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Whitaker wasn’t sure if this was normal or not, but Dr Robby seemed to always be touching him.
He’d pat him on the back after a diagnosis well made, put his hands on his shoulders as he made an incision, even slip an arm around his waist as they’d walk across the ER.
It was honestly incredible. Dr Robby had big, warm hands and Dennis had been a little touch starved ever since he started medical school.
And yes, Dr Robby was a very attractive, charming older attending. So the attention was pretty delightful.
That doesn’t mean Whitaker wasn’t confused about it though. So, many hours into his shift and after relentless hand on scrub contact, the student doctor decided to bring it up.
“Um, Dr Robby?” Whitaker broached, as the two stood alone at the nursing station assessing the board.
“Yeah what’s up?” Dr Robby said, dividing his attention between the rows of patient names and complaints and his younger charge.
“Well, I’ve noticed that you seem to, um, physically handle me a lot more than the other student doctors? But let me just -“
Before Whitaker could get the rest of his extensively thought through statement out, his attending had gripped him by the shoulders, before realising that he probably shouldn’t be doing that and apologising for the whole saga.
“Whitaker, say no more. I’ve been unprofessional, I’ve overstepped the line, and I’m sorry. You won’t have to worry about that anymore.” Robby said, hushed and contrite, letting out a breathy sigh “Thank you for telling me, I’ll see if Dr Collins can take a more active role.”
“Oh yeah, no, actually, Dr Robby - “ His attending had turned on his heel and stalked across the department, shoulders hunched.
That hadn’t gone as planned and things were only going to get worse.
10 minutes turned into 20 and 20 into 30 until it had been more than 2 hours since he’d seen Dr Robby, let alone been touched by the man - not so much as a pat on the back for a suture well done.
And Whitaker was beginning to crack. He was growing crabby and tired and sloppy, at this rate he was going to lose another patient or at least get a bad patient satisfaction score. He’d received some touches, but they weren’t the same. Dr Langdon had given his shoulder a squeeze after talking him through an intubation and Dr McKay had steadied his shoulders after he’d almost tripped over a gurney. They weren’t really doing it for him. The couple of hours of physical intimacy he’d enjoyed with Dr Robby was something else. He’d felt safe and invincible, a special and chosen recipient of his attending’s busy time and busier hands. He’d thought about trying to engineer a hallway bump just so he could get a momentary fix, but that probably wouldn’t be enough.
Spying Dr Robby alone at the nurse’s station once again, Whitaker took the opportunity to set things right.
Skidding over to Robby’s side in a flash of light blue scrubs, Whitaker issued a plea.
“Please recommence the touching.”
“But I th-”
“I should have started with the fact that I was really liking it and it was actually making me really good at my job and the last couple of hours have been torture and I realllllly need you to-”
Robby had grabbed him by the scruff of his scrubs and dragged him to the staff lounge in a flail of limbs.
Shutting the door behind them and crowding Whitaker against one of the walls, it was hard for the student doctor to contain his excitement.
“You want me to touch you again?” Robby said gruffly.
Whitaker squeaked out a yes and nodded rapidly.
“Here?” The attending asked, moving his hands from where they’d been pressed against the wall either side of Whitaker down to the younger man’s shoulders.
“Um, yeah, that’s good.”
“Maybe here?” Robby said, dragging his hands down to Whitaker’s hips.
“Yep, uhhh, also, really nice.”
Robby’s hands left Whitaker’s hips and pushed underneath his scrubs, gliding across the flat planes of Whitaker’s chest.
“That’s good as well.” Whitaker exhaled, eyes fluttering closed.
Suddenly, Robby was off him, sticking his hands back into the front pockets of his navy blue hoodie.
“Sounds like everywhere is fair game.” Robby said, flashing him a grin “And we can cover all the bases later, but right now we’ve got lives to save.”
Steeling his weak knees, Whitaker gave a shuddering assent.
Moving up behind him, Dr Robby put a hand on either shoulder and lowered his head to whisper in Dennis’ ear as he steered the student doctor out of the lounge.
“You’ll get lots of touches, don’t worry.”
-4 hours later-
No one said a word about Whitaker sat on Dr Robby’s lap as the pair did patient charting at the attending’s desk - sharing a peanut butter and jelly sandwich as the student checked boxes and typed out his medical thought-process under the careful and intimate guidance of the older man.
The desk was covered in crumbs.