Work Text:
Though he was not one to get into people’s business, he wanted to work and get out, but of course, when you work with the same people over and over again, you get wrapped up in the gossip of the workplace.
He noticed it first at the PittFest mass casualty when he was talking to Dr. Robby, and then all of a sudden, he was watching him lose all his attention on him and onto the med student. He watched as he wrapped an arm around the boy’s shoulders and walked away. He should have followed or done something, but he just walked away because people were hurt and needed his attention.
John then slowly started to notice when he could, Dr. Robby getting coffee for the med students, but only one was prepped and ready to drink on arrival while the others had to make theirs to their liking. He should have said something then but didn't.
It was the little things he had noticed with Dr. Robby and the med student but didn't feel like mentioning anything since there wasn't really a point in doing so. He didn't care about the two; if they were doing anything they shouldn't be doing, it wasn't his business, and he would like to keep it that way. He looked away when Robby decided it would be a great time to bush his hand against Dennis, bump shoulders with him when there was no need for that, or get too close when there was enough room for them.
John looked away for all of them; he noticed when they would go up to the roof together after a shift. Sometimes it would be Dennis and Robby, Robby and Abbot, or all three. He ignored them each time; at least someone in the hospital was getting something. He didn't care; he ignored it.
But of course, there was a time and place for him because either they were getting lazy at hiding or maybe he was so lonely to the point where he needed something to look forward to at work besides sick or hurt people.
John would watch from a bench before his shift, seeing them all get out of the same car. They parked further from the hospital. Dennis would walk somewhat far behind them until one of them called him up, and he would jog to them. A good way to act like he didn't drive in the same car with them. If Dennis was far behind them, people would think they got there at the same time but in a different car. He was impressed as he sipped on his coffee. He would glance away and then at them when they acknowledged that he was sitting there on the bench.
Dennis would give him a smile and nod. John would act like he didn't recognize the hoodie Dennis wore. It wasn't like Robby’s favorite one that he wore all the time but one that he wore on a rare occasion when the other one was dirty. He turned the other way.
When working, he would get a glance at Dennis only using the computer that Robby used. There were many computers that he could have picked but instead used that one. He didn't think much of it but he can recall when many moments of the med student doing that. John watched when Dennis would look at Abbot, worry on his face, and in quiet voices, something on the lines of “Are you okay?" and "Just the leg not being happy with me," but he didn't know.
It was just something he noticed when a casualty came in, two teen girls, and 1 gentleman, guessing the father of the teens, came in, and Dennis and another med student came over to help, followed by attendings. He would have walked over, well, jogged over, but he was in a bit with a mother and her daughter having birth control, but he watched in the corner of his eye.
It was probably the first time that shift that he saw Abbot oddly close to Dennis and not in a normal "here do this and this" while showing it, it was more a "I need to be close to you". He filed that somewhere in his head. He didn't know what to think of it. He knew that Dennis and Robby had something going on, but Abbot being that close kind of raised something in him that he should finally say something.
When the ED finally calmed down enough, where there were only 5 hours left of shift, he sat down and gave a heavy sigh as he looked around. He managed to get another coffee as he took a sip and watched. Santos, he knew that she was close to Dennis. He heard that they were roommates, so he had to ask.
"I have a question."
Santos barely looked up from the chart. “Sure, what's up?"
John scooted a little closer to her, which made her look up, weirded out a bit. "Do you think…something is going on with that roommate of yours and Dr. Robby?" he asked. The look on her face was blank; if there was anything going on with the two, she wasn't going to spill.
She started to lightly chuckle before she went quiet. "You're joking, right?" she seemed baffled by the question. "Wow…uh no, nothing is going on, and if it was. It would be a little weird since he is like twice the age of Whitaker." She said, even looked him up and down before she walked away.
John had to cringe because why did he do that? It was stupid to think that she would out her friend, best friend at that, and now she was probably going to tell them, and he suspected she did because the three never got close to one another again. They kept a good distance between them when they needed to; the looks they gave one another were just like giving another look at a friend. He sank into his chair and huffed. John cursed at himself in his head, but there were still a few hours of the shift; all he had to do was wait it out.
There it was, a mistake that he didn't think the three would make, but they did. John thought he shouldn't be too happy about it since once he looked, they were already looking at him.
“Oh…hi" he finally said as he looked at the two. If you had suspected them to be out of breath, disheveled, then you would be wrong. They were all fine for the most part. Dennis seemed to have redder lips, but he hid it well by biting his top and bottom lip, seeming as if that was the reason for the red lips.
"Hey" Abbot said, his hand resting on his thigh. John had to guess it was the bad leg. He didn't really know that much about Abbot. "What are you doing?" he asked John.
John thinned his lips and shrugged. “Nothing, just you know checking on things," he said casually, like he didn't just witness them coming out of the closet together, which meant many things, but this just confirmed his suspension.
Abbot nodded and glanced at Dennis and Robby. "Alright then, well, see you guys later," he said. He took a few steps, then the other two followed, but John couldn't waste this moment, so he turned to them and asked.
"I know you guys are dating. All three of you or no?" he asked. The two stopped in their tracks, turned slightly to him.
“What?" Robby asked, baffled by the bluntness of John.
John followed that up though, but a wave of a hand. "I mean, it seems like you are coming in together, leaving together, also really close, also having each other’s coffee prep and ready to drink, knowing each other’s orders for lunch and also clothes. It just…you know." He let out a nervous laugh. Maybe he shouldn't have asked. He could get fired for this.
"Yeah, you can say that," Dennis finally broke the silence. It wasn't that hard to say it. The other two didn't seem to be pleased with Dennis telling him that, but they let it go.
“Don’t you have patients to check on?" Robby asked, and John was quick to walk away without saying a word. But internally, he was drinking a bottle of champagne and having a party for being right.