Chapter Text
“Oh, I’ve got that one.”
Isuka blinks, processes, and perks up from where she’s leaned over the counter. Ace is further down, and he’s stopped signing some forms to return her gaze. On her other side, Sandersonia is careful to hide her grin behind a closed fist.
Before she can stop it, her next words fall out with an undercurrent of disbelief and skepticism. “You have a case study on neurological disorders?”
“Yeah.” Ace rubs at his nose with the hand holding his pen. From behind the counter, Mansherry looks on, disgruntled, as he resumes filling out paperwork. “Knowing one of the authors has its benefits. You wanna read it? I’ll loan it to ya.”
“I- uh.” Crap. That had been really rude of her. She had just sort of assumed. And she was still halfway through her surgical rotation, too. What would happen if she was on bad terms with a physician she saw three days out of the–
“That would be great!” Sandersonia perks up, drawing attention toward herself and away from Isuka. “Is what she meant to say.” And then handing it right back. Way to go. What a great friend.
The wink she shoots Isuka’s way after declaring this makes her fume. Internally. On the outside she settles her nerves and casually nods Ace’s way. “If you wouldn’t mind.”
“Nah.” He clicks the pen shut and casually throws it back into his coat’s breast pocket. Mansherry reaches to grab the clipboard from the counter and inputs something into her computer with her other hand. “That one’s at my house, so you can swing by later tonight, if you want. I’ll text you the address.”
“Sure,” she says, before she can say anything else and embarrass herself further. “Thank you.”
“‘s not a problem,” Ace assures her, rounding the counter with one hand in his pocket. He waves to Mansherry before shoving that hand in his other pocket and exiting completely. Isuka doesn’t notice how her eyes follow until Sandersonia has a fist in her gut and she jumps in surprise.
“Soni!” she gasps, out of breath and aghast all at once. Her arms circle her middle protectively, but Sonia has already backed up, hands raised in surrender even as her face full of laughter suggests anything but halting her teasing. Further down, Mansherry stares at them in disapproval. Isuka angles her face away so her blush isn’t noticeable.
“You gotta be more casual, girl,” Sonia tells her. “Especially with Ace, of all people. He’s the king of casual.”
Isuka largely ignores this, slapping her cheeks. “Wait! He said he would text me. But he never asked for my number. Should I–”
“He’s your supervising physician,” Mansherry grumbles, moving closer from the other side of the counter. “Why wouldn’t he have it? You have his, right?”
“Uh, yeah, I think.” She frowns. “From the start of term.”
“Then you’re fine.” She passes over a clipboard. It’s a different color from the one Ace had been using. “Sign these. Quickly. They’re from that second operation in room four. I need to fax them to Conis soon.” Or she’ll come get them herself, and have my head, Isuka pretends to not hear her mutter.
“Got it, got it,” she mumbles, harried, scribbling a pen down the pages.
-
Isuka hadn’t known what to expect, but it hadn’t been a house this nice.
It takes her a while to even leave her car. The walk up the driveway feels endless. Damn doctors. Doctors with endless supplies of money.
“Wait, stop that,” she says aloud. By this point she’s reached the door. She goes ahead and knocks before she can back out of it.
There’s no answer.
Well, it is a big house. Right then she spies the doorbell. Oh, duh!
After ringing that, it takes less time to get a response. The sun is already down this late into the year, so preceding the door opening is the porch light flickering on, momentarily blinding her. She raises her hand toward her squinting eyes on reflex, and lowers it after the lights from inside the house counterbalance the harsher ones outside.
Standing in the doorway is not Ace, like she had been expecting. Isuka blinks, caught off-guard, and stands still.
Her former supervising physician looks, if anything, just as surprised to see her too. One hand is still gripping the door. The other is perched casually on the frame, though his expression doesn’t reflect this. His hair is wet. She’s not used to seeing it hanging down so low.
Wait.
“Um, hi!” She raises both hands to wave awkwardly. “Uh I was. Looking for Dr. Portgas’ house? But I guess I got the wrong one so–”
“Ace is here,” Sabo interrupts. He bends his torso back, stretching his neck past the open door. “Ace!”
There’s a shift in tone as he calls for Ace. It’s hard not to notice. She almost misses the muffled reply from further in the house.
“Who is it?”
“Isuka is here!”
“Wha-? Oh! The papers!”
Sabo smiles in an amused, resigned way, then focuses his attention back on her. “He’ll be right here,” he informs her, using that same tone she’d gotten used to hearing when he spoke to patients. The shift would be a little jarring if it didn’t still have a fond undercurrent to soften it a little.
“Thank you,” she mutters, still trying to process.
“Yeah.” He crosses one leg over the other and releases the doorframe. He’s smiling, but instead of appearing friendly, he looks more miffed than anything.
It’s hard to hold his gaze like this.
“If I had known you were coming I would have turned the light– on– MERR!” he shouts, turning his head back inside the house. A bright blob that nearly blended in with the flooring shoots off, and Sabo takes off after it, leaving her very alone with the door very widely ajar.
She would be concerned for the animal’s wellbeing –or Sabo’s, hell– if it weren’t for the fact that the shout was less angry-surprised and something more along the lines of elated-surprised.
Having owned a cat herself growing up, Isuka understood. Didn’t make her feel any better.
It was kinda cold out here.
“Hey!”
Thankfully, Ace shows up before it becomes an issue. He hooks a hand around the door and pushes it open to stand more fully in the frame. “Sorry, I forgot you were coming over. Here you go.”
“No, it’s okay,” Isuka immediately refutes. She takes the stack of papers with both hands. Ace’s skin is warm where it taps against hers, but she’s not processing that right now, focusing instead on his appearance.
His hair is wet, too, dripping onto a towel hanging from his neck. He looks barely dressed, haphazardly so. He laughs, sheepishly, when his hands are free, and it sounds a little like he’s out of breath. He might’ve run across the entire house, for all she knows.
“Thanks,” she says, distantly. “If I had known Sabo was here, I would’ve come later,” she finds herself saying, even if the presented facts no longer match her earlier conclusion.
Ace mirrors her frown, though it’s lighter, more like he’s puzzled than upset. “Why wouldn’t he be here? He lives here.”
Well that made sense. “Oh! I didn’t know you were roommates.”
Ace is smiling, now. He still looks confused. The door is released so he can cross his arms over his chest. “We’re a little more than that.”
She blinks, not following. “Huh?”
He tilts his head. His smile grows more fond. “We’re married.”
Isuka thinks she must short-circuit, the way she freezes and her eyes grow wide, mirrored on Ace’s own face. Huh. Huh! And now so many observations suddenly make sense, like all the scattered pieces clicking together to form. Something of a puzzle.
Ace opens his mouth but she starts rambling before he can speak. “Oh! Oh. Okay. Um, I have to go. Thanks for these.” She raises the papers with one hand. “Bye!”
With the other, she reaches forward. It takes her a few moments of standing there in abject horror to realize she’d just slammed the door shut.
She leaves quickly after that.
-
The next day, early in the morning, Isuka throws the door to the break room open so hard it bounces off the wall. It gathers everyone’s attention, but that works in her favor, actually.
“Why did no one tell me Ace and Sabo are married?!” she cries out, shoulders shaking.
“Volume, please,” Bonney mutters around her coffee. Her eyes narrow as Isuka’s words process. “Wait, what?”
“What are you talking about?” Monet speaks up, more deadpan. (It was pretty early, so Isuka forgives her lack of enthusiasm.)
“They’re married!” she repeats, arms flailing about.
“Cool it,” Sonia calls.
“Sabo from the neuro ward?” Kaya asks.
“What, like, to their assistants?” Monet interjects, now mildly interested.
“I’m literally right here,” Conis mutters from further down.
“No, to each other!” Isuka clarifies.
“Huh?”
“Sure you didn’t dream that one up?”
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen them speak before.”
“Well, they do work in different wards. Not much of a chance.”
“Don’t tell me you’re buying into it.”
“Whoever told you that is pulling your leg, Is.”
“No, no!” She shakes her head. “Ace told me!”
“Was he drunk?”
“That would still imply he told her.”
“Yeah, but it would mean it’s only something he wants, instead of like, being reality.”
“Explain,” Sonia says above the mindless chatter. “Please.”
Isuka throws her arms up in the air. She starts blubbering, getting faster as she goes. “I went over to his house, right, for that case study, and Sabo was there, and Ace was there, and then Ace told me, and then I panicked because like, what am I supposed to do, like what’s the appropriate response to being told the guy you maybe sort of like has been married all along?” And to another guy! Like seriously, what kind of B-movie plot is this?! What is my life?? “And I can’t believe, like, a part of me is mortified, because I haven’t been directly coming on to him but like, I’ve been hinting right? Did he notice? God I hope he never noticed. This is so humiliating-”
“Okay, okay, take a breath,” Monet interrupts. “For the love of god.”
Isuka heeds her advice and sucks in air. The door opens behind her before she can exhale. She shuffles to the side, turning her reddened face away when she sees it’s Dr. Trafalgar.
Law, wisely, takes one look at the room and grunts as his only greeting, moving quickly to the coffee machine in the corner. Unfortunately (for him) he’s not spared.
“Hey, Dr. Trafalgar! Did you know Ace was married to Sabo?”
Law continues to pour coffee nonchalantly. “Why wouldn’t I? I was at their wedding.” He takes a sip and glances at the watch on his wrist, then starts back toward the door. “Sonia, I need you in five. We’re starting early.”
“Roger.” Sonia salutes him, which he grimaces at, the last they see of him before the door closes. Then she jumps up to clean away the remains of her breakfast. In the chair beside her, Bonney starts cackling.
“Sorry, sorry,” she says between breaths. “That is just too funny.” She nods towards Isuka. “No offense.”
Isuka groans and covers her face with both hands.
“Honestly I’m still not sure I buy it,” Monet mutters.
“Well, it’s Tuesday.” Kaya shrugs as the attention turns to her. “Sabo’s down here all morning as Dragon’s pre-op consultant. Just watch. See if anything happens.”
“Nothing’s happened any other Tuesday,” Conis grumbles. “They’re either the most professional couple I’ve ever seen, or completely unnoticeable. Seriously.”
“Man, I’m really hoping this is true.” Bonney grins at the door. “Just for how goddamn hilarious it would be.”
Isuka peeks from behind her fingers.
-
Day two (and the last day, typically) of orthopedic surgery starts off–
Well. It starts off.
Isuka has just finished checking in with patient number one when Ace shows up. He doesn’t corner her per se but it feels like it. She relays all medical information she needs to before anything else, because this is her job, and there’s no place for worries here.
But then she’s done and Ace confirms everything is running smoothly and she remembers she slammed a door in his face.
“Hey, uh, about last night,” Ace starts, before she can run off to do something –anything– else. She doesn’t let him finish.
“I am so sorry!” She clasps her hands together. “I didn’t mean to run off like that.”
“No, uh. It’s cool.” He waves her off. “I was gonna say, sorry for springing that on you. I thought you knew, really.”
“You’re kinda under the radar,” she confesses.
Ace shrugs. “Maybe you just need to be more observant.”
One eyebrow raises. She crosses her arms. That’s a challenge if she’s ever heard one.
“Bye!” Slam.
She uncrosses her arms. “Sorry for slamming a door in your face.”
Ace shrugs again. “Sorry for catching you off guard. It’s cool. We’re even.”
His nonchalance has her laughing a little. “So. Your cat’s name is Merr?”
“Yeah!” Ace perks up. “She’s great! When she’s around. Which is not often.”
That would explain Sabo’s behavior the– wait. Wait a minute.
“Speaking of which, I did tell him to apologize for running off like that.” Ace hums, rubbing at his chin. “Now whether he’ll listen to me is another story.”
“That’s why you have that neurology case study,” Isuka says, Ace’s comment completely flying over her head at this newfound revelation.
Ace’s brows raise. “Well, it is good to be well-read.”
Oh. “Oh, right, I’m sor–”
He cuts her off with a bark of laughter. “No, I’m messin’ with ya. Sabo submitted test results by request for that one, so his name’s technically on the credits.” He winks. “I gave you his own personal copy, so.”
She nods. “I’ll bring it back.”
“That’s all I needed to hear.” A call of his name gets both their attention. “Alright. Time to start the day.”
-
“Fuck.”
Monet huffs at the schedule pinned to the wall. It’s an easier way to avoid concerned stares turning into unwanted conversation, but in this particular case, it doesn’t work.
“What is it?” Bonney throws over her shoulder. From the sound of it she has food hanging out of her mouth.
Monet pivots to lean back against the wall, arms crossed and head thunking painfully against the plaster. “I have Dragon’s rotation today.”
Bonney raises a brow. “And the problem?”
She makes a noncommittal grunt. “I hate working with Dragon. He always makes me feel so inferior. It’s like it’s his personal goal to piss off his entire operating team by the time the day is done.”
Bonney hums. “Really? I’ve never had a problem.”
“Probably because anesthesia is the only medical thing in the entire world he hasn’t taken an interest in.” She huffs again. “He’s all like, ‘No, Monet, do it this way’ or ‘If you didn’t know, this was the tool I was referring to.’ Like just shut up and let me do my job!”
Bonney does a poor job at stifling a snort, but the full force of Monet’s glare doesn’t seem to bother her any. She waves it off. “You sure he’s not joking around?”
“His sense of humor makes me want to puke.” She pulls her arms tighter around her front.
“Well, there is one benefit.”
“Yeah? Try me.”
“Sabo’s there for morning consults.”
Monet rolls her eyes. “How’s that any better? He’s like Dragon’s golden duckling. I swear he’s the one person Dragon doesn’t even try to pick on. And-” She stops, mouth open, with Bonney’s low smirk and a sudden, damning thought. “Oh. Right.”
“Now’s as good a time as any.” Bonney shrugs and resumes eating. Her next words are muffled by food in her mouth. “Good luck.”
Monet’s still setting up her tools, but she pauses just long enough to see Sabo leave the room, crans her neck just the slightest to see if anyone sidles up beside him.
Unfortunately, her movements are noticeable to the one person in the room she’s actively trying to avoid any scrutiny from. She tenses when she feels eyes on her back, slowly diverting her gaze back to the medical trays in front of her.
It doesn’t help.
“Eyeing a married man, Monet?”
Monet does her best to keep her movements steady, but she still jerks, her fingers just twitching while reaching for a scalpel. She picks it up with careful hands and tilts her head to eye Dragon, who’s looking (quite literally) down on her with his lips pulled into a high smirk. His eyes are doing funny things.
“No,” she grounds out, trying to remain blunt and only blunt, not a trace of emotion in sight. She turns back to her tools.
Dragon’s shoulders shake in silent laughter. Monet would be laughing, too, if she felt like she could get away with it. So it was true, then. Huh. That was.
Huh.
-
Isuka is the second to leave the operating room. Theoretically she knows they should be done for a minute, but with Ace nothing was ever a sure thing. A quick scan of the holding area reveals a number of drawn curtains signifying patients in pre-op. Considering there were two other specialized surgeons fully scheduled that day, Isuka chooses to think very little of this. Her eyes land on Mansherry, who had left the room a little before she did to finish paperwork. (If it was her, she tried to have everything ready to be signed off before Ace could leave for the day; If it were anyone else, they wouldn’t bother with trying to rush. It was a well-known fact that Ace loved running off and having the paperwork forwarded to Conis for him to sign off on another day.)
How those two dealt with administration all in a timely manner was a mystery Isuka had yet to solve.
Isuka moves to Mansherry’s corner, frowning as she finds herself already a little weary on her feet. Looking at her watch she can see why. Had it been that long already? Where did the morning go? Wasn’t she supposed to–
Actually, speaking of which. She stops with one hand on the counter to watch a pair in scrubs wheel an elderly lady over to room three. Sabo is standing just outside. He raises an arm to wave and the bed rolls to a gentle pause just before properly entering the theater, so the woman’s head is near level with Sabo. Isuka raises on tiptoes to see her smiling. Sabo is smiling back, and his lips move, but she can’t make anything out over the various other noises between them.
A sharp rapping on the counter gathers her attention, and she looks down to see Mansherry staring at her, pen poised above a near-completed sheet.
“Need something?” She gestures to her pen to a stack of papers that had magically accumulated beside Isuka’s hand. “Those are all yours. Unless there’s something else?”
“Nope!” She snatches up the forms, and a neglected pen from further down the counter. Crap, maybe she’d said that too soon. “Oh, uh.”
Mansherry hums, but she doesn’t look back up.
“There’s nothing else right now, right?”
“Shouldn’t be.” She gestures with her pen again without looking up. “Ask them.”
On cue Isuka glances over in said direction just in time to see Bonney and Ace leaving room one. Well damn. How did–
Just a little, the very corners of Mansherry’s lips curl up. Isuka suppresses a shiver.
“I’m taking lunch out, but I’ll be back before prep starts,” Bonney announces.
“I’m in your room again?” Ace questions.
Bonney shrugs, hands in her pockets. “Sure are. Guess you lucked out, huh?”
Ace’s laugh comes easy. “That’s one way of putting it.” He laughs harder when Bonney scoffs and pokes his shoulder. “See ya! Enjoy lunch.”
“You too,” Bonney tosses over her shoulder. She pauses as she does so, expression changing, but corrects it soon enough. Ace doesn’t seem to notice.
Isuka does. Sabo is still outside of room three. It’s in Bonney’s line of sight.
Mansherry clears her throat and Isuka jumps. To save face she resumes signing paperwork.
“Something the matter?” she asks, her voice almost sing-song but her eyes dull and lifeless. Isuka drags a stray line across the page in panic, stops, and stares at it in horror.
“No,” she says, at the same time Mansherry tells her “Careful!” in a tone far too nonchalant and reaches up to snag the form.
“That’s fine,” Mansherry assures her.
“Oh. Good,” she croaks.
“Hello there.”
“Hi?” Isuka replies, still nervous.
But the prompt wasn’t for her, she realizes, as a new voice overtakes her own. “Hey yourself.” Sabo leans both forearms against the counter so he can slump forward. “Those for Ace? Y’know, you really missed out not having Dragon today. It would save you the trouble of–” He gestures to the papers.
Mansherry smiles. “I’m a charge nurse; did you forget?” She glances up, just for a moment. “I make the schedules.”
Sabo laughs, just a little, a simple aha. “No, I remember. Just curious of your intentions.”
Mansherry shrugs. “Need something?”
“Actually, yes.” A hand settles on Isuka’s shoulder. If she hadn’t grown used to it over the course of her residency with him, she might’ve freaked. As it stands, she simply shrugs it off. Sabo isn’t dissuaded –he lets his hand fall, then places it right back where it was. “Mind if I borrow her for a sec? I won’t be long, promise.”
“Sure.”
Sabo gives her a two-fingered salute Isuka is sure she’s seen Ace do recently. Then he takes her other shoulder and they’re moving across the room, to a side door that lets out in a little hall. He releases her pretty soon after that. Isuka eyes the time from a clock on the wall and feels her feet begin to drag. She really needed to eat.
Noise draws her attention. Sabo’s hands are clapped together near his face. His expression can be perfectly described as: sheepish, unsure. Maybe a little guilt. Just a smidge.
“What?” she mutters, crossing her arms.
“Sorry about the other night.”
Her brows raise. Oh.
Sabo continues, hands still together. “That was insensitive of me, to run off like that. And not invite you inside, at the very least.” He lets out what seems to be a long-suffering sigh, and his next words explain why perfectly. “Ace hadn’t told me anything, so I didn’t know to expect anyone over. You, um. Caught me off guard, I guess.” He shrugs. “And our cat is hidden away most of the time, so when I saw her out I . .” He trails off. He cheeks tinge a little red. “So, sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Isuka tells him, regaining her composure. “I know you didn’t mean anything by it. It’s okay. No need for all the theatrics.”
“Right, thanks.” He finally drops his hands. “You look like you should eat something,” he suggests mildly.
Isuka thinks about punting him, straight through the drywall, but she resists. Her lips quirk up but it’s all wrong. “That an invitation?” She swings the door back open.
Sabo follows her through. “Unfortunately I already have plans.” Then, quieter, “for how long is another story.”
Deciding to be productive, Isuka marches up to take her stack of forms to fill out in the break room. Mansherry is typing away, a neat stack of surgical forms beside her keyboard.
Sabo glances down at it and hums. “Want me to take those?”
Mansherry stops typing to look at him over her screen. “What?”
“You’re done, right? I can take them up with me. Dragon won’t be out of this surgery for a good minute, and even then, that’s the last of my patients he’s seeing today. I’m free. For the moment, at least.” He raises a brow and Mansherry looks back down. She uses her mouse to open something and clicks through until she’s satisfied.
“His next patient isn’t due until one. Even then, the operation is for two, almost three.”
He gestures to the papers. “Perfect. Want me to take them? I’ll make sure they’re all signed properly.”
“I’d rather you not read over confidential files,” Mansherry says, but she’s handing him the stack all the same.
He salutes her again. “Your trust in me will not be in vain.”
“When has it ever?”
Sabo raises a hand to his heart. “Aw. That’s almost a compliment.”
Mansherry waves him off with her pen. “Leave. Go have lunch already.” Sabo scurries off, heeding her advice. “You too,” she tells Isuka. “You can finish those if you want. If you don’t, don’t worry about it.”
Isuka shrugs, grabs her stack, and moves around the counter. “See you in a few,” she drawls.
What even was all of that anyway?