I'm thinking about that scene when Jack startles Trinity awake. Not sure if you guys know, but there's a lesser-known stereotype about Filipinos getting startled/scared easily 😆 (can confirm as an easily startled Filipina myself!)
So, I've been thinking. 👀
Jack Abbot x !Filipina Attending who he loves playfully startling almost every shift. Since he's so down bad for her & he's such a Flirty McFlirt, this is the easiest way for him to get her attention. Some examples:
- He'll stealthily sneak up on her while she's charting.
- Waiting for her to turn the corner he's on the other side of.
- Sneakily tapping her shoulder on one side, only to quickly walk past the other direction.
- Faking being hurt when she passes him a pen.
- Randomly loudly talking around her.
- Turning the light off when she's alone in the supply closet looking for something.
- Appearing behind her locker door as she closes it.
- Recruiting a young boy patient to get into one of his antics to help lighten the boy's mood in a scary clinical place, like him leaving the patient's room light off & telling him to dramatically gasp when she enters again & turns the light on.
It's their "thing"! All in good fun, right?
Until... things take a turn. She's just lost a patient & Jack doesn't know, as he was finishing up checking with another patient.
He does one of his usual startle pranks by cutting her off as she turns the quiet corner to find some solace after the hard loss. She *is* startled. Jack gets a usual laugh. But then, she immediately starts crying. Jack feels absolutely terrible because he wholeheartedly believes that he's gone too far.
Desperate for comfort, she reaches out to him in a hug. He lovingly embraces her while profusely apologizing. She's unable to communicate her feelings through breathless sobs. He promises to never do it again. When her crying continues, he decides to take her outside to the ambulance bay for some air.
They spend a couple minutes waiting for her to catch her breath next to each other.
"It's not because of your pranks. I couldn't save that little boy that you enlisted the help of scaring me earlier", she says.
As she starts to cry again, Jack doesn't hesitate to hold her while gently stroking the back of her head with one hand. He's all too familiar with the heavy sting of losing a patient & how it never gets easier every time. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. You did your best. Like you always do."
"He should still be here, Jack. He was just 8."
"I know, baby. At least you made him laugh earlier with your adorable jump. That was a good memory for him!"
She lightly smacks him on his head while they're still locked in their embrace that causes both of them to vibrate from giggling at the earlier memory.
They let go of each other enough to talk face-to-face. "I never wanted you to stop, by the way. It's your dumb pranks that make this job easier to deal with. Can you un-promise what you said?"
That's the exact moment Jack Abbot falls deeper in love. When he realizes he never wants to go through life without her.