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Dr. Michael "Robby" Robinavitch is a patient man. He is aware of his intimidating presence and stature which is not needed in a department chief. So, constant reassurance, guidance and patience is needed and heavily expressed in his everyday life in order to run the ED. 

Though, the scene before him makes him a man with a thin patience that is itching to burst and kill everything on sight.

"Hey, pretty boy." Jesse smirks at the intern, handing him a chart. "I already administered the medications you ordered and put a call up to radiology, they're bumping your orders to the top of the list." 

Robby sees Dennis smile in thanks to the older man but with a confused look on his face. "Um, South 14 didn't really need a rush on scans, Jesse." He asks, unsure why a lady with only a broken arm and no other symptoms needs a rush for an X-ray. "Thank you though for giving the medications! I'm just unsure why." Dennis innocently asks, going through the chart if he missed anything.

"Oh, pretty boy. Don't worry, I just did it because you were the one ordering it." Jesse winks, a coy smile on his face and walks away.

Robby kinda wants to wring him on the neck and leave him stranded on the ER floor. With no narcotics. 

Dennis flushed this beautiful bright red as he tries to hide his face by tilting his head forward but Robby is fuming when he realizes that Dennis is trying to bite his lips to prevent his smile from widening.

Robby suddenly wonders if he has the authority to fire a nurse.

🐾

Robby sighs as he leaves the patient’s room and rounds to his workstation to start charting. It’s not even 5 hours into the shift and he already wants to go home and crawl into bed with the television running and his stomach empty. 

He finds Dennis on his workstation and updating his own charts. Ever since his first shift as a medical student, Dennis now uses his workstation to chart if Robby wasn’t using it. Robby found it very endearing even when he first snapped at Dennis for getting crumbs all over the place but now, Dennis simply eats carefully for the crumbs to not drop and keep the station tidy. Besides, Robby doesn’t exactly stop him from eating on his workstation. 

“You almost done, Whitaker?” Robby says, placing his hands onto the pockets of his jacket, leaning forward in hopes to meet his intern’s eyes. 

Dennis jolts at the sudden entrance of his presence, eyes wide at the intrusion but calms down with a soft look once he notices that it was just Robby. “Not yet, Dr. Robby but I can save it for now and transfer to another station.” 

Ah, Dennis. Always so considerate of others. Robby thinks to himself very fondly. His expression, unbeknownst to himself and Dennis, grows a bit fonder; different from his tired and stern gaze from mere seconds ago. 

“No worries. I can wait, go and finish it.” Robby says, stationing himself by Dennis’ back, placing his hands over Dennis’ shoulders and rubs his thumbs against it in an affectionate manner. 

“Are you sure? It really is not a problem for me to switch stations.” Dennis argues and Robby revels on the fact that he looks a bit flushed at the gesture. 

It will be a problem since I haven’t touched you like this since our shift started. Robby thinks to himself.

Dennis was given the task by Dana to go over non-emergent cases more to easily clear beds since he’s really quick on his toes and his work. Unfortunately, this means Jesse has been spending most of his time with Dennis by helping him out and assisting him, as per Dana’s orders.

Since when did my nurses become so against me? Robby thinks and sighs quietly.

“It really isn’t a problem. No rush, Whitaker.” Robby reassures him, pulling away and grabbing a tablet to check on other charts. He leans against the counter, near Dennis and looks at him. Dennis nods and goes back to charting, already typing a bit faster than he normally does.

“It will be quick, Dr. Robby! I promise.” Dennis says and Robby chuckles.

“Go ahead.” He replies lightly, a genuine smile on his face as he starts to read on the chart.

Dennis continues to type, more focused than ever and Robby eyes him from time to time with an amused expression on his face. He actually feels that seeing Dennis like this can alleviate some (most) of the tension that he’s feeling. 4 hours and without Dennis following him like a puppy does get a bit lonely. 

He’s lucky during this quiet time when he can sneak in glances to Dennis as he continues to type rapidly while also mouthing what he’s typing, very concentrated. Robby’s fond smile never leaves his face. Hell, he doesn’t even know what’s on the chart despite holding the tablet with his glasses on. 

How adorable, Robby thinks.

“Hey, pretty boy.” 

Son of a bitch, Robby continues. 

“Hey Jesse! Do you need me for anything?” Dennis looks up at the nurse who smiles genuinely at him. 

Robby’s jaw automatically tightens at the sight of a bright, wide-eyed intern who looks up at the nurse. Robby closes his eyes shut for a brief moment to compose himself, not noticing the smirk that Jesse throws on his way.

“Heard these Nutella Wafer bars are your favorite. So, I went ahead and got some for you.” Jesse pulls out 5 of the Nutella Wafer bars and Dennis’ eyes go wide with excitement at the sight of it.

“Oh my God, Jesse! Thank you so much!” Dennis, Robby kinda wants to kill himself right now. Please don’t sound too excited at the gesture. 

“Oh I love these. You just made my day.” Robby will jump off the roof right here, right now. 

Dennis directs a big, wide and sweet smile over to Jesse’s direction who returns it and pets his head gently. Robby’s stare hardens when Dennis seems to lean into the affection. Like a fucking puppy. “No worries, pretty boy. Anything for you.” 

Jesse winks and leaves. Dennis laughs sweetly at the statement and giggles quietly to himself as he stares at the chocolate bars in his hands and pockets them. He continues to type and finish charting, not aware of Robby’s internal destruction. 

“Dr. Robby, I’m done.” Dennis looks up at the attending who is staring hard at the chart in his hands. He notices that Robby didn’t respond to him and gently taps his arm, pulling back when Robby jolts. “Are you okay, Dr. Robby?” 

“Huh? Oh yeah, kid.” Robby seems out of it, judging by how white his knuckles are from clenching that tablet and the counter. “You done?” He asks when he noticed that Dennis logged off his account from his workstation. 

“Yeah! Thanks for letting me use your workstation, sorry it took some time.” Dennis apologized but Robby smiled at him.

“No worries, Whitaker. Let me know if you need anything, hmm?” Robby says and Dennis nods, preparing to leave. Robby eyes the Wafer bars in his pocket and scoffs quietly. “I do hope that my intern understands that he can’t just live on chocolate bars during shifts, okay? You need an actual meal.” Robby reminded the intern. 

Dennis looks at the chocolate bars and flushes under Robby’s gaze. God, how evangelistic, Robby thinks. Robby tries not to think too hard at the idea of Dennis relying that much on Jesse, just like how he does to Robby. 

“I will, don’t worry.” Robby smiles at him. Dennis is always so obedient to his advice and orders which makes Robby feel a bit needed. He took delight in knowing Dennis trusted him wholeheartedly with no hesitation. “Jesse told me the same thing earlier. I think he just got me these because I mentioned to him that I got so tired of the same protein bars over and over.” Dennis said as he laughed.

Robby then makes a mental note to ask Gloria if the emergency department can handle off-boarding one of the nurses. 

Robby gives a strained smile, placing his hand on top of Dennis’ shoulders and enjoyed the flush building up on the intern’s face as he squeezes. 

“Go and do some work now, Whitaker. Remember to take breaks huh?” Robby reminds. Dennis nods, excusing himself after thanking Robby, that flush on his face still evident as he scurries off to somewhere. 

Robby now sits down on his workstation and looks around to see the usual buzz of the emergency department with Jesse nowhere to be found. He groans quietly to himself and scratches his beard. 

He can survive the rest of his shift, Robby thinks to himself as he logs into his account and starts charting. 

Right? 

🐾

Wrong. 

Robby tries his best to keep his hands to himself from trying to strangle Jesse in front of a patient and the rest of the department. 

Their patient, Charlotte Jones who is a 75 year old with osteoporosis comes into the ED via the ambulance. She apparently fell in her house, and her daughter called 911. She’s being evaluated for a fracture and possible hip replacement. She’s currently stable in North 5 and is being monitored by the rest of the team. 

To say Mrs. Jones is smitten by Dennis is an understatement and the entire department is amused by the constant flush on Dennis’ face at the amount of compliments he gets from Mrs. Jones. The daughter is embarrassed but she went out of the room to fill out paperwork with Perlah’s help. 

“Oh you’re so handsome, Dr. Whitaker. I only have daughters and I always wanted a son.” Mrs. Jones coos as Dennis politely says a thank you in response, a flush building up on his face. 

“Dr. Whitaker here is the emergency department’s pretty boy.” Dennis turns to playfully glare at Jesse who raises his hands in response as he laughs.

Its only been half a fucking day, how close are you to prompt this exchange? Robby thinks, already feeling the clenching and heat that he’s feeling deep inside his core. 

“Oh! I mean, who could blame them for calling you that? I think it's pretty accurate.” Mes. Jones giggles as she settles onto the bed.

“She’s right, Dr. Whitaker.” Jesse says and leans closer to Dennis, not even minding that he’s in Dennis' personal space.

Not even minding Robby who is seething with rage. 

“You really can’t blame us, can you?” Jesse whispers against Dennis’ ear, a lowered baritone voice echoing to the point Robby can hear it from the other side of Mrs. Jones bed. 

Robby suddenly wonders how long it would take to successfully strangle a person. He makes a bet that it takes less than 3 minutes, he hopes it does. 

Robby turns his back to the intern and the nurse as he fills out the chart as a form of distraction. He types quickly and then turns back to Mrs. Jones. 

“Alright, Mrs. Jones. An orthopedic surgeon will be right with you once we get the lab results and scans back. We’ll monitor you for the time being. Just press the call light when you need anything, okay?” Robby tries his best to present a polite smile to the old lady who smiles at him and nods.

“Thank you, Dr. Robby. I’m comfortable enough but tell my daughter to accompany me when she’s done.” She says and closes her eyes. 

“I’ll go do that.” Dennis says and Robby nods at him. Dennis smiles and turns to walk away, which leaves the attending and the nurse in the room.

Robby continues to chart any remaining information in the portable station, unaware of Jesse’s calculating stares and smirk directed on his person. Jesse knows Robby is fuming with rage with him based on the amount of stern gazes and quietness from the department chief. 

“I’ll go and check on radiology to see if any results are up.” Jesse says after he concludes that the IV lines were patent and good. 

As much as Robby wants to say, ‘Yeah go do that and stop flirting with Whitaker,’ he simply hums and Jesse turns to leave the room. 

Robby sighs to himself and finishes up the chart then leaves the room as well. He looks around to find Dennis putting back a chart.

Before he can go over and tell him that he did a good job, Jesse walked to Dennis and they chatted. Jesse looks like he teases him a bit because Dennis tries to playfully swats Jesse's shoulder. Jesse however, was quick enough to avoid it with a laugh.

Robby can see Dennis huff with a soft smile. They talk for a bit more before walking away towards another patient room.

This time, Robby felt more sad than angry. God, Jesse and Dennis have only been interacting for less than half the shift and they're already that close? To the point of teases and unhesitating touches? Unlike him.

He sighs again, for the nth time today and just goes to check on the rest of his residents. 

🐾

It was the end of the shift. Hand offs were done and Robby left the ED after seeing that all of the day shift had already left. This was his routine, first one in and last one out. 

He wears his bag, says good luck to the night shift and walks out through the ambulance bay. He was shocked to find Dennis smoking a cigarette right outside. Seems like Dennis was equally shocked too judging by his reaction, since Robby hasn’t seen him smoke yet.

“I didn’t know you smoked.” Robby said, eyeing the lit up cigarette stick. Dennis laughs softly, the sound vibrating throughout Robby’s body like a warm hug in a winter storm. “Those can kill you, you know?” He had a teasing smile on his face and Dennis playfully rolled his eyes. 

“I turned the other way when I saw you smoking back then, care to do the same for me?” Dennis says, flicking off the end. For you, anything. Robby bit his lip at the thought. 

Robby laughed instead as response and stood beside Dennis, leaning against the concrete wall.

“Sure, why not?” He said and Dennis continued smoking. Mints, Marlboro Mints. A direct contrast to his Marlboro Blacks that were sitting snuggly at the pocket of his backpack. 

“So, how was this shift? You handled mostly non-emergent cases.” Robby asks which makes Dennis hum.

“It was good and I learned a lot. Jesse has been of help too which made everything much easier.” Robby tries to not be bothered by the sudden appearance of Jesse’s name. He takes a deep breath and smiles, albeit a little strained but Dennis is too focused in taking a puff that he doesn’t notice. 

“Oh yeah? That’s good. Jesse is really good, all our nurses are. Glad he was able to assist you.” Robby says, itching to touch Dennis as always but he keeps his hands to himself, as if drawing a boundary. 

“Yeah but you know, I kinda miss running around the ED and taking complex cases with you.” Dennis smiles.

Robby inhales sharply. He can hear his heartbeat vibrating through his ears, he can feel it against his ribs and he can feel the warmth radiating from Dennis; making him itch to grab onto him as his hands grow cold from the chill of the night. Dennis will keep him warm, make him warm, make him feel warm. 

“The day was a bit slow, productive sure, but I really did miss doing all of those with you.” Dennis looks up to Robby with a smile. He kneels down, kills the light and stands back up with the stub on his hand.

It has been awhile since Robby and Dennis took on their adventures. Dennis, as an intern, rotates between different residents and tasks every shift. He can't just stick to Robby all the time, as much as Robby wants to. 

“Can I hope to go back to normal on our next shift?” Dennis speaks up, almost timidly. But Robby knows he’s genuine, judging that same blush on his skin and twinkle in his eyes. Dennis may look bashful but determined as his wide blue eyes, filled with hope, meets Robby’s tired brown eyes that are filled with nothing but affection.

Normal. Normal. Robby is Dennis' normal? And he’s willing to go back to him, to the comfort of normal. The normal of rushing head first to the incoming traumas, running around the ED and trying to get more patients seen, the amount of touches Robby’s steady hand meets the soft yet reliable shoulders of his intern. Dennis’ normal, their normal. 

Robby smiles, pulls away from the concrete wall. He faces Dennis whose expression and hope didn’t falter. He places his hands, cold, onto the intern’s shoulder; immediately feeling the warm spreading from his hand across the different parts of his body.

“I’ll see you on the first incoming?” Robby says and Dennis smiles.

“You can count on me, Dr. Robby.” Dennis laughs softly. 

Robby thinks to himself, Don’t worry, I always do, as his eyes unknowingly match the twinkle in his intern’s when he looks straight at them. 

🐾

THE PITT: BETTING POOL
Moderated by: Ahmad 😎
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