dan🐾

“S’cause you’re so pretty.”

Robby flushes. “Man, shut up.”

“No. S’true,” Jack slurs. He sways back and forth in Robby’s hold. “Tha’s why er’yone likes you.”

“There are plenty of people who don’t like me,” Robby argues. He tightens his grip on Jack’s bicep, ignoring the pleasant muscle under his palm, and tries to unlock the door while keeping him steady.

“They’re stupid.”

“You’re drunk.”

“You’re pretty.”

Robby’s face grows impossibly hotter. “I am not.” Maybe he used to be, years ago. Decades. When he was young and fresh-faced. When he still believed he could make a real difference and hadn’t let the weight of his life drag down his appearance.

Jack hooks his chin over Robby’s shoulder. “Yeah, ya’re.”

The door opens, and they practically topple inside. “Alright. Let’s get you to bed.”

"Noooo-"

"Yeah," Robby laughs. "You've been talking out of your ass all night; it's time to reset."

He hauls Jack to his guest room and lets him collapse on the bed with a heaving sigh. Robby gets to work detaching the prosthetic while Jack mutters incoherently to himself.

"I can't understand you."

"Is that why you won't date me?" Jack says. It comes out so clear that for a moment, Robby is scared he's somehow sobered up. "Because 'm not pretty like you."

The fear evaporates. Sober Jack would never say something so ridiculous. "You don't want to date me, Jack."

"Yeah'do," he pouts, hands hitting the bedding in frustration. "You always say no, or call me 'brother.'"

"You started the 'brother' thing."

Jack hums unhappily. He clumsily strips himself of his jeans and t-shirt and curls around one of the pillows.

Robby should leave it alone. Jack is clearly tired and, not to mention, beyond inebriated, but he's too nosy for his own good, and the high odds of Jack not remembering a thing from tonight make him brave. "If you want to date, all you have to do is ask. I'll say yes."

Jack glares at him with drunken, glassy eyes. "I do ask. You think I'm being your friend." He groans with the return of a painful memory. "I took you ou'to dinner an' you tried to set me up with some lady a'the bar."

A harsh chill crashes over Robby. He remembers that night extremely vividly. He'd been having too good a time, and when he saw that woman watching Jack, he figured she was the safest option to temper his hopes and bring him back to reality.

"Well..." Jack practically drank the bar dry tonight. He's more likely to pick winning lottery numbers than remember this. "Ask me tomorrow, and I'll say yes."

Jack turns his head away from the pillow just enough to peek at Robby warily. "Really?"

"Really."

"Say swear."

Robby chuffs. He pats Jack's shoulder. "I swear."

Jack moves too quickly for his limbs to catch up and falls to a messy pile on the floor, though he doesn't seem to mind. He's digging in his jean pockets before Robby can ask if he's okay.

"Fine," Jack grumbles. "Need ma phone."

"What for?" Robby tries to lift him back into bed, but Jack pushes him away.

"Hey Siri, set reminder tomorrow mornin'."

"Jack!"

"Ask Robby out." He frowns and clarifies, "Promised to say 'yes.'"

"I've set a reminder for tomorrow--"

"Alright." Robby hauls Jack back onto the bed. "That's enough for tonight."

Jack settles back over the covers with a satisfied smile. "Will you kiss me?"

"Not right now."

"After our date."

Robby's heart thuds against his ribs, and his palms are clammy. He only had two beers, but his body is acting like he's wasted. "Sure."

"Can' wait," Jack murmurs. He's asleep before Robby can take a single step towards the door.

Robby watches him for a bit. His eyes dart to Jack's phone. He knows the password; he could delete the reminder and let Jack wake up hungover and unembarrassed.

Jack lets out a choked snore. Robby grabs his shoulder and rolls him to his side; Jack's limp hand brushes his belt and sends a flood of heat through Robby's abdomen.

He finally has someone to be soft for again, someone to feel safe with. He lets out small broken purs the first time dennis gets hik into his nest and starts scenting him- he hadnt purred like this in so long he was almost embarrassed by it but dennis never commented on it. Just whispered soft praises to him.

Med students Rabbot fucking raw for the first time 🙏🏻

Him and robby are play fighting or something and then dennis hits too hard and is all apologetic while robby has heart eyes bc he found his boyfriends strength hot.

Or maybe one of his brothers comes over and they get jn a fight fr and its mean and violent and somehow dennis ends up okay.

For fanfiction:

"You look lonely, I can fix that "

He mentions of handedly one time about this experience, maybe he mentions the cody surname, so everyone gets real fucking nervous when an andrew cody comes through triage needing stitches. Dennis volunteers to take him despite protests, and some of the staff are anxiously waiting for a code hula hoop or for dennis to come out w bruises (bc the kid is stubborn who knows if he will care about his personal safety) or in a bad mood.

An especially anxious dana pops her head in after a while, and, is relieved and confused to find everything is fine. Mr Cody seems like he’s being the perfect patient, only tensing slightly when he notices a new person, but is quickly soothed when Dennis mutters “it’s just Dana, I’ve told you about her, it’s okay.”

Dennis asks Dana to stay for the rest of treatment, needing someone to assist and saying Andrew doesn’t like new people too much.

And he clearly doesn’t, he’s quiet, doesn’t look at anything except Dennis and the floor, has to be nudged into taking some pain relief. Dana feels her throat tighten as the strange behaviour continues, waiting for the snap that never comes.

When they finish up and Dennis makes to leave, rattling of the care instructions, Mr Cody’s face crumples, tears quickly falling down his face as he cries at apologies to “Denny”, who is quick to reach out and comfort him, soft and reassuring, promising that everything is fine and that they can talk about it later.

Later, on a shared smoke break, Dana asks about his past violent experiences with “Cody’s”, and dennis explains, as vaguely as possible, that he was talking about andrews brother, making vague mention of getting caught up in some bad shit in college, but they’re both out now. Dana wants to press more, knows better not to, asking how long he’s known Andrew, how long theyve been together, reassuring dennis that shes not gonna get him in trouble for treating family, and gets a number higher than she expected.

He comes to the cody place while everyone is in the living room after seeing pope. He comes in, noticing the quiet, and starts calling out apologies to Smurf, saying that class ran late so he had to get a later train. J notices a change in the room at the new voice; Pope has sat up, pulling away from Smurf - if he had dog ears they would have perked up for sure - while everyone else in the room somehow gets even more tense and shifty.

Robby ends things with Jack after they graduate because he doesn’t think they can do long distance, but Jack chases after him.

“The only way to get rid of me is to say you don’t want me.”