Work Text:
Almost thirty with no real kissing experience was a sad state to be in. It hadn’t bothered Mel for the most part, except Becca kept bringing it up. Bless her sister, but Mel was losing her mind. If Becca pointed it out one more time that she didn’t have a boyfriend, she was going to lose it.
Needless to say, the kissing and boyfriend topic was a sore spot for her. So when her coworkers got joking around about their situationships during a rare slow moment to catch up on their charting, she unconsciously bristled. Her shoulders had scrunched all the way up to her ears, and she was silently praying no one wrangled her into the conversation.
“What about you, Mel?”
Oh dear god no.
“Anyone you’re seeing lately?”
Mel pasted on her best non-awkward smile. “Um… Nope.” Then she went right back to charting.
Santos snorted. “Okay, well what about the last person you were seeing? Come on, I’m dying for a good story. You gotta have one or two.”
“Sorry, no good stories. My dating life is boring.”
“But you’ve dated before, right?”
Mel stiffened. “Sorta. I mean, school and work has kept me pretty busy, so not anything official. I mean I’ve kissed a guy before, if that’s what you’re asking.”
A slow smirk spread across Santos’s face. “Not what I was asking, but please. Go on.” She leaned on the desk, plopping her chin on her fist.
“I think I should go check on my patient actually.” Mel hopped to her feet.
“You’re not getting out of this! I want the story later!” Santos called after her.
Mel went racing around the corner into the nearest hallway, running face first into Dr. Langdon’s broad chest.
“Woah! Where’s the fire?” He braced his hands on her arms, trapping her from running away. “Mel? You good?” Instantly, he noticed something was wrong.
“Yeah. Yeah,” she repeated. “I’m fine. All good. Just checking on a patient.”
“Your face is really flushed. You feel okay?” He laid the back of his hand on her forehead, and she nearly combusted.
Just then, Santos decided to stroll around the corner with her hands tucked in her pockets. “She’s okay, just skittish because I asked her about her dating life. She’s got a kissing story I want to hear.”
Langdon’s hands imperceptibly stiffened on Mel’s arm. Only she could feel it.
“That doesn’t seem like an appropriate question to ask during work hours.”
Santos put up her hands in mock surrender before sauntering away.
“It’s fine,” Mel was quick to say when she noted a muscle fluttering in Langdon’s jaw. She knew he and Santos didn’t get on all that well, and the last thing she wanted was to worsen the strain there. “She and I were just…joking.”
“Joking,” he said dryly. He crossed his arms over his chest and appraised her. “I think I know you well enough to know when you’re joking, Mel.”
“Right…” She couldn’t argue with that. She shifted tactics and waved her hand dismissively. “It really is fine though. There’s not even a story to tell. I made it up. The only kiss I’ve ever had was with a guy in high school who got dared to. It lasted like, one second.”
Oh shit, she internally thought. Why am I word vomiting this to him?
Langdon’s lips parted in quiet surprise. He nodded slowly like he understood, which he probably didn’t. The polite social cues ended abruptly when his brows furrowed. “Wait, you’ve really never kissed anyone?”
Mel gaped for two seconds before she declared, “I think it’s time I checked on that patient now. See you later, Dr. Langdon!”
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Langdon found her again at the end of the day right before the night crew would arrive. She was slowly and methodically banging her forehead off the edge of the desk.
“Woah woah woah.” His hand slipped under her forehead to stop any further damage. “That’s enough of that. I think you’ve had enough today, so how about you get your stuff? Let’s get you out of here.”
Mel squinted behind her glasses when she looked up at him. “Is it time to go?”
“Yep.”
“Oh…” She sighed, but it sounded a bit like a whimper.
“Is that…bad?”
“King!” Santos shouted, making Mel jump. “Get your things, girl. We’re going out.”
“Ah…” Langdon drawled. He seemed to understand now. “I guess she talked you into going with her to tell that story that doesn’t exist?”
Mel nodded. With her lips pursed and her eyes downcast, she looked positively miserable.
“Can’t you say you have to hang out with your sister tonight?”
Mel shook her head. “Becca’s visiting our grandparents this week.”
“Want me to come for support?”
Her head whipped up. “Would you?”
Langdon shrugged. “Why not. Abby’s got the kids tonight. I just gotta call at eight for bed time.”
Mel nodded vigorously. She very much wanted him to come along for support. Even if it led to him and Santos making snide remarks all night, at least they could argue with each other instead of grilling her.
He tapped the desk. “Alright, I’ll grab my things and meet you guys there. Just send me the name of the place you’re going. I’ll show and play it cool like I didn’t know you’d be there.” He winked, and Mel’s heart gushed with admiration for the man.
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Mel should have known better… She wasn’t a great drinker, and Santos was really good at peer pressure. Three drinks later, her head was all fuzzy, and she kept looking at the door, waiting for her knight in shining armor to show up.
“Girl, why do you keep checking the door? Are you planning your escape?” Santos asked. “I haven’t even started grilling you yet about that story you owe me.”
Mel sighed, making that half whimper sound again.
“You okay? Should we move outside?” Santos offered. She’d kindly set them up in the back corner with the least amount of lights and away from the rowdiest parts of the bar.
“I’m okay,” Mel said with a shake of her head. “And no, I’m not planning to escape. Sorry, what were you saying? I’m listening.”
Just then, the door opened, and Mel’s head whipped to it as Langdon strolled in. He had on casual clothes—jeans, a thin blue sweater that complimented his eyes, and a jacket. His hair looked damp like he’d taken a quick shower before coming.
“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me…” Santos mumbled at the same time Mel jumped up with a big wave.
“Dr. Langdon! Hi!”
Santos hissed at her to sit down and use her inside voice.
The drinks had done their job though. She felt zero shame as she kept waving and smiling like a giddy school girl.
Langdon smiled and strolled over. “Well what do you know. Fancy meeting you guys here. You got room for a third? I think my friend is gonna bail on me tonight.” He made a show of checking his phone. “Yep, just bailed.”
Santos groaned. “This is girl’s night. But…”
Mel looked over expectantly with a hopeful smile.
“Fine.” Santos rolled her eyes. “Only because it would look pathetic if you drank alone.”
He slid into the booth beside Mel, who eagerly slid over to make room. Without thinking, she grabbed his bicep and squeezed excitedly. “I’m so glad you’re here.”
“Yeah, I’m glad too.” He smiled back at her, completely unphased by her awkward arm grab. He didn’t seem to mind at all, leaving his arm right there for her to hold onto all she wanted.
“Yeah, so happy,” Santos said drily. Her eyes said, Kill me.
After a minute, Santos got up to get more drinks, but she got sidetracked by another woman at the bar who wanted to chat with her. Mel had laid her head on Langdon’s arm. She hummed along to the song on the speakers by Megan Thee Stallion.
“Are things going okay with Santos?” Langdon asked. “She hasn’t been asking too many personal questions, has she?”
“No. Not yet.” Mel sat up and pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose with one hand. The other remained linked around his bicep where it planned to stay all night if he let it. “I was thinking, I could make up a story. The problem is that I’m not very experienced, so I’m not sure I could make the details believable. I’m not good at lying if I don’t have all the details.”
Mel was bad at lying period, but Langdon overlooked this. “Are you worried she’ll think less of you or make fun of you for not having experience?”
Mel thought about it for a moment, then nodded.
“Well, we can’t have that.” He shifted, angling his body towards her as he draped an arm across the back of the booth seat. “Do you want my help?”
Mel’s brows pinched. “You can help me with this?”
“Yes.”
“How so?”
He pointed to his mouth. “I’ve got working lips and experience.”
Mel laughed. He didn’t. Her smile fell when she realized he wasn’t joking. Her cheeks blazed red as she sputtered, “Oh you— You want to help me learn to kiss?”
He shrugged casually, his eyes drifting to the table as he smiled a bit nervously. “Yeah, sorry if that sounds stupid. I just have this weird urge to help you, all the time. With everything and anything. Is that creepy?”
Mel slowly shook her head as a tiny smile twitched in the corners of her mouth. “Not creepy.” It was actually really sweet. “I feel the same way about you.”
“So… Do you want my help with this?”
She looked around nervously. “I don’t know… Will we get caught?”
“I think I saw Santos disappear to the bathroom, so we’ve got a minute or two.”
“Is that enough time?”
His brows flit up. “You want a makeout?”
“Oh! Oh, no.” She laughed to expel the nerves and started to fidget with her hands in her lap. “A minute is fine. Anything— Anything you think is… Um…”
Langdon’s finger slid under her chin, lifting her gaze up. “You sure you’re good with this?”
Her inhibition was definitely lower tonight, and she couldn’t totally blame the alcohol since she felt this way almost all the time where Frank Langdon was involved. Mel nodded.
“Then close your eyes.” Once she did, he slipped her glasses off. They clicked gently on the table. “Now part your lips. Just a little. Yeah, just like that. And tilt your head…” He directed the last part with his hand on her cheek.
Mel’s heart crashed repeatedly against her chest in the moments leading up to the kiss. The bar’s noise disappeared the second his lips found hers. They were warm and soft, pressing ever so gently against her mouth. Just a bit of pressure, a nice touch, and a shared breath.
He pulled back a fraction of an inch. “Still good?”
“Yeah…” she said breathlessly, keeping her eyes closed just like he told her to.
When he went back in, she inhaled at the same time as him. His head tilted just right, and the seal surprised her. He sucked every so slightly on her lower lip. Mel’s brows jumped up as she began to realize just how pleasant kissing could feel. His thumb kept brushing along her cheekbone and the shell of her ear too.
Focus, Mel, she chastised herself. Remember the details…
The details became fuzzy static the moment he pressed the tip of his tongue against the seam of her lips, asking for entrance. She made a small sound in the back of her throat, then opened her mouth a little more for him—a completely willing and eager pupil for him to mold.
That first touch of his tongue against hers had her melting into him. Her hands pressed flat against his chest as she leaned in closer for a deeper kiss. So he did more, his tongue pushing in further to skate over the rim of her teeth. He licked the top of her mouth with gentle flicks.
Mel was practically panting against him, just trying to keep her mouth open for him to do whatever he wanted with it.
When he pulled back, she instinctively followed after him with her head.
“That’s good,” he said in a deep, rasping voice.
Mel paused and peeked open an eye. “Yeah?”
“What did you think?”
“I think… Um…” She shook her head to clear the static buzz. “Sorry, I just completely forgot it.”
Langdon chuckled. “That happens sometimes. It means you did it right.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah…” He ran his thumb along her lower lip while his eyes skated over her mouth before flicking back to her eyes. “You wanna try again? You can lead this time.” As an afterthought, he added, “For practice.”
“Sure, I can do that.” She perked up at the challenge. Feeling like they were back at work, she relished the chance to prove to him how capable she was. She loved it when she got it right, because he made her stomach all gooey when he praised her.
She started with the basics. Closing her eyes, tilting her head, and parting her lips before leaning in. Langdon met her halfway so she didn’t accidentally miss his mouth. Then he let her take the lead, just like he promised. His lips were pliable and his head followed her lead. Mel took her sweet time exploring the feel of his mouth first. He tasted good… Like mint. He must have brushed his teeth before coming. Hopefully she didn’t taste too bad either… The margaritas Santos got them were limey.
He parted his lips a little bit more for her, and she got the hint eventually. Pushing her tongue in first, she brushed it along the back of his top row of teeth. In response, his hand squeezed her waist, and her stomach erupted with butterflies.
“Okay?” she asked against his mouth.
“Yeah… Really good.” His voice vibrated pleasantly against her lips. “Wanna learn something else?”
“Uh huh.” She nodded while taking kiss after kiss. Pulling away from him now felt impossible. Not with him holding her waist like that—like he might pull her straight into his lap.
With her permission, his lips broke away to begin a trail along her jaw before dipping down to her neck. When he found the soft place against her pulse, she melted.
“O— Oh…”
Langdon sucked her slow and gentle there, sending lighting ripples up and down her body. “You smell so good,” he groaned in between kisses.
Mel was too far gone to respond. All she could do was arch her neck and give him all the access he wanted. Her hands shot around his shoulders to hold him tight.
“What. The. Fuck.”
The voice cut through her hazy buzz like a scalpel. Pulling away slightly, Mel squinted to see without her glasses, but the person who spoke was undoubtedly Santos.
Langdon sighed and lifted his head. “Back so soon?” he asked with false sweetness.
“Did you seriously come just to stick your tongue down her throat?” Santos shot back.
“Woah woah,” Mel waved her hands to stop the bickering. “I— I’m sorry, but I was the one who invited him. He was coming as back up.”
“Back up? What the hell do you need back up for?”
“For…helping me evade the story about my first kiss that never technically happened.”
Santos pointed between them, her brows arched high. “So he— Fuck, that was your first kiss?”
Mel nodded. “The first one that counts.”
“Jesus…” She fell back a step, hands sliding in her pants pockets. “Well, I guess we gotta celebrate now. I’ll buy the next round of drinks. For me and Mel only. Your friend can get his own.”
Langdon chuckled. “I’m good. I’ll be your driver tonight.”
“Actually, I think I’m done drinking too,” Mel said. “It’s making my head feel funny. Like…really fuzzy?”
Santos and Langdon shared a fast look before Santos said, “Yeah, that’s not the alcohol. You definitely haven’t had enough for that.”
“Oh, well…” Mel looked awkwardly between the other two.
“You know, that really pretty girl over there gave me her number and invited me to another bar,” Santos said with a jerk of her thumb over her shoulder. “Maybe if you two wanna continue the night, I might just…”
“Oh yeah!” Mel excitedly gave two thumbs up. “Go get her, girl.”
Santos chuckled with a smile. “Thanks, King. You guys have fun tonight.”
With Santos gone, Langdon replaced his arm over the seat back, leaning in close to ask, “So what do you want to do the rest of the night?”
Mel’s lips turned down in a tiny, suppressed smile. “Is that offer for a lesson in making out still on the table?”
“It sure is.”
Mel grabbed his hand and dragged him out of the booth as fast as humanly possible.