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Jack was too old for this shit, and Dennis was too tired for it, and they were both seriously considering sedating the oddly hyperactive bunny that was Frank Langdon, the new, fresh-faced intern, bright, eager, and running laps around an oddly affectionate Robby.
A side of Robby that weirdly irritated the chief night attending and the seasoned senior resident, already applying for an attending position at the PTMC.
“I’m starting to fucking hate that kid,” Dennis grumbles, taking his last sip of coffee as the pair watches Frank and Robby interact, and Jack knows Dennis doesn’t actually mean a word of it.
“That bad?” Jack hums, eyes narrowing at the bright smile the hybrid had at Robby, and Jack vows he’s not going to step in when Frank manages to get himself eaten.
Dennis just looks at him, the circle under his eyes dark and his silent look. “Robby pouted like a deranged koala when Baran took him away to work on a case with her.”
Jack snorts at the image of the large bear hybrid pouting, the image too clear to be anything other than based on reality. He knows that pout; it’s the same pout Robby would give Jack over Dennis, before the pair claimed their puppy, before the accident, the relapse, PittFest. Before they lost Dennis for ten long months and were still getting their puppy back.
“Did you pout?” Jack asks with a smirk, and Dennis gives him a look that conveys how much the German shepherd would like to hit the older, greying wolf.
“I’m not hearing a no….” Jack teases while meaning every word, and Dennis glares at him.
“You’re sleeping on the fucking sofa for a week, old man.”
Jack shrugs and shakes his head “Nothing I haven’t done before. Hey Bunny-”
They watch in fascination as Frank comes to a skidding halt, blue eyes comically wide, mouth falling open in surprise at the older attending outright calling him bunny. “Sit down before you fall, and stop bothering Robby. I’m not saving your fuzzy ass when he decides to eat you.”
“Jesus Christ, Jack,” Dennis groans, and Robby sputters and looks horrified and a little red, and none of them is prepared for Frank to smile widely, a wide shit-eating grin, and his eyes gleamed.
“I’m okay, thank you, Doctor Abbot.” His voice is as sweet as honey, and Jack straightens upright at it, eyes narrowing at the challenge. “I once bit off a fox's fingers in a fight in middle school because he was bullying my best friend.”
Dennis lets out a horrified wheeze. “I may be a bunny hybrid, Doctor Abbot, and while I’m fantastic at sex, I’m even better at defending myself.”
“Frank.”
Jesse’s calm voice cuts through the Pitt, and the change in Frank’s demeanour is immediate, the bunny’s hyperactivity dropping away almost instantly. Jesse is standing next to Shen, the grey fox hybrid looking perfectly calm and unaffected, and the tiger hybrid has his ever-present Dunkin’ in hand, smirking dryly.
“Go eat something,” Jesse commands, and holy shit, Dennis very nearly coos at Frank’s pout.
“But I’m heading home…” Jack detects the faintest bit of a whine in the young bunny’s voice, the hybrid almost as much of a prodigy as Javadi was and, while not as young, still a couple years younger than the average age of twenty-seven/twenty-eight like most interns were.
“No, you’re not; you’re running laps around Robby.” Shen reasons. “Grab a sandwich from the cart and then go home.”
They watched, still stunned, as Frank nodded and did as he was told, walking over to Shen and Jesse, who clapped Frank on the shoulder and said something low to Frank that made him blush and nod, and Shen pinned the three of them with a look.
“No.”
Is all he says before following Frank and Jesse, leaving Robby, Jack, and Dennis behind.
“What the fuck?”
Dennis breaths out, and Jack blinks rapidly for a second before the grown fifty-year-old hybrid lets out a whine. “Robby, Jesse and Shen just stole our Bunny”
“Not your bunny,” Shen yells out from the central hub. “You three are in no way responsible enough to handle Langdon being your bunny. Now get to work, boss.”
“Yes, we are.”
“No, we’re not.” Dennis agrees, rolling his eyes at Robby’s pout. “Come on, old man, you’ll see your new golden boy tomorrow.” That seems to snap something in Robby and Jack, the playful attitudes dropping away almost instantly.
Robby takes a step towards Dennis. “Dennis, you know I-”
Dennis holds up a hand and cuts him off. “I do.” Dennis nods. They’re nowhere near where they once were, but they were working on it, and it hurt when he realised he had been replaced with Frank, but he’s the one in Robby and Jack’s bed and not Frank, and Dennis hates to admit he’s starting to see the annoying charm of the kid.
“Can we just go home?”
Robby nods and wraps an arm around Dennis, kissing his head, ignoring Shen’s gagging sound. “Sure, Denny, lets go home.”
Dennis finds himself working with Frank more and more over the next couple of weeks, and finds himself constantly looking for the bunny hybrid when he’s not, his frown deepening anytime he can’t find him right away, next to Robby, if he’s not with Dennis.
“Don’t bother.” Dana’s voice makes Dennis jump, and the collie hybrid rolls her eyes at his little glare. “Good puppy,” she snips.
“What do you mean, don’t bother?” There’s a little flutter of unease in Dennis’ stomach once again looking for Frank and nearly snorts when he catches a frowning Robby doing the same.
“He’s fine.” Dana begins, which makes every hair on Dennis’ body stand on end. “There was an incident with a patient.”
His stomach drops.
“Frank got overwhelmed and stressed, and there was an accident. He’s okay, but he’s getting stitches, and then he’s going home.”
Dennis’s thoughts are racing too fast to make sense, and he doesn’t like the way his heart is beating. “What the fuck? Where is he? What happened? Why the fuck didn’t you tell Robby about this? Dana-”
Dana lets out a little growl, and Dennis gives a whine in response and flattens his animal ears in submission to the older collie. “Because he’s fine. He’s a bunny-”
“He’s not fine if he’s stressed out enough to hurt himself.” Dennis snaps, and he’s already looking around with more urgency, and he must have caught Robby’s eye because the bear’s whole body stiffens and he’s jogging over with a deep frown.
“What happened? What’s wrong?”
“There was some incident with Lagndon, stress harm, apparently getting stitches.” Dennis grits out and Dana lets out a low string of curses. “This is exactly why I didn’t tell you.” She snaps.
“Frank is a bunny-hybrid. Yes, it’s unusual we have one in emergency medicine, but it’s not unheard of; we have policies and protocols in place for any time prey hybrids stress-harms. It sucks that it happened, but this is an emergency department; it gets stressful for all of us. Jesse is with him; Mohan is doing the stitches. He’s being sent home and will be back tomorrow.”
Robby’s tone takes a low, dangerous quality. “Why the fuck is Jesse with him?”
Dana looks at him like’s he stupid. “Because we all had a chance to volunteer to be Frank’s designated point person in incidents like this, you scoffed, saying you had enough shit to deal with, and Frank picked Jesse.” She shot back.
“Do I need to explain why you’re not it?”
Dennis held up his hands and shook his head, all three of them knowing exactly where Dennis was when the volunteer offer went out. Robby gets called away before he can continue to argue with the charge nurse, and she raises a challenging brow at Dennis before walking away. The urge to hunt Frank down to find him and herd him to his side or Robby’s or even a room with a lock just so Dennis can get some peace of mind becomes too strong, and he finds himself swiftly doing his best to track his scent to a triage room.
He stops dead in his tracks at the bloody gauze, Frank slumped against Jesse, the fox hybrid perfectly calm, scratching the back of Frank’s head with the pad of his fingers, the bunny asleep against the fox, while Samira expertly stitches the claw marks on Frank’s arms.
Jesse looks up, and the even tone of his voice never falters. “Do we have a problem, Whitaker?”
“No.” Dennis breathes out, and it’s clear Jesse doesn’t believe him.
“We have it handled, Den.” Samira gives a little smile; the Asiatic Lion hybrid’s tone is soothing. “We lost a patient, and one of the parents had to be escorted out by security. Frank scratched himself and went too deep; he fell asleep about ten minutes ago. Adrenaline crash.”
“...oh.”
“He’ll be fine. Jesse will take him home.”
She assures, and the nurse gives a hum and goes back to his phone, the hand that was scratching Frank’s scalp never stopping. Frank is discharged and on his way home before Robby gets a chance to search for him, and the worry is etched deep in his face.
Dennis pulls Robby aside, and the bear leans down and presses his forehead against Dennis’. “How bad is it, puppy?”
“Pretty deep self-inflicted scratch marks. One arm. Samira did the stitches, so very minimal scarring.”
Robby gives out a sigh of relief, and Dennis finds himself sharing the sentiment. “He was asleep against Jesse when I found them.”
“Of course he was. Just twenty more minutes and then we can go home.” Robby assures, and it's another ten before Jack is strolling in with a determined look on his face.
“What the fuck happened to Bunny?”
He demands, folding his arms over his chest, a deep frown on his face. No one is more surprised than Robby and Dennis at Jack’s sheer affection for the hybrid, working with him for one shift before shoving him back at Robby, declaring, darkly, he has too much energy for night shift, only for two days later to demand to know how Langdon was doing.
Somehow in the last month and a half, Frank had just become Bunny, and Jack would snap at anyone else who called the hybrid that, even Robby. Dennis, it seemed, was the exception.
“Stress self-harm.” Dennis is the one who informs him, and Jack’s expression turns contemplative.
“Give him back to night shift,” Jack says like it’s the most obvious solution.
“No,” Robby calls out to his husband of twenty years. “You don’t have a point person on night shift.”
“Actually, we have two.” Shen corrects, taking a lazy sip of his coffee. “Both Ellis and I took the training, even got certified. Frankie is safer with us than on day shift.”
“Frankie?”
The demand is past Dennis’ lips before he can stop himself, and Shen just blinks before smiling like a Cheshire cat. “Frankie,” he repeats.
Frank returns the following day just like Dana said, and something turns in Dennis stomach, seeing the intern quiet and subdued.
“Langdon, with me.”
“Um, right.” Frank nods and hops out of his chair, following Dennis outside to the ambulance bay, the same place he broke up with Robby all those months ago. He sits down in an open ambulance and watches as Frank follows suit.
“Am I in sort of trouble…?”
Dennis shakes his head. “I just wanted to check in with you one-to-one, without all the noise and distractions. I know Jesse is your designated point person, but I would be a shitty senior resident if I didn’t check in too.”
“Oh.” Frank breathes out. “To be honest, I didn’t think you liked me.”
“I didn’t.”
“Right…that’s fair.”
“Nope.” Dennis is reaching out before he can stop himself and grabbing Frank’s arm before he can scratch at the bandages and wraps covering his arm, “not doing that.”
“You can let go of my hand now.”
Dennis looks at him. “Are you going to scratch?”
The silence is deafening and damning. “Then no thanks. I think I’ll hold on to it.”
Frank blinks. “You know you’re essentially holding my hand in public.”
“I know.” Dennis does, but he’s not letting go. “How the fuck did you survive your surgical rotation?”
“Without seriously hurting myself?”
“Without Park the Shark eating you whole?” Dennis shoots back, finding he means it, and the taller, younger man shrugs.
“I promised him when I decide to come off my birth control and have a shit ton of kits, I would consider him first.”
Dennis has no response to that besides a wheeze. “What the fuck?”
Frank’s smile is sharp and playful, and Dennis feels his dick start to twitch.
He’s in so much fucking trouble.
“Don’t worry,” Frank assures, I won’t. I have a whole list already. He’s on the very bottom.”
Dennis finds himself only being able to nod. “Um-” he feels like an idiot when he has to clear his throat. “Um- who's the first?”
He isn’t expecting Frank to get so close, invading his space, and it makes Dennis’ head spin, and his voice comes in a warm series of puffs against Dennis’ ear. “Call my Bunny again, Dennis, and I’ll drop you down from number one to even lower than Park.”
Dennis could only sit there, mind blank, heart beating too fast, and growing painfully hard as Frank pulled his hand from Dennis and gave him a wink before walking inside.
Frank Langdon was going to kill him.
***
Frank was fully dressed up, hair styled, pushed back in soft, touchable little waves and curls and mascara and a perfected eyeliner brought out the blue of his eyes. He wasn’t forced but highly encouraged to attend the hospital gala, hospital fundraising disguised as charity. As the only emergency Bunny hybrid, and one of only three prey-hybrid emergency medicine doctors, Frank was given the night off to schmooze and make a good impression. He had dressed in a black and lace jumpsuit that exposed a large expanse of his back with a bow at the small of it, framing his tail, and drawing attention to his small waist.
He looks gorgeous; he looks expensive, and Frank knows it. He’s in the middle of nodding along to a conversation he’s been trying to escape for the last ten minutes when he sees Jack, dressed in an expensive black suit with a crisp white dress shirt, unbuttoned at the top and no tie. The crowd parts, and he sees Jack is talking to another bunny hybrid, tall, thin, elegant and completely age-appropriate.
“Excuse me.” Frank cuts off the hippo who was mid-sentence and not even waiting before walking up to Jack, and presses himself to the older wolf’s side, earning an eyebrow raise from the greying man, but he remains silent, deciding to play along to see where Frank was going with this, wrapping a hand around Frank’s waist and pulling him close.
“Hi,” Frank ignores Jack completely, holding out a hand to the other bunny hybrid. “Frank.”
“Becki.” She smiles and shakes Frank’s hand, and neither of their smiles meets their eyes. Frank hums and turns his attention to Jack, pulling him into a kiss and pulling back before Jack can pull back or deepen it. “Hi. Handsome, having fun?”
“Not as much as you, apparently.” Jack cracks, and Frank rolls his eyes before turning to Becki.
“Sorry, this one is mine.” Frank lays a possessive hand on Jack’s chest.
“I think you’re a little young to be making such a bold claim.” She smiles.
“The multiple orgasms he gave me while I was getting ready tonight, and the womb full of his cubs,” Frank places a hand on his stomach, smiling sweetly at the older brunette woman, “would suggest otherwise. He’s mine.”
“You’re a bunny hybrid. Lets be reasonable; we can share.”
“I don’t share what’s mine.” Frank drops the act and glares at the woman. “Go away.” She walks away with a huff, calling Frank several names, and Jack is pulling back just enough to look at the intern, raising both brows and his voice dropping into a conspiratorial whisper.
“Multiple orgasms and a womb full of cubs?”
Frank nods. “You owe me on both.”
Jack nods like their conversation makes total sense. “And that whole thing was…?”
“I’m your only Bunny.” Frank points out, and he’s aware he sounds like a spoiled child, and Jack’s expression turns into a self-satisfied smirk.
“Want to repeat that, Bunny?”
Frank’s blue eyes narrow, and he takes a step closer to Jack, whose smirk deepens. “I’m your only Bunny.”
“Sure, Bunny, you’re my only Bunny. You don’t share what’s yours?”
“Nope.”
All playfulness drops from Jack’s face. “Listen, kid, Robby, Dennis, and I are-”
“I know.” Frank nods, cutting him off and levelling him a look. “You three aren’t exactly subtle.” Frank rolls his eyes. “The whole Pitt knows.”
“Then you know that…”
“Jack.” The wolf stills at Frank’s use of his name and the seriousness of his tone. “You three are a thing, I get it, so I will make this very clear. I might be twenty-five, but I know very much what I want.”
Jack sucks in a breath, “And what’s that, Bunny?”
“To be their only Bunny, too.”
Jack doesn’t move for a second. “Oh, Bunny, careful, you say something like that and you might not be able to take it back.”
“I’m your only fucking Bunny, Jack,” Frank demands with a possessive heat, and Jack nods just as seriously, a satisfied smirk on his face.
“You’re my only fucking Bunny. Frank.”
Jack doesn’t let go of him for the rest of the evening, holding him with a tight and possessive hand, and Frank doesn’t even try to hide how smug he is, with only a kernel of worry about how Robby would react.
***
Robby was going to die. If Dennis didn’t kill him, then Frank Langdon was going too. He was sent multiple pictures of Frank and Jack at the gala, and something searing and sharp burned swiftly in his gut, and he couldn’t look away from the images of Frank all dolled up, of his husband looking like that with his arm around Frank’s waist, looking like it was the most natural thing in the world and instead of jealous, Robby realised he wanted.
It was bad enough when he realised he was in love with Dennis all those years ago, putting himself through hell with guilt and anger, feeling like a lecherous old man, and knew Jack felt the same. Dennis finally came to them in his second year of residency, tipsy but not drunk, dressed for a night out, crying that they didn’t want him and whatever had been holding them back had shattered, and they pulled Dennis inside and showed him how much they wanted him.
Dennis' relapse had been brutal; the man not catching him before he could steal from a patient, and he broke down even as Robby kicked him out. Jack took him to rehab, and Robby couldn’t bring himself to visit, but cutting Dennis off was like cutting out part of himself, and they were still working on it, rediscovering who they were and their relationship, but Robby would never let his pup go.
“Holy fuck.” Dennis breathed, placing a kiss against Robby’s naked shoulder, where they sat in bed, blankets twisted and legs still together, the alarm going off ten minutes ago waking both hybrids up.
Robby turned his head to see Dennis staring at the photos that Princess had sent Dana, who sent them to Robby.
“Uh huh,” he rumbles and kisses Dennis, who kisses him back before snatching the phone from Robby and enlarging the picture.
“He’s backless.”
“What?”
Dennis rolls his eyes and zooms in a little farther; the image gets a little blurry, but Robby suddenly knows exactly what Dennis means, and Robby’s mouth dries a little more. Dennis’s eyes narrow and his animal ears twitch; a low growl slips from him as he looks up at Robby, pink cheeks in embarrassment. “You heard nothing.”
Robby raises an eyebrow, and Dennis sighs, flops back against the bed, and doesn’t coo as much as he wants to.
“We are so fucked.” The German Shepherd mutters, and Robby wants to argue but forces himself to get ready for work, doing his best not to think of those photos of Jack and Frank, about the fact Frank was backless, in whatever he was wearing.
No one warned Robby what post-late-night party Frank was like. No one warned Robby about the soft, floppy, unstyled hair, the light stubble, the way he greedily snatched coffee from the machine or his pout.
He actually pouted at Dana and let out a little whine, and Jesse called him a brat with a little too much affection, and the word ricocheted around Robby’s brain over and over again. He was brought back to the present by Frank giving a little whine before shooting a look at Robby, a little guilty look.
“I’m charting, boss, I promise.” He assures with a head nod that reminds Robby of a bobble head,
Robby has him follow Dennis for the rest of the day, and Dennis sends him a little stressed-out glare for the fourth time that day when he can’t seem to find their the wayward bunny. He shoots Dennis an apologetic look.
“I’m fucking airtagging him,” Dennis mutters darkly while doing his own charting, forcing Frank to take a break to actually eat and drink something other than coffee, and Jesse follows him like a silent, knowing spectre, having an easy conversation with Frank, and the sound of Jesse’s dry chuckle sets Robby’s teeth on edge.
Robby rolls his eyes. “He sticks to you like glue, Dennis.”
Dennis’s glare is painfully cold and reminds Robby a little too much of Jack, the man who spent the rest of the night finishing a shift instead of coming home and gave them each a smug kiss when he got home, saying he knew they saw the pictures before showering and passing out.
“It's when he doesn’t stick to me like glue that stresses me the fuck out,” Dennis grumbles. “Also, when the fuck did Jesse get so damn handsy? He’s supposed to be his point person, not his handler.”
Robby had been wondering the same thing all day, since the moment Jesse called Frank a brat and the bunny hybrid just smiled at the fox. It had been a long fucking day, and Robby was starting to feel like he was going insane.
“Only three more hours left.” He grumbles, and Dennis gives a small amen.
Frank spends the next month bouncing between Robby and Dennis, soaking everything up like a sponge, and everyone knows it's going to be a bad day for everyone when Baran gets to Frank first, and he smiles that bright smile and bounces after the lion hybrid with a single-minded focus of getting shit done, leaving Robby and Dennis behind. It becomes an unwritten rule of the Pitt that if you want the Pitt to be a slightly less shit show than normal, you don’t take the bunny hybrid away from the bear and the shepherd. Something no one bothered to tell Frank.
“I’m sorry, what?” Robby blinks at Frank, taking in how serious the hybrid is, the determination in his face, the stubborn set of his jaw and suddenly he’s not some twenty-five-year-old kid; he’s a full-grown adult and something hot twists in Robby’s stomach.
“I would like to transfer to the night shift for a month or two. I have done the usual two-week rotations, but I feel like it's important to be able to work both shifts with some degree of comfort, Robby, as well as I would like the opportunity to experience how other doctors teach. It’s not a dig or insult against you; please don’t think it is. You’re amazing, but different people have different ways of teaching, and I can’t just read medical journals; I need hands-on learning.”
Robby feels a headache starting at the base of his skull, and his mind whirls with every way this could go wrong, how unsupervised Frank could be, how much more at risk he was for stress-related harm, how different the night shift could be.
Frank lowers his tone, not deepening it but making it sound like a whispered confession, a little promise. “I’ll stick with Abbot, I promise. I won’t wander off.”
Robby signs the transfer papers with Frank promising to utilise his point people if needed and a warning look when Frank beams at him and promises to behave.
“What was that about?” Dennis asks when they are both doing their charting, and Robby can’t help but pinch his nose, shifting his glasses to do so.
“He requested to move to the night shift for a couple of months, to get more experience with both shifts, and to experience different teaching methods.”
Dennis just blinks at him. “You didn’t.”
“I did.”
“Jesus fuck.” Dana groans, catching both men’s attention, the blonde collie not even pretending not to listen. “You two are going to be a fucking nightmare. No, don’t argue with me.”
“Think of it as practice for when Frank finally starts using his reproductive leave and starts having babies.” Santos snorts. Dennis flips his best friend and fellow senior resident off, and Robby very much does not want to think of it as practice for that.
Dennis and Robby wake up to several texts from Jack every morning, letting them know how Frank was doing, Jack checking in with them throughout the night before but even more so with the young intern by his side.
J: “Kid is fucking smart. No one told me he’s this smart.”
J: “Bunny is going to kill me; no one should have this much energy.”
J: “Robinavtich, get your fucking Bunny. If one more person flirts with him, Shen’s going to eat someone.”
J: “We’re keeping him forever. Night shift has claimed him. He’s ours now. No take back.”
J: “...we need to work on Bunny’s right hook.”
Robby and Dennis wake up to a single text a month and a week into Frank’s two-month rotation onto the night shift, and Dennis lets out a low growl while reading it, and Robby lets out a similar sound, low and deep in the Grizzly’s chest.
J: “Did you know Bunny has an ex-fiancé? I do. He’s in my ED, calls him Frankie. He makes Frank blush.”
“If you don’t pull him from night shift, Robby,” Dennis warns dark and low, “I will find a way too.”
Robby pulls him as soon as he’s able, and Princess and Perlah give a sigh of relief before talking amongst themselves, and Robby pretends not to notice a green twenty-dollar bill pass between them.
***
Frank gets the call at four in the morning, two and a half hours before he actually needs to be at the Pitt. And he slurs a greeting into the phone, only to be greeted by Parker’s low and steady voice, and Frank is dressed and out the door ten minutes later, throwing on a pair of sweats and a hoodie, managing to brush his teeth and splash cold water on his face, not bothering to put in his contacts.
He looks soft and fluffy and like he just rolled out of bed, and he wants nothing more than to find Jack and bury his head in his chest and pout. Frank very much is not a morning person unless he needs to be. Parker snorts, the panther hybrid leading Frank to the pedes room where a feral wolf cub, dirty and neglected, is curled in the corner, milk teeth bared and tiny little claws out, snarling and growling at a crouched Shen. The pup is around two years old and bit Nazley hard when she tried to sedate him.
“Move, Shen,” Frank commands the older tiger, the attending raising his eyebrows but getting up and moving aside.
“You called Langdon?”
“Fine, get bit. I don’t care.” Parker retorts dryly, and there’s a silent agreement not to let anyone else know they couldn’t handle a single feral toddler wolf cub.
Frank ignores them and sits on the floor in front of the cub, strips off his hoodie and the t-shirt under it, and one of the other hybrids lets out a soft “huh” while Frank proceeds to crumple up his t-shirt and proceed to rub it all over himself. He rubs it across his chest and neck and under his arms and down to the waistband of his pants and over his stomach, coating the fabric in his scent before softly and wordlessly tossing it to the cub.
The shirt falls in front of the little cub, who stops snarling to sniff the air. He snatches the shirt up and inhales Frank's scent and looks up at the silent bunny who just waits, posture non-threatening and a deliberate soft look on his face. Frank loves kids, always did and even under the dirt and grime and unwashed matted hair, Frank knew this one was fucking adorable. The pup sniffs the shirt again and starts to slowly make his way to Frank on unsteady, chubby little legs before launching himself at the bunny with a wounded little howl, burying his head in Frank’s shoulder and sobbing.
“That’s it.” Shen sighs out. “I’m calling fucking witchcraft. Bunnycraft.”
“You’re not calling it Bunnycraft; it sounds like either a mac’n’cheese brand or a sex position.” Parker shoots back, and Frank coos when the cub lets out a little growl.
“He’s a feral pup.” Frank cuts in, drawing their attention. “His primary instinct is scent, especially if he’s nonverbal.”
He rolls his eyes when Parker and Shen give twin looks of disbelief at not thinking of that, and Shen asks Frank to marry him then and there, and Parker tells him he can do better than Jesse and Shen.
The pup refuses to detach from Frank even for evaluations and exams, and Frank either has to hold him or sit with the cub on the exam bed and hold him between his legs and the cub glares at everyone with open suspicion. Frank manages to steal him away to the Paediatrics unit and sweet-talks his way to access for a shower and some shampoo and spends twenty minutes cleaning the little cub, singing every children’s song he knows with the exception of Baby Shark.
Baby Shark can burn in hell.
They get a clean diaper and rash cream and dress him in a little hospital gown, and the cub snaps, trying to bite a pedes nurse when she tries to separate them. Frank also bares his teeth and takes him back down to the emergency room, sitting at the hub with the toddler in his lap, facing him, the pup falling asleep on Frank’s chest beneath Frank’s oversized hoodie, against the bunny’s bare chest, the top of his curls barely visible.
It’s six am when Jack, Robby, and Dennis all rush into the Pitt, and Frank is in the middle of charting the cub's patient paperwork, clocking in and taking over as his primary doctor and already emailed Kiara about kinship placement for the cub.
“Wow.” Shen shakes his head when the three doctors come in; Jack had the night off, and Robby and Dennis are both an hour early for their shift. “Just wow”
“I don’t even want to know how.”
Parker agrees, slipping Shen a fifty behind her back and out of view from the others. Shen texted Jack that they had a situation but were handling it, but there might be some extra paperwork, and Parker had texted Robby telling him that Frank was already here and he was ‘fine’.
Robby glares at the pair, and Jack looks like he’s two seconds away from committing a double homicide.
“What do you have there, Frankie?”
Frankie wraps his arms around the sleeping pup covered by his now stretched-out hoodie. “An abandoned wolf cub.” Frank hums, and a little snore comes from his chest.
“I see that, Bunny.” Jack walks over to where Frank is sitting. “Any plans on giving him back?”
Frank levels him with a look. “Already emailed Kiara about kinship placement.” He meets Robby’s eyes. “I want a baby.” He declares, and Dennis gives a little punched-out sound, and Parker gives a wheeze.
“Fuck kid.” Jack’s voice sounds slightly strangled. “What did I say about saying shit you can’t take back?”
Frank rolls his eyes. “Go away before you wake up my cub.” He orders and rolls away, making Shen cackle. “If you don’t want him, I’ll raise him with Shen and Jesse or Park.”
Robby looks like he’s going to die right then and there. “No one is raising anyone.” He groans.
“Especially not Jesse and Shen,” Jack mutters, and Dennis crouches next to Frank, who looks down at the handsome resident Frank was determined to get under, on top of, and everywhere in between, preferably with Jack and Robby also there.
“We all know how hard feral children are to place, and honestly, who else here is more qualified to take care of a kid than a bunny hybrid, Dennis?” Frank reasons, “I have thirty-six brothers and sisters. I know what I’m doing.”
Dennis nods. “I’m not going to argue with you, Frank. If you feel you need to do this, then you need to do this, but you’re going to need help, you understand that, right?”
“This is why you’re number one.”
Frank is petty enough to admit he loves how quickly the large-eyed man flushes and Robby clears his throat. “Number one?”
“Don’t.” Dennis chokes out, begging Robby, who gives a deep frown.
“It’s my future baby daddy list.” Frank supplies like he’s announcing the weather, and Shen’s head snaps up from his charting so fast, Frank is surprised his neck didn’t snap.
“There’s a list? How do I get on that list? How does Jesse get on that list? Please tell me I’m on that list.”
“No.” Robby barks at Shen, stunning everyone, and he lets out a growl of pure frustration before throwing his hands up in the air and walking away with a low “fuuuuuuck.”
Jack and Dennis just look at Frank, who shrugs and rolls back to his computer, one hand on his cub and goes back to his charting.
Kiara files emergency placement work, for Frank as soon as she gets in knowing how hard it could be to place a feral pup and Frank takes his first reproductive leave, which had twice as much coverage then maternity leave and was catered for rabbit and rodent hybrids, with specialised leaves and more in depth child care and obgyn coverage, the pregnancy and birth rates for both nearly triple then every other hybrid species, with multiples more common then not.
The cub has green eyes that look almost to large and round for his little face, with a mop of teddy bear brown soft curls and grey and white little wolf ears and tale, and clings to Frank like a particularly needy octopus, and Frank absolutely loves it, nuzzling his cheek against the top of the cub’s head, or scratching behind his small grey and white little animal ears. Frank is still at the hub, not wanting to wake the cub and figuring out how to get a car seat and all the other basics when the toddler wakes up, pushing himself off Frank’s chest.
He looks around with an owlish pout before giving a high whine and collapsing against Frank’s chest with a distinctly disgruntled growl.
“Oh, my god.” Samira gasps, sharing a look with Princess and Perlah.
“Jesus, Langdon.” Trinity blows out, “He’s just like you.”
“No one tells Robby or Dennis,” Dana commands with low authority, looking around the hub. “Not a word.”
“No one tells us what?” Robby’s voice is smooth and inquisitive as the bear braces his arms on the ledge of the hub, Dennis standing next to him with eyebrows raised.
“Nothing.” Dana dismisses it at the same time Princess singsongs that Robby, Dennis, and Jack are in so much trouble and Santos snorts.
“Dana.”
Robby’s voice drops and the cub pushes off Frank’s chest once more with small little arms, looking around before his attention settles on Robby and Dennis, and his stomach gives a loud rumble, causing him to look down at his stomach and back at the two hybrids with those impossibly round eyes and he sticks his bottom lip out with a little quiver, the same time he holds out his arms with a little coo of command.
“Okay, even I find that unnerving.” Jesse offers, and Perlah mutters an agreement.
The cub gives a little whimper and both men break almost instantly, Robby reaching the cub just a second faster then Dennis, and pulls the cub into his arms, and the cub’s pout turns into a look of angelic satisfaction, sucking his thumb and leaning his head on Robby’s chest, and the bear pouts when he gets called away, Dennis taking the cub, and the cub wags his little tail and gives a little enthusiastic yip.
Dennis and Robby look unreasonably hot with a baby in their arms.
Jack shows up an hour later, with a car seat and bags of essentials, takes one look at the cub clinging to Frank. “Mine.” He declares, and Frank surrenders the cub with a little smirk, and Jack takes him without hesitation. The cub gives a little pout and whine, his eyes going absolutely huge, and Jack gives a snort and bops him on the nose.
The cub opens his mouth in surprise, giving an owlish little blink and frowns before reaching up with a chubby hand and hitting Jack’s nose with a look of pure concentration, and Jack raises his brows at him, and gives a little growl, and the cub offers a long-suffering sigh in response and settles against Jack with an unimpressed look.
“Dear god, it gets worse.” Samira groans.
“I think it's cute.” Mel chirps, the doe hybrid smiling at the sight. “It’s healthy for kids of all hybrid species to mimic their parents, and play fighting is a well-known way to teach children, especially predator children, important social cues and boundaries.”
“Well, I guess we know who the baby daddy is.” Princess offers.
Jack meets Frank’s eye. “We’re not naming him Carter.”
“I want a baby girl.” Frank retorts, and Jack hums, and Dana gives a loud no and orders both of them to go home.
His mother loaded up her station wagon the moment Frank called her and brought every single piece of 12-month to 24-month clothing she could find, along with every good toy and more bedding than Frank knew what to do with. His dad comes down a day later with one of the old cribs, a changing table, a wagon, bike seat, rocking chair, and a brand new “My Grandpa is my bestie” shirt, Tom giving a wide smile while Sally tutted and set everything up, the bunny and golden retriever hybrids more than excited their baby had a baby.
He names the toddler Carter Abbot, and Carter is absolutely adorable. He’s sweet, curious, absolutely hates getting up in the morning, and utterly adores Robby, Dennis, and Jack, happily clinging to any of them, pouting for hours when they leave after visiting, especially Robby, the little wolf trailing the bear hybrid like it’s his sole purpose in life, and gives a high little abandoned whine when he can’t find Robby.
Dennis apparently had been serious when he said Frank needed support and showed up at Frank’s apartment when he found out Frank’s parents were coming and helped his dad move everything out of the truck and put together the crib and changing table, and Frank was ready to jump him then and there in the half-finished nursery. Jack showed up with Robby a couple hours later, and never really left. Carter has all three men wrapped around his little finger, and he starts babbling, walking with steadier steps, toddling after the three men with a string of curious-sounding babbling, growls and grunts.
Frank is visiting the Pitt at evening handoff, Carter on his hip and a box of cookies for Lena’s birthday when he sees Robby and Noelle, the suited woman smiling at Robby in a way that made Frank want to bare his teeth, a little too bright, a little too friendly, and Frank finds himself walking over and interrupting without shame.
“Ba ba ba, da.” Carter babbles, bouncing in Frank’s arms, loud enough to draw attention, where Robby and Noelle were standing in the Pitt. Carter is reaching for Robby in an instant, making grabby hands and giving a little growl. Frank looks at Noelle, and then Robby.
“Hold your son; I’m going to drop these off for Lena and wish her a happy birthday.” He kisses Carter’s cheek with a soft smile. “Behave for Abba, baby; momma will be right back.”
Robby reaches for Carter out of instinct, and he doesn’t give Robby a chance to protest, slipping away only to be intercepted by Jack, his arm warm around Frank’s waist, pulling him close."Your son?”
“I told you, Jack.” Frank huffs with jealous and possessive annoyance. “I’m your only Bunny.”
Jack hums, “Anything else?”
“I want another baby, Jack.”
“Just the one?”
Frank takes another step towards Jack. Leaving almost no space between them, Jack’s arm still around his waist.
“As many as you, Dennis, and Robby will give me.” He smiles and slips out of Jack’s hold before Jack can fully process what Frank has admitted and clocks Dennis’ alert frown the moment the senior resident sees him approaching the hub.
“Where’s Carter?”
Frank wants to coo at the way Dennis is protectively looking around for the toddler, his frown deepening when he can’t find the little wolf cub who sets off the same annoying need to herd and protect that Frank does, only worse because Carter is nothing more than a baby. A baby who walks. A baby who gets curious and runs off, a baby who was fully going to give Dennis a head of grey hair before he turned two.
“Come on, Huckleberry, can you get even more domestic sounding?” Santos demands of her best friend, and Frank smiles, meeting her eye.
“I am not domestic sounding.”
“I think it’s hot.” Frank winks at him before drifting to Lena. “Happy birthday, Mama Bear.”
Her hug is warm and crushing before she pulls back. “Thank you. Where’s my baby?”
“Carter’s here?”
Dana looks around, even as tired as she is; the woman is looking around with the same intensity as Dennis, but with the energy of a needy Grandma. Everyone in the Pitt knew Dennis was her pup by way of sheer ‘she said so’, and Dennis had gone no contact with his only family when he was in med school.
“He’s with Robby.” Mel supplies helpfully, “talking to Noelle.”
Dennis and Frank both pull faces and Santos hums. “Good, maybe she’ll finally get the memo he’s taken. Oh please, you and the old man Abbot aren’t subtle, Huckleberry. The whole Pitt knows you three are together. Not sure what the fuck Langdon is, though.”
She pierces Frank with a look, and the bunny hybrid hums. “Hungry.”
Santos sees right through him. “Oh, I’m sure you're starving.”
Frank makes another visit to the Pitt a week later and learns that the only person his cub might adore even more than Robby, Jack, and Dennis is Henderson Crus. Carter slipped away from Shen, who was watching him for two seconds, with Robby and Dennis finishing their own hand off with Jack, and Frank was in the bathroom, and Carter ran into Crus's leg face first with a little “umpf”, and Crus is picking the tiny wolf cub up that smells like a confusing smell of Frank Langdon’s Bunny scent and natural wolf.
“When the hell did Langdon have a baby?”
“Oh, thank fuck you found him.” A panic-looking Shen, followed by an equally panicked Parker behind him, wheezed, hand on his chest. “I set him down for two fucking seconds; I was about to die, man.”
“Crus, why the hell do you have my cub?” Jack is demanding, walking up with a frown a minute later. “Give me my baby.”
He’s reaching for Carter when the little boy pushes his hand away with a concentrated pout that makes Jack want to coo from deep in his soul.
“Na. Pa. Na na.” He babbles and curls deeper into Crus’s hold, and a look of betrayal fills Jack’s face, and the leopard hybrid doesn’t bat an eye when Jack’s gaze meets his.
“Oh, this is war, Crus. Give me my kid.”
“Really, Jack?” Crus rolls his eyes and hands Carter to Jack, and the large man blinks several times when Carter gives the leopard a smug look of satisfaction, going boneless against Jack, who was cooing over the cub.
“....yeah, pretty sure Frank gave birth to Carter, no way that’s not his kid.”
“Worked all the way up to his due date. Robby passed out during the delivery.”
“Jack sobbed when he found out he was the father.” Shen and Parker tacked on like it was gospel, and Robby and Dennis frowned when they came back to work the next day to the rumour that Jack knocked up Frank and Carter was his pup.
Something Jack didn’t deny, looking smug while Dennis rolled his eyes and Robby pouted when he thought no one was around.
Frank comes back to work after three long months, and Dana breathes a sigh of relief, saying everything can go back to normal, and Dennis and Robby don’t let him out of their sight for just as long, the intern smiling ear to ear at the fact, and Carter is officially enrolled in the PTMC day care under the registered name of Carter Abbot Langdon, and it takes another month for everyone to just decide Jack was indeed the father.
It’s two days before Christmas when the ambulance rushes in, and a baby the size of two of Frank’s hands put together is rushed in dangerously blue, found in a dumpster, breathing but just. She’s a bunny-hybrid with a badly torn ear, and Frank’s heart shatters. He turns angry, truly angry and protective, and Robby doesn’t try to pull him aside, staying close in case he needs to intervene, not pull Frank away but come between him and anyone Frank may deem a danger or a risk. The bunny infant is rushed to the NICU, and Frank doesn’t leave, following them up.
He pulls Prey-Hybrid Emergency Care rank, a specialised status that came with additional training; prey hybrid babies and infants, especially the sensitive ones like mice or bunnies, were more likely to be the subject of abuse or abandonment, considered weaker, smaller, and tended to happen more in mixed hybrid households than single hybrid households. Kiara talks Frank through everything, and the Doctor doesn’t like that Frank pulled rank but talks Frank through everything and lets him observe while they operate.
Dennis picks Carter up from daycare, Frank putting all three men and his parents on the release forms, and Frank spends the night at the hospital with the broken bunny kit. They don’t know if she’s going to survive the night, and Frank yanks off his shirt and holds her tight against him, wires, leads, and all, and does nothing but kangaroo care with the kit for hours. She is impossibly small and light, and Frank feeds her one bottle drip at a time and is terrified he’ll lose her without ever knowing her.
She survives the first twenty-four hours, and they send Frank home for a couple of hours to sleep and get some rest, and he sobs against Dennis, the German Shepherd pulling him into a hug and just holding him, tight. They don’t talk on the ride home, but Dennis holds Frank’s hand and drives them back to Robby and Jack’s townhouse. Carter sleeps pressed against him that night, and Jack texts him updates when he visits the kit.
It’s too early to tell if she’ll have any developmental delays, nearly freezing to death and blood loss from her ear, and her lungs are still weak, but one of the nurses calls her a fighter, and Frank is so proud of her; he feels like he’s going to explode. Robby brings Carter by on his day off, and the cub stares through the window with a low, troubled whine of confusion, and Robby explains to the toddler what is happening and why momma is in there, and Dennis finds them looking pale and stressed and Carter clings to him in what they call his full octopus mode.
Frank moves in with them. It was their suggestion, just so he could have help with Carter while everything is going on and Frank never moves out.
“When I said I wanted a baby girl, this is not what I meant.”
“I know, Bunny.” Jack offers, his hand finding the small of Frank’s back, and Frank’s heart melts at the sight of Dennis sitting with his shirt off and the painfully small kit still hooked up to a series of wires but breathing on her own, against his chest, Dennis talking low and slow, never stopping while he holds her close.
It’s his day off, and instead of crashing at home, he’s in the NICU, taking care of Frank’s baby. “Robby’s baby better be fat and chubby and painfully healthy.”
“Robby’s baby?”
“Yours is a menace to my sanity, and Dennis’ is… she’s…Robby’s better be fucking fat and healthy with little thigh rolls and round cheeks.” Frank declares, and Jack hums.
“You are one determined little bunny, aren’t you, Bunny?”
“I told you, I might be young, but I know what I want.”
“And what’s that?”
“To be yours.”
“I think you might already be that,” Jack confesses, low and deep, and he’s watching Dennis and the kit with watery eyes, and Frank moves until he’s pressed against his side, tucked under his arm and pulls the greying wolf into a soft and tender kiss.
“Damn right I am; now we just have to get the other two to catch up.” Jack’s laugh is warm and genuine, and he knows Frank means it.
Eloise Whitaker Langdon comes home a month later, and Dennis chokes when he finds out the kit’s name; Robby gives a strangled little noise, and Frank is holding his perfect tiny little girl, clad in an adorable onesie covered with little yellow ducks and a bow just above the cut out for her tail, swaying side to side, patting her bottom, settling her against him.
“Give me baby Robinavitch, and we’ll talk.” Frank offers bluntly. “I want a fat, chubby one. I mean, feel free to knock me up, but I’m more than okay with adopting.”
“What-I-Frank-huh?”
Frank coos when Robby turns bright red, and Dennis just stares at Frank and Frank rolls his eyes and sets the settled Eloise in her bassinet in the living room, the baby monitor on Frank’s phone showing Carter fully asleep, down for his nap, holding the jellycat octopus Dennis had given him for christmas and chewing on the rubber toy especially designed for wolf and domestic dog pups to teeth on during sleep.
“I want another baby, Robby.” Frank bluntly states, looking at the beet red bear hybrid and taking note of the way Dennis swallows hard and smirks. “Oh, and I’m keeping this hoodie; it's warm, and it smells good. It’s mine now, and if either of you wakes up the baby, you’re putting her back to sleep.”
Robby doesn’t have an answer to any of that but gave a weak little nod all the same.
***
He doesn’t have an answer for it a month later, and doesn’t have an answer for anything when he sees Frank smiling brightly at one of the pediatric emergency residents, dressed in dark green, the salt-and-peppered fox hybrid annoyingly handsome, genuinely chuckling at something Frank is saying, leaning in a little too close to the bunny hybrid, through the glass of the Pede’s room.
The hedgehog baby was left sometime in the early dark hours of the January morning, dressed in a clean but worn and faded onesie, impossibly small in the way only a hoglet could be, with a full head of dark brown and white hair sticking out in every direction. The hedgehog hybrid also had complete heterochromia iridis, with one eye being brown and the other being green, and was left with a handmade blanket and something dull and painful settled in Robby’s chest when he saw the little hoglet, curled up in a ball, still very much a newborn.
He was still holding the baby when he saw Frank laugh at something the doctor said, and he couldn’t seem to stop his feet from walking to the door and pushing it open, catching Frank’s attention, and walks over to the intern and very gently placed the baby in Frank’s arms, the man melting completely. He nods at the resident, while placing a hand on the small of Frank’s back like he had every right to do so.
“He needs a bottle,” Robby’s tone softens, looking at the baby, “I thought you might want to do it since I gave Lulu her bottle this morning.”
“What happened to me not being allowed to handle the safe havens because I might want one?”
“Fine then I’ll ask-”
“Don’t you dare.” Frank snaps and pulls the baby towards him, with a look of scandalised horror. “Don’t you dare think about taking this baby away from me.” Frank brushes past him with a little huff and pink-tinged cheeks, heading straight back to the Pedes’ room, and Robby turns to the resident, who looks pale.
“I’m so sorry, I didn’t-”
Robby nods with a satisfied smile. “Now you do.”
Frank looks up at him when Robby comes back in with the bottle, the hoglet fussy and giving little snorts, and Frank looks up at him with a determined look in his eye.
“This one is mine now.” Frank declares, taking the bottle from Robby and Robby hums.
“You might have some competition; I saw Jesse with him earlier and-”
“No.” Frank shuts down immediately, and Robby crosses his arms and watches with ease as Frank gets the baby to accept the bottle, “mine. Jesse can steal him from my cold dead hands.”
Robby snorts at Frank’s dramatics, but finds himself agreeing.
He’s halfway through filling out the kinship placement paperwork when Dennis sits down next to him, looking tired but calm, the kind of calm that tells him that Dennis knows where everyone important to him is where they should be, or at least he knows where they are.
“Why is there a rumour going around that you knocked Frank up with a third baby?”
Robby chokes on his coffee and tries to breathe. “I-what?”
Dennis looks at Robby like he’s an idiot, and Robby feels like he might be. “Apparently you went all possessive husband on a pedatrics resident, and now Frank has a third baby.”
Robby shakes his head, and it’s clear Dennis doesn’t believe him when he tells him he has no idea what he’s talking about. It becomes clear halfway through the shift that Frank was serious about keeping the newborn hedgehog hybrid, and he texts Jack, who shows up three hours later with Eloise in her car sear dressed in a painfully adorable onesie with a matching bow headband at the base of her tiny little ears, and Carter is dressed equally as cute in a hoodie and green toddler cargo pants and Princess lets out a squeal when she realises Carter and Jack match.
Robby finds himself with an arm full of kit, greedily taking the infant from her carrier, and Jack laughs when he finds Dennis talking to Mel across the Pitt, stopping mid-sentence, head snapping up as if sensing their arrival.
“Daddy!” Carter yells with full-force toddler excitement, and Mohan gives a small “finally” at Carter’s title for Dennis.
Frank comes out of the Pedes room, hoglet in his arms, and reaches out and pulls Robby into a kiss. It’s light and chaste and makes Robby blush as heat burns through him.
“For the record, Robby,” Frank states, “You’re mine too.”
“I want one.” Jack pouts, and Frank rolls his eyes and pulls Dennis into a kiss. “Also mine.” Dennis’ hand finds his waist, and he pulls him in for one more kiss before Jack pulls him away and gives Frank his own kiss, ignoring everyone’s light whoops and hollars.
“Ahmed is going to have a field day.”
“So is HR.” Robby points out, brushing his shoulder against Dennis’.
“Who cares.” Jack declares, reaching for the baby in Frank’s arm. “Now give me my baby.”
“My baby.” Robby corrects, with a pout. “You already have one.”
“Right, which is why I should have more.” Jack reasons, taking the newborn from Frank, the baby still scrunched in a ball. “You can have the next one.”
“You’re not stealing my baby, Jack,” Robby argues, Eloise snug in his arms. “Any of them.”
“Frannnk,” Jack whines. “Robby won’t share the baby.”
They bring the baby home a day later, and Frank names him Milo Robinavitch Langdon, and he is small and quiet, and sleeps in the same crib as Eloise, the pair curling around each other, small and perfect, and Carter is absolutely obsessed with them.
Frank is on full reproductive leave now with two kits, and comes back with a simple gold band on his ring finger, and the Pitt explodes.