Chapter Text
Seeing a young, very attractive, version of his boss wheeling a patient into the ER had definitely not been on anyone’s bingo card for one of the last shifts of the medical year, especially Dennis’s as he ran towards the trauma room not-Robby was already entering, the new med students behind him.
"What do we have?" Grabbing a pair of gloves, he took a hold of the backboard to help transfer the patient onto the bed, trying to focus on the medicine and not on the way that Princess and Jesse kept throwing glances over to the fresh-faced twink beside them.
Whoever the guy was, he knew his shit. "Thomas Graham, fifty eight, passed out at the wheel of his car after complaints of pain." It was only when the patient was on the bed and the young man reached up to brush his hair out of his face that Dennis noticed the blood on his head.
Shit, another patient to treat. Luckily at that moment the trauma bay doors opened and doctors King and Langdon stepped in. Before Langdon even had a chance to speak Princess gave them the rundown and they were in motion. Dennis stepped back as they worked, knowing that of the doctors in the room, they were the better pair to treat the patient effectively. Taking a step towards the young version of his boss, Dennis spoke again. "Ok we’ve got it from here Mr?" Shit he didn’t know the guys name.
"Carter." The young man looked at him and for a second Dennis’s world stopped. Damn those eyes were intense. "And not to be a dick but it’s doctor."
Well that explained it. "Ok Doctor Carter, looks like you were injured so we need to take a look at you too, they’ve got it from here." Gently placing a hand on Carter’s wrist, he pulled him away from the bed, noticing the sway in the man’s movement only a moment before he crumpled into Dennis’s arms. "Fuck! Need a gurney, and call CT!" He looked at the med students frozen in front of him. "That means you two. Cox get his legs, Willis, the gurney."
For a skinny guy, he sure did weigh a lot when he was unconscious. The logical part of him knew that it was just because of the lack of muscle tension, but a part of Dennis felt that this was the universe’s way of punishing him for the improper thoughts he’d had about the other doctor when he first came in.
Because he’d had several improper thoughts. They’d raced through the back of his mind as he’d focused on the patient but they’d still been there. Flashes of the man moaning from his touches, the feel of his lips, they way that he’d look led out in bed beside him. But this wasn’t the time for that. Pulling him onto the gurney and out of the trauma room, he called out to the nurses station. "Dana what’s open?"
The charge nurse barely even looked at him as she checked the board. "South fourteen hun. Robby’s just discharging them now."
Great, a run in with Robby while he had the man’s doppelgänger unconscious on a bed. "Because this day was already great." He muttered to himself as he started rolling the bed towards the corridor, briefly catching the look of surprise on Kim’s face as she walked past the bed.
Robby noticed them immediately. "What’s the word Whitaker?" Squeezing some hand sanitiser on, Robby raised any eyebrow at the worried looks on the faces of the med students. But Whitaker was already talking when they turned the gurney around to wheel it in.
"This is Doctor Carter, potentially in an MVC, not confirmed. He came in with the driver who’s in trauma two now. Alert and oriented on arrival, minor scalp lac, passed out in my arms." Dennis looked up at Robby. "Waiting on CT but potential concussion or other mild injury." He paused. This was normally when Robby would start speaking or questioning him on his course of treatment. The man trusted him a lot but he was responsible for every decision made in this place, so he got the final say. But Robby wasn’t speaking, instead he was looking at the man on the bed like he’d seen a ghost. "Doctor Robby, everything ok?"
His words seemed to trigger something in Robby as the man immediately looked up at him. "That’s my son." The older man shifted uncomfortably before speaking again. "Yes to the head CT, and page Neuro to have a look. Tell them it’s urgent."
Before Dennis could speak the attending was walking away, his feet quick and heavy on the floor, almost like he was trying to run away, not just from his son, but from every memory that his son brought with him.
—
When John woke, he immediately regretted it. One moment he was in darkness, and then the next moment there was a light in his eyes as someone spoke behind it.
"Carter, can you hear me?" The light was gone and it took a moment for him to see a short man holding out a finger that he was supposed to focus on. "Ok follow it, yeah just like that. Ok, you know where you are?"
Ok this guy was annoying him. Not for any other reason than the fact that he had just woken up. Was this how all patients felt? "Judging by the fact that I have a doctor hovering over me I’d say I’m in a hospital. Or you just wear those scrubs for fun." The scoff from somewhere to his left told him that he was correct in his answer. When the doctor lowered his finger, he was able to properly focus on his surroundings. This was definitely a larger scale ER than he was used to, just beyond the curtains he could see plenty of doctors and nurses moving around. There were three people in the room besides himself, two of which he guessed were interns of med students just from the way that they stood there. Then there was the guy looking at him. Considering the fact that he was currently on a bed in the ER, he shouldn’t have been thinking that his doctor was cute, but he was, extremely so.
"Doctor Carter?" The cute guy was clicking his fingers in front of him. "You remember what happened?"
Oh yeah. "I passed out didn’t I? Brought a guy in and passed out onto someone."
The doctor nodded and bit his lip. "That was me. You have really pointy elbows by the way."
Well at least the guy had a sense of humour, leaning up slightly, he caught a sight of the badge at his hip. Whitaker. Cute name for a cute guy. "Apologies for that. Was I hurt?" His neck hurt, but he was pretty sure he hadn’t been injured in the crash.
"Minor head lac, all sewed up for you, doubt you’ll even have a scar. And your head CT came back, no concussion. The guy you came in with should be good too." Cute Whitaker took a seat on the stool beside the bed and nodded to the med student, or interns, whoever they were, who quietly shuffled out. "You’re at PTMC."
The words were a shock to his system. Of all the hospitals in the city of course this was the one he was at. "Ahh." He swallowed, noticing the way Whitaker nodded again, this time in understanding. That meant that his situation was known. "Guess the old man is in today then?" No sooner had he said the words, there he was. Michael Robinavitch. "Hey dad."
—
Finding out that his boss had a child was one thing. Finding out that his boss had a child after meeting said child and falling a tiny bit in love was another thing entirely. As he sat there between the two men bickering like what he imagined was a somewhat normal family, Dennis tried to find a moment to either speak up or get out.
"What the hell were you doing in a car with a guy twice your age?" Robby’s concern for his son’s safety seemed to have looped around a few times to the point that he was now angry at him for being in a position to be hurt in the first place.
"Oh relax dad, this isn’t a Mark situation." Whatever a Mark situation was, Dennis wasn’t sure he wanted to know, considering how Robby went stiff at the mention of the name. "Tom is a neighbour, he was heading this way. I don’t sleep with every old guy I see." Carter looked over to Whitaker and winked. "Just the ones he works with."
Well there went Dennis’s plans for burying his crush beneath the man’s heterosexuality. He was truly fucked.
"Not even funny John."
Carter smiled and lifted himself to his elbows. "It’s a little funny. Whitaker, was that funny?"
While it would have meant the unnecessary death of Mrs Pachinko next door, Dennis sent up a silent prayer for a sinkhole to appear beneath them. "I think that this falls outside my job description. We’re gonna monitor you for a few hours Doctor Carter, but then you’re good to go." He stood up, only to feel a large hand on his shoulder push him back down onto the stool.
"And you’re going to stay here the entire time, ok Whitaker?" Robby’s voice left no room for argument.
Beside him, Carter laughed. "Well I might as well get to know someone around here. Always good to make some friends before a new job."
As Robby shook his head and walked out of the room, Dennis processed the words. "A new job?" He knew the answer already but the unspoken question hung in the air.
"John Carter." Sticking his hand out towards him, the patient smiled. "Officially starting as an R2 next week."
—
"So you’re into your boss’s son, who is about to become your coworker?"
Clutching the couch cushion to his face, Dennis let out a scream as Trinity said the words. Because he’d spent six hours of his shift talking to John Carter and getting to know him, and he was smitten. It wasn’t just the fact that he was a younger and more appropriate version of Robby, without all of the issues that the attending had. John was kind, and funny, and a bit of a goofball. Sure, most of their conversations had been anecdotes or patient stories, there had been a lot said between them between the words. "I could handle being into a coworker." He pulled the cushion away and reached for his drink. "But him being Robby’s kid is something else."
He knew his relationship with Robby was an odd one. They were more than colleagues, but less than friends. He was Robby’s guy, much like Langdon had been. He’d lived in the older man’s place for three months. Actually, that was something. "There were no photos of a kid."
"Huh?" Beside him, Santos was focused on the TV. He wasn’t really following it. Some mindless show about people living on a boat.
"At Robby’s place. I didn’t see any pictures of him with a kid. Or just a kid." It wasn’t much, but he hoped it meant that the two weren’t close. That could really help if he and John got close. It could also be a really bad thing too, but it was a chance.
From somewhere under him on the couch, his phone buzzed. He reached for it before it was quickly snatched out of his hand by Trinity.
"Well look at that, you got a text from John."
"Give it here." Quickly snatching it back, Dennis shot up and pushed himself to the other end of the couch, his legs curled up to his chest as he prepared for her to lunge. But instead Trinity just held up her hands in defeat. Taking it at face value, he quickly looked down at the screen, smiling as he saw the second message pop up.
From Carter: 1 image attached
From Carter: Not too bad, you give good sutures 😉
The groan he let out was loud as he imagined the other doctor saying the words, the insinuation clear even over text.
"God you’re down bad." Trinity stood up from the couch, pausing the TV. "You’re gonna need to get over it or get under him. Honestly, not sure which one I’m hoping for more."
As she stepped out to head down the hall to the bathroom, Dennis thought about the one he was hoping for more.