Chapter Text
Your fingers hit the keys of the piano delicately, barely earning a note out of each part of the over-sized instrument. Your head bobbed slightly with each sound that escaped the piano, silently keeping track of the lyrics in your head and getting lost in the melody. You weren’t the best pianist, but you were proud of what you could show off.
The men around you silently fiddled about with their trademark weapons and devices. The only sounds being made in the room were the occasional clank of metal parts and your original piece being quietly preformed in the corner. You had to admit that your piano was incredibly out of place in this warehouse-like base that fostered the most brutal and unforgiving (and goofy) men, but with a few strings pulled from your good friend Miss Pauling, you managed to obtain a fairly out of shape piano to waste time on. With some help from Engie, you fixed this piano up as good as new. It wasn’t as nice as you dreamed of performing with, but it sounded just as good.
When your piece ended, you began improvising to provide your teammates with continuous music as they worked. This was the most silent they have ever been. To be honest, it was pretty incredible. Usually, they’re bickering or training or destroying the “house”, leaving you to provide the only house-keeping service they had and giving you no time to play your piano. But something was different about today. Everything was just…peaceful…
You quickly and quietly knocked on the wooden bench you were sitting on to prevent yourself from jinxing the serenity, quickly shifting your eyes to your right to make sure that no one saw you as your silly little superstitions usually make you a target for teasing…you know, besides being the only female on the team. You heard some shifting as if someone was standing up and leaving, and that’s when you knew that you should’ve known better than to try to prevent jinx when you lived with Scout.
“This is fuckin’ borin’,” Scout complained as he stretched himself, bat in hand, and headed out of the room.
“You may not have the patience for classical music, but you don’t have to insult it,” Spy retorted.
“Whateva, I’m outta here.”
You ceased playing, deciding that your empty stomach needed more attention than your musical hobby. The men said nothing as you headed off, the only sounds now being your boots hitting the solid flooring and the polishing of weapons. You gripped the handle of the fridge, dreading what you could possibly find. You let out a shrill squeal, causing the men in the neighboring room to stop what they were doing and turn in your general direction, as Archimedes flew straight out of the fridge and collided with your face, leaving a scratch and flying out the window.
“Fuck, Medic! Can’t you keep track of your birds?” You yelled, hands on your face protecting the newly formed scratch across your right cheek and over the bridge of your nose. Damn, that bird got you good.
“Entschuldigung, liebling,” the man called from the common area. “Are you okay?” You grabbed a bottled smoothie, examined it for bird feces, and shut the fridge.
“Yeah I’m fine, just a scratch,” you answered as you walked back to the room with the other men with your smoothie in hand. You paraded your scratch in Medic’s face. “Am I bleeding? It stings.”
Medic brought a large, gloved hand to your left cheek, lightly bringing your face closer so he could examine your wound. “Ja, a little,” he reported while slightly rubbing your cheek with his thumb.
“Can you help me clean it up, then?” Which was kind of a stupid question because 1, of course, he’s a doctor (at least he WAS, until he lost his medical license), and 2, he’s very trigger-happy when it comes to treating people. So much so that it was frightening to come to him with a serious wound. But honestly, you doubt he would go nuts with cleaning up a little blood from your face.
“Ja, follow me.”
You traveled behind him to the medbay on the other side of the RED base, finishing your smoothie on the way and passing a preoccupied Scout hitting homeruns with his bat and some small rocks on the ground. Medic opened the door (which was much too large for you to open by yourself) and you took your usual place on the cot in the middle of the office. Medic closed the door and headed to the sink, grabbing a clean rag out of a drawer and wetting it.
“I apologize about Archimedes. He really gets into the worst places sometimes,” Medic began with his thick accent. You were thankful for Medic being especially gentle with you because you knew all too well that he wouldn’t give a single crap if his dove scratched one of the men. But with you, there was this warmness that he showed. You thought that it was probably because you were a “fragile, helpless damsel in distress” like Scout made you out to be to get under your skin, but Medic didn’t baby you. He showed you the respect you believed was appropriate because let’s face it, even though you’re the most domestic of all the men (by nature), you really kicked ass on the battlefield and got intimidating when you needed to be. You wanted to make sure that the men knew that you earned your spot in their team and you busted your ass getting there and you are busting your ass to stay there.
“It’s fine,” you replied. “It was just so sudden, you know?”
Medic took the damp rag and applied it gently to the bridge of your nose, patting it down the scratch to your right cheek. His other hand was placed lightly on your left cheek, steadying your head as he applied pressure. You could detect the slight hint on cologne on him. “Good thing it wasn’t one of the other doves. Archimedes has the shortest talons.”
You giggled, causing a small smirk to appear on Medic’s face. “Yeah, that’d be unfortunate. I gotta stay pretty for you guys, don’t I?” you joked, trying to make it obvious that you weren’t being serious. You never had time with him alone to joke around, so you weren’t sure if he understood your humor or not.
“Nein, I think you’re a sight no matter what,” Medic replied.
“What does that mean?” you laughed, trying to keep this light, joking atmosphere.
“Nothing,” he answered, avoiding your question. He placed the rag in the sink and grabbed some weird clear mixture in a small bottle and a cotton ball. He unscrewed the cap of the bottle and placed the cotton ball in its place, quickly turning it upside-down and back again. “This might sting, but it’ll keep you from bleeding more.”
“Thanks,” you replied. As the cotton ball came in contact with the bridge of your nose, you flinched. “Shit,” you winced.
“I warned you.”
You inhaled and held your breath as Medic continued to dab your scratch with the soaked cotton ball. Oh god, it burned like hell. Medic took your reaction into consideration and cleaned you up as fast as he could. “Close your eyes, I’m going to blow it dry.”
You exhaled and obeyed, shortly feeling his strangely minty breath hit your face in a cold breeze, making your cut tingle, but it felt a lot better after it was all dried.
“All done?” You asked, still shutting your eyes.
“All done,” he answered. When you opened your eyes, you watched him as he removed himself from your personal space and picked up his bottle, screwing the cap and setting it back in the cabinet that he found it from. He threw the cotton ball away and turned on the sink, washing away the small blood stains in the rag. “If you have something to do, you can go ahead and leave,” he said, his back facing you. You picked up the hint that he wanted to be alone, so you prepared to leave.
“Thank you again. Sorry if I inconvenienced you,” you said as you jumped down from your spot on the cot.
“Danke.”
“What?”
“It’s ‘thank you’ in German. Danke.”
“Danke…” you repeated to yourself, making sure you said it correctly. You looked up at him and thanked him confidently. “Danke, Medic!” You turned on your heel and headed towards the door.
“Bitte, liebling.”
“What does that one mean?” you asked, stopping and facing him once again.
“It means you’re welcome.”
“Oh, that’s cool,” you said with a polite smile. You remembered hearing him call you “liebling” before but you were unsure of what it meant. You decided to let curiosity get the better of you and asked, “Hey, Doctor?”
You could notice a sharp, yet subtle, change in his position upon hearing your call. He stiffened, it seemed like. Were you bothering him?
“Um, do you mind if I asked another question?”
He smirked as he turned off the sink and dried his gloves with another dry rag, turning to face you. “Ja, mein liebling?”
“Um, well it has to do with that, actually,” you said, laughing uneasily. You could feel yourself tensing up. You were pretty intimated by his size, especially when he started walking towards you…like he was doing now. It was almost menacing in a way. “What does that word mean? The one you always call me? Is that like my name in German or something?”
“Liebling?” He laughed, shaking his head ‘no’. “Liebling is a special word.”
“Like…?”
Medic parted his mouth slightly, staring at a piece of your bangs that wasn’t tucked into your ponytail and instead hanging in front of your face. He concentrated on that piece instead of answering your question. Bending down, he took a gloved hand and took the small chunk of [h/c] that covered part of your face. He pulled out a bobby pin from your hair that was keeping the rest of your bangs that couldn’t fit into the ponytail together, and he let them fall and shape your face. He smiled, his lips together now, and pulled your bangs together again, being sure to include the estranged strands. He fastened them on the top of your head like they were before, and then stood up tall to admire his work below him. It was silent. All that could be heard was the breathing between you two.
“Doctor?” you asked again, not really registering what had just happened.
He tensed up again, his smile leaving and instead letting a stern expression take over his face. You seriously thought you were bothering him now.
“Um, sorry, I’ll go now,” you apologized, still confused as to why he refused to answer your questions. You turned to face the door and stopped, realizing you couldn’t actually open it yourself. You were so embarrassed. Here you are, wasting this man’s time and bothering him and now you have to ask him for help again. ‘Oh god kill me,’ you thought to yourself as you turned around, your face as red as your uniform. You looked up at him and gasped silently. He was absolutely stunning. Somehow, he managed to remove his coat and place it on the cot while you were on your way to the door. The way he looked down at you while removing his glasses and briefly cleaning them captivated you and you had no idea why. ‘God I’m a fucking idiot,’ you cursed in your head. You opened your mouth to ask him for help, but instead could only manage a weak, “…um…heavy…” instead.
He laughed at you and muttered “niedlich” while putting his glasses back on, walking over to the door, towering over you, and pushing it out of your way.
“Um, thank you Doctor…” you said quietly. His breathing got heavier and more audible. Holy shit you never noticed how hot he actually was. This was so incredibly weird to you. You quickly escaped out of the crack and made your way back to the common area, not noticing that Medic was watching your every move, studying every ruffle in your clothes and the way your arms swung when you walked. He readjusted his glasses when you were finally out of sight and returned to his office.