I am deeply invested in oblivious sugar baby Frank Langdon. That coffee Jack brings him every day because Jack lost a bet and those were the terms? Yeah Jack threw that bet on purpose just so he could spoil Frank.
That copy of the book Frank had been saving up for, the one Robby lent him? Yeah Robby bought it brand new, and pretended he accidentally bought a second copy forgetting he already had it and Frank can have it.
That hoodie he borrowed and forgot to gave back, from Whitaker? Brand new and washed and worn once just so Frank wouldn’t suspect.
Frank will come to work with hand shaped bruises on his neck, maybe a bruise on his jaw from a particularly bad slap and just go about his day. Dana can't help but worry, but Langdon is casual and Robby is avoiding both of them.
Robby is so fucking guilty. It's terrible for his mental health but what would he say to a therapist? The man I had a sort of father son dynamic who I cast out keeps letting me beat the hell out of him during sex and I feel like I can't stop."
it’s like a year and a half after pittfest. robby and langdon have finally sorted out their shit and have been officially together for a few months. for the first time in a long time, both of them are genuinely happy, not just in their relationship, but in life overall. langdon finishes residency, takes a few weeks off to recharge, spends time with robby, and figures out what he wants next.
during that time, he applies to a couple fellowship programs and ends up getting accepted into a top-rated one in pittsburgh, just not at the pitt.
at first, robby is overjoyed. langdon gets to become a fellow and they still get to live together. everything feels perfect.
except then langdon starts at this new hospital and immediately takes a professional liking to his new attending.
suddenly, robby has to hear about this guy constantly, and can clearly picture langdon following this man around like a lost puppy at work.
robby is equal parts jealous and deeply, deeply annoyed. jealous because now langdon is looking at someone else the way he used to look at robby. and annoyed because halfway through one of langdon’s rambling stories, robby realizes with absolute horror that this is exactly what everyone at the pitt had to endure for years, except back then, langdon was talking about him.
I’m kind of obsessed with the idea of both Robby and Frank each putting the other on a pedestal.
Frank the perfect protégé.
Robby the perfect mentor.
This idolization manifests itself in different ways. Robby believes in Frank’s abilities as a physician so much that he rarely worries about Frank and leaves him alone more frequently than he would other residents. Frank believes that Robby is the absolute pinnacle of what an emergency medical physician can be and so he frequently seeks advice and approval from him.
One side effect of their idolatry is that neither can see the flaws in the other.
They unintentionally add to the pressure on each other’s shoulders with the weight and uncompromising nature of their expectations. While simultaneously making it easier for them to rise to the challenges they set for one another. They each expect their counterpart to be perfect, but they also believe that the other is entirely capable of meeting those expectations.
They wear themselves to the bone trying to meet impossible standards and not disappoint one of the few (I’m guessing) people in their lives who believes in them unreservedly, but they also reach new heights in their pursuit of perfection. When someone believes in you that much, it’s easier to believe in yourself. (Also I know it’s more complicated than this and that they both have other people in their lives who depend on them, but that’s not the point of this post)
In season 1 they are both forcibly confronted with exactly how imperfect they themselves are, and how imperfect the other man is as well.
Frank feels like he failed Robby.
He minimized his injury and hid his drug use in fear of disappointing his mentor (as well as the larger, real life consequences). But in the end, he wasn’t able to stop it from impacting his work, which he believes is Robby’s primary concern.
During their ambulance bay confrontation, Frank is obviously lashing out at Robby because he is scared and feeling cornered. But, he’s also angry at Robby because he feels like he was only doing what Robby taught him to do (stealing medication from the ED is obviously over the line but denial is a hell of a drug). He was pushing down his personal issues in order to be able to keep working. And it’s not exactly a mystery where he picked up that tendency.
Robby feels like he failed Frank.
Robby let his trauma build and build until the dam could no longer hold back the flood. He was so consumed with his personal issues and the chaos of the ED that he didn’t notice that his ‘best resident’ was drowning.
During their ambulance bay confrontation, Robby is obviously lashing out at Frank because he is disappointed and angry with his resident (and massively triggered by the MCI). But he’s also angry that Frank didn’t come to him, and feels that he was personally betrayed by someone he is “very close” to. And beyond not seeing it, Robby feels that he must have done something to make Frank unwilling to confide in him. Unwilling to ask him for help. Couple that with “I hurt my back. I told you that. You teased me about it, remember?” and Robby is in hell.
They’re both mad at each other, but infinitely more upset with themselves.
There's a new visiting doctor at the Pitt, and he's handsome, competent and fully interested in Frank, who is not dating anyone. Frank who is awkward any time someone shows any interest in him romantic or sexually, and has been using a fake boyfriend since he got divorced to ward off patients, parents or patients, or just people in general he has no interest in.
Frank uses his fake boyfriend on the new doctor who nods and says he understands but continues to talk to Frank, taking it from flirty to friendly, because he actually likes Frank beyond romantically and does respect he has a boyfriend.
Until one day, he tells Frank, "Oh, your boyfriend talked to me, and I didn't realise it was that Michael" and Frank is left confused as hell because he just used the name of a crush he had in highschool completely forgetting Robby actually has a first name and it's Michael. This happens again and again, with people mentioning his 'Michael' and how they didn't realise and how much sense it suddenly makes.
And then Dana starts acting cold towards Robby, and giving him little glares while keeping a closer eye on Frank, suddenly, and Jack is smiling like it's Christmas, and Princess and Perlah make a random comment or two about Robby putting a ring on it, when? and Frank is more and more confused.
Only to find out Robby knew about the new doctor's interest in Frank and has been quietly seething with jealousy, only to find out from the new doctor that Frank has a boyfriend named Michael, and suddenly remembered Frank once confessed Michael is just a name he chose since he doesn't wear his ring anymore and fully reintroduced himself to the new doctor not as Dr. Robinavitch but as Frank's boyfrined, Michael.
Post-sabbatical robby who keeps looking at frank across the ed and seeing him smile and laugh when hes with other people. And it kills him that frank's smile would drop and his laughter fade when robby comes close
its kind of funny how malay and indonesian speakers can generally understand eachother but a filipino speaker can barely understand either languages at all... imagine malaysia and indonesia just talking to eachother and philippines is just doing jack shit in the background because he doesn't really know what's going on and oh wait that already happened in the manga
Cock fighting has been like the Philippines' national past time during colonial times. Iswtg, the amount of times European explorers describe the Filipino man's love of cockfighting. Ugh! One even said the men love their cocks more than their wives. They always have their cocks in hand, heck, they even take it to church!
Around 1910's, America introduced basketball to the Philippines as a women's sport. It didn't get popular with the ladies, but basketball has since become the Philippines favorite sport.
I just went down a rabbit hole with your public au and i have been laughing my ass off at the graceful time of 2am.. I want to ask, what are your hcs with Southeast Asia ? — mainly, the Philippines who has to deal with super hot summers then rains so strong and occur so often that locals just make TikTok dances in knee high water
Love your content by the way!!
Thank you! I think Philippines has a lot of fun with his fame. He's very down-to-earth despite his nation status. He's more focused on social media rather than traditional media. He doesn't really do movies or tv shows unless it's a history documentary. He's very chronically online, which older nations might find annoying lol.
Philippines social media is filled with selfies. Sometimes they're in strange locations that he thought made for good lighting. A lot of the times, other countries are in the background going "wtf is he doing?" I personally think he'll impulsively buy cute or silly things, post it online, and then realise "holy shit what do I do with this now". His Tiktok is either him dancing or him parodying weird tiktoks he saw. Like you said, he does make tiktoks while it's flooded. He'll literally film anywhere. He also makes a lot of travel content. He likes giving travel advice and showing off cool spots. His boss got mad at him because his accounts are "too unserious", so he'll post more official things like national events and stuff.
He's one of the nations that are extremely memeified. There's so many memes about him that sometimes it's shocking to see him doing his official duties in the government. A popular meme about him is photoshopping him taking a selfie in a random place.
Example:
I know I've probably said this a million times, but the older generations see him basically like a god while the younger gen is like "that's just a funny guy." Philippines personally likes to be humble, but he doesn't mind receiving blessings and snacks lol.
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