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There was a point in time in which Frank Langdon had the hots for one Jack Abbot. But, to be extremely fair, it almost had seemed like a rite of passage to crush on one of the two biggest attending doctors from either the day or night shift. Everywhere you turned, new staff members—doctors and nurses alike—would be talking about just how fine Dr. Robby and Dr. Abbot were.
Frank, of course, had been no exception.
During his 4th year as a med student, he’d joined the PTMC alongside Heather and Samira, who were a medical student his equal (Heather) and a student one year under (Samira). The trio of them had been thrust into the chaos of The Pitt, though, at the time, they hadn’t exactly given the place that nickname yet.
It had been around that time when Heather and Robby got on; they’d dated, briefly, though rather intimately. Frank had never asked for specifics about what had happened to lead to their break-up, but he figured he’d find out if either of them wanted him to know. Back then, Frank hadn’t been as much of an asshole as he currently is. He had figured that, probably, it had to do with a lot of factors during those years at PTMC.
At that time, Frank hadn’t yet noticed Abbot.
It wouldn’t happen until Frank became a second year resident. After working under, and with, Jack Abbot for so many years, Frank had finally started to notice—Wow, Doctor Abbot is… hot. Really, really hot.
Heather had found out immediately, of course, but Samira had been none the wiser until after Frank’s crush on Abbot had all but disappeared. He had spent eight long months mooning over Abbot until he had noticed there was something else going on between their two attendings. It would be easy to miss if you didn’t work with Robby and Abbot for days on end, 12 hours or sometimes more a day. It’d been slow, but easy to piece together: Robby and Abbot were something. Whether they were dating or figuring it out, Frank hadn’t known, but he knew—they were together, somehow.
He probably should have been jealous, really. Or maybe his “crush” on Abbot had simply been infatuation at its peak. Either way, the crush managed to fade nearly as quickly as it had grown, and Frank had benefited from it in the end.
Not that he’s had the best track record with relationships in general, both past and present, though there’s hardly anything presently going on in Frank’s life in the love department. Dating is rough when you’re a doctor, especially to people who can’t understand the busy schedules or don’t want to accept the fact that Frank loves his job and would never think about quitting for a single thing. Being a doctor is what Frank lives for.
He sighs as he rubs his hands along his face, nose and eyebrows scrunching up as he does. It’s not an ideal time to be worrying about his love life, considering he’s got at least four patients that need tending to at the moment, but work is just about the only place he can truly clear his head about things. Not to mention, seeing Robby and Abbot constantly shooting googly eyes at one another, even in their brief passings, makes it hard not to do so.
Frank drums his fingers against his knee as he turns in his chair, looking up at Heather, who’s currently charting at one of the computers.
“I got a question,” Frank says, mouth already open to start it.
Only Heather doesn’t let him get to it. “No.”
Frank’s eyebrows furrow. “You don’t even know what I was going to ask.”
Heather looks over the top of the computer, eyeing him. “I know it was going to be stupid.”
“Hey, no. I rescind that statement.”
“What do you want, Langdon?” Heather asks, reluctant, and Frank almost huffs.
He does pause, for a moment, before asking his question. It’s less to build up tension, and more to give himself the time to process his own words and repeat them carefully out loud. “Do you ever regret dating Robby?”
It was probably a bad idea to ask that kind of question when they’re out in the open like this, but Frank’s never been smart about those kinds of cues. Heather’s movements stop, hands hovering over her keyboard, before they pick up again. She stays quiet as she finishes off her charting, and once she’s done, Heather looks up at Frank and jerks her head towards the empty Central room behind her.
Frank gets up as she heads there, following after her, looking over his shoulders as he does. Just to make sure no one too nosy is watching them enter. When the door shuts behind them, Heather turns to Frank, arms crossed over her chest, and she lets out a quiet sigh.
“Do I ever regret dating Robby,” she repeats, less of a question and more of a statement, sighing heavier this time. “No… and yes. What we had was… good. It was good. The only regret that I have from our relationship is something much more personal to me, and I don’t—”
Frank shakes his head as he holds up his hands. “You’re good. Don’t gotta say it if you don’t feel comfortable with it.”
Heather offers him a small, but genuine and relieved smile, nodding. “Thanks. But, to answer your question in full: no, I don’t really regret dating Robby. Our relationship was good, he was good to me. Robby makes a good boyfriend when he’s… actually present and processing things about it.”
That makes a lot of sense. Robby is capable, and always has been, since Frank’s began working at PTMC. But they’ve been through a lot, especially the pandemic and COVID—and Frank suspects that year might have been a big reason as to why Robby and Heather broke up in the first place. He won’t bother asking for that confirmation, though.
Frank is too lost in his own thoughts to notice the gaze Heather is giving him, only looking up when she gently nudges his upper arm with her elbow.
“Are you thinking about dating Robby?” She asks, not necessarily accusatory, but definitely something.
“Oh, hell no.” Frank shakes his head quickly, face scrunching up slightly. “I love Robby, but—god, no. Especially since I’m pretty sure he and Dr. Abbot have something going on.”
Heather blinks, before an eyebrow arches. “Really?”
“Definitely. Have you seen the way Abbot looks at him? Sometimes I wonder if we’ve been dropped into fucking Grey’s Anatomy or whatever.” Frank runs his hands over his hair, then sighs. “No, it’s not Robby. I guess I was just wondering if having dated a coworker made things… weird or difficult around here.”
Heather looks over Frank’s shoulder, out the window of the room, before peering back at Frank. “So it’s not Robby, but you’re considering dating a coworker.”
“Not at the moment,” Frank acquiesces, dragging his hands down the back of his neck. “But… who knows, is all I’m getting at.”
Slowly, Heather shakes her head, uncrossing her arms as she steps up close to Frank. She lays a careful hand against Frank’s shoulder and squeezes it gently. “Just be careful, will you?”
Frank lets out a soft snort. “What, don’t trust me to make good decisions?”
Heather gives him a leveled look, showing that she doesn’t trust him in the slightest, before rolling her eyes, and Frank can’t help but laugh. She leaves the room first, and Frank waits a couple of moments before following suit.
He’s only given a couple of seconds to ruminate about it further before there’s shouting for Trauma Two, and he’s called into action by Robby.
The thing is, Frank doesn’t think he’d date a coworker. His past crush had been on Abbot, before realizing that would be a wash, and most everyone else working in the ED is either already married, or they’re dating. Finding another single candidate would probably be like finding a needle in a haystack. Frank’s not too sure he wants to go searching.
Today was a rough shift. Most days are in the Pitt, but there are good rough days and there are bad rough days. It was a bad rough day today, and Frank feels it in his bones. His feet have stuck him in front of the lockers, his forehead pressed against the cool metal. They lost a kid today—and to Frank, personally, those are the roughest losses they can have.
Someone shutting their locker close to him rouses Frank from his thoughts. He sighs as he stands up straight, grabbing his lock and twisting the dial for the code.
“You okay, Dr. Langdon?”
Just as Frank yanks the lock open, he turns to see Jesse standing next to him, his bag in hand, ready to go. Frank purses his lips slightly before dragging a hand across the side of his face. He shrugs, reaching into his locker to grab his stuff and pull it out. He closes his locker, careful to not slam it too hard, and peers up at Jesse with a somewhat weary gaze.
“Yeah,” Frank says, though he hardly means it. “Yeah, just—today was rough, you know? That kid…”
Jesse’s gaze and face turn sympathetic, though it’s not in a pitying way like most people’s. He’s a nurse, after all, and he understands. Not to mention, more than half the time these nurses will experience that same loss at the same time. Now that Frank thinks about it, Jesse had been one of the nurses helping the doctors out with Allen, the little boy they’d lost.
“You’re coming to the park tonight, right?” Jesse asks, lifting up his bag to his shoulder.
Admittedly, Frank hadn’t been planning on it, but on a night like tonight, it might be best to sit with his coworkers than go home alone and ruminate on the what ifs of their actions. Decompressing with the others would be good for him, so isn’t it best he tries to do something good for himself?
“Sure,” Frank says easily, throwing his backpack on. “Guess it couldn’t hurt, huh?”
Jesse chuckles and nods, turning on his heels to begin the trek out of the ED. Night shift staff members are taking their places, gathering the information needed from doctors and nurses alike. Frank glances at Robby and Abbot as he and Jesse pass them, the corner of his lips twitching into a small, knowing smile.
When they pass the threshold of the ED’s doors, Jesse’s leaning over into Frank’s space, mumbling into his ear. “You think the two of them are gonna admit to being together soon?”
Frank would startle if he wasn’t already privy to whatever it is their two attendings have going on. He huffs out some quiet laughter and shrugs, leaning back in close to Jesse to mumble, “Probably over our dead bodies. I think Abbot would rather serve again than talk openly about his love life with Robby at work.”
Jesse laughs, and it’s an angelic sound that Frank doesn’t remember ever having heard before. Probably because he hasn’t. Sure, he’s heard a lot of chuckles and huffs that could be laughs from many of his fellow doctors and nurses, but real, genuine laughs? Frank can’t remember a lot of those. Jesse’s laugh is so nice—it catches Frank off guard for a brief moment, his feet pausing for a split second that has him falling behind Jesse’s footsteps.
He’s quick to recover, though, as usual. Frank steps in line with Jesse as they walk to the park in front of the hospital, sat right between the two parking lots filled with patients’ cars.
Princess, Mateo, Donnie, and McKay are already gathered by the time he and Jesse arrive together. Frank’s not sure who else is going to join them. Princess opens up the cooler she’s sitting next to and digs out two beers, tossing them both in his and Jesse’s direction.
Frank is ready to catch his, but Jesse is the one who catches both of them instead. Frank’s left a little tongue-tied at the display, but he manages to take the beer can from Jesse with a mumbled thanks, grabbing the can’s tab and pulling it open. Jesse flashes him a small grin.
“What a day, huh?” Frank says into the rim of the can, taking a big gulp already.
Donnie snorts into his own can, shaking his head. “Man, don’t get me started.”
“Things could’ve gone worse, though.” Jesse drops his bag to the ground as he sits on the bench opposite of Donnie, Princess, and McKay. “We did great, despite everything.”
McKay chuckles from her spot on the other bench, nodding almost sagely. “Ever the optimist, Jesse.”
Frank’s gaze flicks between the two of them, before he moves to sit on the same bench as Jesse, right between him and Mateo. Though, Mateo is sitting on the back of the park bench, feet on the seat, leaning forward with his elbows against his knees. Not exactly the safest place to be sitting, but Frank’s sure that Mateo knows that.
“Someone’s gotta be around here,” Mateo says, leaning around Frank and clapping Jesse on the shoulder. “That’s the both of us, right?”
His actions make everyone laugh and chuckle, and Frank smiles against his own beer as he leans back against the bench. The nighttime air is cool, and there’s currently no sirens of an ambulance on their way to the ED bay. For now, there’s just their companionable conversations and the sounds of the city around them. Eventually, Heather and Samira join them, with Robby close behind, and the group of them spend a solid thirty minutes unwinding before they begin parting ways.
Frank checks the time with his phone, sighing at the time of 8:25 staring up at him. He’s gotta be back here in less than 12 hours, and he’s exhausted.
He finished off the last of his beer, crumpling the can in his hand as he stands from the bench.
“You off next, Dr. Langdon?” Donnie says, tilting his can in Frank’s direction.
“Gotta get that beauty sleep in.” Frank says, tossing the crushed up can into the trash bin nearby.
“You’re a little too late for beauty rest,” Heather muses, teases, really, and Frank feigns being offended as he throws his hands over his chest where his heart is.
“Ouch, Collins! I can’t believe you’d shoot your own colleague in the foot like that!”
Heather rolls her eyes, grinning, and a small grin comes to Frank’s face as well.
“Are you walking?” Jesse asks.
Frank nods, pulling on his backpack. “Yeah, I’m not really that far.”
Jesse downs the rest of his beer as he stands up, tossing the empty can into the trash as well. He offers Frank a small smile himself. “I’ll come with. Pretty sure we live in the same direction.”
“Keep an eye on him,” Heather says to Jesse, and Princess and Perlah both laugh to themselves, murmuring something in Tagalog to each other. “He’s a handful.”
“Ha ha.” Frank deadpans, giving Heather a look. Heather laughs into the back of her hand as Frank turns, starting to walk away from the park. He throws up a hand in a wave as he does. “See ya! Don’t freeze out here!”
Jesse catches up with Frank after a minute or so, and they walk in comfortable silence. Frank lives only about twenty minutes away from the hospital by foot, and he tells Jesse as much when they cross the street together. Jesse lives just as close, only a few blocks south of where Frank’s apartment is. When they get to the intersection where they have to part ways, Jesse pats the back of Frank’s shoulder, fingers sliding over the top of it and squeezing slightly.
“We should do this again,” Jesse says, flashing Frank a grin, and Frank can only nod. He’s a little taken aback, really, but maybe it’s good that he starts befriending more people outside of work.
“Sure,” Frank agrees, a little too easily, and Jesse’s eyes seem to be shining.
They part ways with a simple bye, and Frank’s feet carry him all the way home.
It becomes routine, after that. Some days, Frank and Jesse walk together to work, and after nearly every shift, they walk home. On the harder days, they sit in the park with their other coworkers and talk or laugh out their frustrations. Frank finds himself always looking for Jesse when he’s on shift, and on the days when Jesse is off, Frank finds himself missing him. And when Frank is off, he’s stuck wondering how Jesse is doing without him there.
He nearly feels like he had been when he first began working at PTMC, looking up at Abbot with the shiniest eyes in the world.
And Frank is realizing now that he might just have a type. Jesse is definitely older than him—perhaps not as old as Abbot and Robby, but still older, and his hair is just as grey and silver as Abbot’s. Curls cover the top of Jesse’s head and Frank really wants to know what it’d feel like to run his fingers through them.
It’s getting a bit hard, honestly, to focus at work when Jesse is constantly running around, tattooed arms all on display and being so utterly competent in his work. Seriously, even Frank is thinking to himself, how much more pathetic can he get?
He’s almost too done with himself to feel any sort of embarrassment about getting a second workplace crush to begin with. Maybe he should have just gotten on Hinge or Tinder or whatever, but no, he’s doomed to fall for the silver-haired men in the Pitt.
“You’re looking more pathetic than usual,” Heather tells him one day.
Frank feels more pathetic than he usually does, truthfully, as he groans and drops his head down to his desk. He can feel Dana’s eyes on him, too, eyeing him suspiciously. Frank lifts his head up as he runs his hands down the back of his head, eyes glancing between the two women.
“You’re going to love when I tell you why,” Frank mutters, already resigned.
Heather eyes him, then flicks her gaze over to Dana. Dana looks around Central for a brief moment, then moves to lean her back against the counter beside the desk Frank is sitting at.
“You do somethin’ stupid?” Dana asks, and Frank nearly rolls his eyes.
“Depends on how stupid you’d categorize crushes,” Frank says, sighing as he leans back in the chair.
Dana and Heather share a look, and Frank immediately regrets opening his mouth. He really hopes the ambulance bay opens up with a trauma that needs immediate help. Or, maybe, the Earth will open up and swallow him whole instead. Whichever comes first.
Unfortunately, neither of those things happen, and Dana and Heather are both leaning into Frank’s space like he’s the hottest shit since sliced bread.
“Again, Langdon?” Heather grins at him.
Dana snorts quietly, resting a hand against Frank’s shoulder. “Leave the poor kid alone. It’s rough out there.”
“Hey,” Frank huffs, pointing up at Heather. “You’ll be happy to know it’s not the same man as before.”
“Oh, I know.” Heather leans back slightly, her arms folded over the top of the Central counter above Frank’s desk. “We’ve been here for three years together—I already know your type, Langdon.”
Dana glances between them again, before she leans in close to Frank, speaking low. “Is it Robby?”
Frank snorts this time, shaking his head. “Geez, really? Collins thought that the first time, too.”
“It’s an easy guess to make,” Heather says, defending herself. “The one you do actually like doesn’t really help your argument in any way.”
“It’s not Abbot, is it?”
“Used to be,” Frank admits, looking up at Dana. “Not anymore. But, uh… well, I do have a type. Collins is right about that.”
The gears in Dana’s mind start working, slowly at first, before Frank can practically see the lightbulb going off above her head. He nearly laughs as Dana’s eyes go wide with her internal recognition, and she playfully shoves at Frank’s shoulder as she stands up straight.
“A real fox hunter, aren’t ya?” Dana teases, that shit-eating grin spread across her face.
Frank groans, dragging his hands down across his face. “Fuck. I regret absolutely everything that’s just happened.”
“Don’t worry, slugger,” Dana says, grabbing her clipboard. “Your secret’s safe with us.”
Unfortunately, Frank believes both of them, even though he knows they’re going to make his life hell. He makes it through the shift relatively unscathed, with only a few teasing jabs from Heather and Dana, their knowing gazes constantly following him around. He helps with two successful traumas, and a STEMI that ends up rolling through right towards the end of their shift.
Throughout the entire day, Jesse always seems to be within arm’s length, always giving Frank encouraging smiles or giving a witty remark to help him feel at ease. They banter, occasionally, back and forth if they’re working on the same patient together, and Frank knows that Heather is definitely keeping those interactions locked away to blackmail him with later.
“Hey,” Frank greets Jesse at the lockers, leaning against the metal, his arms crossed over his chest.
Jesse peers at him in a sideway glance, his hands currently occupied with his things inside his locker. “Hey,” he says, lips tilted up.
“So,” Frank feels like an awkward teenager, trying to figure out how to not make himself out to be a fool. “I was wondering, uh, when your next day off was.”
Jesse pulls out his jacket and his bag, locker door shutting a moment later. He turns to Frank a second later, shoulder leaning into his locker, one eyebrow quirked up. “I’m off this Wednesday and Thursday.”
“Cool,” Frank tries to seem nonchalant, and not as nervous as he feels. His palms are sweaty, even though they’re not even closed into fists. “I’m off Thursday, too. So—uh, do you wanna…” Jesus, Langdon, be anymore awkward and weird, would you?
Jesse laughs softly, his head tipping forward slightly. He shifts, crossing his arms loosely over his chest as well, and a bright smile spreads across his face. “Are you trying to ask me out, Dr. Langdon?”
Frank’s face warms. He hopes he doesn’t look as red as he feels like he is. “Well, uh—yeah. Yeah, I am.”
There’s another laugh, but it’s warm and gentle, and Frank really likes the sound of it. Jesse’s eyes crinkle at the edges, light crow’s feet forming in the corners, and Frank is so endeared.
“I hope you’re not going to make me tell Collins and Dana the embarrassing story of you rejecting me at the lockers,” Frank says, mostly to lighten his own nerves, shifting on his feet as he does.
“Assuming I reject you,” Jesse says, head tilted to the side. “Which—I’m not.”
“You’re not?”
Jesse shakes his head. “No, Langdon, I’m not rejecting you.”
“Oh.” The tension in Frank’s shoulders slowly bleeds away, his body sagging slightly as it finally relaxes. “So… Thursday?”
Jesse cracks a grin, pushing off the lockers as he begins pulling on his jacket. “Get your stuff. We’ll talk more details on the walk home.”
Frank does the same, nodding numbly as he quickly moves to get his things from his locker. “Yeah, sure. On the walk home.”
Their routine after work doesn’t change much. They talk about their plans for Thursday—to meet up at a local Greek place between their apartments—and Frank, embarrassingly, divulges the information that he used to have a crush on Abbot when he first started working here. Jesse only teases him for a split second, before he brings up the gossip mill about Robby and Abbot again—apparently, there’s a small betting pool for when they’ll actually tell the Pitt they’re dating. Frank puts twenty dollars into the pool.
The only difference in their routine is when they meet the intersection where they part ways, Jesse leans in and kisses Frank on the cheek, reaching out to lightly squeeze his fingers.
“See you tomorrow, Dr. Langdon.” Jesse’s eyes are bright, swimming with mirth.
Frank stares at him, both in surprise and in affection, before his own name is tumbling out of his mouth. “You can just call me Frank.”
Jesse’s eyes seem to grow even brighter as he nods. “Then see you tomorrow, Frank. I’ll be looking forward to Thursday.”
Frank is left standing at the corner of the intersection, watching after Jesse, just a little starstruck. He’s not sure how he’s going to hide his excitement for the next two days during his shifts. He might just end up slipping up and saying it out loud in front of everyone to hear, and wouldn’t that be an absolute nightmare.
He just has to hope that he can keep it together until their date.