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"You have five minutes!"
Shit. Trinity’s voice rang out before he had even closed the apartment door behind him. Five minute wasn’t enough. "Ten minutes." He called back as he raced down the hall, pausing only to throw his bag onto his bed before stripping to hop in the shower. He’d taken one last night after shift, but then he’d proceeded to do several things that left him both emotionally and physically dirty.
"Six minutes." He heard Trinity call out as he turned the shower on, and grinned at the slight concession. But he could do better.
"Nine!"
"Seven!"
"Eight!"
"Fine!" As he got in the shower he relaxed, quickly grabbing the shower gel and squeezing it onto the sponge. It was nowhere near as good as what he’d used last night, but on a resident’s salary it was the best he could do.
"’Cause you wouldn’t know love, if it knocked down your door. You wouldn’t know it now you never knew it before." He sang to himself as he scrubbed, mentally using the chorus to check how much time he had. Six minutes. The shower was off and he was stepping out to grab the towel as quickly as possible, rubbing it across his skin as fast as he could to dry himself. His scrubs were already waiting for him and he sent a silent thank you to his roommate.
"Three minutes!"
As he pulled on his sneakers, Dennis shook his head and let out a breath. While anyone looking in on them would surely have mistaken her tone for annoyance, he already knew that she was in the kitchen pouring coffee while scrolling through her phone. Standing up, he checked himself in the mirror before exiting his room, crossing the hall into the kitchen to see Trinity leant against the counter, already started on her coffee as she looked at her watch. "Time?"
Rolling her eyes and tilting her head, Trinity gave him a small smile. "One minute and forty eight seconds. Lucky."
Shouldering his bag, Dennis grabbed his jacket from the hook. He knew it was warm enough not to need it, but in their job it was always better to be safe. "Skilled. Let’s go."
—
The car ride to the hospital was mostly silent, and he was grateful for the reprieve. It gave him a chance to rest his head against the window and close his eyes.
"So how was Michael?"
Opening his eyes, he groaned. Of course she wanted to know about it now. "Great, we had a good time."
"I bet you did."
Trinity had found out about Michael by accident. He’d been so careful to keep all of it a secret, until he’d left his phone out at the bar while he’d went to the bathroom. He’d come back to Trinity and Victoria looking at his screen and reading a rather explicit text he’d received from a contact called Michael.
At that point he’d had to answer their questions.
Yes Michael was a guy he’d been seeing.
Yes Michael was single and he wasn’t a dirty secret .
Yes Michael was good looking.
No, he wouldn’t be showing them a picture of his mystery man.
Of course what could have been a brief conversation over drinks soon became a departmental conversation once Trinity had mentioned his boyfriend while on shift and every set of eyes within earshot turned to him.
"I mean he’s not really my boyfriend." Were the quiet words out of his mouth as those around him grinned and shook their heads, quickly turning away from his blushing face.
—
As with all modern relationships, it had started on a dating app. He’d been bored in bed and had been swiping through older men on tinder, not really expecting any of them to result in a match. So it came as a surprise when the notification popped up at the top of his screen when he hadn’t pressed anything in over a minute, too focused on a fifty year old who looked like he could crush watermelons with his biceps.
Michael.
He didn’t remember swiping on a Michael, but then he normally didn’t look at names, just faces. It might be shallow, but he wasn’t looking for serious, he was looking for sex.
Moving away from the guy with big arms, he clicked over to his messages and tapped the new match at the top of the screen before clicking on the profile. He froze at the first picture that came up.
Robby.
Michael was Robby. He’d liked Robby on Tinder. Actually more Importantly, Robby had liked him. He’d just liked him, in the last few seconds.
While he wasn’t ever going to deny that Robby was attractive, he was first and foremost his boss. And although one of the unofficial lessons that he’d been taught in med school was that doctors were a pretty incestuous bunch, it was a little too much for him.
That didn’t stop him from tapping through the pictures on the man’s profile though, or from reading and scoffing at the façade that the man presented to the world. He was not outgoing, nor was he easygoing.
Exiting the profile, his finger hovered at the middle of the screen, debating between bringing up the keyboard or unmatching the man.
That was when the first message came through.
—
"So how’s Michael?"
Robby looked up from his notes just in time to see Princess lean against the counter beside Dennis, her smile wide.
To his credit, Dennis didn’t flinch away at the question. When it had first came out that he was seeing someone, he had all but ran away at the mere mention of him. "He’s great actually, we had a nice night in last night."
"Oh yeah?" Princess looked around quickly before leaning in. "You tap that?"
He had to look down to avoid being caught blushing, but Dennis didn’t hesitate.
"I was the one getting tapped actually, twice."
The little shit. He knew what he was doing, and sure enough, when Robby eventually looked up, there Dennis stood, leant against the counter with a grin on his face.
—
After what could be argued as one of the worst shifts ever, which they’d all had way too many of, there was only one thing that Dennis could think of doing as he pulled his bag out of his locker.
"Park. Drink." Beside him, Donnie slammed his locker shut and pointed his fingers to the door. "You coming Whitaker?"
While the idea of getting drunk in the park to forget the horrors of the day did sound fun, he had something else on his mind. "Sorry I can’t tonight. Mi…"
"Michael." Leaning against the wall opposite them, Langdon spoke up, finishing his sentence. "You know you really should introduce us to him some time Whitaker, bring him in."
Oh if only they knew. "The last thing I want is him coming in here. With my luck he’d come in as a trauma." Pulling on his jacket and zipping it up, he stretched his back and moaned as he felt it click in several places. "Besides, I know the gossip would get worse if you all knew him." At least that wasn’t a lie. Since that first kiss with Michael, he’d imagined how crazy things would get if everyone knew about them. It wasn’t even that Michael was his boss, workplace relationship forms existed for a reason. It was the way they would look at them, analysing their every movement, looking for the opportunity to make a comment. He could live without that.
"You’re gonna drive one of those ladies out there to cyber-stalking man." While Donnie said it with a laugh, Dennis knew that it was probably true.
"Then it’s a good thing he’s too old to use Facebook." As he turned away he caught sight of Robby stepping into the room. Sending a quick wink, he spoke again as Langdon and Donnie broke out in cackles. "Doctor Robby. Goodnight."
—
"Too old to use Facebook? Really?"
Dennis moaned as he was pushed back against the wall, his hands grabbing at the bottom of the older man’s shirt, desperate to pull it off. He stopped however, when Robby’s mouth broke away from his jaw to move up to his ear, gently kissing against it while he whispered.
"Guess that means I’m old enough to be your daddy."
If the man had continued to talk like that, Dennis was sure that he would have missed the sound of his phone ringing in his pocket, but Robby had pulled back to lift his scrubs over his head.
Quickly pulling his phone out, Dennis held out his hand to stop Robby as he answered the phone. "Hey Trin, everything ok?" He’d realised a long time ago that she only called when it was an emergency.
"You getting your freak on yet?" She giggled on the other end of the line.
"About to." He looked over at Michael. "In fact, Michael is currently stood in front of me about to strip." He raised his eyebrows as Michael furrowed his brow, indicating for him to keep going. "Yeah he’s just dropped his pants, so I’m about to be very occupied. See you tomorrow. She hung up on me." Tucking his phone back into his pocket, Dennis smiled before lifting his own shirt off of his head. "Where were we daddy?"
—
"This way Whitaker."
Feeling the hands on his shoulders, Dennis let himself be steered as Robby started their walk to the incoming trauma. While the touching was bordering on inappropriate at times, it was Robby’s way of keeping track of him. As they passed by central, he heard a little whistle from the group of nurses before hearing Princess’s voice. "Careful doctor Robby, Michael might get jealous."
Dennis didn’t think he could have blushed any harder than he had in that moment.
—
They’d been together eight months when Dennis decided to start having fun with it, and so Princess was the first person he talked to when he walked into work that morning. "Looking great today Princess."
The nurse raised an eyebrow for a moment, then relaxed when she saw the smile on his face. "Oh someone had a very good night last night."
Catching sight of Robby unzipping his jacket behind her, Dennis bit his lip. "The man is a beast." It was wonderful to see the way that Robby froze at that, quickly looking up to look at him over the rim of his glasses.
"Oh really? Tell me more."
As he launched into details about last nights antics while sitting down to start his charting, Dennis could feel Robby’s gaze on him, capturing every word he said.
"And he does this thing with his tongue…"
"Whitaker. While I’m sure we’re all glad that your boyfriend is treating you right, maybe a time and a place?"
Dennis froze as he felt Robby’s hand on his shoulder. "Yes sir, sorry."
Robby laughed, lifting his hand away. "That being said, he sounds like a lucky man, and it sounds like you found a keeper."
It was Dennis’s turn to freeze. "Uhh yeah, I think he might just be a keeper."
—
"Doctor Robby, you’re the right sort of age, you think Michael would like something like this?"
"You heard Whitaker talking about his boyfriend? I think the exact words were ‘makes me moan loud enough to wake the dead’. Like what the hell? I need me a Michael."
"When he finally introduces us to this guy I am never going to be able to look him in the eye."
Every day he heard something about Dennis and Michael. It was the hot topic for the entire department, and all that Robby could do was laugh at it. Occasionally he did join in. There were nights when he’d left a mark a little too high, and so the next day he would join in on the teasing. "Looks like Michael was a little too enthusiastic there. Please tell him that I like my doctors without teeth marks."
For a month it went on, until Gloria paid them a visit. "Michael."
Instantly heads turned as they heard the name, and he could practically see as their expressions changed from confused, to understanding, to confused again. His name was Michael? Oh yeah Michael Robinavitch. Wait? Michael?
"Whitaker!” Princess yelled out for the resident, and as the chaos erupted around him, Robby put on a smile and turned around. "Gloria, how can I help you?"
—