Pairing: Dennis Whitaker x GN! Reader Word Count: 2.7k Synopsis: Your first kiss with Whitaker, is well and unexpected one. Warnings: Post-Season 01, Developing Relationship, Fluff and Humor, First Kiss, Dialogue Heavy A/N: Been a minute since I've posted on here, these fics will be a part of a small collection I'm doing.
Dennis had done his best to keep his head down and eyes away from your general direction. Not because he secretly despised you, or even that he actively sought out to avoid you; a date had disproven that. Where he stumbled over his words, his own two feet, and yet he still wanted to spend even more time with you. He'd much rather be closer to you, but this was work, and he needed to be mostly professional. Even though he wanted nothing more than to finally have that second date, the two of you had agreed on a month ago. No, it was because a certain pair of eyes had always seemed to find him the moment he even thought about approaching you.
Trinity.
There really was no way for him to hide his crush on you while living with her. She had told him after he confessed that she had a sixth sense for these things, and he was beginning to believe it. Every time he had tried to talk to you, whether it was for actual work purposes or some friendly chit-chat to get through the rest of the day, the hairs on the back of his neck would stand up. Out of the corner of his eye, he'd see her, either smirking or giving a thumbs up, and he'd have to swallow back calling her out until the two of them got to her apartment. He didn't get how she got around so quickly, especially when they were working on different sides, but she lapped him at least a handful of times with the same grin on her face.
It's not that he entirely regretted letting her know about his crush on you. In fact, she had helped him not lose confidence when he had asked you out for the first time. Trinity had joked that it was good for him to get out more. Mostly because she wouldn't have to be a victim of his singing voice, as if she didn't gleefully critique it whenever she felt like it. The teasing hadn't truly been the biggest issue for him; he had grown quite fond of it, and even would try to badger her back. It was the always watchful staring that was becoming increasingly grating, even when he was most of the time focused on his patients.
"Hey Huckleberry," her voice stunned him out of his thoughts as he jumped, realizing he had wandered into the break room where she had apparently been. He scoffed, and Trinity chuckled, giving him a sly smile, raising her eyebrows almost expectingly.
"Hmm?"
"Don't tell me you haven't talked to them today? Are you all good?" He tilted his head at her questions, somehow in disbelief, which he thought wasn't possible anymore at this stage of their friendship.
"Now, why would I do that when you've been watching me like a hawk all day?"
"I don't know what you mean." She shrugged, and all Dennis could do was glare until she rolled her eyes and bumped her fist into his shoulder. "I've only seen you like twice."
"Yes, which is enough to scare me out of doing anything, you know this."
"Fair, but this is not the point." Trinity waved her hand as if to say 'forget about it', which of course made his eyes twitch. "I just remember you promising me that you'd be aiming to be a little more forward with them."
"I don't know what you expect me to do when we're at work, especially when it's been as busy as it has been," he argued, his head darting to the door as he caught sight of a shadow passing by.
"You can do it afterward, like last time, for all I care, but I just need you to go have a conversation with them."
"But why do I need to?"
"Because you'll never get to that second date if you don't do something!" She clarified as if it was as simple as that, which maybe it was, but he didn't need it out there for the world to hear.
"Could you please keep your voice down?" He frowned, letting out an exasperated sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose. She put her hands up, apologetically, staring at him as if silently asking permission to continue. He let his shoulders drop first before nodding, acknowledging that she could continue.
"My point is, you can't just be all puppy eyes for them." He squinted harshly at the word 'puppy', which was the word Trinity often used to describe how he acted towards you. She called his 'polite admiration', what doggies do when they want to keep snuggling their owner, even though they're just trying to use the bathroom. He had sneered at the allegory until he found himself dopey smiling at you for helping him when his charts were freaking out, but she didn't need to know that.
"You gotta show them some action so that you can get some action." His gasp was quickly subdued by the frown on his face as she made vague gestures with her hands, which deepened his disgust.
"Oh god, please don't ever say that again." He flailed his hands in front of him rapidly, trying to shake the words and movements out of his head. She smiled wickedly before bursting out into laughter as he continued to physically disagree. Nope, that was far too unprofessional to even consider that right now.
"You know I will, if you keep denying yourself a chance at being happy," the menacingness left her voice, as she gave a sincere smile, and reached up to squeeze his shoulder.
"Fine, I will—" she erupted with such a sincere 'yes', he couldn't help his smile, "but Trinity?" She snapped out of her success and looked at him curiously.
"You really have to work on these pep talks."
"I like to think they're effective enough in getting the point across, as shown just in this moment." She gave him finger guns as she walked back towards the door, and now it was his time to cross his arms and roll his eyes. "But I will take that assessment into consideration."
"Thank you."
"I wish you luck." She winked, and with that, she was out the door and back into the fray of everything. He took a breath, almost relieved to run into her, because now he wasn't feeling as insecure as he had before. He could do this, maybe not as smoothly as anyone else, but he was sure he could do it, sort of.
"I'm gonna need it," he muttered to himself as he slunk back into his work.
In between patients, he began plotting out what he would say to you. It didn't need to be as elegant as he wanted; he just needed to not come across like a weirdo. That was the last thing he had wanted, and even though he was nervous, he was at least sure he could avoid that— all he had to do was just ask. The day fell away with the sun, and soon enough, his shift had begun winding down. He had tried to see if he could catch up to you and ask to talk alone once the day was over, but there never seemed to be a moment to spare. It was starting to wear him down, that maybe it was some sorta divine intervention telling him that it was a bad day for it.
And that's when he felt himself crash into someone, his thoughts tumbling around as he momentarily became dazed.
The collision startles him immediately, as a sharp pain shoots through his head, and clacks sorely against his lips. The discomfort is fleeting, but the ache finally registers through the rest of his body, as he lets out a semi-loud grunt. He hears something clatter against the floor and some distant murmurs, as a body hits the ground. His heart is pounding in his chest as he staggers, barely catching himself before he falls. A hand, his hand, shoots to his skull briefly, feeling down to his nose to ensure it wasn't bleeding. He ghosted his fingers over his lips, a faint wetness greeting him; it definitely wasn't blood, but it also didn't feel like his own spit. Swallowing thickly, he focused back on the person he had run into, only to feel his blood run cold.
He ran into you.
"Shit, uh," you pressed your palm to your forehead, as you struggled back up to your feet, and his stomach dropped. His eyes dropped to the tablet between the two of you, and in an instant, he dropped down to pick it up.
"S-sorry, I took the corner too fast, and, uh—"
"Whitaker, it's okay, I know—" you tried to answer as he pushed the tablet into your arms, but he didn't seem to comprehend you weren't upset with him.
"No, no, I wasn't paying attention at all, and, uh, I didn't—" he fiddled with his hands, settling on scratching the back of his head as he kept breaking eye contact with you.
"Whitaker—"
"I-I'm sorry, are you okay? If not, I'm so sorry, and if your things broken, you can just tell them it was my fault, and I'll—"
"Dennis." You spoke firm enough to shake him out of his over-apologizing; his sad blue eyes finally met yours.
"It's all right." Your hand came up and gently caressed his, and all sounds around him muffled under the pounding of his heartbeat. He couldn't bring himself to look around to see if anyone was staring at him, but you seemed to catch the idea as you let go, tucking the tablet into your arm. "I should have been paying better attention, too, but I promise it's okay."
"Okay."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"About what?"
"T-that was, yknow," his eyes darted between yours and the floor tiles. He tapped his lips, and you still seemed not to understand what he meant. He took a shaky breath before whispering, "That was our first kiss."
"Oh."
"We don't have to, I just, um," he trailed off, his eyes falling to the couple of lingering patients who seemed to be watching the two of them without a care.
"Walk with me," you bumped his shoulder, and his eyebrows furrowed. "It'll be less weird if we're walking and talking," you turned to him with a smile, and he shook his head.
"Yeah, that makes sense."
He let you lead the way, not wanting to embarrass himself even further or draw more prying eyes to you both. Trailing behind you until you both crossed a different corridor, and he caught up with you. He tried to keep his heart from beating wildly, but with every step, he knew it was going to be impossible. Perhaps that divine intervention, he thought, should've clicked in a lot earlier.
"You don't have to consider it our first if that's too embarrassing or weird," you whispered sympathetically, and Dennis could feel his heart start to shatter.
"It's not embarrassing, I'm not embarrassed by it."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes,,, more so just embarrassed with myself, but the kiss I didn't mind."
"There's nothing to be embarrassed by; it was a genuine accident. My head doesn't even hurt; you're being too critical of yourself."
"I'm glad it doesn't hurt, but it could have been worse. I mean, sure, but all I have been since I asked you out is clumsy, and painfully aware how awkward I am." Whitaker sighed, holding his head low while his eyes looked toward anywhere but you. He only stopped when he heard no response, but he found you were nowhere near him. Checking behind him, he saw you standing there, doubtfully, from what it looked like, but he stepped closer to be sure.
"Honey, I promise you, if I didn't think your awkwardness was endearing, I wouldn't have agreed on a date with you, let alone two." You assured him, which felt too sweet to be real, but then his head throbbed again, and he was sure he wasn't dreaming.
"Wait, you think it's endearing?" He questioned, eyebrows fully raised, and you chuckled.
"Of course, I do. It's what makes you, well, you after all. And I like you." Your words blew through him like a soft spring breeze; so simple and yet beautifully declared, like it was just that easy to like him— and maybe he could start to believe it was. He brought his hand up to his face to hide it for a moment before wiping it down.
"Okay, maybe I have been too hard on myself."
"Ya think?"
"Point's been made." He put his hands up defensively, and you teasingly bumped into him again.
"Good," you grinned brightly, and Dennis reciprocated just as wide as the two of you began to walk again. "So, why were you not paying attention that you nearly tried to run me over?" The joke was still a little too fresh for him to completely laugh it off, but he smiled at your enthusiasm.
"Well, uh, funny enough, I was actually trying to hype myself up to go ask you something." He rubbed the back of his ear, turning his head toward you to give his full, undivided attention.
"Which was?"
"Um, I was going to say, what if we went on our second date tonight?" He tried to keep from falling quiet, but instead his voice cracked a small bit, and he chewed the inside of his lip. He refrained from commenting on it, though, because he had nothing nice to say about that.
"Yeah, that sounds really good." Your acceptance immediately flipped those thoughts from his head
"Did you have somewhere in mind?"
"Not really, but, um, if you could give me a moment, or a suggestion—"
"Or, we could just drive around till we found somewhere to eat, and have fun to do? Yeah?" The suggestion in your voice, which was more of a command, didn't go unnoticed by him. He figured it out that you were probably trying to help him save his face, which at this point he didn't really mind.
"Sounds like a good plan to me." He clapped his hands together, and you nodded in agreement.
"That's what I like to hear." Right as you two were about to reach the main entrance, you both heard Dr. Robby's voice announce for the day shift to finish up.
"Looks like we're almost there." You winked at him before going back to joining the others.
The wrap up didn't take long; the day had been far from being as chaotic and terrible as the other ones. Everyone had been grateful for that, and as the rest gathered and said their goodbyes and good lucks to night shift; the two of you just kept glancing at each other. He had made sure to squeeze in beside you as you listened to Robby's speech, and when it was finally done, you both took off towards the exit.
"Oh, look at you two, y'all going somewhere without me?" Trinity shouted from behind you both, standing a little outside the exit. Dennis fought to snark back, because of course, she'd show up right now.
"Whitaker asked me out on another date, but I'll make sure to have him home before midnight." You called back at her, much to Dennis' surprise, and Trinity gave an excited cackle.
"Ugh, oh my god," Whitaker rolled his eyes, a pout forming over his lips, turning his head to hide how red his face was getting.
"Thank you, I don't wanna worry about him being out too late," Santos grinned wickedly, and before you could even look at him, Whitaker whipped his head back to glare at her.
"Trinity!"
"You two have a nice night!" She gave you two a thumbs up before fleeing around the corner. You burst out into laughter, as Dennis only shook his head.
"Please, it's not that funny." He pouted, and you offered out your arms for a hug; he gladly accepted that.
"Just a little bit, but it's only because you're so cute," you leaned into him, and Whitaker tried to keep playing up his annoyance, only to still wrap his arms around you. He folds when your hands cup his cheek and you press a quick peck to his lips. "Does that make it better?"
"Much better."