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Out of the worst days Dennis could possibly have, this one was definitely in the top 3.
It had begun all wrong, his alarm didn’t go off so he woke up thirty minutes after he was supposed to leave. He tried to get a cup of coffee before he left but the handle of his mug broke and it spilled the lukewarm coffee all over his already dirty shirt. As he rushed down the stairs he misstepped and slid down three steps and he’s pretty sure he hurt his ankle, when he got to work almost 2h later than he should have and Robby just gave him a pointed look as he pulled his arm through a clean scrub with no undershirt which made him even more uncomfortable.
He was wincing at each step he took and the pain made him slower than the ED needed, and because of the horrible sensation of the polyester on his bare chest it was hard to focus, he almost missed an important aspect of a differential that could’ve translated into a misdiagnosis of a patient, thankfully Javadi was working with him and asked the million-dollar question, so he allowed her to take the lead and mostly just watch.
Around noon Robby had already caught on that something was wrong, he had been hovering around Whitaker a lot more than he already did.
“You ok, kid?” he asked, looking at him over his glasses, eyebrows raised making the wrinkles on his forehead extra deep.
“Yeah, fine. Just not my day, today.” he tried to smile but as he stepped backwards he a shockwave of pain irradiated from his ankle and he lost his balance.
“Wow, there.” He felt McKay steady him. “Be careful, buddy.”
“Sorry, Cassie.”
Worried plastered around Robby’s face but Dennis slipped away before he could be called back, Dana was calling him to help with an incoming patient, the man had slashed his own hand after breaking a beer bottle during a bar fight and was bleeding just as much as he was cursing everyone around them. Dennis started checking his vitals and as he moved the check his reflexed the man somehow managed to whip out his penis and pee all over the staff surrounding him.
Fun-freaking-tastic.
Someone sedated the rowdy bastard but the damage was done, and of course, Dennis got the worst of it. Mel tapped him out so he could go change his scrubs and he shot her a thankful look before limping away to the scrubEX.
He took a patient gown so he could change out of his pissed scrubs and sneaked into an open room so he didn’t flash any bystander, for one second he forgot about his ankle so when he bared all his weight into it to pull out his pants he toppled over, hitting his coccyx with a loud thud. His eyes burned with tears but he didn’t allow himself to cry, he just scrunched up his face and fumbled his arms around him trying to find something to support himself back on his feet.
A strong, calloused hand wrapped around his forearm and pulled him up, instead. He didn’t need to look to know it was Robby.
“Ok, I'm officially worried.” his attending whispered, leaning in a lot closer than any other resident would’ve thought appropriate. Luckily for him, they’d done a lot more inappropriate things over the last month. “What’s going on with you?”
“Nothing, I’m fine.”
“Den-”
“I said I’m fine, Michael!” he snapped, finally looking up at the older man in front of him.
It wasn’t usual for Dennis to snap like that unless he was really on the edge of his own feelings, that’s why he used to make himself small, unnoticeable. His sweet and apparently innocent persona was exactly that, a front he put up so other people didn’t see the inner turmoil he embodied, but sometimes when the universe put his patience to test he’d snap and people would get a glimpse of everything that happened beneath the surface.
“You’re not fine, baby.” Michael ran a thumb over his cheek and Dennis hated that he leaned into his touch. “Your ankle is so swollen it looks like a tennis ball.”
“I twisted it going down the stairs of my building, it’s nothing bad, if it was I wouldn’t have been able to run after the bus today.”
“You should go back home and rest.”
“I can’t afford to lose a workday, Michael.” Dennis whined exasperated.
“We have paid sick leave, you know.” Robby pressed his lips against his forehead.
“I’m fine.” Dennis repeated, trying to make himself believe in that too.
“Let me help you get new scrubs at least, hm?”
Dennis couldn’t resist the lost puppy face Michael pulled on him every once in a while, so he nodded and was awarded with a quick peck on his lips. Michael got his badge and the dirty scrubs and left South 20 inconspicuously, Dennis sat there rolling his ankle, it was really sore and swollen.
5 minutes later he heard Michael come back with not only clean scrubs but an ice pack and an ankle brace. He handed the ice pack to Dennis who immediately put it on his ankle.
“Arms up.” Robby instructed him and Dennis obeyed, he slipped an undershirt over his head and arms, it smelled like him. “Hold it.” he added as he slipped his scrub top over it.
“Right leg. Now left.” Dennis stuck out his legs as Robby slipped each side of the scrub pants over it, he instinctively wrapped his thighs around the attending so he could lift his hips up. “Atta boy.”
The attending pressed his hands around Dennis after helping him get dressed again, the intern still had his legs wrapped around him.
“Thank you.” he whispered, craning his head to capture Michael’s lips on his.
“How’s your pain level?”
“A 7 if I put my weight into it, but a 4 if I'm just standing.”
“I don’t like this, Den.” It was so weird seeing this side of Michael, this sweet, soft and caring side. So different from the snarky and short-tempered version Dennis got to know before his sabbatical. “You sure you don’t want to leave?”
“Yes, I’m sure.” Dennis finally let his legs drop. “We should go back to work.”
Robby pursed his lips, clearly annoyed, but he nodded before brushing his lips against the intern’s and leaving the room first. Dennis counted to 15 very slowly after putting on his ankle brace and hopping off the bed.
The brace helped him feel steadier as he moved to work on other cases, Robby was looking out for him, making sure he was redirected to easier cases, telling him to do the charts at the nurses’ station where he could sit.
Dennis almost felt like his day could turn around, but the Universe had other plans for him.
He was coming out from West 13 so he almost didn’t see him, but Emma was sprinting towards him. “Hey, Dr. Whitaker, there’s someone looking from you at the hub.”
So he redirected to the hub, where his third-older brother was waiting for him.
“Ah, Whitaker, great. This gentleman says he’s your brother?” Dana motioned to Callum as she caught sight of the intern.
“Hi, Denny.” Callum greeted him coldly. “We need to talk.”
Bile started building at the back of his throat. Dennis nodded at his brother and led him to the Ambulance Bay, his heart rate picking up at every step he took. Once they were outside, the cold autumn air greeted them even if the sun was still shining outside.
“What are you doing here, Callum?” Was the first thing Dennis asked, not ‘hi’, not ‘nice to see you, brother’. They didn’t hug, there was no love between them.
“Papa’s dead.” Callum told him bluntly. “He had a heart attack yesterday morning, Mama tried calling you but you changed your number.”
Dennis knew he should feel something, grief, sadness… But he felt nothing. The news hit him like a fly hit a wall, it was nothing but a nuisance, something he’d rather not deal with.
“You came all the way from Broken Bow just to tell me that?”
“I came to pick you up for the service.” Callum said matter of factly. “C’mon it’s almost a full day’s drive, we need to get going now.”
“I’m not going.” Dennis said with the same tone. “There’s no reason for me to go.”
“C’mon, Denny. Now’s not the time for you to get all pissy.”
“I’m not being ‘pissy’, Callum. I’m just not going.”
“Dennis!”
“What?! What do you expect me to say, Callum? You want me to cry? Feel sad? You want me to mourn him?? Why?!”
“He was your father for Christ’s sake!”
“He was nothing to me! Just like I was nothing to him!” Dennis shouted, his anger boiling inside him. “He never looked at me, he barely spoke to me, and when he did it was always through Mama!”
Callum froze in place.
“You and everyone else knows he didn’t consider me his son, I wasn’t like you, or Brandon and Albert! I was never man enough for him, he always looked at me like there was something wrong with me, like he regretted me being born. So why should I mourn someone who never gave a damn about me?”
“Well maybe if you weren’t so goddamn sensitive you could’ve found something in common with him! You could’ve played football, you could’ve gone hunting with us, you could’ve at least made some effort-”
“EFFORT? I WAS A KID, I NEEDED MY FATHER TO LOVE ME BECAUSE I WAS HIS SON, NOT BECAUSE-”
“Is everything okay here?” a third voice cut their argument short. Dennis lost his own when he noticed it was Robby. “Dennis, who’s this?”
“I’m Callum Whitaker, I’m Denny’s brother.” Callum only replied with such civility because Robby was clearly older, if it was Langdon or some of the girl doctors or nurses he certainly wouldn’t have been so tame. “And you are?”
“I’m Dr. Michael Robinavitch, Chief Attending Physician here at PTMC” Robby sounded calm but Dennis noticed he was on the edge of his self control. He felt himself grounded as Robby raised a hand and pressed his shoulder. “I’m also your brother’s boyfriend.”
Dennis snapped his head to him. He was not expecting that and by the looks of it neither was Callum.
“Boyfriend? So Papa was right, you are a fa-”
“Mr. Whitaker I’m sure you don’t want to finish this sentence.” Robby narrowed his eyes to Callum. “You’re a long way from Broken Bow, this attitude of yours will not be tolerated in my hospital.”
Callum huffed but didn’t say anything else, he just shot a dirty look to Dennis and walked away. Dennis watched him go until he was out of sight, that’s when the lump in his throat finally popped and he let himself cry.
It was ugly and loud, he was sobbing when he felt his legs give out, he would’ve collapsed on his knees if Robby hadn’t held him by the waist and against his own chest. Dennis let it all out, the frustration over everything that went wrong during the day and the hurt he felt from being shunned by his own family, by the only people that should love him regardless of anything.
Robby’s grip around him never weakened, never waivered. He was the only thing keeping Whitaker from hitting rock bottom. Dennis didn’t know for how long he cried or for how long Robby held him. But when he stopped sobbing, he lifted his face to look at Robby, the man also had tears in his eyes.
“Michael-”
“Shh, it’s okay. Just stay here.” Michael kissed his forehead before letting go of him to disappear inside the ED.
Dennis wrapped his arms around himself and let his knees give in as he fell to the floor of the Ambulance bay, some stray tears still falling from his face. However, before he knew, Robby was by his side again, offering his hand to Dennis who took it with measured skepticism as he was pulled to his feet, wincing once again as he put weight in his injured ankle.
“What are you doing?” Dennis asked as Michael led him to the Bonneville parked just by the Ambulance Bay.
“I told Al-Hashimi I needed the rest of the day off, then I put you on sick leave for two days. Now we’re going back to my place so I can take care of you.”
Dennis opened his mouth to argue but Robbie placed a helmet over his head and strapped it in before doing the same on himself
“You have two helmets?” Dennis asked, confused.
“I have one, the other is yours. Now come, hop on.” Robby smiled non-chalantly as he mounted his bike.
“People will talk, Michael.”
“Let them.” Robby winked at him as he offered Dennis a hand.
Dennis slipped in right behind him just as Dana was walking out for a cigarette.
Robby kickstarted the bike and drove away, Dennis wrapped his arms around his torso and felt the low vibration of the engine throughout his body. The ride to Robby’s place was quick and easy and before he knew it he had showered and was curled up on Robby’s couch, wearing Robby’s clothes and sipping down on a glass of wine Robby had poured him.
“How’s your ankle?” Robby asked, pulling Dennis’ legs over his lap as he sipped his own wine glass.
“A bit sore, but better than it was this morning.”
The attending smiled as he ran his fingers up and down Dennis’ calf.
“You didn’t have to do that, you know?” Dennis muttered, taking the glass to his lips. Michael tilted his head at him. “I know you want to keep us casual.”
He lowered his gaze to his own hands.
“I think we’re way past casual, baby.” Robby whispered, leaning down to capture Dennis’ lips. “I was worried about you all day, kept trying to find you all over the ED, and when I saw your brother… I knew it even before I heard you, your family has some strong genes, anyways when I heard him talking to you like that. I had to use a lot of self control not to punch his teeth off.”
“Callum is stronger than he looks.” Dennis scoffed, his brothers were all muscle and no brain.
“You don’t think I could knock him down?” Robby raised an eyebrow at Dennis. “You don’t think I’d do whatever it takes to protect my boyfriend?”
That word again. Dennis looked up at Robby who was already looking at him with fond eyes.
“Boyfriend?”
“If you want to.” Robby was looking at him with a different glow in his eyes.
“I do” Dennis smiled at last, setting his glass aside before Robby leaned down to kiss him.