Work Text:
You heard the periodic beeping of a machine before you opened your eyes to blinding white lights. It took a few moments for your vision to focus. My god, where am I? You thought to yourself as you squinted around the room, realising you weren’t wearing your glasses.
“Ah, I see you’re awake. Let me page for Maru to get your paperwork set up.” You hear a deep voice say.
As you try to sit up to gauge where you are and what happened, your bruised and battered body aches. Fuck, what happened. It takes you a few seconds to finally sit upright and then you finally identify who was talking to you.
Harvey stood at the end of your bed, looking down at a clipboard with what you assumed was some paperwork. He looked quite handsome, even under the jarring bright white lights of the treatment room you were in. You didn’t need to look in the mirror to know that the same didn’t apply to you. You felt like shit, that must mean you look like shit.
The last thing you remember was being in the mines, not far from Robin’s cabin in the mountains. You were being attacked by… slimes? That can’t be right. You weren’t an experienced miner but maybe the altitude change was doing something to you, because there is no way you were being attacked by slimes. Who knew? Stardew Valley is a place far from being normal.
“It’s Doctor Harvey, right? Do you know what happened to me?” You asked the man.
“Please, just call me Harvey. Maybe Harv. Not that anyone calls me that… sorry, I’m rambling.” He nervously said. “I don’t know what specifically happened to you, but Linus found you in the mines and called for help for you. You ended up back here so Maru and I patched you up.” He put his clipboard down, and moved closer to stand on the side of your bed.
“Oh, okay. Do you know when I’ll be free to go?” You asked, it was quite late and you were feeling exhausted as it is. You’d definitely have to take a leisurely pace on your walk back to the farm.
“You should be free to go now, Maru is just sorting out your release forms now. We’ll just need your signature on a few forms, and then Maru will have to take some payment details from you.”
“... Payment details?” You questioned. When you worked for JojaCorp, you never had to pay for any medical expenses. Not that you were ever allowed a sick day anyway.
“Shit, this is always awkward. Uh, I have to charge at my clinic for any emergency services I provide. I’ve been told by multiple insurance companies that they won’t cover the clinic because it’s far too small, so I have to charge my emergency patients out-of-pocket. I always feel so bad, but I am the only doctor here within twenty miles, and I have a lot of student debt to pay off. I have considered moving back to Zuzu City to practice at a bigger clinic or hospital, but there’s a peace here in the valley that I can’t find elsewhere. I think I want to settle down here, if I can find someone. Fuck, sorry. I go on and on when I’m nervous” he said, as his cheeks turned to a mild pink. Was he… blushing?
“It’s okay! Why are you nervous?”
“Well to be quite frank with you, the only patients I see regularly are Mayor Lewis and George. Sometimes Willy when the fish get the best of him. You’re probably the only patient around my age that I’ve treated in a while.”
“The fish? What on earth could the fish be doing to Willy?” You asked in confusion.
“I don’t question it. There’s a lot here that even I don’t understand, and I’ve been around for a few years.” He said. “Right, well. Let’s get you ready to go, it’s getting quite late” he said as he glanced at the clock.
Harvey offered a hand out to you to help you get back on to your feet. You took the hand, and noticed they were quite calloused. What could a doctor be doing to have hands so rough?
“Thank you,” you said genuinely.
He offered you a sweet smile, and showed you the way to the reception where you found Maru sorting out your paperwork.
“Listen. I don’t want to see you again.” Maru snorted and his eyes widened as he realised what he said.
“Fuck! I didn’t mean it like that! I just meant that I don’t want to see you coming back in this state again. I do want to see you again. You know what, I’m just going to go before I dig myself into a deeper hole. Thanks for the paperwork Maru.” He scuttled off, assumingly back to his office.
You grinned to yourself a little, as Maru handed you the paperwork.
Maru cleared her throat, “you know, I’ve never seen him this nervous before. It’s kind of endearing” she giggled.
“He is kind of cute, huh?” you giggled as Maru gave you a knowing look.
You quickly finished off the paperwork, and gave Maru your payment details to keep on retainer for any future accidents. You had a feeling there’d be more to come before you got your shit together in Stardew Valley.
You thanked Maru and gave her a small earnest smile as you walked out of the doors of the clinic.
On your walk back to Grandpa’s farm, you thought to yourself that maybe - for once - you wouldn’t write romance off of your cards.