So it’s established in like the first episode that Emma is from Sault Ste. Marie in Michigan, which if you look on a map is further North than both Toronto and Ottowa, so it’s no real stretch to say that Emma’s used to the cold. She probably withstands ice and snow better than some Canadians.
In contrast, I headcanon that Brendon Park grew up in NorCal. He went to Berkeley, and spent his residency in Texas before moving to Pittsburgh for his Orthopaedics fellowship. This all to say Brendon prefers his warmer states and makes a point of layering up the moment the temperature dips below 60.
So when sweet Emma starts leaving their shared apartment for her shifts in nothing more than a hoodie when there’s snow literally falling from the sky, Brendon is pissed.
Usually they carpool together, but she’s on a slew of night shifts which makes it difficult for them to align their schedules - like ships passing in the night.
He begins by trying to hand her various jackets on her way out the door either side of the ED, just for her to find a way to leave them behind every time.
When their schedules mercifully start to sync back up, she has nowhere to escape when he takes the coat off his own back and drowns her in the soft padding.
She pouts fiercely when he zips it all the way up to her chin, saying, “Honestly Brendon, the car is like five minutes away. Don’t you think this is a little… excessive?”
He narrows his eyes on her and digs in the coat pocket to unearth a black beanie, which he promptly wrestles over her head with a firm set of his lips.
“If you remembered your coat, it wouldn’t be so bad, now would it?” He lectures for the umpteenth.
But the thing is, Emma’s from North Michigan and it’s barely 35 degrees out. She doesn’t need a coat until they start hitting the mid-twenties, and even then it won’t be this ridiculous puffy thing he’s forcing her to wear.
She continues to argue against his coat-wearing agenda for another two weeks. Two weeks of forgetting her jacket at home, two weeks of wearing his oversized coat for the ridiculously short walk to the car, because he insists on parking on James Street instead of Sandusky Street because it’s closer to the ED.
Until he’s at the end of his tether and starts just blatantly sending her links to various coats online. Most are pink, with a few smatterings of more subdued blacks in between.
Which one do you want?
Her eyes nearly bug out of her head when she reads the price tags. There’s no way she’d ever be able to afford any coats like this in her lifetime.
I don’t need a coat. Besides, I can’t afford any of these.
She replies curtly, matching his usual work tone with a huff.
That’s not what I asked.
Is what she receives back not even a minute later.
She purses her lips and clicks on the most expensive of the ones he sent. It’s cute — a pretty pink puffy thing which’ll stretch to her thighs easily. It has a fluffy white hood and more pockets than she could dream of.
She sends the link back to him with nothing else and turns her phone off with a scowl. Just as she’s starting to vindictively enjoy her now quiet phone, a small Bzzt startles her into nearly dropping it altogether.
It’ll arrive tonight.
“What the actual fuck,” she mutters with wide eyes. She clicks on the call button hastily and by the time she’s brought it to her ear he’s already picked up.
“Brendon Park, what the hell are you playing at?” She hisses down the line.
She can practically hear his smirk through the phone. “Now you’ll have no excuse not to wear a coat.” He says smugly.
“You can be a real asshole sometimes, you know that?” She grumbles without any real heat behind it.
He laughs at her, full chested in the way she knows he’s leaning back on his chair with a wide, satisfied grin.
She sighs and with a pout, adds, “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome Ems.” He replies. She rolls her eyes at his tone. The idiot’s probably scaring the entire surgical floor with his stupid grin.
She wouldn’t have it any other way.
