All Your Perfect Imperfections | Stephen Strange

two

    It's been several long weeks filled with mostly coffee runs, scut work and guess what? That's right, more coffee runs.

To say that I was done with Strange's bullshit was an understatement. I would've strangled him to death with my bare hands if that wouldn't land me life in prison.

The dude was an asshole, that was no question. But what I didn't understand was why he felt the need to make me his target.

Today, though, I was going to get myself out of this mess that he's put me in- even if it means I have to wrangle him for it.

I stomped down the long hallways on a mission with all the nurses and attendings gave me wide berth as if they could sense my impending wrath.

It wasn't long before I spotted my target, standing by a nurse's station with a patient's chart in hand much like he was doing the day I'd first met him.

My anger falters slightly at the imposing sight of him, giving way to the side of me that tended to avoid confrontations.

I shoved that side of me away, she could stumble and fracture a bone or two for all I care, I was doing this. I refused to be a pushover...no matter how intimidating the person that was making me one may be.

"Dr Strange," I greeted curtly as I came to a halt in front of him.

"What?"

In an eerie way that reminded me once again of the day I'd first had the displeasure of meeting him, his eyes never stray from the pages as he spoke. 

I narrowed my eyes at the obvious power play, straightening my white coat and pinning him with the deadliest glare I could muster.

Fishing the crumpled bills that he had shoved into my hands earlier with an order to go fetch him some coffee, I slapped them down onto the binder in his hand, causing him to almost drop them. Almost. If it wasn't for his quick reflexes, the pages would probably be scattered at our feet right about now.

His eyes snapped up to meet mine, annoyance shimmering in his green eyes, noticing for the first time the flakes of blue in them.

I shook the thought from my head. So not the time to be gazing into his eyes. Thankfully, he manages to bring me back to the matter at hand by getting my temper raising again with just one question.

"What is the meaning of this, Collins?"

I raised my chin haughtily, glaring down my nose at him- which was no easy feat seeing as to how I was almost a good foot shorter than he was.

"I would like the opportunity to be able to scrub into one of your surgery." Damn it. That didn't sound as assertive as I intended for it to. Instead, it sounded more like a question.

Strange raises a brow at me, looking almost amused. "What makes you think you deserve it?"

"I have completed every single task you've asked of me ever since I started my internship here without complaint and my work has been nothing short of excellence. All the other interns have had an opportunity to scrub in and observe surgeries. All except for me," I snapped back, "I think I've earned my right to learn something new. Not to mention the fact that I've been top of my class every single year leading up to this. I have the potential to be great which is the reason I've been assigned to you specifically, but you're shortchanging me. And no, I'm not stating this to be boastful, I'm telling you this because I want to excel and for some reason, you refuse to let me."

Strange stared at me for a long while, not saying a word. His eyes are calculating as they bore into mine and I resisted the urge to fidget under his piercing gaze.

"I am a medical student," I pushed on, "Not your assistant. If you're not willing to teach me, then maybe it'll be better if you handed me off to someone who is."

I don't notice how much attention I'd drawn to us by confronting him in the middle of a busy hallway until I realised how silent it was.

Peering to the side from the corner of my eye, I see that the nurses have paused in their work to watch our showdown with their mouths hanging slightly ajar.

I gulped, clearing my throat before forcing my eyes back on Strange.

"So, I would like to scrub in for the Neuroendoscopy that you have scheduled." I paused before quickly adding, "Please."

Strange continued to stare down at me- a little unnervingly, if I may add. And just when I think he was about to refuse me, he slaps the binder in his hand shut and took a step closer to me, holding the bills that I'd handed back to him pinched between his pointer and middle finger like how someone would a cigarette.

"I want my coffee, Collins." He mutters, "And before the surgery if you can manage. I assume you know when you should be at the OR seeing as to how you've been keeping tabs on my schedule. If you're late by even a second, you can expect to be stuck with scut work and coffee runs for the rest of the damn year. Do you understand me?"

I nodded shakily, "Yes, Doctor."

As I closed my fingers around the bills, I could've sworn I saw the corner of his lips twitching as if he was fighting a smile.

"Having some backbone suits you, Collins." He says in a low voice that has me suppressing a shiver, "Took you long enough to find it."

With that, he rushed down the hallway with the binder stuck under his arm and I stared after him, wondering what in the ever-loving hell had just happened.

Perhaps hell had just frozen over. Because if I didn't know any better, I would've thought that Strange was being just the slightest bit...decent.

And trust me, that man was anything but decent.