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The first time they kissed was almost by accident. That’s how Robby has always thought of it.
They’d gone out to watch the game on a big TV and to get burgers and fries. On the walk back, Robby had pointed out an ice cream shop that he’d never been to but always wanted to try. He’d heard good reviews.
“No time like the present, brother,” Jack said with a smile. He seized Robby’s arm and pulled him inside. They looked over the menu, and, while it was great they had free range cows supply their milk, their non-dairy section was terrible. The only sorbet they had was coconut.
“Shit, I forgot my Lactaid,” Robby realized. The present was not an option, apparently.
“Don’t worry. I’ve got some with me.” Jack assured him. He turned to the high school kid to ask for two samples.
“But you’re not…”
“Well obviously not. I carry them for you. Come on, Robby. Keep up now.” He pulled a Lactaid single-serving packet out of his pocket and offered it to Robby, who took it with trembling fingers. He accepted the little cup of water Jack got for him as well so he could swallow the pill.
“This one is good,” Jack said, offering him the sample spoon. The dollop of ice cream had streaks on it from his lips.
Robby tried it, and he accepted the next two as well, hyper-aware that he was enjoying Jack’s seconds. Not only that, Robby was delighting in Jack’s seconds. The knowledge that Jack’s lips and tongue had tasted the ice cream first made it taste even better, even when he was essentially sucking on a wooden stick.
They ordered and Jack insisted on paying. They took their cones outside to continue their walk. Before they went into the ice cream shop, they had bumped shoulders companionably, and Robby had thought nothing of it. Afterwards, he couldn’t help but notice that Jack bumped his shoulder whenever Robby’s silence got a bit long, or when he told a joke that sent Jack cackling, or when Robby looked away from him for too long.
Robby stopped in his tracks as the realization hit him. There were a few other people on the street, and they cursed at him as they tried to avoid hitting him.
Jack pulled him away from the center of the sidewalk so they were against a building. “What’s going on, Robby? What happened?” Jack kept ducking to try to catch Robby’s gaze, but Robby was so focused internally he hardly noticed.
Did Jack always bring Lactaid when they went out? Just in case?
Jack invited him out on their shared days off without fail. He’d find a movie or a game or live music or some other local event that Robby had wanted to go to, which Robby didn’t know if he could summon the energy to actually attend. Then a text would come in with an invite with Jack, and what had seemed exhausting and a waste of time and money suddenly became a thing they could do together. It became something that would give Robby energy instead of taking it away. So he’d say yes, and they’d go, and Robby would feel so much better afterwards. And on the days when everything seemed like too much? Jack would call and ask if he wanted to watch a documentary or TV show on the couch, and that suddenly no longer seemed like a lazy depressed thing to do.
How much attention did Jack pay to him to know every possible thing he’d enjoy doing if only he had company? Or to know when Robby didn’t have enough energy for anything, and Jack would help him realize breaks were good too?
What else had Jack done that he’d missed?
Robby’s eyes suddenly focused on Jack’s face. His eyebrows were lowered, his cheeks were clenched, and his lips were locked in a sideways little pout.
Jack was adorable when he was concerned for Robby, though Robby couldn’t help wishing he didn’t make Jack worry so much.
Robby had ducked his head to press his lips against Jack’s. The pout dissolved in an instant, his dry lips softening under Robby’s in a chaste kiss. Robby pulled away and smiled.
“I just realized how much you care about me. Because you do care. A lot.” He tried to explain the stopping, the silence, the kiss. Surely Jack would understand.
Jack’s mouth dropped open in shock, and his eyes were wide enough to match. But then Abbot’s well-lauded fast-moving and decisive brain caught up with him. He smirked.
“Took you long enough,” he said. Then he grabbed Robby’s shirt with both hands and spun him around so that Robby was pressed against the wall. Jack stood on his toes to kiss Robby hard, his tongue confidently working Robby’s mouth open and taking him apart from the inside.
Their kiss received several wolf-whistles from the strangers on the street. Jack did not pull away at all: if anything the kiss grew even more ravenous. Robby’s face went beet red with embarrassment, but he refused to push Jack away: if anything he pulled Jack even closer.
Their ice cream cones had fallen unnoticed onto the sidewalk.
Dana and Benji invited Robby over for dinner, and they’d been overjoyed when Robby asked if Jack could come. Robby was excited too, until just before they were about to leave when he realized that they hadn’t told Dana yet.
“We can just tell her. She’ll be so happy for us.”
Jack had his arms wrapped around Robby, his hands tucked into Robby’s back pockets to keep him close. Robby was hiding, his nose nuzzling Jack’s neck and ear as he breathed in Jack’s smell. His arms draped Jack’s shoulders, and he was slowly putting more weight onto Jack.
It was good, putting weight on Jack like that. He knew Jack could hold him up.
“I don’t know. She doesn’t even know about me. Maybe we should do it a step at a time. Me then us.”
“She doesn’t know about me either,” Jack reminded him gently.
Oh thank G-d. That would give them more time. “OK. Me then you then us.”
“Or, hear me out—” Jack squeezed Robby’s ass from his pockets before running his hands up his back. He pressed into Robby’s muscles as he went, and Robby sagged into him even more. “We do it all at once. And she’ll be happy for us, because she loves us both.”
“Or she’s secretly homophobic, but she keeps it under wraps at work like Monica did. Or she’ll feel betrayed because maybe she’ll feel like we’ve been lying to her for months.” Robby’s voice went high enough to crack, and he dug his nose harder into Jack’s neck.
Jack slid his hand higher to massage Robby’s neck, digging in at the sides. Robby groaned at the delicious pain of it.
“Do you really think that, brother? Do you think she’ll react like that?”
“I don’t knowwww.” Robby sagged, his entire body weight resting on Jack now. Jack shifted slightly under him.
“There we go. I’ve got you, babe,” Jack whispered. Robby grumbled without words. “It’ll be fine, Misha. We’ve got this. Dana loves you, and she’ll still love you after we tell her. I promise.”
“What if you’re wrong?” Robby whined. Actually whined. He hated when he got like this, when the world felt like it was going to end from a teeny tiny thing. When doing some small minuscule thing felt incomprehensible. It was ridiculous. He was in life and death situations every day: why was this the one that tore him down to the foundation?
“Then we’ll deal with it together, brother. But I really don’t think so.” Jack ran his hands up and down Robby’s back, bringing him back from whatever nightmare he’d wandered into.
It was a few more minutes before Robby was ready to leave, and he still held Jack’s hand in a death grip the entire drive over.
They sat next to each other at Dana’s dinner table, Robby’s shoe practically glued to Jack’s under the table. He wanted to bring it up, he really did, but each time he tried, it was like his tongue was glued to the roof of his mouth.
“Do you mind if I borrow your porch for a moment?” He finally managed.
“Go right ahead, Robby,” Benji said.
And Robby escaped to the blessedly cool air outside. He leaned against their porch railing and took some deep steadying breaths, one hand gripping his neck while the other clenched the old wood. Moments later, Jack’s distinctive uneven gait rattled the boards. He joined Robby at the railing and pressed them them together from shoulder to hip. He wrapped an arm around Robby’s waist.
“We don’t have to do it now if you don’t want to.”
“No I do, I just… can’t get the words out.”
“We can just walk inside holding hands. No words needed.”
“But then they’ll ask, Jack.”
“Those are questions we can answer! Yes, we’re kissing. Yes, we’re fucking. Yes, we’re sure. Yes, we’re planning on moving in together, but we haven’t decided whose place or if we should get a new one together. Yes, we’ve filled out the paperwork at work. Yes, it’s been about eight months, and yes we’re sorry it took so long to tell you.”
“Maybe there’s paperwork that I can fill out that’ll let Dana know.”
“You hate paperwork.”
“I hate this more, brother. So much more.”
Jack let out a low whistle. “Now that’s saying something.”
His thumb was massaging the skin where it rested on Robby’s side, and now he used that hand to rotate Robby around so he could gather him in his arms. The roiling mass of anxiety in Robby’s chest calmed with the touch.
“Do you think they’d have questions about us doing this?” Jack murmured, his breath a whisper on Robby’s throat.
“We hug all the time, Jack.” But that didn’t stop the little sparks of excitement catching in Robby’s belly.
“What about this?” He pressed a kiss to Robby’s cheek and then his nose.
“They might assume it’s just how we’re hugging.” The anticipation grew. Robby was always eager to see what Jack would do next.
“What about this?” Jack chastely kissed Robby on the lips.
“I doubt they’d be able to see that from this angle.” The breath caught in Robby’s throat.
“Hm. You know, I do think you’re right,” Jack teased. “What about this?”
Jack’s arms wrapped around Robby’s neck to pull him closer, and then they were making out on Dana’s porch. Jack slipped his tongue into Robby’s mouth, and he slotted their legs together so he could roll his hips into Robby’s. It was hot, and Robby was helpless to do anything but respond in kind.
A part of him knew this was ridiculous. Here he was terrified of Dana finding out about their relationship and what it implied about them, and there they were playing PDA chicken on the porch. Dana or Benji could come out at any moment and spot them, and, while he was terrified, a part of him just wanted it to be left to chance. If the universe wanted Dana and Benji to know, they’d see them. If it didn’t, well, there was always next time.
His hands were thoroughly appreciating Jack’s muscular ass when he heard a throat clear.
Jack pulled off with a smug smile, and Robby could already feel himself blushing bright red.
Dana’s arms were crossed and she looked like she was trying not to laugh. “I’ve tried to get your attention three times in the past few minutes.”
“Sorry, Dana. I was uh…”
“Bit busy, I know. Just wanted to let you know dessert’s ready, but if you’d rather eat each other instead…” She trailed off meaningfully. Robby didn’t know if he could get any more embarrassed.
“We’ll be in soon, Dana,” Jack assured her. She turned and left.
“See, Mike! She didn’t have any questions!” Jack exclaimed.
Robby and Jack had a glorious shared Saturday off together, and they celebrated by going out to breakfast then heading to the Bloomfield Saturday Market. Robby had a reusable bag slung over his shoulder, which advertised itself as holding his gay agenda (also known as pasture-raised eggs, apples, apricots, and arugula, and he had his eye out for cauliflower, but he wasn’t feeling hopeful).
“Tomatoes?” Jack asked.
“Are they on the list?” Robby replied pedantically. He knew they were on the list, but Jack had a habit of using Robby’s memory instead of checking the damn list, so he couldn’t help being a bit of a bastard about it at times.
Jack checked and grabbed several tomatoes and some zucchini as well. He added them to his gay agenda and stole a couple apricots from it in the process.
“Are they going to make it to the car?”
“In the bag or in my belly, they’ll make it somehow.” Jack waggled his eyebrows, and Robby rolled his eyes. Jack bit one apricot in half. He chewed as he removed the pit and dangled the other half in front of Robby’s lips.
Robby’s eyes were practically going to roll out of his head, but he accepted the gift for what it was. He even abided Jack wiping stray juice off the corner of his lips with his thumb, which he happily sucked the sugar off of.
“You’re disgusting,” Robby complained.
“You love it. Now come on. I spot berries.” Jack dragged him through the pedestrian farmer’s market traffic, which was about as dangerous as a six-lane highway with all the children running about. No one was injured, though there was a near miss that resulted in one tiny person crying with lungs the size of blimps.
But they were at the berry stand and Jack was ooh-ing and aah-ing like a kid in a candy store. He fed Robby samples by hand, and Robby was struggling to make the way Jack’s fingers lingered in his mouth look as G-rated as possible.
“Hello, Michael,” someone said to his side. He turned to see his ex Heather standing at his elbow. She looked good. Glowing, even.
“Heather. How are you?” Robby replied awkwardly. They hadn’t seen each other since he’d been dumped. He’d cried and apologized for it, and Heather had left about as awkwardly as he felt right now.
“Doing well. I’m finishing up med school.”
“Congrats,” Robby said. Jack had finally made his pick and was at the register having his cardboard pallet assembled.
“Thank you.”
“Have you thought about where you’ll do your residency yet?” Robby asked automatically.
“You know, I was thinking about applying for an ER residency at PTMC, but I was worried things being… uncomfortable between us,” Heather said delicately.
“Uncomfortable?” How do you mean?” Robby looked at her, really looked at her. She smiled knowingly at him, but his gay agenda bag didn’t suddenly give him much insight. He took a guess. “Our history won’t impact our application, if that’s what you mean.”
“I mean… Well, for some reason, I was worried you weren’t over me yet. And I can see that’s not the case.” She wrapped her arm around his shoulders and gave him a little sideways hug. “Thanks, Michael. I’ll apply. And you should know that happiness looks very good on you.” She kissed his cheek and disappeared into the crowd before he understood what she meant by that.
A moment later, Jack appeared with a pallet of berries and a questioning slightly jealous look. “Who was she?”
“An ex. Heather. I think I’ve mentioned her?”
“Oh, Heather. Right. You were together, what, a couple months like four years ago?”
Was it four years ago? “That sounds right?”
“And you got a kiss?”
“On the cheek. I guess she’s finishing med school and looking for ER residency programs. I told her I wouldn’t hold our past against her if she applied.” Robby shrugged.
Jack’s eyes glared at Heather’s back with far more jealousy in them. “She knows you’re mine, right?”
“Seems like. She said happiness looks good on me.” Their eyes followed her through the crowd. She ran into someone else she knew, and she was gesturing towards them.
Jack’s look turned predatory. “She did, did she? Well, I think we ought to remind her who’s making you look so good, huh? Hold this. Don’t drop it.”
Jack shoved the pallet in Robby’s open hand and grabbed him by the head to pull him down into a kiss.
It was awkward being kissed in the middle of a busy farmer’s market, and even more awkward to do so with both hands full. Jack made the most of it, though: his fingers curled into Robby’s head to hold him close, while his other hand settled on his lower back to press their hips together. Things were starting to get a little tight between them, and Robby could feel the stares as Jack’s kiss started getting raunchy.
Jack tasted of berries, apricots, and triumph.
Mask restrictions for medical practitioners indoors had lifted several months ago, and Robby was still coming to terms with being indoors without a mask. As their anniversary approached, however, Jack asked about buying tickets to the Pens game that night, and Robby couldn’t say no to that.
The night of the game, he stayed in the car with an N95 in hand. Several minutes had passed since they’d parked, and he could feel Jack oozing concern.
“You can wear it, brother. No one will look at you funny. Loads of people still wear them, you know?”
“Yeah, I know.”
“I’ll wear one if you do. If it’ll make it easier for you.”
“No, I want to. It just feels… wrong. Like we spent so many months, so many years, begging people to wear masks to protect each other, and now we just… don’t need to anymore? It feels wrong. Doesn’t it feel wrong to you?” Robby looked at Jack, desperate for… something. Validation? Support? Confusion? It was just… He needed something, he just didn’t know what.
Jack grabbed Robby’s hand and squeezed it, though he still kept looking out the windshield. He scratched his face and jaw thoughtfully. “It makes sense. Survivor’s guilt, right? We made it through and others didn’t, and maybe they would have if people had responded better, faster. But coronavirus isn’t rampant anymore, and it’s far less severe than it used to be thanks to increased immunity. You know we haven’t had a case in the Pitt in months.”
Jack looked at Robby. Their eyes caught and held.
But not for long. Robby’s eyes dragged back to the mask in his hands. He took a couple deep breaths and put the mask slowly, carefully, on the dash.
“Let’s go.”
They got out of the car and made their way to the stadium entrance, stopping for a Primanti sandwich and a Labatt Blue at concessions before weaving their way to their seats.
It wasn’t all that bad, honestly. It still felt wrong, but Robby wasn’t jumping back whenever a maskless someone got within six feet of him. He still felt a bit like a deer in the headlights, like everyone was watching him and judging him for not wearing a mask, but hardly anyone even looked at him. And nobody glared at the masked people either. It was just… normal. Whatever you wore, or didn’t wear, on your face was somehow normal.
Their seats were wedged between a bachelorette party on Jack’s side and a family on Robby’s, so the screaming started before the game did. Jack handed over some earplugs and balanced their food and held their beers as Robby put them in.
Sweet relief.
They were halfway through scarfing down their sandwiches by face-off, and Robby rescued Jack’s sandwich as he stood to cheer with the first goal. He held onto the tray for more of first period, lest Jack’s enthusiasm send it flying into the people sitting the row in front of them.
Jack always looked gorgeous when he was excited.
And Robby wasn’t the only one who noticed. During the first intermission, Jack went to toss their trash and get more beer. One of the women in the bachelorette party, the one who was sitting closest to Jack, waved at Robby and said something. He popped out an earplug.
“What?” he asked.
“I said, is he single?” She pointed her finger down at Jack’s empty seat. Robby looked down uncomprehendingly then back at the girl. Woman. She looked to be about twenty-five to Robby’s eyes, and Robby reminded himself that twenty-five wasn’t a kid anymore.
“Uh. No.” Robby replied belatedly.
“You sure? He’s hot.” She waggled her eyebrows at him. “And I didn’t see a wedding ring.” She said in a sing-song voice.
“Very sure,” Robby insisted. But she wasn’t wrong. Jack’s ring finger was bare as could be.
“Oh well. Thanks though.” She squeezed past him, and he tried not to touch her. He popped his earplug back in and pulled out his phone to continue the article he was reading.
Jack returned to his seat and handed him a beer. He leaned in to Robby’s ear, speaking lowly to get past the earbud. “Hey, hot stuff.”
“Hey. Do you ever think—“ Robby was cut off when the bachelorette woman returned to squeeze past them again. The aisles were tight, and she bumped Jack a bit before she sat down.
“Oh, I’m so sorry!”
“Don’t worry about it.” Jack’s voice was as gravelly, and as hot, as ever. His eyes did that thing that Robby adored when it was for him, and hated when it was for anyone else.
Jack was a flirty person. Robby knew that he was a flirty person. He made eyes at everyone, and Robby had to assume he didn’t know how to turn it off. That’s just what Jack’s eyes did. And that’s what his face did when he talked to anyone when it wasn’t an emergency. And that’s what his tone of voice was like when he was meeting someone, anyone, that he wasn’t in charge of. And that way Jack had of focusing all his attention on the person he was talking to? That was just good manners. That’s what Jack always said.
Robby wasn’t jealous, because it would be ridiculous to be jealous of someone half his age when Jack was his, dammit.
“Oh, I love Labatt Blue,” the woman said.
“Best beer to drink at a Pens game,” Jack boasted.
Robby was not fuming as the two of them exchanged what he knew Jack thought of as polite niceties, but what others sometimes thought was flirting.
“Have you met my date, Robby? Robby, this is Jennifer.”
Finally! The girl had to give up now.
“Yes! When you were at concessions.” She gave Robby a slight smile. His heart fell to his knees.
Did she think ‘date’ was a euphemism?
“Nice to meet you, Jennifer,” Robby choked out.
At least he was saved by the end of intermission. All of Jack’s attention was redirected towards the game. His hand landed on Robby’s forearm for only a moment before he was on his feet and cheering again.
The Zamboni came out during the second intermission, and Jack casually slung his arm around Robby’s chair as they watched the Kiss Cam start picking couples in the crowd. Jennifer picked up a thread of a conversation with Jack, who had to lean forward to hear her over the sound of cheering. His arm abandoned Robby’s chair so he could lean on it.
Robby watched idly as it when from straight couple to straight couple, and he was shocked to find Jack was suddenly on the screen. The cameraman had put him with Jennifer. The rest of the bachelorette party nudged the woman and she looked up to see herself on the screen, and Jack followed her gaze to the camera.
Jennifer looked hopeful, and Robby saw her lean over to Jack to murmur something in his ear. He looked confused, then a cat’s grin overtook his features.
“Sorry, but I am taken,” he said. He put an arm around Robby’s shoulders and leaned in to kiss him.
The crowd was deafening, even with the earplugs. Robby felt heat creeping up his neck as the kiss deepened into something filthy, and Robby stopped paying attention to the noise and the audience and anything except Jack’s lips on his, Jack’s arms around his neck, and the feel of Jack’s obliques in his hands.
They separated for a brief moment to breathe.
“Marry me?” Robby asked impulsively. He wanted everyone to know Jack was his, was taken, just by looking at their fingers.
“Of course,” Jack replied. He brought their lips back together.
It was nearing 1AM when Robby’s phone rang, waking him up.
“Mikey, my love!” Jack screamed, and Robby blearily pulled the phone away from his ear. “My darling! My beautiful husband! I request… a chariot! A ride!”
“I figured,” Robby said sardonically. He wiped the sleep from him eyes. “Where are you?”
“Do you hear that?” Jack’s voice was far away as he shouted at the med students and residents he’d gone out drinking with. “My husband is a beautiful angel who’s going to give us all a ride home!”
“Jesus Christ. How many are you?” Robby pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger.
“Six? Seven?”
“OK, let’s try again. Who needs a ride?”
“Who needs a ride?” Jack shouted away from the receiver. His voice grew loud again, and he slurred the words. “Hucklebry, Santos, Javdi, Melll… McKay, you needaride? You good?” His voice dropped. “She’s shaking her head, but I think she needs a ride.” His voice called out again. “Shen? Uber? OK, no problem. Parker? Yeah, Ellis needs a ride. Garcia? Don’t give me that look, I didn’t do anything! She’s not getting a ride even if she needs one.”
“So… six including you, maybe seven with McKay. We don’t have a vehicle with eight seats, Jack.”
“We can squeeze!”
“OK, I’ll try again. We don’t have a vehicle with eight seatbelts.”
“We can share! It’ll be fineeeee.”
“You can’t sit on my lap. I’ll be driving.”
“Me? I’d never do that! C’mon, Mike, you know me better than that!”
“Yeah, that’s why I’m concerned.”
G-d, Jack was drunk as a skunk.
The things Robby would do for love, including break several traffic violations.
He pulled up to the bar in Jack’s giant SUV, but he had to find a parking spot when no one was waiting outside for him. It was cold as sin out, so he couldn’t blame them. He got ID’d and stamped then weaved his way through the crowd to find a large group doctors with his boisterous husband leading the way.
“Mike! You made it!” Robby suddenly had an armful of Jack to hold up, lips to kiss, and a tongue that darted past his lips. Jack tasted like vodka tonics and, oof, Fireball. Had he been doing shots with the kids? No wonder he was like this.
“Mike?”
Robby flushed. Shit, he was at a bar with an audience. He managed to free himself so he could look over Jack’s shoulder. He apparently sacrificed his ear to Jack’s munching as he did so. Looking at them with owl eyes were his Pittlings: Santos, Whittaker, Javadi, and Mel. One smirking Ellis was with them.
“Short for Michael,” Ellis asid.
“Doctor… Doctor Robby!” Javadi stammered. “I didn’t realize you were…”
“Gonna join us,” Whittaker finished the sentence, his words slurring over one another.
“Going to take us home,” Mel squeaked.
Robby sighed. “Only if you want a ride. McKay around? Shen and Garcia already left?”
“Garcia needs a ride. McKay and Shen got an Uber,” Santos said. “Robby, you uh never mentioned…”
“We have matching rings,” Robby said. He did take his ring off during work: the feel of latex gloves sliding on and off it so many times was a sensory nightmare. He had no clue how Jack did it. Still, Robby wiggled his ring finger with its black band in Santos’ general direction. “McKay and Shen? Same Uber?”
“Saaaame Uber,” Ellis drawled.
Robby’s ear was getting cold and wet, and he redistributed a drunken Jack to the other side. A drunken Jack who apparently decided now was the time to stick his hands under Robby’s shirt and leave a trail of kisses from his ear down the side of his neck. He started to investigate the neck of Robby’s shirt until Robby reminded him that now was not the time or the place.
“Jack! Jack, c’mon.”
“Oh alright,” Jack said. He grabbed either side of Robby’s head and kissed him wetly.
“Are they always this gross?” Garcia asked blandly. Her question was met with a lot of exclaims and choruses of no.
“Yeah. It’s always worse when Abbot’s had a few,” Ellis said after the cacophony died down.
“Wait, really?” Javadi asked.
Right, right. Come on Robby. Stop making out with your husband with his perfect lips and warm hands and delicious stubble and—
Robby freed himself. He took Jack’s broad hand firmly in his and used it to hold him away.
“OK, let’s go figure out how to fit everyone.” His ears were so red, they might as well have been sunburnt.
Robby wrangled everyone to the truck, and he got Jack buckled into the front-middle seat instead of on his damn lap like Jack wanted. He had to keep slapping Jack’s hands to keep them out of his pants. Ellis claimed passenger seat, which had the benefits of extra room and the downsides of being near a very clingy Jack. But Ellis invited Mel to sit on her lap, which Robby thought might count as another benefit for Ellis. The rest of the Pittlings squeezed hip-to-hip in the back.
“God, you’re so hot,” Jack said.
“Yes, baby. You’ve told me three times tonight already.”
“I’m gonna fuck you so good tonight, Misha. So good.”
Robby coughed, his entire face heating with embarrassment. The red probably went all the way down to his navel.
“Why don’t you two get a room?” Garcia said sweetly.
“I’m really working on it,” Robby gritted out.
Thankfully drop offs were few, with three of them going to Santos’ place, though the other three asked for different addresses, much to Ellis’ disappointment.
Each time they parked, Jack unbuckled his seat belt and tried to climb onto Robby’s lap, and each time he had to settle for a sloppy kiss.
Robby hated holidays.
It was the holiday per se that he hated, but the fact that all of his employees, especially his attendants, wanted time off with their families, and that everyone in Pittsburgh decided now was the time to have sudden, life-threatening, yet very-much-preventable problems.
The fact that he and Jack worked five days straight to give his attendings a vacation had nothing to do with it.
He’d only seen Jack during hand-offs for nearly a week, and the Pitt had been crazy enough that they hadn’t even been able to sneak into a G-ddamn broom closet for a moment of privacy. And while it seemed like everyone in the Pitt knew he was married, they had a policy not to be too couple-y when they were on shift. It was one of many parts of the hospital’s policy when a married couple work in the same department, especially when one was, technically speaking, the other one’s boss.
Husbands, but there were no benefits allowed.
Not even a kiss during handoff since they were technically both working.
Robby’s skin was itching so badly for Jack’s touch that he was surprised it wasn’t streaked with red scratches from his absent-minded scratching in his search for relief.
Robby walked the mile to the Pitt, showing up precisely at 7, and he bee-lined for the Hub.
“Jack still here?” He asked Lena.
“He’s finishing handoff. Priti got in early.” Lena dropped her glasses to the edge of her nose. “You’re not working, are you?”
“Nope. Not a chance. Just wanted to pick him up.”
“Oh good, I was worried…”
Robby didn’t hear what she was worried about because there, emerging from the North hall, was Jack.
He looked exhausted.
He looked fucking gorgeous.
Robby went straight to him.
“Robby? What’s up brother?” Jack wrapped Robby in a work-appropriate hug. “Thought you were going to be waiting for me at home.”
“You’re off-shift?”
“Just finished handoff.”
“Good.”
Robby pushed him all the way back to the wall, pining him to it with his hips, and pressed their lips together hungrily. Jack was too surprised to react at first, but then his lips parted willingly, eagerly, beneath Robby’s. Jack’s hands wrapped around him, grabbing whatever they could reach, regardless of the audience they were surely picking up.
Someone wolf-whistled, and that’s what finally drew them apart, panting and red-faced.
Robby turned to see what seemed like all of night and day shift had rubbernecked for their spectacle.
Robby smiled awkwardly and waved. “Nothing to see here. Just picking up my husband after a long, long week of opposing schedules.”
“Nothing to see?” Jack joked. “Here I thought we were trying to give them a show!”