Chapter Text
Dennis has a policy about the personal lives of his coworkers: he sees nothing, he knows nothing, and he will certainly not tell anybody else about anything, not that he ever knew anything in the first place.
He adopted this policy when he accidentally broke the news to Robby that Collins was both leaving and adopting a baby. (In his defense, Trinity, it would have been insane to assume a lowly MS4 knew personal news about a senior resident before the department chair, and it’s not his fault that nobody ever told him their “lore.”) He watched part of Robby’s soul die, right there in the hallway outside of North 13, and he vowed that he would never again be the bearer of hospital gossip.
What he may or may not have seen this morning in the parking garage is not shaking his resolve in the least. If anything, it’s only strengthened his commitment to the cause. He would like to be far, far away when Trinity learns anything about it, because she’s still weird about Langdon (no matter what she says) and she’s weirdly protective of Mel (he said what he said).
Still, it doesn’t surprise him when Langdon sidles up to him and sticks close to him throughout rounds. He’d rather get it out of the way, actually, so he turns to him expectantly when they wrap up, and the other residents scatter to their newly assigned patients.
“Dr. Whitaker, a word?” Langdon asks, voice overly polite, and Dennis trails behind him. Langdon leads them into the break room, which is a safe bet so soon after shift change.
Dennis has a choice: let Langdon stew for a minute and break the ice, or put him out of his misery.
He stares at Langdon, eyebrows raised, and waits. He’s never pretended not to be petty.
“Look, I imagine you don’t want to talk about this, and I’m sorry for putting you in a potentially uncomfortable position,” Langdon says after 20 seconds of silence. Easy. “I just wanted to ask if you could exercise some, uh, discretion in who you tell about anything. And also reassure you that everything’s above board. We’re filing paperwork with HR later today.”
Dennis opens his mouth, ready to reassure him, maybe mention his policy, but Langdon keeps talking, running a hand through his hair and looking genuinely distressed.
“I’m sorry for making you talk about it now, but I’m just nervous about word getting out too soon, since things are pretty new, and I really want Mel to feel good about things.” He grimaces. “I mean, I want things to actually be good, not just, like, lie to her, or something.” The grimace melts into a frown. “Not that I mean you would make things not good. Intentionally. Or unintentionally, I guess.” He sighs and crosses his arms, which tends to raise Dennis’s hackles, since it usually looks like Langdon is trying to flex on him, but it seems more defensive rather than aggressive now. “I’m sorry. Which I’ve said, a weird number of times. I just love her, and I don’t want a bet or something to make her overthink things on day two, y’know.”
Dennis blinks. That was a lot of information. Too much information, maybe, especially because he literally hasn’t even said anything yet.
“Ok, I’m done word vomiting,” Langdon says, like that’s a normal way to end an apology (is that what this is supposed to be? Or is it a plea?).
“You love her but today’s only your second day together?” Dennis asks, which isn’t what he meant to say. Langdon looks sheepish, his mouth opening again (not that it ever really closed), and Dennis remembers that he doesn’t actually want to know anything. “Nevermind. Forget I asked that. My lips are sealed.” Langdon squints at him, like he fully doesn’t believe him, but he’s not in a position to call him out. Dennis sighs. “Seriously. I don’t want to get involved in anything or spread anyone’s business. We’re here to do a job. You do your job, I do my job, and that’s that.”
Langdon lets out a long breath, shoulders loosening, and Dennis is surprised to find that he’s kind of endeared by how much he seems to care about this. “Thanks, man.”
“No problem.” Dennis does what Trinity calls his “polite white person smile” and starts inching towards the door. Langdon slides his phone out of his pocket, and Dennis sees his escape. “I’ll see you out there?”
“For sure.”
Dennis leaves the break room with a sigh, but has to stop immediately so that he doesn’t crash into Mel, who’s hovering in the hallway, wringing her hands and wearing the anxious expression that makes Trinity compare her to a nauseous bunny.
“Hi Mel,” he says cautiously. “You good? Because I’m good.” Her expression doesn’t change. He tries again, leaning a little closer and dropping his voice. “Your secret’s safe with me.”
“Oh!” Mel says, straightening up and breathing out. She also pitches her voice lower. “Thank you very much for your discretion.”
She scurries away, doing her little Mel walk-run, and Dennis is really ready to be a doctor, which is what he should have been doing this whole time.
Then he wants to kick himself for not realizing it immediately: he has insider information on one of the hottest bets in the Pitt, one he’s stayed out of up to now. This is his chance to finally make some money back. He sets out to find Ahmad, a spring to his step.
Maybe it’s not always bad to know things about his coworkers.