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“Oh so you are capable of being early to things other than work?” Says June sarcastically as she sees her dad coming down the stairs. Robby just rolls his eyes at her.
“Come on give us a twirl let me see.” Says June sitting up from her position on the couch, the show she was watching completely forgotten.
Robby walks into the living room “You’re not going out today?” He says ignoring her comment.
She shakes her head “Cam and Dean are coming over in a bit. We have a biology project.”
“Are they staying for dinner?” June just shrugs in response.
“Okay I’ll pick up some dinner on the way back. If I’m late just use my card to order whatever you want.”
“Oooohhh you’re gonna be late?” She wiggles her eyebrows at him.
Robby rolls his eyes “No. I said if.” He says in a confident tone. “Just in case something comes up I don’t know.” He adds mumbling as he feels a blush start to creep in on his face.
She wiggles her eyebrows again, a sly smirk painting her face “Sounds like you have a fun date planned.”
Robby laughs “Be good.” He leans down to place a kiss on his daughter’s head. “And call if you need anything.”
June nods and goes back to laying down on the couch. “Have fun on your date.” She calls out to Robby’s back before resuming her show.
Robby starts heading towards the door before another thought pops up in his mind. He turns back to look at his daughter “Hey Junebug.” He calls sounding hesitant.
She pauses her show again and turns her head towards him quirking an eyebrow in question.
“Maybe don’t mention who I’m going out with in front of Cam and Dean.” He says unsure “It might be awkward for Mr. Whitaker if his students know about his dating life.”
June’s eyebrows shoot up a little “Ohh I didn’t think about that.” She giggles a little “Sure I won’t bring it up. Now go, have fun.” She shoos him off with her hand, hitting play on the remote.
Robby grabs his jacket from the coat rack and heads out the door.
Robby gets to the cafe him and Dennis agreed on forty minutes early. He feels a little ridiculous being this early, but as someone who is chronically late to things, he thought it was better to be very early than late to this date; he wanted to make a good impression on Dennis. He decides to wait outside in one of the outdoor tables in front of the cafe.
He can’t stop tapping his foot and fidgeting in his seat. Robby truly can’t remember the last time he was this nervous about a date. He decides to busy himself by answering some emails—taking his phone and glasses out of his pocket.
The emails do a good job distracting him. Soon enough, he’s looking up when he feels someone approaching his table and a smile is immediately drawn on his face.
“You wear glasses?” Dennis asks, eyes wide with wonder.
Robby smiles “Only for reading.” He blushes slightly feeling like an old man as he takes them off. “Should we go in?”
Dennis keeps looking at him for a second, like he’s distracted by something. He catches himself when he realizes Robby has gotten up and is looking at him expectantly “Umm yeah sorry. Lets go.” He says blushing.
Robby places a hand on his back as they walk to the front door of the cafe together. Dennis looks up at him smiling when he feels the brush of his hand against his shoulder blades. When they get in, they place their orders and Robby pays quickly not giving Dennis the chance to pull out his wallet or even say anything.
When their orders are called out, they pick up their drinks and find a small table in a corner of the shop that’s next to the window—looking out into the street.
Dennis takes a sip of his drink and hums “Thank you for the coffee.”
“My pleasure, darling.” He smiles at him before also taking a sip.
Dennis smiles and looks around the small coffee shop “This is a very cute place.”
“Yeah it is.” Says Robby not taking his eyes off of him.
Dennis catches on to Robby’s meaning and blushes. He clears his throat “Soooo.” He says stretching the word out.
“So.” Robby parrots.
Dennis chuckles “Tell me about yourself Michael.”
“What do you want to know?” Robby asks an amused tone to his voice.
Dennis huffs “What do you do? What are you into? Just anything really. I don’t know anything about you.”
Robby hums “Well I’m 53. A doctor. Single dad, which you already know. Grew up in Pittsburgh. I moved to New Orleans for my residency, then moved back to Pittsburgh to look after my grandma as she started getting older. And yeah that’s pretty much it, I work and I spend time with my daughter. Ohhh and I’m a bit of a motorcycle fanatic.”
“Motorcycles?” Responds Dennis taken aback.
Robby chuckles “Yeah.”
“Is that your version of a midlife crisis?” Dennis teases.
Robby laughs at that “That’s what June calls it.”
Dennis laughs “Smart girl.”
“Yeah, she is.” Says Robby sounding fond as he thinks back to the way June teased him when he first got Bonnie. He shakes his head, going back to the conversation “Actually, I read this book last year that got me really into motorcycles. Found this gorgeous 69 Bonneville and fixed her up with a buddy of mine.”
“Oh so I take it you’re good with your hands?” Dennis smirks at him.
Robby chuckles “Something like that.” He winks, earning a cute giggle from Dennis.
“And what about you Dennis? Tell me about yourself.” He repeats his earlier words teasingly.
Dennis chuckles “I’m 29. I’m from Nebraska but I moved out here a year ago. I’m a teacher.” He blushes a little “Obviously.”
“Nebraska?” Robby asks surprised.
“Yeah, grew up on a farm. Third-generation farmers.”
“A little farmboy, eh?”
Dennis laughs at that “Something like that.”
The conversation flows smoothly between them, the time passing without either of them noticing. Robby is in the middle of telling a story that has Dennis giggling when they’re approached by the barista.
“Sorry guys, but we’ll be closing soon.” Says the barista looking sheepish.
“Oh sorry, we’ll be out of your hair soon.” Responds Dennis apologetically, smiling up at the barista.
Robby checks his phone for the time—it’s 5:20 PM. He notices he received a message from June forty minutes ago.
Junebug 🐞
gangs all here [4:38 PM]
[1 image attached]
The image is a picture of their dining table with three laptops open, papers and snacks strewn all over. He sees one hand—Dean’s probably—reaching for a bag of skittles. He thumbs up the text and pockets his phone as they walk outside the cafe.
“June has friends over; they’re working on a project.” He explains to Dennis and the younger man nods. “Do you want to go to the park across the street?” He asks sounding hopeful, not wanting this date to end.
Dennis smiles up at him “Sure.”
They walk to the pedestrian crossing, Robby casually moving him to the side opposite of oncoming traffic with a hand on his back. It’s so subtle that Dennis almost doesn’t notice what he’s doing.
When they make it to the park they walk close to each other, hands brushing with every step. Dennis stops for a beat, he turns his head slightly to smile at Robby before lacing their fingers together and continuing their walk. Robby blushes looking down at his feet and smiling to himself. They pick up their conversation as they continue their walk in the park. At one point during their walk they make it to a little pond in the middle of the park. The area has a lot of benches and different vendors.
“Do you want some ice cream?” Robby asks as they walk up to an ice cream vendor.
“You’re gonna spoil my dinner.” Dennis jokes. He looks up at the menu board for a minute before saying “Can I have the cookies and cream.”
“Hi, can we have two cookies and cream please.” Robby says to the vendor.
They get their ice creams a minute later before they walk off to sit at a bench near the pond.
“Wow.” Robby says after tasting the ice cream.
“I know.” Dennis says looking at him, lips quivering as he holds back a laugh.
“This is not good.” Robby chuckles.
“No, it’s not.” Says Dennis, unable to hold back his laugh now “What’s that flavor?”
“No idea.” Says Robby shaking his head as he laugh. He sets his ice cream cup on the side of the bench.
Dennis keeps his head down looking at the cup of ice cream as he swirls it around. He shifts closer to Robby on the bench keeping his head down as he says “If this is the only bad thing on this date, I’ll count that as a win.” He looks up at Robby after saying that.
Robby smiles down at him as he puts a hand behind him on the back of the bench, fingers brushing Dennis’ shoulder lightly “Yeah.”
Dennis beams up at him before shifting his gaze to look out at the pond. Robby follows his gaze—he keeps his thumb close to Dennis’ shoulder, moving it up and down in a soothing pattern. They stay there in comfortable silence for a bit—close but not exactly cuddling either.
Robby doesn’t remember the last time he felt comfortable just existing with another person that wasn’t June. He’s so used to the constant movement and chaos of the ER that the quiet and stillness of the park is foreign to him. He would usually feel antsy being this still—specially being this close to someone else—but he finds that he doesn’t mind it. In fact, he quite enjoys the calmness that Dennis’ mere presence brings to him and he thinks he’d be happy just staying like this for the rest of the day.
But of course the quiet doesn’t last. Dennis moves to face him and picks up a conversation and they fall into their easy banter from earlier. Robby finds he doesn’t mind that either, he’s quite content as long as it’s with Dennis.
After some time Dennis looks down at his phone. “I need to head back home.” He frowns sounding disappointed.
Robby looks down at his watch and sees it’s almost 7 PM. He nods and gets up groaning as he stretches his back. Dennis giggles behind his hand.
Robby quirks an eyebrow at him “Yeah make fun of my old bones, you’ll be there soon.”
“I’m sorry, I’m not making fun of you.” Says Dennis but he can’t hide his laugh behind his hand.
Robby looks down at him smiling fondly and stretches out a hand to him “Come on, I’ll drive you home.”
Dennis takes his hand and they walk out of the park and to Robby’s car. Robby opens the door for him as they stop in front of the passenger side.
“Such a gentleman.” Dennis teases winking at Robby.
Robby chuckles “Just for you.” He winks before closing the door and going to driver side.
They talk about music on the drive to Dennis’ apartment. He’s surprised to find that Dennis knows a lot of the songs he plays and that he is a proclaimed funk freak.
Robby parks in front of Dennis’ apartment building. He goes down to walk Dennis to his front door.
They’re standing on the sidewalk facing each other in front of the main door to the apartment complex when Dennis says “I would invite you up, but my roommate just got back from her shift and she gets cranky when she works weekends.”
Robby chuckles “Your roommate and I have that in common. But I should be getting home anyway; I need to make sure June and her friends didn’t burn down the house.” He pauses for a minute before adding “We should do this again, yeah?” He asks sounding hopeful.
Dennis smiles at him “I would like that.”
They stand there for a minute, looking into each others eyes smiling—their bodies shifting closer without either of them noticing. Dennis pushes himself up onto his tippy-toes and places a chaste kiss on the corner of Robby’s lips.
“Goodnight Michael.” He whispers against his lips as he pulls back from the quick kiss.
Robby brings a hand to the back of Dennis’ head stopping him from moving away. He tilts his head and brings it down as he goes in for a second kiss—this time the kiss lasts for more than a second.
Dennis brings his hands up to Robby’s shoulders as Robby snakes his other hand around Dennis’ lower back bringing his body closer as he deepens the kiss. He doesn’t try to push for more, even as he feels Dennis wrap his arms around his neck. He runs his fingers through Dennis’ hair—the thing he wanted to do since the minute he saw him at that open house—and is happy to find out his curls are as soft as he imagined they would be.
After a few minutes Robby pulls back from the kiss “Goodnight Dennis.” He whispers before stealing another quick kiss from Dennis. He finally wills his body to let go and he moves back slightly.
“Drive safely. Text me when you get home.” Dennis says blushing.
“Yeah.” Robby says as he turns to get back in his car. He turns his head to look back as he’s walking to his car and sees Dennis still standing in front of the door looking at his retreating figure smiling. Dennis waves when he sees Robby looking. Robby waves back before he gets in the car and drives away.
At a stoplight he checks his phone.
Junebug 🐞
got pizza [7:40 PM]
He thumbs up June’s text and puts down his phone to focus on the road.
As he walks inside the house he hears June call out from the dining room.
“How was your date?”
“Real good.” He says, smiling to himself as he walks into the kitchen to wash his hands.
When he walks into the dining room he finds June sitting at the dining table a couple of open pizza boxes in front of her. He places a quick kiss to the top of her head before he takes his regular chair at the table.
“How goes the bio project?” He asks picking up a slice of pepperoni pizza.
June groans deeply “We’re mostly done. But we’re meeting up at the library tomorrow morning to finalize everything. Cam and Dean left like 20 minutes ago, they had to get home for dinner.” She says between bites of garlic bread.
Robby just nods in response. June kicks his leg under the table. Robby raises an eyebrow in question.
“Is ‘real good’ all I get about the date?”
Robby nods smiling as he swallows the bite he’s chewing “Yeah, pretty much.”
“Come on, pleeeeeeaaassseeeee.” She whines dramatically
“Nope.” He says smiling. He pulls out his phone.
Michael
Just made it home [8:03 PM]
I had a really great time today. Lets do it again soon ❤️ [8:03 PM]
Dennis Whitaker
me too. thank you for a wonderful day. i can’t wait to see you again 🩵 [8:05 PM]
June stares at her dad as he smiles dumbly at his phone. “If you’re not gonna tell me details, then you can’t flirt with your boyfriend at the dinner table.”
Robby puts away his phone and rolls his eyes at his daughter. “Eat your food.” He says taking another bite of pizza.