Chapter Text
prologue
Robby had the option to do the funniest thing.
Princess, Perlah, and Santos were gossiping in Tagalog behind him. The two nurses were in their chairs, pretending to chart, and Santos was leaning above them over the counter pretending to pick a patient from the board. Robby wasn’t too upset about them gossiping—it was slow, and he was interested in hearing that Kim Smith—from night shift, not their Kim—had been caught making out with an attending from urology in a conference room upstairs by an intern from gyno because she was trying to find a make-out spot with her girlfriend in surgery.
Who knew conference rooms were the new mountain-side turnouts?
And it wasn’t gossip, really.
He enjoyed finding out interdepartmental hospital information through them. Princess and Perlah were usually pretty hilarious with their commentary, and they had taken Santos under their wing after once they found out that Santos spoke Tagalog, too. And Santos was just as funny.
None of them knew that Robby could speak it.
He had learned from Kevin, down in materials management. They had matched on Grindr a few years ago and fucked around a few times between Tagalog and Russian lessons. Robby had been sitting on the knowledge for years—nearly a decade at this point. He loved learning all the hot new information around the hospital. Most people were too afraid to gossip with him because they thought with him being a senior attending—and then chief—he would disapprove.
Which couldn’t be further than the truth.
Plus, he liked knowing if there was shit being said about him.
Like he said—he had the opportunity to do the funniest thing.
He’d been a good boy for nearly a decade—he deserved a treat.
So, he waited for an opportunity, biting his lip as he listened, trying not to grin too much. Finally, Princess said, “And then he said that EVS would have to—”
“Wait, go back,” said Robby, spinning around to look at them. His accent was horrendous and Kevin had always made fun of him for it, but it was entirely worth it to watch all three of them look at him in appalled horror. “Who said that? Vasquez or Gill?”
It was Princess who pointed at him, shrieking at him in Tagalog, “Since when do you know Tagalog?”
Robby grinned a slow Cheshire cat grin. “Almost ten years.”
“Ten years?!”
Robby nodded, threading his fingers over his belly and leaning back, satisfied. This was funnier than he thought it would be. “It’s been killing me not to join in. But this reaction definitely made it worth it.”
“I’ve said so much shit in front of you,” said Princess, dismayed.
“And all of it has been hilarious,” Robby admitted. “You’re really funny.”
“How do you even know Tagalog, anyway?” Perlah asked, suspicious.
“Kevin, down in materials management,” said Robby, like it was obvious. “I taught him Russian.” He waggled his eyebrows obnoxiously. “And we traded other things.”
Santos stared at him, jaw slack. “You’re queer?”
Robby smirked at her.
This was going to be the start of a beautiful friendship.
"Ow!" Robby ducked his head, pouting up at Dana. She had bonked him on the head with a tablet. Not hard enough to actually hurt, but it was the principle of the matter! "What was that for?"
"Stop talking shit and get back to work," she grumbled playfully, laughing despite herself.
They scattered like kittens startled by a cucumber.