No fraternizing during work hours.

Perlah and Princess saw the whole interaction btw

dennis tilted his head to the side, asking, “when did you see his place? did he used to throw BBQ or something.”

it wasn’t relevant. dennis had no reason to question it. frank had worked with robby for over three years before dennis had come along. he often had to remind himself how fleeting his and robby’s connection was. that rotation felt foundational for dennis, but he was just one of many pupils under robby’s tutelage.

frank sort of laughed and looked into his mug, “we used to watch penguins games together. went to a couple, even.” his eyes darted to bulletin board full of flyers for events already passed that he wasn’t around for, things he’ll miss out of forever.

“oh,” dennis said softly. robby never mentioned that. he’d never invited dennis anywhere, either. “thats nice. he’s really only talked to me about the steelers,” dennis offered, just to keep the conversation moving.

frank’s brow furrowed, the pesky feeling of being forgotten overcame him again. robby had just moved on, replaced him, stopped keeping up with the thing they shared. he never talked about the steelers with frank.

and so he did something stupid, something petty, something robby and him promised to never do. frank replied, “yeah, well, you’re in for a treat. he has a great mattress. even better sheets.” frank’s eye contact was piercing, an assertion of dominance. he may have forgotten, but i remember everything.

dennis struggled to find a response. he couldn’t parse out exactly what frank was implying. was frank mad that dennis was the one that was asked to house sit? the tone was just so loaded.

“yeah, that does sound nice,” dennis agreed. he had to walk by frank to get to the door, and the back of his neck prickled from how intense the man was looking at him.

frank could only respond, “it was.”

i think of dennis whitaker when he finally moves out of his shared home w trinity and gets his own place just big enough for him and whoever the fuck he wants really.

dennis who settles into the apartment and genuinely thinks of what he wants his place to look like… only to buy himself a dog cage that fits his whole body in there.

dennis who at first felt the buyers guilt but.. then, felt like he just wanted to make his crate a home. dennis who wraps fairy lights around it and makes it a place he can potentially nap in.

dennis who buys so many blankets, pillows, comforters and a new money drain— plush toys. it’s something that makes him feel comfy and safe.

on hard days, on shifts where all dennis feels is loss, he finds himself stripping off his scrubs and finding the biggest hoodie he owns (definitely from robby) and crawling into the cage. he sniffles and sinks his teeth into whatever he can find— a blanket, a throw pillow, or his slobber stained avocado plushie.

As an example, the Pitt Crew goes to a restaurant and bar with curved bench seating in the back.

Trinity sits on Robby's lap half of the time. Dana hand feeds Frank chili cheese fries. Cassie spends the whole night braiding and unbraiding Mel's hair. Princess and Samira drink from the same glass of ale. Jack and Baran take turns giving each other leg massages. Dennis pulls drinks away from Victoria, saying "That's enough for tonight, sweetheart" in a gentle yet firm tone, to which she, with no irony, whines to Robby "Daddd, tell him I'm off tomorrow!" ("Vic, be nice to your mother" Robby replies with a laugh.) Perlah then coos at her, and offers to split a Shirley Temple. Mateo agrees to run everyone's drink orders back and forth, but at the cost of a kiss on the cheek for each time he gets up and sits back down.

All the other patrons and regulars have learned to avoid the ER doctors in the back corner, they're in their world, their own... weird world, and none of them want to be disturbed, least of all hit on. And the wait staff decide to ignore the possible swingers group that takes over their booths once a week. Sure, it looks like a freaky cuddle-orgy could break out at any second, but those old men tip well!

cause i’ve taken the implication that santos sees dr robby outside of the ptmc and ran with it. FAR, far away.

what else am i supposed to do with such a sweet image.

robby sneaking around with whitaker outside of their shift hours is thrilling enough. then, developing a new dynamic with santos because of it? count me in.

the kind of time together that makes them more like father and daughter than they ever could’ve imagined.

trin and her terrible perception of men. selfish, vile, disgusting, all of the horrible things shes seen over the years puts her guard up. but robby isn’t really like that. sure, he’s prickly, but he’s sweet? he doesn’t coddle her. he doesn’t put up with her shit when she’s being a dick, but he also doesn’t get put off when she’s a little too arrogant.

gossiping and joking at work but being corrected in such a stern manner when necessary.

the kind of dynamic that has you rolling your eyes but aware you should be listening or dropping your face into the palms of your hands. mostly because oh fuck, he’s actually right and even if i don’t think he is, i have to listen to him.

at home though, in the apartment dennis was actually a guest in for longer than he’s probably been a true roommate, the dynamic is so so very different.

robby shuffling around nervously, not wanting to take up too much room. being polite but not trying to completely erase his presence in any way. at least not anymore. i’m sure the start of their relationship was different. painfully aware that this is definitely not professional, and he is subject to scrutiny.

not now though.

now, trin and robby are able to interact like they don’t even work together. robby doesn’t have any kind of power over her here, and he doesn’t want to. they have those kind of tough loving back and forths that seems to push boundaries if anyone is to overhear, but they know otherwise.

the fact trinity knows when to turn it down is a form of respect so high robby doesn’t even care what people think.

i’m also not really saying that robby would like go out clubbing with them or anything that may imply having an insanely tight friendship with trin either though. i like to think it’s more of a forced proximity kind of friendship.

robby is over enough that he’s comfortable in their apartment, they’re able to get past the work stuff so he doesn’t have to put up that superior facade, and santos doesn’t bug him about anything.

simple as that.