Work Text:
"Doctor Choi." Ethan looked up from his tablet displaying his patient's latest lab results at the sound of Crockett's familiarly flirty voice. His eyes caught on the edge of his sharp jaw, his lips turned up into an everpresent smirk which only added to his notorious reputation as a flirt among the nurses - Ethan was no stranger to the gossip such sessions could produce, the resident surgeon more often than not being the favorite topic of discussion. And while he would often simply ignore the gossip or offer a friendly smile in return, nowadays more often than not an ugly green feeling would climb up his chest at the knowledge that his boyfriend (which still felt weird saying, even if he was only doing it in his head) was a rather desirable speciment both in and out of the hospital.
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Ethan nodded to himself, knowing the motion would be captured in Marcel's peripheral since he couldn't feel his eyes on him. "Good morning Doctor Marcel. Sleep well?"
Crockett chuckled and the sound went straight down Ethan's spine. "Not really, no."
"Oh?" Ethan quipped, genuinely surprised. "Something bothering you?"
"Yes. There is something." Ethan stiffled a sound that rose up in his throat as Crockett stepped up behind him, his breath washing over the shell of his ear.
"What's that?" He asked, thankful for the fact that his voice remained steady.
"I missed you next to me." The low murmur was accompanied by the light nip as well as a tanned arm sneaking around his waist. Ethan stiffened as he rapidly scanned the area outside of the room, breathing out a sigh of relief when he realized no one was looking in their direction. Still, he cleared his throat and stepped away from Crockett, silently praying that his face wasn't as hot as it felt.
When he turned around to face his boyfriend, he was met with an even more familiar shit-eating grin that found home on a handsome face a lot more often than it would usually be appropriate and for a fleeting moment, a trace of irritation made itself known before it once again evaporated as Crockett's eyes softened. "Sorry." Ethan apologized. "It's just that... well, we-"
"We're at work, I know." Crockett finished for him, his voice soft and understanding. "I should be sorry as well. I crossed a line."
"Should be sorry, doctor Marcel?" Ethan couldn't resist teasing as Crockett turned around to grab his stethoscope from his locker. "That implies that you are not, in fact, sorry."
"You're absolutely right, doctor Choi - I am not." He smiled at Ethan, his eyes almost shining with mirth. "But I just can't seem to control myself when my boyfriend looks like a piece of cake. And I," he closed his locker and turned around to face Ethan once again, "have a rather sweet tooth."
Ethan pressed his lips together to fight off the smile that tried to break out on his face and cleared his throat instead. "Charmer."
Crockett hummed. "You love it." Ethan almost choked at the nonchalance with which he said it, the word "love" has not yet been used in any context so far so Crockett saying it so casually startled him more than he'd like to admit. The clear amusement in his eyes told Ethan that his boyfriend knew exactly what he was doing.
"Charmer and a jerk."
Crockett shrugged his shoulders. "As I said, you lov-"
"What's with that word all of a sudden?"
"What word?" The puppy dog look and doe eyes really weren't that convincing, Ethan knew he was baiting him into saying it.
"You know what I'm talking about." Ethan pushed, unwilling to take the bait. "The L word."
"Oh the L word." Crockett nodded to himself like he had just reached the realization of what Ethan has been insinuating all along. "L like 'like' or-"
"Okay now you're just being patronizing." Ethan drawled sarcastically, rolling his eyes at Crockett's behavior. The dude has trouble taking some things seriously.
"So it's the other L word."
"Yes Crockett, it's the 'other L word'."
"And what's wrong with the other L word?"
"Nothing." Ethan said immediately and almost defensively. "It's just that you've never used it before."
"Oh I assure you, I've used it before."
Ethan heaved a sigh. "You've never used it with me before."
Crockett raised one eyebrow. "Is that an issue?"
"No. Not really."
"But?" Crockett prompted after Ethan remained silent too long for his taste.
"There's no 'but', it just...." He wrecked his brain for a word that would describe his feelings without him sounding outright like a coward. "Startled me, I guess."
"Just so we're clear..." Crockett gestured with his hands between the two of them. "Was it the word itself or the possible implication of the meaning of the said word?"
"The second one." He answered after a moment of consideration.
"Well in that case, I'm really sorry." Crockett folded his hands behind his back as he stared Ethan dead in the eye. "I promise I wasn't trying to L word bomb you or push you into anything prematurely. It just... slipped out." He cleared his throat. "Not to say that I don't feel that way at all, I just don't want you to feel uncomfortable and-"
Seeing where this was going, Ethan closed the distance between them, grabbing the bubbling Crockett by his shoulders. "Baby, you're rambling."
Crockett closed his mouth, his cheeks turning a shade darker than his usual complexion. "Sorry."
"It's okay." Ethan assured him, his hands still squeezing the tense muscles of his shoulders. "Maybe this is not the best place for this discussion, ey?"
"Right. We're still at work."
"Yeah." Ethan smiled, allowing his arms to drop back to his side.
"Your shift is about to end, right?" Crockett asked suddenly, shifting away from the awkward topic for a moment in order to get both of them back into the sphere of professionalism.
Ethan nodded, sensing the gradual decline in the tension at the topic shift. "Yes. I still have to go see my patient though and give her a diagnosis."
"But you'll be heading home after, right?"
"Yes."
"How about a dinner tonight, then? I'll cook."
"You'll just be coming off of your shift, I don't want to be a burden."
"You can never be a burden." Ethan swallowed at the sincerity in Crockett's response. "Besides, I was going to cook for myself either way."
"Okay. What time should I-"
"About that..." Crockett turned around and opened his locker again, his steady hands digging through the pocket of his jacket. He let out a triumphant sound when he found what he was looking for and turned back around to face Ethan. He was holding a key in his hand. "Why don't you head to my place straight away and you can shower and take a nap there instead of driving home only to drive back later. My place is closer to the hospital."
Ethan looked up at Crockett, more than surprised by the offer. His fingers hovered over the key that his boyfriend still held in front of him. "Umm... I don't have any clothes at your place."
Crockett shrugged. "Just take mine. I don't mind." When Ethan stayed silent, eyes still locked onto the key in between them with his hands levitating around it, Crockett started feeling a sense of doubt seeping into him. Perhaps he was moving too fast for Ethan. "If you don't want to, that's fine, no pressure."
"You know what?" Ethan looked up, his eyes crinkling at the corners from the force of his smile. "I'd love to." He took the key and stuffed it into the pocket of his scrubs. "Should I buy something for the dinner on my way then?"
Crockett smiled, his grin surpassing even Ethan's. "No need sugar. I have all the ingredients."
"Okay then." Ethan cleared his throat, smile still tugging on the edge of his lips. "I'm gonna go finish my round and... I guess I'll see you later." He waved his tablet in front of him and walked backward towards the glass door of the doctor's lounge.
"You bet cowboy. See you later."
Ethan opened the door with his hip and tossed over his shoulder. "Have a nice shift."
"Oh well, now you've jinxed it!" Crockett called after him which caused Ethan to laugh, the sound echoing in an empty room and in the busy hallway. Crockett didn't miss how Ethan's laughter turned heads, especially one of the head nurse, Maggie. She raised one suspicious eyebrow at him but he ignored it, opting to close his locker once again and fix his stethoscope. He could feel the eyes on him even before he stepped out into the metaphorical lion's den and he just knew that Maggie was about to be all up in his space for the whole shift. "Lucky bastard." He muttered to himself as he remembered Ethan was about to weasel his way out of an interrogation because his shift was over whereas his was only starting.
Still, even with a threat of Maggie looming over him and breathing down his neck for the next 12 hours, his mood remained in high spirits. He had someone waiting for him to get home after all.