Chapter Text
The evening of Pitt Fest:
“eyyyYYHOLYSHIT” Dennis Whitaker screamed in the middle of singing, yanking out his earbuds and stumbling backwards.
“Woah!” Dr. Michal Robinovitch raised his hands in a gesture of peace. “The hell are you doin’ here kid?”
Dennis clutched at his chest, willing his heart to calm down. “You scared the SHIT out of me!” He gasped, breathing heavily.
“Sorry ‘bout that.” Robby laughed wryly. “You still haven’t answered the question though.”
“Oh. W-Well. My previous rotation was OBGYN at this same hospital and there's this empty wing here so after a rough shift sometimes, just on the occasion I would sort of … spend the night here instead of having to go all the way home, and. Yea.” Dennis was aware that he was babbling but couldn’t force himself to stop.
Robby looked behind him at the rest of the room. It was pretty obvious that Dennis had been living there long term. He crossed his arms and leaned against the doorframe, raising his eyebrows at the student doctor. “Whittaker. You been living here?” Dr. Robby asked. His look wasn't incredulous, but it held a hint of reproach.
“What? No!” Dennis responded in a bad imitation of shock, then much quieter “...yes?” His eyes flicked around the room, glancing at Robby from the side only to dart away again.
“Just until I get back on my feet.” Dennis pleaded. “Please don't report me.”
Robby’s lips tightened in a grim semi-smile. “Kid,” he shook his head, “you can’t live here. Not only is it a liability for the hospital, it’s a liability for you. And frankly, it's unhealthy to live where you work, you’ve got to catch a break.” The Senior Attending shifted his weight off the doorframe and stood facing Dennis full on. He had to tilt his head a bit forward to look the younger man in the eyes because of their height difference.
Dennis felt a flash of anger. “It’s not like I want to be here, there’s not really another option.” He hugged himself and looked down at the floor. “The shelters are much worse.”
That phrase hit Robby like a punch in the gut. Shelters? Robby let out a deep sigh.
“Sure there is.” he said, arms unfolding. “I’ve got a townhouse 5 minutes from here with three free bedrooms for you to frolic as much as you want. Pack your shit, let’s go.” Robby patted the student doctor on the shoulder and turned around to leave.
Dennis stood there in shock.
“W-wait I wouldn't want to impose or… anyth-”
“I’ll be in the Tacoma right outside the ambulance entrance.” Robby raised his hand without turning around.
“T… Thank you!” Dennis yelled down the hall at his retreating back. He scurried around to throw his stuff together and breathed a prayer of thanks. It took him 30 seconds.
Present Day:
(trigger warning: very brief mentions of self harm/abortion/SA. This content is not a running theme, only a mention from a patient. I will put that area in obvious asterisks to give landmarks if you want to skip.)
Dennis munched on the egg salad sandwich he had brought and glanced at the clock on the breakroom wall. 2:00 pm. More than halfway through his shift, but still miles from the end of the day. He tried to shake off the fatigue, but the day had been horrific. No where near Pitt Fest, but still… bad enough. By 11:00 they had already coded four people from the same high-speed car collision, and the Pitt maintained a steady stream of horrors from there.
** (TW)**
Dennis chewed slowly, savoring the slightly stale sandwich in relative silence. He stared at nothing, mulling over his last patient. The patient had been an omega, like him. They’d tried to self-terminate an unwanted pregnancy and hadn’t survived the damage. Denis couldn’t get the sight of the pools of blood out of his mind’s eye. Hemmoroiging had caused the omega to lose so much blood. Too much. He knew it wasn’t uncommon for an omega to get assaulted and impregnated against their will, but without the necessary funds getting a termination was next to impossible. Insurance wouldn’t cover the procedure unless the pregnancy was itself life threatening. This was the first self-termination attempt Dennis had seen as a care provider, and he knew it wouldn’t be his last. They often ended ineffective with complications at best, deadly at worst.
** (TW over) **
Dr. Robby had been tense, doing everything he could to help Dennis save the patient’s life and keep them from bleeding out, but in the end all their efforts were in vain. Dennis had swiped at his face with his shoulder, trying to dislodge some of the sweat from physical effort, but also swiping away a few tears over his helplessness. Dr. Robby noticed, but kindly hadn’t said anything. Just removed his gloves and squeezed Dennis's shoulder, offering what small comfort he could.
The time of death was pronounced and the room gradually cleared, leaving Dennis behind. He had held the omega’s hand for a few minutes, feeling a sense of comradery and sorrow, but knew that he couldn’t linger.
“Kid, why don’t you take a few minutes. Eat some lunch.” Dr. Robby had said in a low voice when he got back out into the floor, giving him an excuse to take a minute.
Dennis let out a sigh as he finished his last bite, mentally preparing himself to go back. He only had two weeks left to his emergency medicine rotation, but found a certain pull to it. Sure there were bad days, but the feeling of being able to help someone, to save them from death… there was nothing like it. If only he could find a way to save everyone.
If Dennis was completely honest, there was another pull to emergency medicine that was about 6'1”. Pulling to him like a magnet, making him think of altering the entire course of his future. But he specialised in lying to himself regularly, so he didn’t think about it. Ever.
Dennis wiped his hands free from crumbs and slapped his knees, pushing off of them to stand. A habit that showed his midwestern roots; Nabraskan through and through. He walked back through the ED, stopping at triage to stare at the screens showing the list of patients. He chose his next patient, and kept putting one exhausted foot in front of the other.
“How you holdin’ up?” Dr. Robby asked, coming up on Dennis from behind at the triage desk. He hunched over the desk, resting on his forearms, his reading glasses perched on the edge of his nose from examining the most recent chart.
It was towards the end of their shift, and Dennis was barely standing from exhaustion. His scent patches were itching on his lower neck, irritating his sensitive skin.
“Huh? Oh. yea. I’m uhm. I’m good.” Dennis awkwardly replied.
Robby scrutinized him, squinting at Dennis over his readers. “You sure?”
“Yea.. just. I mean the Omega death wasn’t super great. I wish that there was more we could have done.” Dennis rubbed the back of his neck, his fingers grazing the top of his scent patches under his scrubs. He leaned his head back with his hand still on his neck, the other on his hip, pushing out a sigh.
“You know, Omega’s are considered a marginalized people group.” Dr. Robby said, always ready for a teachable moment.
Dennis looked at him confused. “Oh…yea I know.” he replied.
“I’m only saying this because the way you cared for that omega in an emergency really speaks to what a great doctor you’re going to be. Not everyone would approach with that much compassion, especially for an injury that was self-induced.” Dr. Robby continued. “Omega’s have it hard, it's our responsibility to factor that in as medical professionals. You never know what someone is going through or how much pain they’re in to make that kind of decision.”
Dennis blinked, unsure what to say. “Yea. yes. Of course.” was what he settled on, like an idiot.
“Kay!” Robby clicked his pen, “go ahead and clock out. I’ll see you at home, I’m gonna chat with Jack and grab some dinner with Donna. Don’t wait for me.” He rapped a beat on the counter and leaned back, rolling his neck.
The med student nodded, then went to grab his back pack.
Dennis clocked out and was walking to the townhouse when he realized that Dr. Robby, an alpha, didn’t know he was an omega. How had that happened? They had been living together for two weeks, was he really that unnoticeable? He had been wearing his scent patches and taking his suppressants, but even then he got complimented on his calming scent regularly. By alphas and betas alike, sometimes other omegas!
Dennis kicked a rock down the street. He guessed Dr. Robby was just the kind of polite guy who wore scent blockers. Dennis smiled to himself, his little inadmissible crush on Dr. Robby just got the tiniest bit bigger.
Dr Robby watched his intern walk away, shaking his head. The kid had gumption. He could tell because Dennis had never looked more tired but still showed up ready to help wherever he could. Robby rubbed his eyes under his glasses, letting out a sigh. There was no denying that he felt protective over Dennis, his constant touches and shoulder grabs gave that much away at least. But Robby wondered if he was holding Dennis back, causing a dependence or reliance on himself. As an attending of the Pitt it was his job to lead, to take young beginners and whip them into seasoned experts.
He removed his glasses and chewed on the tip, contemplating how to best approach this next step with Whitaker. They were living together, but hardly saw each other at home except a rough “good morning” every now and then. Dennis was content to scuttle away in the common areas and sequester himself in the guest room he had taken residence in. He clearly felt nervous and awkward in Robby's sole presence, especially in a quiet house without the hum of constant emergencies in the background. It was slightly amusing to Robby, if he didn’t know any better from working with him, he'd think Dennis was a little scaredy cat.
Robby sighed, resolving to at least touch Dennis less, but the thought of it made him feel… off somehow. He didn’t want to stop touching him. The Senior Attending froze with that thought. What would not touching him cause except a further sense of independence and self reliance? He stuffed that line of thought far from his consciousness. Robby was so lost in thought he didn't hear Dr. Jack Abbot coming up behind him.
“Got anything to tell me about?” Jack asked, starting their usual “hand over” conversation every time they had a shift change with each other.
Robby blinked, shaking his head when he realized he was still staring after Dennis even though the student was long out of sight.
“Uhm… yep. Yes. Hello to you too by the way.” Robby launched into his briefing, going over the more serious cases left over for Jack to deal with. Jack nodded, listening intently and trading some ideas back and forth, asking about some of his patients from the previous night too.
After their briefing was done, he gave Robby a look
“Soo…” he began.
“What?” Robby asked, confused.
“You seemed to be looking pretty hard after that new med student, anything the matter with that?”
Jack was pretty perceptive, you had to be in his line of work. Robby still thought he was a bit too perceptive.
“Who, Whittaker?” Robby ventured, even though the answer was obvious. Jack just gave him a look.
“Yea, kid was unhoused… I offered him a room so we’ve been sharing a space for the past two weeks or so… but he’s just- awkward. He’s a good kid, he’s got a lot of compassion and a big heart. I think he’ll make a great doctor but I worry that Emergency Med isn’t really his thing. It looks like it’s draining the life out of him.” Robby tugged his ear, still mulling it over.
“Hmm.” Jack nodded, tilting his head and scratching it, “well to be fair, it drains us all. This line of work’ll probably kill me one day.”
Robby chuckled wryly in agreement.
“But Robby, that’s not exactly what I was asking about.”
“Wwwwhat do you mean?” Robby furrowed his eyebrows, the tiredness of the day threatening to overwhelm him. Jack squinted
“Nothing, I guess.” he gave him one last lingering look, then went to go catch up with the patients of his shift.
Robby was left alone in confusion. He shook it off, walking to the lockers and getting his stuff, looking forward to seeing Donna and her husband at Applebees.
“He was talking about Whittaker, Rob, God, how slow could you be?” Donna asked, peering at the doctor over her readers.
“Well… I mean yea obviously I know that, it was the later questions that were confusing." Robby laughed at his friend, the scrutiny tickling him.
“Rob!”
“What?” he held up his hands in defense.
Donna let out an incredulous huff.
“You’ve clearly got a soft spot for the kid! And don’t tell me you don't, I’ve seen you steer him around the Pitt like you’re his seeing eye dog. A bad look for him too, when the rest of the med students seem to be doing just fine without that kind of pandering.”
Rob’s smile froze on his face.
“Wha..? no! I think you’re reading too much into it, we barely talk outside of professional conversation. I swear… I’m his attendant, I'm his boss for christ’s sake!” Robby protested, rehashing every reason he had told himself over and over again the second he had caught himself thinking of Whitaker as attractive.
“Look. I'm not saying that it’s unprofessional, but I'm not sure that lying to yourself is the best way to approach this. You gotta remember that showing favoritism will eventually hurt the kid more than help him.” Donna laughed at him with her eyes crinkling and mouth turned slightly down. “And I, for one, see a lot of promise in that one. Don’t spoil it.”
“Can we just eat? And not talk about work? I don’t want to deal with it right now.” Robby sighed, annoyed that he couldn't seem to escape the conversation he desperately wasn’t trying to have with anyone he worked with.
“It’s not gonna go away, but okay, let’s ignore it for now.” Donna leaned forward, shoveling alfredo into her mouth still maintaining a withering look at Rob.
“Thanks.” Rob said tightly, his lips in a thin line.
They continued their dinner, updating each other on this and that, commiserating about different patients and recalling different stories before finishing and saying goodbye.
“It’s not going away.” Donna said as a reminder after giving the taller man a brief side squeeze.
“I'll deal.” Rob walked to his truck in the dark.