#***mine

summary:

Shane isn’t crazy, no matter what anyone says. Ilya loves his mental illness a little too much. When they collide at Sana Wellness Center, a new-age mental health facility for young adults, they believe they’ve finally found a reason to live. But escaping your own mind can't last forever. Then again, love, and life, is never that easy.

for @kingdonmicrofic challenge ♥️

tags: mel king/frank langdon; general; emotional infidelity

word count: 236

In winter, when the air’s crisp and shows Mel’s breath while she waits for the bus, she realizes she’s falling in love with Frank Langdon.

It’s possibly one of the worst things that’s ever happened to her. It’s not quite right, but it feels that way. There are much more painful and hard things she’s gone through. But all of those she could face. She could stomach. This, what she feels for Frank, goes beyond that. 

She isn’t the type to destroy lives, let alone a family. At least, she believed she wasn’t. Now…She doesn’t know who she is.

Frank finds her after shift, hiding in the ambulance bay. 

“Hey,” he says, soft and tentative. 

It nearly comes out as a question—like he doesn’t know if he wants to say it. Maybe, more accurately, he isn’t sure she wants to hear it. He might not be wrong. 

“I didn’t see you today,” he adds. “I tried to find you.”

“I…” she starts. “I couldn’t.”

She looks over at him, and he frowns. “Why not?”

Tears well up in her eyes. 

“Mel—”

“Don’t,” she interrupts. “Just don’t say anything.”

It’s not enough to save either one of them. Nothing will be. She can’t stop what she feels, but she can stop herself from doing anything about it. 

He walks over to her, standing close enough to touch. 

“I can’t,” she chokes out.

for @kingdonmicrofic challenge ♥️

tags: mel king/frank langdon; teen; familial deaths; canonical character death; minor character death (becca); angst; grief

word count: 268

Family is a mystery to Mel. 

She used to have a clear understanding of it. Irrefutable facts. She had a father who loved bowling, rock music and the bottom of a bottle, but not as much as he loved her. She had a mother who knew how to sew, played the piano every single Christmas and didn’t fight her cancer beautifully or valiantly, but she did fight. She had a twin sister who could never get enough of Elf, teasing Mel or tropical fish. She had a family.

Even if these days it feels like she didn’t. 

When Frank kisses her for the first time, nine and a half months after his divorce, she isn’t sure what will come of it. He’s still a mess, and she’s an even bigger one after losing Becca the day he returned to PTMC. But when his mouth touches hers, she doesn’t feel shattered. She doesn’t feel whole, either. That’s impossible after everyone she’s buried. She does feel.

It’s more than she has since Becca died at the place where she still works. It’s a good job, people don’t resent her and, most of all, Frank is there. 

He might love her. 

They kiss and touch for three months before he asks her if she wants to meet Tanner and Em. If she wasn’t falling for him, she’d say no. He would understand, too. He always does when it comes to her, something he’s told her is a first for him. A terrifying one.

for @kingdonmicrofic challenge ♥️

tags: mel king/frank langdon; teen; grief/mourning; death of a parent; addiction/substance abuse

word count: 232

Mel’s dad died when she was thirteen. From him, she inherited her bad eyesight, love of 90s music of all genres, three very impressively rare records, and five flannels. All of which she treasures almost above all other things. 

Her mom once nearly ruined one of the flannels, which caused one of their worst fights they ever had. She loved her, still loves her with every breath she takes, although she’s been gone for eight years. But Mom never understood Mel’s love for her dad. They had their own special relationship, one that no one else, not even Becca, could touch. 

The first time she sees Frank Langdon after he’s been gone for almost a year, she nearly doubles over. He reminds her of her father. Not in his appearance (they couldn’t look more different) but in how he carries himself. Burdened. Heavy. Sad. Like her dad did after his first time in rehab. Then the second. And the third. 

Frank collapses into her in the break room halfway through their shift. She did the same thing with Dad. He was always falling, but she was there to catch him. 

She holds Frank, and he lets her. 

“I do,” he says, sounding like he wishes that he didn’t, “need you, I mean.” He swallows. “I don’t know if that’s a good thing yet.”

for @kingdonmicrofic challenge ♥️

tags: mel king/frank langdon; teen; implied emotional infidelity

word count: 168

Frank never says he loves Mel. 

He never kisses her, breathless, in his car outside her apartment. He doesn’t have her in his arms and feel her claim him with her lips and tongue. Her taste, cinnamon and a hint of spice from her chai latte, doesn’t fill his mouth enough to make him know he’ll beg for her to kiss him again. And again. Until he doesn’t remember why they shouldn’t. 

Mel never tells Frank she loves him, too. 

She doesn’t hold his body flush against hers in her bed, her couch, even her shower. They don’t waste stolen moments together, tracing hands over backs, thighs and chests. Right over their hearts. She doesn’t make him laugh at even the most obscure of her movie references, nor does he make her feel impossibly light, even after the worst shifts. He never holds her in an irreversible way, one that saves and dooms them at once.

for @kingdonmicrofic challenge ♥️

tags: mel king/frank langdon; general; yearning; dogs

word count: 315

Frank’s divorce is finalized in October, and the only company he has except for his kids every other weekend is his dog. 

His needy and badly behaved dog, Pluto. Terror and first of her name. 

He honestly would be fucked if Mel hadn’t offered to help him. Apparently, she’s something like a dog-whisperer. Which he should’ve predicted. 

That doesn’t mean they always manage to agree when it comes to Pluto’s training. 

Frank starts, “But all the books say—”

“Ignore the books,” Mel cuts him off. “They’re clearly not working for you.” She bends down to pet an ever-excited Pluto. “Or her.” She looks up at him as she scratches Pluto behind the ears. “Honestly, I’ve seen far worse. Plus, it helps that we know attention and food are both good incentives. She just needs some redirection.”

He snorts. “Yeah. Guess she takes after her father.”

Mel laughs as she stands back up. “You wish you were as cute as her.”

“Well, that’s a given,” he replies.

She shakes her head and takes out a treat to give it to Pluto.

They’ve been hanging out almost every day since his divorce. He can’t remember the last time they went more than two days in a row without seeing each other. In their time together, she’s learned his sense of humor, and he’s done his best to be someone she can rely on. 

It isn’t perfect, though. 

Their relationship confuses him. Not because he doesn’t trust her or think she’s genuine about helping him. It’s just that sometimes he swears they’re flirting, but then he realizes how much of an idiot he’d have to be to believe that. Mel would never. He isn’t the kind of puzzle she wants or should have to figure out. He’s the kind that would ruin her life. 

for @kingdonmicrofic challenge ♥️

tags: mel king/frank langdon; general; implied emotional infidelity; mentions of ptsd; mentions of parental death

word count: 134

Frank notices a lot about Mel. He doesn’t mean to, it just happens. 

Her favorite color is purple. Both her least favorite and most-watched movie is Elf (because of Becca). She hates olives but loves pickles. She decided to work at the Vet because her favorite aunt was Navy and struggled with PTSD for the rest of her life after she got discharged. Her dad died when she was seven, her mom when she was twenty. And she is just about the most hopeful, impressive person he’s ever met. 

She also has a thing for him in his old maroon college t-shirt.