Work Text:
Robby let out a large sigh as he set his glass on the countertop of the bar.
“Why’d you force me to come out here with you again?” he asked the man sitting next to him.
“Because I have seen you have a positive emotion in a week,” Jack said as he finished his beer and signaled the bartender for another one.
The shooting had been two weeks ago now, and while no one they had worked with had been super happy since then, he had started to see some smiles and jokes happening again among the staff as he walked around the pitt each shift. But then there was Robby, the grumpy man that was somehow Jack’s best friend, who he hadn’t seen smile in over a month.
Jack looked over at Robby, then followed his gaze across the bar, to where Robby had been looking at a group of some of the younger members of the ER staff who had somehow wound up at the same bar as them.
Jack had to shake his head when he noticed them as he and Robby walked in. It wasn’t all that often they would go out drinking just the two of them, and somehow they wound up at the same bar as all of those kids.
Jack took a sip of the new beer as the bartender slid it over to him. “You know, if you really want we can go say hi to them?” Jack said.
Robby blinked, finally looking to his left at Jack. “What are you talking about?”
Jack had to raise an eyebrow. “You’ve been looking at them for the last twenty minutes,” he said.
Robby didn’t say anything, just continued looking at the group.
That was when Jack noticed them. Two people, right on the outside of the group.
One was the Whitaker kid he had seen on the day shift every now and then the last couple of weeks, an omega that Jack knew Robby had an eye on, despite Jack repeatedly reminding him that the kid was hands off - at least until the kid finished med school.
The second guy wasn’t someone Jack recognized. But the way the man was leaning into the kid’s personal space, smiling at him and causing the kid to smile back, Jack would bet the guy was hitting on the kid.
Next to Jack, Robby let out a long breath through pierced lips. “It’s not right,” he said.
“What’s not right?” Jack asked. “And stop shooting daggers at them.”
“I’m not doing anything to them,” Robby said.
“Right, right,” Jack nodded, playing along. “Sure you’re not. Now what exactly isn’t right over there?”
“Just look at them,” Robby said, as if it would be clear as day to Jack.
Jack humored Robby as he looked at the kid and mystery man for a couple of seconds. Whitaker was giving the man that sheepish smile Jack had seen him give a couple of people when he was nervous.
And the way the man was looking at Whitaker… he was definitely interested in the kid, romantically and sexually interested.
“Yeah, that guy is hitting on your little shadow. He’s an adult, Whitaker will be fine,” Jack said as he looked away from the two across the bar and back at Robby.
“My little shadow?” Robby asked.
“Don’t think I haven’t seen you guys at work,” Jack said. “There’ve been entire shifts that you’ve had him follow you around like a little duckling.”
Robby chewed lightly on his lip as he listened to Jack. The man wasn’t wrong, but he had his reasons, very good ones, for having Whitaker follow him around for those days.
“Whitaker is allowed to have a boyfriend,” Jack said.
“I know that,” Robby said. “I have no problem with him dating someone.”
That got a laugh out of Jack. “Well, from the way you’re staring daggers at that man over there, I’d think otherwise.”
“He’s not right for Whitaker,” Robby said as he brought this glass up to take another sip of beer.
Jack looked over at him like Robby had just said the most ridiculous thing in the world. “And what the hell is telling you that man isn’t ‘right’ for Whitaker?”
“His scent for one thing.”
“You can smell the kid’s scent from here?” Jack asked.
“Yeah,” Robby shrugged. “You can’t?”
Now Jack knew that as a beta, he never really had that strong of a nose for scents as Robby did, Robby could smell when someone brought in a roast beef sandwich when he had his hands covered in blood trying to stop a bleed. But right now, in this crowded bar, all Jack could smell was beer, sweat, and the bad chicken wings someone had ordered three feet from them.
“He smells stressed,” Robby said. “And not the stressed like in the middle of a crazy shift. Stressed like he just wants to get out of here.”
Jack still looked at Robby like he was crazy. “Well then maybe you should do something about it.”
Jack had said that as a joke, he hadn’t meant it. Whitaker was standing right on the edge of a group of at least ten of his coworkers. If the kid really was that stressed, surely one of them would pick up on it and help the kid.
Robby stood up from his seat anyway, asking Jack to watch his beer as he went over to Whitaker and the other man.
“Hey,” Robby said as he approached Dennis and the new man, a new man that Robby instantly recognized as another alpha. “Fancy seeing you here.”
Robby didn’t miss the look of relief that washed over Dennis’s face as the alpha turned to him, standing between him and Dennis. “And who are you?” he asked, his tone guarded, not at all wanting Robby to interrupt whatever they had going on.
Robby gave the alpha a tight smile. “I’m Robby,” he said. “I work with Dennis.”
The man’s eyes glanced at Dennis for half of a second, and Robby took the opportunity to slide in between him and Dennis.
The man smirked at Robby. “Well, we were just talking if you don’t mind.”
Robby didn’t miss the way that Dennis took a side step over to stand slightly behind Robby. “Funny, I don’t think he really wants to talk to you,” Robby said.
The man looked Robby up and down for a couple of seconds, then turned his gaze back to Dennis, who took another quarter step closer to Robby.
“Fine,” the man scoffed. “You weren’t worth it anyway,” he said as he turned around and walked away from them.
Robby then turned around, doing a quick glance over Dennis. His scent was still off, not as acridic as before, but he didn’t look hurt. “Are you okay?” he asked.
Dennis blinked his wide eyes as he looked at Robby’s “Y- yeah,” he said. “He was… I’m fine.”
“What do you say we both get out of here?” Robby asked.
Dennis’s eyes widened, his pupils dilating slightly, and Robby could smell a small amount of surprise coming off of him. “Like… together?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Robby said. “Figure I’ll finally show you where I live.”
A smell of both surprise and delight wafted off of Dennis then. “Yeah,” he said as a smile grew on his face. “Sounds amazing.”
As Robby turned to walk away, holding Dennis’s hand as Dennis followed after him, Robby caught sight of Trinity looking at them, watching them as they walked out of the bar.
Well, Robby thought, it looked like Dennis Whitaker might have his own version of a Jack Abbot.