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If you had told med student Dennis Whitaker that he’d be in a long-distance relationship with a crime fighting vigilante who calls himself… well, Vigilante, then med student Dennis Whitaker would have laughed in your face.
He and Adrian have been messaging—and calling, surprisingly—ever since his slightly bumpy trip to Washington that led to them meeting. It’s been a lot, really, to go from being single to having a boyfriend who lives all the way across the country.
How they got to the point of dating, well, Dennis couldn’t really tell you. Adrian had flirted with him during his entire stay in Washington, especially after confessing to Dennis about his Vigilante persona and explaining to him why he didn’t like hospitals. They had kissed on Dennis’s last day in Washington—a lot, actually. So much so that Dennis often dreams about it. It’s actually pretty sad, and Trinity will tell you as much.
The days pass almost endlessly, and now that Dennis is making his own money, he’s been planning on saving up to be able to go back to Washington to visit again. Trinity might actually be on board with the whole idea, too. Any time she sees Dennis smiling like an idiot at his phone, he always gets an earful about “being a Huckleberry” and how “it’ll never change.” Dennis sort of hates her.
The grey phone rings, and Dana picks it up immediately. She only has time to answer with the hospital’s name, before she’s slamming the phone down half a minute later.
“We got three incoming traumas!” Dana yells, drawing peoples’ attention to her. “Multiple GSWs with head trauma, probably more wrong with ‘em.”
Robby’s eyebrows furrow as he runs his hands over his head, giving Dana a look. “What the hell could have happened? It’s not another MCI, is it?”
“It’s not, but they didn’t say what happened. ETA three minutes, better get those trauma rooms ready.”
Three minutes later, the ambulance sirens stop blaring as they park in the bay. Three gurneys are rushed in through the doors and into Traumas 1 and 2. Dennis just so happens to be in Central as it’s happening, and he catches glimpses of the people on the gurneys, his eyes going wide.
“Holy shit,” Dennis mutters to himself.
All three people are Adrian’s friends—or more like coworkers, or whatever they want to call themselves—and they’ve all been shot at. A lot, apparently. Dennis is stuck in place, looking over the three faces of people he knows, and wondering just where the hell the others are. He turns some, towards the ambulance bay doors, and nearly falls over when he sees Adrian and Adebayo standing there, being fussed over by some of the nurses.
Unfortunately for Dennis, though, Adrian spots him. He brightens immediately, half his face covered in blood and his uniform covered in even more. He’s not wearing his helmet for some reason, but it might be because he’s got some kind of head wound.
“Hey, Denny boy!” Adrian waves his hand, and Dennis sort of feels like the carpet was just pulled out from under him.
“Denny boy?” He hears Dana repeat behind him.
Dennis sputters, his cheeks flushing. He throws his stethoscope around his neck and quickly moves over to Adrian, holding his hands out over his abdomen on instinct.
“Are you okay? Are you hurt?” Dennis asks, looking between both Adrian and Adebayo. “What the hell happened? Why are all of you guys here?”
“I’m good,” Adebayo says, smiling towards him and shaking her head a bit. “Not my blood—it’s Harcourt’s and Vij’s.”
“I’m totally fine,” Adrian grins at him, while being obviously not fine.
“You need to be seen by a doctor,” Dennis says, as firmly as he can, and before Adrian can open his mouth to tell him no, Dennis fixes him with a look. “I don’t want to hear it. Get in a room right now, sit down, and let someone look at you.”
Adrian’s mouth snaps shut immediately, his eyes going wide as he stares at Dennis. Adebayo slaps a hand over her mouth with a soft snort, turning her head away as she does. Adrian doesn’t argue or fight as Mel and McKay take him to a room together, but he stares at Dennis almost dreamily until he’s forced to watch where he’s going by his doctors.
Dennis sighs heavily as he runs his hands through his hair, shaking his head some. He looks back up at Adebayo and reaches for her shoulder, eyebrows furrowing.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” He asks, and she nods.
“I’m fine,” she says genuinely. “Might have a sprained ankle or something, but other than that, nothing like those guys.”
Her eyes trail over to the two trauma rooms, staring them down. Adebayo bites her lip as she breathes in deeply, then shakily sighs out. Dennis glances over at them as well, before he turns his attention back to Adebayo.
“Okay, let’s sit you down and look you over just in case. Come on.” Dennis is gentle as he leads her over to a chair in the hallway of North, waving Perlah over.
“We’re just gonna take your vitals and make sure nothing is actually broken,” Dennis says, squeezing her shoulder. “Perlah’s a great nurse, she’ll treat you well.” He looks up just in time to see Dana and Robby eyeing him, and he curses quietly under his breath. “Uh, I’ll be back in a bit. And I’ll let you know what’s going on with everyone else.”
Adebayo gives him a nod before he quickly makes his way over to the Central desk, chewing lightly at the inside of his cheek.
“You know these people?” Dana asks, carefully looking him up and down.
“Um, yeah,” Dennis stammers for a second, brushing a hand down the side of his neck. “They’re, uh… they’re friends. I met them last year, during my vacation to Washington.”
“What’re they doing all the way here in Pittsburgh?” she asks, and Dennis breathes in deeply before shrugging and shaking his head.
“No idea. Not like they told me they were coming here.” He pauses, biting the pad of his thumb before he looks at Robby. “Are the ones in the trauma bays gonna be okay?”
Robby looks at him, gaze unreadable to Dennis at the current moment before he nods his head. “Two of ‘em are headed up to the OR already, though one of them was a pretty heavy bleeder. The third patient’s wound was clean—bullet went through and came right out, didn’t hit any major arteries or organs. He’s been admitted into a room down here for observation.”
Dennis’s chest tightens with Robby’s words, and he lets out a soft breath at the news of the third person. He wonders which he it is, if it’s Adrian’s self-proclaimed best friend Chris, or Economos, the other guy Dennis had met in Evergreen.
“Okay. Um. I’m gonna go check on—” Dennis starts, only to watch in horror as Dana’s eyebrows go up and she grins in his direction.
“Special patient in North 5, huh?”
Heat travels up Dennis’s neck, and he can only nod once before turning on his heels and marching off to Adrian’s room.
Dana watches him, still grinning, then reaches out to tap on Trinity’s arm, jerking her head in the direction Dennis left. “What’s up with Whitaker an’ the head wound patient?”
Trinity looks up from her clipboard, a little startled, before she looks over at Dennis in the North 5 room with Adrian. She can’t help but snort softly, shaking her head a bit. She glances around, then carefully leans into Dana’s space and drops her voice to a whisper.
“Let’s just say Dennis got more than friends out of his trip to Washington, y’know?”
Dana immediately leans away with a cackle, clapping Trinity on her shoulder who can’t keep the grin off her face.
“Thanks, Mel, McKay,” Dennis says as he enters Adrian’s room, nodding his head to them. “Could you guys, uh… could you give us a little privacy?”
McKay eyes him suspiciously, but otherwise says nothing. Just nods with a casual, “Yeah, sure,” before she gently ushers Mel out of the room.
Dennis waits for them to exit the room fully and step away, before he grabs the curtain and yanks it shut, turning around to Adrian—fuming. Half of Adrian’s hair is still bloody, and there’s still some blood on his face that hadn’t been fully cleaned yet. There’s a bandage over the right side of his temple, where Dennis had noticed his wound before. His suit is partially off—just the top half for now, but not for much longer.
“Strip,” Dennis orders, and Adrian stands up straight from the hospital bed.
“Oh wow, are we breaking hospital rules right now? I don’t know if I’m on board with that, Denny boy, you know how I feel about—”
“Oh my god, no, Adrian, we’re not—you’re covered in blood! I’m getting you a gown for you to change into. We’re not—we’re not doing anything like that here.”
Adrian brightens immediately, grin slightly lop-sided on his face. “Oh! Alright, cool. Hey, do you know how long I have to stay here?”
“Until you’re medically cleared,” Dennis replies on habit, but he settles Adrian with another look. “But you are not leaving this building even when you’re cleared.”
“But, babe, you know I hate—”
“Yeah, yeah, you hate hospitals,” Dennis mutters, grabbing the curtain and pushing it back some. “But I am not about to let you just waltz out of here after three of your friends were wheeled in here on gurneys. You need to explain to me what the hell happened, Adrian.”
Adrian watches him, his grinning face slowly turning into a more pensive and thoughtful look. “I’m not sure if I…”
“Then I’ll ask Adebayo,” Dennis says, exasperated. He lets go of the curtain and scubs his hands down his face. “Look, just… just. Please. I—I’d really appreciate and prefer it if you stayed here. Especially while your friends are in surgery.”
“What?” Adrian shoots up again, eyebrows furrowed in concern. “Who was it?”
“I don’t know which ones, but two of them. The third patient—Dr. Robby said it’s a man—had a clean GSW and doesn’t need immediate surgery. He probably will just have to have stitches.”
Dennis watches Adrian’s face contort with different emotions and non-emotions alike. He sighs softly and tugs the curtain closed again, before carefully stepping up to him. Adrian looks up at him, eyes darting back and forth along Dennis’s face behind his glasses. He stares back up at him, before he slowly reaches up and gently grabs Adrian’s face. Adrian doesn’t quite like skin-to-skin contact that much, unless it’s kissing or sex, but he’s been saying he’s willing to try some contact outside of that with Dennis whenever they’re together again.
“Hey,” Dennis says softly, lips turning up into a small smile. “PTMC is one of the best of the best. They’ll be okay, Adrian. Promise.”
Adrian watches him quietly for a moment, before a half-grin slowly breaks across his face again. “You gonna give me a kiss, Denny boy?”
Dennis rolls his eyes, then leans in and presses a soft, chaste kiss to Adrian’s lips. He gives Adrian enough time to kiss back, before pulling away with a quiet chuckle.
“Okay. Get undressed, I’ll get you a gown.” He pats Adrian’s cheek before he turns and slips out from behind the curtain, opening up the door and making his way out of the room.
He looks up as he feels eyes on him, and as soon as he makes eye contact with Trinity, everyone watching the room looks away and tries to seem inconspicuous. Dennis tries to not groan, shaking his head as he heads off to get Adrian a hospital gown.
Dennis is busy with patients the entire time Adrian’s friends are in the OR, which is about two hours. Adebayo had gone up to sit outside of the room, taking Economos with her in a wheelchair—he’d gotten his stitches done already, and since there were no complications with him, Robby had allowed him to go up with her.
The only one left behind is Adrian, who’s now hanging out in the North hallway as he ices his head. He’d also had to get stitches for his wound, and his left arm is currently in a sling—one that Dennis had to fight him to wear. Even with three bruised ribs and another slash to his side, Adrian is strong. He hates it. Dennis knows that Adrian isn’t fond of being treated so gently, having been through much worse without any kind of treatment. The thoughts upset Dennis, even though he knows he should already expect it because of Adrian’s vigilantism.
He’s surprisingly quiet, unless someone talks to him first. But he seems to be controlling himself well, and that—that actually kind of concerns Dennis.
He’s just discharged his last patient, so Dennis walks up to Adrian and jerks his head over his shoulder a little. “Hey, c’mere.”
Adrian’s eyebrows go up, but he stands from his chair and follows Dennis. Dennis leads him to the back doors, the ones that lead to the stairs that go up to the rest of the hospital. He tugs Adrian over under the stairs, ducking his head down a little as he looks up at him, even though Adrian is already a few inches taller than him. It’s mostly to make sure that Adrian looks him in the eye.
“Hey,” Dennis says softly, holding his hand out to him. “You okay?”
Adrian blinks, seemingly confused by Dennis’s concern. “Yeah?” He says, head tilting some.
“Yeah?” Dennis repeats, eyebrows furrowing a bit. “Are you sure? It’s just—you’ve been so quiet while you’ve been here and you’re usually talking your head off, so I just thought—”
For another brief moment, Adrian is quiet, and then he slowly grins. He laughs, the genuine kind that always makes Dennis’s stomach flutter a bit. “You worried about me, Denny boy?”
Dennis smacks his chest gently, glancing over Adrian’s shoulder to make sure no one saw. “Of course I’m worried! Your friends just got out of surgery, you came in with a gash on your head, and now you’re not acting yourself.”
“Well,” Adrian starts slowly, licking over his lips. “I mean, this is your job, right?” Dennis nods, brows still furrowed, so he continues. “I guess I just—I’m not exactly the most likeable, and I don’t ever know when to shut up. Everyone always tells me that. I’m still learning how to be…”
Adrian struggles for a second, waving his hands around himself. “Normal. Or somewhat normal, whenever I’m at places like this. I don’t want to accidently fuck up. I’ve done it too many times. And you’re kind of my first serious relationship, even though we haven’t had sex yet and I know a lot of people always rely on that for relationships and—
“I’m doing exactly what I shouldn’t be doing,” he frowns as he realizes he’s rambling, but Dennis finds it endearing. Adorable. “I just don’t want to embarrass you like I embarrass my friends. Especially here. Plus, I know hospitals are crazy enough without me talking peoples’ heads off.”
Dennis stands there for a minute, taking in Adrian’s words and processing them. He breathes in slowly, then offers him a gentle smile.
“I promise, you can’t embarrass me more than I’ve already embarrassed myself, Adrian.” He reaches up and gently pats Adrian’s cheek. “It’s okay. You can be yourself. Just… maybe don’t talk about being a crime fighting vigilante, because technically as a doctor, I’m a mandated reporter. So is everyone else in there.”
Adrian seems to melt at Dennis’s words, his shoulders slowly relaxing. He opens his mouth, then closes it again. He just nods instead and gives Dennis a smile in return.
Before he can give in and kiss him again, Dennis pulls his hand away and takes one step back. “Okay. I have to get back to work, and you need to rest up still. Don’t do anything to aggravate your stitches or your ribs. I know for a fact that your friends—I’m guess it’s Harcourt and Chris up there—will have to stay overnight, so if you want…”
Dennis pauses, biting the inside of his lip and swallowing a bit tightly. “Um. If you want, you can come over to my place tonight…?”
Adrian’s eyes light up, a grin coming to his face again. “Really?”
“It’s mostly because I don’t trust you to properly take care of yourself,” Dennis says quickly, heat rushing up his neck. “But… also because I’ve missed you. And Trinity is always having her girlfriend over; I think it’s my turn now.”
“Okay,” Adrian chirps, grinning wider. God, Dennis really wants to kiss him again. “I’ll just tell Ads. Am I allowed to go up and visit, by the way?”
“Probably not without a nurse,” Dennis says, shaking his head. “Uh, come with me. I’ll ask Dr. Robby or Dana and see if they can have someone take you there.”
They make their way back into the ER room, and Adrian automatically goes back to his chair. Dennis slides up to the Central desk and motions for Dana, who looks up at him from her computer. She glances over towards Adrian, then looks back at Dennis with an eyebrow raised.
“Nothing happened,” Dennis mutters defensively, though his ears are definitely red. “He was acting weird, so I was asking him if he was okay. Anyways—do you think a nurse could take Adrian upstairs to go see his friends? Or have a nurse from upstairs come and get him?”
Dana smiles gently as she pats Dennis’s arm, nodding. “Course. I’ll figure it out.”
“Thanks,” Dennis says with a small smile.
He pulls back from the Central desk and looks up at the board, squinting at the list of patients. He’s got to check in with Mrs. Pearson in South 17, then on Mr. Beddington in Central 9, but he knows he can take up another patient in the mean time. He turns to head to the South wing, but right as he goes to move, Samira is grabbing his arm and hearding him towards another Central room.
“Come with me, Whitaker. Think I’ve got a fun case for you.”
Dennis can only sigh and let her lead him.
Adrian spends the rest of Dennis’s shift upstairs with his friends, but he texts Dennis quite frequently. Mostly with strange animal facts that definitely aren’t true, but Dennis doesn’t comment on that—he’ll tell Adrian they’re not true when they’re face-to-face again.
As the clock strikes eight and Dr. Abbot walks through the ER door, Dennis lets himself sigh with relief and his shoulders slump slightly. He’s already gotten his patients taken care of, for the most part, and he’s able to hand them off to the night shift before he clocks out.
Me
you can come down now, i’m clocking out and we can head home
trin said she’ll go ahead and give me the apartment for the night
Adrian
Trying to seduce me there, Dr???
Me
i can leave you here overnight instead
Adrian
No, please
Me
that’s what i thought
Adrian comes down from the hospital floor about twenty minutes later, and Dennis meets him at the elevator when the doors open. Adrian grins at him, while Dennis takes notice of the fact that he’s no longer hooked up to an IV stand anymore.
“Finished your IV while you were up there?” Dennis asks, his hand hovering around Adrian’s side.
“Yup,” Adrian says, popping the ‘p’ sound at the end. “Said I was good on them, just needed to be careful and keep my fluid intake up.”
“I’ll make sure you drink plenty of water at the apartment,” Dennis murmurs, letting out a chuckle.
There are eyes watching them as Dennis and Adrian walk side-by-side to the ED doors. Dennis wishes he could feel more embarrassed about it, but this was probably going to happen sooner or later. The rest of his coworkers finding out that he has a boyfriend. Thankfully, it’s a little less embarrassing with Adrian no longer in a hospital gown—he’d been able to change into some clothes that the hospital lent him.
“See you tomorrow, Huckleberry!” Trinity calls after him, a cocky grin on her face.
Dennis shoots her a look over his shoulder, and throws up his middle finger at her.
They take the bus to his and Trinity’s apartment, receiving a few odd looks from people—with Adrian’s stitches showing and the dopey grin he’s got on his face the entire time. He only starts to ramble when they’re off the bus, though, and his voice follows Dennis all the way up to the apartment.
Dennis opens the door, ushers Adrian inside with himself, then shuts and locks the door behind them. Adrian is still rambling, saying something about red pandas and raccoons—he has no idea how he got started on that—when Dennis grabs his face with both hands and pulls him down into a kiss.
Adrian flat lines for a moment, brain shutting down then rebooting seconds later. He kisses back, eyes fluttering shut as Dennis keeps him rather preoccupied. It’s the deepest kiss they’ve had all day, and with how pent up Dennis has been over the past several months, he can only imagine how Adrian has felt.
When Dennis pulls away, Adrian looks two seconds away from literally flying away on Cloud Nine, a dreamy look on his face.
Dennis chuckles as he pats Adrian’s cheek gently. “Go sit on the couch,” he says, nodding towards it. “I’m gonna get stuff to clean your stitches off.”
Adrian, surprisingly, listens. As he goes to the couch, Dennis heads down the hallway to the bathroom. He grabs the necessary materials after washing his own hands—a wash cloth soaked in water with some soap, and a clean one to dry—and returns to the living room area a minute later.
“It might sting a bit,” Dennis says as he sits down, making Adrian turn to face him. “But it’ll feel better after.”
He gets to work, reaching up to Adrian’s head with the wet cloth. Dennis stays quiet for a minute, before he softly asks, “So why are you guys here? In Pittsburgh.”
Adrian doesn’t answer for a moment, which he expected, but Dennis doesn’t push. He lets Adrian take his time, knowing better than to pry information out of him when he doesn’t want to talk.
“I really can’t tell you,” Adrian says, breathing in deeply then letting it out in a somewhat exaggerated sigh. “You know how I fight crime?”
“I’d forgotten,” Dennis says sarcastically, making Adrian cackle.
“Yeah, well, my friends are sort of the same way. Kind of. I mean, the work more for a government branch than I do—”
“The government?”
“Yeah! It’s run by Adebayo’s mom, actually—”
“Adrian, should you be telling me that kind of sensitive information?”
“Probably not, but you asked! I’m just trying to tell you the truth! I’ve been working on that, you know.”
Dennis can’t help the soft, exasperated sigh that leaves him. He’s finished cleaning around Adrian’s stitches, gently patting it dry with the clean towel now as Adrian continues.
“Anyway, we had a mission here in the state, okay? That’s why we ended up here. I didn’t realize we’d end up in the same city as you, though. We didn’t start out here.”
Dennis lets out a small hum, placing both towels on the coffee table in front of them. “So all of you were hurt while fighting bad guys?”
“Pretty much,” Adrian agrees, nodding. He lifts up his arm, the one that’s still in the sling, and pouts at Dennis. “Can I take this thing off now?”
Dennis stares him down, before he lets out another sigh and slowly shakes his head. “Fine. But you need to take it easy, okay? I’m not rushing you back to the ER just because you’re being stupid and pulling your stitches. I don’t care if Trin gets mad, I’ll redo them right here myself.”
Adrian sighs wistfully, grinning as he reaches up to pull the sling off over his head. “You are so hot when you’re bossy.”
Dennis flushes and rolls his eyes, standing up from the couch. “I know you’ve got to be hungry. What do you want to eat? I can make—”
Adrian catches Dennis’s wrist, making him stop. He looks down at him, and instantly regrets it. Adrian is looking at him with those eyes—pretending to be downtrodden and looking utterly pathetic.
“Adrian…”
“C’mon,” Adrian literally whines, and Dennis has to keep himself from sighing again. “We haven’t seen each other in months! I’ve been dying—literally dying—to get my hands on you again!”
He tugs, surprisingly gentle, on Dennis’s wrist until Dennis lets himself fall back onto the couch next to him. “Let’s just order something and make out til it gets here!”
Dennis really shouldn’t be giving Adrian what he wants, especially after he and his friends were just literally injured on whatever mission they’d been doing. When Adrian has two sets of stitches in him.
But Dennis is also just a man. And he’s just as weak as any other man.
He pulls up DoorDash on his phone, muttering something about indulging in Adrian too much, and tries to not smile when Adrian kisses under his jaw.
They do makeout until their food is delivered, and Dennis tries to not feel too mortified when Adrian answers the door shirtless—bruised and stitched, because Dennis finally convinced him to let him clean his other stitches between their kisses.
Dennis hopes to God he never has to see Jared T. in his life ever again.