Chapter Text
"Hey, buddy."
Frank's head snaps up from his phone at Jesse's greeting, blue eyes going wide at the sharp little smile the handsome nurse was wearing as he held up a cohesive bandage tape. "Nope. No. Uh huh. I'd rather go to ortho."
"Well, that's not happening." Jesse declares, sitting on the stool next to the bed where Frank was lying, one of his feet lay bare, his pinky and fore toe bruised and swollen, which extended partway up his foot, making Frank unable to put his full weight on it, aided by the sharp pain that came when he did so. "I think Robby would rather strap you down and buddy tape you himself before he lets you get anywhere ortho."
Frank can only blink at Jesse, who crosses his arms, clearly waiting for Frank to say whatever he needs to say. "Only Robby would have a beef with Orthopaedics."
"Not all of them, Frankie, just Park. Now, do you want to tape it yourself, or do you want me to do it?"
Frank had not set out when he woke up this morning to somehow manage to break both of his toes while on shift. Still, he did, with quite a lot of accidental and unfortunate help from Myrna, who found the whole thing hilarious, despite her being slightly softer on him than she was on the others. The only one she didn't truly mess with was Jesse, something that bugged Robby to no end.
"Nope, you're not getting anywhere near me with that thing." Frank knew he was acting like a brat and a child, but throughout his life, he had to buddy-tape his toes and fingers enough times to consider it a special kind of hell, and would rather get a dislocated arm slammed back into place than have to buddy-tape. "Yes, I know what I sound like." He assures that Jesse can comment.
"Christ, you're cute," Jesse mutters, bringing Frank to a standstill, his mouth falling open as he gapes at the older man. "Now be a good boy for me, Frankie, and let me tape."
Frank is still in a state of shock as Jesse gets to work, giving a sharp exclamation of pain as Jesse expertly splints and tapes the toes together, binding them to his middle toe with the tape. "Such a brave boy for me, Frankie." Jesse praises as Robby pushes back the curtain, with a look on his face, fresh from a meeting with Gloria. He takes one look at Jesse, Frank's foot, and the pout on the man's face and softens.
"Almost done, Frank." He promises.
"We had to have a brief discussion of why calling Orthopaedics was not an option," Jesse fully throws Frank under the bus, getting a snort from Robby, who was outright dismissing the idea of Park coming down to his ER more than he had to, "but after that, he was a good boy the whole time."
"Of course he was," Robby nods, walking over to where Jesse was sitting, looking at his work, not inspecting but looking, grunting approval which Jesse took in stride, Frank watching with eyes now the metaphorical size of saucers, as Robby puts a hand on Jesse's shoulder, giving it a rub in a way that spoke to an intimacy Robby and Jesse never once betrayed. Robby and Jesse were going to murder him for witnessing it.
"He knows better than to be a brat." Robby praises. "Want to tell me what happened, Frankie?"
It takes a second for Frank to find his voice; this entire interaction throws him off completely. "Myrna ran over my foot?"
Robby's eyebrows shoot up, and Jesse shakes his head with a sigh. "She ran over his foot. No question about it. He would have noticed it if he weren't so busy flirting back with Dennis." Jesse's voice lowers and deepens at Dennis name, and Robby's frown is instantaneous.
"No one was flirting." Frank doesn't know why he's panicking, no idea why he feels like defending a perfectly normal conversation with Dennis Whitaker of all people to Jesse and Robby, but he does.
"Really?" Robby demands, the man arching an eyebrow, "That's good, I would hate to remind either of you of how busy you two are."
"Speaking of busy....walking cast and back to work?"
"Francis, you broke both of your toes." Jesse points out with exasperation.
"What, the rest of me is working. I can manage. I'll just take breaks." He feels like a kid again, negotiating to go to a friend's house, but at the same time, not at all. "I'll be good."
"Fuck, Frankie." Robby groans, dropping his head. "You can't say things like that, sweetheart."
"You really just have no fucking clue, do you?" Jesse demands, looking up at the ceiling with a small and quiet curse, looking at the eager second-year resident, still strangely pure despite the dirt and the blood of the Pitt.
"Hey," Dennis' voice cuts through the moment. The senior resident, small and strong, Robby's right hand, friend, and more and more a source of irritation and annoyance when it came to Frank, poked his head in, "I've got your cast."
"Oh, thank god." Frank lets out a sigh of relief, hating being stuck on the bed, hating not knowing what was happening or how to process it. "Freedom."
Dennis chuckles and rolls his eyes. "Christ, kid. It's a walking boot, not a hot rod."
"Fun fact, I know how to hot wire one of those."
Jesse and Robby share a look of confusion and concern while Dennis huffs. "You know how to hot wire a hot rod?"
"No, just like normal cars," Frank confessed. "I also know how to pick locks. I have a kit somewhere, but, eh, I can get another one..." He's suddenly fully aware of the three older men looking at him. "...I got into a car accident as a teen and really fucked up my back. It was a long summer. Park was the resident in my case."
"Of fucking course he was," Robby mutters darkly.
"And the no Park rule continues." Jesse agrees. "Frank, you're not going back on the floor."
"You're not my doctor, Jesse."
"No. I am." Dennis smiles, ignoring the glares of the other two men. "No floor, Frank. You can park your ass in triage or the hub and help with charting and whatever else. No, no arguing, or I'll call Park and tell him you broke your foot, and didn't call him, right away."
"...fine."
"Smart choice." Dennis hums, pleased, strapping Frank into the boot.
Jesse turns to Robby the moment Dennis and Frank are out of the exam room, Frank limping, slightly uneven with the walking boot, and Dennis' hand on the taller but younger resident's shoulder. "I'm really starting to hate your golden boy, Robby."
"I've already put him up for three different fellowships." Robby leans down and kisses Jesse before pulling back, letting his husband stand up. "We might just have to outright kill Park."
"You know, I'm okay with that." Jesse gives over his shoulder, throwing away his gloves. "We can make it look like an accident. Our boy will get over it eventually."
"We will take care of him until he does."
They're joking until the moment they're not, until they see Park storm into the Pitt an hour later, and stalk straight to Frank, hands cupping his face checking for injuries, pushing Frank into a chair, and snapping at him to be off his foot, before turning to Dennis and demanding to know what happened, and who took care of Frank, relaxing only when the older surgeon gets told dryly by his lover that he was the presiding doctor on Frank's case.