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"You've got a little drool there, love," Harry said, indicating the corner of his mouth, acting completely indifferent to anything else that was in your mouth.

pairing: harry styles x fem!singer!reader (social media au) faceclaim: sabrina carpenter summary: you and harry think you've been succesful at keeping your relationship a secret from your fans. clearly, they're smarter than you both expected. or maybe you're just not as subtle as you thought a/n: this was originally a normal one shot, but i hated how it turned out so i made this instead😀 let's all pretend the pics of joe keery are of harry, and also don't mind the bad editing. anyways, this was actually pretty fun to make, so let me know if you'd like more of these

taglist | masterlist

synopsis – working in the pitt is already chaotic, but do it on the valentine's day week is even worse, especially when a pink box covered in glitter suddenly appears in the nurses' station, inviting everyone to drop an anonymous note. you never expected to write one, not for your attending, jack abbot. what you expected even less was jack writing one too.

c/w – medical inaccuracies !!

fluff

dana and emma had gone completely insane decorating the er.

pink and red heart balloons floated from the ceiling, curling ribbons dangled low enough to brush people's heads when they walked by, paper hearts were taped onto computer monitors, chocolate bowls appeared at every nurses' station. emma had been sticking tiny sticker hearts onto everyobody's id and dana had decorated the wheelchairs with pink bows.

the whole er looked aggressively cheerful against the usual chaos of the place.

and there was also a box.

a pink glittered box sitting right in the middle of the nurses' station that looked at you with guilt every time you walked by it. it shouldn't have been possible for a inanimate object to look judgmental, but somehow dana had managed for it to do so. there was the name written across the front in giant letters:

PAGING DR. VALENTINE

you laughed the first time you read it, and santos looked at you like you had officially lost it. next to the box sat different stacks of heart shaped little papers of three colors. pink for doctors, red for surgeons and white for nurses. underneath the tittle, in smaller handwriting, were the instructions:

pick a color.

write your anonymous love message.

drop it in the box.

half the er pretended not to care yet everyone was always paying attention to anyone that came close enough to the box. people slowed down when they walked past it and lingered at the nurses' station longer than necessary to have an excuse to stay close while someone folded a heart shaped paper and dropped inside the box.

javadi had been its first victim, she was pacing around it like a lost deer when everyone saw her picking a white paper heart and the entire day everyone spent it talking about her and, apparently, mateo. after seeing javadi mortified the whole day, nobody approached the confession box without witnesses which was exactly why you hadn't touched it.

since you first noticed the box, your eyes caught on it, and every single time, dana caught you looking.

—you still haven't put one in, —she accused you behind a chart.

you let out a laugh, leaning against the counter, —not planning on doing it.

—smart girl. this is hr paperwork waiting to happen, —jack appeared behind you, dropping a new chart onto dana's desk without slowing down.

—excuse you, this is team bonding, —she scoffed to him.

but jack was already walking away, barely glancing back, —this is exactly how lawsuits start.

—you still need to participate, abbot! —dana called after him

—hard pass!

you watched him leave. fresh out of trauma one, navy scrubs, sleeves pushed up his forearms, moving through the er with all the confidence in the world. he gave a single nod to a nurse as she passed him, said something to a patient that made her laugh, then disappeared around the corner.

dana looked up from her chart and you realized that maybe you'd been staring at jack too much. she smiled, then slightly pushed the glittery box toward you, —you know it doesn't have to be a love confession, most of these people have written words of encouragement to fellow coworkers...

you hummed like you weren't listening.

—but... —dana continued, moving papers around like she wasn't actively trying to ruin your life, —if you happen to have something to say to someone... —she looked at you over the top of her glasses, —this might be a good opportunity.

you shook your head, trying to ignore the sudden warmth growing on your face, —you can be incredibly nosy, you know?

she hissed through her teeth and nodded, —been spending to much time with perlah and princess. now i notice tension everywhere.

—there's no tension.

dana looked at you dead in the eyes.

—on your way out? —jack asked.

he spotted robby leaning on the counter at the charge nurse's station and assumed he was signing paperwork before living for the night. the er had finally fell into the night shift's pace, the waiting room was almost empty, lena had taken over dana's place and you left not long after the shift change.

but when jack got closer to robby, he realized his friend was writing carefully on a little heart shaped paper next to the glitter box.

—seriously?

robby didn't even look up, —don't distract me now. this is actually turning out beautifully.

jack noticed the color of the paper heart. despite acting like he couldn't care less about the whole valentine's day, he unfortunately knew what all colors meant.

—why's it white?

—well, i appreciate nurses, and dana put a lot on effort on this, i don't want her to not receive any messages.

jack crossed his arms against his chest, —i also appreciate nurses.

robby laughed and jack frowned. he finally folded the heart made of paper and dropped it into the box. robby clapped on jack's shoulder.

—we all know you appreciate residents more. so grab a red one and write something nice, okay?

what if you did it? the thought appeared one afternoon as you helped jack. he had just arrived for his shift and was catching up on cases before the change to the night shift. you stood beside him, updating a chart while he spoke to a patient, asking how he was feeling. jack walked to the check the monitor, grey curls perfectly messy and stethoscope hanging loose around his neck.

your eyes moved to the nurses' station for a second.

it wouldn't even have to mean anything serious, he hated that damn box anyways, maybe he wouldn't even bother reading it. besides, no one would have to know it was you. you could pretend you could pretend you accidentally dropped the stack of red little heart shaped papers and grab one while you picked them up.

what if he did it? no. it was stupid. he was too old for this. he should just ask you out like the grown man he was instead of thinking about anonymous valentine notes like a teenager. and yet, he imagined himself writing something simple, something that would make you smile when you read it. you were focused on the chart in your hands, humming at the patient's words. your eyes looked a little darker, tiredness sitting under them after a long shift and a pen tucked behind your ear because you kept losing it every other hour.

jack's eyes moved from you to the nurses' station.

nobody would have to know he did it. he was sure that you'd receive more than one note and that was why he was so pissed off about that pink glittery box. he noticed how the patients your age looked at you, how new residents followed you around and how nurses and paramedics said something nice while handing over patients.

his note would disappear into a pile of other anonymous notes from people who noticed the exact same things he did. it irritated him more than it should have. he was too old to be jelous.

except, apparently not.

—this is all yours, —you handed jack the updated chart, — and i'm leaving, my shift ended like an hour ago. if you see robby, tell him to not stay any later.

he took the chart from your hands, fingers brushing yours, —you sure you don't wanna stay?

—you asking me to work overtime or hang out with you?

—which answer gets you to stay?

you laughed and jack seemed pretty satisfied with himself for causing it. you shook your head, —goodnight, abbot. have fun.

jack watched you disappear, heard your quiet goodbye to lena at the front desk, caught one last look of you pushing your hair back as you stepped outside. then you were gone and he almost tripped walking to the pink box, as if he hesitated a second long, he'd talk himself out of it.

he left the chart in his hands on top of the red paper hearts and grabbed a couple, even though jack only needed one. he moved to his desk with the chart and the heart shaped papers, quickly, before somebody saw him, or worse, before he came to his senses.

jack dropped onto the chair at his desk and shoved one of the red paper heart from under the chart.

—damn abbot, you took multiple. how many people do you plan to write, —robby slid with his chair from his desk to jack's, —or how many notes do you plan to write to her?

jack didn't look up, pen almost freezing on the paper, —i have terrible handwriting.

—that's the excuse we're using?

—it's the only one you're getting.

what the hell was he even supposed to write?

he could't do a full love confession, not on a tiny piece of paper without his name on it. jack didn't want to say something that could've come from literally anyone in the department. anyone could tell you you were pretty, anyone could say you were kind, and smart, and... jack groaned and dropped his head into one hand. the problem wasn't writing the note, it was that when he started to think about what he truly wanted to say to you, it stopped sounding anonymous.

you arrived the next morning. february 14th.

dana and emma planned to open the box and hand out the notes to their owners during the shift change at 7 pm, when everyone was there, and yet you still hadn't gathered the courage to write something for jack. all week you'd al most done it but every single time, fear won, but today you woke up differently, braver, maybe because after today the box would disappear and everything would go back to normal.

before you could overthink it, you walked straight to the nurses' station and sat at dana's desk. god knows where she was but she'd understand. she's been a pain in the ass about it all week anyway.

you were analyzing the er from the charge nurse's place, half hidden on the spot. everyone was distracted enough for nobody to notice when you slowly dragged the heart shaped red paper from the counter and slid it in front of you. it shouldn't take you long, you knew exactly what you wanted to write, it's not as if you hadn't been thinking about it the whole week.

—i've been replaced as the day shift charge nurse and nobody had told me, —dana said, leaning on the counter, coffee in hand, as you sat half hidden in her station.

you tried to cover the red heart you were writing in as if you'd been caught doing something illegal. dana laughed.

—you know? it's good you decided to finally do it, honey.

—i don't know, i still might throw it away.

—oh, you better not. he's a little grumpy but he's gonna love it.

you lowered your eyes back to the note. the words you wrote felt too vulnerable now that somebody beside you knew they existed.

—breathe. it's cute, —dana's expression softened as she showed you a smile, —and now finish it, give me back my seat and get back to work.

you laughed and mumbled a yes, boss. you read the words on the heart paper one more time, checking that they weren't too cheesy or too obvious they were from you, which felt impossible because every sentence sounded like you. if you could hear yourself in those words, maybe jack would too.

before you folded the paper, you added a tiny heart by his name.

—okay, everyone, just a minute of your precious time!

dana's voice cut through the noise of the er loud enough for half of the department to turn around to look. she stood holding the glitter covered box and emma stood beside her. you came out of a patient room just as everyone stated gathering around them because despite all the mocking, everyone wanted to know.

across the er, jack looked at the scene leaning against a wall, robby next to him, looking far too entertained by what was about to happen.

emma started sorting the little papers by their colors on dana's counter. pink into a plie, white into a another and red...

—oh, —emma said. the entire er watched, waiting to see what caught her attention. she stared down into the box for another second before reaching inside. then, she pulled out two folded red hearts , —there's only two red.

dana exclaimed something about people in the department being boring and then something about nobody being in love with doctors because they are so emotionally exhausting. you wanted to run, preferably straight into oncoming traffic. somehow it felt like every single person in the department had already figured it out. your face burned hot yet you crossed your arms to stop yourself from visibly panicking.

—one is definitely abbot's, —trinity mumbled beside you, —if not the two of them.

—huh?

—abbot. everyone is crazy about him.

you nodded because yeah, you weren't definitely one of them. trinity kept staring across the er toward jack where he leaned against the wall beside robby, looking unimpressed by the entire valentine situation. which, unfortunately, only made him more attractive somehow.

—what do you think? —trinity asked

you swallowed, —i mean... he's cute and always nice, and...

—about the notes, —she clarified, trying not to laugh, —who do you think they're for?

—oh, —you cleared your throat, moving your eyes away from jack across the er, —yeah, one could be for dr. abbot, and the other one...

emma called your name with a smile.

several heads turned immediately to look at you, including dana's who looked moments away from ascending spiritually. you, on the other hand, were moments away from cardiac arrest. your entire body went stiff, heart hammering so hard against your chest.

emma still held the heart shaped note between her fingers, smiling, waiting for you to go an get it.

trinity gave you a little shove forward and your feet obeyed her. you showed emma a small smile back and mumbled a soft thank you as you grabbed the paper from her hands.

—well done, —robby mumbled next to jack side, a little teasing.

jack didn't answer. he just wished he could see your face as you read the note. unfortunately, you went back to your place back to santos and now all he could see was your back, though he wasn't gonna complain. santos had tried to peek once and you'd elbowed her and put the note inside your pocket. jack was trying to keep his composure, he tried not to think about whether if your silence was good or bad.

—dr. abbot, —emma announced next. again, the biggest smile on her face. in her hand sat the last red heart.

he pressed his lips together to everyone looking at him. as he approached emma, dana and robby exchanged a look. dana tilted her head toward you and robby immediately nodded toward jack. and at that moment they both knew, you had written jack's and jack had written yours.

—okay! fun for the doctors is over! now get back to work! —dana said as emma keep calling nurse's and surgeon's names.

you grabbed the note from your pocket as you walked to see the next patient, checked that nobody was paying attention and then you unfolded it:

i don't do valentine's day, but i'd love to take you out for dinner,

it was simple, just a few words, but they made your heart did a little jump after reading it. you stared at the note for another second while walking down the hallway, rereading it and biting back a smile while you tried to regain some professionalism before seeing your next patient. at least this had helped you to ease the panic of being one of the two people that had written to a doctor, to jack nonetheless. you put the note inside your pocket again as you pressed the hand sanitizer dispenser.

—oh! —you said when you stepped into the room, —dr. abbot.

—hi, —he said, turning off the monitor.

—where's the patient?

—robby took her to the scanner

you nodded, —i wanted to check up on her before leaving.

—well, she should be here in... fifteen minutes, —he checked the watch on his wrist.

you hummed. there were a few seconds of silence as you watched him work. you'd seen him like this hundreds of times before but you could never get used to jack abbot doing the most ordinary things because somehow he remained so attractive.

—someone wrote you, —he pointed out.

you pressed your lips together and nodded. you couldn't deny your heart did a little something when jack mentioned it, —yeah, —you murmured, —apparently.

jack frowned a little, —you didn't expected it?

you let out a breath, —well, not really. but let's talk about you, someone also wrote you, it's surprising that only one person did though... —you laughed, —i thought you'd receive like at least twenty of them.

—i don't think it's surprising you received a valentine letter.

you blinked, jack continued rearranging the tray with everything he'd need to treat the patient once she arrive but he lifted his eyes to yours from what he was doing.

—everyone likes you, —he added.

—jack.

—what? it's true. patients ask about you when you're off shift, nurses fight over schedules with you, half of the department looks happier when you walk by.

you shook your head, trying to laugh it off despite the funny feeling in your stomach. did he really notice all of that? —you're being dramatic.

—you also draw little hearts everywhere. on langdon's coffee cup, on kids charts sometimes, on your own name on the schedule...

heat rushed to your face, making your earns burns. god, how could you have been so stupid?

—and on my valentine's note too.

you covered your face with your hands, groaning into your palms as the memory hit you again and it physically hurt you. sitting at dana's desk this same morning, looking around to make sure nobody was watching, carefully writing jack's name on the note and then adding the tiny heart beside it like an idiot. you had literally signed your own crime scene.

when you removed your hands from your face, still visibly embarrassed, you saw the look on his face. jack was watching you with a little sparkle on his eyes. got you, he thought.

—i'm sorry, jack. it was just... some stupid thing i did without thinking. i didn't mean it to come out weird or...

—it's okay, —he made a little gesture with his hand, brushing the apology like it didn't matter at all, —i wrote yours anyways.

you blinked, the words taking a second to register through the panic, —wait. you... what? —you reached inside the pocket of your scrubs and pulled out the note, —you wrote this?

—i do hate the box, i must say, —jack admitted, —and i am way too old to be dropping anonymous notes into valentine boxes like a teenager, but as much as i tried to ignore it, i couldn't stop thinking about you.

you wanted the room to open a hole in the floor and swallow you whole, just because you've been wanting to hear this for such a long time that now you didn't know what to do with the fact that jack abbot was standing just a few feet away from you admitting he thought about you often. your heartbeat was so out of control you swore he could heard it.

—sorry, i didn't mean to corner you with it, —jack said after not getting a response from you, —you don't have to say anything back.

—i'd love to go on a date with you.

jack frowned, a bit confused, and it made your stomach drop. oh no. you looked down at the note in your hands, —the dinner, —you clarified, —oh, i mean... if you didn't think about it like a date, i'd still...

jack didn't let you finish.

—i totally thought about it as a date.

you smiled, relieved, the tension leaving your body finally, —okay, —you laughed under your breath, —good.

—good, —jack repeated, —but now you should probably go home and sleep. i'd inform you tomorrow about your patient.

you nodded. he removed his gloves and tossed them into the trash. jack reached past you, his shoulder brushing yours as he grabbed the handle of the door and opened it, the chaos of the er on the other side of it but neither of you moved. you stood there, trapped in the space between him and the door frame.

with jack standing closer than ever, you could feel the heat radiating from his body, the sexy wrinkles under his eyes, the scruff at his beard matching his salt and pepper hair... your eyes dropped, moving to his lips for just a second. a small smile appeared on them and jack looked outside the room to check if anyone was looking at both of you. after making sure that everyone was busy, he gave you a nod.

you bit your lip and also gave a quick look outside before leaning in and pressing your mouth against his. one of your hands landed against his hard chest for support and his instantly left the door handle and wrapped around your waist, even if the kiss only lasted a couple of seconds.

when you pulled away, you smoothed down your scrub and finally stepped back into the hallway. jack followed you out of the patient room, one hand rubbing his jaw as if he was also trying to collect himself too. he watched you very closely as he walked to the nurses' station. jack actually couldn't stop looking at you as you stopped santos on her way out and told her to wait for you.

jack leaned against the counter, eyes still locked on yours as you disappeared down the hallway to the lockers. dana looked at him over the top of her glasses.

—hr is gonna love this, —she joked.