Cowboy!Choi Seungcheol x fem!reader

It may have been months but the cowboy hat will always have a chokehold on us.

TW: none

A/n: FINALLY GOT TO FINISHING THE SECOND PART! Im so sorry this took so long 😭 writer's block is really a pain in the ass. Btw, tumblr is being banned here in our country cuz of gambling allegations (idek why like tf) but hopefully i wont lose this account 😭😭😭 If you have more ideas or requests, hit me up!!! I need more of this au please 🥺

~Part 1 of Cowboy AU~ | ~Seventeen Masterlist~

OKAY HERE'S PART 2 CUZ FUCK IF IM GONNA LET THIS GO

Now imagine him asking you out for a little dinner date

AND NOT JUST THROUGH A SIMPLE TEXT!!!

Multiple bouquets of flowers were delivered to your apartment one day and a note was tied to one of the bouquets

the note read "Didn't really know which one's your favorite so I bought all they had. Guess that's a question for our first date. Pick you up at 6. Dress nice but casual. See you :)"

you melted right then and there.

i mean a guy in this day and age that actually makes the effort to create a whole set of instructions for you to get ready while also making it all sweet and interesting at the very least?

you'd marry him on the spot.

well, the flowers might be over the top (and frankly, would be the worst idea if you had pollen allergies) but it was sweet nonetheless

to be completely honest, there's two things that made you curious about the date

first, how does a man like him with his "cowboy" career be able to buy you this much flowers in one go?

and two, hOW DOES THIS MAN WITH THIS JOB HAVE A FREAKING RICH ASS CAR WHEN PICKING YOU UP???

handsome? check

gentleman? check

RICH AF??? CHECK TO THE CHECKITY CHECK!

it's been a good life. You think you could die right then and be held by the most beautiful heavenly-sent man while you die in his arms.

okay, back to the date.

he was in front of your house at 6 pm on the dot.

which was the bare minimum for everyone, but you appreciate it nonetheless.

his punctuality honestly saved you from picking at your makeup and probably ruining your whole look for the evening.

the moment you stepped out of your door, you were met with this gorgeous GORGEOUS man dressed in a casual sweater and slacks.

you immediately clocked on the fact that you were wearing matching colors which made you giddy on the inside.

you hoped you didn't show your excitement too much on your face but when you heard him say how beautiful you looked, the smile that you gave him was definitely one for the stars.

later on, when you are years into your relationship, Seungcheol would share to you how his insides melted when he saw that particular smile for the first time.

during the drive, you had casual talk with each other. Just something light to somehow make this a comfortable vibe for the date despite the nerves that you were feeling at the moment.

he asked you about the flowers and you responded with how much you loved them.

you then shared how much more you appreciated it because you actually don't have a specific favorite flower. So to have that bunch of bouquets with the wildest variety of flowers in one place that was arranged just for you? it was the sweetest thing that someone had ever done for you.

it was even sweeter when you thought about how it was done by someone who is still technically a stranger to you.

it made you wonder how much more he could do once you were fully acquainted with each other.

you always did go by the idea that to be loved is to be seen.

at one point during the drive, you tried to ask him where you were going

he did this little dimpled smirk (which drove you crazy af) before answering with a simple "it's a secret."

you huffed playfully before going on a tangent of guesses that ranged from the simplest dinner date to the most spontaneous thing you could think of.

but even then, all you got were shrugs and laughs from him before you eventually settled down and surrendered with a playful glare.

looking back, you honestly didn't know what got into you.

you weren't the type of person to be so openly casual and joking with someone you just met, or in this case, at the first date.

you were usually the quiet and observer one. The person who would act as normally as possible while being as alert as you could possibly be.

you could never know with the guys you meet anywhere. Being alert in everything you do is the best and safest thing you can do for yourself.

but somehow, with Seungcheol, it was different.

don't get me wrong, you were still alert. But something about him made you feel like you were safer with him than without him.

maybe it was the way he showed you respect

or maybe it was the way he looked at you like you were the most precious thing in this world that should be protected from anything that can harm it

either way, you felt safe and that was definitely something in your books.

after a few more minutes of driving, the car eventually stopped in front of what looked like an intimate lounge bar.

and based on how it looked on the outside, this was definitely one of those bars that are so private that you could only get in with a specific password or something

as if you couldn't think much more of how rich Seungcheol actually is.

once you were both settled inside the bar, the first thing you asked him was how the fuck he could afford this

typically, that kind of question would make him uncomfortable but when it came from you, all he could think about was how adorable you looked all confused and innocently curious about him that he knew you were actually genuinely baffled by everything that's happening right now

so that's how you confirmed the rumors

or at least in some way confirm it

Seungcheol is this big shot in the city but he wasn't a lawyer or a finance guy like what the rumors say

surprisingly, he's a runway model and a popular one at that

okay maybe it wasn't so surprising. Not when the guy has a face and body like that.

now that you think about it, how you ended up with someone like him was beyond you

but then again, you will never refuse this kind of blessing

you both had a great time together throughout your date

your interests and differences were shared and openly appreciated by each other

he shared how despite living under a spotlight for most of his life, he still preferred a life that is quiet and private. Something he can call his and his only

on the other hand, you shared how much of an outgoing person you are despite having a job that only requires you to work within the comfort of your own home

he was the type of guy who was decisive on what he wanted and how he wanted it

you were the type of girl who was filled to the brim with ideas with the need to be as spontaneous as you could be

as you went on with your conversation, you both realized how different you were with each other

and yet, you somehow know that you'll never find someone more fitting in your life than he does

the conversation never stopped even on your way home

you honestly thought it was too early to end the date but he insisted the opposite

he kept saying that you shouldn't be out too late when he knows that you have work the next day

as if you couldn't fall for him any further

once you reached your house, no one moved

the car stayed parked on the street as you let the end of your date sink in

when you glanced at Seungcheol, you were surprised he was already looking at you

"I had a great time," Seungcheol said with the sweetest smile

"Me too," you replied, mirroring his smile

you slowly leaned forward, the space between you growing smaller and smaller

you paused before your lips could touch, your eyes searching for any sign of discomfort on his face

but before you could overthink it, he closed the gap between you, his soft lips meeting yours in a sweet and short kiss

the promise of a second date left imprinted on each other's lips

Taglist: @moonwonuu @belladaises @porridgesblog @sasaapportela @allys-reads @clownprincehoeshi @yoonzzziino @gyuguys @reiofsuns2001

[caraetdeul]

Seventeen

~To Main Masterlist~ | ~Request Guidelines~

| 💕 - Fluff | 🌧️ - Angst | 🫂 - Comfort | 🤦‍♀️ - Crack | 🇵🇭 - Filipino | 🖤 - dark themes | °°° - Requested

S.Coups

DRABBLES

A Hand to Hold 💕🫂

You never thought about how calming holding a hand can be up until now.

IMAGINES

That Damn Cowboy Hat 💕

Because apparently S.Coups' entire existence wasn't enough. They had to add a damn cowboy hat to finally tip us over the edge.

The Cowboy's Date 💕

(Part 2 to That Damn Cowboy Hat) It may have been months byt the cowboy hat will always have a chokehold on us.

ONE-SHOTS

A Bouquet of Breakdowns 🫂

Sometimes, life is a bride that just gives a whole ass bouquet of problems in one throw.

Regrets and Reunions (Sequel to Tolerate It) 🌧️

Mistakes were made and consequences were learned but everything was easier said than done.

Right Beside You 💕

Distance is nothing when you've got a love like this

Your Heart Was Glass 🌧️🫂

You fucked up the very best thing that happened in your life so far with your choices. But maybe a second chance in love could finally be the way for you to forgive yourself and move on.

Pamper Up 💕

Being pampered by Seungcheol is considered normal in your relationship with his tendency to spoil you in every way. But today, maybe he has another reason to spoil you for a lifetime.

My Lungs From Another Body 💕🫂

Under the pressure and stress the world gives you, all you need sometimes is someone to be there for you. A breath of fresh air from one soul to another.

SERIES

Tolerate It 🌧️

The 3 times you forgave and the one time you finally choose to forget.

SMAU

Saan ka? 💕🌧️🤦‍♀️🇵🇭

Paano kung sa paghahanap mo ng true love, ang makakatuluyan mo pala ay hindi ang kasama mong kumain sa date, kundi ang naglilista ng order niyong pagkain?

Homemade Lunches 💕🤦‍♀️

They say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach but maybe try to put a label on whose lunch it really was.

Favorite Color 💕🤦‍♀️

Love moves in mysterious ways (and probably even colorful ones)

Jeonghan

ONE-SHOTS

They Can't Take What's Ours 💕🌧️🫂

Sometimes, we just need to be reassured in order to survive.

Something About You 💕🖤°°°

There was something about you that he loved so much. Now, nothing's stopping him from having you all to himself.

Joshua

ONE-SHOTS

Regrets and Reunions (Sequel to Tolerate It from Scoups) 🌧️🫂

Mistakes were made and consequences were learned but everything was easier said than done.

Hoshi

ONE-SHOTS

Impulsive Decisions 💕

His love language is quality time and doing impulsive decisions together.

Wonwoo

ONE-SHOTS

Sent 12 Hours Ago 💕🫂

Keeping in touch with your partner also means understanding them in the midst of silence.

Checkmate, I Couldn't Lose 💕

You have a secret to tell and what's a better way to confess than through a toast during your wedding's reception?

My Priority is You 💕🫂

In both the high and low points in life, nothing is better than being chosen by him every single time.

SMAU

Soft Wishing Launch 💕🤦‍♀️🇵🇭

Fake soft launching to the rescue si friend pero hanggang friends nga lang ba talaga?

Woozi

DRABBLES

Sweet Nothings from your Lips 💕

You know you truly love someone when every single word that comes out of their mouth is a sweet nothing to you.

Mingyu

SERIES

Caffeine With A Touch of Spring 💕🌧️🫂🤦‍♀️

Coffee is great paired with some fresh flowers. (cafe owner!Mingyu x flower shop owner!fem!reader)

DK

ONE-SHOTS

Feeling Quite Muggy Today 🌧️💕🫂

There will always be a rainbow after the storm. Or in other words, the most beautiful things can come from the ugliest circumstances.

Seungkwan

SMAU

Wrong Send 💕🤦‍♀️🇵🇭

What if kiligin ka na nga lang pero mali-mali ka pa ng desisyon sa buhay?

[caraetdeul]

Tolerate It

Choi Seungcheol x fem!reader

The 3 times you forgave and the one time you finally choose to forget.

(With platonic!Lee Jihoon x reader)

TW: angst, angst, angst!!! hurt/no comfort, somehow toxic relationship

a/n: This is a 4 part small series based on Taylor Swift's song "Tolerate It". The way she told the story on the Eras Tour was so heartbreaking that I just can't help but make one based on it. So of course, this series will be full of heartbreaks until the very end (sorry not sorry). This is also a tribute to that performance cuz it still breaks my heart that it's been removed from the setlist. I'll post each part as soon as I'm finished writing them and I'll even maybe write a one-shot sequel of this once I'm done with it with a lot of comfort and VENGEANCE. Also, if you want to be tagged in future updates for this series or for any other stories i write, just ask ;) Anyway, enjoy reading caratdeuls!

~Seventeen Masterlist~

Btw, it can be read as gn!reader but there are descriptions of feminine clothes and things.

I Wait By The Door Like I'm Just A Kid

Use my best colors for your portrait

Lay The Table With The Fancy Shit

And watch you tolerate it.

If It's All In My Head, Tell Me Now

Tell me I've got it wrong somehow

I Know My Love Should Be Celebrated

But you tolerate it.

Regrets and Reunions: A Sequel

Taglist: @moonwonuu @belladaises @porridgesblog @sasaapportela @allys-reads @vixensss @clownprincehoeshi @gyuguys

[caraetdeul]

Pop The Bubble

Jack Abbot x reader

Jack didn't know what to do when the only person he had thought he truly knew, suddenly becomes a mystery not even you can solve.

TW: dark themes, cursing, mentions of alcohol, very bad mental health talk, talks of being a burden and a bad person, talks of identity crisis, just overall very bad mental state

A/n: VERY SELF INDULGENT!!! I just had to write for our dearest attending here cuz I've been rotting so bad in life. I know that about half of the comfort fics in this tag is all about Jack comforting reader but i just cant let go of this idea. He's just so steady and safe. Something most of us crave for in life. So I apologize if this is another comfort fic for the reader but this is just something i need atm.

~The Pitt Masterlist~

Jack knew something was up the moment you stepped through the doors of the ED.

Clenched jaw. Blank stare. Fidgety hands.

Something in his chest felt heavy the moment he saw those signs. He knew what it meant—probably more than others. But then he saw one of the nurses approach you, and it was like nothing happened at all. Like a switch turned on, you were back to your usual self.

Your loud, happy, nothing-in-this-life-can-bring-me-down self.

He didn't know what to think of it. Doubt clouded his mind, making him wonder if he was seeing things. Maybe he was just ready for this night to be over with, and he was projecting those feelings to someone else.

Even then, there was a nagging feeling inside of him that he couldn't put to rest. Watching you from the other side of the hub as you greeted every single one of the staff on the night shift, Jack kept a silent promise to keep an eye on you all night.

It was easier said than done, especially if you were working in one of the most stressful environments the world could offer.

With trauma after trauma coming through the doors, Jack had no choice but to put everything in the back of his mind. It didn't stop him though from checking up on you every chance he could get. Whether that would be through a silent sweep of his gaze through the entire ED or by keeping an ear open to your voice, he didn't care as long as he had an idea of how you were at the time.

By the halftime mark, Jack was convinced that he was just hallucinating things. I mean, what else could he conclude to when all he ever witnessed on you were your beaming smiles and heartwarming laughs.

Logic told him that all was good. His cautious glances said otherwise.

As long as there was no direct confirmation that you were fine, Jack wasn't willing to let it go. Not when its about you.

The moment finally came into fruition when it was almost time to change shifts.

Jack was closing the door to the last patient he would be seeing for the night, his limbs heavy with exhaustion. The noise of the ED wasn't typically a nuisance for his adrenaline junkie self, but right now, all he wanted was to go home and sleep the day off. And as if that wasn't enough, his leg decided that today would be the day to destroy the last ounce of his will to live.

He had half a mind to hide in the break room for the remaining 30 minutes of his shift when he saw you walking towards the direction of the locker room. He immediately straightened up, his body deciding that this is the right time to digest the unhealthy amount of caffeine he had been drinking throughout his shift.

He knew right then and there that there wouldn't be a better time than this. Without looking back, he made a beeline towards the locker room, his steps firm as his resolve.

But before he could even get halfway across the ED, Dana was already intercepting him with a trauma call, the glare of the red phone on her hand effectively stopping him from taking another step further.

Jack clenched his jaw, his gaze going back and forth from the emergency doors and the hallway to the locker room. He glanced around, hoping that he could find Robby to take care of the situation but he was nowhere to be found. All he caught was Dana's curious eyes who was probably wondering why he wasn't all over it like he would usually be.

He leaned over the nurses' station, dragging a hand down his face, "Dana—"

"Sorry, hun but it's still your shift," she replied with a grimace.

He sighed frustratedly, muttering something about taking his own sabbatical as he surrendered to following the noise of the paramedics wheeling a gurney through the emergency bay.

After effectively dealing with the crisis, Jack was more than ready to take off. He snapped the gloves off of his hands, throwing them to the nearest trash bin as he ventured out through the doors of the Trauma Bay he was in.

He immediately took notice of the nearest clock to him, his stomach dropping at the fact that he spent almost an hour in the room. An hour that could've been spent talking to you.

Glancing around the entire floor, he knew he wouldn't see any trace of you still lingering around for him to take advantage of. Not even the half-empty cup of iced coffee you always get with Shen that was typically left unattended at your charting station was there.

Nevertheless, his pulse still beat harder on the off chance that you were still within the premises of the hospital.

His tired eyes caught on Robby who was handling hand-offs by the nursing station.

Making his way to him, he tried his best to subtly keep an eye out for you. But when he was close enough to Robby to actually make eye contact with him, he knew he wasn't getting away with subtlety as he would've liked it to be.

"Looking for someone?" Robby smirked.

Jack rolled his eyes, instinctively crossing his arms as a defense mechanism against the tone of voice Robby used in that particular sentence. "I don't know what you're talking about."

His smirk only widened, clearly enjoying the suffering Jack was slowly drowning in, "I just saw Bubbles clock out about half an hour ago."

Jack kept a neutral facade as he nodded in acknowledgement, nonchalance oozing out of his stance. But Robby knew better. He immediately clocked on the small twitch of his mouth and the slightly glazed look in his eyes. Admittedly the whole expression only lasted about a second, it was still more than enough for Robby to know that Jack was clearly bothered by the idea more than he lets on.

Before he could utter another word, Jack was already walking away with a more noticeable limp—something Robby knew only happens when Jack's mind was not present enough to hide his discomfort.

Once Jack reached his own locker, he couldn't help but glance to yours which was only two lockers down from his.

You weren't supposed to decorate the outside of your locker. It wasn't an actual rule that was forced unto you the moment you were hired to work there but it was an unspoken one, nonetheless.

Something about looking pristine and the notion of keeping your personal life detached from your work.

You were a total rule follower. Your brain just couldn't deal with the chaos that rule breaking would ensue, no matter how small it would be. So if it was written down in the handbook, it would be written down in the entirety of your stay as the hospital's employee.

But even then, Jack knew you enough that he knew you weren't above bending the rules every now and then should it be deemed necessary by the situation. In fact, knowing the rules by heart actually made you smarter and more resourceful. The amount of loopholes you had inevitably learned was astounding even for him. He couldn't count how many times you helped him bypass any legally questionable situation he put himself in for the sake of his patients.

So when he saw you gingerly placing small stickers on one corner of your locker door on one of your shared shifts, he knew that the giddy smile on your face was something he wouldn't mind seeing for the rest of his life.

As he looked at them now, he remembered how you whispered reassurances to him that the stickers were made to be temporary. Something that would inevitably lose its adherence without leaving any traces of damage to the surface underneath it. Something that could be peeled off by time, only to be truly remembered once it left its place. Like a puzzle piece that one would only notice was missing the moment they saw the gaping hole at the middle of the picture.

As he passed by your locker, he couldn't help but press down on the peeling corner of the cat meme sticker he got you on your birthday last year. Memories of your bright smile at something so simple in his own book washed over him as he traced the outline of the sticker.

When he saw that the corner made its way back to the surface without his help, a soft smile graced his face—a huge contrast to the heavy bags under his eyes and the overall exhaustion that painted every feature of his.

It was enough for him to finally walk away.

As the door closed behind him, the sticker quietly peeled the same corner off of its place. Specks of dirt were already littering the backside of the sticker, forcing it to succumb to its failure to return to its original state.

↢ ◊ ↣

The next time he caught you slipping was roughly a month after the first one.

The night shift was quiet for once. Although, he would never dare say the word out loud. He loved his life too much. He was just thankful Shen had taken a day off, essentially giving him time to breathe in the ED without fearing for his tendency to not believe in superstitions.

If Jack was given a dime every time he stopped himself from wringing Shen's neck because of it, he could easily buy PTMC and build a new one just for laughs.

He was minding his own business at his charting station, words easily flowing through the screen as he typed down the details of his latest patient. When he glanced up to give his eyes a rest, he immediately caught your lingering figure by one of the occupied rooms on the floor.

At the angle he was in, he couldn't fully see your face which was obscured by a portion of your hair that fell out of your ponytail. It didn't help that you were facing away from him, staring directly at whatever was inside the room through the small window on the door.

Jack would've left you to your own devices on a normal day. You were naturally caring for the patients you handle—both a blessing and a curse, depending on who you talk to. So it wasn't really that much concerning whenever someone sees you staying on a patient's bedside for longer than necessary, especially at slower times like this.

But when he saw the detached look on your face, he knew this wasn't one of those days.

He had no plan, whatsoever. All he knew was that he had to do something, and something, he did.

"Hey, Bubbles!"

You flinched. A flinch that was so visible, he could clearly see it even if he stood on the other side of the ED. His frown deepened at that, especially when he saw you taking a deep breath before facing him.

He took note of the way your smile automatically graced your face once you were looking at him. He also took note of the way your steps faltered a bit while somehow perfectly mimicking your typically joyful walk as you made your way to him.

Once you were close enough that he could feel your warmth without touching you, he could see the way your smile stretched in an uncanny way despite the corners reaching your ears like it usually does. If he had to write an assessment on your smile, he would say that it was too practiced. Too stretched. Like it was etched on your face with the careful precision of an artist that loves to hide the meaning behind its strokes.

Even then, he couldn't deny the fact that your smile looked genuine. If he didn't know any better, he would think that it was just his mind overthinking every little detail he could take from you. But then again, he did just pull a double shift today.

"What's up, Buttercup?" you hollered, leaning on the counter beside him.

Jack rolled his eyes, trying to look irritated despite the amusement that shone through his small smirk, "I still think I'm more of a Blossom."

You laughed, "Nah. You're definitely a Buttercup, you little grump."

He snorted, shaking his head before fully turning to face you. The seriousness that suddenly overtook his features clearly caught you off guard.

"Is everything okay with you?" Jack asked, his iconic stare piercing through you.

You stiffened for a second before forcing yourself to relax, your shoulders stiffly going down in an attempt to look calm, "Has anyone ever told you you have a staring problem?"

As if it wasn't sharp enough, his eyes narrowed at you.

You snorted, "Yeah, that's Exhibit A. Thanks for confirming."

"Bub—"

"I'm fine."

He didn't reply immediately after that. The slight grimace you tried to hide as soon as it left you told him you heard the way you said it. You answered too fast. It was enough to sound the alarms in his brain.

Like you could practically hear his thoughts, you doubled down on your answer with a reassuring smile, "I'm fine. I promise. Shen just promised me last night that he would bring me coffee. He then failed to tell me that he wasn't even planning on working today, which completely threw me off. So now, I'm basically running on sheer will and the idea of sweet petty revenge."

Jack hummed, his undeterred gaze still studying your face. What you said made sense. It wasn't far from the normal truth in this line of work, especially as someone that works on the night shift. Even the way you acted out your frustrations wasn't out of the normal for you.

But then, he remembered your reaction a while ago. The way you couldn't even answer his question in the first place. So, he tried once more. Just in case.

"Are you sure?"

Your eyes softened, your smile lifting with grace and appreciation, "I'm sure."

Jack nodded, "Okay."

You left it at that, muttering about checking up on a patient as you walked away from him. He watched your form get smaller as the distance between you get larger. He only let you go once you turned a corner, effectively releasing yourself from his stare.

Unfortunately for you, freedom also meant a dimmed light.

↢ ◊ ↣

Jack didn't know what he expected on his day off, but it was certainly not you.

Or more precisely, not your drunk call.

He was lounging on his sofa with a beer on his hand and his TV playing on the background. He was bored out of his mind and silence in his house would only bring out the worst demons he could find. So he settled for trashy TV jokes and recorded laugh tracks. It was significantly better than his own trashy mind, that's for sure.

These days, all he could think about was the last conversation he had with you. Albeit, that conversation was followed by multiple ones, but it was all either medical talk or just plain small talk they had in between patients. So in his mind, the conversation you had that day was the only proper one among the others.

He accepted your excuse. It was stupid and quite questionable if he had to be honest, but it was a good excuse. But now that he thought about it again, a part of him couldn't help but think that he only accepted it because he couldn't really accept the idea of the opposite when it came to you.

The idea that someone like you could be dealing with something he understood in the worst way possible.

You were supposed to be the untouchable. The person that couldn't be brought down by anything at all. You were given your nickname for a reason and it wasn't because you deeply liked the show. You were the kind of person that lights up the room in the most genuine way possible. To think that your light could be dimmed without anyone noticing made his chest hurt.

He didn't know how long he fell asleep on his couch. But when he woke up with his back cursing him, he knew it was long enough.

Amidst his foggy brain and the muffled noise of the TV still playing some shitshow, the buzz of his phone on the coffee table made him sit up with a grunt. The digital clock on his wall glared at his bleary eyes, the LED lights displaying 3:42 AM which made him groan. Whoever was calling him in this ungodly hour on his day off would certainly answer to a very grumpy sleep deprived man. But when he saw your name on his screen, he sobered up real quick.

Before his brain could even catch up, he was already answering the call, your name slipping out of him on instinct.

"Heyaaa," you slurred, giggles coming from your side of the line. That made him sit up straighter.

"Are you drunk?" He asked, the incredulous tone in his voice something he had no energy to cover up.

"Psh, no," you giggled. The loud noise behind you flooded your call. If he wasn't attentively listening to you, he probably wouldn't catch anything you were saying.

"Where are you?"

"At the bar. You know, the one near PTMC."

His brows furrowed, checking the contact on his screen once again just to see that he wasn't hallucinating things.

You were at a bar. Drunk off your ass at 3 in the morning on one of your day offs. You, his Bubbles.

God, he couldn't even get you past your bedtime to watch a movie you've been waiting for literal weeks. He didn't even know that you know about the bar's actual location because you never went with them. Someone would ask you to go drinking with them yet everytime, you would decline the invitation saying that you don't drink.

You don't drink.

Jack immediately stood up, his movements frantic as he took his keys and wallet and dashed out the door. He tried keeping you on the line. But the moment he got into his car, his phone died. He rummaged through his dashboard for a charger, but all he could find were loose change and a half-eaten granola bar.

"Fuck," he cursed under his breath. There was no time to get back into his house and get a charger. Not when you were out there by yourself, drunk and vulnerable. He stared at the dark screen of his phone with a clenched jaw, silently praying you wouldn't do anything stupid before he got there.

The whole drive was a blur of overspeeding and red lights. Personally, he wouldn't take advantage of the M.D. sign in front of his car. But tonight, your safety was his priority and he'll be damned if anyone got in the way of him getting to you.

Arriving at the bar, he kept an eye out for you as he parked the car right in front of the entrance. From the window overlooking half of the bar, he could see your figure by the counter.

His protective instincts washed over him the moment he saw that frown on your pretty face. He was so focused on getting you home, he didn't even notice Steve, the bartender, calling him from behind the counter. He carelessly left a hundred dollar bill before taking you into his arms.

He practically dragged you out of the bar with how drunk you were, his name coming out of your lips—in delight or disappointment, he's not quite sure. One thing he was sure of was that if he was some stranger to the staff of the bar, he would've been kicked out five minutes ago.

Reaching his car, he secured you on the passenger seat before making his way to the driver's side. Once you were both finally in the safety of the car's confinements, he was able to properly look at you.

You were dressed in plain clothes, your hair haphazardly put in a ponytail as if you were in a hurry. The glazed look on your face was what put him on edge. He never saw that look on you before.

He had seen you at your worst—snot running down your face and the darkest circles under your eyes—but this was a whole other thing even for you. You were always so genuinely raw with your emotions, your heart placed delicately on your sleeve.

The dull and faraway look in your eyes right now made the hair behind his neck rise up.

On the other hand, the stare he got on you right now was definitely making you squirm uncomfortably.

Your intoxicated brain was barely making sense of the state you were in, much less the fact that you were already out of the bar and in Jack's car. The way your eyes slowly roamed the car's interior already gave him an idea of your current thought process. With that, he knew he wouldn't get anything proper out of you.

He studied you one last time, letting the image of you safe and secured on his passenger seat to calm him down before he could even start the car.

From the drive down to your apartment to helping you to your bed, a million thoughts were running through his mind. Questions like why were you drunk, and why were you all alone. He knew you were at least close enough to Ellis to consider her a confidante outside of the hospital. He even saw the both of you out on a brunch one morning after a shift.

Everything about tonight was genuinely making him insane, and the only person that could shed light to the situation was you. But with your current state, he knew he would have to wait until morning.

↢ ◊ ↣

The very first thing you did that morning was throw up.

The sound of your body spilling out its guts filled the bathroom, your ears barely picking up the door opening and the footsteps stopping right behind you.

Once you were sure that your stomach was done killing you from the inside, you leaned back to the solid warmth behind you. Your brain was still having difficulty catching up to your body. But when you heard your name being uttered by someone who sounds suspiciously like the attending you had a crush on for years, you immediately stood up.

You then decided it was the worst decision of your life. The world tilted so bad, you were sure gravity had it out for you.

"Hey, whoa!" Jack exclaimed, swiftly following to steady you with his hands on your shoulders.

"I'm okay. I'm okay, I promise."

He studied you for a moment, clocking your pale and sweaty face. When he was sure you wouldn't suddenly pass out in front of him, he carefully led you out of the bathroom.

"Okay, why don't you lay down for a bit?" he said, already pushing you down to your bed with so much care that you're brain and heart was short circuiting. "Stay here. I'll bring you my breakfast-in-bed specialty. Sounds good?"

"Yeah, sounds great." You couldn't help the smile that grew on your face as you watched him tuck you in, silently convincing yourself that the warmth on your face was because of your alcohol poisoning and not because of the way he was looking at you with the softest eyes in the universe.

He nodded with a hum, his gaze lingering on you for a second longer than necessary before taking a step back and going out of your bedroom. As you watched him walk away, you noticed the way he subtly tried to stretch his back as he straightened up as well as the slight limp in his gait. Guilt immediately flooded through you. The idea that Jack didn't leave you alone all night and had probably slept on your couch that was already breaking from age was enough for apologies to slip out from you the moment he came back.

"I've slept on worse things so don't worry about it." Jack shrugged, putting your breakfast on the side table before passing you a cup of water and some pills. "For your head."

You muttered a thank you before taking the pills and downing it with water. Once you finished the entire cup, Jack quietly took it from you and replaced it with a plate of eggs and bacon.

You felt him watch you eat, his gaze steady on your form. You didn't need telepathy to know what was going through his mind at the moment. You've known him long enough to be able to read it on his face. It was honestly sweet of him to keep his questions at bay, at least until he was sure you were taken care of.

At the last bite, you gingerly placed the plate on your bedside table before facing Jack. You sighed, your hands tightly clasped with each other over your bedsheets, "Go ahead. I know you've got questions."

Jack licked his lips in thought, before finally deciding to say the first thing that came out of his mind.

"I didn't know you drink."

You snorted, "That makes two of us."

Your answer clearly only made him more confused with how his eyes narrowed at you.

"Sorry," you grimaced, "What I meant was you're right, I don't drink. Or at least I didn't."

He pursed his lips, his hands aching to touch yours in comfort, "What happened last night?"

You looked down, your voice low, "I don't know."

"You don't… know," he repeated, like it was something he couldn't grasp at all.

Your jaw twitched, irritation sparking inside you, "Well fuck, Jack. I don't know what else to say."

He immediately put his hands up in surrender, "Alright, you don't know. I hear you."

Somehow, his nonchalance only made it worse. Anger coursed through your veins, the need to move away from the situation forcing you to take your plate and cup on the side table and walk out of your bedroom.

You could hear his uneven footsteps following you to the kitchen where you decided to wash the dishes. You tell yourself it was something to keep your hands busy. You also ignore the voice of your therapist in your head telling you that it was your own way of escaping whatever is making you uncomfortable.

You watched him lean sideways on the counter from the corner of your eye, his own gaze still trained on you.

"This is not you."

You exhaled sharply, your hands scrubbing your plate harder and louder. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"I do. I know you. And this?" He gestured at your general form which made you throw a glare at him. "This is definitely not you."

"Yeah?" you replied through gritted teeth, the plate in your hand long forgotten as you finally faced him, "Who am I, then?"

The question clearly caught him off guard. It took him a second before he eventually recovered his thoughts, crossing his arms as he stared right back at you. It was very much like him to not back down from a challenge, even if it came from you.

"You're the best resident I've ever had," he started, "The nicest person I've ever met. You cared for everyone so much that I sometimes ask myself how someone could be so positive like you."

Your eyes teared up, shaking your head as you looked away from him.

"You were always the brightest person in every room you entered. The only one that could make the grumpiest person inside that room laugh with delight." He laughed under his breath, "If it's not obvious, that grumpy person is me."

You took a shaky breath, "That's not me."

"It is." he insisted, "You're Bubbles. My Bubbles."

"No, I'm not!" you shouted, your breaths heavy as tears fell down your face. "I don't know who I am anymore. But what I do know is that I'm not the person you're describing."

Your withering glare made him subconsciously lean back, "I am not nice. I am not great. I am not Bubbles."

He didn't—couldn't—answer back. And maybe that was what pushed you down the edge.

"I'm a burden," you hissed, "I'm a bad daughter, bad friend, bad colleague. I've isolated myself from everyone because I couldn't handle the thought that maybe this fucked up me is the true me all along. That maybe I was actually right and the person you thought you all knew was actually someone I carefully curated for everyone to see. A stitched up version of myself that was made to hide my true ugly self."

You huffed out an exhausted chuckle, doing your best to wipe down the tears on your face only to be replaced by new ones, "I've been in this fucked up state because it's the only thing that feels real anymore. I sometimes wonder if I laugh because the joke was funny or I laugh because it was the right thing to do. Was it real or was I following a script I didn't even know I had already memorized by heart?"

"Funny thing is, I could easily get out of this funk but I can't," you whispered, finally looking him in the eye with the most genuine emotion you've had in a long time, "It's the only thing that feels safe anymore."

"So to answer your question, I'm not fine," you confessed, "I probably never was fine for a long time now. I mean, how could I when I couldn't even answer a simple question of knowing who I am."

"This thing up here is just too messed up," you sobbed, a finger pointing to your temple, "You don't deserve to be burdened by me."

Jack immediately wrapped his arms around you, his warmth cradling your fragile self. You sobbed into his chest, your fists clutching his shirt like its a lifeline.

He couldn't find the right words to say to you. His therapist would've been a great help in this situation but he couldn't exactly pause the conversation just to call his therapist like an asshole. All he could do was hold you and hope that that would be enough for now.

He held you like that for a long time, eventually bringing you to your couch so you could be comfortable. At one point, your sobs turned into whimpers and had since then quieted down to small sniffles. All while he whispered comforting things in your ear as one of his arms wrapped securely around you while the other hand caressed your hair.

When he finally noticed how you fell asleep in exhaustion, he carefully carried you to your bed. Once you were tucked in, he sat beside your sleeping form as he watched you finally have some peace from your troubled mind.

He brushed away some fallen hair strands away from your face before settling with softly stroking your tear-stained cheek with his thumb. His heart broke when he saw the first tear fall down your face. It then broke some more as he listened to you belittle yourself and make yourself look like you were someone that was very hard to love.

From the bottom of his soul, he knew that wasn't the case. You weren't hard to love. In fact, it was the easiest thing he had done ever since he lost his leg and his wife. If loving you was the only thing he could do to show you your worth and what you deserve in life, so be it. He would do it in the best way that he could and more. All for you.

If you couldn't love yourself that way that you should be loved, then he would do it for the both of you. His love for you was enough to carry you both through lifetimes, anyway.

[caraetdeul]

Pop The Bubble

Jack Abbot x fem!reader

Jack didn't know what to do when the only person he had thought he truly knew, suddenly becomes a mystery not even you can solve.

TW: dark themes, cursing, mentions of alcohol, very bad mental health talk, talks of being a burden and a bad person, talks of identity crisis, just overall very bad mental state

A/n: VERY SELF INDULGENT!!! I just had to write for our dearest attending here cuz I've been rotting so bad in life. I know that about half of the comfort fics in this tag is all about Jack comforting reader but i just cant let go of this idea. He's just so steady and safe. Something most of us crave for in life. So I apologize if this is another comfort fic for the reader but this is just something i need atm.

~The Pitt Masterlist~

Jack knew something was up the moment you stepped through the doors of the ED.

Clenched jaw. Blank stare. Fidgety hands.

Something in his chest felt heavy the moment he saw those signs. He knew what it meant—probably more than others. But then he saw one of the nurses approach you, and it was like nothing happened at all. Like a switch turned on, you were back to your usual self.

Your loud, happy, nothing-in-this-life-can-bring-me-down self.

He didn't know what to think of it. Doubt clouded his mind, making him wonder if he was seeing things. Maybe he was just ready for this night to be over with, and he was projecting those feelings to someone else.

Even then, there was a nagging feeling inside of him that he couldn't put to rest. Watching you from the other side of the hub as you greeted every single one of the staff on the night shift, Jack kept a silent promise to keep an eye on you all night.

It was easier said than done, especially if you were working in one of the most stressful environments the world could offer.

With trauma after trauma coming through the doors, Jack had no choice but to put everything in the back of his mind. It didn't stop him though from checking up on you every chance he could get. Whether that would be through a silent sweep of his gaze through the entire ED or by keeping an ear open to your voice, he didn't care as long as he had an idea of how you were at the time.

By the halftime mark, Jack was convinced that he was just hallucinating things. I mean, what else could he conclude to when all he ever witnessed on you were your beaming smiles and heartwarming laughs.

Logic told him that all was good. His cautious glances said otherwise.

As long as there was no direct confirmation that you were fine, Jack wasn't willing to let it go. Not when its about you.

The moment finally came into fruition when it was almost time to change shifts.

Jack was closing the door to the last patient he would be seeing for the night, his limbs heavy with exhaustion. The noise of the ED wasn't typically a nuisance for his adrenaline junkie self, but right now, all he wanted was to go home and sleep the day off. And as if that wasn't enough, his leg decided that today would be the day to destroy the last ounce of his will to live.

He had half a mind to hide in the break room for the remaining 30 minutes of his shift when he saw you walking towards the direction of the locker room. He immediately straightened up, his body deciding that this is the right time to digest the unhealthy amount of caffeine he had been drinking throughout his shift.

He knew right then and there that there wouldn't be a better time than this. Without looking back, he made a beeline towards the locker room, his steps firm as his resolve.

But before he could even get halfway across the ED, Dana was already intercepting him with a trauma call, the glare of the red phone on her hand effectively stopping him from taking another step further.

Jack clenched his jaw, his gaze going back and forth from the emergency doors and the hallway to the locker room. He glanced around, hoping that he could find Robby to take care of the situation but he was nowhere to be found. All he caught was Dana's curious eyes who was probably wondering why he wasn't all over it like he would usually be.

He leaned over the nurses' station, dragging a hand down his face, "Dana—"

"Sorry, hun but it's still your shift," she replied with a grimace.

He sighed frustratedly, muttering something about taking his own sabbatical as he surrendered to following the noise of the paramedics wheeling a gurney through the emergency bay.

After effectively dealing with the crisis, Jack was more than ready to take off. He snapped the gloves off of his hands, throwing them to the nearest trash bin as he ventured out through the doors of the Trauma Bay he was in.

He immediately took notice of the nearest clock to him, his stomach dropping at the fact that he spent almost an hour in the room. An hour that could've been spent talking to you.

Glancing around the entire floor, he knew he wouldn't see any trace of you still lingering around for him to take advantage of. Not even the half-empty cup of iced coffee you always get with Shen that was typically left unattended at your charting station was there.

Nevertheless, his pulse still beat harder on the off chance that you were still within the premises of the hospital.

His tired eyes caught on Robby who was handling hand-offs by the nursing station.

Making his way to him, he tried his best to subtly keep an eye out for you. But when he was close enough to Robby to actually make eye contact with him, he knew he wasn't getting away with subtlety as he would've liked it to be.

"Looking for someone?" Robby smirked.

Jack rolled his eyes, instinctively crossing his arms as a defense mechanism against the tone of voice Robby used in that particular sentence. "I don't know what you're talking about."

His smirk only widened, clearly enjoying the suffering Jack was slowly drowning in, "I just saw Bubbles clock out about half an hour ago."

Jack kept a neutral facade as he nodded in acknowledgement, nonchalance oozing out of his stance. But Robby knew better. He immediately clocked on the small twitch of his mouth and the slightly glazed look in his eyes. Admittedly the whole expression only lasted about a second, it was still more than enough for Robby to know that Jack was clearly bothered by the idea more than he lets on.

Before he could utter another word, Jack was already walking away with a more noticeable limp—something Robby knew only happens when Jack's mind was not present enough to hide his discomfort.

Once Jack reached his own locker, he couldn't help but glance to yours which was only two lockers down from his.

You weren't supposed to decorate the outside of your locker. It wasn't an actual rule that was forced unto you the moment you were hired to work there but it was an unspoken one, nonetheless.

Something about looking pristine and the notion of keeping your personal life detached from your work.

You were a total rule follower. Your brain just couldn't deal with the chaos that rule breaking would ensue, no matter how small it would be. So if it was written down in the handbook, it would be written down in the entirety of your stay as the hospital's employee.

But even then, Jack knew you enough that he knew you weren't above bending the rules every now and then should it be deemed necessary by the situation. In fact, knowing the rules by heart actually made you smarter and more resourceful. The amount of loopholes you had inevitably learned was astounding even for him. He couldn't count how many times you helped him bypass any legally questionable situation he put himself in for the sake of his patients.

So when he saw you gingerly placing small stickers on one corner of your locker door on one of your shared shifts, he knew that the giddy smile on your face was something he wouldn't mind seeing for the rest of his life.

As he looked at them now, he remembered how you whispered reassurances to him that the stickers were made to be temporary. Something that would inevitably lose its adherence without leaving any traces of damage to the surface underneath it. Something that could be peeled off by time, only to be truly remembered once it left its place. Like a puzzle piece that one would only notice was missing the moment they saw the gaping hole at the middle of the picture.

As he passed by your locker, he couldn't help but press down on the peeling corner of the cat meme sticker he got you on your birthday last year. Memories of your bright smile at something so simple in his own book washed over him as he traced the outline of the sticker.

When he saw that the corner made its way back to the surface without his help, a soft smile graced his face—a huge contrast to the heavy bags under his eyes and the overall exhaustion that painted every feature of his.

It was enough for him to finally walk away.

As the door closed behind him, the sticker quietly peeled the same corner off of its place. Specks of dirt were already littering the backside of the sticker, forcing it to succumb to its failure to return to its original state.

↢ ◊ ↣

The next time he caught you slipping was roughly a month after the first one.

The night shift was quiet for once. Although, he would never dare say the word out loud. He loved his life too much. He was just thankful Shen had taken a day off, essentially giving him time to breathe in the ED without fearing for his tendency to not believe in superstitions.

If Jack was given a dime every time he stopped himself from wringing Shen's neck because of it, he could easily buy PTMC and build a new one just for laughs.

He was minding his own business at his charting station, words easily flowing through the screen as he typed down the details of his latest patient. When he glanced up to give his eyes a rest, he immediately caught your lingering figure by one of the occupied rooms on the floor.

At the angle he was in, he couldn't fully see your face which was obscured by a portion of your hair that fell out of your ponytail. It didn't help that you were facing away from him, staring directly at whatever was inside the room through the small window on the door.

Jack would've left you to your own devices on a normal day. You were naturally caring for the patients you handle—both a blessing and a curse, depending on who you talk to. So it wasn't really that much concerning whenever someone sees you staying on a patient's bedside for longer than necessary, especially at slower times like this.

But when he saw the detached look on your face, he knew this wasn't one of those days.

He had no plan, whatsoever. All he knew was that he had to do something, and something, he did.

"Hey, Bubbles!"

You flinched. A flinch that was so visible, he could clearly see it even if he stood on the other side of the ED. His frown deepened at that, especially when he saw you taking a deep breath before facing him.

He took note of the way your smile automatically graced your face once you were looking at him. He also took note of the way your steps faltered a bit while somehow perfectly mimicking your typically joyful walk as you made your way to him.

Once you were close enough that he could feel your warmth without touching you, he could see the way your smile stretched in an uncanny way despite the corners reaching your ears like it usually does. If he had to write an assessment on your smile, he would say that it was too practiced. Too stretched. Like it was etched on your face with the careful precision of an artist that loves to hide the meaning behind its strokes.

Even then, he couldn't deny the fact that your smile looked genuine. If he didn't know any better, he would think that it was just his mind overthinking every little detail he could take from you. But then again, he did just pull a double shift today.

"What's up, Buttercup?" you hollered, leaning on the counter beside him.

Jack rolled his eyes, trying to look irritated despite the amusement that shone through his small smirk, "I still think I'm more of a Blossom."

You laughed, "Nah. You're definitely a Buttercup, you little grump."

He snorted, shaking his head before fully turning to face you. The seriousness that suddenly overtook his features clearly caught you off guard.

"Is everything okay with you?" Jack asked, his iconic stare piercing through you.

You stiffened for a second before forcing yourself to relax, your shoulders stiffly going down in an attempt to look calm, "Has anyone ever told you you have a staring problem?"

As if it wasn't sharp enough, his eyes narrowed at you.

You snorted, "Yeah, that's Exhibit A. Thanks for confirming."

"Bub—"

"I'm fine."

He didn't reply immediately after that. The slight grimace you tried to hide as soon as it left you told him you heard the way you said it. You answered too fast. It was enough to sound the alarms in his brain.

Like you could practically hear his thoughts, you doubled down on your answer with a reassuring smile, "I'm fine. I promise. Shen just promised me last night that he would bring me coffee. He then failed to tell me that he wasn't even planning on working today, which completely threw me off. So now, I'm basically running on sheer will and the idea of sweet petty revenge."

Jack hummed, his undeterred gaze still studying your face. What you said made sense. It wasn't far from the normal truth in this line of work, especially as someone that works on the night shift. Even the way you acted out your frustrations wasn't out of the normal for you.

But then, he remembered your reaction a while ago. The way you couldn't even answer his question in the first place. So, he tried once more. Just in case.

"Are you sure?"

Your eyes softened, your smile lifting with grace and appreciation, "I'm sure."

Jack nodded, "Okay."

You left it at that, muttering about checking up on a patient as you walked away from him. He watched your form get smaller as the distance between you get larger. He only let you go once you turned a corner, effectively releasing yourself from his stare.

Unfortunately for you, freedom also meant a dimmed light.

↢ ◊ ↣

Jack didn't know what he expected on his day off, but it was certainly not you.

Or more precisely, not your drunk call.

He was lounging on his sofa with a beer on his hand and his TV playing on the background. He was bored out of his mind and silence in his house would only bring out the worst demons he could find. So he settled for trashy TV jokes and recorded laugh tracks. It was significantly better than his own trashy mind, that's for sure.

These days, all he could think about was the last conversation he had with you. Albeit, that conversation was followed by multiple ones, but it was all either medical talk or just plain small talk they had in between patients. So in his mind, the conversation you had that day was the only proper one among the others.

He accepted your excuse. It was stupid and quite questionable if he had to be honest, but it was a good excuse. But now that he thought about it again, a part of him couldn't help but think that he only accepted it because he couldn't really accept the idea of the opposite when it came to you.

The idea that someone like you could be dealing with something he understood in the worst way possible.

You were supposed to be the untouchable. The person that couldn't be brought down by anything at all. You were given your nickname for a reason and it wasn't because you deeply liked the show. You were the kind of person that lights up the room in the most genuine way possible. To think that your light could be dimmed without anyone noticing made his chest hurt.

He didn't know how long he fell asleep on his couch. But when he woke up with his back cursing him, he knew it was long enough.

Amidst his foggy brain and the muffled noise of the TV still playing some shitshow, the buzz of his phone on the coffee table made him sit up with a grunt. The digital clock on his wall glared at his bleary eyes, the LED lights displaying 3:42 AM which made him groan. Whoever was calling him in this ungodly hour on his day off would certainly answer to a very grumpy sleep deprived man. But when he saw your name on his screen, he sobered up real quick.

Before his brain could even catch up, he was already answering the call, your name slipping out of him on instinct.

"Heyaaa," you slurred, giggles coming from your side of the line. That made him sit up straighter.

"Are you drunk?" He asked, the incredulous tone in his voice something he had no energy to cover up.

"Psh, no," you giggled. The loud noise behind you flooded your call. If he wasn't attentively listening to you, he probably wouldn't catch anything you were saying.

"Where are you?"

"At the bar. You know, the one near PTMC."

His brows furrowed, checking the contact on his screen once again just to see that he wasn't hallucinating things.

You were at a bar. Drunk off your ass at 3 in the morning on one of your day offs. You, his Bubbles.

God, he couldn't even get you past your bedtime to watch a movie you've been waiting for literal weeks. He didn't even know that you know about the bar's actual location because you never went with them. Someone would ask you to go drinking with them yet everytime, you would decline the invitation saying that you don't drink.

You don't drink.

Jack immediately stood up, his movements frantic as he took his keys and wallet and dashed out the door. He tried keeping you on the line. But the moment he got into his car, his phone died. He rummaged through his dashboard for a charger, but all he could find were loose change and a half-eaten granola bar.

"Fuck," he cursed under his breath. There was no time to get back into his house and get a charger. Not when you were out there by yourself, drunk and vulnerable. He stared at the dark screen of his phone with a clenched jaw, silently praying you wouldn't do anything stupid before he got there.

The whole drive was a blur of overspeeding and red lights. Personally, he wouldn't take advantage of the M.D. sign in front of his car. But tonight, your safety was his priority and he'll be damned if anyone got in the way of him getting to you.

Arriving at the bar, he kept an eye out for you as he parked the car right in front of the entrance. From the window overlooking half of the bar, he could see your figure by the counter.

His protective instincts washed over him the moment he saw that frown on your pretty face. He was so focused on getting you home, he didn't even notice Steve, the bartender, calling him from behind the counter. He carelessly left a hundred dollar bill before taking you into his arms.

He practically dragged you out of the bar with how drunk you were, his name coming out of your lips—in delight or disappointment, he's not quite sure. One thing he was sure of was that if he was some stranger to the staff of the bar, he would've been kicked out five minutes ago.

Reaching his car, he secured you on the passenger seat before making his way to the driver's side. Once you were both finally in the safety of the car's confinements, he was able to properly look at you.

You were dressed in plain clothes, your hair haphazardly put in a ponytail as if you were in a hurry. The glazed look on your face was what put him on edge. He never saw that look on you before.

He had seen you at your worst—snot running down your face and the darkest circles under your eyes—but this was a whole other thing even for you. You were always so genuinely raw with your emotions, your heart placed delicately on your sleeve.

The dull and faraway look in your eyes right now made the hair behind his neck rise up.

On the other hand, the stare he got on you right now was definitely making you squirm uncomfortably.

Your intoxicated brain was barely making sense of the state you were in, much less the fact that you were already out of the bar and in Jack's car. The way your eyes slowly roamed the car's interior already gave him an idea of your current thought process. With that, he knew he wouldn't get anything proper out of you.

He studied you one last time, letting the image of you safe and secured on his passenger seat to calm him down before he could even start the car.

From the drive down to your apartment to helping you to your bed, a million thoughts were running through his mind. Questions like why were you drunk, and why were you all alone. He knew you were at least close enough to Ellis to consider her a confidante outside of the hospital. He even saw the both of you out on a brunch one morning after a shift.

Everything about tonight was genuinely making him insane, and the only person that could shed light to the situation was you. But with your current state, he knew he would have to wait until morning.

↢ ◊ ↣

The very first thing you did that morning was throw up.

The sound of your body spilling out its guts filled the bathroom, your ears barely picking up the door opening and the footsteps stopping right behind you.

Once you were sure that your stomach was done killing you from the inside, you leaned back to the solid warmth behind you. Your brain was still having difficulty catching up to your body. But when you heard your name being uttered by someone who sounds suspiciously like the attending you had a crush on for years, you immediately stood up.

You then decided it was the worst decision of your life. The world tilted so bad, you were sure gravity had it out for you.

"Hey, whoa!" Jack exclaimed, swiftly following to steady you with his hands on your shoulders.

"I'm okay. I'm okay, I promise."

He studied you for a moment, clocking your pale and sweaty face. When he was sure you wouldn't suddenly pass out in front of him, he carefully led you out of the bathroom.

"Okay, why don't you lay down for a bit?" he said, already pushing you down to your bed with so much care that you're brain and heart was short circuiting. "Stay here. I'll bring you my breakfast-in-bed specialty. Sounds good?"

"Yeah, sounds great." You couldn't help the smile that grew on your face as you watched him tuck you in, silently convincing yourself that the warmth on your face was because of your alcohol poisoning and not because of the way he was looking at you with the softest eyes in the universe.

He nodded with a hum, his gaze lingering on you for a second longer than necessary before taking a step back and going out of your bedroom. As you watched him walk away, you noticed the way he subtly tried to stretch his back as he straightened up as well as the slight limp in his gait. Guilt immediately flooded through you. The idea that Jack didn't leave you alone all night and had probably slept on your couch that was already breaking from age was enough for apologies to slip out from you the moment he came back.

"I've slept on worse things so don't worry about it." Jack shrugged, putting your breakfast on the side table before passing you a cup of water and some pills. "For your head."

You muttered a thank you before taking the pills and downing it with water. Once you finished the entire cup, Jack quietly took it from you and replaced it with a plate of eggs and bacon.

You felt him watch you eat, his gaze steady on your form. You didn't need telepathy to know what was going through his mind at the moment. You've known him long enough to be able to read it on his face. It was honestly sweet of him to keep his questions at bay, at least until he was sure you were taken care of.

At the last bite, you gingerly placed the plate on your bedside table before facing Jack. You sighed, your hands tightly clasped with each other over your bedsheets, "Go ahead. I know you've got questions."

Jack licked his lips in thought, before finally deciding to say the first thing that came out of his mind.

"I didn't know you drink."

You snorted, "That makes two of us."

Your answer clearly only made him more confused with how his eyes narrowed at you.

"Sorry," you grimaced, "What I meant was you're right, I don't drink. Or at least I didn't."

He pursed his lips, his hands aching to touch yours in comfort, "What happened last night?"

You looked down, your voice low, "I don't know."

"You don't… know," he repeated, like it was something he couldn't grasp at all.

Your jaw twitched, irritation sparking inside you, "Well fuck, Jack. I don't know what else to say."

He immediately put his hands up in surrender, "Alright, you don't know. I hear you."

Somehow, his nonchalance only made it worse. Anger coursed through your veins, the need to move away from the situation forcing you to take your plate and cup on the side table and walk out of your bedroom.

You could hear his uneven footsteps following you to the kitchen where you decided to wash the dishes. You tell yourself it was something to keep your hands busy. You also ignore the voice of your therapist in your head telling you that it was your own way of escaping whatever is making you uncomfortable.

You watched him lean sideways on the counter from the corner of your eye, his own gaze still trained on you.

"This is not you."

You exhaled sharply, your hands scrubbing your plate harder and louder. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"I do. I know you. And this?" He gestured at your general form which made you throw a glare at him. "This is definitely not you."

"Yeah?" you replied through gritted teeth, the plate in your hand long forgotten as you finally faced him, "Who am I, then?"

The question clearly caught him off guard. It took him a second before he eventually recovered his thoughts, crossing his arms as he stared right back at you. It was very much like him to not back down from a challenge, even if it came from you.

"You're the best resident I've ever had," he started, "The nicest person I've ever met. You cared for everyone so much that I sometimes ask myself how someone could be so positive like you."

Your eyes teared up, shaking your head as you looked away from him.

"You were always the brightest person in every room you entered. The only one that could make the grumpiest person inside that room laugh with delight." He laughed under his breath, "If it's not obvious, that grumpy person is me."

You took a shaky breath, "That's not me."

"It is." he insisted, "You're Bubbles. My Bubbles."

"No, I'm not!" you shouted, your breaths heavy as tears fell down your face. "I don't know who I am anymore. But what I do know is that I'm not the person you're describing."

Your withering glare made him subconsciously lean back, "I am not nice. I am not great. I am not Bubbles."

He didn't—couldn't—answer back. And maybe that was what pushed you down the edge.

"I'm a burden," you hissed, "I'm a bad daughter, bad friend, bad colleague. I've isolated myself from everyone because I couldn't handle the thought that maybe this fucked up me is the true me all along. That maybe I was actually right and the person you thought you all knew was actually someone I carefully curated for everyone to see. A stitched up version of myself that was made to hide my true ugly self."

You huffed out an exhausted chuckle, doing your best to wipe down the tears on your face only to be replaced by new ones, "I've been in this fucked up state because it's the only thing that feels real anymore. I sometimes wonder if I laugh because the joke was funny or I laugh because it was the right thing to do. Was it real or was I following a script I didn't even know I had already memorized by heart?"

"Funny thing is, I could easily get out of this funk but I can't," you whispered, finally looking him in the eye with the most genuine emotion you've had in a long time, "It's the only thing that feels safe anymore."

"So to answer your question, I'm not fine," you confessed, "I probably never was fine for a long time now. I mean, how could I when I couldn't even answer a simple question of knowing who I am."

"This thing up here is just too messed up," you sobbed, a finger pointing to your temple, "You don't deserve to be burdened by me."

Jack immediately wrapped his arms around you, his warmth cradling your fragile self. You sobbed into his chest, your fists clutching his shirt like its a lifeline.

He couldn't find the right words to say to you. His therapist would've been a great help in this situation but he couldn't exactly pause the conversation just to call his therapist like an asshole. All he could do was hold you and hope that that would be enough for now.

He held you like that for a long time, eventually bringing you to your couch so you could be comfortable. At one point, your sobs turned into whimpers and had since then quieted down to small sniffles. All while he whispered comforting things in your ear as one of his arms wrapped securely around you while the other hand caressed your hair.

When he finally noticed how you fell asleep in exhaustion, he carefully carried you to your bed. Once you were tucked in, he sat beside your sleeping form as he watched you finally have some peace from your troubled mind.

He brushed away some fallen hair strands away from your face before settling with softly stroking your tear-stained cheek with his thumb. His heart broke when he saw the first tear fall down your face. It then broke some more as he listened to you belittle yourself and make yourself look like you were someone that was very hard to love.

From the bottom of his soul, he knew that wasn't the case. You weren't hard to love. In fact, it was the easiest thing he had done ever since he lost his leg and his wife. If loving you was the only thing he could do to show you your worth and what you deserve in life, so be it. He would do it in the best way that he could and more. All for you.

If you couldn't love yourself that way that you should be loved, then he would do it for the both of you. His love for you was enough to carry you both through lifetimes, anyway.

[caraetdeul]

Pop The Bubble

Jack Abbot x reader

Jack didn't know what to do when the only person he had thought he truly knew, suddenly becomes a mystery not even you can solve.

TW: dark themes, cursing, mentions of alcohol, very bad mental health talk, talks of being a burden and a bad person, talks of identity crisis, just overall very bad mental state

A/n: VERY SELF INDULGENT!!! I just had to write for our dearest attending here cuz I've been rotting so bad in life. I know that about half of the comfort fics in this tag is all about Jack comforting reader but i just cant let go of this idea. He's just so steady and safe.

~The Pitt Masterlist~

Jack knew something was up the moment you stepped through the doors of the ED.

Clenched jaw. Blank stare. Fidgety hands.

Something in his chest felt heavy the moment he saw those signs. He knew what it meant—probably more than others. But then he saw one of the nurses approach you, and it was like nothing happened at all. Like a switch turned on, you were back to your usual self.

Your loud, happy, nothing-in-this-life-can-bring-me-down self.

He didn't know what to think of it. Doubt clouded his mind, making him wonder if he was seeing things. Maybe he was just ready for this night to be over with, and he was projecting those feelings to someone else.

Even then, there was a nagging feeling inside of him that he couldn't put to rest. Watching you from the other side of the hub as you greeted every single one of the staff on the night shift, Jack kept a silent promise to keep an eye on you all night.

It was easier said than done, especially if you were working in one of the most stressful environments the world could offer.

With trauma after trauma coming through the doors, Jack had no choice but to put everything in the back of his mind. It didn't stop him though from checking up on you every chance he could get. Whether that would be through a silent sweep of his gaze through the entire ED or by keeping an ear open to your voice, he didn't care as long as he had an idea of how you were at the time.

By the halftime mark, Jack was convinced that he was just hallucinating things. I mean, what else could he conclude to when all he ever witnessed on you were your beaming smiles and heartwarming laughs.

Logic told him that all was good. His cautious glances said otherwise.

As long as there was no direct confirmation that you were fine, Jack wasn't willing to let it go. Not when its about you.

The moment finally came into fruition when it was almost time to change shifts.

Jack was closing the door to the last patient he would be seeing for the night, his limbs heavy with exhaustion. The noise of the ED wasn't typically a nuisance for his adrenaline junkie self, but right now, all he wanted was to go home and sleep the day off. And as if that wasn't enough, his leg decided that today would be the day to destroy the last ounce of his will to live.

He had half a mind to hide in the break room for the remaining 30 minutes of his shift when he saw you walking towards the direction of the locker room. He immediately straightened up, his body deciding that this is the right time to digest the unhealthy amount of caffeine he had been drinking throughout his shift.

He knew right then and there that there wouldn't be a better time than this. Without looking back, he made a beeline towards the locker room, his steps firm as his resolve.

But before he could even get halfway across the ED, Dana was already intercepting him with a trauma call, the glare of the red phone on her hand effectively stopping him from taking another step further.

Jack clenched his jaw, his gaze going back and forth from the emergency doors and the hallway to the locker room. He glanced around, hoping that he could find Robby to take care of the situation but he was nowhere to be found. All he caught was Dana's curious eyes who was probably wondering why he wasn't all over it like he would usually be.

He leaned over the nurses' station, dragging a hand down his face, "Dana—"

"Sorry, hun but it's still your shift," she replied with a grimace.

He sighed frustratedly, muttering something about taking his own sabbatical as he surrendered to following the noise of the paramedics wheeling a gurney through the emergency bay.

After effectively dealing with the crisis, Jack was more than ready to take off. He snapped the gloves off of his hands, throwing them to the nearest trash bin as he ventured out through the doors of the Trauma Bay he was in.

He immediately took notice of the nearest clock to him, his stomach dropping at the fact that he spent almost an hour in the room. An hour that could've been spent talking to you.

Glancing around the entire floor, he knew he wouldn't see any trace of you still lingering around for him to take advantage of. Not even the half-empty cup of iced coffee you always get with Shen that was typically left unattended at your charting station was there.

Nevertheless, his pulse still beat harder on the off chance that you were still within the premises of the hospital.

His tired eyes caught on Robby who was handling hand-offs by the nursing station.

Making his way to him, he tried his best to subtly keep an eye out for you. But when he was close enough to Robby to actually make eye contact with him, he knew he wasn't getting away with subtlety as he would've liked it to be.

"Looking for someone?" Robby smirked.

Jack rolled his eyes, instinctively crossing his arms as a defense mechanism against the tone of voice Robby used in that particular sentence. "I don't know what you're talking about."

His smirk only widened, clearly enjoying the suffering Jack was slowly drowning in, "I just saw Bubbles clock out about half an hour ago."

Jack kept a neutral facade as he nodded in acknowledgement, nonchalance oozing out of his stance. But Robby knew better. He immediately clocked on the small twitch of his mouth and the slightly glazed look in his eyes. Admittedly the whole expression only lasted about a second, it was still more than enough for Robby to know that Jack was clearly bothered by the idea more than he lets on.

Before he could utter another word, Jack was already walking away with a more noticeable limp—something Robby knew only happens when Jack's mind was not present enough to hide his discomfort.

Once Jack reached his own locker, he couldn't help but glance to yours which was only two lockers down from his.

You weren't supposed to decorate the outside of your locker. It wasn't an actual rule that was forced unto you the moment you were hired to work there but it was an unspoken one, nonetheless.

Something about looking pristine and the notion of keeping your personal life detached from your work.

You were a total rule follower. Your brain just couldn't deal with the chaos that rule breaking would ensue, no matter how small it would be. So if it was written down in the handbook, it would be written down in the entirety of your stay as the hospital's employee.

But even then, Jack knew you enough that he knew you weren't above bending the rules every now and then should it be deemed necessary by the situation. In fact, knowing the rules by heart actually made you smarter and more resourceful. The amount of loopholes you had inevitably learned was astounding even for him. He couldn't count how many times you helped him bypass any legally questionable situation he put himself in for the sake of his patients.

So when he saw you gingerly placing small stickers on one corner of your locker door on one of your shared shifts, he knew that the giddy smile on your face was something he wouldn't mind seeing for the rest of his life.

As he looked at them now, he remembered how you whispered reassurances to him that the stickers were made to be temporary. Something that would inevitably lose its adherence without leaving any traces of damage to the surface underneath it. Something that could be peeled off by time, only to be truly remembered once it left its place. Like a puzzle piece that one would only notice was missing the moment they saw the gaping hole at the middle of the picture.

As he passed by your locker, he couldn't help but press down on the peeling corner of the cat meme sticker he got you on your birthday last year. Memories of your bright smile at something so simple in his own book washed over him as he traced the outline of the sticker.

When he saw that the corner made its way back to the surface without his help, a soft smile graced his face—a huge contrast to the heavy bags under his eyes and the overall exhaustion that painted every feature of his.

It was enough for him to finally walk away.

As the door closed behind him, the sticker quietly peeled the same corner off of its place. Specks of dirt were already littering the backside of the sticker, forcing it to succumb to its failure to return to its original state.

↢ ◊ ↣

The next time he caught you slipping was roughly a month after the first one.

The night shift was quiet for once. Although, he would never dare say the word out loud. He loved his life too much. He was just thankful Shen had taken a day off, essentially giving him time to breathe in the ED without fearing for his tendency to not believe in superstitions.

If Jack was given a dime every time he stopped himself from wringing Shen's neck because of it, he could easily buy PTMC and build a new one just for laughs.

He was minding his own business at his charting station, words easily flowing through the screen as he typed down the details of his latest patient. When he glanced up to give his eyes a rest, he immediately caught your lingering figure by one of the occupied rooms on the floor.

At the angle he was in, he couldn't fully see your face which was obscured by a portion of your hair that fell out of your ponytail. It didn't help that you were facing away from him, staring directly at whatever was inside the room through the small window on the door.

Jack would've left you to your own devices on a normal day. You were naturally caring for the patients you handle—both a blessing and a curse, depending on who you talk to. So it wasn't really that much concerning whenever someone sees you staying on a patient's bedside for longer than necessary, especially at slower times like this.

But when he saw the detached look on your face, he knew this wasn't one of those days.

He had no plan, whatsoever. All he knew was that he had to do something, and something, he did.

"Hey, Bubbles!"

You flinched. A flinch that was so visible, he could clearly see it even if he stood on the other side of the ED. His frown deepened at that, especially when he saw you taking a deep breath before facing him.

He took note of the way your smile automatically graced your face once you were looking at him. He also took note of the way your steps faltered a bit while somehow perfectly mimicking your typically joyful walk as you made your way to him.

Once you were close enough that he could feel your warmth without touching you, he could see the way your smile stretched in an uncanny way despite the corners reaching your ears like it usually does. If he had to write an assessment on your smile, he would say that it was too practiced. Too stretched. Like it was etched on your face with the careful precision of an artist that loves to hide the meaning behind its strokes.

Even then, he couldn't deny the fact that your smile looked genuine. If he didn't know any better, he would think that it was just his mind overthinking every little detail he could take from you. But then again, he did just pull a double shift today.

"What's up, Buttercup?" you hollered, leaning on the counter beside him.

Jack rolled his eyes, trying to look irritated despite the amusement that shone through his small smirk, "I still think I'm more of a Blossom."

You laughed, "Nah. You're definitely a Buttercup, you little grump."

He snorted, shaking his head before fully turning to face you. The seriousness that suddenly overtook his features clearly caught you off guard.

"Is everything okay with you?" Jack asked, his iconic stare piercing through you.

You stiffened for a second before forcing yourself to relax, your shoulders stiffly going down in an attempt to look calm, "Has anyone ever told you you have a staring problem?"

As if it wasn't sharp enough, his eyes narrowed at you.

You snorted, "Yeah, that's Exhibit A. Thanks for confirming."

"Bub—"

"I'm fine."

He didn't reply immediately after that. The slight grimace you tried to hide as soon as it left you told him you heard the way you said it. You answered too fast. It was enough to sound the alarms in his brain.

Like you could practically hear his thoughts, you doubled down on your answer with a reassuring smile, "I'm fine. I promise. Shen just promised me last night that he would bring me coffee. He then failed to tell me that he wasn't even planning on working today, which completely threw me off. So now, I'm basically running on sheer will and the idea of sweet petty revenge."

Jack hummed, his undeterred gaze still studying your face. What you said made sense. It wasn't far from the normal truth in this line of work, especially as someone that works on the night shift. Even the way you acted out your frustrations wasn't out of the normal for you.

But then, he remembered your reaction a while ago. The way you couldn't even answer his question in the first place. So, he tried once more. Just in case.

"Are you sure?"

Your eyes softened, your smile lifting with grace and appreciation, "I'm sure."

Jack nodded, "Okay."

You left it at that, muttering about checking up on a patient as you walked away from him. He watched your form get smaller as the distance between you get larger. He only let you go once you turned a corner, effectively releasing yourself from his stare.

Unfortunately for you, freedom also meant a dimmed light.

↢ ◊ ↣

Jack didn't know what he expected on his day off, but it was certainly not you.

Or more precisely, not your drunk call.

He was lounging on his sofa with a beer on his hand and his TV playing on the background. He was bored out of his mind and silence in his house would only bring out the worst demons he could find. So he settled for trashy TV jokes and recorded laugh tracks. It was significantly better than his own trashy mind, that's for sure.

These days, all he could think about was the last conversation he had with you. Albeit, that conversation was followed by multiple ones, but it was all either medical talk or just plain small talk they had in between patients. So in his mind, the conversation you had that day was the only proper one among the others.

He accepted your excuse. It was stupid and quite questionable if he had to be honest, but it was a good excuse. But now that he thought about it again, a part of him couldn't help but think that he only accepted it because he couldn't really accept the idea of the opposite when it came to you.

The idea that someone like you could be dealing with something he understood in the worst way possible.

You were supposed to be the untouchable. The person that couldn't be brought down by anything at all. You were given your nickname for a reason and it wasn't because you deeply liked the show. You were the kind of person that lights up the room in the most genuine way possible. To think that your light could be dimmed without anyone noticing made his chest hurt.

He didn't know how long he fell asleep on his couch. But when he woke up with his back cursing him, he knew it was long enough.

Amidst his foggy brain and the muffled noise of the TV still playing some shitshow, the buzz of his phone on the coffee table made him sit up with a grunt. The digital clock on his wall glared at his bleary eyes, the LED lights displaying 3:42 AM which made him groan. Whoever was calling him in this ungodly hour on his day off would certainly answer to a very grumpy sleep deprived man. But when he saw your name on his screen, he sobered up real quick.

Before his brain could even catch up, he was already answering the call, your name slipping out of him on instinct.

"Heyaaa," you slurred, giggles coming from your side of the line. That made him sit up straighter.

"Are you drunk?" He asked, the incredulous tone in his voice something he had no energy to cover up.

"Psh, no," you giggled. The loud noise behind you flooded your call. If he wasn't attentively listening to you, he probably wouldn't catch anything you were saying.

"Where are you?"

"At the bar. You know, the one near PTMC."

His brows furrowed, checking the contact on his screen once again just to see that he wasn't hallucinating things.

You were at a bar. Drunk off your ass at 3 in the morning on one of your day offs. You, his Bubbles.

God, he couldn't even get you past your bedtime to watch a movie you've been waiting for literal weeks. He didn't even know that you know about the bar's actual location because you never went with them. Someone would ask you to go drinking with them yet everytime, you would decline the invitation saying that you don't drink.

You don't drink.

Jack immediately stood up, his movements frantic as he took his keys and wallet and dashed out the door. He tried keeping you on the line. But the moment he got into his car, his phone died. He rummaged through his dashboard for a charger, but all he could find were loose change and a half-eaten granola bar.

"Fuck," he cursed under his breath. There was no time to get back into his house and get a charger. Not when you were out there by yourself, drunk and vulnerable. He stared at the dark screen of his phone with a clenched jaw, silently praying you wouldn't do anything stupid before he got there.

The whole drive was a blur of overspeeding and red lights. Personally, he wouldn't take advantage of the M.D. sign in front of his car. But tonight, your safety was his priority and he'll be damned if anyone got in the way of him getting to you.

Arriving at the bar, he kept an eye out for you as he parked the car right in front of the entrance. From the window overlooking half of the bar, he could see your figure by the counter.

His protective instincts washed over him the moment he saw that frown on your pretty face. He was so focused on getting you home, he didn't even notice Steve, the bartender, calling him from behind the counter. He carelessly left a hundred dollar bill before taking you into his arms.

He practically dragged you out of the bar with how drunk you were, his name coming out of your lips—in delight or disappointment, he's not quite sure. One thing he was sure of was that if he was some stranger to the staff of the bar, he would've been kicked out five minutes ago.

Reaching his car, he secured you on the passenger seat before making his way to the driver's side. Once you were both finally in the safety of the car's confinements, he was able to properly look at you.

You were dressed in plain clothes, your hair haphazardly put in a ponytail as if you were in a hurry. The glazed look on your face was what put him on edge. He never saw that look on you before.

He had seen you at your worst—snot running down your face and the darkest circles under your eyes—but this was a whole other thing even for you. You were always so genuinely raw with your emotions, your heart placed delicately on your sleeve.

The dull and faraway look in your eyes right now made the hair behind his neck rise up.

On the other hand, the stare he got on you right now was definitely making you squirm uncomfortably.

Your intoxicated brain was barely making sense of the state you were in, much less the fact that you were already out of the bar and in Jack's car. The way your eyes slowly roamed the car's interior already gave him an idea of your current thought process. With that, he knew he wouldn't get anything proper out of you.

He studied you one last time, letting the image of you safe and secured on his passenger seat to calm him down before he could even start the car.

From the drive down to your apartment to helping you to your bed, a million thoughts were running through his mind. Questions like why were you drunk, and why were you all alone. He knew you were at least close enough to Ellis to consider her a confidante outside of the hospital. He even saw the both of you out on a brunch one morning after a shift.

Everything about tonight was genuinely making him insane, and the only person that could shed light to the situation was you. But with your current state, he knew he would have to wait until morning.

↢ ◊ ↣

The very first thing you did that morning was throw up.

The sound of your body spilling out its guts filled the bathroom, your ears barely picking up the door opening and the footsteps stopping right behind you.

Once you were sure that your stomach was done killing you from the inside, you leaned back to the solid warmth behind you. Your brain was still having difficulty catching up to your body. But when you heard your name being uttered by someone who sounds suspiciously like the attending you had a crush on for years, you immediately stood up.

You then decided it was the worst decision of your life. The world tilted so bad, you were sure gravity had it out for you.

"Hey, whoa!" Jack exclaimed, swiftly following to steady you with his hands on your shoulders.

"I'm okay. I'm okay, I promise."

He studied you for a moment, clocking your pale and sweaty face. When he was sure you wouldn't suddenly pass out in front of him, he carefully led you out of the bathroom.

"Okay, why don't you lay down for a bit?" he said, already pushing you down to your bed with so much care that you're brain and heart was short circuiting. "Stay here. I'll bring you my breakfast-in-bed specialty. Sounds good?"

"Yeah, sounds great." You couldn't help the smile that grew on your face as you watched him tuck you in, silently convincing yourself that the warmth on your face was because of your alcohol poisoning and not because of the way he was looking at you with the softest eyes in the universe.

He nodded with a hum, his gaze lingering on you for a second longer than necessary before taking a step back and going out of your bedroom. As you watched him walk away, you noticed the way he subtly tried to stretch his back as he straightened up as well as the slight limp in his gait. Guilt immediately flooded through you. The idea that Jack didn't leave you alone all night and had probably slept on your couch that was already breaking from age was enough for apologies to slip out from you the moment he came back.

"I've slept on worse things so don't worry about it." Jack shrugged, putting your breakfast on the side table before passing you a cup of water and some pills. "For your head."

You muttered a thank you before taking the pills and downing it with water. Once you finished the entire cup, Jack quietly took it from you and replaced it with a plate of eggs and bacon.

You felt him watch you eat, his gaze steady on your form. You didn't need telepathy to know what was going through his mind at the moment. You've known him long enough to be able to read it on his face. It was honestly sweet of him to keep his questions at bay, at least until he was sure you were taken care of.

At the last bite, you gingerly placed the plate on your bedside table before facing Jack. You sighed, your hands tightly clasped with each other over your bedsheets, "Go ahead. I know you've got questions."

Jack licked his lips in thought, before finally deciding to say the first thing that came out of his mind.

"I didn't know you drink."

You snorted, "That makes two of us."

Your answer clearly only made him more confused with how his eyes narrowed at you.

"Sorry," you grimaced, "What I meant was you're right, I don't drink. Or at least I didn't."

He pursed his lips, his hands aching to touch yours in comfort, "What happened last night?"

You looked down, your voice low, "I don't know."

"You don't… know," he repeated, like it was something he couldn't grasp at all.

Your jaw twitched, irritation sparking inside you, "Well fuck, Jack. I don't know what else to say."

He immediately put his hands up in surrender, "Alright, you don't know. I hear you."

Somehow, his nonchalance only made it worse. Anger coursed through your veins, the need to move away from the situation forcing you to take your plate and cup on the side table and walk out of your bedroom.

You could hear his uneven footsteps following you to the kitchen where you decided to wash the dishes. You tell yourself it was something to keep your hands busy. You also ignore the voice of your therapist in your head telling you that it was your own way of escaping whatever is making you uncomfortable.

You watched him lean sideways on the counter from the corner of your eye, his own gaze still trained on you.

"This is not you."

You exhaled sharply, your hands scrubbing your plate harder and louder. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"I do. I know you. And this?" He gestured at your general form which made you throw a glare at him. "This is definitely not you."

"Yeah?" you replied through gritted teeth, the plate in your hand long forgotten as you finally faced him, "Who am I, then?"

The question clearly caught him off guard. It took him a second before he eventually recovered his thoughts, crossing his arms as he stared right back at you. It was very much like him to not back down from a challenge, even if it came from you.

"You're the best resident I've ever had," he started, "The nicest person I've ever met. You cared for everyone so much that I sometimes ask myself how someone could be so positive like you."

Your eyes teared up, shaking your head as you looked away from him.

"You were always the brightest person in every room you entered. The only one that could make the grumpiest person inside that room laugh with delight." He laughed under his breath, "If it's not obvious, that grumpy person is me."

You took a shaky breath, "That's not me."

"It is." he insisted, "You're Bubbles. My Bubbles."

"No, I'm not!" you shouted, your breaths heavy as tears fell down your face. "I don't know who I am anymore. But what I do know is that I'm not the person you're describing."

Your withering glare made him subconsciously lean back, "I am not nice. I am not great. I am not Bubbles."

He didn't—couldn't—answer back. And maybe that was what pushed you down the edge.

"I'm a burden," you hissed, "I'm a bad daughter, bad friend, bad colleague. I've isolated myself from everyone because I couldn't handle the thought that maybe this fucked up me is the true me all along. That maybe I was actually right and the person you thought you all knew was actually someone I carefully curated for everyone to see. A stitched up version of myself that was made to hide my true ugly self."

You huffed out an exhausted chuckle, doing your best to wipe down the tears on your face only to be replaced by new ones, "I've been in this fucked up state because it's the only thing that feels real anymore. I sometimes wonder if I laugh because the joke was funny or I laugh because it was the right thing to do. Was it real or was I following a script I didn't even know I had already memorized by heart?"

"Funny thing is, I could easily get out of this funk but I can't," you whispered, finally looking him in the eye with the most genuine emotion you've had in a long time, "It's the only thing that feels safe anymore."

"So to answer your question, I'm not fine," you confessed, "I probably never was fine for a long time now. I mean, how could I when I couldn't even answer a simple question of knowing who I am."

"This thing up here is just too messed up," you sobbed, a finger pointing to your temple, "You don't deserve to be burdened by me."

Jack immediately wrapped his arms around you, his warmth cradling your fragile self. You sobbed into his chest, your fists clutching his shirt like its a lifeline.

He couldn't find the right words to say to you. His therapist would've been a great help in this situation but he couldn't exactly pause the conversation just to call his therapist like an asshole. All he could do was hold you and hope that that would be enough for now.

He held you like that for a long time, eventually bringing you to your couch so you could be comfortable. At one point, your sobs turned into whimpers and had since then quieted down to small sniffles. All while he whispered comforting things in your ear as one of his arms wrapped securely around you while the other hand caressed your hair.

When he finally noticed how you fell asleep in exhaustion, he carefully carried you to your bed. Once you were tucked in, he sat beside your sleeping form as he watched you finally have some peace from your troubled mind.

He brushed away some fallen hair strands away from your face before settling with softly stroking your tear-stained cheek with his thumb. His heart broke when he saw the first tear fall down your face. It then broke some more as he listened to you belittle yourself and make yourself look like you were someone that was very hard to love.

From the bottom of his soul, he knew that wasn't the case. You weren't hard to love. In fact, it was the easiest thing he had done ever since he lost his leg and his wife. If loving you was the only thing he could do to show you your worth and what you deserve in life, so be it. He would do it in the best way that he could and more. All for you.

If you couldn't love yourself that way that you should be loved, then he would do it for the both of you. His love for you was enough to carry you both through lifetimes, anyway.

[caraetdeul]

The Pitt

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Jack Abbot

ONE-SHOTS

Pop The Bubble 🌧️🫂

Jack didn't know what to do when the only person he had thought he truly known, suddenly becomes a mystery not even you can solve.

SERIES

Not So Double Date 💕🌧️🤦‍♀️ Pt. 2

Doing a double date with someone from work shouldn't feel so daunting and stressful for you. But when you unintentionally invited your attending that you had a crush on for years now for a double date with his dating app match, you might as well have signed your own death sentence.

[transisstor]

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