Hucklerobby / Hucklerabbot Soulmate AU Series
(Masterpost) (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (You are here) Spoiler for Amy’s son’s name (S2 Ep15)
„Jaaack“, Robby whined, grabbing desperately for his husband by his side. „Get me some tea!“
Rolling out of the way, Jack pulled the blanket tighter around himself and grumbled, „You get me some tea!“
„No way!”, Robby scoffed, “I’m only like this because of you and you’re S.W.A.T shit! Storming a house in the middle of a torrential downpour. Who do-doe- ACHOOOO!“ The sound of his old man sneeze reverberated around them, making Jack wince and cover his ears. His headache was already killing him, but of course this whiny old fart had to make it worse.
„Oh, sure. Me, wrapped in thick, warm gear got us into this mess and not your tendency to storm out into the ambulance bay in the middle of the first snowfall in nothing but your scrubs!“ Just as he finished speaking another raspy coughing fit wrecked his body. The world seemed to shift on its axis for a moment, leaving Jack groaning in pain as the tinnitus in his ears hit a new level of intensity. When he finally came back to reality, he noticed strong arms had pulled him back into his husband’s naked chest with Robby having buried his weeping face into Jack’s nape.
„You don`t liikeee meeee“, came the wet sob from behind him, beard scratching his neck.
Oh, for fucks sake! Jack knew his husband was a whiny, clingy mess whenever they got sick, but this was a new low. Reaching out, he patted the shaking shoulders and tried to appease him, „Of course I like you. But just think rationally, love, how should I get us both tea when I have to use my crutches?“
Stopping his tantrum, Robby rubbed his soggy face once more against the back of Jack’s Pyjama before slowly rolling out of bed. „Then I get us tea and you order breakfast?“
„And call work. I know the drill, now up you go.“ He watched as his husband shuffled out of the room, pants riding so low that on any other day Jack would’ve pulled him right back into their bed and made him scream his name. Not today though. His whole body ached, the fever made his jaw feel brittle and just thinking about moving made him dizzy and nauseous.
Fishing for his phone, he got ready to make some calls.
„Damn your soulmate must hate you, Huckleberry.“
Trinity watched with amusement as the pile of blankets on her guestroom bed moved, revealing a single pale hand with its middle finger raised. She would’ve felt more upset at the gesture if it hadn`t been pointed at the window instead of her. „Seriously, if you were a bat you’d be dead by now.“
Carefully placing the tray in her hands down on Dennis’s bedside table, she looked over her work once more. Two thermos flasks, one filled with tea, the other with broth, and some pain meds on the side should’ve hopefully gotten her roommate through the brunt of it until she returned from her shift. „Make sure to hydrate well while I’m gone and if you order food, don`t forget about your favourite human!“, she quipped.
„Theo?“, came the muffled voice from the bed.
„Man, you’re mean when you’re sick.“ Trinity slapped what she hoped was Dennis’s shoulder buried underneath multiple blankets and moved to leave the room. Standing in the doorway, she couldn’t help but add, „Let’s see if you managed to infect our two favourite chief attendings as well.“ She barely managed to close the door in time before a dull THUD came from the other side, indicating that Dennis had thrown a pillow at her.
“My condolences to your PCP, Fuckleberry”, she laughed before scurrying out of the front door to get to work.
Dennis felt like shit. His throat burned, his body ached, his nose was running and his head felt like bursting. The whole night he’d spent curled up and feverish in bed, jumping from nightmare to nightmare, sprinkled with some fever induced hallucinations in between.
Last week, Amy had asked him to help her prepare the farm for the sudden onset of winter as one of the roofs had been missing a few shingles ever since the last rainstorm had hit Pittsburgh. He’d only realized that he’d forgotten his jacket after he’d already climbed up and was left shivering like a leave in the wind. Back in Broken Bow he’d been more used to it, had rarely ever gotten sick to begin with and the few times he’d caught something were probably not even from him but his soulmate.
The thought only made him grumble more as he stuck his burning head out into the cold room to get a few gasps of fresh air into his lungs. Who had even come up with such a shitty soulmate system? ‘Feeling your soulmates pain’ was like the stupidest thing ever. Nothing screamed ‘romance’ more than all being in equal pain? Sure, there was the benefit of a faster recovery when you spent the time with your soulmate, but as if Dennis would’ve had the energy to post his symptoms in one of those dating apps right now. He’d praise the lord if he even made it to the bathroom. Besides, the common flu was too vague of an illness to locate your soulmate with anyway. Probably a tenth of all of Pittsburgh was currently showing the exact same symptoms and after his last catastrophic attempt of finding his one and only, Dennis had kind of given up anyway.
So far, his biggest lead had been a story his mother used to tell him while growing up. When he was just a toddler, he’d woken up the house one night, screaming bloody murder and clutching his left leg, refusing to step on it for months on end afterwards. Dennis was kind of thankful that he hadn’t retained any memories of this, but he’d been curious of what had happened to his soulmate ever since.
The hot salt and pepper face of a certain one-legged night shift attending appeared in front of his inner eye, making him groan in embarrassment and disappear back underneath the blankets. Why had Trinity felt the need to mention them? Wasn’t he already suffering enough by falling in love with both sides of a married soulmate couple? Did she have to pour salt into his wound?
When he finally managed to fall back asleep, he kept tossing and turning, slipping in and out of consciousness as painful rasps and the burning sensation of his clothes rubbing against his sensitive skin kept waking him up. At some point he hallucinated the Spinosaurus from Jurassic Park 3 chasing him down, the sound of his own phone ringing accompanying his mad dash through the ER. Waking up from his nightmare with a start, he had exactly two thoughts:
Does a Spinosaurus even fit into the ER height wise?
I will never have another movie marathon with Trinity!
Coughing, he kicked the blankets off himself. He needed to use the bathroom and then leave a strong worded text message for his roommate about watching nothing but ‘Bluey’ until Christmas to make up for the trauma, he’d just gone through.
Instead, when he returned and picked up his phone, he found 8 missed calls and 20 unread messages from Trinity. Fearing the worst, he immediately called back.
"Huckleberry, finally! What took you so long?", came his roommate’s cheerful voice through the speaker.
"Ask the Spinosaurus", he retorted dryly.
There was a second of silence, before Trinity asked confused, "What? Dude, you ok?"
"Forget it. What did you find out that warrants disturbing my rest?"
"Chill, Dracula", Trinity laughed. "Buuuut you won't believe it. Your senseless pining over the raisin cookies might not have been so senseless!"
For a second Dennis thought he misheard his bestie as his clogged ears struggled to make sense of her words. Realising it wasn’t him but her, he groaned, "Trinity, pleaaassse don't torture me with your riddles right now. What raisin cookies? What wasn't senseless?"
"Our attendings, obviously! Dana said they're both sick!"
"And that's a good thing?", he asked sarcastically.
"-aaaaand – don't interrupt me – aaaaand the local rumour mill told me that, for a soulmate couple, they always tend to be sick for a suspiciously long time!" She sounded way too excited about this and Dennis could practically imagine Princess and Perlah’s faces as they went through the ER sharing this little piece of gossip with everybody else.
"So, they have shitty immune systems or just enjoy some time off together to get some rest?", he retorted, desperately trying to talk some sense into his best friend.
"Or they're missing a third!"
Sighing deeply, Dennis threw himself down on his bed. "Please stop, you know they're already married and soulmate throuples are extremely rare."
His free hand fished for his blankets, winding them back around his shivering body and ignored the burning sensatuion in his chest that, for once, didn't come from his flu. "With this kind of age gap?"
"Maybe you had to reincarnate first? Died early in your first life or some shit? All I'm saying is that you should test this theory instead of hiding under your blankets like a scared mouse!"
"Vampire, mouse, any other nickname you want to throw at me?", Dennis grumbled. "What do you want me to do? Haul a quarantine taxi and drive to their home? Maybe the driver will only charge me for one fare when he has to get me to HR right after." Dennis intended to laugh, but it turned into another raspy coughing fit instead, making his throat burn hellishly and his head spin.
"You're so mean when you're sick, Huckle-virus. I love it!"
"Ohhhh, that was one of the worst ones yet. Losing your edge?", he joked back.
"You’re lucky I’m tolerating your presence and that getting you three together will win me the highest betting pool in the history of the ER! What-? Sorry, I have to go, bye!” With that she abruptly ended the call, leaving Dennis alone in his suffering again.
With his phone by his side and blanket back over his head, Dennis curled in on himself, hugging his extra pillow close. The truth was, Dennis wasn’t mean and snappy because he was sick, he just wasn’t allowed to express what he actually needed. Ever since he was a child, he would turn into a ‘cuddle-monster’ – as his mother had mockingly called it – whenever he had gotten sick. All he wanted was for somebody to hold him, pat his back, run their fingers through his hair and tell him that everything was going to be ok in a few days, but that wasn’t the kind of ‘manly behaviour’ befitting for a Whitaker man, so he’d been scolded for it until he’d learned to just shut up about it.
Another coughing fit wrecked his body, making him groan in pain. He really couldn’t wait for this to finally be over.
"Dr. Wu, please don't listen to the scheming woman, I was the one who saved you twenty years ago!"
"Not now, it's just getting good!" Robby watched heartbroken as Jack waved him off. How dare he ignore his dying husband!
The dramatic music spiked again as the AI-narrator continued, "Xiu begged pitifully, holding onto her husband's arms, 'Why not listen to me? Am I not married to you?' But the cold-hearted man beat her across the face, making her fall to the ground."
"Jack, come on", Robby tried again. They've been tied to the bed for five days now, the flu holding them hostage and the fever burning away their sanity. Either that or the cheap Chinese dramas his husband had started to get obsessed with on day two. Speaking of his husband, he still acted like he couldn't hear him.
Trying to negotiate Robby said, "Can't we watch the other one again, you know, where she gets reborn and marries the father of her scumbag husband instead? I kind of liked that one."
"Oh I'm sure you did", came the amused scoff from the right side of the bed. "Any other young thing on your mind that should consider marrying a middle-aged man?"
Huffing, Robby playfully kicked him, the dull pain immediately appearing on his own leg as well. "As if I hadn't noticed you keep going for those medical dramas where the older guy is secretly married to the intern", and for good measure he added in a poor imitation of the tinny voices he’d been forced to listen to for days now, "Am I not your husband???"
Jack paused the video, placing the remote down to look at Robby. "Awww does my hubby need attention? Does my bear of a man want some cuddles from his poor, sexy soulmate?", he cooed, opening his arms wide.
On any other day, Robby would have flipped him off, but instead he crawled over, placing his head on Jack's chest as warm arms surrounded him in a tight hug.
"Why isn't it getting better?", he grumbled into the naked skin.
"You know, I've been thinking about that", the silver fox said, "What if it’s not us who are sick?"
Snapping his head up, Robby looked at him like he lost his mind. "None of us-? If I hadn't been there when you've got your medical licence, I would've doubted it now. You think we were just coughing our lungs out for fun, or what?"
Jack rolled his eyes, pushing Robby's face back into his chest. "Of course we've been sick, I'm just saying there might be a chance we have another soulmate - ah, just listen to me for a moment! Remember two days ago, when each of us took a pain killer and nothing happened? Or the fact that we're still sick despite being huddled together for almost a week now?"
Robby relaxed his shoulders and curled his arm around Jack’s midsection as he thought about what his husband had just said. It was true that, if taken by the sick person, pain killers and medicine should have an effect on both parties, so, the fact that nothing had helped even when they both had taken them? Not to mention that, if spent with your soulmate, a flu should be a matter of two days, not almost a week.
"But why haven't we noticed it before?", he couldn't help but ask.
Running his hands through Robby's hair in a soothing motion, Jack thought aloud, "Maybe because we've never looked for a third?"
"Also", he continued after a moment, "remember the time you accused me of pranking you by spanking myself mid shift and I got mad because I thought you'd be the one doing it to me? Or when you thought I hit my big toe, but it was on my amputated leg? In hindsight, all of this would make sense if there was a third."
"Fuuuck, we're stupid", Robby groaned.
"We? Speak for yourself, brother-OUCH"
The sound of the slap Robby had delivered to Jack's unoccupied pec filled the air. Did it hurt him as well? Sure. Was it still worth it? Yes. The arms holding him pulled him tighter as his husband's laughter turned into another coughing fit. Only after he'd calmed down did Robby speak again. "So, how do we find that third?"
Jack seemed to contemplate that question for a moment, fingers moving back to Robby's hair. "I'd say we call Dana."
Melting into his husband's touch, Robby purred, "Yea~ ... No wait, why Dana?"
"Because we don't have Whitaker's private number, do we now?", Jack laughed.
Gasps echoed through the cheap phone speaker as the female protagonist pointed at her scumbag fiancé’s father, voicing her intent of marrying him instead. Dennis was barely listening, his burning eyes about to close as a kick to his leg woke him back up again.
"But Miss Song, don't you know I'm almost 40 and have an ailment?", the male lead asked the protagonist, his horrible fake moustache quivering in shock.
Dennis rubbed the throbbing spot next to his knee and tuned back into the Chinese drama he had picked out for a lack of something better to watch. While the AI translation was corny at best, the plot wasn't even half bad. Or maybe his brain was just desperate for some age gap romance.
Settling back into his pillows, he watched the chaos unfold as the guy finally accepted her proposal and they married on the spot. At least he seemed like a decent guy in comparison to his scumbag son who ran off with another woman on his wedding day. With his head back on the pillows and arms slung around the blanket, Dennis started to fall back asleep until-
Jumping up, he rubbed the left side of his chest where a sharp slap had just landed. What the fuck was his soulmate up to now??? Was he mad at him for still being sick? It wasn't like Dennis had the greatest time either, seeing that he was too poor to afford actual medicine. Of course, Trinity had offered to pitch in, but there was no way he could've repaid her in the foreseeable future, so all he dared to take were a few of her pain killers whenever it had gotten too bad. Never in his life had he thought his soulmate would get physical with him in revenge.
With his mood soured, Dennis laid back pouting. The female lead had just tripped and fell into the arms of her new husband, her long sleeves fluttering in the wind as the music reached its crescendo in the background. Despite the overly dramatic display, and the multiple shots from different angles, Dennis couldn’t help but envy her. At least her soulmate would not hit her poor disease-ridden ass.
Falling back asleep, Dennis dreamed of being reincarnated to his first day at the ER. Of walking into the Hub, spring in his step as he managed to save Bennet’s life with such ease that Robby immediately called Jack so they could propose to him. Dana was just about to take their wedding vows right in front of Trauma 1 when-
BANG. The sound of a tray being slammed on the bedside table ripped him right from his slumber.
“HOLY SHIT”, Dennis screamed, scrambling to sit up only to be hit by vertigo so bad that he immediately dropped back down again.
“Had a nice dream, Huckleberry?”
Towering beside his bed, Trinity grinned down at him mischievously and mocked, “You know that you talk in your sleep? ‘Of course I want to marry you, Dr. Robby. Whaaat, you’re making me chief attending right after I graduate? Mwah, mwah, mwah’”
“Stoooooop”, the blonde whined, burying his face in his pillow. Of course, his stupid roommate had to come in right as the dream got good! Wait- Picking up his phone, Dennis checked the time. “What are you doing here? Your shift isn’t supposed to end for another three hours?”
With a click of her tongue, Trinity pulled his blanket off him and grabbed his arm. “I’m here on a secret mission to get you to a doctor!”
Trinity had left him outside a little townhouse not far from the hospital. In any other circumstances the red brick building would've looked cozy with the small front yard covered in fall leaves, but Dennis was too busy nervously wringing his shirt in his hands and staring at the two names displayed above the doorbell. If only Trinity had told him where she’d intended to bring him, then he would've worn something less embarrassing. As it was, he stood in front of his boss's home in a hand-me-down Jurassic Park shirt from his older brother and some Iron Man sweatpants he'd once gotten at the thrift store. 'Well, it certainly highlights your preference for everything old, Trinity had joked before speeding off as if Dennis wasn't already fighting with his sanity.
The fresh breeze made his ears burn and caused him to rapidly sneeze a few times in a row. He couldn't keep staying outside and he couldn't leave as he had no money for an Uber, so the only thing left to do was ring that bell and get this stupid plan over with.
It took less than a minute for the door to open to a very tired looking Robby. The dark brown shirt he wore was too big around his arms and chest and Dennis was pretty sure he’d seen Jack wear it multiple times underneath his scrubs. Not that he was committing his bosses’ wardrobe to his memory. That would’ve been creepy. He just… appreciated how cosy it looked. Just how Robby looked cozy wearing it. Although, it might’ve been a little bit too tight around his mid-section as it had bunched up, revealing a little sliver of protruding stomach with a hint of the man’s greying happy trail leading down to the low riding grey sweatpants. He couldn’t help but wonder how it would feel to touch-
A hand clapped around the exposed skin, making Robby yelp as Jack gently pushed him to the side. “Ah! That’s only for soulmate premium members to stare at!”, he joked, mirth sparkling in his eyes as he watched Dennis stutter out apologies.
“Jack, be nice!”, Robby pulled his husband back inside, careful to not tumble him over with his crutches, and opened the door wider for Dennis. “Come in, we should talk.”
They led him to their living room. A spacious open place with a soft looking couch facing a huge TV, Dennis couldn’t even imagine the price of. Looking around, he saw old couple photos, a bookshelf filled with a wide arrange of medical literature, as well as some titles that felt boring and philosophical to even look at – and a coffee table covered in tissue boxes and empty tea mugs.
“Sorry, we should’ve cleaned more, but-“, Robby vaguely gestured towards the tissues, himself and Jack and, honestly, Dennis didn’t need any further explanation. The two men looked just as exhausted as he had when Trinity had pushed him into the bathroom for a shower earlier. Besides, it wasn’t like he had been up for any kind of spring cleaning in the past week.
Settling on the couch an awkward silence surrounded them, only broken by the occasional sniffle and cough. Dennis didn’t know how, but he had ended up between them, nervously wringing the bottom of his shirt again. “So, I guess – erm – we’ve been sick?” Woooow great job, Dennis. Want to state the colour of the sky next?, he scolded himself internally.
Jack leaned in closer, one hand behind Dennis, as the other carefully touched his forehead. The sudden close proximity short circuited his brain and it took him an embarrassingly long moment to register that the older man had asked him something. “Hu?”
“I asked for how long you’ve had that fever?”
“And the cough?”, Robby interjected.
“And what medication did you take?”, both men asked at the same time.
Dennis had thought they were gauging his symptoms to find similarities to their own, but here they were treating him like a patient instead. Maybe it was the exhaustion, or his strung-up nerves, but Dennis wasn’t in the mood for diagnoses or games. He wanted answers! Answers and a bed to sleep in before the ibuprofen stopped working and his headache returned. Pretending to think about their last question, Dennis used the distraction to let his shirt go – and instead pinched his thigh. Hard.
Twin yelps rang in the room as both, Jack and Robby, covered the respective spot on their leg where the phantom pain had shot through.
“Sorry, I thought that would be faster than whatever you had planned”, Dennis shrugged.
Jack woke slowly. The pressure on his chest hadn’t elevated from the days before. No, it even felt like he had an even worse time breathing. Not to mention that he was sweating in the heat of the room. Frustration hit him. They finally found their third last night and, while everybody had been too exhausted to have a real meaningful talk about the whole situation, sharing a bed should‘ve at least cleared up their symptoms. With a groan, he pushed weakly at the blanket on his chest, only to feel his fingers sink into soft curls.
Blinking his eyes open, Jack looked down on himself coming face to face with two full sets of hair. One curly blonde and the other his husband’s signature tussled bedhead, sticking up in all directions. Apparently, he now had two men in his life who decided his chest was the better pillow. Normally he wouldn’t complain, but Robby’s leg was conveniently placed on his bladder and, again, he was being smothered here!
It took a lot of effort and struggling to make Robby turn over with a grumpy groan, but Jack’s victory was short lived as Dennis seemed to see his plight as a challenge and instead just tightened his grip. Where did he even get that strength? Bull riding?
With no way out, Jack settled back down again. Now that he didn’t have to sustain the weight of two humans, he was finally able to take a deep breath and was relieved to notice that his nose had unclogged itself over night. In fact, his fever must’ve ended as well and his whole body, while still exhausted, felt way better than yesterday. If there had been any question left if Dennis was truly their third, it had now been answered.
Rustling came from the side of the bed as Robby slowly sat up and scratched his beard. His eyes fell to the blonde mop of hair still nuzzled against Jack’s chest and his whole expression turned soft. They hadn’t talked a lot about their crush on the intern. Mostly because Robby had always felt like a pervert for liking the younger man – a sentiment Jack hadn’t shared – and the mutual guilt of wanting more than each other. A guilt that now seemed so silly, after fate itself had picked them for each other.
Leaning down, Robby placed a soft kiss on top of Dennis’s head, before meeting his husband’s already waiting lips for a short peck. “Should I get breakfast ready, or free you first?”
Jack thought for a moment. Sure, he needed to use the bathroom, but, looking down at the body clinging to him, he couldn’t bring himself to leave just yet. “You know, I think I’m happy to lie here for a moment longer.”
