15 Seasons In, Grey's Anatomy Gave Us A Landmark Queer Love Scene

Grey’s Anatomy has famously been a queer-friendly show since day 1. Callie Torres (Sara Ramirez) and Arizona Robbins (Jessica Capshaw) will always be one of the ABC medical drama’s best ships. Isaiah Washington was famously fired for using a homophobic slur on set. Over the past 15 years, Grey’s has tackled everything from Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell to marriage equality.

Yet, for a show that is obsessed with sex, it’s never had a gay love scene between two men. That is, until Thursday night with the season 15 fall finale, “Blowin' in the Wind.” After eight episodes of simmering sexual tension, rising fan-favorite Levi “Glasses” Schmidt (Jake Borelli, who came out publicly last week) finally hooked up with crush Nico Kim (Alex Landi). In a very Grey's-style ambulance, no less.

The ambulance-in-a-windstorm-set moment was just as sexy — and thoughtful — as it should be.

The start of “Wind” is an uncomfortable time for Levi and Nico. While the pair was absent from last week’s emotional “Anybody Have A Map?,” the previous episode, “Flowers Grow Out Of My Grave,” marked their first kiss. Unfortunately, the entire possibly steamy situation fell apart once Levi admitted that smooch was his first time kissing another guy. Nico immediately pushes Levi away, explaining if he had known Levi wasn’t out of the closet and more experienced he “would’ve never” made a move. Then the ortho doctor explains he can’t be Levi’s teacher in all things queer — “I’ve done my coming out, and I can’t go through it again” — and rushes out of Grey’s Anatomy’s patented Big Moments elevator.

So, Levi is understandably miffed with Nico come “Wind.” Most of the episode is dedicated to the resident doctor telling Nico, in the most irritated of fashions, that just because he isn’t “experienced” doesn’t mean he isn’t capable. It becomes obvious Nico is the problem here, since he accuses Levi of experiencing a “shame spiral,” when there is no evidence of such a spiral. “I’m not the drama. You’re the drama,” Levi declares, which is true.

But the storm eventually forces Levi and Nico into a new confined space when the former almost dies in the ambulance bay, and the latter drags him to safety. Safety is an ambulance. There, Levi proves he can’t be in the shame spiral Nico invented because the resident is essentially immune to embarrassment. He spent the summer before college playing Dungeons & Dragons instead of partying. He still lives in his mom’s basement. He knows what the “Venturi Effect” is. Why would he be ashamed of being attracted to men at this point?

Levi’s nerdy history is also how he explains his lack of experience with men. It wasn’t that the intern has been hiding his sexuality for decades — he simply never had the chance to explore his feelings. Once Nico kissed Levi, and not the other way around, “everything fell into place,” he explains with tears in his eyes.

Commence yet another kiss, this time even more passionate than the last.

While it would be easy for Grey’s to leave us on that sexy note — there are, at minimum, three other crises occurring at Grey Sloan Memorial in the 2018 finale — it doesn’t. Towards the end of the episode, the series goes full love scene, at least for a broadcast show. The camera pans into the ambulance once again and a shirtless Levi is straddling a shirtless Nico while the storm rages outside. Does Nico still have his scrubs on? Due to the camera angle, it’s extremely unclear. Thank you, Grey’s.

Yet everything isn't all hot sex scenes and bicep glimpses. The show also suggests our new favorite Grey’s Anatomy couple is about to be in the midst of a very real emergency. While the pair is hooking up in the ambulance, a powerline crashes outside, leaving lots of live wires snaking around right outside Levi and Nico's little love nest. Considering the fact that this rom-com storyline is only beginning, we can assume Grey's won’t descend into the very tired bury your gays trope in 2019, when the series will return to ABC.

After all, you’re not a real Grey’s Anatomy couple until you’ve survived a life-threatening disaster together, right?