Robby sees the woman’s smile twist slightly to one side as he turns down her drink -nothing personal, really, he’s just not in the mood to sleep with a stranger right now- and walks away, swaying her hips exaggeratedly without saying a word.
Robby turns back to Jack, who, on the other hand, seems very interested in the figure walking away.
Robby just wants a quiet evening tonight. It’s been ages since he and Jack have had a free evening together, and he’s perfectly happy to sit at the bar drinking scotch until he has to call a cab to stagger home.
“You okay, brother?”
Jack is looking at him as if Robby had grown a second head, and Robby doesn’t understand why.
“As okay as someone in charge of an ER who hasn’t taken a vacation in 20 years can be, why do you ask?”
Jack doesn’t take his eyes off him as he downs the scotch in one gulp.
“Because you just turned down the very embodiment of your ideal woman without batting an eye. And you turned down the one before that, and the one before that” and Jack looks at him as if Robby should immediately understand the problem, but honestly, he doesn’t see one. Can’t he just enjoy a night out with his best friend?
Robby shrugs and takes a sip of scotch.
“I’m tired, and it’s been forever since we’ve spent time together.”
Jack stares at him in disbelief.
“Are you dying?”
“For fuck’s sake,” Robby feels a headache coming on and doesn’t know if it’s from the fourth scotch or this absurd conversation about his sex life. Or the lack of it. “Can’t a guy just go out for a drink and that’s it?”
“Sure. Once in a while. But it’s been months since I’ve seen a woman hanging around you or seen you go out with someone from the upper floors that you can dump after a few weeks.”
Apparently, you can’t even go out for a drink in peace.
“I don’t know what you want to hear, brother. I’m not interested, I don’t feel like it, I’m not in the mood. I can’t give you any other reason than that. Can we move on now?”
But apparently Jack isn’t going to let it go, and Robby realizes he’s got the completely wrong idea when he sees Jack smiling slyly, as if he’s figured it all out when there’s really nothing to figure out.
“Do you maybe have a crush on someone, Robby?”
Robby sighs, rolls his eyes, and opens his mouth to say no -because there’s no one new in his life, and Jack knows that well, so how could he possibly have a crush on anyone?
But then an image of dark-blond hair pops into his mind. So curly that Robby would love to run his fingers through it. Blue eyes smiling at him, with the dark circles under them that never go away. A goofy smile that pops up every time Robby speaks to him, and they exchange a few jokes even when the ER is packed and the situation is dire. He sees broad shoulders that he rests a hand on whenever he gets the chance, and their hands rising into fists and clasping together every time they resolve a situation together.
robby babying dennis when he's sick. keeping track of his medication, cooking for him, helping him shower (even though dennis really could do that one himself) and asking if there's anything else he needs constantly. dennis sniffling pitifully before going "take your shirt off? please? i think it would—" *exaggerated cough* "—really help boost my morale."
Fic where on an earlier anniversary of Adamson’s death robby tries to distract himself with a hookup. It doesn’t work, and he actually ends up feeling worse after, crying himself to sleep.
When he wakes back up later in the night, he feels like such a piece of shit, probably ruined the kids night, he’s so fucking embarrassed and ashamed and so fucking sad that he plans on staying in bed for the foreseeable future. That is until he hears a noise coming from downstairs.
Fan-fucking-tastic. I’m being robbed.
He might as well stay here and let his shit be taken, but then he’ll have to face Jack and Dana and buying new shit, so he lets out a world weary sigh and hauls his ass out of bed.
He doesn’t bother grabbing anything to defend himself, whats the fucking point, and makes his way down. He follows the noise through the hall and the living room, looking around and not noticing anything of worth missing. Actually, the place looks cleaner than it did this morning. What the fuck kinda burglar is this?
He finally finds the robber in the kitchen, and just freezes at what he sees. The guy - Danny? No, Denny - is puttering around the kitchen in just his underwear and an apron (where the fuck did he find that?), dancing as he loads the dishwasher, headphones in and oblivious to the world around him. Now that he’s not preparing for an impending attack, Robby can smell that something is cooking in the oven. Who the fuck is this guy?
Denny turns around and nearly reaches the ceiling when he sees Robby standing there, also in just his underwear.
“What the hell are you doing kid?”
And Denny has the gall to get shy, “Just- I just thought I could do something. Help you out while you slept. I thought you’d be out for longer. You seemed like you needed the sleep.”
And, fucking shit this kid was sweet, shifting in place and looking down, as if his attempt at kindness - at pulling Robby out of this hole - was something deserving of reprimand or punishment.
Robby jutted his chin towards the oven, “what’re you cooking?”
And, fuck, the kid lit up, now knowing he wasn’t gonna get, what, abused? Yelled at? He darted over to the oven, pulling out his creation - Robby had no idea how the fuck he managed to make anything with the shit he had here - and presenting it to him, “it’s just a casserole. I was planning to be long gone by the time you woke up, so wanted to make something that you could reheat and keep for a while.” And Robby could only stare at him for a moment, just struck with wonder at this man in front of him. He stared long enough that Dennis flushed again, “oh- but if- it’s okay if you don’t want- it’s no big deal-“
“Do you want to have dinner with me?”
It was stupid, probably a dumb move. It was, what, 1 am?, he probably had places to be and Robby had to get back to sleep sooner rather than later.
But Denny’s shoulders relaxed, and a soft smile grew on his face, “Dinner would be lovely.”
hc that robby doesn’t even realise he has a crush on dennis. he hates everyone he thinks dennis is involved with because he could do better. he just thinks he’s over protective
one time, a patient was hitting dennis, who was actually flirting back ! dennis and the guy were bantering as dennis was treating him, and robby, who happened to be checking on his intern, witnessed it - he immediately started glaring at the patient. didn’t say anything, he just stood there, arms crossed, with such a menacing aura it freaked the patient out and the guy started backpedaling and going back on his offer to go out for a drink
dennis, who was completely oblivious to robby’s actions, took it personally and looked like a sad little puppy for hours after that. when dana asked for explanation- because obviously robby would know, robby told her what he saw and that the kid was clearly uncomfortable !
dana proceeds them to slap the back of his head and tell him either fuck him or let the kid have some fun, you can’t cockblock him if you’re not gonna do something about it
When Dennis is really, really tired, he gets grumpy, and Robby finds him adorable.
He complains about all sorts of things -from it being too hot to headaches to there being too much light, and so on.
Once he even complained because Robby was hugging him on the couch -it was summer and it was too hot- but two minutes after he’d moved a little further away, he was back in Robby’s arms, muttering something in a whiny tone that Robby didn’t actually hear but found utterly delightful.
And so, every time Dennis starts to get a little grumpier, Robby lets him sleep a little longer, making coffee and eggs just the way Dennis likes them, before waking him up.
They order food so Dennis doesn’t have to cook (because Robby might be able to scramble a couple of eggs, but it’s better if he stays away from the stove), and Robby then clears the table and washes the dishes, before giving Dennis a shoulder massage -which immediately relaxes him- and then they curl up on the couch, with Dennis not wanting to go to bed right away because he feels lonely without Robby and dozes off as soon as the TV turns on.
And Robby loves those moments because Dennis completely lets his guard down. It wasn’t always like this. At first, Dennis never complained -too worried that Robby would get tired of him- but little by little, when Dennis realized that Robby wasn’t going anywhere, he opened up more and more, and Robby loves this more than he can say.
Plus, there’s also the upside of always having Dennis in his arms, with Dennis resting his head on his shoulder and breathing on his neck.
i love unhealthy hucklerobby 💗 dennis who can’t establish boundaries and robby who doesn’t notice 💗 robby who pushes dennis away because of his mental state because he doesn’t want dennis to see him like that 💗 dennis who feels powerless and insecure and take it as robby not wanting him around 💗 robby who tries many times to break up with dennis because he deserves better and calls him back the same night because he says he needs him 💗 robby who once cried and told dennis he’s the only reason he’s still alive 💗
robby spoiling dennis never ever gets old for me. dennis is very low maintenance, something brought on to the extreme through his long period of homelessness, and never buys anything unnecessary- or anything he wants at all. new jumper? no, his current one is fine, he can fix the hole again. a soft, plush stuffed animal to cuddle? no, he can sleep without it even if he's drawn to its cute smile and fluffy fur. even fresh produce is often given up by him if he can survive on the canned alternative.
robby *hates* this. he's not angry at dennis of course, he's angry at the system that made his boy on and off homeless for almost three years. he hates that his dennis won't even buy a fresh vegetable because hes so worried about his next meal. robby knows he won't be able to change dennis and fix him fast, trauma like dennis's doesn't just go away as soon as he has place to live, but he can still spoil him. if they're "gifts", denny can't refuse.
any piece of clothing robby thinks dennis will like- he's got it. soft jumpers and new jeans and warm coats and fleeces and fun socks and even cashmere scarfs and hats for winter. real leather boots as well as converse, enough scrubs that he'd never have to rely on the hospital machine. dennis protests at first- what a collosol waste of money when his old clothing was fine! (it wasn't, it was worn and tattered and faded) but soon he realises robby can't be stopped. he still doesn't buy anything for himself, but he knows his protests do nothing against his boyfriend.
now the clothes are sorted, robby moves on to fun things. a fancy gaming console and the games that went with it so that his boy could play with his friends (dennis had sobbed and begged robby to send it back due to the cost, but the older was adamant, telling dennis he deserved to have fun- Trinity's delight somewhat helped dennis reckon with the gift), books upon books upon books, and stuffed animals galore.
so many stuffed animals. he'd been denied a single one during his childhood, and so dennis was presented with sharks and bears and puppies and birds and kittens, all fluffy and smiling and so, so cuddly. though he hated the expense, he soon found himself snuggling up close and holding them in his arms while robby held him in his. he slept well like that, both cuddled and cuddling. it warms robby's heart.
seeing dennis in good, well made clothes and fed good nutritious meals and reading new books and cuddling new toys all made robby the happiest man alive. of course, his dennis had a long way to go in terms of finding peace and security after homelessness (and robby was well aware that many of his tendencies would never go away), but being able to give his boy a good life and a comfortable life and a happy life was so important to him.
hes more than content to spend the night holding both dennis and his stuffed shark close if that's what dennis needs (even if he won't admit it). he'll buy his boy everything on earth if he thought it would make his baby happy.
every day i am thankful to ancient humans for the domestication of the cat. fucking genius idea. agriculture was a good one too btw but you really outdid yourselves with the cat thing
jacobvanloon
andulkaphoto
amandla
ellievsbear
germansingergirl
