one-shot; rules of attraction
pairing: aizawa kosaku/shiraishi megumi
word count: 2173 words
note: Definitely inspired by the latest fluffy Aizawa/Shiraishi fics. I may or may not have written this ficlet on my 3.5 hour flight (yes, I have left NZ).
"Megumi!"
Shiraishi looks up from her work to see a very familiar face standing in front of her counter at the staff station. "Misaki!" She's both surprised and happy, standing up and giving her old friend a hug. "I thought you're not arriving until next week." Yamada Misaki is her classmate and one of her closest friends in medical school, and they had not seen other in years, even though they had kept in touch constantly. Misaki had contacted her two weeks ago to tell her that she had accepted a position in Shohoku, and Shiraishi had been excited at the prospect of a reunion.
"I thought the same, but the hospital asked if I could come in earlier, and I could, so here I am, Shohoku's newest cardiologist," Misaki explains.
Shiraishi smiles widely "Already looking the part," she says, noting her friend's dark red scrubs from the cardiology department. "We'll have to catch up over…"
"Shiraishi," a voice interrupts her. "Here are the neurological scans you needed, for Tsuzuki-san."
She turns her head to see Aizawa at her shoulder, holding out the scans. "Oh, thank you, Aizawa-sensei. I was going to go get them from neurosurgery myself actually, but thanks."
"Shiraishi, do introduce me to your colleague," Misaki's voice is bright, and Shiraishi turns back to her friend to see her giving Aizawa a mega-watt smile.
"Ahh…Aizawa-sensei, this is Yamada-sensei, my old friend from medical school, who just joined the cardiology department. Misaki, Aizawa-sensei works with me in Lifesaving," Shiraishi makes the barest and most necessary introductions, knowing that Aizawa has no patience for anything long-winded.
Misaki holds out her hand, her smile never wavering. Aizawa shoots her a look, and gives her hand the briefest of shakes, before turning away. "Shiraishi, I'll be doing my ward rounds in the ICU. Call me if you need me in Emergency."
Shiraishi nods, and then as Aizawa leaves, she looks at her friend, who looka a bit star-struck. "Misaki?"
"Look at those shoulders, and that build...he's gorgeous," Misaki sighs dreamily, as Shiraishi shakes her head.
"You've not changed much at all," she says, amused, remembering how flirtatious Misaki was during their university days.
"Oh, come on, Megumi, surely you noticed how good-looking Aizawa-sensei is!"
"Eh?" Shiraishi wrinkles her nose.
"You've not changed at all…still as oblivious as ever."
Shiraishi strips off her gloves, and shrugs off her bloodied surgical scrubs. "Move the patient to the ICU, keep monitoring the blood pressure. If it drops, notify me immediately." Natori nods, efficiently pushing the patient out of Emergency, with Haitani's help. Shiraishi sighs a little, adjusting her neck. It has been three consecutive surgeries, all one after the other, and it had been a frantic morning.
"Tired?" A voice sounds behind her, and she turns around to see Aizawa, disposing of his own bloodied scrubs.
"Marginally," she responds, slipping on her name tag and clipping it to her pocket. "No time to be tired though, half the day is barely over, and I still need to…"
"Shiraishi," he interrupts, taking a step closer to her, his eyes meeting hers, as the rest of her sentence trails off.
Surely you've noticed how good-looking Aizawa-sensei is! Suddenly, she's reminded of Misaki's excited proclamation, as she stares into his eyes. He's saying something, but for some reason, she finds herself unable to concentrate on his words. Funny, she never notices how expressive his eyes are, round and dark, and fringed by long eyelashes that any woman would be jealous of. Those eyes hold hers firmly in its gaze as he talks, and not a single word he's saying is penetrating through her preoccupied brain.
"…Shiraishi?" She comes to with a start, almost jumping backward, as Aizawa looks at her, an eyebrow raised. "Are you listening to me?"
He's still looking at her, and she feels a little unsettled, as she coughs. "Yes..." She doesn't even know what she's answering to, but she supposes a generic yes is a safe answer. He tilts his head a little, his gaze still on hers (almost hypnotic, she thinks), and she looks away, rattled, breaking the contact as she grabs her stethoscope. "I'm going to check on Tsuzuki-san."
Shiraishi hurries towards the ICU, feeling unnerved, and she knows her cheeks are slightly flushed. She just hopes no one notices it. She could hardly believe what had happened just now, she must have looked like an idiot.
But she really had never seriously noticed Aizawa's…physical attractiveness. Sure, over the years, she had heard the comments from nurses, other female doctors...but she never paid them any attention, never given it any thought. He's Aizawa, she's worked with him for years, and had seen him with the most unfortunate hairstyles (who could forget the bird nest sitting atop his head the first time she met him), therefore it just never really connected, the fact that Aizawa is a very good-looking man.
And it's a fact that really came out of nowhere, out of the left field, and Shiraish really does not understand her inability to get Aizawa's eyes, the way he had looked at her (the way he looks at her), out of her head.
Shiraishi pokes absent-mindedly at her lunch, stabbing at a few salad leaves. Misaki was supposed to meet her for lunch, but she was whisked off by her new bosses to do the whole meet-and-greet, and Shiraishi ended up eating lunch by herself.
A tray clatters on the table across from her, and she looks up to see Aizawa pulling out the chair opposite to her. He sits down, and picks up his chopsticks, and says matter-of-factly. "You've been acting a bit strange all morning. Are you feeling all right?"
Shiraishi is taking a sip of her juice, and she nearly chokes at that. "I wasn't acting strange!" She defends herself. He just gives her a look, and she knows that he isn't buying it. After the incident in Emergency, she found herself swerving into a corner to avoid him for some unknown reason, and she knew he must have sensed it. "I'm just…a bit distracted by work, that's all. It had been a hectic morning, and I have to complete Yokomine-sensei's performance report by today…"
He scrutinises her, and then he nods, to her relief. Evidently, he's deciding to leave it. She watches him as he continues eating, and her gaze flits to his hands, his elegant surgeon's hands with its long, dextrous fingers, handling the chopsticks with the same grace used to handle a scalpel. Hands that can be gentle, yet so strong, sure and steady.
"Shiraishi?"
She blinks, and raises her eyes to his face, and he's looking at her, slightly perplexed. To her horror, she suddenly realises that she has been staring at his hands, and he knows she's staring at his hands, and he doesn't really understand why. She can feel her face turning red, and she hurriedly averts her face, picking up her tray, and pushing her chair back so hard that it nearly falls over.
"I…I have to…" Nothing is coming to her, she cannot come up with any excuses or words or whatsoever, all she knows that she's really embarrassed, and she needs to get out of there, and fast.
So she does.
Shiraishi perches herself on the railing, looking towards the covered Heli, her arms crossed. It has been a disaster of a day. Aizawa's presence has been distracting her all day. She can only thank the stars that her professionalism still managed to precede over everything else, and that it hadn't affected her duties or her performance. But all those other little moments of interaction with him, it was just…strange, and all her professionalism just vanished into the thin air, and she'd be acting like some high-schooler. She's noticing, literally for the first time, how attractive he is, and it's throwing her off in the most perturbing ways.
She winces, remembering the way the she had stared at him after they both came out from the operating theatre. It was at that moment that Misaki's comments about his build entered her mind, and she found herself realising that yes, indeed, his shoulders are broad, and the muscles in his upper arms are well-defined, and the shapeless green scrubs did nothing to hide them.
How she had stared, until Haitani bumped into her, while wheeling the patient out.
Shiraishi groans inwardly, her chin dropping to her chest despondently. God knows what he thinks of her now. If there's an option, she doesn't ever want to find out.
She hears footsteps, and she just knows that it's him. Sure enough, Aizawa's right next to her within seconds, sitting on the same railing. "Do you want to tell me what's going on with you today?" he asks, his tone calm, his gaze directed towards the Heli.
She sneaks a look at him, at his side profile, and quickly looks away again, staring at her hands. "Nothing. I was just…distracted."
A little crease forms on his forehead. "By work," he says.
"Yes."
"I don't believe you."
She looks up, and he's looking at her now, his face unreadable. Those eyes are on hers again, the wind sweeping back his hair, and she notices -again - how well-sculpted his cheekbones are, the straight arc of his nose that just defines his face, and his mouth…her heartbeat picks up slightly, and she feels a blush creeping up the sides of her neck, and she knows it's going to reach her face soon.
Damnit.
"I really am just thinking about work," she says, looking down, praying for herself to stop blushing, a prayer that is not answered.
"Megumi," he says evenly. "We've never lied to each other. So don't start now."
The usage of her first name has her trapped. He's right, they never lie to each other, never had and she supposes they never will, but how is she able to tell him that she has basically been gawking at him like a cavewoman all day because she suddenly realises that, to borrow Misaki's term, he's gorgeous?
She just couldn't say it.
"I don't know how to tell you," she mumbles. "Can you just leave it? I'll be fine tomorrow." At least, she hopes so. Surely she has had her fill of staring at him today? Surely she had already come to terms with the fact that yes, her boyfriend is a very attractive man, and then go on with life as usual?
He slides closer to her, the line of his thigh against hers. "Tell me."
Shiraishi buries her face in her hands and groans. "I can't. It's so…stupid."
"I'll be the judge of that."
"I'm attracted to you." Her words come out muffled, as her hands are still pressed against her face. But he hears her, and gently, he pries her hands away. His face holds a slightly quizzical expression at her explanation, as if he still doesn't quite understand. Well, she supposes that it doesn't really make a lot of sense. After all, she's with him. She wouldn't be if she's not attracted to him, right? She takes a deep breath. "I realised that I am physically attracted to you."
"…and you've been acting strange all day because you realised you're physically attracted to me?"
"Well, I've never really given thoughts to your looks, and then it suddenly occurred to me that you're actually good-looking, so…" her voice trails off. What the hell did I just say!? Now, she's ready for the ground to open up and swallow her whole.
Aizawa looks at her, and his expression is one of someone trying not to laugh. "Should I be flattered, or insulted that you never noticed how I looked like, despite us being together?"
She's aware that she probably looks like a giant tomato now, as she hops off the railing, only to have him grab her hand and hold her in place. "Well, it has never been about looks between us," she mutters crossly.
"No, it hasn't," he agrees, "but I'm glad you don't think that I look like a troll," he says, a rare smile on his face.
She frowns at him. "At least someone finds this funny. I don't, not after feeling like a pervert all day." She claps a hand over her mouth as soon as those words escape her. Shit. Did she really just say that?
His face changes. "…A pervert? What exactly were you thinking, Shiraishi Megumi?"
Just as she thinks it isn't possible for her to get any redder, or any more embarrassed, or any more horrified, this happens. "N…nothing!" She squeaks out, all flustered. "That was a figure of speech!"
His thumb rubs against her hand in slow, lazy circles, as he looks at her. Resting his other hand lightly on her hip, he pulls her closer to him. "I wouldn't mind exploring those perverted thoughts of yours…later tonight."
Shiraishi is blushing so hard that she swears even the roots of her hair are turning red. "Aizawa Kōsaku!"
Aizawa merely smirks, and presses a quick, hard kiss against her mouth.
A/N: ahhhh fluff! I have an idea for a companion fic, i.e. Aizawa vs Shiraishi's beauty hahahaha well let's see how that works out.
I am loving all the love and fluff in the fandom right now, you guys, all the writers and all the readers, are the bestest.
Reviews/comments/etc are loved and appreciated and wanted!
edit: my tenses, guys. I am horrified. All fixed now!