Work Text:
It wasn’t until Eric was in the car, driving to work, that he realized that he was completely screwed. Glancing up to his rearview mirror, he had caught a glimpse of the full moon, and groaned internally. He didn’t care how much science came out to disprove it, he had been an ER nurse for long enough to know that nothing good ever happened during full moons.
No wonder there had been a staffing shortage tonight. He never should have picked up that damn call from his manager. It was too late to back out now though. He had already agreed to come in for the night shift.
Clocking in, he walked over to the board to see who was working tonight. At least Lardo, Chowder, and Dex were on tonight as well. He walked to the break room to drop off his bag, and found Lardo inside.
They looked up at him in surprise, “What are you doing here?” they asked. “I thought you were off until Sunday.”
Bitty shrugged helplessly. “Johnson called me and asked me to work overtime tonight… Lord knows why I said yes.”
Lardo grimaced. “Come on, you know better than to pick up a call from the charge nurse on a day off after working three in a row already. And on a full moon too!”
“Yeah, who knows why I did. At least I get to see you… We keep on missing each other on shifts. I saw both of us, Chowder, and Dex are on triage tonight. Do you know what docs are on call tonight?”
Lardo’s face pinked up. “I saw Shitty in the hallway so I know he’s here, but I don’t know who else. Maybe Nursey as well? You know he loves hectic nights.”
Bitty gave Lardo a sly look. “You ever gonna get the guts to ask Dr. Knight out? Y’all are a mess.”
Lardo grunted in response, “Our relationship is purely professional,” but the growing blush across their face let Eric know that they were lying.
Laughing quietly at Lardo, he held the door open for them, and the two of them walked over to the nurses station to get report from the off coming nurse and participate in huddle. Johnson, their charge nurse, gave his usual confusing, mysterious pep talk and then dropped another bombshell.
“So, I know it’s the full moon, but I heard JCAHO might be stopping by for an inspection. There was an audible groan heard from the group of huddled nurses and PCTs. JCAHO, or The Joint Commission, was the organization that inspected hospitals for safety violations, and while they were important, it also meant that they wouldn’t be able to eat or drink at all during the shift in case JCAHO dropped by.
“Well doesn’t this night just keep getting better and better,” Dex drawled once huddle had ended and the four of them were heading over to the triage area. “Our shifts have barely started, and I’m already counting down the minutes to 7am.”
Being assigned to triage was always hectic. Their jobs were to assess how seriously injured or sick each patient was that walked through the ER doors, give care to stabilize each patient as needed, and then to assign them to another area of the ER or hospital depending on the severity of the patient’s illness.
Less than five minutes later, they got the notification from EMS that there had been a massive car pile up on the highway and that dozens of patients were incoming. Bracing themselves for the chaos that was coming for them, Bitty and his coworkers rushed to different rooms, making sure that they all had the supplies they’d need. Several of the incoming patients had sustained serious trauma, and so would require more intense attention. The fact that they were already understaffed definitely didn’t help the situation.
Once the first ambulance arrived Bitty wasn’t able to take even a minute break for hours, rushing from one room to another, starting IVs, drawing labs, and helping wherever he could. One of the patients had ended up having a crushed upper airway, and had needed to be intubated and resuscitated, and while they were able to get her temporarily stabilized long enough to transport her to the ICU, Bitty had seen enough trauma to know that she probably wouldn’t be alive for much longer.
Stacking the chaos of the car crash victims on top of the normal levels of people coming into the ER, Bitty was completely frazzled. Around 1am, he was coming back from cleaning up an absolutely massive code brown, when he bumped into a sturdy figure. If the other man hadn’t reached out to grab Bitty, he might have fallen down.
“Oh my goodness, I’m sorry honey,” Bitty rambled. “Do you need something?”
The other man cleared his throat nervously. “Umm, my name is Jack. Jack Zimmermann, and I think my wrist’s broken so I was sent here…”
When Bitty didn’t react at all to his name, Jack seemed to relax marginally, but Bitty was too tired to think about why that might be or to think about how attractive Jack was.
“Ok, well, unfortunately all of our rooms are filled up with people from the big car crash on the highway, so you’ll have to stay in the triage area for a while. I should be able to get the doctor over to place a cast. Why don’t you follow me?” Bitty turned and walked away, trusting Jack to follow him.
“Would it be okay for me to let the person with me come sit with me in whatever room you put me in… he’s out in the waiting room.”
Bitty nodded. “Yeah sure, just text him and he can meet you back here.”
Once he had gotten Jack settled, Bitty prodded and inspected Jack’s arm. “Yeah, this is definitely broken. I’ll be back in a minute.”
He paged Dr. Nurse and went to get the supplies for setting the cast, checking in with his other patients quickly before returning to Jack’s room. Knocking on the door before making his way in, he stopped in his tracks upon seeing who was with Jack.
“Oh my god, you’re Kent Parson,” he said reverently. “I’m… I’m a big fan.” Bitty immediately blushed and apologized. “Oh my goodness me, that was so unprofessional, forget that I ever said anything.”
Kent laughed and nudged Jack. “So he recognizes me and is a fan, but has no idea who you are, huh?”
Jack rolled his eyes and grumbled, “Whatever… I have more points this season than you anyways, so who cares if someone doesn’t know who I am?”
Kent turned back to Bitty and gave him a dazzling smile. “Always good to meet a fan… You watch the falcs?”
Bitty nodded. “Yeah… I was never that into hockey. I was an ice skater. But once you came out and then were traded here I’ve been a fan.” He picked at his nails, “My name is Eric, and I wouldn’t normally share this with a patient or anything, but I’m trans too and you coming out meant a whole lot to me… I fought for so long to compete in men’s categories and I think it’s just wonderful that you’re showing everybody that you can play sports and be queer… sorry for rambling, I’ll shut up now.”
Kent looked touched. “Don’t apologize. I’m glad I could make people feel more included in sports. I always love talking to people like you.”
Bitty felt himself blush a little bit, but pushed down any butterfly feelings he was having. Yes, he had a crush on Kent Parson, but who wouldn’t. And plus, wasn’t he dating a teammate… A Jack something? Bitty froze as the realization washed over him and he turned to Jack blushing.
“Oh my, why didn’t I recognize you? Wow, two NHL players… Your coming out meant a lot to me too sweetheart, sorry if I made you feel left out of the party.”
Jack waved him off. “I honestly prefer when I’m not recognized.” He looked over at Kent lovingly, “But this asshole just loves to run his mouth and bring attention to me, eh? Who knows why I like him.”
Kent leaned over to give Jack a chaste kiss. “Because you love me.”
Bitty felt like he was intruding on a private moment, and turned around to shuffle around with the medical supplies on the tabletop. He startled when Kent spoke to him.
“So, how’s your night going Eric?”
Bitty let out a huff. “Very busy, but it is what it is.”
Before the three of them could talk any more, Nursey arrived and started setting Jack’s arm and explaining what was going to happen. Once he had left, Bitty turned back to them.
“So, did you break it in a game or practice or something… I thought it was the off season?” Bitty asked as they passed the time waiting for the cast to dry. Jack blushed deeply, and Kent let out a loud cackle.
“He wishes,” Kent finally got out after he stopped laughing. “Nah, he was trying to take night time pictures of the moon at a lake and a goose charged at him from behind, flapped up on his back, and knocked him over… broke it trying to break his fall with his hands.”
Bitty looked alarmed and put his hand over his mouth. “Oh my, I didn’t know that geese could be so aggressive.”
“Yeah, go figure,” Jack said. “Now I’m going to be chirped to hell and back by all my teammates about this. I’m sure Kent has already texted everybody to let them know.”
Kent made exaggerated kissing noises, “You know it babe. Tater says that he’ll come with us next time so he can protect you from all the scary waterfowl that might come after you.”
Bitty laughed. “Well, it was nice meeting both of you. I hope your wrist heals well… remember don’t stick anything in it even if it's itchy and come back immediately if your fingers start going numb or you have excruciating pain! I need to get back to my other patients.”
Kent and Jack wished him good luck on the rest of his shift, and Bitty thought that that would be it. He had met his crush and role model and his admittedly hot boyfriend, and now they’d never see each other in-person again.
But that wasn’t what happened. Two weeks later, Jack and Kent came back, but this time it was Kent who needed medical attention. Bitty ushered them into a room.
“What happened this time?” he asked.
Kent grimaced. “Well… I got bit by a goose and I want to make sure it didn’t have rabies or something.”
Bitty stared at them disbelievingly. “Another goose attack? Someone needs to be calling animal patrol if they’re just attacking people regularly.”
That day was surprisingly quiet, although Bitty wouldn’t dare say that word out loud, and so while they were waiting for the blood test to come back, the three of them talked. Bitty didn’t want to be conceited, but it almost seemed like Jack and Kent were flirting with him. He was quick to dismiss this thought. Maybe they were just both natural flirts. That didn’t stop Bitty’s growing crush or him flirting back, but he tried to remind himself of the fact that Jack and Kent were together.
One week later, Kent came back again, this time after hitting his head after being pushed into the lake by a goose.
“Maybe it’s time y’all stay away from that lake for a while,” Bitty joked. Kent nodded in agreement.
It only took until Bitty’s very next shift two days later for Jack and Kent to come back to the Emergency Room looking ragged.
“What happened this time?” Bitty cried out in exasperation.
Jack simply pointed behind him towards the sliding doors to the hospital and Bitty looked to see what must have been at least two dozen geese standing outside.
“Every time we leave the house geese chase us!” Jack complained. “It’s not like I’ve ever fed the geese or anything, and now they’re not even staying by the lake… they’ve been sitting outside our house, just waiting for us.”
Bitty couldn’t believe what was happening. “And why did you come here then?”
Kent blushed. “Well… the geese were herding us in this direction and honestly… we kind of wanted to see you and ask you something.”
Bitty had never seen Kent look so nervous before.
“What is it?” Bitty asked.
“Well, uh… you’ve been so good to us, and we were wondering if you’d like to go out to dinner with us sometime? No pressure of course!” He rushed to assure.
Jack chimed in, “As in a date… get dinner as a date.”
Bitty felt a little hurt. Did they know about his crush on them and were trying to play a joke on him? “Are y’all serious?”
Jack and Kent looked at each other, before nodding in confirmation. “Very serious,” Jack added. “We think you’re really funny and smart and cute, so yeah… you’re a real catch Eric.”
Kent winked at Bitty. “Jack’s got a real type, you see. Snarky blondes who are way smarter than him.”
Bitty giggled at the same time that Jack flicked Kent in retaliation. Bitty stared at them intently, trying to figure out whether they were sincere.
When he saw only hopeful interest in both of their faces, he relaxed slightly. “I can’t date patients, and I’ve never dated more than one person before, but as long as y’all stop getting hurt, then I’d like that.”
“Wow, Eric, you won’t regret this!” Jack exclaimed, before lowering his voice. “Could I maybe kiss you?”
Bitty looked around and didn’t see anybody nearby, and then nodded. Jack tugged him into a gentle kiss that lasted for a couple seconds before Kent pulled Bitty away from Jack and laid a much more dirty kiss on Bitty.
When they broke for air, Jack nudged them, and in a voice filled with wonder, said, “Hey, guys look… the geese are leaving.”
Eric looked over and all but one goose had left. The remaining goose seemed to stare the three of them down for several more seconds before turning and waddling away itself.
“What the fuck?” Kent whispered. “Did… did we just get wingmanned by a group of geese?”
Jack snorted. “Wingmanned… by geese.” Kent shot him a look that said ‘I love you, you dork.’
Bitty looked between the two of them and smiled. “My shift ends at 7pm tonight… wanna get dinner afterwards, I’m off for three days after this.”
“Sounds good, as long as you won’t be exhausted,” Kent replied and Jack backed him up.
“Yeah. I’m sure you’ll be super tired after your long day… why don’t we get dinner tomorrow if that works for you?”
Bitty nodded. “Yeah, that’s probably a good idea. Wanna share our phone numbers so we can get in contact with each other?”
The three of them inputted each other’s numbers into their phones, and Bitty sighed. “Well boys, I need to get back to work, so I’ll see you tomorrow.”
As Jack and Kent turned to leave, Bitty called out one more thing. “And call me Bitty, that’s what all of my friends call me.”
Jack gave Bitty the same fond look, Bitty had seen him give Kent dozens of times. “Alright, Bitty… good luck and we’ll see you tomorrow.”
When the two of them left, Bitty essentially skipped back over to the nurse’s station. If this three way relationship ended up working out, maybe some good things could happen on full moon shifts.