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“Oh, Dr. Abbacchio,” Bruno’s voice calls out. Leone is in the break room with his head in his hands, a tepid cup of tea in front of him. He must’ve dozed off. He looks up and finds that Bruno is walking to the water cooler, avoiding his eyes. “I was wondering what you were doing tonight.”
Before Leone can answer, an ugly boy genius walks in and says, “Dr. Bucciarati, we need you for an emergency chest wall stabilization that’s getting sent here from the ER.”
Bruno will look at Giorno but not at him. “Thank you, Dr. Giovanna. Let’s head that way.”
“You want my help?” he sounds surprised.
“You want my help?” Leone mocks his voice. “Go do your job.” It’s the twenty year old’s first week of his first-year residency, and after only spending three days with him, Leone wants him off the general surgery floor.
Probably pretending to be polite, he simply says, “Yes, Dr. Abbacchio,” and turns on his heel. Bruno follows right behind Giorno, and he doesn’t even turn around to look at Leone.
Leone grabs his mug full of tea and throws it in the sink, walking out of the break room. He only goes in there once a day to touch base as the kids say, and he spends the rest of the days getting small breaks by hoping he and Bruno will get caught behind the same closed door or shut curtain. It’s nearly impossible now with that little blondie following him around. On top of being annoying, he’s actually useful and hasn’t let anyone die. Leone has lost two patients in that same shift. Bruno said both their injuries were too severe, and it was a miracle they even got them there in the first place. Leone won’t hear it.
He’s one step out of the break room when Nurse Trish grabs him by the arm.
“We need you for a thrombectomy,” she tells him. Giorno successfully did a thrombectomy the day before, and Leone didn’t think it was that impressive because he was doing his job. Unfortunately, he was the talk of the floor.
So young and so focused.
He didn’t even hesitate.
It was the first time he’d done one, and he didn’t even need Dr. Bucciarati to step in.
Leone is so sick of him. The good thing is he doesn’t let it show.
“Tell me about the patient.”
Working in a big city hospital means the work never stops. Leone gets dragged from operating room to operating room by Trish and dragged to check up on recovering patients by Mista. Sometimes, Fugo will accidentally bring Bruno to the same room he’s in, but Giorno is right behind him.
Leone will say, “You have this covered,” and go elsewhere. There’s a moment where he feels a hand slip into the pocket of his coat, and he ignores it until he’s able to go to the bathroom.
Will you come over tonight?
Yours, B
Leone wishes he could write back and lie, “Probably not. Trish wanted to do something after work,” but he flushes the paper instead. It’s an unspoken rule between them to keep whatever they have going on a complete secret. Bruno is his attending doctor, and Leone is a third year resident. Leone won’t be a stain on his spotless career.
He hears a loud commotion from the hallway, and he considered hiding out in the bathroom, but Bruno is in the middle of surgery and can’t handle it. Leone ties his hair up for the fifth time that day as he walks out to the center of the surgical floor. He sees a gaggle of nurses yelling, and their bodies all going against this large family that hadn’t left their waiting room in three days.
Fugo’s voice rises above them all, and he says, “I will not say it again, we will know more when Mr. Pesci is out of surgery!”
“You said he was fine! The doctor said he was fine!” one of the blond male family members says and grabs Fugo by the collar.
Leone grits his teeth and walks over, wrapping his hand tight over the wrist of the man. He’s much taller than anyone in that cluster, and he knows he needs to handle it, or Mista will end up punching someone. He’s already holding back another man from behind the arms.
“I’m Dr. Abbacchio. Abdominal surgeries always have a risk of complications, even if we have nurses routinely checking on them, which we do, and even if we had the best surgeon in the city working on them, which we do.” The man lets go of Fugo’s collar, but Leone doesn’t free his wrist. It’s turning hot under his clenched fingers. “You will all go to the cafeteria, drink a coffee or a tea or whatever the hell it takes to calm you down, and then you will be allowed to quietly return to my waiting room. You will not cause issues on my floor or put your hands on my nurses again, is that clear?”
“What if-,”
“If Mr. Pesci’s status changes, I will personally go down to the cafeteria and grab you all. Go.” Mista lets go of the man he was grabbing, and the large family seems to not know if Leone was being serious. “Go now before I have security clear your entire family out of this hospital for threatening my staff.” They all disperse, some with their shoulders low while one of them shoots Leone a dirty look. He’s gotten death threats before, and he’s been sued twice. This is an easier day.
Trish rubs Leone on his shoulder and says, “Look at you talking like an attending.”
“Yeah, we’re your staff now?” Mista has a stupid grin Leone hates. “This is your floor, Dr. Abbacchio?”
Leone says, “I wish that were true, so I could fire you.”
Fugo lets out a deep sigh and puts his hand in his hair, “No need to fire me. I’m quitting.”
“No, you’re not,” Leone says and pats him on the back. “Go eat something from the vending machine and get over it.”
“I’m serious,” Fugo says. “I can’t deal with them anymore. That whole family has the same health issues. One of them discharged and then another one comes in for surgery. It’s like their family tradition.”
“Maybe I can see about referring them to a different surgeon in a different hospital,” Leone says. Fugo looks at him closely, as if he’s surprised to hear him go an extra mile for once. Maybe even admiring him.
Mista is the one that ruins the moment and says, “He’s getting laid tonight, so he’s in a good mood”
“The day we get someone competent in HR, start counting your days,” Leone says to him and smacks his chest. But Fugo is already removing his badge and going behind the counter to grab his things. Leone digs in his pocket and finds two dollars he leaves in there for the vending machine. He slides them onto the counter in front of Fugo who glares at him. “You’re too smart to quit. Go eat a bag of chips and come back.”
Trish moves next to Leone and says to Fugo, “I’ll cover for you. Go.”
“I want the free chips. I’m not coming back,” Fugo says and grabs the two dollars. But he clips his badge back on, and he doesn’t take his things from his desk area.
“He needs to stop threatening to quit once a month. It’s getting overdone,” Leone tells Trish. He rests his elbows on the counter and takes a moment to breathe.
Trish says to him, “You know, Dr. Giovanna did that first surgery on Mr. Pesci. So you called him the best surgeon in the world.”
“I said in the city, but he clearly fucked something up if there’s complications. I couldn’t say that to those people, though,” Leone tries to patch his statement. Trish just laughs.
She then whispers, “So I shouldn’t expect you home tonight?”
“Mista is the worst source for information on me, ignore that brat,” he tells her, rolling his eyes. So maybe he gets a little more lenient with the nurses when the ball is in his court. “I’ll probably go straight home when I finish charting for the day.”
Trish says, “It’s been a long week. You should go see B-, I mean. Your secret beau.” Abbacchio turns to study her face. She has a thin lipped smile on, her eyes glancing elsewhere. He’s only been living with her for three months, but she’s a terrible liar. “I need to go check on Fugo’s patients. I’ll see you when I see you.”
Leone wasn’t going to go to Bruno’s townhouse. But sometimes when he’s driving, he doesn’t think too much about the directions to get home, and he arrives there in a blink of an eye. And it seems that after multiple surgeries and charting for over an hour overtime, he happens to arrive to Bruno’s home.
He parks his van in the long driveway behind Bruno’s Cadilac, and he walks to the door where Bruno is already opening the door. He’s in a white bathrobe with black polka dots while Leone is in his wrinkled pre shift clothes, his ponytail loose and down his back.
Leone tells him as he walks inside past him, “Naked already? You’re so presumptuous.”
“This counts as clothes,” Bruno smiles. His hair has been recently blow dried. He leans into Leone’s face, maybe expecting a kiss. “I heard you stuck up for the nurses today."
"Being security is part of the job description. I didn't think much of it."
"That was still really nice of you. Do you want to take a shower?”
“Yes.” Leone turns away and kicks off his black oxfords. “I know the way.” He starts walking up his staircase, leaving Bruno hanging.
Bruno tells him, “I left clothes out for you. I’ll make up some dinner.” It meant Bruno was going to order from a nearby Italian restaurant that would deliver it in twenty minutes because he was the beloved Dr. Bucciarati who probably saved one of their grandparents’ lives in some freak surgery only he could’ve performed.
Leone stands under the cold water for ten minutes before he starts using the shampoo he left at Bruno’s place. All it took was Fugo asking him if he also got haircare recommendations from Dr. Bucciarati for him to never use the same shampoo or even soap as him again. Okay, maybe they’re not that good at hiding it.
Bruno left him a purple pajama set. It was clearly new, maybe thrown in the wash once or twice to try and convince Leone that Bruno didn’t buy these just for him. But Bruno wouldn’t wear something like this. Leone puts them on, throws his hair up in a towel, and goes back downstairs where dinner is ready at his dining table.
“Dr. Giovanna asked how long we’ve been together,” is the first thing Bruno says to him while Leone tries to cut through a piece of veal.
Leone scoffs, “What a nosy brat. Did you tell him that was inappropriate?”
“I pretended not to hear him and asked him to join me on examining someone in the emergency room,” Bruno says. He seems amused by the situation which irritates Leone a little more.
“He has a lot of audacity. I don’t like him coming in and acting like he knows everything.”
Bruno is smiling now, “I didn’t think you were the jealous type, Leone.” The accusation makes him turn a little red.
“I’m not.” He takes a drink from the wine Bruno served him. If he doesn’t come here for Bruno, he comes for the post work wine. He’d never buy something as pricy as this.
“You feel some sort of way about it if you speak of him that way.”
Leone puts down his glass, the liquid sloshing around. “I just think it’s convenient the hospital CEO’s son is doing his residency with us at twenty years old.”
“Some people just know what they want to do from a young age,” Bruno shrugs.
“Well, I didn’t. I spent all those years wandering around, and I still do the same job he does. But nobody is clapping for me as if did surgery with my hands tied behind my back.”
“I think your journey here makes you interesting, though. You didn’t lose any years. You’re much more experienced as a human being.”
Leone is quiet for a second and then says, “You’re just being nice.” Maybe Bruno is the same type of nice Leone is when he knows he’s getting laid.
“I am nice all the time.” Abbacchio has seen him in bad moods. It’s never really turned him off, though. He handles those bad moods in a manner that doesn’t affect anyone else. It’s admirable, and Leone feels deep down he’ll never be good enough for him.
“If you were nice, you would let me stay over.” Mista is Bruno’s neighbor. If he ever catches Leone in his van in the morning, it will spread through the entire hospital in seconds. Not that Mista would gossip about it maliciously, but he wouldn’t be able to keep the secret no matter how hard he tried.
Bruno is his superior, and Leone is his subordinate. It’s inappropriate and would rack up a lot of paperwork for them. Bruno wouldn’t want to do the paperwork for just a fling. Leone doesn’t care if he’s just a fling, as long as he lets him touch him from time to time.
Bruno adds in, “You don’t let me stay over at your place anymore.”
“I have roommates now, and one of them works with us.” Leone wasn’t supposed to have roommates ever. He lived alone for a few years until he heard Trish got kicked out of her home by her father, and he let her move into his spare room. Then, some other brat named Narancia that was an x-ray tech she met in community college needed a place to crash, and he hasn’t left his couch in a few weeks. Leone has been thinking about making space in his office for him to have a real bed.
“I think you like them,” Bruno teases him. “I heard you told Trish to stay until she had enough saved for a nicer place.”
“Well, I don’t hate them. Trish is well mannered and makes good conversation, so I’d hate for her to live in some unsafe shithole. Narancia... You’ve met him.” Trish took him as her plus one to a hospital party where he seemed to make good friends with the other nurses. Bruno laughed at a few of his jokes. “He’ll go fill up my gas tank for me if I ask him to.”
“I’ll do that for you if you want.”
“What do you think would happen if you, Dr. Bucciarati, esteemed surgeon and community member were caught driving a van older than your career?”
“I’m more concerned about the bumper stickers than the vehicle itself.”
“You don’t want to look like a poser?”
“It’s my biggest nightmare.”
Leone blow dries his hair while Bruno washes the dishes they used. When Leone is done, he lies down on Bruno’s bed, exhaustion and wine striking him all at once. He closes his eyes while he waits for Bruno to come into the room, but it turns into much needed slumber.
He feels Bruno kiss the corner of his lips, but he nudges him away with the back of his hand. Bruno’s laugh echoes in his dream. He says, “You can stay the night, but you’re going to have to explain why your van was here to Mista later.” Leone moves Bruno away with his leg for good measure. “Should I stay in my own guest room?”
Leone grumbles, “If you want to stay here, you have to be quiet.”
“Yes, dear,” Bruno says and drapes a blanket over them.
Leone wakes up at dawn with Bruno’s head on his chest, his arm draped around his torso and legs slotted with his, as if Leone would get away from him while sleeping. He does nudge him away most nights because he likes his space, but if he’s tired enough, he won’t notice Bruno is basically in his skin. He checks the alarm clock on Bruno’s dresser, and it’s four in the morning. Mista wakes up at seven in the morning to go to the gym, so he has a few hours before he has to sneak out.
Bruno and him take accidental turns waking up first in the morning and it was him this time. He thinks about moving Bruno off of him and making tea, but if he lets himself get comfortable, he likes the warmth. He likes the pressure of Bruno’s weight on him and the smell of his shampoo and lotion in his nose. He likes seeing his face twitch from his dreams, his fingers sometimes bending as if he were holding a scalpel in his sleep.
It all also scares him.
He won’t bring it up first- being a real couple.
He wouldn’t be able to stand the humiliation it would bring him if Bruno rejected him. So he’ll keep the status quo. He’ll be the man who sneaks over to Bruno’s house and when Narancia and Trish move out, Bruno will be the man who sneaks over to see him. And when Leone finishes his residency, maybe he will move far away from these feelings, and he won’t have to be scared anymore.
Bruno stirs in his sleep and his eyes flutter open. He half sits up and sees Leone watching him, and he gives him a tired smile.
Leone reaches over and brushes his fingers through his soft hair. “Go back to sleep, mi amore.” They’ll call each other that when it’s dark, when they can barely make out each other’s faces. They can pretend they might’ve heard it wrong.
“What time is it?”
“Four.” Neither of them have to work until the afternoon.
“Mista won’t leave for another few hours to the gym.” He lets out a big yawn after saying that, his eyes half closing.
“I know.” He tucks Bruno’s hair behind his ear for him and watches him lay his head back down on his check. “Get more sleep.”
“I’m awake,” Bruno lies, already dosing off.
Bruno sleeps for only one more hour while Leone makes a mental checklist of things he has to do around his house that weekend. Trish and Narancia are going to a cabin with Mista for their days off, so he gets the place to himself. He hasn’t told Bruno because Bruno might say no to going over. And he might make fun of him for building Narancia a bed. He does one good deed every once in a while and everyone starts bringing out a polaroid camera with flash.
Bruno sits up again, climbing off Leone and leaving him cold. He rubs his eyes and then stares at him. He has a small smile on his face.
“What’s so funny?” Leone asks.
“We didn’t have sex.”
“I told you that you were being presumptuous.”
“I think you like me.”
“Again, very presumptuous,” Leone sticks his nose up. He can’t stand him right now. He can’t stand that he’s right, and he’s so confident about the fact. He knows it. He knows everything, and it’s irritating.
“And if I said I liked you too?” Bruno asks softly.
Leone looks at him, a reflex. He looks so beautiful in this lighting, the sunset breaking through his windows past the sheer lace curtains and making his skin glow.
“What’s brought this on?” he asks Bruno. Bruno puts his hand on Leone’s knee, and he looks him in the eye.
“Nothing in particular. Maybe just the week we’ve had.”
“We have these weeks all the time,” Leone reminds him. He tries to think of a variance, and then he scowls. “Dr. Giovanna’s comment got to you, didn’t it?”
“It didn’t get to me,” Bruno reaches over and touches Leone’s jaw, trying to get him to soften up. It works. “I’ve already been thinking about it for a while. It’s just taking me a long time to get to this point because of all the guilt I felt.” To think he’s been dealing with guilt for having a relationship with him when Leone was the one that came onto him first. And Bruno might’ve whispered that first time that he’s always wanted him, but Leone was selfish for getting them in this mess. “But even if I try to ignore it, I want to end every shift with you in my house. Or with me at your house.”
“You have always liked the cheap wine I keep.” It gets them drunk, handsy, and in bed faster.
“No, I like your house because you’re in it.”
“Well. I like your house for the same reasons, too,” Leone says, putting his hand over Bruno’s. Bruno leans in and kisses him, soft and innocent. “I don’t want to jeopardize your career, though. Or risk losing mine.”
“It’s not against the hospital’s rules. Maybe a little frowned upon, but we are both grown men in our thirties. And if we have to, we’ll do the paperwork.” He’s really thought about all the little details which is very much like Bruno. Of course he’s thought everything through. They wouldn’t even be having this conversation if it’d cost Leone anything other than vulnerability.
“Do you think they’ll blacklist me from the area as soon as I’m done with my residency? I kind of like living in this city.”
“Not if I threaten to follow you.” Bruno kisses his mouth, making Leone smile. Until Leone starts to frown, and he grabs at his newly developed stomachache. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m no different than that brat getting a job from his father.”
Bruno starts to laugh. “You should get to know him. He reminds me of you.”
“I thought you liked me,” Leone says and puts his hand on Bruno’s face, pushing him away. Bruno is strong though and leans in his weight against him, getting his face next to his again.
“I love you, Leone,” Bruno whispers against his cheek. This makes him freeze completely, staring at Bruno as if he were playing a prank on him. But he’s not. He means it. He really does love him, and Leone now has a million questions he needs to have Bruno answer.
But for now, Leone says, “I love you, too.”
A few hours into their shift, Leone goes to find Trish in the break room. She’s eating lunch with Mista and Giorno who seems a little scared. Leone has decided to be nicer to him now by completely ignoring him.
As Leone waits for the electric kettle to start boiling, he hears Mista say, “You know, I decided recently that I want to start going to the gym earlier.” Leone’s shoulders freeze.
Trish asks, “What time did you wake up?”
“Five in the morning. Got to the gym by five thirty. I was back home by seven. I think someone new is moving into my neighborhood.” Mista’s eyes are on the back of Leone’s head. Leone isn’t looking at him to confirm, but he can basically feel the wind from him batting his stupid eyelashes in his direction.
Trish says, “You know Dr. Giovanna, Mista and Dr. Bucciarati live on the same street.”
“What’s that like?” Giorno asks.
“Sometimes if I’m bored, I go bother him and he gives me a glass of wine. Unless he has the do not disturb sign on.”
“He made a do not disturb sign for you?”
“No, it’s usually a black van that means he has a very important guest.” Abbacchio can go another day without his at work tea, he decides. He heads towards the break room door, slapping the back of Mista’s head on his way out. Him and Trish only chuckle. “That’s all I can say though because I’m really good at keeping secrets.”