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Dennis was 4 hours into his shift when he felt the familiar yet unfamiliar buzzing in his head. He brushed it off. He had seizures for a few years as a kid after a farming accident. He’d hit his head and gotten a TBI, but he hasn’t had any seizures since he was 16. It’s been a decade- unless you include the random one off seizure he had at 22- but that doesn’t count.
His paperwork when he got hired asked about any medical history and he mentioned the seizures as a thing of the PAST. So he’s not having any today.
Dennis ignored the buzzing, it went away after he drank water anyways, but when he started to smell gas he had to admit to himself that he was in fact gonna have a seizure.
Dennis went up to Dana and talked to her for a second.
“Hey Dana, I’m sorry I have to do something, I’ll be back out here as soon as I can but I might be gone for like 10 minutes.” He told her. He looked guilty and sweaty.
“Yeah…. Don’t worry about it, are you feeling sick?” She asked.
“No- well, uh, I’m sorry I have to go-“ he left despite her saying something to him as the feeling got worse.
Dennis went to the break room and luckily (thank god) nobody was in there. He shut and locked the door then laid someone’s forgotten coat under his head and laid down while he waited for the seizure to overtake him. He turned on his camera on his phone so he’d know how long it lasted and started recording.
2 minutes passed before it started, he felt almost numb, his vision blurry and his body went limp as it began.
His body tensed, vibrating, every muscle contracting and jerking violently.
3 minutes 23 seconds. that’s how long it lasted. When Dennis finally came too he checked his phone, then himself, nothing really hurt he was just kinda sore from the full body work out. Dennis couldn’t help but tear up. It had been a long time since he’d had a seizure, especially being alone.
“I need to get back out there.” Dennis spoke to himself.
He ‘manned’ up and finished the rest of his shift with no problems.
Dennis didn’t see the point in bothering Robby or Jack with the seizure. It was probably a one time thing so they didn’t need to know. It would just worry them both and they’d want to run tests on him. He doesn’t want tests.
-
Three weeks had passed and the thruple was cuddling on Robby and Jack’s bed when Dennis felt the same aura he had before.
It was almost like he could sense the impending doom.
Dennis went to get up but he was stopped by Jack, who was holding onto him.
“Noo, where are you going?” He asked, he was still half asleep.
“I’m just gonna pee, and shower probably, go back to sleep Jack.” Dennis told him.
“Mm, mkay.”
Robby pulled Jack against him when Dennis got up.
“Come back and cuddle when you’re done.” Robby told him.
Dennis nodded, smiling. He walked to the bathroom and locked the door, immediately grabbing a towel and putting it on the floor for his head, then turned on the shower and got on the floor. He got comfortable and set up the camera, pressing record then waiting for it to take him.
It took almost five minutes before he started to smell gas, then he finally seized.
2 minutes and 45 seconds. Dennis took a few minutes after his seizure to calm down and breathe.
He was in the bathroom for almost 20 minutes and when he came back out Robby and Jack were both out of bed.
“Hey, what’s wrong? You look pale, did you get sick?” Robby asked, immediately coming over to feel Dennis’ forehead.
“No, I’m not sick, I’m fine.”
“Denny you don’t look fine, you look like you just ran a marathon. You’re sweaty.” Jack told him, immediately feeling his forehead after Robby.
“I’m fine, really, I just turned the shower too hot.” He spoke.
“You showered? Your hair isn’t wet.” Robby spoke
Shit. Dennis panicked for a moment before a lie rolled off his tongue, “I didn’t wash my hair.”
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Jack asked again.
“Yeah I’m fine, seriously, I’m just tired from last night.” Dennis spoke.
“……….. okay, well go back to bed, Kid.” Robby said, ruffling Dennis’ hair.
Dennis nodded, despite wanting to say “I’m not a kid!” He didn’t speak and went to thier bed, immediately relaxing and falling asleep.
—
A few days later, Dennis was in the middle of a shift.
“Whitaker, can you check on the girl in Central 10?” Dana asked.
“On it!”
Dennis went to the girl, she was 10, complaining of stomach pain.
“Hi, I’m Doctor-“ Dennis cut himself off. His vision went black. “Uh- Whitaker, Dr. Whitaker, you must be Suzy?” He asked the girl.
“Yes this is Suzy.” A woman, presumably Suzy’s mom spoke for her, Suzy was pale and sweaty.
“Alright-“ the buzzing started. Dennis figured another seizure was coming. 3 in a month? That’s a significant increase from his usual ‘one-every-3-to-8-years’ range he had before, “we’re gonna have someone come in, in just a moment, and they’ll do a quick little exam then we’re gonna ask you about Suzy’s diet and bowel movements, excuse me.”
Dennis practically booked it to the break room…… But there was someone in there, so instead he went to his locker and grabbed a hoodie, it just so happened to be Robby’s, and went to the family bathroom (which is fully enclosed so nobody would see his body seizing from under the stall), he locked the door, put the jacket under his head, and set up his phone.
1 minute 22 seconds. Not bad. Dennis’ body violently shook on the floor, his hands and feet thumping in a way that would definitely leave bruises. When it finished he took a moment and composed himself, splashing water on his face before going back out to do an exam on Suzy.
It ended up being an intestinal blockage, Suzy had pika and was eating her own hair. After having her talk to Diana, Dennis sent them up to surgery (with Robby’s go ahead) and he didn’t see them for the rest of his shift.
-
The next time Dennis felt the aura was a very, very unfortunate time.
Dennis was on his stomach, a pillow under his pelvis to make him the right height for Robby. He was at the edge of the bed, both legs tucked up under him, feet hanging off the edge and Robby was between his legs, pistoning in and out while telling him how good he takes it. Jack was at his front, running his hands through his hair while Dennis sucked him off. Dennis hadn’t really been participating for the past 10 minutes, just lazily swallowing and trying to keep up but Robby was so deep, so fast- and Dennis couldn’t focus, especially with Jacks hands in his hair. Jack was a magic maker.
So basically Dennis is fucked. Because A. He’s gonna have to pull off Jack and make Robby pull out, and he’s already like 80% of the way to an amazing orgasm, and B. There’s no way Robby and Jack will just let him go without questioning and that means he’ll have to tell them about his seizures, his seizures that have happened 3 times now and that he should’ve went to his own doctor and told both his (doctor) boyfriends when he had the first one.
Dennis started to smell gas and he knew he was done for. He knew he was fucked.
Dennis pulled off of Jack, Jack’s concerned face immediately met Dennis’ wide eyes. Robby’s movements behind him stalled, Dennis practically shot off of Jack, usually they could barely get him to pull off, Dennis has an oral fixation (although don’t tell him that because he refuses to believe it).
“Denny? What’s up?” Jack asked.
“I- I- need- I need to stop, I- uh- I need to stop.”
Robby immediately, slowly, pulled out, he was gentle and helped Dennis up off his stomach.
“What’s going on? Are you hurting? Do you feel okay?” Robby started firing questions at him but Dennis bolted to the bathroom, wrapping a blanket around himself and shutting the door.
“Dennis?” Robby called, putting underwear on while Jack pulled his underwear up.
Both men went to the door and knocked.
“Dennis? Open the door what’s wrong? Dennis please?” Jack spoke, he sounded so nervous, scared.
“Dennis, I need you to open the door, you’re scaring us.” Robby told him.
Inside the door Dennis was freaking out, he was naked, covered in sweat, turned on, and probably a minute away from a seizure without his phone. He looked around, looking for a stopwatch, a timer, a clock, anything, curse Jack and his minimalism. There was nothing.
Dennis had to make a decision fast. If he went out and told them, they’d put him on the bed, take off the blankets and pillows and watch him, then kiss him and hold him while he woke up…………… and if he stayed in here they might hear the thudding, break down the door to get in, and call an ambulance because they don’t know he has a history of seizures.
Shit.
Dennis made his choice, he opened the door to face them, his vision was spotty and he was dizzy. He felt almost nauseous as he stood.
“Dennis what happened baby? What did we do?” Jack asked.
“It’s- it’s not you- it’s- can you get my clothes?” Dennis responded.
Robby grabbed Dennis a pair of shorts and helped Dennis put them on, Dennis could barely walk, his feet felt like lead.
“What’s going on Dennis?” Robby used his doctor voice.
“Uh……. Promise you won’t be mad at me?” Dennis spoke, he was roughly- 30 seconds from falling over and seizing but he couldn’t just- tell them without being sure, he could always just run back to the bathroom if need be.
“We won’t be mad, here, some sit.” Jack led him over to the bed.
He looked pale and sweaty.
“I’m about to have a seizure.” Dennis told them both, his voice was slurred.
Robby and Jack shared a look of shock, they looked at Dennis then each other and immediately started getting ready for the impending seizure. They weren’t taking any chances.
Dennis was looking at the floor. He couldn’t meet their gaze. He was so worried they’d be mad- or even worse, freaked out. But of course they’re doctors so they were immediately concerned and jumped to action, Jack pushed all the pillows and blankets off the side of the bed and helped Dennis lay down in the middle while Robby grabbed his phone for a stopwatch.
“Have you had seizures before?” Robby asked.
Dennis nodded, his mouth felt like cotton.
“When was your last?” Jack spoke.
“…….. like…. 2 weeks ago?” Dennis’ voice was quiet.
“2 weeks?” Robby asked. He and Jack shared a Look, worry, shock.
They watched as Dennis’ eyes rolled back. His muscles tensed up and Robby hit the ‘start’ button on the stopwatch in his phone.
Jack’s hand went to his mouth.
“Seizures. Why didn’t he tell us he has seizures? That’s something we should know- we’ve spent days of our lives together- how did he even hide this? He’s not on any sort of seizure medication.” Jack began.
“I don’t know Jack. He didn’t have much time to explain. I’m just glad he didn’t try to ride this out alone in the bathroom- oh god, I hope he’s never ridden one out in the bathroom.” Robby put a palm to his face.
Jack immediately came over and put a hand around Robby. “We couldn’t have known Rob.”
“He’s at 2 minutes.” Robby spoke.
“……… I’m assuming he doesn’t have any rescue medication.”
“Probably not.”
Dennis’ seizure finally slowed to a stop at 2 minutes and 44 seconds. Dennis’ eyes fluttered open a few seconds later.
“There’s our boy, welcome back.” Jack spoke, he ran his hands through Dennis’ hair when Dennis woke.
“Mm…” Dennis was confused for a moment before he remembered that he told them about his seizures.
“We’ve got a lot of questions to ask you and you’ve got atleast 5 minutes of scolding coming, but we can do that later, right now I just need to do a Neuro exam and check a few things, okay?”
“M fine, have ‘em all the time and ‘s fine.” Dennis spoke.
“I know but I’m a doctor so I need to test before you sleep.” Robby spoke.
He grabbed Dennis’ wrist and checked his pulse, then grabbed his stethoscope and checked heart rate and breathing.
“What’s your name?”
“Dennis Whitaker….”
“Where are you?”
“Really Robby?”
“Where are you?”
“I’m in your and Jack’s bed, in your house, in Pittsburg, the president- I’m not even gonna go there, uh, it’s 2026.”
“……. Okay, I’m satisfied, why don’t you get some rest? Hmm? We can talk in the morning.”
Dennis nodded.
Dennis fell asleep to Robby at his front, holding him tightly while Jack was at his back, running his fingers through Dennis’ hair.
When Dennis finally woke up the next morning, Robby was beside him, he was the one running his hands through Dennis’ hair, Dennis pushed closely to his chest, Jack wasn’t in the room.
“Good morning sleepyhead.”
“Where’s Jack?”
“He’s making breakfast, I called you out of work.”
“What? Why?”
“Becuse you had a seizure.”
“I’ve had them before, it’s not a big deal Robby.” Dennis told him.
“That’s not comforting….. come on, let’s go help Jack.”
Dennis reluctantly got up and followed Robby to the kitchen. Jack was basically done with breakfast, sitting on his stool at the stove.
“Hey Den, how are you feeling? And side effects? Nausea?”
“I’m fine, I feel fine.”
Jack gave Robby a pointed look and Robby made Dennis sit down. Jack served Dennis pancakes and finally sat down with Robby. Jack wasn’t wearing his prosthetic this morning like usual.
“……….. are you guys mad at me?” Dennis asked.
“Mad?” Robby replied.
“No, we’re not mad Denny, we’re worried. You scared the crap out of us.” Jack spoke
“I’m sorry.”
“Dennis you jumped up in the middle of sex and ran to the bathroom, we thought we seriously hurt you.” Robby told him.
“………. I didn’t want to seize on your dick.” Dennis mumbled, which earned a snicker from Robby and the snicker earned Robby an elbow from Jack.
“How long have you had seizures?” Jack asked.
“I had an accident as a kid, farming equipment, it was off and on after that but my last one was at like… 16- other than a one off at 22, and uh… now.”
“How many have you had?” Robby asked
“Ever, or recently?” Dennis asked
“Recently.”
“….. yesterday was the fourth.”
“Have you seen your neurologist yet?” Jack asked.
“……. Uh…… my neurologist is back home.”
“You don’t have one here?” Jack clarified
Dennis shook his head.
Robby muttered something in Arabic or Yiddish, Dennis wasn’t sure what.
“Foolish, very foolish. Why don’t you have one here?”
“I can’t afford it…..” Dennis spoke.
“Denny- healthcare is a non-negotiable. We will pay for every penny but you’re going, soon. I’ll call and make an appointment with a good neurologist.” Jack told him.
“…. I- I’ll feel bad, please don’t………”
Neither budged.
“Dennis we love you, we really love you. Not as a joke, not because you’re young, we love you. We want you to be safe, you have to tell us these things. Have you had any seizures at work?” Jack asked.
Dennis nodded. “Two…… I was able to tell for about 5 minutes before.”
“………..” Jack sighed.
“Dennis we love you. We love you and you can’t- do that. It’s a risk to the patients, to everyone. We need to get this under control.” Robby told him.
“I know…… and I was planning to say something but…… I didn’t want to worry you both.”
“Well we’re worried now Shrew.” Jack told him.
“I……. I know….. I’m sorry.”
Robby kissed his head, he waited a moment before he spoke. “But you will tell us immediately from now on, and you’ll go to the neurologist?”
“I…. I will.”
“Good.” Jack spoke.
“Finish your breakfast sweetheart.” Robby grabbed his hand and kissed his knuckles.
Dennis went to the specialist that week, they found no differences since his last brain scan, in the end he started new medications and he didn’t have another seizure again for at least a good while.
With Dennis’ “new” condition, Robby and Jack were given more lenience when constantly asking about Dennis at the hospital.
And everything seemed to work out for the trio, for now.
Dun dun dun.