An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
hi, my name is sammie, and i’m pretty new to the pitt fandom, and have recently started writing a kingdon slow burn fic titled craving and the cure. and i would love to meet more people in the fandom! this has the ensemble cast, with other characters, but this is primarily focused on mel and langdon and how their relationship takes hold. it's my very first pitt fanfic!
TW(s): mentions of self harm, suicide attempt, guns, implied/referenced drug addiction, more to be added.
Summary:
"I was trying to protect you."
"Well you don't need to. I do that for you, remember?"
Mel raised a skeptical eyebrow. "You return to the Pitt after ten months and punch your attending at the end of the shift. How do you think that looks?"
"It was off the clock, technically."
"You were right in front of the hospital, but okay."
--
They called it friendship because it was easier to call it that rather than what it was becoming. They were Mel and Frank, and one day, they fell in love. Prior to that, they were the best of friends, and it's important that what they have isn't rushed. Frank won't make that mistake again. Neither will Mel.
Prologue:
"You don't always get everything right the first time."
Frank took a moment to smile to himself, despite the grim predicament he was in. Mel had been right, of course. It was rare that she wasn't. She had said that a year-and-a-half ago to him, their second-ever shift together, his first shift back after his ten month stint in rehab. Frank hadn't completely understood what Mel meant at the time; something about a patient with a collapsed lung and having his doubts about his return. It made sense at the time.
It especially made even more sense now. Frank should've known then, really, because he had a funny feeling in his chest when she said that when he knew that this should've been about the patient, not about his own marriage that was crumpling by the minute, and he tried to keep everything together. He should've known better.
You don't always get everything right the first time, Mel's voice repeated in Frank's head. Of course she was correct, of course she was. The past two years of knowing Mel had taught him that she usually was and Frank would not doubt her for even a second. Maybe that should've been the first sign. One of many.
Times have changed since then. Frank remembered how Mel looked when she told him that. Beautiful. Regal. Her long blonde hair in the braid she always insisted on, those glasses, and naturally, that smile. The smile that made him forget about that ring on his finger. That should've been the next sign. Again - one of many. When she quoted a Kelly Clarkson song and Frank foolishly guessed it was Friedrich Nietzsche but it was actually a pop song and Frank couldn't help but smile. Frank found he did a lot of smiling around Mel. More than he had in months.
She was more than that though. She was kind. Kind like when she told him that he never let her down despite working only one shift together. Kind when she talked him through his fears about coming back to the Pitt. Excitable, which normally Frank found irritating but Mel he didn't. He couldn't. She was the exception; it was absolutely endearing. It was relief that someone was happy to see him. Mel had started becoming his exception.
Smart. Oh, she was so smart. Sometimes it frustrated him, but most things surrounding Melissa King were a little frustrating. Even now, Frank could hear Mel's voice. She challenged him, pushed him, made him better. Frank mentally noted to let her know that she was right.
That is, if Frank managed to stay alive in the next few minutes.
The Pitt implemented Code Silver and here Frank was, alone with the gunman in the halls. It was just like Frank to be there. The adrenaline junkie, as Collins once told him. But Frank knew it was personal. He knew it was personal.
The one day Mel decided to take off. Her intuition was incredible, really. Another thing to let her know if Frank managed to make it. It was one of the many compliments he would give her every day. He needed to let her know. It took around the first twenty times to let her know that he loved her and he wasn't leaving and Frank had no problem doing it even more. Especially after this.
Part of Frank waited for the man to pull the trigger. That's why the gunman was here, wasn't he? Logically, other people could've gotten hurt in his wake of rage, but Frank knew why. It was all his fault, wasn't it?
The gunman opened his mouth. "She doesn't love you, just so you know," he spat. "People talk about you. Know what you are. And what kind of person would love that?"
It was about Mel. It was always about her. Frank tried not to rise to the provocation. It was something he had been working on lately, like Mel told him to. He couldn't show that the words had dug too deeply, lest he want to give this man the satisfaction and control.
"Maybe you're right," Frank allowed. "But I do know this: Mel would hate to find out about what might transpire tonight. She's chosen her path."
Frank thought about that a lot. Then it would be Mel's turn to tell Frank at least twenty times that she loved him despite his addiction to benzos, and she loved him even more for staying clean for so long. She loved him despite how much of a massive fuckup he was, as Frank put bluntly. Mel would hush him and tell him to stop saying that.
The silence stretched between them. The gun shook in his hands, but the man glared with venomous, envious contempt in Frank's direction. Something akin to cowardice, too.
"You'll be dead before she hears anything," the man hissed. Frank raised an eyebrow, considering the idea of himself being dead. He had thought there was a time he would. Back when he was on benzos. Back when he was going through withdrawals. Back when Abby left him which really wasn't that surprising but had left him crushed anyway since he couldn't see the kids as often. Frank Langdon. Dead. An interesting idea.
But Frank knew better, the man's spooked eyes didn't lie.
Frank didn't believe in God. But in that moment he mumbled something, something from Catholic School deep into his memory, and followed it up with the names of his children. Tanner and Penny. And that he was sorry.
Mel.
Fuck, even Abby.
I'm sorry.
"Get on with it then," Frank told him, almost daringly. Taking a gamble with his own life. That was Frank Langdon. Adrenaline junkie. Realizing there was no way to back out now, he cleared his throat. "I'm more than ready for it."
Because now Mel's meaning had become unmistakably clear.
--
Anyway, that was the prologue. Please leave a kudos/bookmark/comment if you liked it, it's my very first pitt fanfic
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
sorry for the delay, i had COVID and had to go to the er (the pitt, if you will)
Preview:
"I'm stopping by Abby's later. Stuff from the attic that she wants to clean out, more stuff of mine to see if I'd want them," Frank added. "I think all of it is becoming too real. Like, Robby's going to come back from his sabbatical soon, and Abby's setting something up with the lawyer. It's almost a little triggering, really. Even though I'm fine, I'm well past the incident with Robby and with Abby leaving me, but it's still nerve wracking that these things are getting closer and closer. And I'm sure that when I get to her place that we'll end up having a fucking fight over something stupid."
"Like?"
"Oh, pick a topic," Frank told Mel, almost bitterly as he rolled his eyes. "I took too long to answer a text. Tanner likes my apartment better. Don't give Penny ice cream at seven PM. I breathe incorrectly. She'll get pissed if I come there late like the hospital was operating in a smooth, efficient matter and not chaotic like it always is, which she knew she was getting into. That's what I don't get about Abby. She knew that this was the job I was getting into, we've known each other since college, all I ever fucking talked about was being a doctor in an ED. But lately, it's becoming clearer to me, that it hasn't registered in her head at all."
"Why did you even marry her?" Mel suddenly asked him, even though it was a personal question, but one she needed answered so badly uncertain as to why. Frank looked caught off guard, like the wind knocked out of him, making Mel flush and look down. "I'm sorry. That was too rude to ask."
"No, it's a fair question," allowed Frank softly. "Don't apologize."
kingdon orchestra au thoughts.
one of the reasons frank gets addicted to benzos (notably xanax) in this au is this orchestral piece called The Rite of Spring, which has a nasty timpani part (it's called the most feared timpani part) and Frank played that his first year as a principal player (he'd been in the orchestra for three years atp) and it's sent him to bad panic attacks because robby is lowkey kind of a dick (and also a former percussionist turned conductor after the conductor adamson died)
and now, when frank returns ten months later to the orchestra, he's kind of getting his groove back (meets mel, the new cute clarinetist, they become friends) and just when he gets comfortable, bam, we're playing The Rite of Spring again, and you're playing first timpani. you know, the piece that pushed you into taking drugs.
if only a certain blonde braided girl we all know and love can help him during this difficult time :)
so i finished chapter 1, which clocks in at 20k words, but there are only going to be a total of - at most - seven chapters. and all of it is going to be in frank's pov, as i won't switch perspectives.
when I get my hands on you {14k, explicit}“Infidelity, there’s only one bed…, friends to lovers, cunnilingus, shower sex”
kingdon week : day # 1 {tropes/different meeting}
“Hmm…” She clacked the keyboard quickly, “Langdon, you say?”
He nodded once more, his eyes left the clerks and looked over at Mel. The crinkles that usually came from smiling were prominent just from exhaustion. He was still ridiculously handsome and it really wasn’t fair. She sipped from her water bottle in her hand.
“There it is!” She exclaimed brightly. “Honeymoon suite for Langdon.”
“What?” She choked on the water in her throat and coughed roughly. “Honeymoon suite?”
Frank’s eyes grew a mile wide, almost bulging from his skull. “No.. No.. There’s been some kind of mistake. I booked two queen beds.”
archive of our own.org - preslash, hurt/comfort kingdon chapter
craving and the cure - chapter 11 - the second day of fall
Preview:
"Langdon!"
Frank turned around immediately, breaking off his conversation with Shen as Trinity caught up to him. "Santos? Thought you left- hey-" She grabbed Langdon's arm and pulled him to the side, not even bothering to apologize to Shen for taking him away from him. "Santos why the fuck-"
"It's Mel," Trinity blurted out. "She's not okay."
That was all it took. Frank's posture changed instantly, his eyes immediately focused and locked hard on Trinity. All that irritation, cockiness, and sarcasm from earlier seemed to sap out of his body.
Then, quietly, seriously: "...Where?"
"Staff lounge. I saw her look really upset and-"
But Trinity stopped explaining because Frank wasn't even listening anymore. The words staff lounge had barely left her mouth before he was already on the move.
I Just finished your last chapter! We're getting some hurt/comfort pre-slash between Mel and Frank, aren't we?!?!?!
we sure are!
i WILL NOT do the five things you see + four things you hear shit though. BUT! The next chapter is certainly a milestone between Mel and Frank and how their friendship expands and it is quite pre-slashy.
i do hc that frank langdon picks up smoking after rehab because if you don't come out of rehab with a nicotine addiction then you're doing it wrong. but! i do think that frank smoked cigarettes starting in college but stopped when abby got pregnant with tanner.
and like, mel doesn't like that frank smokes (obviously), but at the same time... she thinks he looks really good doing it, he looks cool, so she's honestly very conflicted right now.
i do not ship abby and frank at all (if you couldn't tell) but i do think they're an absolutely funny duo. like right now i'm writing them (freshly divorced) at a meeting for their son tanner, who qualifies for special education services on account of inheriting Frank's ADHD, and they're wondering what classroom placement would be best for him.
All Frank is thinking about is what would Mel say to this and is trying his best not to pick a fight with his ex-wife and they do agree on a placement. So there's no reason to argue, right? Wrong.
"Why are you agreeing with that option?"
"Because it sounds like the best placement for him. Don't you agree?"
"I believe it too. But when I agree on this and you agree on this, it sounds like we agree with it for different reasons. And I'd like to know what it is."
"Really, Frank. We agree on Tanner's placement, does it really matter-"
"Yes it does. It's that when I say that I agree on this and you agree on this it sounds completely different when you say it-"
"Oh my God."
"It's also how quick you were to say it-"
"Give me a fucking break."
Like... their arguments are so sad but so funny to me. And those poor fucking staff members that have to listen to this shit. It's like fucking Jade and Beck if they were married (then divorced... ofc)
