Chapter Text
The sound of his alarm blares in his ear again, like it has for the last few days at the same time. 6 a.m. Dennis aimlessly hits at his alarm to turn it off and rolls onto his back, staring at the ceiling, wondering how he ended up so far away from Broken Bow, Nebraska.
But he knows how lucky he is, that Trinity offered him a room for free, and more importantly, an invaluable friendship. It was a little awkward at first; Dennis isn’t used to people being so kind without expecting anything in return, but he makes up for it by fixing leaky taps and cooking nightly dinners.
Not only that, but his first year of residency at PTMC is going surprisingly well. He has a newfound sense of confidence and likes to think he is getting along well with most of his coworkers.
After a few minutes, Dennis wills himself out of bed and gets ready for his shift. He brushes his teeth, pulls on his scrubs, fixes his hair with a splash of water, and waits in their kitchen for Trinity so they can carpool to work. Another blessing he knows he doesn’t deserve.
As he waits, Dennis fixes himself a slice of jam and toast to start his morning, it’s cheap and simple and just the amount of sweetness he needs to kickstart his day. What’s frustrating however is that he has tried every jam their local supermarket has to offer but none have come close to the homemade stuff he used to make with his mother back home.
These are some of his fondest memories from the farm, mind you there aren’t many, but when his three older brothers went to tend to the cattle, and Dennis wasn’t desperately needed, he’d get lucky and get to tend to their small fruit and vegetable garden behind their house.
His father and brothers would tell him it was a woman’s job, call him a queer, a fairy, a fag, the list goes on. Dennis hasn’t spoken to his family in years, but I suppose that’s what you get when you come out as gay one Christmas and run away from theology to study medicine. Still, Dennis revelled in the time he spent with his mother to help prepare lunches and dinners; besides, he truly found a passion in cooking.
He keeps meaning to make his own jam like his mother did, he doesn’t have the recipe written down anywhere, but jam isn’t so complex and he’s sure it will come back to him, it’s just that he has such little time as it is.
As Dennis finishes his last bite he dusts any crumbs of his hands and Trinty finally exits her room ready for the day.
“Morin’ Huckleberry, the ED isn’t going to entertain itself!” Trinity says a bit too enthusiastically for how he feels, grabbing her keys and walking to the front door surmising that Dennis has fallen into step behind her.
When they enter through the doors to The Pitt he is met with its familiar hustle and bustle as the phone rings and nurses move around them. There is no sense of immediate urgency in the air, things seem to be calm, but he refuses to be the one to jinx that.
It’s couple hours into his shift and things are moving steadily as Dennis works his way through the board of many people and their ailments.
As he stares up at the extensive list on the screen Robby suddenly appears close beside him, their shoulders pressing against one another. “How’s the day been going for you Whitaker?”
“Oh, hey Dr Robby,” Dennis replies taking his eyes of the screen only momentarily to meet Robby’s face, he was wearing his glasses, “yeah it’s not too bad... I’m about to head over to my next patient.” He says gesturing upwards.
Dennis, however, just stands there for a prolonged moment, looking at Robby, his glasses really suit him, expecting him to say or do something.
“Well... lead the way, kid.”
“Right yeah of course.” He felt his cheeks heat in embarrassment and willed himself to move, Robby deciding to follow fairly close behind him.
As they reach closer to their destination Robby unexpectedly moves from behind Dennis to reach the door first and hold it open for him. Dennis was very capable of opening his own doors, but hey, it was nice gesture.
When Dennis went to then walk through said door he felt Robby’s hand lightly fall against the middle of his back to guide him in. Dennis was very capable at walking through his own doors too, but that wasn’t something he’d bring up to Robby, no, it was a non-issue.
Dennis took the smallest second to gather himself before turning to the man lying on the bed in front of him and starting his questioning.
“So, what can we help you with today Mr Price?” Dennis said glancing down at the chart in his hand.
He can feel Robby’s gaze on the back of his neck, observing him.
The two of them and a few nurses worked on Mr Price and after taking an EKG and some blood tests they determined he was having a heart attack. They urgently moved through the necessary motions and eventually Mr Price was stable and moving to the ICU.
Stepping out of the room Dennis could finally let in and take out a deep breath.
“Good work Whitaker.” The words roll of Robby’s tongue as he offers up his fists for Dennis to bump with his own, which he does immediately. Dennis has this intrinsic need to impress Robby. Receiving praise from him only makes Dennis work harder.
The rest of his shift follows slowly and although it wasn’t that unpleasant, Dennis was more than ready to go home.
----
The moment Trinity and Dennis arrive at their apartment they open and close the door with haste, just to collapse together on their just large enough for three people couch, limbs slightly overlapping. This is how they end most of their shifts as they settle to debrief the highs and lows of the day. That is unless it was a particularly bad shift, then Dennis goes straight to wallowing in the shower or bed, or probably both.
After a few moments of much needed silence, Trinity speaks.
“Ugh I think charting will be the death of me, I swear to God Al-Hashimi was on my ass all day!” She complains, stretching her limbs and sitting up to face Dennis, “speaking of being on ones ass though... You need to explain yourself Huckleberry.”
Trinity eyes the man across from her, desperately awaiting his answer. Dennis, who was just getting comfortable, opens his eyes at his friend and props himself on his elbows staring blankly back at her.
In his mind he files through the cases he worked on and the people he assisted today but nothing comes to the forefront. He honestly has no idea what she’s insinuating.
“Uh I actually don’t know what you mean, Trin.” He replies sincerely, sighing and shuffling to sit up and meet her position.
Trinity gives him an incredulous look, narrowing her eyes as if she is casting a spell on him to answer. Usually, he doesn’t take much convincing to do or say something she asks (he can’t really deny her anything after all her generosity), especially when she gives him a look like this, but Dennis doesn’t know what answer she is looking for and is starting to grow more curious himself.
“Oh please, look I was never going to mention it, but it has been going on for months now and I can’t be the only one who is noticing so just tell me what the hell is going on between you two.” The words tumble out of her and it’s clear she’s been holding out on saying this for a while.
What? Between him and who?
Well now Dennis definitely needs the full picture.
“I’m so sorry what? Please explain what the hell you are on about.”
“Dennis... you and Dr Robby... he can’t keep his fucking hands off you!” She’s got an amused look on her face, but her tone tells him she’s 100% serious about her observation.
Dennis laughs, maybe too loudly, but really, what Trinity is saying is actually absurd.
“Trinity you can’t be serious!” He’s clutching his stomach cackling. “Absolutely nothing untoward is going on between me and our Chief Attending Dr Michael Robinavitch I’ll tell you that much.”
She starts waving an accusatory finger in his face. “No nope you are not gaslighting me Huckleberry I see how he stares at you! How his hands linger on your shoulders too long or how you have little private conversations at the nurse station.”
“Trinity I swear you are reading into this; I’ve never noticed him staring at me, but I do know he definitely doesn’t touch me as much as you’re suggesting, that would be inappropriate. Also, for the record, everyone talks at the nurses station like all the time.”
Trinity lays back down leaning against the arm rest of the couch, unsatisfied and unconvinced, “I just don’t believe you.”
“He’s my mentor, I look up to him, we get along, but that is it.”
“Okay but have you ever thought about it? I mean if I was being felt up every day at work I’d think about it.”
“Trin! He is not feeling me up and also he’s like 25 years older than me! And my superior! That would be a HR nightmare are you kidding!” In truth he has thought about Robby, but only briefly, and not because he is being touched but only because he can appreciate when a man is attractive. He certainly couldn’t admit that now, not while having this conversation.
“Well, I’m not judging if you have, believe me we all have our vices.” She gives him a shrewd look; mouth upturned in a sly smile.
Dennis throws a nearby pillow at her, not with any real force, and they both laugh, “Trust me I believe you, but I haven’t, end of story.”
A small moment of comfortable silence passes between them. It’s nice to have someone to laugh with.
“You are for sure his favourite though.” She concludes.
“Shut up.”