Chapter Text
“How are you liking Pittsburgh, Whitaker?” Robby tilts his head in a way that could be genuine, but it’s hard to tell at times like these. Whitaker has seen him make this inquisitive gesture at dozens of patients and uncooperative family members. Here, in the staff lounge between bites of pizza someone had delivered, the head tilt could be a strategic deployment of charm just as easily as it could be authentic curiousity. He wants Robby to care about him more than the others, but he’s been refusing to touch that thought since he found the man praying in Pedes.
“Pittsburgh’s nice,” Whitaker shrugs. “Dr. Santos took me line dancing at Belvederes last weekend. Have you ever been?”
It’s a calculated question that he’s workshopped in his head. Line dancing at Belevederes was a decidedly queer event, and even though it was mostly women with bold haircuts, he wanted to know if Dr. Robby would be aware of a place like that. Whitaker had his suspicions when he heard Myrna call his Attending “fruitcake,” but he didn’t want to embarrass himself with a half-baked assumption.
“I’ve never been a big dancer,” Robby smiles as he shakes his head. “Dr. Abbot and I used to go to 5801.” His eyebrows rose an increment. Barely that. It was a blink-and-you’d-miss-it look. “You been there?” The last word came out slightly hoarse.
Whitaker felt his chest flutter, which he was only 50% sure was psychosomatic and not arrhythmia. He had been to 5801. Once, on his own when he was still… still figuring his living situation out. That night had felt like going to a gay bar out of the movies: pounding pop music and men. Oh my god, the men. Dennis knew logically about gay bars. He knew that he was in a fairly progressive city and there would be spaces where gay people gathered, but to be in the pulsing center of it was a whole other thing. There, people could be themselves unapologetically. They weren’t ashamed of their desire for each other. The first time a guy looked him head to toe and smiled at him like he was a piece of meat, Whitaker’s face flushed and his heart thumped. Much like now, as Robby leans forward in his seat and rests his elbows against his knees.
Whitaker bobs his head slowly. What can he even say to something like that? It was a simple question, but it was also asking for a confession. Now they both knew they were men who had been to 5801.
Robby exhales thoughtfully. “Maybe I’ll see you around there sometime.”
Whitaker’s mouth falls open in revelatory wonder. Robby wasn’t just asking for confession, he wanted to confess too.
A shy smile blooms on Whitaker’s lips and he musters up the courage to give Robby a gift in exchange. “Yeah, I was thinking of going Friday night, maybe.”
Robby’s smile widens too. “Cool.” His voice is still a little breathy. “Cool.” He squeezes Whitaker’s knee briefly. The touch is there for a second and then it isn’t, but it still sends Whitaker’s heart into a frenzy. At least he was already in the ER if he went into cardiac arrest.
Robby gets up and leaves Whitaker alone in the staff lounge. Their eyes meet one last time before Robby turns the corner. Whitaker is taken aback by how much Robby can convey in a single look, and vows to do whatever he can to get Robby to look at him like that again.