Chapter Text
It all started with his PT coding on the operating table. He had barked orders at the other OR surgeons and nurses who had all been frozen in shock. Of course, Garcia was never around when she was needed. Somehow, she was always spending her time downstairs in the ER. When Park had confronted her about it, she had given him a wishy washy answer and said the ER could use someone like her checking in on them every once in a while. Park knew it was most likely because she had been entranced by none other than one of the new doctors who must’ve thrown her a flirty wink or two, and suddenly they were in bed together.
Park huffed out one long breath, and three nurses near him flinched.
“Patient not stable enough to continue surgery. Let me know when they stabilize.”
Park yanked off his surgical gown and disposed of it none too gently into the nearby hazard waste bin before breezing out of the operating room, door slamming shut behind him.
His next patient was an unfortunate result of a motorcyclist meeting the back end of a car. The PT had flown through the car and ended up on the hood with various cracks and scratches. One of which was their hand entirely detached from their body. The ER had cleared the individual for replantation without calling Park down and had sent the PT up to the OR.
“What are we looking at?” Park said as he entered the room
The room noticeably chilled a few degrees with his entrance, and several new med students on their OR rotation shuffled around uncomfortably. None of them wanted to be near the imposing man who could wield a scalpel with enough finesse to cut through bone.
“Uhm, patient came from the ER with a severed arm. ER cleared for reimplantation,” said a very pale and shaking med student
Park sighed and glared at the student, “I know. What’s the status of the arm?”
“W-well it’s on ice. Separated from everything else. X-ray says clean break, so it should be good.”
“Right.”
Park went over to where the arm was bagged and took a look at it. Taking it out of the bag brought a wave of the familiar scent of copper and something else. A sickly sweet scent that set Park’s teeth on edge.
Park set the arm back in the bag and went over to the PT to analyze the remainder of their arm. He bent over slightly and sniffed the bloodied nub that was left and stood up swiftly.
“Prolonged ischemia time. Call Garcia or Welsh and have them fix the arm to the best of their ability. Reimplantation is impossible.”
Park sneered at the shocked faces of the med students and nurses in the room before turning to go, “Oh, and someone get rid of that arm before the whole OR stinks of rotting flesh.”
Once again the doors to the operating room slammed shut and Park wrestled the surgical gown off his body and into a bin nearby which almost fell over due to the force he used jamming his scrubs into them.
One thing was certain: Park really needed a smoke break, and he certainly wasn’t dealing with an ambulance showing up in the middle of his smoke break. So the roof it was.
Park didn’t bother with the elevator. Most of the time, it was too busy, the floors were sticky, and several more ambitious residents would always ask him about joining him in the OR on their rotations. To which he would less than politely remind them why his nickname was Shark.
Park fondly recalled an instance in which he had called a particularly cocky med student’s signature cologne rotten kelp scented. Which had caused that particular student to burn a bright tomato red and hide themselves in the corner of the elevator for the duration of the uncomfortably quiet ride down to the hospital’s first floor.
In his musings, Park had arrived at the roof access for the PTMC. He pushed the door open and breathed in the fresh scent of air. At some point, the hours had passed, and it was almost time for his shift to end. The night air was cool and crisp against the back of Park’s throat, perfect for a cigarette.
A man of habit, Park took long strides across the roof before making a sharp left and going to a secluded corner of the roof. He was behind the industrial-sized generators for the hospital, yet he could still stand at the edge of the roof, looking down at the rest of the city.
Park had just lit up a cigarette and taken a puff when the door to the roof swung open with a bang, and Park’s solitude quickly disappeared. Almost dropping his cigarette in shock, Park peered around the corner of the generator and saw a familiar face standing at the edge of the roof, past the guard rail that honestly did nothing to stop anyone from jumping.
Park kept the cigarette between his lips, chewing on it slightly as the end of it burned a scorching red in the dark. He ended up throwing all his thoughts away before he took a step out from around the generator.
“Robinavitch,” Park muttered and said attending damn near stepped off the edge in shock
“Fucking CHRIST!”
Behind Robby was none other than the looming figure of Brendon Park. Who currently had a cigarette dangling from his mouth and a scowl painted on his face.
“Dr. Park.” Robby nodded, acknowledging the man
“Solve your problems with a cigarette. I don’t want to see you in my OR.”
Park stuck out a, quite frankly, absurdly muscular arm and offered the ER attending one of his cigarettes. It just so happened that the OR surgeon was standing just out of Robby’s reach. If Robby wished to grab a cigarette, he would have to cross back over the guard rail and away from the edge.
For a minute, neither Robby nor Park moved. Park just stared at Robby, arm outstretched with the pack of cigarettes a hair's breath away. As if adding insult to injury, the OR surgeon shook the pack of cigarettes lightly. Brown eyes met predatory like gray ones. Finally Robby sighed, pinched the bridge of his nose and swung his leg back over the guard rail, grabbing a cigarette and holding it between his lips while he swung his stethoscope back around his neck, shivering at the cold it had absorbed from its time hanging on the guard rail.
If Park was relieved he certainly didn’t show it. The man’s face didn’t even change a millimeter. He just snapped the pack of cigs closed, shoved them in a pocket, and put out his own cigarette by squashing it into the floor with one foot.
“See you around, Michael.”
Park smirked when Robby opened his mouth to complain about the use of his first name. The OR surgeon turned on his heel and threw up a hand, never looking back. Leaving Robby behind with the night air of Pittsburgh and the sound of the city around him.
Like a shark moving through water, Park weaved through the hospital staff as he made his way down to The Pitt. His smoke break interrupted, he decided to bite the bullet and find a better spot to puff on his cancer stick. Just as he arrived at the ER floor and was about to take a hard left at Central to the ambulance bay, a gurney came flying out of nowhere, a patient clearly bleeding from everywhere and crying out in pain, almost taking him out.
Park quickly sidestepped. Years of work in the hospital had ingrained within his muscle memory the ability to dodge flying objects, spraying liquids, and the like.
The disgruntled surgeon finally made it to the ambulance bay and turned the corner to smoke near the bushes, away from the doors to the hospita,l when he dully realized his spot was occupied.
“Well, if it isn’t my favorite land shark,” the woman greeted him with a smile, blowing a ring of smoke out of her mouth
“Dana.” Park nodded at the woman, sidling up to her and pulling out a cigarette of his own
“How is it up there in the OR? Ya busy like the rest of us?”
Park shrugged, “All in a day’s work.”
He leaned down to Dana’s height and touched the end of his cigarette to hers. With a small spark, his cigarette lit up, and he went back to scanning the dark environment of the hospital’s parking lot.
“It’s dangerous to be out here this late.” Park nodded towards the inky blackness surrounding them and glared sharply at the flickering bulb struggling to light the ambulance bay. Almost miraculously, the bulb stopped flickering as if frightened by Park’s piercing gaze
Dana chuckled, “Didn’t know you cared about such things. You’re getting soft now.”
“Fuck no. I heard about what happened with that asshole who assaulted you. I would’ve liked to tear him into two.” Park glowered, and Dana laughed this time, a full-bellied laugh
She patted his muscular arm before looking up at him.
“If anyone knew Dr. Shark was a big ol’ softy, your reputation might take a hit.”
Park scowled and took a long and slow drag of his cigarette, “Think what you’d like. You’re my favorite charge nurse and if the hospital lost you, efficiency would go down.”
Dana put her cigarette out and flicked it into the bushes before bumping Park lightly with her hip, “I’ve known you long enough to read between the lines when you speak. You truly care about this place and the staff that works here. Besides, I’ve known you since you came to do residency at this hospital. Quite the sight, tall, muscular, piercing eyes. You practically had my entire staff swooning.”
“The cold must be getting to you. Why don’t you go inside.” Park gruffed, trying to push Dana towards the entrance
“They don’t nee-”
Before Dana could finish her sentence, a young nurse with her hair tied into two French braids rounded the corner and almost smacked right into Dana. If not for Park pulling Dana back by her gray scrubs, a nasty collision might’ve occurred.
“Dana- oh my god, I’m so sorry!” The nurse bowed her head repeatedly, the smell of hot chocolate and something floral wafted towards Park
“They really need you at Central. Dr. Robby is getting really frustrated that beds aren’t being cleared.”
Dana looked at Park, clearly exasperated, “I’ll catch you later.”
Park nodded, and Dana took off with the speed of someone much younger. However, this left him with the short, brown-haired girl who smelled of flowers and chocolate. Which, Park thought, wasn’t a bad smell.
“Oh, hello Dr….?”
“Shark- I mean Park.”
Park punched himself internally. The long day at work had his head moderately fuzzy, and he went and introduced himself to this newbie nurse with his nickname.
“Oh! Well, Dr. Park it’s nice to meet you! My name is Emma! I just started as a nurse here and Dana is training me and she’s so cool I really want to be like her and I’m rambling. I'm so sorry!”
Park looked down at Emma, amused. She had the spark of someone who hadn’t experienced the exhausting life of hospital work.
“Good luck. Dana is the best mentor.” Park responded, and Emma’s face lit up, brown eyes practically glowing with happiness
“I’m super glad I’m shadowing her! She can be scary at times, though…”
“Comes with the job.”
Emma smiled shyly and stuck her hand out, “Well it was nice to meet you! You probably have a lot of stuff to do so I won’t keep you occupied!”
Park gingerly took Emma’s hand into his and shook it gently.
“Okay, well, I’ll see you around. Bye bye!” Emma smiled, sticking a gray and sparkly shark sticker to the back of Park’s hand before freezing for a second and yanking her hand back and running off, back into the ER.
Park looked down at the sparkly shark on his hand and chuckled, peeling it off. Just as he was about to throw it in the trash, he paused. He throws the butt end of his cigarette away.
One cigarette lighter and a shark sticker on the backside of his hospital badge, the shark returns to the chaos of the hospital.
Emma Nolan, on the other hand, was following Dana around while fanning her extremely red face as discreetly as possible.
“What’s got you worked up? Do you need to sit down?” Dana peered at Emma with concern written on her face
“Oh, it’s nothing, just a little warm in here since I was outside.” Emma squeaked out, ducking behind Dana just as Dr. Park re-entered the building and turned the corner
“Huh,” Dana said, as a sparkle off the back of her smoking partner’s badge flashed in the white light of the hospital when he turned the corner
Dana looked behind her at Emma’s hospital badge, which was covered in sparkly aquatic stickers, and at her orca badge reel, which was clipping her IDs to her scrubs.