Chapter Text
No one has seen Levi in days. He got the first 4 days of Passover off from work. Not a single person, not even Tayrn, had gotten a text from him. All the interns just assumed he was busy with Temple or some other thing related to Passover, none of them were Jewish so they didn’t really know what it involved. Parker started to get concerned when Nico said he also hadn’t heard from him.
“I don’t know. I don’t think it's just him being busy. Something must’ve happened,” Parker spoke as they all sat down in the old part of the hospital. “Even Nico hasn’t spoken to him.”
“Oh shit. That means something is really up,” Tayrn mumbled to herself. She pulled out her phone and quickly clicked on Levi’s contact.
Happy Passover! I get to assist Grey on a surgery today!
Damn. You should’ve been here today a patient was hitting on Nico hard and he was having NONE of it
How’s the break going?
It was unusual for Levi to be more than a few hours late to text back when he has a day off. It’s unheard of for him to not answer her three messages, Parker’s four, and Nico’s hundreds (probably).
“Do you know if anything happened between him and Nico?” she asked looking up from her phone.
“No idea, not like the other would tell us anything,” he shrugged.
“Levi is coming in today, should be here any minute now-”
Just as the words left her lips Levi turned the corner. He looked barely alive. His hair was messy, his eyes were tired with bags under them, and his face seemed stuck in a neutral numb look. But wait… he was wearing glasses again.
“Hey. I just wanted to drop by before I started actually working. I’m in the skills lab most of today,” Levi muttered. He started to turn away again before Casey started to talk.
“Are you alright?”
“And why are you wearing glasses again? I thought they made you feel like the old you,” Tayrn chimed in. Levi faced them again and shrugged.
“I’m not really okay. I definitely don’t want to talk about it, and I’m wearing glasses because I can,” he rushed. Before any of the other interns could continue prodding into his life, Levi hurried back down the hallway he came from.
“If I wasn’t worried before I sure am now,” Tayrn said.
-
“How’s the collarbone feeling Mrs. Carrey?” Nico asked in a sweet tone. The middle-aged woman smiled and looked at her husband who was holding her hand.
“I’m much better than yesterday. I’m starting to get in a more comfortable position and having less pain,” she explained. She looked down at their hands. “And having my husband with me makes it that much better.”
Nico forced a smile onto his own lips. He wished he could just feel Levi’s presence. Hours ticked by with no sign of his boyfriend, if he still is that, and he couldn’t stand that the last time he saw him was with his hurt doe eyes staring at him.
“I’m glad to hear it. We’ll slowly be taking you on lower doses of pain meds, but it can be really sore since your collarbones move with your shoulders. You should be out of here in about a week,” Nico informed them. He flashed one last smile at them before walking out of the room.
He stopped and placed his iPad down on the nurse’s station. He let his face fall back into resting and scrolled through his patients.
“Nico, have you talked to Dr. Schmitt yet?” Link asked coming up from behind. He placed his elbow on the counter in a way to force Nico to acknowledge his presence. The younger man slowly met his eye line.
“No. I haven’t seen him. He hasn’t replied to my text or come to find me yet,” he said before returning his attention to the iPad. Link scoffed at him.
“Why would he come and find you? You’re the one he’s doing everything to avoid, you should look for him,” Link remarked. Nico rolls his eyes.
“Levi doesn’t want to see or speak to me. Why should I push it?” he fought back. Link rolled his eyes.
“Whatever you say,” he spoke before walking away. Nico bit his lip and shook his head. Maybe Link was right.
-
Schmitt stared at the stitched up fake skin in front of him. He’s perfected the majority of stitches at this point, but he can’t bring himself to move from the safety of the skills lab. Fellows don’t come up here and it’s close to the NICU so Nico wouldn’t be coming this here anyway.
He took off his glasses to rub his eyes. He spent the majority of his days off studying and the rest of it with family. He if he let himself think about Nico for more than a few minutes his mind would just go back to telling him he’s exactly what his boyfriend said. A man made of failures. He couldn’t make himself put on contacts the entire time because he felt like Glasses. He felt like the guy who wasn’t made for anything. The guy that wasn’t worthy of someone like Nico. Levi didn’t want to sleep more than a few hours at a time either because he would dream of the moment over and over again or have his memory draw up other occasions where he failed everyone.
“Hey buddy,” Casey said taking a seat beside him. Levi jumped at the sudden noise and grabbed onto the table to keep his balance. Casey let out a small laugh.
“Oh-Hey,” he let out. His friend placed an apple and a banana in front of him.
“Eat up, I’m going to tell you all about the surgeries I got when you were gone.”
-
Levi walked out the intern locker room feeling just a bit better than he had before. Who knew being with friends actually takes your mind off the most heartbreaking moment of your life?
He dug out his phone from his pocket and glanced at his text messages. He clicked through and responded to all his friends’ texts from the past few days, but stopped when he got to Nico’s.
A simple ‘Hey’ was all it said. He must’ve sent it right after his interview ended. Levi frowned before putting his phone back into his pocket. He isn’t sure if that one word text hurt more than if Nico just didn’t say anything at all. He puts his attention back on to the walk towards his car. He was about to unlock it when his phone buzzed in his pocket. He took it back out and opened his phone to see what it was.
Nico: Please come over I want to talk.
Levi rolled his eyes and typed out his own response. No.
He unlocked his car and threw his backpack into the back seat. He put the key into the ignition and his phone goes off again, but now its a phone call from Nico. Levi debated picking up and decided he might as well.
“Hey,” Levi spoke in a sarcastic tone.
“Look, I really want to talk this out and I don’t want to do it over the phone,” the other man sighed. Levi swallowed and thought for a moment.
“I don’t want to talk at all,” he spits before hanging up.
-
Levi wasted no time getting home. He let out a long breath when he stepped inside and let his backpack fall to the floor. He carefully takes off his shoes before heading down to the basement. He just wants to fall into a peaceful sleep that lasts about 5 years. This wish got crushed at the sound of knocking at the door behind him. He groaned and turned back around to open the door.
“Hey-” he started before seeing Nico on the other side. He quickly steps out and shut the door behind himself. “You can’t be here. Like you really can’t be here.”
“You won’t speak to me, Levi! What am I supposed to do, let you just leave me without a word in?” Nico snapped.
“A word in? Really? Don’t you think you’ve said enough?” he scoffed. Nico sighed and put his hands on his hips.
“You know I didn’t mean any of that. You’re an amazing doctor, I wouldn’t let you in on surgeries otherwise. Everyone knows how good you are at anything you put your mind to. I just-I just wanted you to get out the room. I knew the only way you would leave me alone was to hurt you. I’m sorry, I’m more than sorry,” Nico let out. He reached over for his love’s hand, but Levi just looked at him insulted.
“I know. I fucking know you didn’t mean it but I’ve been told these things my whole life. I’ve been hurt my whole fucking life just to make me feel terrible for being myself. I’m done with it, Nico. You can’t just say shit when you don’t want me,” he snarled. Nico can’t stop staring into Levi’s eyes. It wasn’t the same hurt doe eyes he made the other times. Now he was filled with anger and pain. “It’s not like you’ll do it again when you leave for your new job. What will you do then? Hit me? Do something to make me hurt physically since the emotional pain of seeing you leave me isn’t enough?”
“It will never happen again, I swear. Please just come home with me,” he pleaded. Levi fixes his glasses.
“Not today. I don’t want to see you or be near you right now. You make me suffer like its some kind of sport and you need to top your last fucking performance.” he said before getting back into his house. Nico stood there helpless.
Not only did Nico kill a healthy patient with a mistake, but he also killed his relationship.