Chapter Text
Dennis Whitaker was not a stupid man. He got good grades in medical school. He was able to think on the fly in his very stressful job at the ER. He was even able to impress his (handsome) attendee. All these signs point to him being a very smart man.
This smart man decided to wear his binder to his ER shift.
Dennis told himself it would be okay. That he would be able to manage it, and maybe he would get home early and take it off before the eight hours were up.
Oh, he was so wrong.
He had been so close to the seven-hour mark and thought he would make it. Things seemed to be going pretty smoothly. He was moving patients pretty quickly, and if he needed heavy lifting, Trinity or Robby was always around to help. However, Trinity would tease him about it first. She’d often say, “We gotta get you to the gym, Huckleberry.” Robby always helped him with no snarky remarks. It looked like he would be able to remove his binder at the eight-hour mark. Suddenly, they got a call about a fire at a graduation party, and it turned into a shit show. He went from walking from place to place, only having to hold a few syringes, to running and lifting heavy boxes of materials. He felt the pain in his chest start at hour nine, but he was too busy trying to save people, so he had to ignore it and focus.
He felt the pain worsen more and more as the night went on. His back started to ache, he coughed more, and he became out of breath very quickly. Trinity tried to check on him but got whisked away to another patient. She wasn’t the only one to notice his change. Every time Robby was in the room, he would have this worried expression flash in his eyes before he would be dragged into another room. Dennis hated it. He hated worrying people. It made the pain even more unbearable.
Twelve hours into his shift, and he still had his binder on. His body felt too hot, the chest and back pain made it hard to breathe, and he had to hide his coughs so no one would notice. He had started avoiding Trinity and Robby. Trinity would get the truth out of him in under five minutes, and she’d kill him if she found out. Robby kept looking at him with a worried expression, and Dennis didn’t think he could hide it from Robby if he questioned him about it.
After finishing with one patient, Dennis immediately walked out of the room and went to see what else needed to be done, only to feel a familiar hand on his shoulder. For the first time, that hand brought no sense of comfort to him.
“Hey Whitaker follow me here,” Robby said and brought Dennis into a more secluded area.
“D-Doctor Robby, I really should-“ Dennis started.
“What’s wrong?” Robby asked.
“Nothing,” Dennis said quickly. Too quickly. He accidentally let out a cough.
“You are sweating, panting, and coughing. I don’t want to ask again, Whitaker,” Robby said.
“I-It’s nothing, D-Doctor Robby!” Dennis tried arguing. His stomach felt tied up in knots. He didn’t want anyone to worry about him.
“Whitaker,” Robby put a hand on his shoulder again. He paused for a second, feeling something underneath the scrubs.
Dennis' face went as white as a ghost. He pulled away immediately. “I-It’s a tank top,” he tried lying.
Robby didn’t react to the tank top comment, lost in thought for a moment. It finally hit him what was causing Whitaker’s condition. “Whitaker, have you been wearing a binder this whole time?”
“I-“
“Oh my god you are. Whitaker, you’re a doctor, you should know better,” Robby said in a disappointed tone.
Dennis wished a pit would open in the floor and swallow him whole. His mouth felt dry, and the room started to spin. He didn’t want anyone but Trinity to know, and now his stupidity had gotten him outed. He leaned against a wall to stop himself from falling. “I-“
“Are you okay?” Robby said.
“F-Fine,” Dennis choked out, trying to calm himself.
“Shit, Whitaker,” Robby said and grabbed his shoulder. He adjusted his arm so he was supporting Whitaker and quickly snuck him into an empty room.
“I-I’m fine, Doctor Robby pl-“
“You’re very much not fine,” he said. He turned around and covered his eyes. “Take your binder off,” he says. “I won’t peak if I do, you can punch me.”
Dennis chuckled a bit at his remark. He then took off his shirt and slowly pulled off his binder. He groaned as his chest and back still ached, but taking it off brought him some relief. He quickly put his shirt back on. “U-Um, Doctor Robby, my shirt is back on,” he said.
Robby uncovered his eyes and turned to Dennis. “Let me see your binder,” Robby said.
“It’s kinda gross,” Dennis said.
“Whitaker, we get bodily fluid poured on us every day. I think I can handle a sweaty binder,” Robby counters.
Dennis can’t really argue with that, so he hands it to him. Robby puts on gloves and examines it. “This is terrible quality. I’m surprised your rib didn’t crack.”
“I’m sorry,” Dennis mumbles.
“You don’t have to apologize, Whitaker, but I don’t want to see you in this during ER hours ever again. You could have seriously injured yourself,” Robby points out.
Dennis can’t bring himself to look Robby in the eyes.
Robby hates the pain in his chest, seeing him so upset. “Listen-“
“No, you’re right, I fucked up,” Whitaker said, trying to keep his voice steady.
“What’s important is nothing bad happened,” Robby added. “I know you won’t do this again.”
“Of course not,” Dennis reassured.
“Good,” Robby said. “I’m also throwing out this binder.” Robby walked to the garbage can.
“What?”
“Whitaker, this binder is low quality. I don’t think you should be wearing it at all.”
“I-I know, but nice ones are expensive,” he mumbled.
“I’ll make it up to you,” Robby said seriously. “Do you mind if I check you for bruising on your back?”
“U-Uh sure,” Whitaker said. “Wait, I don’t want to take off-“
“Just lift your shirt,” Robby said, and Dennis listened. He can’t help the heat that rushes to his face when Robby asks him. Robby thought it was cute.
Robby examines and sees no bruising. “Okay, I don’t think your ribs are bruised, but if you feel any worse, I will get you an X-ray. Do not hesitate to ask me,” he says sternly.
“G-Got it,” Dennis says, pulling his shirt down. He noticed his chest was a bit visible through his scrubs and felt nervous. “U-Um Doctr Robby, I don’t think I can go out there like this,” he points out.
“Oh shit, right, hmm,” Robby pauses before pulling his sweater off. “Put this on,” he says.
“Okay?” Whitaker questions, but does it anyway. It’s warm, a bit big on him, and it smells like Robby. His face gets redder than before.
“Perfect, it hides everything,” Robby says, satisfied with himself.
“But won’t people get the wrong idea when they see me in your hoodie and you no longer wearing it?” Whitaker points out.
“I think there are worse rumors than me sleeping with my cute medical student,” Robby says. “Now go out there, and if anyone gives you shit, let me know.” Robby walked out of the room and immediately went to check on other people. He couldn’t help the smile plastered on his face. Whitaker did look really cute in his sweater.
Whitaker went out the door before his face got really hot, and he passed out for a moment. “Did Doctor Robby just call me cute?” He said to himself. He decided to shake the feeling off and go do some work.
Once he opened the door, he felt a bunch of eyes on him. He felt like he wanted to throw up, thinking it was because of his chest, before Princess spoke first.
“I didn’t realize Doctor Robby could take that hoodie off,” she teased him.
Whitaker felt his face heat up at the comment, but felt at ease knowing it wasn’t his chest that had people staring. Maybe he would survive this shift.
“Huckleberry!” Trinity yelled.
“Yeah?” He asked.
“Are you almost done with your charting? Our shift is over, and I want to go home.”
“You finished your charting before me?” He asked, surprised.
“Had Crash help me out in exchange for letting her know whenever her mother is around.”
“Oh, well, I’m pretty much done,” he said and got up before a hand on his shoulder intercepted him.
“Sorry, Santos got to steal him away for a second,” Robby said.
“If you do my charting next shift, you can have him forever,” she teased.
“You drive a hard bargain, but I’ll have to decline,” he responded. He took Whitaker to a secluded part of the ER.
“I-I’m not being fired, am I?” He asked nervously.
“Whitaker, if I were going to fire you, I would’ve done it long ago and not given you my sweater,” he answers. “Though I might have you keep it, you look better in it than I do.”
Whitaker's face went bright red. “There’s no way I don't look really good in your sweater.”
“Do I?” Robby teased back. “I’ll keep that in mind.” He handed Dennis a bag.
Dennis looked inside the bag and saw Kinesiology tape. He looked at Robby, surprised. “How did you-“
“Place down the street had some, now you don’t have to use that terrible binder,” Robby says.
“Here, let me pay you back-“ Dennis said, grabbing for his wallet, before Robby stopped him.
“No need to pay me back, Whitaker. Just make sure you take care of yourself,” Robby said.
“No, please let me do something,” he pleaded. “How about I take you out for dinner or something? My treat.”
“Oh?” Robby asked. “And where would we go?”
“There is this Italian place by me and Tr-Santos’s apartment. It’s closed now, but we can go tomorrow after shift if you want,” Dennis suggested.
“Would Santos be coming?” Robby asked.
“No, it can be just us,” Denni said.
“Perfect, see you tomorrow for our date,” Robby said, walking away with a smile on his face.
Whitaker smiled to himself, excited to hang out with Robby tomorrow before he fully processed what he had said. Then his face went bright red. He was going on a date with Robby tomorrow.