saw dust & sutures ! ᥫ᭡
pairing: er nurse! reader x blue collar rafe cameron
word count: 1.4k
summary: rafe pays the emergency room a visit after a work accident and is set on seeing his nurse again
warnings: mentions of blood, needles (overall medical things), not medically accurate, no smut, lowkey himbo!rafe, idk probably more
you weren't afraid of the gross stuff. blood, gore, violence-- none of it made your stomach turn. a lot of the girls you met while in nursing school wanted to go into labor & delivery, pediatrics— but you loved the excitement that came with the emergency room. a lot of the time it was chest pains, broken bones from a sporting event gone bad, migraines, etc. but sometimes, like today, it had rare things that made you have fun while working. well, fun isn't a good word to describe a patient's experience-- more so... enjoyable? interesting?
"could use some help out here!" the lead nurse, hannah’s voice cut through the low hum of the emergency room, pulling you from the paperwork you were mindlessly completing. you didn’t hesitate, pushing your chair back and slipping on a pair of gloves as you walked.
you saw a blue truck decorated with mud and the bed filled with various construction tools. hannah opened the door to the passenger seat. your eyes landed on him— broad shoulders filling out a tight white t-shirt that had seen better days, what appeared to be saw dust or dirt smeared across his denim jeans, work boots caked in various things you couldn’t name.
hannah spoke, "can you tell me what happened?"
the driver came around to the passenger's side, "my buddy here, uh, name's rafe... rafe cameron."
rafe lifted his long legs out of the side of the truck, trying to get out. you turned to head back inside to get a wheelchair for the man, hannah continued to ask questions. "okay, mr. cameron. my name's hannah and this is my friend, y/n. i see you guys are coming from work, can you tell me what happened?"
rafe rolled his eyes, "nothing serious, nurse. just uh... run of the mill little construction accident. really, nothing to waste your time over."
you come back with a wheelchair for rafe, offering your hand out to help him get out of the lifted truck and into the wheelchair. he gently swatted your hand away, "s'no need, princess. i can walk. damn saw just gave me a nice little slice on my thumb."
your eyes drifted down to the piece of cloth wrapped around his thumb, blood seeping through. this looks like more than just a little cut.
"how deep is the cut, mr. cameron?" hannah asked. rafe shrugged, "not that bad. and, please, don't call me mr. cameron. rafe is good."
hannah nodded, "alright, well let's get you inside, rafe."
hannah and you led rafe and his friend to a curtained room inside the hospital. rafe took a set on the blue linen bedsheets, specs of dirt scattering the bed as he laid down.
"let's take a look at this," you spoke softly as you walked to his bedside, gently unwrapping the no-longer white cloth.
hannah made conversation with rafe's friend, learning his name is topper and they were working on a new house out in charleston.
your eyes widened at the reveal. a deep slice into rafe's calloused thumb, his bone making its presence known. you pursed your lips at rafe, "rafe, you lied to us! this is a pretty nasty cut, honey." you loved calling your patients names like sweetie, love, or honey. you wanted to be the sweet moment of peace that they could have while in a place like the emergency room.
topper tilted his head forward to steal a gaze at the wound, immediately revolting back. "fuck, rafe!"
rafe rolled his eyes, "can't be that bad," he leaned forward to take a peak, scoffing as he looked back at you. "oh, c'mon! that's nothing! should be outta your hair in no time."
you tsked, "i'm not sure, hun, look's like you need stitches. lucky for you, there doesn't appear to be any tendon or nerve damage."
your hair bounced in your pink claw clip as you meandered around the enclosure to find the proper supplies. hannah begin setting up a tray with the things you handed her.
"we're going to need to debride this, y/n, there's some saw dust in the wound." hannah spoke. you nodded and handed her more supplies, an irrigation tool, sterile tweezers.
as you were kneeling on the ground, a male doctor opened the curtain. "ambulence is bringing in a gnarly car accident. need one of you girls to help out."
hannah was eager to set the tools down and open the curtain to leave. "y/n's got this. saw-induced cut to the thumb, just some non absorbable sutures. she's done this a hundred times." you didn’t blame her for wanting to help with the more exciting case, and normally you would be annoyed it wasn’t you. but something in you wanted to stay with rafe. he was charming, muscular, and something about a blue collar man has always done it for you.
with that, hannah closed the curtain behind her and it was just you, topper, and rafe.
you smiled, “i’m gonna clean out your wound before we can stitch you back up. it shouldn’t hurt too much.”
“okay. so… how long you been a nurse?” he asks, trying to make conversation as you douse his thumb in saline.
“almost two years now. how long have you been working construction?” you inquire, occasionally changing your glance from his thumb to his face.
“a long time. since high school. how long have you been with your boyfriend?” he quips.
you roll your eyes teasingly, “don’t have one.” you gently pat his thumb dry with a sterile towel.
rafe raises his eyebrows at this, but doesn’t push farther. “okay, i’m gonna inject you with some local anesthesia, i’m sure topper wouldn’t mind holding your hand.”
topper approaches the opposite side of rafe’s bed, reaching his hand out. rafe smacks his hand away, “fuck outta here!” topper returns to his original watching location, far enough away he can’t see the gross stuff.
“okay, poke in three… two… one,” you inject the needle directly into his wound, causing rafe to wince. once the syringe is empty, you take the needle out and set it down on the tray. “sorry, hun. gotta put it right in the wound for it to be effective.”
rafe scoffs, “didn’t even hurt.” he says with a shrug.
you smile, letting him keep his pride, “okay,” you giggle, “i’m gonna start your sutures now. you should be pretty numb but let me know if you start to feel pain.”
you begin to stitch rafe’s large thumb, having to do a couple more stitches to accommodate for his size. rafe acknowledges your focus so he doesn’t try to flirt, but once you’re finished and set your tools down on the tray, he doesn’t suppress his thoughts.
“so, when can i see you again?” rafe asks boldly. topper snorts, and when rafe jolts his head to the side to glare at him topper changes his face immediately, looking down at the ground and shaking his head.
you smile softly, “the next time you injure yourself and need to stop by the e.r., which i hope won’t happen again. i’ll go get your paperwork,” you exit the curtained room, ponytail swaying as you walk.
rafe quickly turns to topper, “next week, you gotta hurt me. break my nose, maybe cut my other thumb? i gotta see her again, man.”
topper shakes his head, “she can’t date you, like legally or something. you gotta find her outside of work.” as topper finishes his sentence, you walk back into the room with a light stack of papers.
“so… what do you do for fun?” rafe asks smoothly.
“if i tell you, will you complete this paperwork?”
rafe nods excitedly, “yes, ma’am.”
you ponder for a moment, then tell him your hobbies. “sometimes i read at the park across the street.”
rafe opens his mouth, “that’s crazy cause… i actually have plans to go there tomorrow.”
you hand his non-injured hand his paperwork, “fill this out, boy!”
rafe didn’t have an issue filling the paperwork out, since his left thumb was the hurt one. once he signed the last box, he held the papers close to his chest. “what time do you get off tomorrow?”
you sigh, trying to not get yourself in trouble but really wanting to get to know him more. “9pm.”
a little late to hang out at the park, rafe thought. “that’s such a coincidence because that’s when i was going to the park!”
you shake your head and laugh, “okay.” you snatch the paperwork out of his hands.
once rafe is discharged, you fill hannah in with what happened and plan to bring a cute outfit to change into after your shift so you can meet him at the park.
