Dennis and Robby becoming popular amateur pornstars in the twitter community.
One day, they decided to film themselves during sex which they’ve done a few times before, but after rewatching this video they realized it’s a masterpiece and should be seen by others. The lighting was perfect, Dennis was folded a million ways to Sunday, and Robby sounded like a professional pornstar. It was just too good to keep hidden.
So after making a burner acct on twitter and cropping the video so their faces aren’t in view, they post it online with a few adorning tags to help it circulate. And circulate it did.
Within a week, the post got over a million views, a hundred thousand likes, and a great handfuls of retweets and comments. The instant fame might have gone to their heads (more accurately, their dicks) and figured why not post a few more? Just for the good of the general public.
They posted one of Dennis sucking Robby off, the camera angled professionally to where it was just his mouth and throat in view taking Robby’s cock messily delicious. There was another where Robby was sat between Dennis’ legs, eating him out until he was crying off camera, his thigh creatively covering Robby’s face so just his salt and peppered hair and thick torso was in view. There were plenty of others of them fucking that got pretty good views on it, too.
They thought they did a pretty good job at being anonymous as it had been a few months of this going on and no reported recognitions but their little fantasy of being anonymous came to a screeching halt one day as the two of them were working a case together.
As they worked together checking the man in his late twenties who was cradling his arm after a biking accident, he started to look between the two of them as realization covered his face.
“Hey, you guys look super familiar… or there’s something about you that i feel like I know,” the man said as Robby checked over his chart and Dennis tested the mobility of his other limbs.
“You been in the ER before?” Robby asked, looking up from over his glasses before going back to jot something down on the clipboard.
“No, no. I don’t think it’s your faces I recognize. I feel like your hair is kind of familiar. Is that weird to say?” He asked. Dennis just laughed as he looked over to Robby.
“I’ve been told I’m a bandwagoner with my hairstyle, my roommate cut it for me and-“
“Holy shit, do you guys have a twitter account?”
Robby and Dennis immediately stopped what they were doing and looked at each other in fear, Dennis dropping the hurt arm as the man howled in pain.
“Sorry! Sorry, um, no we don’t I don’t even think this old man knows what twitter is,” Dennis rambled anxiously. “Here, hold your arm like this, a nurse will be in here in a second to look at it,”
“Aren’t you a doctor?” The man tried to ask but Dennis was already halfway out the door, Robby not far behind and he sputtered out apologies.
Dennis rounded an empty trauma room, tugging Robby in closely behind him.
“We have to delete that account,”
“Maybe there’s another couple on twitter out there who look exactly like us!” Dennis just gave Robby a deadpan look.
“I’m not losing my job over this, oh my god,” Robby watched as he paced the room, hands over his head in nervousness. Doing saw less of an issue with it but still sympathized with Dennis’ fear.
“Well, at least we didn’t do that doctor/patient role play you wanted,” he barely had time to dodge the pillow Dennis had managed to grab and throw at him, laughing as at the weak shut up! his boyfriend shouted at him.
They didn’t delete the account and posted the doctor/patient roleplay video a month later.
Defining Relationships of John Truman Carter III - Eleanor Carter & Peter Benton - and the two very different ways they reacted to a six inch knife being shoved in his back (twice.)
he liked to think he was pretty good at it. no one could ever tell, or at least no one had ever called him out on it. he made the right noises, tensed the right body parts, held his mouth open in a particular way.
it was fine. it really didn’t bother him. it wasn’t anyone’s fault that he just never got there. he couldn’t even make himself finish, how was he supposed to expect other people to?
robby knew immediately.
it just felt…wrong. it wasn’t genuine. it was too conveniently timed and at a much too showy volume. robby let him get away with it a couple times, hoping as they became more familiar with each other, dennis would either start enjoying himself more or trust that he could be honest.
that didn’t happen.
after about two months of this, in the afterglow (well, robby’s afterglow), robby suggested, “you don’t have to fake it with me. you know that, right?”
dennis stammered and denied until it was obvious robby was not buying it. “it’s not you. i don’t...”
robby rubbed a hand soothingly up and down dennis’s arm. “it’s ok, some people just have very specific conditions that need to be met. what have you tried?”
and it was offensive how little effort people had put into making dennis feel good, how little effort dennis himself had put in. the list of techniques dennis had named was incredibly short.
it didn’t happen the first time they really tried, but at least dennis didn’t have to focus so much on acting like he was getting there. it made it more enjoyable, which was almost more frustrating. he didn’t get close, but he got somewhere.
the second time was weird. dennis didn’t like getting eaten out. it was too wet and diffused. he was sure robby was great at it! but maybe that was better used as foreplay or something. dennis wasn’t sure. nevertheless, he did not finish.
the third time they really tried, robby had ordered a vibrator.
he’d read some articles about this type of thing, and this seemed to be a promising solution. he wasn’t going to get butt hurt about dennis needing a little something extra to actually enjoy himself. (dennis insisted he always enjoyed himself when fucking robby, even if he didn’t orgasm.)
robby had taken his time, done all the things he knew got dennis wet. he sucked on that spot behind his ear and ran his big hands up and down dennis’s stomach. robby whispered sweet little things into the man’s skin like a spell. he put off trimming his beard, knowing dennis liked it scraggly.
when he finally started fucking dennis, there was a sort of shift. an oh shit, this could happen feeling that hadn’t been there before. dennis’s breath was hitching and he was trying to squeeze his legs together at the intense feelings.
robby was getting close and he started to fumble for the thing he’d stashed in the fluffy comforter. he’d been careful to charge it and memorize the buttons in advance. when he pressed the vibrator dennis’s clit, robby felt him clench down in a way he never had before.
“fuck,” dennis squeaked out as soon as his brain could process what he was feeling. “fuck, fuck, fuck!”
“yeah, baby?” robby groaned, increasing the intensity by one level. “you gonna cum?”
dennis shook his head, eyes tearing up. “i don’t know!” he didn’t know what this was. he felt like he was gonna explode or have a panic attack or piss himself.
robby chuckled at the confused and overwhelmed look on his partners face. “just relax. let it happen.” robby kept his own hip’s pace brutal, a non stop internal stimulation.
dennis felt his legs prickle and his heart jump. “oh, god.” he whimpered before dropping his jaw and going voiceless.
robby felt a gush around him and he couldn’t hold it back anymore. he’d tried his best to fuck dennis through it, make his first time drawn out and intense and utterly satisfying. worth the wait.
dennis was shaking as robby softened. he whispered a soft, breathless, “what the fuck?” as his head lulled to the side into his pillow, neck having lost all tension.
“feel good?” robby questioned while bringing dennis close.
mhm was all dennis could think to reply. after a little, dennis squirmed. “why are the sheets so wet?”
robby just shifted over to a dryer patch and brought dennis with him. “you’re so hot, babe.” while he was drawing imaginary R’s on dennis’s back, robby mentioned, “you know, that thing has ten levels. we only went to two.”
Thinking about my Spoiled Dennis post again and I'm also thinking of Dennis who was a Doctor at PTMC for a while and then him and Robby got into a relationship and Dennis got pregnant (omegaverse or transpreg or whatever you want to think, maybe even just spontaneous adoption) and it doesn't take much effort for Dennis to quit at the hospital.
He still worries about money and not having a fall back or being homeless or hungry again so he does random things for money now. It started as Dennis just being bored and everyone he loves working so he made friends around the neighborhood and helps them with their tasks, he mows Robby's neighbors lawn and plants flowers, he fixes the girl's car two doors down when the thing stops working, he bakes enough pastries for 60 kids for a PTA mom to take to a bake sale when she didn't have the time to do it.
All this ends up with him getting slipped some money every time which is super weird for him and it's a fight for him to accept it but then he ends up saving it for a "just in case".
Baby comes and it's going great but he's weird about asking for anything that he thinks would make it easier with baby. (He has his own card for Robby's bank account and a fat stack of cash from Robby just randomly handing him 20's every couple of days but it's not his money deep down and he wants to save that cash or sneak it back to Robby sometimes when he feels too guilty)
Robby knows this is all going down but he knows anything he says to Dennis is just words, he's sure Dennis's mom preached her love to him through his Dad's beatings and up until he got kicked out with a broken arm and busted face for hanging out with a boy too close.
Robby comes home one day from work and Dennis is cooking some food, baby on his hip and semi distracted. He's present enough to greet Robby with a beaming smile and a question of how his day was.
He smiles again when their baby greets their dad with a high preached scream and gummy smile.
Robby takes the baby from Dennis with a laugh and then hands him a pen from his scrub pocket.
"hey Den, will you sign here and here?" Dennis looks down at the counter where the papers are now and he just sees something about a property and he assumes it's just updated paperwork or something for their house.
He signs it without a thought and then the next four documents too, Robby makes loud baby talk the whole time and spins around and dances with their baby so he's distracted from asking any questions further.
It's not until a couple of months later when Dennis is pregnant again and freaking the fuck out about financial stuff and now if he had to leave he would have to leave his babies behind in their home or find somewhere to take a toddler and a baby with very little money to his name.
It ends up with Dennis blowing up at Robby, who doesn't even blink besides sitting him down and pulling out his phone.
"baby, I know words don't comfort you much but I was hoping this would." And then Robby shows him all the updated documents.
The house is in Dennis's name, point blank. Both of their cars are in Dennis's name, Robby's only on the insurance records. Robby's bank account has Dennis as the Primary now, their phone bill has Dennis as the primary so he could kick Robby off at any second.
The first kid has a trust fund account with over 5k in it already and she's not even two, the baby not even born yet has 1k.
There's a two bedroom apartment under Dennis's name too, close to the hospital. Just in case, Robby says. He knows Dennis has a good heart and would never want to kick Robby out but he could if he wanted to or he could disappear to an apartment if it went badly ever, which it won't Robby is adamant about.
All the bills are in Robby's name so if anything were to happen they wouldn't bother Dennis with it.
Dennis is dumbfounded, realizing those months ago when he signed papers he was signing his ownership to Robby's life.
Robby assures Dennis that Jack and Trinity know too, so that if anything were to go down and Dennis wasn't comfortable kicking Robby out or anything like that, then Jack and Trinity would do it for him.
Dennis is set for life, he just has to cure the boredom now. (That's when he goes over and lets the kids terrorize Jack and hangs out there or leaves to go do his little tasks around the neighborhood again)
Dennis and Robby have been together 5 months now. If you ask Trinity, they’ve been together for a year and two days but Dennis only counts the “dating” from the time that Robby sat down at the bar with him with the other dayshift crew all around and asked Dennis if he wanted to go see a movie after he finished his drink.
Anything before that was just a weird codependency, respect, loyalty, and sexual tension filled bond with his boss.
It happened quietly but nobody was surprised much when one day Robby and Dennis came in together, Robby kissing Dennis on the forehead before going their separate ways.
Not much has changed in the ER. Robby’s been calmer since his sabbatical and subsequential therapy. He made rounds and apologized. Invited Dana and Jack over to apologize and to give them written permission to forcibly admit him if he ever gets that bad again.
It wasn’t unusual to see Dennis on the phone during Robby’s shortened-to-a-month-sabbatical. Blushing while texting or looking a little forlorn when his phone wouldn’t vibrate for a couple hours. Jack caught Robby with bed head on FaceTime with Dennis one time when shift change was happening.
The whole ER got to see Robby slowly go back to being the slightly goofy, kind, mostlyyyyy laid back man that he was before Adamson passed. Of course, they would never get that version totally back. He has more demons than 5 people his age combined, but he didn’t let it overtake him now.
Here’s where the problem lies. One day, Jack comes in for his shift at 6:15pm. He always gets there early, still always wanting to be there for the bad days, to let Robby vent to him if he needs. Or Dana, Samira…anyone really.
Jack tracks down Dana at the hub, talks to her for a bit. It’s been an okay day, she reports. Six or so traumas but so far everyone is doing okay, all sent up to different floors already. All the docs are keeping up and her nurses are in good moods.
Robby’s walking towards Jack with an easy-going smile. He goes to hug Jack, as has become their normal now.
Then,
“Woah, Woah! Robby!”
“Hula Hoop! Hula Hoop!”
Two different voices yell out, both are nurses passing a room down the hallway from them. Jack has good instincts and reflexes. He’s military, did some helping out for SWAT, he does his yoga and his gym, all that stuff.
But Robby flips around and is half way to the room before Jack even takes a step. It’s like Robby knows in his brain who’s in trouble before his eyes see it.
Jack and Dana are right behind Robby as he swings the door open. Jack is terrified. He’s never been this scared since he got back from his tour with the military, since he got the call about his wife.
He’s never been this scared of Robby.
It’s Dennis. There’s so much blood on the ground. Dennis is on the ground, he’s coughing up blood, trying to fight off the 250 pound guy on top of him with one hand. Dennis’s face is absolutely covered in blood, from his nose and from a gash on his cheekbone.
Robby already has the guys back of the neck in one hand before Dennis can cough again. One handed, Robby tosses the asshole into the wall, where the patient bounces off.
Robby turns his back completely to the patient before anyone even grabs the guy. Like Robby is so sure he isn’t a problem anymore, because he isn’t one to Dennis anymore.
Jack goes to pounce on the guy when a blur rushes past him and then a 5”4’ lesbian is on top of the patient and holding him down with two fists in his shirt.
“Are you fucking kidding me, you’re kidding me right? I’ll kill you, I’ll fucking kill you, you piece of shit. Touch my fucking huckleberry, you’re kidding right?” Trinity is spitting out, shaking with rage.
Ahmed and Langdon comes in a second later and stands guard while Trinity lets her anger out. Dana and Jack drop to Dennis’s side, where Robby is pushing Dennis onto his side to help him keep the blood out of his throat.
“It’s okay baby, it’s okay, you’re good,” he’s whispering out and Jack knows to take over the more medical part now.
Gestures for Dana to go get a bed. Jack keeps a hard eye on Robby, ready to tackle his best friend into the ground when Robby realizes he can turn his anger onto the patient. Jack wouldn’t give a shit personally if the guy left bloodier than he came in, but after the last time someone got assaulted and Robby took his own action, he almost got his license taken away.
It never comes though, that dark look and violent advance that Jack expects.
No. Robby stays right there, doesn’t even look when the patient yells out in anger from Langdon stabbing him with a syringe full of a sedative.
Robby’s holding the side of Dennis’s head in his hand, tilting it a little bit towards the floor and just staring into Dennis’s eyes. His eyes drift to the blood pooling out of his face every few seconds.
Dana rushes in, McKay on her heels both lowering a bed as far as it goes.
Jack puts a hand on Robby’s shoulder.
Whispers, “Brother, we got to get him on the bed, help us,” because if Robby had a purpose right there when Dennis needs him, then he won’t spin around on the unconscious patient. Ex-patient. He spins around to Lena who just came in, “transfer that guy to presby. Now.”
She leaves quickly with a quick nod, surely already on her way to call Presby and grab one of the EMT’s.
Dana, Jack, McKay, and Robby help Dennis on the gurney. Robby seems scared to touch him, he keeps one hand on Dennis’s head and one on his hand. He’s still whispering but they can’t hear it well.
Dana and Jack both give a quick breath of relief when Dennis opens his eyes and mutters a “hi,” to Robby. Conscious and talking is better than nothing.
They rush him to a trauma room where Jack and McKay take the lead, Robby stays near Dennis’s head and just brushes a thumb over his neck. He suctions blood out of Dennis’s mouth every couple of seconds.
Jack gets a good look and it turns out to be a chunk of his inner mouth bitten real good, probably from a punch that made Dennis clench down.
They rush him to X-Ray, MRI, literally every test that is feasible for him. He’s got a broken cheekbone, nose, three fingers, and some stitches in his cheek and arm. Bruises everywhere.
Dana and Jack keep an eye on Robby the whole time, ready for him to blow up. Bad. They know it’s coming. Hell, Robby put the last guy who assaulted a doctor in a chokehold until he passed out. And that was just one slap to Trinity’s cheek.
Jack takes a sweep around the floor once they get Dennis situated in a room and finds the hospital filled to the brim with staff. Night shift is taking over patients, finding new ones.
The nurses are running room to room, janitors are scrubbing the walls.
The day shift are all leaning against the hub, some charting what they need to.
Every single person in there though looks up every 10 seconds to stare at Robby. They know the anger he can have, the protectiveness he has that boils over into indescribable rage.
Trinity is staring at the room Dennis got moved to, not blinking. Mel is next to her, talking to her even though she doesn’t respond.
An hour later, Jack is just finishing checking Dennis’s vitals (a poor attempt of keeping tabs on Robby) when it happens, finally.
Robby blinks and he sits back in the chair.
He looks around, catches Jack’s eye and blinks again frantically. He slowly lets go of Dennis’s hand, who immediately mumbles something in his sleep.
“Brother, let’s just sit down. I’ll bring you food, whatever you need,” Jack immediately starts.
Robby doesn’t even hear him, Jack can tell. Robby slowly walks right past Jack and — oh god.
It’s Gloria. In the hub, talking to Dana quietly. This is it.
Robby opens the door and it’s like the music just got cut off at a party. It’s silence, even most of the patients seem to know on a cellular level that something is happening.
Night shift spins around, nurses slowly stop walking, day shift latches their gaze on Robby immediately, no pretending that they’re not staring.
“Dr. Robinavitch, why am I just now hearing one of our own has been admitted?” Gloria asks loudly, and with concern even Jack has to admit.
Dana shakes her head at Gloria, no, no, no you do not want to touch this right now she’s clearly saying with her eyes.
Jack rushes up to Robby, ready to direct him somewhere else but Robby walks right past Gloria. Right past everyone, to the lockers.
It’s off-putting. There’s no shaking, no death glares, nothing. Robby is just walking like he’s on the beach right now. Or in a trance state.
Jack and Dana stare at each other, blink. Langdon goes to move, to talk to Robby.
Then he comes back and walks up to Gloria, his backpack and jacket, and a couple of pictures in his hand.
Everyone holds their breath.
“I’m done, Gloria. I quit.” And then he walks right over to Dana. Jack sees the pictures now, it’s the ones from Robby’s locker. A picture of Dennis in Robby’s kitchen. A picture of the entire day shift from Robby’s welcome back party. A picture of Jake. One of Jack and Dana. One of Trinity laughing with Samira.
He picks up the phone there for emergencies only and he dials a number. Waits a second while it rings, ignores Gloria who is valiantly trying to get Robby to speak with her.
“Hello, this is Dr. Robinavitch with PTMC. Can we get one of your deputies down here to escort a patient?”
“Wait, what? No, no. If Robby’s gone, I’m gone. Hell no,” and Trinity is quickly walking to her locker.
A pause.
Mel follows, staring at the ground. Langdon immediately after her. Dana turns her wide eyes gaze back to Jack. He sees that Dana is about two people away from following them right now.
A hand pats Jack’s shoulder, then Jesse is walking to his locker. That’s the cue for the nurses. The full hub is now dwindling down to people going to grab their bags. Nurses figuring out who’s staying to make sure patients still get the care they need or where they can be transferred.
“Michael! We are not having a riot happen, let’s go talk, now!”
Robby hangs up the phone, pats Trinity’s shoulder who is now standing next to him with hers and Dennis’s bags.
“Gloria. I’m done talking, we talked last week when Perlah had to report inappropriate touching, we talked the day before when Langdon had that woman threaten to kill him, we talked when Emma got bit, we talked when Trinity got slapped, we talked when Samira got spit on. And that is just the day shift and just this month,”
“The budget-“
“The budget is going to get someone killed. The budget paid for you and your administration buddies to go to Hawaii for a conference. The budget will be fine now that I’m gone.”
“You’re putting all of these patients in danger,”
“Gloria. It’s Dennis. I’m done. Get on your phone now, order some emergency buttons for everybody on the staff here, get a construction team here now to open these rooms up more to be able to hear and see our staff, hire an entire security team. Now. Or I’m walking and I won’t be back.”
“And I think you won’t have any doctors at all,” Dana says after that. Jack clears his throat.
“Yeah, Gloria. I think this is it. I’ll stay to transfer these patients but I’ll be joining Robby after that,”
Gloria looks around with her with a look of panic that Jack has never seen from her.
“I can’t, without the board-“
“Jack, will you go get Dennis unhooked, please and thank you. Trinity, go take his stuff to my car?” And Robby walks away.
The entire thing was so calm. Eerily calm. The calmest Robby has been. He’s never been more sure of anything.
“Okay!” Gloria spits out, and she pulls out her phone.
“Send me screenshots of receipts for everything I requested and that’s when we’ll be back,” Robby says, and everyone who has their bags nods their head. Is telling Robby and Trinity to keep them updated on Dennis and when they’ll back to work. Maybe they’ll get a day off before Gloria orders everything.
“Thanks, Dr. Robby,” Emma whispers out before leaving herself.
Jack knew this was a long time coming. He just never thought it would be so calm.
(Idk dude this is just something I thought about. Like Dennis getting attacked crazy style and everyone being scared as hell bc Robby is nuts over his staff but even more insane about Dennis. But then they’re even more scared and confused when Robby is calmer than he’s ever been. This job isn’t worth his love’s health. He’s not going to make Dennis quit but he’s sure that Dennis won’t want to work there if Robby is gone. Robby is very surprised to see how many people follow him out though)
Dennis graduation for his undergrad happening before his transition. His parents bought him a really beautiful dress, he hated wearing it but it was truly beautiful, and it was the last thing his parents ever got for him.
Anyway, the dress is one of the few things he kept, despite everything. He just couldnt bring himself to throw it away or sell it. Trinity finds it folded neatly in his drawers when she’s raiding for something to wear, and it is gorgeous. Dennis tells her the significance, how he can’t throw it away, but when she asks, he lets her borrow it.
He manages to forget it after a while, but by the time of his graduation, Trinity is insisting she pick out what to wear, that he focuses on everything else but she will sort it out. The day of graduation, Trinity hands him a suit before dashing off to get changed herself. They re-meet in the living room, and Trinity is wearing his old graduation dress, tailored to be much shorter than the modest length his parents approved of, the excess fabric in her hand. He fumbles a little bit, unsure what go say, but she approaches, unfurling the fabric and pulling him over to tie it around his neck.
When she’s finished fussing over him, she drags him to the mirror, and they’re beautifully matching - a tie and pocket square the same fabric as the dress. He leans against her, eyes welling as trinity squeezes his shoulder, before she’s hustling them out of the door.
Thinking about how sometimes when you’re in an unsafe or tense environment for so long that when you eventually have your own safe environment for a while your nervous system basically does a hard reset and you can’t do anything but sleep and cry for a while
Dennis who was raised in his family’s house, always on edge. Fighting for his survival whether it was avoiding his dads fists, his moms quiet disdain, or his brothers definitely normal (according to some of his teachers growing up) violent bullying towards him. He had to be scrappy to eat, whether that’s quickly pocketing some of his moms cooking when he passes by the kitchen to eat later (yes he’s had to put a handful of pork in his pocket before and eat it with the lint and dirt on it) or running faster than his dad’s belt.
He was raised to be apologetic about his existence, sucking on his fingers in anxiety everytime he heard his dad come in the house. (That only lasted a month until his dad smashed his hand on the table with his work boots)
He was a quiet kid because he was made to me. He would be scolded or popped on the mouth if he spoke too loudly or whined about his brothers stealing his food. He never got to explore who he was safely, when he found out he liked music that wasn’t just the church choir, he had to hide in the hay pile in the barn late at night to listen to modern music on the handheld radio.
When he found out it was boys that made his heart race and palms sweat, he never told a soul. Not until Mathew B. Cornered him in a church closet a day before his 17th birthday and kissed him.
He never told anyone. But his pastor saw them come out and told his Pa.
Dennis left that house at 17 with two black eyes, a broken nose, cheekbone, and a lip that split up to his nostril almost. He could hide his fractured arm and deep black bruises on his stomach and legs under his baggy clothes.
When Dennis went to college it was to study theology. To make his pa do anything but hate him, or to learn how to speak to God correctly so he would stop getting punished.
He slept in a dorm for one year until that debt got too high and his loans wouldn’t cover it anymore. He shared that dorm with a Christian jock who invited over guys that looked at Dennis like they wanted to eat him or kill him. He got very little sleep in that year.
Dennis continued school while in a homeless shelter down the road. He slept with his backpack in his arms and a quiet prayer on his lips. One that rarely worked.
At some point, Dennis was almost through his second year of schooling when one of his bunk mates at the shelter got stabbed. Dennis stayed with him, pressing on the wound. He went with him, because Daryl had nobody else and Dennis knows how that feels.
He watches as they save Daryl’s life barely and that sets a spark in Dennis. An expensive one.
He sleeps on the streets those multiple years of school. He goes hungry and he sometimes stands outside of clubs and lets older guys use his body for money and for a bed at night. The first time it happened, Dennis was just looking for a place to sleep and for some pleasure. When the guy pulled out 200$ and his own business card for Dennis to call whenever he needed that…exchange, Dennis realized how profitable that might turn out to be. Well, not profitable. The money was never enough to put anything back. He was still homeless but he had scrubs and he had wipes and he had a mostly stable eating habit. Not nearly enough vegetables but lots of oats and tuna and crackers.
That ends after Dennis ends up in the free clinic with black eyes and preventative medicine and a counselor talking to him about if he wants to pursue legal action.
By that time, rotations are too much anyway. He gets through most of them without anyone having a clue he didn't have a home to go to. He finds the 8th floor where it’s too hot, smells like mildew, and he can hear the despair and the sirens at all hours of the night.
Then Trinity. Oh Trinity. His Trinity. She saved his life, he knows it deep down. She saved his life, and was mean about it the whole time. She’s the nicest person Dennis has ever met. Trinity lives in deep downtown, in a worser part of the neighborhood.
Trinity is loud and doesn’t back down. Not even when their neighbors threaten her, so Dennis never sleeps deeply in that house after one neighbor tries to break in their house.
Dennis gets stitches in his arm and a bedside police interrogation after that break in. But the guy didn’t reach trinitys room so it’s good. He did his job.
After that day, something changes in the ER.
Robby's the one who stitched him up. His huge, padded hands holding Dennis's arm with the most delicate of touches. Robby tells Dennis he was lucky the cut wasn’t deeper. He tells Dennis him and Trinity need to move, and Dennis laughs in his face.
Immediately flinches back once he realizes what he did. Instinct over anything.
Robby looks at him with a soft questioning look, but doesn’t push it.
Dennis explains in a broken, whispered sentence. They’re both broke, they were $100 short on rent this month as it is and it’s only $1000 a month for a two bed, two bath. That’s a goldmine in the city.
Dr. Robby hums but says nothing further. Rubs Dennis’s shoulder when he goes to walk him out of the room once his stitches are done.
“Good Job, Dennis.” Trinity laughs at Dennis from across the floor when Dr. Robby says that to him. Tells Dennis he looks like at Robby like a beaten lovesick puppy.
Dennis barely sleeps at all after the break in.
Robby notices. Trinity notices, she doesn’t sleep either.
It’s when Mel’s sister fully moves out of her house to be with her boyfriend that stuff changes.
Trinity takes Mel’s spare room. $200 a month because Mel has a hefty savings from her parents passing and she only has to pay a water and WiFi bill.
Dennis is homeless again. But of course. He has Trinity in his life and she would never let him suffer.
She tells Robby.
They’re all standing around the hub, some charting, some night shift coming in and going over patients with the day shift doctors. Trinity is standing next to Dana when Dr. Robby walks by.
“Hey, Dr. Robby,” she waits until he stops, “Dennis is moving into your spare room, Kay? Or else he’ll be homeless and mopey.”
The hub stops. Jack barks out a laugh loud enough for a baby in the pediatric room to start crying. Dana makes eye contact with princess and Perlah, mouth wide open. They all wait for Robby to explode, or laugh, or something.
“Sure thing. You guys are off tomorrow right?”
And so that is that.
Dennis packs his two boxes of stuff up, panic bakes a couple dozen things of different cookies. fills out the HR paperwork he has to, since Trinity asked so publicly so everyone knows.
Robby comes in and smells good and handles Dennis’s stuff with care and hums in appreciation when he sees the cookies.
Dennis lasts three nights in his room at Robby’s.
Then he lunges his body across the kitchen counter when him and Robby are talking in the kitchen, and Robby asks if Mel and Trinity are coming over to see him again.
Robby kisses him like a man starving, like he’s on death row and Dennis is the last steak he’ll ever enjoy. He cradles Dennis face in his hands and places kisses all over his face.
Dennis begs for Robby to bend him over then and there, but Robby gets him into his room and onto the bed.
It’s the best night of Dennis’s life. He cries through it, telling Robby he’s just happy.
They continue after that, hold hands when they’re out in the city. Robby stops him in the hallway and kisses the top of his head every time they pass each other.
Robby does the grocery shopping and grabs enough food for all of the girls to come over and eat. Remembers that Trinity’s hair straightener broke (because she screamed about it in his house) and buys her one.
Jack comes over more and they plan a camping trip now that Dennis is involved and he’s an outdoorsy man.
For two months straight it’s pure bliss, Dennis couldn’t be happier. He just wishes he could sleep deeply throughout the night. But he’s still stuck in his ways and everytime a car rattles too loud, or the wind pushes against a window, he bolts up ready to fight for his life or to protect Robby.
Then one night, a patient from work follows Dennis home. Waits until they’re asleep and quietly breaks in.
Dennis wakes up to a man groaning in pain and Dennis doesn’t even want to get up. He failed at his job. He couldn’t keep Robby safe, he knows it. Why didn’t he wake up? Why didn’t his body do its purpose?
“Den, baby, will you call Jack and 911? In that order?”
And Dennis opens his eyes to a see Robby, dressed in only boxers, with a bloodied hand around his ex-patients throat.
Dennis gets through calling Jack, answering some of his rapid-fire questions with a shaky voice (it’s never been shaky like this, his body always responds to danger boldly before it can start to tremble)
Talks to the police with tears pooling in his eyes. Calls Trinity when the sun starts peeking over the horizon and Robby is talking to a deputy.
He tells her, “I was so scared, Trin. I was convinced I failed my job, I knew it, I just knew it.” And he cries for 10 minutes. Listens to her voice go soft.
She tells him, “it was never your job to take care of everyone, fuckleberry. you have to take care of yourself before you can help anyone else. And it sounds like Robby got it covered for you, babe.”
For a couple of nights, Dennis has nightmares. Of finding Robby’s beaten body. Of his family, scolding him for failing everyone. Of Trinity in trouble and he won’t save her.
Robby holds him every time, kisses his temple. Whispers to him that Dennis has never let him down. Robby won’t let anyone hurt him.
Then Dennis sleeps through the night. Robby finally gets him up 15 minutes before they’re supposed to be clocking in.
The next day, Dennis sleeps through the night again. Robby has to almost shoulder carry Dennis to the car at 7:05am.
He calls Jack on the way and looks at Dennis worriedly, watching as Dennis’s eyes just fill with tears over and over again.
They have the next day off and Dennis sleeps until 3pm, wakes up and rolls back over and just cries silently. Can’t even talk to Robby when he comes in the room.
Robby tells himself Dennis gets one week like this, then he has to handle it more sternly.
Dennis sits on the couch with Robby and cries silently a lot. Brings up his mom’s phone number and just stares at it for 30 minutes at a time. Trinity texts him a lot. Javadi sends him funny and motivational TikToks. Mel FaceTimes him when he doesn’t answer Trinity. Samira doordashes them some soup and sends Dennis a couple texts with too many emojis in it.
They’re supposed to return to work the next day but Dennis won’t even get up at all this time. His body is made of cement. It scares Robby enough to call Jack. Asks him to pull a double, and he’s so sorry.
Dennis sleeps all day long, only eats one piece of peanut butter toast.
Robby cries in bed next to him, texts Trinity silently. Dana calls him and they talk for a while, she comes over and helps clean the kitchen and make a week of meals.
Brushes the hair out of Dennis’s face and mutters to him that he has two more days of this before Robby calls in the real Calvary.
Robby goes to work the next day because he has to, and he can feel the drag of depression catching him too if he stays in the dark house too long. Jack catches him at the hub and tells Robby to hand over his keys, he’s gonna sit with “Robby’s boy” for the day.
Jack sits bedside with Dennis and eventually drags some words out of him.
Texts Robby slowly throughout the day.
“Your boy says he’s just exhausted. His body feels like sand when he tries to move.”
“He’s swears he’s not gonna hurt himself, he acted surprised I asked,”
“On the bright side this is the equivalent of the sleep he got in one month during his first rotation so, maybe it’s just sleep debt.”
“Never been safe to sleep or let his guard down. Should we kill his dad?”
Trinity sees one of the texts and quietly tells Robby, “it just happens sometimes. I left my stepdads house and I almost flunked college because I slept for a month straight, cried, and smelled like shit the whole time. He’s healing, he feels safe with you. Sometimes what looks like suffering is just a body resetting to be better.”
Trinity is right, as always. And a week later Dennis is back in the Pitt. His hair is brighter than ever, his bags under his eyes are more like creases, and he’s more affectionate than ever with Robby. And Trinity, and Dana, Mel, Samira. Jack. The nurses, all of them. Donnie even.
He sleeps through the night and drags Robby to all the farmers markets now. Let’s trinity drag him and all the girls to the club.
Dennis is finally safe for once in his life and able to let his guard down. He’s able to take care of himself now, is able to love the others around him more than ever.
(I have no clue how long this is, i wrote it over the course of 3 days at work, some of it could be ineligible or unconnected, I’ll figure it out later but this hasn’t left my brain so I just had to write it.)
Hucklerobby Au where Dennis doesn’t have a great relationship with his family but he still has semi active communication, and will visit them every once in a while when he can afford to.
He’s the baby of the family of course. The oldest brother is 9 years older, the second is about 8 years old, the third one is only 3 years older than him. They all have their own kids and issues of course.
Robby comes with Dennis one time to visit, two or three years into their relationship. Of course they all know by now that Dennis is gay but nobody will acknowledge it, past when his dad threatened to kill him (and almost did via beating when he was 18) or when his brothers get annoyed at him and hurl slurs and offensive words at him.
They all follow their mom’s lead for the most part though, pretending that Robby is just Dennis’s mentor and friend that is kind enough to give him a ride to visit. They even go as far to prepare the couch for Dennis to sleep on and the guest room for Robby to sleep in. (They turned Dennis’s room into a nursery when his first niece was born when he was 15 and they kept the guest room strictly for guests or for his dad to crash in when he got too drunk and his mom didn’t want him in their room. Dennis figured it out. Having to sleep on the floor or in the barn or on the couch for an hour at a time really helped prepare him for the first 2 years of being homeless in Pittsburg so he counts it as a blessing)
Anyway, Robby gets to see Dennis around his family for the first time. Of course, he knows they have a weird relationship. He knows Dennis was homeless for a bit but he doesn’t like talking about it, he knows that Dennis will occasionally flinch away when Robby accidentally closes a cabinet too loud, he knows that Dennis takes care of everyone else around him before he even thinks about himself. He knows that Dana is the only one who can ask Dennis “what’s wrong” once before he tears up and will quietly be pulled into a private room to talk to her.
He doesn’t expect to see this though. Dennis is not seen at all. Dennis is so funny, he can make Robby laugh even at the most tense moments. Dennis has a huge personality around his “girl-friends”, he’s loud and curses like a sailor, and santos and him will wrestle each other to the ground for the last donut. Dennis jokes around with Abbot and has jokingly invited him to a threesome (that will happen soon Robby thinks), Dennis will pull up Duolingo with his audio on full blast when princess and perlah mutter in Tagalog around him, just to mess with them.
He watches as Dennis completely disappears the moment they get on the dirt road to his family’s house. He watches as his brothers join him and Robby outside late at night under the stars with a pack of beer, and they all talk around Dennis. They even involve Robby and ask him dozens of questions about his job and life, his religion. Does he want kids with his future wife? Is he used to seeing blood and limbs taken off a body? Is he going to stay in the city forever?
They never ask Dennis a question once, he just sits there quietly and acts involved or stares at the stars. He even has a small polite smile on his face. When his brothers throw the empty cans away from them, he just quietly scoops them up and puts in the grocery bag him and Robby brought out for their snacks. Sometimes his brothers get onto a subject that Dennis should definitely be involved in, like when they ask Robby about Dennis himself. They ask him if Dennis is a failure at his job, if he has to constantly watch Dennis’s work so he doesn’t kill anyone. they ask if Dennis is still jumping from house to house.
Dennis opens his mouth once or twice to answer himself but then one of the brothers jump in and talk about something else.
Robby watches as all of Dennis’s family is outside drinking beer and watching the little kids run around, Dennis is the one inside making lunch and cleaning the house up and calling the phone company to get the bill paid, fixing the leaking sink, running out the door when an animal whines too loud.
His family doesn’t acknowledge him, they send the 8 kids below twelve inside for Dennis to watch and feed and entertain without talking to Dennis. Dennis is woken up at 6 am to three toddlers jumping on him and he doesn’t complain, just gets up and feeds them and entertains them with some pipe cleaners and dominoes. Dennis is the one to get the toddlers to sleep, then the 8,10, and 12 year old to sleep around midnight. Dennis is the only one to get up with the infant around 3am to bounce her and get some breastmilk from the fridge to feed her.
Dennis who runs on empty this whole trip and never complains, not even to Robby. Dennis is hit and spit on and called slurs that the kids could only have parroted from their parents and nobody corrects the kids. Nobody even calls Dennis uncle, just Dennis. One two year old calls him “queer” the whole time and won’t stop so Dennis just responds to it now.
Robby was expecting to see a different version of Dennis around his family. Robby wasn’t expecting to see a ghost of him. Robby wasn’t expecting to see a Dennis who literally only exists to help everyone else. A Dennis who looks confused when Robby talks to him directly because he’s not used to having conversation in this house.
Robby wasn’t expecting to see just how poorly Dennis was treated as a kid. A scapegoat of responsibility. A burden, if he speaks too loudly. A punching bag for when dad gets drunk.
Robby quietly packs their bags at 3 am when Dennis is lying down and staring at the wall without even noticing that Robby is awake. He takes Dennis by the shoulder and kisses his hair and gets him up and walks Dennis to their car. He buckles Dennis in, starts the car and plays Dennis’s playlist on his Spotify. And he drives Dennis away four days earlier than they were supposed to leave. He tells Dennis he’s never going back there, he’s doesn’t exist for everyone else to use him.
He stops at a gas station halfway home and calls Trinity and tells her to get all the girls together to be at his house when they get there so they can remind Dennis of who he really is.
(I gotta end this now I got too involved and I’m supposed to be cooking for 6 of my nieces rn byeeeee)
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