Hey everyone, it's been a while since I've uploaded some Jearmin and there's something about a doctor's AU that's just a lot of fun and has room for so much angst. Anyway I hope you all enjoy the first chapter, I wrote this quite a while ago and though it was high time that I actually published it :D
Breathe.
Inhale the fresh air, feel the light breeze and the warmth of the sun on your face and feel human again. Everything is warm and quiet. All Jean can hear is the gentle lapping of the ocean in the distance and the wind ruffling the grass. No sirens, no shouting, no nothing. Just the breeze against his ears and the far away waves. He takes another deep breath of that wonderful fresh air that makes him feel human again for the first time in what feels like forever.
Here he is: out on his own in the middle of nowhere with just the smell of the sea and the sweet undertone of some far off flower and he can't remember the last time he felt this relaxed and at peace with he world.
"There you are Jean-Bo!"
No.
No, no, no this is not happening!
Not now.
"What are you doing hiding out in here?"
Jean desperately tries to hold on to the fantasy of being outside and alone but Ymir's voice is insistent on pulling him back to the harsh realities. He realises pretty swiftly that he's fighting a losing battle and, with a sigh, opens his eyes. He's back to looking at the off white walls of Trost General Hospital's break room and the cacophony of noise from just outside the door comes flooding back.
He can't help but resent Ymir for pulling him back from what could have been a much needed and well deserved power nap. She flops down into the empty seat opposite him and grins. He responds by glaring at her.
"Hey handsome."
"Go away," he grumbles.
"Ouch," she chuckles, completely unfazed by his irritation, "who pissed in your pancakes this morning?"
"Maybe if I hadn't been here since four o'clock and this is the first time I've sat down since then I would be a little more cheerful," he replies as he gets to his feet to go and wrestle with the coffee machine. He prays for something other than black sludge and, after a sharp rap to the side of it with his palm, his prayers are answered.
Ymir winces. "That bad huh?"
"So far I've had two suicide attempts, checked up on yesterday's near fatal stabbing, had to tell someone that, even though they're only twenty-six, they will have lost their sight before they hit thirty and had to listen to a woman insist that she's not going to stop using even though she's six months pregnant." It hadn't been a fun morning for Jean and having to re-live it even less so. He tries not to think too much about the patient he's just left as he moves on to the next one. He knows he'll go insane if he does.
"Fuck me!"
"Later darling I'm a bit tired at the moment," Jean says handing her the cup that is a little more sludge than coffee and sitting down again. "Drink your coffee."
She takes a sip and wrinkles her nose. "Zev Siegl would be rolling in his grave."
"Zev Siegl's not dead," Jean says.
"Isn't he?" she grins.
Jean shakes his head and rolls his eyes. "How are things in OBG treating you?"
"I never thought I'd get sick of the sight of vaginas," she replies.
"Shame you're a lesbian then."
"I'm not that sick of them," Ymir chuckles.
"There's a new drug you could try to help you out," Jean says, taking a sip of his piss-poor excuse for coffee.
"Oh yeah?"
"Trydicksagain."
"Haha you're funny."
"Your girlfriend seemed to think so," Jean smirks almost hoping that will touch a nerve but alas to no avail.
"By the way I caught your work-wife crying in the supply closet again." Ymir isn't rising to the bait but dangling some of her own and Jean does have to reel his reaction in at that one.
"Who?" he asks, feigning ignorance although he knows exactly who it is that she's talking about.
"You know," Ymir says, not falling for it in the slightest. "Kid's not going to last very long if he keeps blubbing every time he loses a patient."
"He's a good doctor, leave him be," Jean says without thinking and instantly regrets it when he sees the look of abject triumph that crosses Ymir's face.
"So you admit that he's your work-wife?" she asks, smirking.
"That's not what I said and you know it," Jean says, rolling his eyes.
"Then tell me what is going on between you and the little blond daffodil?" she asks, that infuriating smirk still plastered on her face and Jean really would love to twat her one with something heavy but all there is to hand is a battered old copy of Elle.
"Have you ever considered bothering someone else for a change?" he snaps.
"Oh come on," Ymir chuckles. "I'm just kidding with you."
"Well don't."
"I'm just saying that the two of you spend an awful lot of time with each other," Ymir says with a suggestively raised eyebrow.
Jean glares at her over his coffee. "We spend a lot of time together because we're on the same rotation."
"If you fucking say so."
"What more do you want me to say?" Jean asks, not even bothering to hide the exasperation in his voice. "He's a good doctor, his only fault is that maybe he gets a little too emotionally involved with his patients."
"I've seen the way he follows you around," Ymir says. "Like a cute little lost puppy."
"He was my intern for a year and a half and he's still only a junior doctor, of course he's going to have questions he needs to ask," Jean says. "It's not like we've seen everything."
"Ain't one stab wound just like all the rest of them?"
"Maybe you should prize your head out of the giant pile of vaginas and come back and do some real work," Jean mutters darkly, still glaring.
"To the ED? No thanks." Ymir snorts. "No offence but the vast majority of my patients walk out of here still breathing. I ain't going back to that bloodbath."
"Then get off Armin's case," Jean says with a finality that clearly says he's done talking about the subject.
"Look I'm just messing around with you," Ymir says after a pause. "I just thought you should know that if he's struggling he might not say anything."
Jean sighs. In her own roundabout way it's her showing that she cares but she's still a pain in the arse. "Thanks, I'll keep an eye out."
"Surely that's not your job," Ymir says, narrowing her eyes. "If he needs to talk to someone he should go see someone, not rely on you to pick up on the signs."
"He's fine, I'm sure he is," Jean says. "Besides so what if I want to look out for him?"
"Oooh!" she crows childishly. "So you want to get our little daffodil alone and up against a wall?"
"How d'you come to that conclusion?" Jean asks trying to sound as bored as possible in the hope that she'll drop it.
"Cause in the whole time I've known you you've never gotten close to anyone," she smirks like a cat that got the cream. "I was beginning to think you were a monk or a eunuch."
"OBG must be really boring if you've got all this time to think about me."
"It stops me from getting too excited when I've got a particularly hot girl with her legs open in front of me."
Jean rolls his eyes again wondering if they're going to get stuck like that. "I'm glad that I can be of service."
"So you've never thought about it?" Ymir asks after a pause.
"Thought about what?"
"Getting the kid alone," Ymir replies. "Getting him on his knees and having him suck your–"
"Armin," Jean says pointedly as the topic of conversation walks into the room. He's quite thankful that Ymir didn't get to finish that sentence as that was going places he shouldn't be entertaining while wearing scrubs. "You okay?"
An adorable blush spreads across Armin's cheeks (so he definitely heard that bit, hopefully he didn't realise Ymir was talking about him). "Um yeah I was just wondering if I could get some help with a patient," Armin replies, the blushing intensifying.
"Sure I can give you a hand," Jean says, getting to his feet. He throws his empty coffee cup into the bin and goes to join Armin in the doorway.
"Aww look at this cute little man date," Ymir sings with an obnoxious smirk.
"Don't you have some vaginas to stare at, you useless lesbian?" Jean asks.
Ymir throws her head back and cackles. "Alright fine if that's your way of telling me to do some work."
"Whatever," Jean says shaking his head. "Let's go Armin."
"Have fun!" Ymir sings as they leave the break room.
They walk in silence for a few minutes before Armin finally speaks up. "I'm sorry."
"What for?" Jean asks.
"I was interrupting back there."
"Don't worry about it," Jean says. "I'm thankful for the interruption, now what do you need?"
"Two things: could you take a look at a chest x-ray for me?" Armin asks. "I'm pretty sure that it's just scar tissue but I wanted a second opinion just to make sure it isn't anything more serious."
"Sure thing," Jean smiles, "and the other thing?"
Armin flushes. "I've got this patient, he's a heavy smoker, and I told him that he needs to quit or he's going to die but he said that he's not going to take advice from 'a virgin who's never even kissed a girl'."
"Wow rude!"
"Could you possibly talk to him?" Armin asks timidly.
Jean sighs and chuckles. "Armin you need to be able to get people to listen to you on your own."
"Yeah but how do I do that?" Armin asks. "It's not as if I can try and look imposing or anything. Have you seen me?"
"Well, you look him in the eye and say very firmly 'I am your doctor, deal with it!" Jean tells him.
"That's all?"
"Say it," Jean orders.
Armin takes a breath and glares up at him. "I am your doctor, deal with it!"
Jean claps him on the shoulder. "Atta boy. Shall we go and have a look at this chest x-ray then?"
"Please." They continue on in silence for a moment before Armin speaks up again. "I'm sorry."
"What for?" Jean asks.
"I shouldn't be coming to you with stuff like this, I should have confidence in my own abilities," Armin replies.
"It's fine, Jean says. "When it's someone else's life on the line you want to be totally sure. Besides you were doing me a huge favour anyway."
"Was I?"
"Oh yeah, I wanted to leave that conversation," Jean says.
Armin chuckles softly. "It sounded... interesting."
"She was being weird and inappropriate," Jean sighs. "So like every conversation I have with her."
"Oh..." Armin says. He fiddles with the end of his stethoscope shyly. "Then I'm glad I could help."
"Just out of interest," Jean begins after a pause, "how much of that did you hear?"
Armin flushes an adorable shade of pink and looks away. "Just the end bit. The er... bit about the sucking."
"Okay," Jean says. He's more than a little relieved that Armin doesn't know that they were talking about him. Although Jean should have guessed that he didn't otherwise his face would be scarlet right about now.
Ymir was wrong anyway. He hadn't thought about dragging Armin into a private space to get him on his knees so he could have his way with him (well maybe once but he swiftly put a stop to that train before it left the station). What he thought about more than anything was taking Armin somewhere they wouldn't be disturbed and kissing those pretty lips of his till Armin was begging for more.
He knows he shouldn't even be thinking that about one of the junior doctors – one he would even consider a friend as well – but there's just something about Armin. He's beautiful and delicate and he looks so cute when he has his fringe pushed back when he's been on a really long shift. More often than not he thinks about asking Armin if he wants to get coffee, do something away from the hell hole they work in. They've been close for a while now but he'd like to get closer.
Maybe now that no one's paying attention and Armin's already heard Ymir being disgusting it's the perfect time. "Hey Armin?"
"Yeah?"
"I was wondering would you–"
He doesn't get to finish his sentence before the doors to the ED burst open and two trolleys are wheeled in, Levi striding in with them. He casts a glance over to where Jean and Armin are standing.
"Kirschtein, Arlert, scrub up I need you," he calls. "I've got two RTCs and I'd like to keep at least one of them alive."
"Yes sir," Armin says. He turns to Jean and smiles. "Ask me later, okay?"
"Sure," Jean says as he follows him over to resus.
