Rule Breaker
Synopsis: You and Mateo have been testing the line between your friendship. An aggressive patient encounter pushes you to your breaking point.
Warnings: Cursing, kissing, light violence.
Author Note: I said I would take writing Mateo in my own hands and I followed through. I haven’t written fanfiction in a very long time. The most recent thing I have written was my thesis on Spanish Influenza’s Socioeconomic Affect on American Citizens during WWI. So real riveting stuff lately- sorry if this is stale.
Like, repost, comment or follow! I love mutuals đź’•
———
You walked into the trauma center, the sterile air hitting you head on. You never thought you would miss the Pitt, but you did.
Or maybe you just missed a certain someone.
The 5 days on had almost put you into an early grave, the days being a blur of ivs placed and typing charts. The final day, you had been so out of it that Dana had stuck you on Triage the whole day. But the arduous 5 days had been worth it, the rest of the month had been a dream. You and your friends had taken a much needed beach vacation. You did miss the margaritas and the palm trees, but by the end of the month you were ready to get back to it.
Walking into the locker room, Princess was standing in front of her mirror touching up her lip gloss. She caught your eye in the reflection and spun around to give you a hug.
“Oooooh girl you are glowing. You look like you’ve just come from the Villa!” She said while pulling back to shut her locker.
“I don’t know if I’m glowing from the beach or actually having a normal amount of sleep.”
Opening your locker to unpack your bag. You packed more than you needed today. A full lunch was packed instead of the usual energy drink and protein bar. Whether you had time to eat it was yet to be determined.
“Well someone will be happy you are back. Mateo has been insufferable since you left.” Princess wiggled her eyebrows with a smirk on her face.
You tried to hide your surprise. The only thing that would make the situation worse would be Princess finding out about what was going on. By noon, the whole hospital would know how close you and Mateo had gotten.
Taking a deep breath. You opened the door to the next 12 hours.
———
“Well look who decided to join us today,” a voice said behind you. If you didn’t know any better you would have thought the voice was mocking you, however you knew better.
“I just couldn’t stay away, knew you couldn’t handle this place without me,” you said without turning around. Dana who you had been talking to before the interruption gave you a knowing look before she turned around back to the computer.
Turning to throw him a playful glare, you couldn’t help but stare. Mateo had a cheeky smile on his face along with the new addition of facial hair. Why the fuck did he look so good? Not that he didn’t look good before, but this was a whole new level. God this was already too much for your first shift back and you had just clocked in.
All of the old emotions filled your system. The emotions you tried to shove back down when you took your sabbatical. You were in denial so far that you had labeled Mateo’s contact as ❌ DO NOT CALL. Now he was standing in front of you looking so damn good. He had to know what he was doing.
“Did you turn all caveman when I left Mateo?”
“What, the ladies love it,” he said winking at you.
“Yeah right what ladies?” you responded while almost making your way past him. Fuck. You were the lady.
A hand gripped your arm. Not hard, but firm and warm. Your heart rate rocketed and you stared forward, refusing to look at the owner of the hand.
“I really missed this, I’m glad you’re back,” he whispered. You risked looking at him, his eyes were dark and sincere. Your face grew hot and you swore he could tell.
You dodged his eye contact. “I missed this too.”
———
The morning hours consisted of racing around treating patients and heavy eye contact.
It seemed that where ever you were, your shadow was not far behind. While you were charting- he was treating a patient in the room directly across from you. You spared a glance in his direction and met his eyes. A smile twinged on his lips. Quickly you looked back down at the screen, your cheeks reddening.
Your relationship had been liked this as of late. Part of the reason why you took your little vacation. You knew his rules for himself, this could not be anything more. Having more than a friendship would complicate things.
But it seemed to be him breaking his rules, not you.
———
A month before after a grueling shift filled with norro virus, a young woman’s death, and your favorite pair of scrubs being splattered with who knows what liquid- Mateo approached you. He wasn’t typical Mateo, cheeky, cracking jokes, giving you hell. No this was a side you hadn’t seen from him. Gentle, measured, warm; you liked it. Hell you loved it.
Standing in the ambulance bay, he didn’t say a word, he just wrapped his arms around you. The dam didn’t break until you curled into his chest, your ear on his heart. The sobs racked for what felt like hours, but he didn’t let go. He was whispering unintiligibke encouragement in your ear.
You thought that was a friendly thing to do. Friends give hugs, friends are there on the hard days-
“Come home with me. I don’t want you to be alone” Mateo whispered into your hairline. You looked up at him with through tear drenched eyelashes. His eyebrows were furrowed with sincerity.
And that’s how you spent your Thursday evening. Mateo had guided you to his car and drove you to his place. Once you got inside he had led you to the bathroom and laid a clean pair of clothes on the counter. You didn’t expect a bachelor pad, but did not expect him to be so well supplied. You didn’t even think you owned that many hair care products.
Hopping out of the shower you had put on an old penguin’s shirt and pajama pants rolled up twice. The clothes were soft and smelt like the hug he had given you earlier.
Mateo had heated up extra rigatoni and a glass of water had sat it on the coffee table for you. A blanket and pillow sat on the worn couch.
And shit the rigatoni was good, feeling more relaxed than you had in weeks, you sat the bowl in the sink filling it with water. You laid down of the couch to wait for him to get out of the shower and dozed off.
Through the haze of sleep, you felt a presence place a kiss on your forehead.
“Goodnight sweetheart.”
———
That night had lingered with you. You knew what you felt, but your brain was fighting with you. Mateo can’t like you that way. He just is a caring person, he was caring for you like one of his patients.
Swoosh. A pile of paperwork dropped in front of you. You rose your head to look at the deliverer.
Dana stood in front of the counter looking at you over her glasses. “I am going to need you to move it or lose it girl. I need this computer and South 13 needs a nurse. 34 year old male with head laceration.”
“Sounds perfect, I will be on my way,” you responded trying to get away from her questioning your lagging and staring at a certain someone.
“Tell your boy to stop distracting you. I need my best nurse on her A game,” she called after you.
Walking swiftly to South 13 you shook your head. You were in deep water if Dana knew something was up.
—
“Shit that hurts, did you just fucking graduate.”
“No sir, I’m sorry, some lacerations need a deeper stitch than others,” you said through clenched teeth. It took your all not to berate him,but you knew it would only elevate the situation. The patient, Mr. Blake, had done nothing but criticize your work and the speed of the er. You just needed to finish the stitches and get the hell out of there. It was almost noon, maybe you get squeeze in a quick meal before rounds.
Finishing up the knot, you admired your work. It would barely leave a scar by the time it healed.
“Ok Mr. Blake, the Doctor will be in shortly to do a final evaluation and then you are set to go.” You spun around in your chair to gather the supplies when a hand grabbed your arm. Hard, almost bruising, so unlike the hand that was on the same arm earlier.
“I don’t want a fucking evaluation that will cost me even more money,” he spit out while grabbing the front of your scrubs. You could smell the stench of his breath as he drug you closer. The hand on your arm squeezing hard enough to lose feeling. Your body froze up but not long before you screamed.
“Hula Hoop.”
Those two words brought the er to silence. Silence didn’t last long before footsteps from all quadrants ran to South 13.
“What the actual hell she just got back!” You heard Dana yell as the door burst open.
Before you knew it you were on the ground. Apparently Mr. Blake was not too happy about being interrupted during his rant. Your head hit the ground with a smack. Pain filled your sense, your skull seared with pain, your spine ached from where you were brutally thrown to the ground, and your arm burned from the grip. You wondered if you would have a bruise featuring each finger he had gripped you with.
“Sweetheart, don’t move yet we need to check for a spinal injury.”
Of course you had forgotten about Mateo! He had taken down his bun from when you last saw him. His brunette curls making a halo around his face as he looked down at you.
“My spine is fine, my head took a majority of the blow. I think I may have a minor concussion though, the lights are killing me,” You said while squinting. Damn had the lights always been this bright?
“Mateo, get her into an examination room now. I want her fully evaluated,” Dana said coming into view looking more concerned than you had ever seen her.
Shifting your gaze to Mateo he was staring intently at you, his eyes caught yours and softened. You hadn’t noticed he was cradling your head the whole time. His fingers stroking where your head had taken a majority of the blow.
“Ok let’s get you fixed up honey.”
———
The evaluation so far had been stretched silence between you and Mateo. There seemed to be something he wanted to say, but he held back as he took his time caring for you.
“Ok Name, Date of Birth, and current year.”
“Mateo you’ve asked me enough questions. I swear I am fine, just a little concussion.” He glared at your answer. Obviously not too pleased.
“You were physically assaulted by a large male patient and hit your head on impact. I think I have a right to be worried about your injuries.” His volume had raised, but not at you. Never at you.
Maybe you did have a serious concussion because suddenly questions about the relationship were on the tip of your tongue. This wasn’t normal friend behavior anymore.
“Mateo, what are we doing? I know we are friends, but the way things have been lately I don’t know if I can continue on like this.” You blurted out. His usually calm demeanor shifted; body freezing and a worry flooded his face. Somebody would have thought you guys were breaking up from the outside of the exam room.
“If I have made you uncomfortable I will back off. Is that it? I thought you liked the banter-“
“No you haven’t made me uncomfortable. But you’re always so sweet to me and don’t think I haven’t caught the eye contact because I have.” You had to take a deep breath to gather your thoughts. Was this really happening?
“So do you want me to stop making eye contact with you when we are together because I can do that.” He swiveled around on the stool then quickly swiveled back. His face was washed from worry and replaced with his usual grin. It suited him more.
“No you can make eye contact, but it’s so heated come on Mateo! My eyes feel violated from the borderline eye fucking all morning! Not that I don’t like i- oh and you always bring an extra kale salad for me when you make it! I haven’t even had a a boyfriend that has done that,” you were done sugar coating your findings. You had a carefully crafted note on your phone of all of the boyfriendly things Mateo has done.
“So let’s changed that.”
“No it really is ok you make a killer kale salad-“
“No, the boyfriend thing.”
Now what the fuck was actually happening. Maybe you had hit your head hard enough that you had entered another reality because this couldn’t be happening.
“Mateo I know your rule and that’s ok. I just don’t think I can go on with my feelings like this.”
“Well I made that rule before I met you and it’s a stupid rule.” He had gotten closer to the bed you were lying on. Carefully holding your hand like a sacred jewel.
“I don’t want to be the reason you broke your rule. I’m no rule breaker Mateo,” you tried to stay serious but a smile snug on your face.
“Well I want you to be my rule breaker reaker.”
Fuck it
Sneaking your hands into his curls, you pulled him forward into a kiss. Breaking the kiss, his hands came up to push you back on the bed.
“Easy you are still concussed honey.”
You wouldn’t know he was worried with the way he was kissing you. Soaking you up like a man starved. Moving from your mouth he placed pecks on your face. From your nose to your cheeks.
When bringing you in he must have forgot to latch the door as it was cracked for Robby to catch a glance on their ministrations inside the room.
A loud sigh woke you up from your daze followed by Robby sticking his head into the room.
“If you are wanting to kiss please save it for after the shift. We have transfers coming from Presby, power outage,” Robby quipped while eyeing the two of you up. Mateo was borderline on top of you and sank back when he heard his voice.
“Date tonight mine and you better not decline rulebreaker.”
