Levi loves his job. After all, what isn't there to love about it? Saving lives on the daily, interacting with some incredible people, working alongside some surgical legends. There wasn't much to dislike about the job.
Except for those days. The days where everything seemed to just go down the drain. The days where life was just plain unfair, taking the lives of those who had been fighting so hard, the young, the innocent, yet to experience their life. The days where his brain just couldn't function correctly; stumbling over each and every word he tried to form, his usual case of butterfingers, the staring from his peers as they tried to figure out why he was acting so clumsy.
Today happened to be one of those days.
Levi absent-mindedly picks at his skin as he reads over the chart, tongue stuck out in concentration. He should have worn his glasses today, as his contacts were unusually irritating. He blinks a couple of times before he lets out a sigh, using his index finger to rub underneath his eyes. It does little to relieve his eyes of the dull burning pain.
No matter how many times his eyes scan over the words etched into the paper, his brain refuses to acknowledge them. Refuses to take them in.
"Are you done yet, Schmitt?" Meredith asks from behind him as she walks up, startling him out of his trance. He straightens his back, clearing his throat as he turns to her. She has her hair early tucked up into a bun, yet Levi can't help but notice the thin strand that has come loose. "I need those charts so I can discharge Mr. Jones."
"I, uh- Yeah, I'm done with them," He slides the chart off of the countertop, glancing at it for a brief moment before wearily handing it over. Meredith gives him a weird sort of look, almost as if she was secretly questioning him, as she grabs it from his hands. Levi just happens to notice the somewhat aggressive way she took it from him.
Whether or not that was intentional, it still pricks at Levi's mind.
"Link has requested you, I suggest you go find him," She says blanky as she checks over the charts herself. To Levi, that was her questioning his ability to do things right. He swallows thickly, nodding. She doesn't even give him a second glance as she walks off.
It really seemed as if the world was nipping at his heels today, teasing and taunting his every move. Even still, he takes a deep breath, shuts his eyes, gives himself a moment to compose. Perhaps Link would be in a better mood. He was always one of the more cheery people at the hospital, no matter the day or the circumstances. Levi sometimes found it somewhat unnerving.
He makes his way down the halls of the hospital, weaving in and out between gurneys and people, making sure to not trip over anything. Yet, despite his best efforts, his foot still catches on the side of a gurney, causing him to stumble.
A clumsy doctor. That isn't what patients wanted to see in a hospital. That really instilled a sense of confidence about how they were to be treated.
Thankfully, in just the nick of time, he catches himself. His heart pounds in his chest as he runs his hands over his scrubs, straightening out the slight wrinkles in them that were slowly beginning to form. People stare at him, whispers being exchanged between a few, and he tries his best to ignore them. It doesn't do much. He curses to himself as he rushes around the corner, finally making it to the room where he'd been told Link was in.
As he enters, he catches Link entertaining a young girl, a fresh cast on her arm. It doesn't surprise him that the cast is that terrible hot pink color. He smiles plainly as he closes the door behind him.
"Ah, Dr. Schmitt. Can you take all this and return it where it needs to be? I'm a little busy with little Fiona here," He subtly nods his head towards the girl perched on the bed next to him, legs crossed in front of her as she plays with a scruffy looking stuffed giraffe. One of its ears is hanging on by a thread, one of its eyes completely missing. Levi can't help but grin at the girl, until he looks at the large pile of stuff that Link has requested him to clean up.
He holds back a groan and instead, forces a painful smile. He already knew his case of the butterfingers would screw him over.
"Yeah, I can do that," He mumbles. Link sends him a thankful look as he turns his attention back to the patient. As Levi is bundling up the stuff in his arms, the door opens to reveal a woman. She has a cup of what Levi assumes is coffee in her hands, and a small juice box tucked under her arm as she enters.
"There's my little girl! Thank you for staying with her. The line for coffee was ridiculous!" She chirps merrily as she makes her way over to the bed, placing the cup down on the small table attached to the bed, before she hands the juice box over to her daughter.
"Ah, it's no problem, we had a great time, didn't we?" Link's overly joyous tone makes Levi want to gag. Fiona nods her head as she takes the juice box, only to stare at it for a few moments before she looks up at Link.
She doesn't have to say anything before Link takes the juice box, taking out the straw and piercing it into the box. Fiona mutters a small 'thank you' as she takes it back, happily sipping away, her toy giraffe being completely disregarded.
Levi scoops up the last bit of equipment in his arms and makes his way over to the door. Only, he doesn't make it to the door, because he trips over thin air, causing the bundle to fall from his arms. Even with his back turned to the three people behind him, he can tell of their disapproving looks and wants nothing more than to disappear into the void.
No one says a single word as Levi hurriedly scoops everything back up into his arms and rushes out the door, muttering constant apologies as he dashes towards the nearest supply cupboard. He keeps his head hung low, the familiar feeling of warmth in his cheeks.
He could not wait to get home. Today has been one plucked straight from the depths of hell.
-
Nico hums to himself as he finishes cleaning off the countertop that was covered in flour. It wasn't usual that he got a day off, so he decided to do something instead of wasting his day doing nothing. Levi always told him to use the days to rest, but he never listened. Nico needed to do something during the day. He just couldn't ever sit still.
Plus, Nico had subconsciously decided that making a cake would be a good idea. He'd never really baked on his own before- with his mother by his side, sure- but he'd never flown solo before. Despite his lack of baking knowledge, he still had confidence that the cake would turn out okay.
Not great, just okay.
With a tired sigh, he glances at his phone. It was almost the time in which Levi said he'd be back by and Nico just couldn't wait. Levi would surely laugh at his futile attempt at making a cake, but even so, he would still appreciate Nico's efforts.
The faint click of the door opening catches his attention away from his phone, a smile creeping onto his face as he hears the scuffing of shoes on the doormat. He thoughtlessly chucks the damp towel down on the kitchen side, a tiny plume of flour shooting into the air from the spot he missed. He debates cleaning it up, but decides against it, making his way out of the kitchen to go and greet Levi.
Nico knows as soon as he lays eyes on his boyfriend that something just isn't quite right with him.
Levi toes his shoes off, not even bothering to put them neatly where he usually does. That was one thing about Levi; he would always be on Nico's ass about putting shoes neatly. Ever since Nico had got his own place, he couldn't really care less about putting them neatly. Maybe his mother's constant nagging hadn't really imprinted on him.
"Hey," Nico finally speaks up, breaking the silence between the two. Levi looks up and stays silent, blinking a couple of times before letting out a short sigh. Nico can feel himself frown as he watches Levi lazily shrug his coat off. "How was work?"
Levi doesn't respond as he finishes taking his coat off, hanging it up after taking his phone out of the pocket. Nico just waits. He knows not to rush Levi. "I don't want to talk about it."
"Oh, I see," Nico almost mutters, taking a few cautious steps forward. "Bad day?"
"Yeah."
Levi's simple bluntness throws Nico off; it isn't usual he acts this way. In fact, it's so unusual, Nico doesn't actually know how to approach this kind of situation. As Nico opens up his mouth to say something, Levi brushes past him, not caring that he knocks Nico back. Nico follows after him, even though he knows any attempt at conversation will prove impossible.
It's silent as Levi flops down onto the couch, pulling his knees up to his chest as he grabs at the remote next to him, clicking the buttons with a sort of frustration that Nico can't quite understand. This is all quite unusual, especially for Levi. Nico lingers as he wonders what he can do to comfort his partner.
"Can I do anything, to help?" Nico asks, hoping that maybe Levi would give him some sort of hint of what to do. It's silent for a moment, until Levi stops clicking the buttons on the remote, his shoulders rising and falling as he lets out a long sigh.
He doesn't even turn to look over his shoulder at Nico as he speaks, "You could stop bugging me. That would be nice."
"Okay," Nico manages to stifle a scoff, internally laughing at how ridiculous this situation is. Still, he tries not to show it as he replies. "I'll be in the kitchen if you need me."
Without another word, Nico wonders off into the kitchen, hoping to check up on how his baking was going. Maybe, with any luck, it wouldn't be going to bad. It baffled him how surgery was as easy as anything to him, yet baking a simple cake seemed like a complete and utter mystery. It was just completely backwards.
Nico makes his way over to the oven, crouching down beside it as he peeks into it, having to squint a little to catch a glimpse of the cake. It was rising- thank god for that- which meant he had at least done something right. The orange light made it hard for him to really make out how it was doing. He turned his attention to the small timer placed on the counter just above the oven, seeing that it only had a couple of minutes left before it was deemed to be done.
If his mother had taught him one thing, it was to never open the oven door whilst baking any sort of cake. Patience was key when it came to this type of stuff. It can't be rushed.
Nico stands, letting out a slight sigh as he does, as he notices the flour smeared into his once black jeans. They'd been washed so often, they were now an ugly sort of faded grey. No matter how many times Levi had tried to convince him to just buy a new pair, Nico refused. Why throw out a perfectly good pair when they weren't broken yet?
The sound of someone clearing their throat catches Nico's attention from the ticking of the timer. He turns, seeing Levi stood in the doorway. He says nothing; instead, he waits for Levi to speak first.
A few seconds of silence passes by, so Nico decides to break the awkwardness slowly falling between them.
"I'm no baker," He awkwardly laughs to himself as he glances down at his jeans, dusting his hands off, only managing to remove some of the flour. "I think more flour ended up on me than anywhere else."
"Are you mad at me?" Levi asks without a hint of hesitation, though his voice is small. It's almost a whisper as he folds his arms over his chest, absent-mindedly tapping his foot against the floor as he waits for Nico's reply. Every part of him expects Nico to say yes. After all, why wouldn't he be? Levi had been so blatantly rude to him when he'd first come home, not even giving him the time of day to say anything.
Nico furrows his brow, head tilting to the side as he silently questions what Levi means. "Why on earth would I be mad at you?"
Levi shrugs. "I don't know. Everyone seems mad at me today. I just kept messing up. I just keep messing up, no matter what I do."
Nico shakes his head, lips pursed together as he takes a few strides closer to Levi. He doesn't even glance up at him, keeps his gaze fixed on the small crack forming on the tile flooring.
"I'm not mad at you, Levi. No way. No way could I be mad at you," Nico can see how Levi relaxes slightly, though his shoulders still hold a fair amount of tension. "You're human. We have bad days, we have good days."
"Every day is just a bad day for me."
"Levi," Nico begins, resting his hands on Levi's shoulders. He gently digs his finger tips into Levi's shoulders, and Levi lets out a sigh as he closes his eyes. The tension he held in his shoulders was starting to cause his muscles to ache. "I think you're incredible. I know you don't always believe me when I say that, but I truly mean it."
Levi just groans at Nico's sappy words, though Nico spots the slight grin that threatens to reveal itself. Neither of them say anything as Nico pulls Levi in for a much needed hug, arms draped loosely over his shoulder. It doesn't take long for him to fully release and let himself relax into Nico's arms, snaking his arms around Nico's waist as he buries his face into his chest. He takes in a deep breath, breathing in the familiar scent of his boyfriend, his arms weakly squeezing Nico's waist.
Levi doesn't need to say it aloud for Nico to understand what he is trying to say. He presses his lips into Levi's messy hair, holding him close for just a moment, until the timer rudely interrupts them. Levi almost jumps back at the sudden noise.
"I think that means the cake is ready," Nico mumbles, not wanting to unwrap his arms from Levi. Quite honestly, he was rather comfy, and wouldn't mind staying like this for a while longer.
"Let it burn, it might give it some flavour," Even though Nico can't see Levi's face, he can sense the sly smirk that is playing at his lips, and the subtle hint of sarcasm that drips from his tone.
Nico chuckles to himself and he pulls back from the embrace just enough to look down at Levi, who looks absolutely exhausted. His hair is a complete mess, strands sticking out in all sorts of directions. Nico trails his hands back up to Levi's shoulders, giving them a slight squeeze as he breaks from the embrace.
"Can't believe you're doubting my abilities as a world renowned chef,"
"Gordon Ramsey is shaking in his boots right now," Levi quips, holding his hands up and shaking them, putting on a sarcastic tone as he tries not to laugh.
Nico feels his heart swell with just how much he truly loves Levi. Even when he doesn't feel great, Levi still manages to crack a joke or two. That was something Nico deeply admired about him.
"Go sit down and get some rest," Nico's cheeks hurt from how hard he is grinning as he glances over his shoulder as Levi, who is already rubbing his eyes as he tries his hardest to suppress a yawn. "I'll take this out and come join you. We can order some food and watch a movie."
Levi manages to muster up a half-hearted smile, a nod following soon after. "Sounds good to me."