#qprabbot

walk with me here. they've been best friends since med school, seen each other through it all. robby was jack's best man, he was there when he came back from deployment without a leg, and he was there to help jack through the grief of losing his wife. and jack has always been the one to talk robby down. he held robby in those weeks. months. years. after adamson died. they've been circling each other's lives incessantly and relentlessly and without fail they are always there to catch each other. and it's love. a love so deep and true and insistent that you can't help but call them soulmates.

i'm imagining jack and robby a couple years after jack's wife has passed. jack asks robby if he wants to move in. jack feels like his house is too big for just one person but he can't bear to leave it. robby's been living in the same little condo for years but he's not all that attached to it. they're over at each other's places all the time anyway. they've always spent so much time to together, but especially these past few years. so robby says yes.

and now they're circling each other that much closer. pulling one another into their orbit that much more. and it's so natural. the way robby works with and around jack's adaptive furniture and home installations. the way robby comes to love the shower seat and the lack of stairs. the way they find themselves cuddled on the couch on a shared night off. or the way robby will come over and lift jack's legs where he's laying down, drape them over his own, and massage the ache from his residual limb. or how jack will nestle in behind robby to rub the tension from his neck-- forever the big spoon regardless of the height difference.

maybe they end up in bed together, needing someone close, needing someone to hold or to be held, needing the feeling of a breath on your shoulder or the sound of a heartbeat against your ear. and it becomes habit. robby's room hasn't seen action in a while, his clothes are just stored there.

and you know people start talking. ("have you heard robby moved in with jack?" "you think they're hooking up?" "i mean you've seen how they look at one another") and maybe jack and robby step back and question it too. ("are we... dating??") but that doesn't quite fit. they love each other, are in love in a lot of ways, but robby would never call jack his boyfriend and jack wasn't all too interested in romance after his wife passed. and maybe they hear one of the med students talking, hear the word "partner" pass between their lips and it clicks. because yeah. that's what they were. partners. in life and in work and in making it through the fucking day. partners. working together, living together, loving together. partners.

--

it was hot as hell in pittsburgh and both robby and jack were over it. robby got cranky in the heat and jack hadn't been able to wear his prosthesis without getting uncomfortably sweaty (which robby thought of as a kind of silver lining, his leg was finally getting a break).

"fuck, man, at this point i'd rather just be naked," robby said with an exasperated groan as he tried (and failed) for the third time to get comfortable in bed. they had windows open and fans running and nothing but the top sheet on the bed, but robby still felt too warm.

"what's stopping you?" jack asked flatly, from where he was laying on his back next to robby, not moving to make eye contact.

"i- wouldn't that be weird?" robby asked, sitting up to look at jack.

"plenty of people sleep naked, it's not like it's bad for you," jack said.

"no, i mean wouldn't that be weird for you? if i was naked," robby said, running a hand along the back of his neck as he spoke. "it's not like we, yknow, do that kind of stuff."

jack finally rolled to his side to fully look at robby, "michael, we've literally showered together. we sleep together. you being naked in bed while we sleep isn't that crazy."

"i know but-"

"i can strip too if you want? even playing field," jack offered.

"funny," robby said, rolling his eyes at the other man.

"i'm serious, mike. you're not getting any sleep like this anyway," jack said, eyes now fixed on robby. "if taking your clothes off means you stop tossing and turning then i'll happily sleep naked with you, brother."

robby's brows furrowed as he considered his options before finally, "fine. you too though."

"whatever you want, mikey," jack said as he sat up to strip as well.

both men took of their shirts and shucked off their shorts and were now lying in bed next to one another on their backs.

robby was still squirming though, but jack could tell ir was different than the earlier "it's too fucking hot" squirms.

"mikey, you're still allowed to touch me," jack said, immediately regretting his choice of words. "shit. i mean, you can cuddle if you want."

robby groaned and threw an arm over his face, "it's weird jack."

"you're the one making it weird. we have literally bathed one another, this is far less exposing i think," jack said, turning to look at robby again. "jesus christ man just get over here." jack pulled robby's arm off his face and dragged him closer.

robby let out a defeated sigh as he curled up next to jack, arm thrown over his stomach and head resting on his shoulder. "this is nice, i guess," robby said, muffled by the way his face was smushed into jack's chest.

"'course it is," jack said, "can't even remember the last time you tried sleeping that far away from me. almost thought you didn't like me anymore."

"shut up," robby said, hand coming up to swat at jack's arm.

"ouch, fine," jack said with a laugh. "get some rest now, mike. can't have the residents facing sleep deprivation crankiness on top of heat wave crankiness tomorrow."

"you hate me," robby huffed.

i think they kiss but don't make out. i think they sleep nude sometimes in the summer when it's hot and yes they're still spooning and no they're not fucking. i think they've bathed and showered one another many times. i think they hold hands when they go out together and i think they'll nuzzle into the other's hair while still referring to one another with "brother" and "man." i think they've jerked off in the same room as the other one and it's just a whatever thing that happens sometimes.

something something robby basically forcing jack to let himself be taken care of. ("for fuck's sake jack i am not letting you continue to work when your one good ankle is injured right now, we are going home.") something something they end up in the shower together because robby doesn't want jack hurting himself more trying to do everything alone. they share this really vulnerable intimacy that sends their relationship to new, untouched, unfamiliar ground. they don't talk about it. robby washes jack in comfortable silence, helps him dry off and get into bed calmly, before he goes to finish showering himself. he's going to crawl into bed with jack afterwards, for once being the big spoon, to let jack know in every way except words that he's allowed to need care, he's allowed to need help, that robby may be a runner but he won't run when jack is hurt. he doesn't need to be the big strong protector all the time. he'll be just as loved when he's soft and tender and vulnerable.