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after a long shift and an even longer morning spent making up with each other, robby catches frank as he’s leaving the pitt. he places a gentle hand on frank’s shoulder and steps into his view.
“hey kiddo,” robby smiles softly, trying to make up for his behaviour recently. frank looks a little surprised, still in a slightly regressed headspace. he was able to pull himself out of it for work, but now that’s over, he’s slipping back into it.
“hey robby,” he says quietly, too afraid to call him ‘daddy’ with all the people coming in an out of the ED right now. he knows people would mistake their relationship for a sexual one if they heard him use that word and they do not need an HR scandal, especially not frank. their current relationship is likely worthy of an HR meeting, but robby’s makes sure that’ll never happen; he won’t let his baby feel humiliated by HR for his regression.
“would you wanna come back to mine tonight?” robby knows things aren’t good between frank and abby. he’s always been able to tell, having been frank’s comfort through all his marriage’s rough patches. he feels a pang of guilt for not being there for him this time. “you’re room’s still there. i didn’t change anything.”
frank can’t help but smile thinking about the bedroom robby had set up for him in his house. it was the one space he could truly regress without shame or judgment. a space carved out just for him by his daddy.
“oh, yeah, i’d like that,” frank flushes, relaxing, leaning closer to robby, “i— i missed it.” robby gently slips his hand from frank’s shoulder to rest on the back of his neck, gently brushing the nape of his baby’s neck with his thumb. he leads them to where frank parked.
“i missed you being there too,” robby smiles, holding his hand out for frank to hand him his keys, “i’ll drive us. you just relax, baby boy.” frank nods, handing over his keys as he feels himself slip further into little space. having robby hold him close, calling him his little nicknames, makes it so easy for him to regress. he missed this.
-
robby opens his front door and ushers frank inside, keeping a light hand on his shoulder. as frank enters robby’s home he’s hit with a feeling of comfort and peace, something he hasn’t felt in a while. everything still smells the same, looks the same, it’s like he never left. he turns and smiles at robby who nods before frank takes off to his old room.
on the door is a little light blue sign with his name in big block letters and when he pushes it open, he sees everything exactly as he left it. his dinosaurs and cars strewn across his mat that’s designed to look like a town with roads and all. his stuffies all stacked on his blue bear bed sheets. next to his book shelf of kids books and containers full of toys and stuffies lays two bean bags they used to sit and read in together.
frank immediately hops on his bed, grabbing his favourite stuffie, hugging it. it’s a big plush dinosaur, a green t-rex that frank named ‘rex’, much to robby’s dismay.
“surely you can think of a better name for him, kiddo,” robby chuckled. frank pouted and shook his head, hugging the dinosaur tight.
“no. his name is rex.” it had been a long night, so robby just rolled his eyes and laid back on the bed, letting his boy cuddle up with him.
robby steps inside the room, smiling as he sees frank hugging his stuffie. he leans on the door frame, crossing his arms.
“i still think you could’ve given him a better name.” frank rolls his eyes, swaying with his stuffie tucked snug in his lap, making robby melt. he can’t believe he went without seeing frank for ten months, he can’t imagine walking away from the boy in front of him. what frank did hurt him a lot, but standing here now, back in frank’s room, he knows he can forgive him. what he sees now isn’t the man that betrayed his trust, but his son who just needs his dad.
robby walks over and sits down on the bed, leaning back against the headboard. he watches frank go through, kissing all his stuffies, before he opens his arms and pats his lap.
“wanna come here, baby boy?” frank turns round with a smile and quickly crawls into robby’s lap, laying his head on robby’s shoulder. he settles in as robby wraps his arms around him, holding him close, gently rubbing his side and back. he presses a kiss to the top of frank’s head, “i missed this.”
frank squirms, curling his hands into his stuffie and robby’s shirt. he nuzzles robby, curling into his lap more. robby reaches over to the side table and pulls out frank’s pacifier.
“missed you too, daddy,” frank mumbles, his eyes fluttering shut as robby starts to card a hand through his hair.
“want your paci?” frank nods and robby gently slips it into his mouth, “i think you should have a sleep, baby. daddy will be here the whole time, and when you wake up, i’ll make you your bottle. sound good?” frank makes a soft sound of acknowledgement as he suckles on his pacifier. he nods and quickly drifts off to sleep. it’s the easiest he’s fallen asleep in months.
robby tugs a blanket over them both and rests his head against frank’s, falling asleep himself with the comfort of his sweet baby boy in his arms finally. the betrayal hurt, but being without his baby hurt more. robby’s never been one for long lasting relationships, always ending them or getting emotionally distant after a few months. he admits he pulled away from frank, but it took longer than usual. something about being a father feels right to robby; something about being frank’s dad feels right to him. this is his baby boy, always.