Two rotations left and she'd be done with med school. An *actual* doctor. Well, there were still a few years of residency, give or take what specialty she went into. But the student part of 'student doctor' could be scraped off her nametag.
What luck she'd spent her last rotation in internal medicine, and her attending there had been nice enough to go over signs of some of the rarer diseases they saw. Otherwise she'd have no clue why the hell she was coughing up Jimson Weed flowers of all things, a few weeks after meeting her new ortho attending.
Pairing: Park the Shark x Reader
Tags: angst with a happy ending, oneshot
Words: 1361
A/N: Somewhere on my long list of projects is the plan to flesh this out a bit more so lmk what you think!
It took me one day to realize my new ortho attending was hot and categorize that in the correct box of thoughts to never ever touch again.
It took me one week to realize that he wasn't an asshole, but someone who wanted the best outcomes for his patients. Even if that meant being unreasonably harsh on med students. It was strangely admirable when you weren't the one getting yelled at.
It took me six weeks to start coughing up leaves and flower petals.
Another week after that to admit to myself what had happened.
In my defense, who's dumb enough to let hero worship turned crush build into full blown love.
Me apparently.
All that for me to be standing outside the OR, watching the beauty that was Brendon Park performing surgery. Fuck me, I didn't even have the right to call him that. It was Dr.Park. That's all it would ever be.
I'd been banished from the OR once this cough started because I wasn't about to explain how I knew it wasn't something the patient could catch. And Park made no exceptions when it came to his patient's safety. Thankfully I only had a week left of this. I knew unless the feelings were rooted deeply(and I mean come on, it'd only been 7 weeks at this point, how deep could they be) just spending time apart from the object of your affections could at least make it manageable. Hell there'd been reports of people making it up to year if they went completely around the world.
I wasn't about to go that far, but I hadn't been planning on choosing orthopedics anyways, so my hope was to avoid him as much as possible for now and then get the surgery once I was a resident and had decent enough insurance. The thoughts of 'what if' and 'do you really want to lose this feeling' were pushed way way back in my mind, right along with 'will i ever pay off my student loans' and 'will i have enough for groceries this month'.
I watched as he set the bone, affixing plates and screws with a precision only seen in the best of the best. I mean come on, they wouldn't let him get away with the way he treats people if he wasn't damn good at his job.
It was surprising when he came out of the OR room and actually talked to me.
"You kick that cough yet? Love to get you in the OR a few more times before your rotation ends." I smiled, choking back whatever was growing it's way up my throat at the thought that he specifically thought of me.
"Nah Dr.Park, it's lingering like puddles after a storm. It's okay, I wasn't really thinking about orthopedics anyways." He frowned, and my instant thought was what could I do to fix it. Holy hell I was down bad.
"That's a shame, you've got a real talent for it. Don't tell me you're going for something tame like family medicine?"
"Oh no, the opposite. Emergency medicine is my top pick right now, I just don't think I could commit to doing the same thing say after day."
"Well if you ever change your mind, you've got a recommendation letter from me for any ortho spot you want. Especially if it's here." He clapped his hand on my shoulder and I knew I had about thirty seconds to get somewhere before I was going to have a coughing fit.
"Thank you sir." I gave him the best smile I could before dipping out, ducking into the nearest restroom.
A handful of spiky dark leaves, and three beautiful white petals, stained purple on one end by nature and red on the other from the blood.
*********************************************
I knew waiting it out was a stupid plan when I made it, but between starting my ED rotation and getting a few inhalers from the clinic, I was managing. Up until that stupid waterslide accident and that stupid amputation. I'd tried not to get pulled into the case, but next thing I knew I was standing in the room, checking vitals on the patient when I hear the words 'page ortho'.
I tried to get Robby's attention, tried to get him to let me out, tried praying to anyone who would listen to send anyone else. But I mean, it was a full amputation- who else would they send?
"Park." I heard Robby say, nodding his head towards the doors of the trauma room.
Please don't notice me.
"If it isn't my favorite med student, still sticking with emergency medicine? I'm sure I could convince them to pad the offer a bit if you'd come back upstairs to work with me?" He had the faintest edge of a smile, and I felt stares from around the room, but all I could focus on was his phrasing.
I made it five steps outside of the trauma room before collapsing. It felt like my body was trying to force my lungs up and out, and then something was stuck in my throat and I couldn't catch my breath. Fuck that, I couldn't breath at all.
There were voices- and yelling- someone said she's choking- on what was an immediate response- hold on- someone- who was saying that....
"Hold on hun, I've got you...."
It all went black anyways.
*********************************************
I knew what a hospital sounded like. Obviously, I worked in one. Somehow it felt different when I could also feel the scratchiness of hospital sheets below me. More.... echo-y? Was that a word? Maybe it was just from oxygen depravation. It took my eyes a second to adjust, but when they did I decided I was still asleep. And dreaming. Had to be.
"They had to go in with forceps to pull this out." Brendon Park was sitting at my bedside, twirling a slightly damp, fully formed jimson weed flower in his hand. Sepal, receptacle and all.
"Would explain why I couldn't breath." I laughed, trying to lighten the mood but only succeeding in getting a death glare from him.
"Don't say it like that." He bit out.
"Like what?" I frowned, face scrunching up in confusion.
"Like your life doesn't matter."
"I didn't.... Why are you here Dr.Park?" He sighed, and I was left with the feeling like he thought the answer should be obvious.
"It's me, isn't it?"
"What it is?" Good job. Play dumb, he'll buy it.
The look he gave me told me he didn't buy it.
"The hanahaki. It's for me, isn't it? That's what that cough was back when you were on my rotation. That's why my little slip up back there sent you into a full blown attack."
"I..." I stared down at my hands. "I'm sorry, I was... wait- 'slip up'?"
"I talked to you like I cared."
Fucking hell if that didn't hurt worse than almost choking to death on a flower. He must've seen something on my face because he kept talking, fast.
"Because I do! Don't get it wrong, I talked to you like that because I do. Care, that is."
"I was already planning on getting the operation, don't feel obligated to fix this."
"Don't! Please... please don't."
"Dr.Park, you don't-"
"Brendon. Call me Brendon."
I stared at him, long and hard, looking for any sign of deceit or guilt on his face. But there was nothing.
"You're not just doing this because I could die right?"
"I've liked you since you first stepped foot in my wing of the hospital. And I was going to wait until you were an official resident, but at least you're not one of my med students anymore so... would you want to go on a date with me? dinner, drinks, coffee, whatever you're up for."
"I'd like that." I smiled, and so did he, and the weight on my chest got a little lighter.
Thinking about Hanahaki... what would happen if the love becomes unrequited? Divorce Hanahaki if you will.
Of course, Hanahaki scenarios often require the acknowledgement, so I can't do the angsty scenario of discovering they want a divorce before they even say anything because you wake up coughing up petals.
But, imagine the slow shift of realizing that they've fallen out of love or grown more hostile/bitter or even discovering that the love on their end was never true at all... turning into a tightness in the throat and an eventual spew of flowers once you admit it because you can't get yourself to stop loving them.
Bonus points for:
The first strike having more fully formed flowers the longer things fester (the realization, the denial, etc.)
Arrangements that can't be easily annulled and the pair is stuck in- making it harder for the afflicted to move on to acceptance
The type of Hanahaki flower being highly significant, like a flower that was part of the wedding bouquet
no because imagine getting hanahaki disease but you’re just like crazy delusional about your crush liking you back so you genuinely believe that your feelings are reciprocated and you lowkey delulu is the solulu until you survive the disease 💀💀
