more desperately than romantically

PATRICK BALL as FRANK LANGDON

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She’s outside by herself behind the hospital when he finds her at their spot. There’s a picnic bench out back they’d laid claim to during one of the many times they snuck away together. Something, they found, was very easy to do.

He walks up and kisses the top of her head, smiling when she jumps. Sitting down next to her, he sets the mini champagne bottles he’d snuck out from his locker onto the table.

“It sucks we had to work today, but I figured we could still celebrate,” he says, trailing his fingers up her leg.

Mel smiles at him but makes a face at the drinks.

“You know I can’t,” she says, confused, and he can’t help but feel heat course through him when she touches her stomach.

“It’s non-alcoholic, and there’s just enough for a toast,” he reasons.

“What if someone sees?”

“I thought you’d like that,” he teases, and watches her flush at the memories—Frank whispering in her ear, asking what people would think if they saw them like that, tangled up together. She always squeezed him so tightly when he did.

She takes one of the bottles and twists it open.

“I would, Frank, I really would,” she replies honestly, leveling him with a look that breaks his heart in two. He knows how much it bothers her that while he was away, she hadn’t made any friends, and since he came back it was just more of the same. Their coworkers may gossip about how close they are, how strange it is he’s been back almost a year and that ring’s still on his finger but clearly, Mel’s the one in his heart. But that’s it, really. Nobody really cares. Not the way Mel wants them to. He knows she wishes she mattered to them enough for it to be huge, a scandal that followed them forever, everyone shocked, but … they both seem to have faded to the background in everyone’s minds now, not people to be remarked upon anymore. He also knows, despite the guilt, that he likes it that way, hoping that she’s all his forever. If they were the only two people in the world, Frank thinks that would be just fine.

He scoots closer and puts a hand on her belly, rubbing gently. He can’t wait to feel her start to kick.

“Well, they’ll see soon,” he promises, twirling his ring. It barely fits—he lost a lot of weight in rehab (not that it fit right before, anyway) and despite Abby’s negging, won’t get it resized. It’s only temporary.

Mel nods and he wishes he could just scoop her up and hide her away, make her smile every single day and not let anyone else ruin that.

He lifts his bottle up and touches it to hers with a soft clink.

PATRICK BALL as FRANK LANGDON

day two: champagne, 443 words @kingdonmicrofic

He ditches the party when the champagne is popped, going to the bar and sitting alone while everyone drinks to Princess’ engagement.

It only takes a few minutes for Mel to find him and slide onto the stool next to him, smiling, cheeks red.

He tries to smile, but she knows him, knows him better than anyone these days, and she asks, “Are you OK?”

“Just feeling sorry for myself.”

That doesn’t really answer her question, and he knows it doesn’t put her at ease with the way her eyebrows furrow, so Frank explains that everyone’s doing something, moving forward with their lives, and he’s stuck.

“Princess is engaged, Dana just celebrated her 30th wedding anniversary,” he says. “Hell, even Abbot is dating someone, and I can’t tell —”

He cuts himself off, almost inadvertently telling her that he can’t tell her how much he wants her.

It makes his cheeks heat, and he clears his throat, pivoting to how he probably won’t get a job at PTMC, especially if Robby is still chief of the department, and other hospitals will question his repeated fourth year of residency.

“And here I am drinking a ginger ale at a bar like I’m trying to get a good grade in recovery or something when nobody here cares,” he says with a shake of his head.

“I care.”

He can’t look at her when she talks like that, not deserving of her sincerity, so he looks down at his hand gripping the glass, condensation dripping onto his fingers.

Frank lets out a breath, swirling his glass on the bar top, ice clinking, and says, “Sorry for being such a buzzkill. You should go back there, have a glass of champagne and have fun.”

“I’m right where I want to be.”

The bar is noisy around them, but they’re quiet, and it’s helping, just being next to her.

“You’re still sad,” she says, reaching up to brush her thumb over where his lips are downturned in a frown. ”Do you want me to kiss it better?”

His gaze snaps to her, heart beating out of his chest, and she just turns to the bartender, orders a Canada Dry, and sips it, watching him.

“Yes,” he says without thinking.

And she sets her drink down on the bar, leaning in and brushing her lips against his in a gentle kiss.

He loses his breath, and when she leans back, he almost chases her mouth, desperate for more.

“How was that treatment, Dr. Langdon?”

It’s intoxicating having her like this, and he hums, gaze dropping to her lips.

@kingdonmicrofic • Day 2: Champagne • 158/158 • Rated: E

CW: Alternate universe - father's best friend, age difference, implied underage drinking, dubious consent

this goes out to @morgadec who dropped this verse in my dms last summer :)

•••

"Oh, I'm not old enough for this..." Mel scanned the bottle he handed her.

"Then I'll look away." Frank turned forward on the stair step below Mel. "Nobody's around."

(Earlier, on the floor of a half-hidden hallway, Frank told her the same thing.

"Mel, you're not old enough for this—"

"Then look away, please." Mel's nervously held his shaft in her hand like she held the bottle now, inexperience embedded into her forehead creases. She made a gentle fist around his cock. "Nobody's here."

"I told your father I'd look after you tonight. Sweetheart, he's my friend, and you..."

This was beyond the scope of his best man duties. Way out of bounds.

Mel insisted. "You always know how to make me feel better. Do that again, Uncle Frank."

Fuck it.)

childhood friends to lovers, infidelity, love rosie inspired @kingdonmicrofic

dedicating this one to my lovely friend @kingdonspirits hbd!! ☺️

Mel snags another glass off of one of the caterers walking by. She shifts uncomfortably in her dress. It’s gold and silky against her skin, but it’s strapless and she feels exposed and indecent.

She doesn’t dare look behind her, because she knows if she does she’ll see Abby, beautiful and funny Abby, clutching onto Frank like he’s a life saver and laughing, looking at him with her big brown eyes. And it’ll hurt because Mel knows that’s how she used to look at Frank, before Abby, Liam, before any of all this mess. She can’t look back because Frank will be looking at her, instead of the woman who now wears his ring. It’s a big diamond that cost a fortune, not like the one that belonged to his mother. (She had refused to give it to him when he told her about their engagement.)

One of Abby’s bridesmaid’s, dressed in a bright orange dress, clinks her own glass and announces it’s time for the speeches. Abby’s brother goes up first and Mel downs the rest of her champagne and gets her note card ready. Mel had been worried about what to speak about when Frank asked her to be his “Best Man.” They’ve shared thirty something years together, how do you put that down onto a small piece of paper?

Abby’s brother is wrapping up his speech and that’s Mel’s que to start making her way up to the front of the room. She gives the guy a brief smile and takes the microphone from him.

For most of her speech, she avoids looking at Frank. Instead at the faces of everyone in the room as she regails tales of childhood freedom and teenage rebellion, pausing to let everyone laugh at the right times. She glances down at her notes and finally looks at her best friend. The one person who knows her better than anyone else and tucks the paper in her pocket.

“I just… I want you to know that no matter where you are, or what you’re doing, or who you’re with…” Her breath catches in her throat and she feels her eyes burning and Frank is just looking at her, open and raw. “I will always, honestly, truly, completely, love you.”

Abby grimaces and Frank’s eyes are just shiny, like they’re both kids again.

“...Like a sister loves a brother.” She finishes lamely and walks back to her seat quickly, refusing to meet the pitying eyes of her sister, or Frank’s mom, or fucking Abby.

Her phone buzzes on the table.

Frank So. you gonna tell me your room number?

@kingdonmicrofic | july 2 | prompt: champagne | 499 words

Before

“We need to celebrate!” Samira Mohan shouted to be heard over the music. “We need champagne!”

Samira elbowed her way to the bar without waiting for Mel to respond. It seemed silly to get champagne at a dive bar in downtown Pittsburgh, but Mel wasn’t going to say no to a free drink. She was starting her residency in emergency medicine at PTMC, one of the best trauma centers in the country. She deserved a chance to celebrate, especially after her years of hard work and studying. It was finally paying off.

“I’m so glad we’re going to be working together,” Samira said as she handed Mel a flute of champagne. “It’ll be just like undergrad!”

for @kingdonmicrofic & @kingdonspirits (HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!) wc: 158 | rating: e | cw: ddlg, infidelity, sleezy frank, dirty talk, references to blindfolding & bondage

“Oh, it’s cold.” Blindfolded with hands tied to the bedpost, Mel squirms as the champagne spills across her skin. “And messy.”

Licking between her breasts, Frank savors the bitter taste. “Good.” He’ll buy Abby new sheets later. “Open up for me, baby.”

@kingdonmicrofic day 02 -> champagne (300/158) non-explicit sex, established relationship

...

Is it considered impolite to slip away from your own rehearsal dinner? Just for a moment.. or a handful of moments. An hour, tops. It’s not like anyone will really care, right?

While Frank tries to desperately justify their absence, he realizes nearly all of the blood in his body is racing, rushing south as Mel’s nails scrape along his left hipbone. The windows fog with their panted, champagne-sweet breaths, tangling up in the backseat of his Camry like a couple of rowdy teenagers.

Her dress rucks up just enough to get things moving along, before it’s too late and someone comes looking for them. Sticky, saccharine mouths move in a messy rhythm, something electric and new overlapping familiarity.

These promises, right here in the dark alley on a frizzy August evening, are solely theirs. Not all that different from the ones spoken previously in front of their loved ones in the banquet hall, but the whines and stench of warm skin aren’t exactly appropriate for such company, so.

She trembles one final time, one long, shuddering exhale, her tongue tied around the words that Frank steals right from her mouth, I love you.

He follows suit with far less grace, mustering up enough strength to skate his fingertips along the clouded window, hoping the heart he scribbles isn’t too lopsided. F+M he plunks right in the center; evidence of their little secret rendezvous. 

Mel still smells like champagne when they slip back inside but there’s something different, too, mainly in the way her mouth curls as they catch one another’s gaze from across the room. It’s almost predatory.

Trinity, unfortunately, is the one to make him aware of the cherry-colored lipstick stains marking his collar and throat after their final celebratory bottle-popping toast for the happy couple.

champagne, rated t, 500 words

tags: unplanned pregnancy, discussion of abortion, frank langdon is down bad for melissa king

melpreg summer x @kingdonmicrofic crossover

“We have so many kids!” She cried, burying her face in his chest, “This is an irresponsible amount of kids! An embarrassing amount! People will think we’re in some kind of— um, religious cult!”

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