I’m gonna need everyone to walk with me for this one
Robby and Jack are interns, kind of enemies, u know the usual rivalry everyone headcanons them to have when they first start working together
Jack’s looking for Robby for whatever reason, someone tells him last time they saw him he was headed towards the bathroom so Jack checks just in case
he immediate spots Robby’s black New Balance in a stall, he sounds like he’s actively throwing up and Jack worries, if he caught something and needed to go home he had to let Dana know so she could call someone to fill in for Robby asap
he knocks, asks if Robby’s okay, tries the door just because and it’s actually unlocked
Robby looks like shit, pale and sweaty and is folded over, but what really worries Jack is that even through the thick dark fabric of his scrub pants he can spot a darker patch of blood
he’s so fucking scared he just starts talking, asking Robby is okay, trying to do an assessment of what might be wrong because half an hour ago he was fine, they had argued over treatment for a patient until Adamson threatened to send them both to chairs if they didn’t calm down
Robby eventually sends him a death glare and tells him to shut the fuck up and that if he dares to put a hand on him to play doctor he’s gonna bite his fingers off
he tells Jack to go get something from his locker, Jack hesitates, but eventually moves because whatever it’s wrong with Robby, he seems to know exactly what it is
he gets the bag Robby asked for and after rummaging through his locker (feeling a bit like a creep) in search of clean spare clothes he eventually digs into his own locker to grab his own stash of scrubs and a clean pair underwear the guy’s definitely gonna need
by the time he gets back Robby still looks pale, sweaty, eyes red rimmed and glossy like he was trying so fucking hard not to cry, hands shaky as he took everything from Jack’s hands
he disappears back into the stall and Jack hears the click of the lock, paces in circles around the place for no more than two minutes before the lock clicks open and Robby peers his head out with a small “can you do this?” Jack takes what’s being offered, painfully aware of the syringe as it drops in his hand and the small vial that accompanies it
Jack tries really hard not to think of the worst but his mind gets ahead despite it all and immediately thinks about how he’s going to have to fucking report Robby out of everyone in the ER
his pulse is in his throat as he rotates the vial and when he reads testosterone the air doesn’t feel as heavy
they don’t speak as Jack helps Robby with the shot, but the uncomfortable silence makes Robby mumble a soft and low are we good? Jack replies a simple we’re good and he knows something has shifted between them, he just hopes it’s a good thing and doesn’t put them on even thinner ice
it’s a week after when Jack sees Robby again, he asked Monty about the man’s sudden disappearance but Adamson simply said Robby got sick and needed to recover
the issue is that he tries texting after two or three days and it goes unanswered, then he tries calling, and really gets worried when the seventh call in the span of four days goes once again straight to voicemail
so he does the most rational thing in the world and shows up at Robby’s apartment
after ten minutes or so of knocking (and getting told by an old lady that she’s gonna call the cops if he keeps it up) Robby finally answers, wrapped in a blanket, hair sticking out, looking awful
Robby doesn’t seem all that surprised, even if they’re not friends, Jack showing up like that is something Jack would do
Jack tries to ask if he’s okay, why he hasn’t been answering his phone in a well, tries to joke that the ER has been more bearable without Robby but he shuts the fuck up so fast when Robby throws something at his chest and Jack manages to catch it, misoprostol
Robby tells him to just shut up, that he’s not in the mood to joke around, he doesn’t expect Jack to grab him by the scruff of his neck and pull him into a hug, so tight Robby feels the tears well up immediately despite having cried the better part of the last week
they stay like that for a long while, until Robby cries it all out and Jack’s jacket is covered in tears and snot
Jack has no idea what it feels like to get an abortion but he knows the theory, aches at the thought of the layers upon layers of complicated feelings Robby is going through and the fact that he had just basically isolated himself to go through such a fucking painful and possibly traumatic event
after a beat Robby slumps on the couch, clearly exhausted, and Jack quietly moves around the apartment, cleaning the mess, going out for groceries when he sees Robby’s kitchen is to all effects empty, does some half decent meal prep because he knows Robby needs at least another full week of rest and by the looks of it he hadn’t been eating all that much before Jack showed up
when Robby wakes up he expects Jack to be gone, only to find the man in his kitchen, the pile of sheets he had bled through in the drier and a brand new pack of the exact same brand of pads he used in the bathroom
