Work Text:
Student doctor Dennis Whitaker had to pinch himself real hard. When the pain shot up on his arm, he knew it was real life.
Doctor Robinavitch had kissed him.
The older man whom he found inappropriately attractive had helped him so much since his first shift, and now he was being kissed so tenderly that he thought he might have fallen asleep studying or had a stroke from exhaustion.
It was a good thing that they were in a not-so-public space because everyone would have seen his flushed red face. His ears burned so he knew he must have looked ridiculous.
His attending was looking at him with a fondness that he didn't want to forget for the rest of his life. How could it be that he was this lucky in life after all?
"Doctor—"
"Yes, Dennis?"
"What does this mean?"
"Whatever we want it to mean."
The younger man swallowed hard. Robby's eyes were shining with mischief and he wanted to chase that feeling forever. Deep down he knew he shouldn't have crossed the line. They were way too different, from age to upbringings. Everything was stacked against them but Dennis didn't care at that moment. He only wanted to feel happy and loved and this man had done nothing but be there for him.
He smiled at the older man and leaned closer to kiss him fearing rejection, but the moment he felt a big hand cupping his cheek and a tongue teasing his lips he was gone.
Now that he was walking to Trin's place, feeling like an empty husk, his lips burned again but this time because of the cold weather. He hadn't thought of bringing a jacket since he assumed the other man would give him his if he got cold, and they would take a cab instead of walking to his place.
The quiet streets at night helped him not be noticed as much by the people still lingering outside. No one would care why he was dressed that way and he didn't have to talk. He couldn't even try because he knew the moment his mouth opened it would be to just to scream until it hurt.
When he arrived at Trin's, he entered and didn't even see that Yolanda was there on the couch choosing the movie to watch while Trin was getting sodas from the kitchen. The woman turned to greet Dennis but her words died on her lips when she saw him.
She saw him go into his room and quietly close the door. Trin came out of the kitchen space and stopped on her tracks.
"What are you looking at?"
"Huckleberry just went into his room."
"What? He's supposed to be with Robby."
"Well, I think it happened."
"What?" Trin asked Yolanda and when the woman stared at her, she realized what she meant, "Oh no." She threw the cans on the couch before walking towards the closed door.
She put her ear to the door but she couldn't hear anything. She decided to knock.
"Huckleberry?"
No sound could be heard. She knocked again, slowly, trying to hear anything between knocks but no luck.
"Dennis?"
She saw Yolanda come closer and silently they decided to enter the room and see what Dennis was doing.
She thought he'd have locked his door but was surprised he hadn't. She saw her friend lying on the bed with his back to the door.
"Hey, Den, what happened?" She walked like trying to not startle a dangerous animal, "I know you're not okay, but maybe talking would help?" She leaned forward trying to see if he was awake at least.
He hadn't even taken his clothes or shoes off. The cologne he'd bought after he'd started visiting their attending more often wafted through the air. He seemed like a statue, barely breathing, not even blinking completely, his eyes fixated on the wall.
She turned to look at Yolanda, who had her arms crossed and just shook her head, just reassuring her earlier statement.
"Okay, bud, we'll be in the living room if you want to join us, or just let us know, okay?" She ushered the older woman out but left the door open just enough to hear better in case Whitaker needed her.
They sat down and the surgeon immediately went back to choosing on the TV menu, but she couldn't stop seeing her roommate acting like that. He was weird at times, and she had accepted him, but this was different.
"Hey," a hand waved in front of her face startling her, "you want to watch this?"
"Yeah, sure," she answered, trying to not pay more attention to Whitaker... Failing again, "Yol?"
"Yeah?"
"You're sure Robby broke up with Whitaker?"
"If that boy coming back like a zombie after we saw him floating out of here a couple of hours ago isn't proof enough for you... I don't know what else it could be."
"But it didn't look like it would happen. I mean, they seemed so into each other it was honestly embarrassing at times." She rolled her eyes when she said it because she'd been witness to how smitten the men looked with each other, trying to pretend they were professional at work... But the ED was full of sleuths who had seen it from the moment it happened.
"I was skeptical too," the other woman replied without taking her eyes off the screen, "because I've seen some of Robby's flings and it was never like this, I mean, Collins was a whole thing but it still fizzled out, so it's not surprising that it would happen to Whitaker too."
Trinity could focus on watching the movie, enjoying the company of her own fling, but she felt uneasy. She had seen their relationship change and when Dennis came to her, and she laughed because he looked like a wet Chihuahua, he had blurted out that he was dating a man which didn't bother her obviously but when the words "Doctor Robby" came out of his mouth... Well, not one of her proudest moments because she had choked on her own saliva and then she had behaved pretty poorly with him, until she saw his demeanor like he expected to be kicked out in that moment not only from the apartment but her life... And she had deflated.
She had been adamant on letting Robinavitch know that even though Dennis Whitaker might be the equivalent of a squirrel becoming human, he was important in her life and despite both of them being his subordinates and mentees, she wouldn't hesitate to rat him out to Dana and Gloria before he could even say "intubate" to which the man had looked bashful and had looked at her with a glint in his eyes that reminded her of the same glint her roommate had when he talked about the man.
Robby had wedged into their life for the past few weeks, getting them both fancy lunches during shift and making Dennis have a permanent skip in his step.
However, now it all had come to an end. And she didn't know what to do without thinking of tracking down the man and hitting him with a bat. She had heard through the grapevine about Robby's, apparently famous, seven-week itch where he would be a great lover and then as things became more stable he would pull away and break up. He didn't do long-term, he didn't do messy...
Things were fucked up definitely.
She decided to be there for her friend.
"Hey, if you don't mind, I'm gonna check on him. I don't know how long it'll take so you can stay or go if you want, okay?" She didn't wait for a response and walked back to the room.
Huckleberry hadn't moved at all.
She let the door slightly open, just in case Yolanda would say goodbye or something, and went to sit down looking at her roommate's pale face.
"Hey, buddy. I'm back. You want to talk about it?" She poked his cheek with her index finger trying to get a reaction but even then he didn't move, "Dennis? Can you look at me?" Her voice was soft.
She saw him slowly turn his face towards her and her heart hurt. His eyes were void of the light he'd carried before.
"What happened?" She whispered, already knowing what he was going to say.
She saw the slow blinking and his mouth opening and closing again; he gulped and his eyes filled with tears, his lips wobbled and then the waterworks started. She saw him try to stop the sobs from coming out but tears continued rolling down the sides of his face. His hands covered his face in shame of her seeing him cry and he tried stifling the sounds but his body was finally letting it out. He couldn't stop and he hated it.
She let him be for a while, not saying anything but not looking away. Her mind was running on all the possible ways she could get revenge on their attending. She felt her face heat up with fury, but for now she only had to be there for her friend.
When his sobs dwindled and he lowered his hands from his face, she waited for him to speak again.
“I can’t,”
“You can’t what?”
“Talk about it now,” his voice sounded hoarse.
“You don’t have to, but I want you to know that you can tell me,” he sniffled and his eyes were so sad, “as much as I have to say about it, I don’t want you to think that you cannot trust me.” She took his hand in hers and squeezed.
A knock on the door startled them both. Yolanda peeked her head in.
“Hey, I’m taking off, okay? See you Monday?”
“Yeah, sure.”
The woman left without a second glance, not even looking at Dennis who’d quickly rolled to his side to hide his blotchy face. The door closed completely and they waited to hear the main door close.
“You want some tea?”
“Thank you, but I don’t think I can drink anything right now.”
“What about getting drunk together?” She smiled with mischief at him when he turned to look at her.
“Trin,”
“Come on, you can wallow all you want in here, but if you don’t want to talk about it, you can cry more about it. I won’t judge… much.”
He sniffled again, and thought about it. She was kind of right. She was his friend, and more importantly he could count on her. She had said so.
His heart hurt like it had been ripped out of his chest, and just trying to say the older man’s name made him tear up and scream, but maybe he could move on… With liquor and her shoulder to cry on.
“Can we watch “Babe”?”
“Again?” She rolled her eyes and sighed.
“Please?” He said with a raspy broken voice that always made her snort.
“Fine, but don’t think that just because you are all sad I’ll give in on everything.”
“I’ll make peach cobbler for you.”
“Deal.” She stood up and grabbed his hands to pull him up.
She let him take off his shoes and change into something comfortable, while she went to the kitchen to find the bottles they kept.
It was going to be hell coming into work the next shift but they would cross that bridge when they got to it. For now she just wanted to carefully plan just how nerve-wracking she was going to be next time she saw Michael Robinavitch.