Beige
Fandom: The Pitt
Pairing: Dr. Mel King x F!Firefighter!Reader (Established relationship)
Story Type: Fluff with moderate anxiety
Warnings: Reader injury, moderate descriptions of injury, blood, sharp force trauma, depictions of anxiety
The Pitt Masterlist
Summary: You are working on a secret project when an unfortunate accident lands you in your girlfriend's ER. The incident leads to questions being asked and the secret project being revealed.
You always thought that if ended up in the ER it would be work related. There's a million and one ways for a firefighter to get hurt, but you're just not that lucky. No, you get hurt on your day off. Turns out trying to balance on a step ladder while reaching up to paint the top of a wall, all while standing over an open toolbox is a recipe for disaster. The disaster being you falling off the rickety old step ladder, onto the open toolbox and somehow managing to impale your leg on a screwdriver. Yikes.
One phone call to your EMT friend who lives three houses down and the next thing you know your being shoved into her back seat. Leg wrapped in the cleanest towel you could find. Screwdriver still poking out, because as much as every instinct is trying to get to rip it out, you know you shouldn't. In the front seat, Devyn is driving and delivering some safety lecture angrily to you. Something about how firefighters always think they're invincible because they 'walk through fire or some shit.' This thought followed by her telling you that you should have called 911 instead of her, because what if she wasn't home or what if you passed out before she picked up, etc. Honestly, you don't really know what she's saying, she probably doesn't either, but it's a good distraction from the pain.
In minutes Devyn has pulled up to an ambulance bay. Jumping out of the car as she calls for help. She opens the backseat door, and you see a blond woman stamp out a cigarette before grabbing a wheelchair and running over.
"Hey, Devyn!" She calls out. "I thought it was your day off? What do you have for us?" She brings the chair up to the car.
"It is, but my best friend is a dumbass." Devyn pointedly glares at you. "Got herself impaled on a screwdriver while painting. Somehow." She shakes her head.
You move the bloodied towel just enough for the nurse to see the screwdriver poking out of your thigh. She grimaces in return.
"Well, let's get you inside. Help me transfer her to the chair, then you got to get this out of here." The nurse taps on the door of Devyn's car.
"Sorry, force of habit." Devyn looks chagrined as she helps you out of the car and into the wheelchair.
"That's okay kid. You take care of the car; we'll take care of the dumbass." The blond woman pats you on the shoulder as she rolls you away.
"Thanks, Dana!" Devyn calls as she gets back into her car to move it.
"No problem!" Then to you; "Let's get you inside, dumbass." Dana says as she pushes you towards the doors.
"You know, I also go by-"
"(Y/N)!" You're interrupted by a familiar voice as you try to introduce yourself. You turn from Dana and come face to face with your girlfriend. Her and another doctor are in the process of putting on gloves as Dana wheels you in. Mel is paused midway through putting on her second glove as panic starts to take over her features at the sight of you.
"Hey, Mel! How's the shift going?" You try to play off the tension with a nervous laugh. It's not successful.
"What happened?!" Mel asks as she finally starts moving again. "I thought you had the day off!" She's now moving the towel to assess the damage to your leg. Taking in the screwdriver and paint splattered across your clothes.
"I did; I was working on a DIY project." You say with a wince.
"Yeah, according to the friend that dropped her off, this somehow happened while she was painting." Dana, ever so helpfully, adds.
"Painting?" Mel looks back up at you in question.
"Yeah, I was working on the top of the wall and fell off the ladder."
"Onto a screwdriver?" The other doctor asks.
"There was an open toolbox, like, right below me." You shrink in shame as you explain. He shakes his head.
"That might just be a first for me." He scoffs in mild amusement. "Mel, get Whitaker for me."
"Dr. Langdon, I ca-"
"No, sorry Mel. You know the rules. You can't work on anyone you know. Besides we'll take care of your friend."
"Girlfriend." She corrects. You can't help the way your heart skips a beat at that. You two have been together for almost a year and it still excites you every time she says it.
"Alright, we'll take care of your girlfriend." He corrects.
"I'll be fine Mel." You reassure her taking her hand in yours for a quick squeeze.
"Okay." She nods. You can see in her eyes she doesn't want to let go, but she makes herself do it. Nodding as she steps away. "I'll be back to check on you, I promise."
"I know."
"Alright, let's get you into a bed." Langdon says to you. He pushes your wheelchair in the direction of an open room. "I didn't even know Mel had a partner." He adds, half to himself.
"Not surprised, Mel prefers to keep our romantic life pretty private."
"Well, it's nice to meet you (Y/N), I'm Dr. Langdon."
"Nice to me you too. Well, admittedly it could be better." You both let out an exasperated laugh at your response.
...
Mel's POV:
Mel finds Whitaker pretty quickly and sends him in your direction. She watches him go toward your room for a moment, trying to keep herself from following. Chewing on her lip, she turns away and forces herself in the direction of the charge desk. Where she runs back into Dana.
"How you doin' there kid?" She asks Mel.
"I'm fine." Mel responds, but she's already glancing back in the direction of your room.
"Let's try that again, Mel. How are you doing?" Dana leans over the desk, tone making it clear she's serious. Mel turns back to her. Worry coating her features.
"I'm...worried and...kind of spiraling about it." She leans over the charge desk next to Dana. Shaking her head.
"Worry's normal. Someone you care about is injured and you got benched. That's reasonable. But, she's going to be alright. She seems like a pretty tough cookie" Mel gives the tiniest smile at Dana's assessment.
"I know. It's just..." She pauses trying to figure out a way to articulate the thoughts swirling around her head. "I'm used to worrying about her when she's at work. (Y/N) is a firefighter. Her being in danger is pretty normal, and the only time I'm not thinking about that is when she's off shift. Then today she's off shift and all of a sudden, she's rolling through those doors. My worst nightmare is happening on a day when she was supposed to be home, safe." Mel's tone is laced with concern.
"Now you're worried that you're never going to stop being worried." Dana supplies.
"Yeah, and I don't even know what she was doing today." Mel shakes her head in confusion. "She never mentioned any project she was working on."
"Probably just repainting a room in the house." Mel shakes her head at the suggestion.
"No, the paint all over her was beige."
"What does the paint being beige have to do with anything?" Dana asks.
"(Y/N) is not a beige person." Mel explains. "There's not a single beige wall in her house. The kitchen is buttercup yellow. Her bedroom is forest green. Her gaming room is lilac and the living room is sage. In her words, 'if I bought the house, I get to paint it however I want, so why not make every room a different color of the rainbow?' And if you hadn't noticed beige doesn't exactly make the list." Mel laughs a little to herself as she quotes you. "I don't know, maybe she was helping one of her friends." She shakes her head. "Regardless, you're right. She's going to be fine." Mel smiles a little to herself and looks in the direction of your room. "She's tough and she's definitely been through worse. I just let myself get wrapped up in my own anxiety." Mel turns back to Dana. Dana nods with smile of her own.
"See, just needed to talk yourself down. Now, it looks like initial exam's done." Dana nods towards the door that Whitaker and Langdon are exiting. "Go check on her, let me know when you figure out what she was up to. Perlah and Princess won't let me hear the end of it if I don't get the full story."
"Thank you, Dana." Mel walks quickly from the charge desk and beeline's for Langdon. Dana watches her go with a smirk
"How is (Y/N)?" Mel asks hurriedly as she approaches.
"She's fine." Langdon responds. "Doesn't look like the screwdriver did too much damage. She was smart enough not to remove it on her own, so the bleeding is controlled. We'll likely be able to remove it here without sending her to the OR. Going to have some scans taken first and run it by Garcia to make sure. For now though, got her on some pain meds, ordering antibiotics and she'll be sitting for a few. Now, why don't you.." Langdon emphasizes as he put hands on her shoulders and pushes her gently towards your door. "go talk to your girlfriend and I, will go nag Garcia until she gets down here for a consult." He nudges again and she nods nervously as she continues toward your door.
Externally Mel is rigid, trying to look calm in a way that makes it pretty obvious she isn't. Internally, she is repeating Langdon's assessment to herself. You're going to fine, you're going to be okay.
...
You hear the door to your room open, followed by a voice so quiet it's practically a whisper. "Hey." You look up to see a very bashful looking Mel making her way into the room.
"Hey, hot stuff." You respond, reaching out a hand to beckon her closer. Mel turns beat red but she steps in and takes your hand anyway. She takes the seat next to the bed, still holding your hand. "How are you holding up?"
"Me?" She scoffs. "You're the one who is hurt. I think I'm supposed to be checking on you."
"Pffft." You wave her off. "I'm fine. Your coworkers got me on the good stuff. But you, you spiral when you're worried. So...how are you doing?"
Mel looks down at your joined hands. "Alright, I have been spiraling a bit. I think I'm okay now though." She nods to herself then looks back up at you. "I know you're going to be fine. Perhaps a bit insufferable since you'll definitely be stuck at the station and not be able to go any calls for a few weeks." You groan at that and she smiles at you. "but you'll be okay and I'll be here for whatever you need."
"Yeah, you will." You smile back at her and bring her hand up to your face. You kiss the back of it. "Being grounded is gonna suck though." You frown at the thought. Then an even worse realization hits and you cringe.
"What?"
"I didn't finish the room and now I'm not be able to for awhile." You press your other hand to your face in frustration.
"The room you were painting?"
"Yeah, still got two walls to go."
"That reminds me, what were you working on?" Mel straightens up as she asks. "I mean, beige isn't really your preferred color." She gestures at the paint still on your shirt.
Now it's your turn to spiral. Mel was not supposed to know about your project yet. You weren't going to tell her until it was done. You had the whole night planned for your anniversary.
Mel must see the panic in your face because immediately you can see the concern on hers.
"(Y/N), what is it?" You can see her breathing start to pick up again.
"Babe, it's not anything bad. I promise." You reassure her, sitting up so you can lean closer to her. "It was just supposed to be a surprise and... I can't think of a good cover to story right now." Mel makes one of those uniquely Mel facial expressions that only she is capable of. It some mix of concern, relief, confusion and something that might be her cataloging recent conversations to try and guess what you might have been doing. She's adorable. She hesitates for second before asking;
"I know you just said it was supposed to be a surprise, but now I'm spiraling trying to guess. Can you please tell me?"
"I guess." You smile at her. Part of you wants to keep it a secret still, but you can't say no to her. Haven't been able to since the day you met. "I was redoing the gaming room at my place. Moving my gaming stuff out of it and... turning it back into a second bedroom." Mel's brow furrows at this, even more confused than before.
"Why?"
"Because..." You look down at your hand, afraid to look at Mel as you you explain your plain. "I want you to move in with me." It's barely a whisper. Mel straightens, mouth open like she's about to respond. You continue. "You and Becca. Once your lease is up, I want the two of you to move in." You are rubbing your fingers together, nerves frayed. "I was painting the room beige for Becca. I know she has a hard time with change and you told me that when you two moved into your current place that having the bedroom look the same as the last place helped smooth the transition. So, I wanted to paint the room to match and hopefully make it more comfortable for her." You finally look back up at Mel. Her mouth is still open with unspoken words, eyes a bit glassy. "You don't have to ans-"
"Yes!" She interrupts. Then she covers her own mouth with her free hand before quickly composing herself. "I mean...I-I want to..do that." She stutters out. "I need to talk to Becca about it, of course. But...I really want to, move in with you, I mean." She is smiling now, a few stray tears on her cheeks.
"Come here." You whisper to her. She leans in and you brush her tears away. "How are you feeling?"
"Overwhelmed." She admits. "But, like, in the good kind of way. The very good kind of way." She breaks out into another smile.
"Good, now can you please kiss me now?" She hiccups a laugh and nods. Then she presses her lips to yours. The kiss is sweet and gentle, just like her. Then she leaning in and so are you, holding her close, wrapping you arms around her shoulders to pull her close. You're lost in each other, when suddenly the door opens. Langdon and Garcia stepping into the room.
"Alright, how are we do-Oh!" You hear Langdon's voice from somewhere behind Mel. The two of you immediately pull apart. Mel goes ghost white, sheer panic on her face.
"Oh my god! I-I-I'm so sorry." She rushes out. Langdon and Garcia both laugh.
"All good, Mel. Not the craziest thing we've ever walked in on." Langdon tells her.
"Far from it." Garcia adds with a shake of her head. "Totally telling Princess though." She says with a smirk. Mel cringes in embarrassment.
"I'm going to-I don't know, I just-" Mel is stuttering again, unable to figure out what to do with her hands, her words or herself.
"How about you sit down in that chair over there and let me take a look at your girlfriend's leg. Alright?" Garcia offers. Mel nods timidly and takes a seat. You look over to her and give her a reassuring smile. She smiles back despite her embarrassment.
Yeah, you were going to be alright. More than alright. Even if Mel was certain she was never going to hear the end of it from her coworkers after this.















