8 & 21 for the tropes MASH!💕
OH MAN. Okay so my first thought (which is what I’m going with I guess) is that Lily is a resident at a hospital (or, in the UK, a speciality trainee - I just looked this up HA), the same hospital which James happens to be visiting because he has just sustained a mild wrist injury from a rugby match, which he plays recreationally with his friends on the side from his policy analyst job which is like perfectly fine but also kind of boring for him but he wants to make a difference through politics and he’s young etc etc.
ANYWAY so he and his mates (just take a guess who his mates are hmm) are in the triage of this hospital waiting for him to get checked out, and Lily ends up intaking him and examining his arm and he is like Oh No You Are Pretty and she is internally like ha ha ok yeah let me just be a Professional while examining this Very Hot Man, but while he’s getting his arm checked out (and his SELF checked out if you know what I mean) news reaches the hospital that there is some sort of Apocalypse Thing Happening outside, and the hospital goes into lockdown.
Once J and L each reunite with their friends, it’s up to them and the other occupants of the hospital (assorted side characters) to make sure the place stays locked down and isolated from Whatever Thee Fuck is going on outside, along with making sure that everyone stays safe and sane inside.
In the midst of this, J and L each sort of become honorary leaders because they both take charge like that, and they find themselves at first butting heads a bit but then very much in line with each other, all while fighting off this low hum of attraction between them because they’re like I feel like there are more important things to do than moon over each other but, alas, they simply cannot help but be drawn to one another.
As danger keeps approaching--some from outside, some from inside--they keep finding their way back to one another, and they find that they are unwilling to make it out of this mess without the other one. It sort of becomes a war of attrition with who can last this Ambiguous Apocalypse Moment through, but in the midst of it, it’s a very charged love story because they’re like “if I don’t make it out of here...” and the other one is like “DO NOT even say that”
cue love confessions, heated make outs in inconvenient places, moments where one of them thinks the other is in danger/dead etc etc. but it all works out, the apocalypse moment passes, and woohoo! we have a new love story, folks.
thank you so so much! this was so fun!! here is the list if anyone wants to send me a trope mash-up!