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It was not necessarily a bad shift per se, but for it to be a good one would take a lot. Jack was used to these shifts, usually taking a longer route home after them to clear his head a little bit while walking, today was no exception to this tradition of his, so the moment the day shift rolled in, he bid goodbye to his colleges and was out the door in no time. The dimly lit streets were a pleasant change from the bright fluorescent lights in the ER and after the long twelve hours Jack finally relaxed a bit. He could see the light beginning to show on the horizon as the dawn was close, but didn’t put much mind to it as he was likely to arrive home before the sunrise came.
During his walk, he slowly started making mental notes of all the pains and aches in his body, making plans on how to deal with them when he got home. Most of them would go away on their own once he finally got his good day’s sleep, but the throbbing headache along with the tension in his shoulders would probably need some more attention. He quickened his tempo to get home faster. The thoughts of his husband completely overtaking the ones of his pain.
When he got close to their shared house he noticed the light was on in the living room and the kitchen, he hasn’t expected Robby to be up at this hour as it was his day off today. Robby had a habit of sleeping at least until ten or eleven AM when he didn’t need to get up to work so this sight stroke Jack as quite odd. On the other hand he could talk to his husband and vent as soon as he got home so Jack just quietly thanked the universe and dug up his keys.
Right before Jack opened the door he heard loud music along with cacophony of other unidentifiable sounds, curious about this he did his best to stay quiet so that he could find the scene undisturbed and to not scare Michael. The sight that awaited him inside was...chaotic, at best.
Michael in the kitchen, a disheveled look plastered on his face, was frantically looking around, while the pan he put on the stove was angrily hissing at him. Around him were scattered bowls, plates, cups and different measuring tools along with ingredients for whatever meal he was trying to make. The smell of burnt food filled Jack’s nostrils, but he couldn’t stop watching the man he loves panicking over the mess he had made. On a closer inspection, Jack noticed that Robby had patches of flour on his shirt and trousers, presumably from wiping his dirty hands on them, his clothing seemed to be his main target as along with the flour there were stains of sauces, oils and gods know what else. The floor and the kitchen counter were not really in a better state either since they were covered in these mysterious substances as well.
Seeing this domestic scene Jack’s heart filled with love almost instantly. He began to slowly approach his spouse. Robby didn’t even hear the door opening so when he went to turn around and saw the tired old man right behind him he almost got a heart attack, jolting a bit as his body prepared for a burglar or a murderer, thankfully it was just his lovely man coming home (this thought made Micheal feel a bit like a house wife, him in the kitchen, waiting for his husband to come home…). A smile slowly spread across his face, previous thoughts completely forgotten, Jack smiled back at him, his smile filled with amusement and a little (a lot) of questioning and judgment.
“Watcha’ doin’ here brother?”
“What’s it look like I’m – shit! Fuuuck!”
Their attention was quickly diverted to the now almost screaming pan of hot oil and what looked like some poor child’s science project in it. Robby moved fast to try and contain this wailing monster he had created, turning the heat down and pulling the pan away. Once he did that he turned his attention to a pot that was currently containing a soup-ish liquid and cursed again.
Looking at the remains of the attempted soup in the pot, Micheal let out an aspirated sigh, prodding the jelly-like creature left at the bottom of the pot like it owed him a liver “Guess the store bought broth was a stock in the end.” Jack just looked at Michael baffled, not having the slightest idea what was Robby talking about, but laughing at it nonetheless. “Want some help? With...everything?” Michael turned his head away trying to hide the redness now spreading from his cheeks to the tips of his ears as well.
“Maybe? A little…” Jack just chuckled at this and sprung into action. Grabbing the paper towels to wipe away the mess and instructing Michael to turn off the heat on the stove and wash some of the dishes around them.
“Why did you use so many bowls? There are two things on the stove...” Jacks tone remained full of love but he couldn’t hide the amusement that refused to leave his features.
“I needed a bowl for each spice, the recipe had photos with the ingredients and they used those…. small bowls..? for each spice, we don’t have the tiny ones so I just used these…”
“...and the plates?”
“these had the vegetables for the soup, the potatoes and this one has the meat, this one the flour, here are the eggs and this one is for the breadcrumbs.” Robby said while pointing to each plate as if to highlight the importance of them.
“Let me guess, this was how the vegetables were posed in the recipe?” Jack was fully laughing at his husband now.
“no...they were on some cutting boards, but we only have two and I used them to cut the vegetables later so I couldn’t….stop laughing Jack, I tried you know?” Despite his words, Michael was laughing with Jack, his actions looking more ridiculous to him with each passing minute as well.
“I know, but why were you cooking anyway, we could have ordered some take out?”
“I wanted to surprise you, Shen called that the shift was a bit rough and that you were a bit out of it towards the end, so I thought you’d appreciate some real food.”
Jack’s heart absolutely melted at this confession. His eyes softening with adoration.
“That’s sweet, thank you baby.” Jack went in for a hug and pressed a kiss to Robby’s cheek.
Once they were done with the cleaning of the crime scene, Jack planned the proceedings of the upcoming battle of cooking a meal. “What were you planning on cooking?” “chicken soup and schnitzel with mashed potatoes…?” “Alright, let’s save what we can brother, ok?”
They moved in sync, Jack occasionally directing Robby on what to do. First they put the potatoes on the stove to let them cook there for a while, then they finished frying the meat, Robby covering it in the spices, flour, eggs and breadcrumbs and Jack doing the actual frying. They had made a deal, that they will eat this first, Jack would go wash away the long night, get a few hours of sleep and then they would remake the soup (or rather, Jack will remake it and Michael will chop the ingredients). So once finished with the potatoes and the meat they took the meal to their dining table and started eating.
“So, wanna talk about your shift?” Jack just looked at him with exhausted eyes, took a deep breath and took another bite of the food. Robby let him think for a while and in the meantime lowered the volume on his music.
After a short while he nodded and shared what happened during the shift. He told his partner about the car crash patients, a married couple both on the brink of death, but only one of them made it back to the realm of living, about the veteran suicide attempt and about the med students whom he had to teach, which just added to the feeling of being pulled in all the directions of the ED at once and the last drop in the already filled to the brim cup that was a young patient’s mother, who believed that Google is a far better physician than an actual certified doctor, her Facebook mom group is more accurate than a medical book and who wouldn’t take no for an answer. Also about the fact that his prosthetic was causing him more discomfort than normally since he put it on. All of that just made Jack long for the roof, however by the end of the shift he was so tired and just ready to go home to his bed and his husband, that he never went to their spot on the roof of the hospital but straight home instead.
Michael was intently listening the whole time his spouse was speaking, turning the music off completely once Jack started talking, putting his big hand on Jack’s smaller one somewhere in the middle of the story, he knew how seemingly trivial things could push a person over the edge, having his own personal experience with it and wanted to protect his loved ones from it as much as he could or at least help them through it.
When Jack finished talking Michael shot him a heart warming smile reassuring him that he’s there for him, he knew how they both often tended to put their walls up and drown in their own worries, as it was what they did their whole lives.
Jack let his body and mind relax a bit more, despite knowing how much venting helped and that talking about his shift with his husband was in his plan for when he came home anyway, he still struggled with sharing his emotions, which he felt others wouldn’t want to hear so whenever he or Robby achieved their common therapy goal, to share their emotions, he immediately felt lighter and proud.
With his brain letting go of some of the anxieties of the night it brought different thoughts to the front of his mind, the realization of his tiredness and bodyaches, at the end of the day, he wasn’t getting younger and his joints and muscles never forgot to remind him of that. He rolled his head in an attempt to lessen the pain in his trapezius and groaned a bit doing so, which earned him a raised eyebrow from Michael.
“D’you feel well, baby?” “Yeah, yeah, just tired, I’m gonna go have that shower now, thank you again for this, sweetheart.” “Nothing to thank me for, Jack, you had to basically make the meal yourself.” Robby laughed but Jack could feel the slight self consciousness in his voice. “Not true, Mike. I would argue with you longer and help you with the dishes, but if I delay this shower any more, I will fall asleep on my way there instead in our bed.” Jack felt proud that he made Michael laugh with this, gave him a quick kiss and went to the bathroom.
Robby spent a few minutes washing the whole kitchen from top to bottom getting all the mess they haven’t cleaned earlier as well as the newly made one and after that headed to their shared bedroom.
A plan has formed in Michael’s head. He started looking through their cabinets and drawers to find what he was looking for. Once he found it he held it victoriously in his hand.
A rose scented body lotion; while they bought it together, Michael very rarely used it himself, having only a hand cream and a few beard products to his name, the lotion being used mostly by Jack. After putting in on the bedside table he went to the bathroom. First he knocked on the door, if Jack wanted to be alone, he would respect it, but was more than thrilled when a muffled ‘come in’ was heard from the other side.
When he opened the door it felt as if he had walked into a sauna with how much steam hit him in the face, thankfully both of them enjoyed long hot showers after a long shift so he didn’t let this scare him away.
“Will you join me or is your plan to just watch?” Jack loved making his husband flustered with his comments and couldn’t help but grin when he caught Robby getting absolutely red in the face.
“Uuhmm...well..I..I..Wa-wanted to join in…?” Michael rubbed his hand on the back of his neck, his initial confidence slowly leaving his body.
“Just get naked and hop in already, or the water will get cold.” Jack said and chuckled at his husband. Michael didn’t waste a second, he could never resist a hot shower, nor his husband, his clothes were thrown to the side, his hoodie landing on Jack’s prosthetic but by that time the man himself was already under the water.
Michael offered to wash Jack’s back and hair. Making sure to detangle the younger man’s curls when he put in the conditioner and letting it sit for a bit. Jack used this and got up to help Robby with his own hair, but Robby just took Jack’s hands in his own and placed a kiss on the inside of Jack’s palms.
“Just let me take care of you, baby. You’ve had a long enough night, let me do this for you.” Jack just looked into his partner’s eyes and seeing all the love and care in them made his eyes gloss over with tears, but he didn’t allow them to fall, instead he just looked down and let his hands fall next to his body, sitting back down on the shower chair, allowing Michael to do whatever he needed.
When they were done, they got out of the shower, Robby gave Jack his elbow crutches and they went into their bedroom. Robby grabbed the lotion from the nightstand and explained to Jack that if he’d be interested he could try and massage his shoulders to help him relax some more. From time to time one of them offered a massage to the other one, both having learned some techniques from their previous partners.
Once Robby got started Jack almost immediately felt the tension leave his sore muscles.
It didn’t take long for Robby’s ministrations to lull Jack to sleep. Michael made sure that his husband slept in a comfortable position so that he wouldn’t wake up with more pain, picked up his phone and read some of the articles Google has suggested to him on his homepage.
After an hour or so Michael got up to catch up on a book he was reading and also on some of The Great British Bake Off episodes Jack watched without him earlier this week. When Jack woke up later, around five o’clock, he came to the living room, where they both cuddled up on the couch.
“Should we watch another episode of the bake off...or, should we watch some other series?” “Which one are you thinking about, sweetheart?” “I donno, perhaps one set in the future, in a spaceship, on a mission to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before?” They were both grinning from ear to ear. “Alright, I like your thinking, darling, however, which star trek series are we watching? I call for The next generation.” “Oh come on Jack, we both know the Original series is better…” “Do we know it..?”
They were both pleasantly surprised at the beginning of their relationship when they had learned that they are both trekkies, but in the same moment started a little fight between the two of them, Robby is more of a TOS fan, whereas Jack likes TNG more, and so whenever they decide to watch one of the series, they either have to choose any other or they have a long debate about which series is more worth their time. This time Jack won, getting the TV remote and finding a good episode. They settled back onto the couch, Michael taking Jack’s legs and putting them over his and throwing his arm around Jack’s shoulders. When the episode ended they stayed in each other’s embrace for a little longer, sitting in a comfortable silence. After a while they got up and went to make the chicken soup they agreed on.