Chapter Text
Dennis was starting to agree with every vampire who had told him going into medicine was the worst idea he'd ever had. But, hey, he was getting bored of eternal life, and he knew medicine would keep him busy for a while.
Now, there was of course the issue of the blood, but Dennis was almost 116. He could handle a little blood, right ? He'd managed to get into med school, get good grades and he’d handled the cadaver labs with (almost) no issues. He was ready. He felt ready.
His first day in the PTMC ED convinced him he was, in fact, not ready. At all.
It was the spray of blood on his face from the cyclist that finally broke him.
"I need some help in here!" He was pressing down on the man's leg as hard as he could, trying to hold his breath and to not let his tongue dart out to taste the blood on his cheek. Thankfully, he had already figured out how to get into the hospital blood supply and leave no trace of his stealing, so he wasn't hungry. But the smell, so close to his mouth... God, he was trying so hard to be good. He just wanted to help people. What was the point of being immortal if he couldn't spend his life helping others ? That was what he kept telling himself recently, after years of selfish indulgence and wallowing when he had to watch everyone he had known in his human life grow old and die.
It was a chance encounter with another vampire, Jack Abbot, that had convinced him medicine was the way to go. The older vampire had found him a few years ago in one of his more shameful moments, trying to steal blood from PTMC so he wouldn't have to kill someone, again. Dennis had never met a vampire so like him, wanting to be close to humans, to help them. Wanting to be more than what he was. After some coaxing and many early morning conversations after Jack's shifts, Dennis had finally relented, against his better judgement, and started studying for his MCAT. When he got the news he would be doing a rotation in Jack's ED department, he had been thrilled. Things were really starting to look up, finally.
He had unfortunately been mistaken. First, as an MS4 he couldn't do ED night shifts, for some reason. That left him stuck on the day shift, without Jack.
Second, when he had arrived for his first shift, he had gotten hit in the face with that smell... It was so rich, so enticing Dennis had almost said Fuck it and jumped the man right then and there. But, thanks to almost 100 years of restraint, he had chosen instead to freeze and let the feeling pass, thinking happy thoughts and reciting the Our Father in his head. He was part of the morning huddle next to Central, so it had taken him a few seconds to pinpoint who exactly the smell was coming from. It permeated the whole place, lying just below disinfectant, linoleum and that specific hospital scent. When the man at the head of their little group had opened his mouth, he had gotten hit with a second wave so potent, he again had to just turn into a statue so he wouldn't do something stupid.
So, that was the guy.
“Morning, everyone. We have some new faces here with us today, so I’ll introduce myself. I’m Doctor Michael Robinavitch, but everyone calls me Dr.Robby. I’m one of the attendings of the ED, and I’m also the department chief.” His mouth had stretched into a little sorry smile, almost like he was apologizing for being the guy in charge. He then had turned to an older blonde nurse a few paces away.
“This is our day shift charge nurse Dana. She actually runs this place, so please, please, listen to her, alright?” He had waited for them to show assent before continuing, turning to the giant screen above Central. “This is our board. You take cases as they come, no cherry picking. If a resident or an attending tells you to do something, you do it, am I clear?” Robby had looked at them sternly, until the dark-haired woman next to Dennis had let out a small “Yes, sir.”, which had made the attending relax slightly.
“Alright, Chairs is packed already and we need to get to work, so quick round of names please.”
Dennis had gone last, as he was on the edge of their little circle.
“Dennis Whitaker, MS4. I’m… Happy to…be here.”
Dennis had not anticipated the effect of Robby looking at him. He had felt like the man could see right into his soul, his warm brown eyes never leaving his while he introduced himself. Robby’s left brow had lifted slightly at Dennis’ halting speech, and Dennis had finally broken their eye contact, looking down at his old beat-up sneakers. He definitely needed new shoes.
“Alright, nice to meet you all, now go do your jobs.”
And, just like that, Robby had turned around and walked away. Dennis had instantly relaxed, ready to get to work and make Jack proud.
Now, if he had tried (and failed) to avoid Robby all day, that was his prerogative, right? But, for some reason, Dennis was a Robby magnet. Every time he turned, Robby was just, there. He kept pulling him into traumas, checking on his patients, helping him with his charting… And Dennis was grateful, truly. Robby was a great teacher, always patient and kind but strict and no-nonsense when needed. Dennis already felt like he was learning a lot.
But the touching.
It was incessant.
Somehow, if Robby was standing next to Dennis, talking to him, Robby couldn’t not be touching him. A firm hand on his shoulder, thumb pressing down on the back of his neck, rubbing the skin there absentmindedly. Taking a patient’s chart from his hands, brushing the inside of his wrist with the back of his hand. Stopping him in the hallway, gripping his waist from behind and turning him around to talk to him.
It was…ridiculous. It was too much. Dennis could feel in his bones the thump of Robby’s blood, coursing in his veins, the hard beating of his heart, the wooshing sound of air in his lungs, and Dennis was scared.
With that much touching, there was no way Robby hadn’t noticed Dennis didn’t have a pulse.
After many hours of getting drenched in different fluids and having to change scrubs multiple times, trying all the while to avoid his boss, Dennis was slowly but surely reaching his breaking point. He was still putting pressure on the cyclist’s leg, desperately waiting for someone, anyone to come rescue him from this hellish day.
When Dennis heard the curtain behind him open, he didn’t even have to check who it was.
Robby. Of fucking course.
“Whitaker, what happened here?” Robby was already moving, putting sterile gloves on as he entered the room.
“Arterial puncture under a blood blister.” Dennis kept his eyes down on the man’s leg, just to be safe. He could handle Robby and blood separately, but both at the same time? Man…He was fucked.
“Alright, let’s see.” Robby nodded at him, and Dennis let go, getting sprayed with even more blood in the process.
The patient, thank God, had passed out at the sight of the blood, and couldn’t witness Dennis’ utter humiliation when Robby asked him, point blank: “Whitaker, did you puncture this gentleman’s artery?”
“No, Dr.Robby, of course not! The blister must have tamponaded the puncture, or something…” Robby seemed to relax at that, accepting the student doctor’s explanation.
“Alright, well it’s a simple fix, don’t worry.” Robby grabbed a pressure cuff, wrapped it around the man’s leg and pumped a few times before telling Dennis he was good to let go now. Dennis looked at him skeptically, before slowly pulling his hands away.
The bleeding had stopped. Dennis sighed in relief.
“Oh, thank God.”
Robby huffed, slightly offended.
“I mean, thank you, Dr.Robby. Won’t happen again.” Dennis offered him an apologetic smile, and Robby chuckled.
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Whitaker! Now go wash all that blood off your face. I’ll come find you soon so you can get a blood draw, and I’ll make sure he gets one as well.” Robby gestured to the patient, still unconscious on the bed.
Dennis had fully forgotten he was covered in sprays of blood, his attention so deeply focused on Robby during their exchange. He finally turned towards Robby, looking him straight in the eyes for the first time since their introduction this morning (he’d gotten away with looking at the bridge of the man’s nose so far).
“I’m… actually kinda, squeamish? Around needles?” Dennis really hoped his kicked-dog look would get him out of getting his blood drawn, as that could not happen.
Robby just looked at him disbelievingly for a few seconds, before shaking his head.
“Kids these days, man… Goes into medicine and is squeamish around needles, what the hell…”
If he still could, Dennis would have flushed bright red.
“I didn’t mean it like that, I can poke people no problem! But I don’t like having it done to me, y’know?”
Robby reached out, grabbing onto Dennis’ shoulder and shaking him a bit.
“I know, I’m just messing with you, kid. It’s actually more common among doctors than you’d think. You know what they say, doctors make the worst patients and all that…”
Dennis laughed awkwardly; whishing Robby would just get his fucking hands off of him already. But the attending was none the wiser, gripping harder when Dennis tried to subtly flee, away from his touch. Dennis tried another approach.
“Alright, well I better go and get all this blood washed off, right?”
That got the reaction he was looking for, Robby immediately let go and practically pushed him out of the room.
“Of course! Go, go! We’ll hold off on your blood draw. We’ll do one on the patient first and only do one on you if necessary.”
“Thanks, Dr.Robby!”
Dennis whizzed out of the room, almost running into Trinity but swerving at the last second.
“Damn, Huckleberry, the devil chasin’ you or something?”
“Yeah, or something.”
He ignored her quizzical look and half ran half walked to the staff bathroom.
Gripping the porcelain washbasin, he took a good, long hard look at himself before washing the blood away.
He could do this. He had to do this. For all the people he had killed in his youth, he would do this.
Then, Pittfest happened.
On the bright side, Dennis didn’t need to worry about whether he could handle blood in the ED or not anymore, he had his answer.
They were all covered in it, the floor soaked in places. They had to step carefully around puddles to avoid slipping and sliding in the coagulating liquid.
Dennis wasn’t even thinking about the blood, he was thinking about him. Robby.
He’d heard nurses whisper about Robby’s son and his girlfriend being at the festival when they were prepping the ED for the mass casualty event, and when Dennis saw him, desperately pumping on some young woman’s chest he knew, he knew the man was breaking. He’d heard someone call time of death, and Robby had looked so bereft Dennis had to avert his eyes.
Even though they never interacted, Dennis was always aware of where Robby was, stealing glances and keeping tabs on the man. He could see in real time how every patient, every heart stopping was slowly chipping away his composure, exposing something raw, something throbbing just beneath his usual façade.
The next time Dennis tried to look at Robby, the man had suddenly vanished. Dennis made up an excuse and immediately went looking for him, using his nose, now so attuned to Robby’s smell after having spent only a few hours with him.
Dennis found Robby in Pedes, on the floor, sobbing and chanting in Hebrew, rocking back and forth. Dennis knew what was coming, but the sight was still a shock, and he reeled back a bit before sitting down next to him. He said nothing at first, listening to Robby pray, recognizing the Shema and trying to be a calming presence. He scooted a bit closer.
“The Lord is our God, the Lord is one.” Dennis spoke softly, not wanting to spook him. Robby stopped chanting, looking up at him, still crying, before looking away, ashamed.
“Come on, Robby, we need you out there.”
Robby looked away still, shaking his head.
“…I need you out there.”
That got a reaction alright.
Robby’s head snapped up, locking eyes with the med student. Dennis stood up and reached for Robby, offering his hand. Robby took it, stood up, hesitated for a moment before pulling Dennis towards him. It was highly inappropriate, but Robby couldn’t seem to care. He wrapped him in a hug, both arms snaking around his back. Robby buried his head in the crook of his neck and inhaled. There was something about Dennis, about his skin, about his smile, about his smell that struck Robby dumb. It had been plaguing him all day, that je ne sais quoi he just had to get closer too, that ethereal essence he tried to grasp every time he unconsciously reached for him.
When Dennis felt Robby’s beard scratch the sensitive skin at the base of his shoulder, he let out a small sigh. Robby’s brain turned back on, and he let go of Dennis, almost pushing him away. But Dennis had grabbed onto Robby’s scrub top at some point, and was now holding on for dear life.
He felt…strange. Like he’d had the world’s color saturation on 20% and it had suddenly turned to 100. His ears were buzzing, and everything felt so new and so soft somehow.
He reluctantly let go of Robby’s top, taking a few seconds to smooth it down with his hands, relishing the sensation. What would it feel like, he wondered, to trail his hands across the man’s bare skin?
He was tempted to try and find out when Robby spoke.
“Let’s go, Whitaker.” Dennis stepped back, trying to ground himself and push everything that had just happened to the back of his head. He would deal with this later.
“Right, okay.”
They exited the Pedes room, Robby giving him a small nod before getting back into the fray. Dennis took it as his cue to get back to work.
“Where the fuck where you?” Trinity looked at him coming towards her, annoyed.
“Sorry, I had to use the bathroom…” Trinity rolled her eyes, before handing him back the IO.
“Men.”
It was only when things finally started to calm down that Dennis noticed Jack was here, and that he should have been off shift by now. The two vampires had agreed they should keep it professional at work and pretend not to know each other, but Dennis couldn’t help himself and gave him a small wave, hoping to be discreet enough no one would notice. Unfortunately for Dennis, Robby definitely noticed.
“Hey, brother, you know Dennis already?”
“Who? Oh, Whitaker, yeah, he’s…the son of a friend of mine, he needed some help with some med school stuff.”
“You have friends? Other than me, I mean.”
“Fuck you, brother.”
“Right. Well, he seems happy to see you...”
Jack could hear alarm bells going off in his head, and tried to telepathically relay to Dennis that he was in big trouble.
Dennis of course, none the wiser, had signed in to one of the Central computers to finish off a chart and sat down just a few feet away from the two chatting men. He was definitely not eavesdropping.
“And what’s that supposed to mean, huh?”
“Nothing! Nothing, I just thought you and Mohan might have something going on, but hey, maybe I was wrong. I’m not judging brother, just, y’know…be careful.”
Jack caught the fondness in Robby’s eyes as he turned to Dennis, who was definitely eavesdropping, the little shit.
Jack let out a disbelieving sigh.
“Right back at you, brother, right back at you.”
How had these two idiots already found each other, Jack didn’t know. But he was going to milk this for all it was worth.
Dennis felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He took it out to check his notifications.
[You have 1 new message from Peepaw]
Peepaw
Stay away from Robby, he’s too old for you
Den
wtf
I’m older than him
By like 60 years
Peepaw
He doesn’t know that
idiot
Den
Why do you care
Leave me alone tf ???
Dennis put his phone back in his pocket, trying to focus on his chart so he could go home. He felt his phone vibrate five more times before it stopped. Great.
“Hey, Dennis! Wanna have a smoke before you go?”
Jack had changed tactics, going for a more frontal approach.
“I thought we weren’t supposed to know each other, Jack.” He hissed under his breath.
“Ah well, Robby knows and Princess heard us talking about you so our cover is blown, sorry!”
He didn’t look very sorry to Dennis. Whatever.
“Okay, just give me two minutes to finish this and I’ll meet you in the ambulance bay, alright?”
“You got it, kid.”
A few minutes later, Dennis signed off and headed to the locker room. It appeared empty at first, but of course Robby was there, already changed out of his scrubs and checking something on his phone, looking up when he heard Dennis come in.
“Oh hey. You off?”
“Yep, gonna have a quick smoke with Jack and then I’m off.”
Robby’s eyebrows shot up, looking at Dennis over his glasses. God, his glasses.
“With Jack?”
“Yeah, you know… Dr.Abbot?”
“Yes, thank you Dennis, I know who Jack is.”
Dennis was trying to change as quickly as possible so he could get out of this hellhole and get this shitshow of a day finally over with. And if Robby got an eyeful in the process, well, so be it. Dennis couldn’t seem to care anymore. At least, that’s what he told himself.
“So…?”
“So what, Dr.Robby, what do you want me to tell you?”
Dennis hadn’t meant to snap at him, but he was so goddamn tired.
“So, how do you guys know each other?” Robby asked, nonplussed.
Fuck it.
“Well, sir, he’s my roommate.”
Robby’s eyebrows shot up again. He didn’t think the old devil had it in him. Good for Jack.
“Oh wow. Is that the Gen Z way of saying you two are-”
“God no, Dr.Robby, what the fuck! He’s like my dad, that’s gross!”
Dennis had a full body shiver when the image of him and Jack like that popped into his head.
“Right, right, sorry!” Robby smiled then, almost as if he was…relieved? Dennis tried to physically shake the thought out of his head, to no avail.
“Well, I’m gonna go have that smoke now, so… Have a good night, Dr.Robby.”
“Michael.”
“What?”
“You can call me Michael, when we’re off the clock. If you…want to, that is.”
Was Robby blushing? Dennis wasn’t sure in the low lighting of the locker room, but it sure as hell looked like it.
“Okay. Have a good night, Michael.”
“Thanks, Dennis. You too. Oh, and say bye to Jack for me, will you?”
“Will do! Bye.”
“Bye.”
They tried to leave at the same time, bumping into each other in the process and stepping back as if burned. Robby gestured for Dennis to go first, and the med student hightailed it out of the ED to the ambulance bay. He found Jack sitting on a small concrete wall, already smoking.
Robby was just behind Dennis. He gave a small wave to Jack before hurrying off into the night. Jack offered his pack of cigarettes to Dennis, who took one out and lit it.
“So, how is it going with you and Michael?”
“I hate you. He says bye. I’m gonna burn all your shit in the backyard while you’re at work.”
“I think some of the clothes in my closet are actually Michael’s. He always forgets stuff at the house.”
That did make Dennis pause for a second. He stored away the information, for no particular reason, thank you very much. If his next drag was heavier than the previous ones had been, that was pure coincidence.
“And you don’t give them back? That’s creepy. Even for you, old man.”
“Who are you calling old, you little shit? You’re older than me!”
“By like, two years, you know what I mean! And keep it down, there’s normies around, idiot.”
“Oh yeah, and calling them normies is so inconspicuous and normal.”
“I hate you. I’m leaving. Have a good shift, see you in the morning.”
“See you, kid.”
Dennis put out his cigarette, threw it in the bin and started the 15-minute walk to their shared house.
He technically didn’t have to share with Jack, he had plenty of money, accumulated over his long life. But where was the fun in always living alone? He had gotten tired of it about four decades ago, and since then he always lived with roommates or partners, human or vampire.
The fact that Jack had a three-bedroom house so close to PTMC had made it a no-brainer for Dennis. He had shown up a few days before the start of his rotation with a few suitcases, and Jack had opened his door wide. The man would never say it out loud, but Dennis knew Jack was tired of living, and tired of being alone, too.
Dennis took out his keys, opened the front door and made a beeline for Jack’s bedroom.
He ruffled through the clothes before finding what he was looking for.
A green fleece, so soft, that smelled just like Robby. Dennis was 100% hallucinating by that point, because the fleece felt nicely warm, like the man had just taken it off and put it away in the closet for Dennis to find.
Not thinking too much, Dennis took it, closed Jack’s closet and went to his own bedroom. He threw the fleece on his bed, then took a quick shower.
When he went to sleep, he was holding on tight to Robby’s fleece, face buried in the soft fabric.
Dennis was fucked.