Title: Looking Sharp
Fandom: The Good Doctor
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Dr. Shaun Murphy.
Rating: PG
Word Count: 300
Spoilers: Heartfelt.
Summary: Shaun attends his first hospital fundraiser wearing his new tuxedo.
Content Notes: None needed.
Written For: Challenge 305: Sharp.
Disclaimer: I don’t own The Good Doctor, or the characters.



Everybody thinks Shaun looks good in his new tuxedo. He’s heard people say he looks sharp. That feels right. Sharp, like a scalpel, because he’s a surgeon. That’s clever.

Shaun looks sharp. He stands up straight, must not slouch, but his hands wander to his lapels. The tuxedo is new, unfamiliar, and it looks good, but it feels strange. He thinks he likes it, but isn’t sure yet. All the other men are wearing tuxedos. Not all of them look sharp. Their tuxedos might be rented. Shaun’s isn’t.

It’s Armani; it was very expensive, an investment in his future, so he can impress people with how sharp he looks. Does looking sharp make him look like a good doctor? Will people respect him more? Shaun doesn’t know. He’ll have to be careful not to put on weight, otherwise it won’t fit so well and then he won’t look as good.

People are gathering in groups, talking. Others are dancing. Shaun doesn’t dance. It’s very crowded in here, and loud. Music, conversation, laughter… Shaun doesn’t fit in. He doesn’t know what he should do. He doesn’t like crowds. He’s knows he's supposed to mingle, introduce himself, talk to people, make a good impression and advance his career, but he doesn’t know which people he should talk to for that, or what he should talk about. Medicine perhaps.

He told Dr Melendez that he wanted to make his own decisions, he’s not a child anymore, but sometimes it’s hard. Human bodies are easy to understand, how they work and how to fix them when something goes wrong. They make sense; people don’t. People are complicated.

He takes a deep breath, approaches a group of people, some of them vaguely familiar, politely introduces himself, and waits.

He looks sharp. He can do this.


The End