Chapter Text
When Dennis started dating robby and jack, robby might’ve looked into Dennis's medical file. He was just curious, he wondered if the kid got chicken pox when he was younger or something of that nature.
He expected to see no shot record from age one to nineteen or so. From what little he knew about Dennis's family, they were crazy religious. So it would make sense that they wouldn't believe in vaccines.
But what he hadn't expected to see was a diagnosis for arthritis in both knees. For a second he thought he had clicked into the wrong file by accident– he looked up at the top, searching for the patient's name.
Dennis Lee Whitaker
So he did have the right file, huh.
Robby was confused, to say the least. How had this never been brought up before? Even in basic conversation it should've come up, he thought. Frank talked about his back pain all the time. He felt like this shouldn't be any different. This made no sense. At this point they all had been seeing each other seriously for like two months. How in the fuck had this not come up?
Robby sat back and stared at the computer screen, thinking back to all the times Dennis had been off.
At work, Dennis would appear stiff for a moment when getting up from a chair he probably sat too long in, chalking it up to being tired. When he stood idly, sometimes he would steadily kick up his leg. Bending his knee, sometimes twisting his leg with the motion.
At home, Dennis would grimace when kneeling down to grab a pan when he was cooking dinner. There were knee compression garments in their sock drawer. Neither Robby nor Jack had ever thought about questioning it.
He didn't know what to do with this information. Part of him wanted to confront Dennis, but he almost immediately realized that would a stupid idea. It would either make the kid shut down, or it would make him never trust Robby again.
Because what would he even say? “Oh yeah I've been snooping around in your private business and guess what I found!” That would be ridiculous.
Another part of him wanted to say or do nothing at all. He wondered just how long Dennis would keep up the act, if he would tell them at all. But again, bad idea. Robby knew that this was absolutely going to eat at his brain.
Because not only had Dennis been hiding a serious condition from them, he had been in pain that only he knew about. And was dealing with it all on his own.
What was he gonna do though?
—
“Did you know that Dennis has arthritis?” Robby asked Jack that night when Dennis was in the shower.
“what?”
“Did you know that Dennis has arthritis?” Robby asked again but this time a little slower.
“No, I heard you. What?" Jack looked at him like he was crazy.
“I might've went through his medical file-”
“You what?”
“Your saying what alot babe”
“Thats cause im confused”
Robby hesitated before reexplaining “I went through Dennis's medical file earlier today, and found a diagnosis for arthritis in both knees in which he got when he was twenty four.”
“Okay, first of all, is that why you've been tense all day? Second of all, why the hell would he hide this from not only the hospital, but us?”
“-maybe, and I have a feeling he hasn't told us because..” he trailed off, trying to figure out how to explain what he was thinking “you know how he gets when we try to take care of him? Like when he had a really bad day at work and when he got home you tried to massage his shoulders and he freaked out?”
Jack nodded
He thought for a moment before continuing “how he insisted he was fine and that it wasn't something that you needed to go out of your way for. I think this is like that.. But on a way bigger scale”
“You sound smart for once” jack agreed
Robby shot him an annoyed look
“It's a compliment!”
“Right, and am I supposed to believe that?”
The banter between them soon ended as they thought about the situation.
How were they supposed to bring this up without having Dennis shut down? Nobody else that they knew was really that close to Dennis. Not enough to the point of knowing about thi-
It was like a lightbulb turned on in Jack's mind “Wait. What about Santos? D’you think she'd know about this?” Jack asked
“I mean,” he thought about it for a moment. “She quite literally sniffed out Langdon for stealing drugs on her first shift with him. I think she could figure it out pretty quickly, especially living with him.”
Robby looked at his watch “its too late to call her, she probably just got home” he paused before adding with a slight smile “or knowing her she's still charting”
Something about working with students long enough to learn about them was just a magical experience to robby.
Like how Santos struggled with getting her charts done quickly, or how javadi has issues with her mom just like Mohan, or how mel is really fond of frank for some reason.
—
The conversation had drifted to much lighter topics by the time Dennis was out of the shower.
He padded down the hallway
Dennis didn't say anything as he got comfortable next to Jack, his expression unreadable.
He cuddled into Jack, trying to get as close as possible.
The serious topic they both had just talked about not ten minutes ago was shoved to the back of their minds.
Something was wrong.
And they weren't sure that it had to do with his knees.
“You okay?” Jack asked into Dennis' scalp.
He didn't reply, but after a moment he did nod. Huh, that's weird.
Jack looked across the room at robby in his chair and shot a look. Robby must've had the same thought process as Jack because he was already skimming the catalog on the tv to fill the deafening silence.
He settled on the big bang theory and started wherever they had left off.
An entire episode went by with nothing being said.
Dennis hadn't moved in the slightest. Jack almost thought he was asleep but his breathing hadn't changed.
“You asleep angel?”
Dennis shook his head. It looked like the only form of communication for tonight will be nonverbal ones.
“Do you wanna go lay down? Im sure robby would love to cuddle too”
After a moment of thinking Dennis nodded.
The three of them made their way to the bedroom.
Robby was already dressed for bed so he laid down first. Jack took off his prosthetic as Dennis took off his shirt.
He tends to run hot at night between two people. Plus he loved being able to feel his partners cuddling him without the barrier.
He crawled in after Robby. This time cuddling him. Robby pulled him into his chest, he obviously needed it right now.
Dennis looked up at him for a moment, before pressing a kiss into his lips.
It wasn't dragged on, but it wasn't rushed either.
“I love you” Dennis said after they broke apart.
“I love you too”
Jack climbed into the bed. He pressed himself against Dennis's back, wrapping his arm around his midsection.
Dennis turned his upper body along with his head. He pressed a kiss into Jack's lips as well.
“I love you” Dennis said before settling back into a comfortable position
“I love you too, angel.”
—
The next day at the beginning of shift they both approached Santos and told her they needed to talk with her at the end of her shift.
—
As soon as the door closed Trinity spoke.
“Am I in trouble?” she used that same tone she used when she told robby about her suspension about frank.
“God no, why would you think that?” Jack replied quickly
She studied both of their faces separately for a moment.
“i mean, both of my attendings told me that we needed talk at the end of my shift, gee i wonder. If its not about then wha-”
“Is Dennis okay? He's seemed fine all day-”
“Yes he's fine, but we do have a question though” robby assured her
“Go on”
“Did you possibly know that he had arthritis?”
“He hasn't told you?”
“No, I uh- i may have-” robby found it much harder to admit that he dug through Dennis's medical file to santos than his husband.
“He went through his medical file” Jack said teasingly
“Would you give it a rest, asshole?”
“Okay chill out im not judging so did i”
Both Robby and Jack both turned their heads pretty fast towards her.
“I mean- listen, when he first moved in I suspected he was hiding something, I just couldn't figure out what exactly.” She stopped for a moment “-and Dennis is- Dennis is tricky, it's really hard to get him to talk about needing help with things, let alone get him to actually letting himself receive it”
She hesitated before continuing “I think a lot of it stems from his religious trauma or whatever.”
That was news to them, sure they knew he believed in god, and maybe that relationship was rocky, and that his family was crazy religious. But they didn't know he had trauma surrounding it.
“Oh… has he not- wait, actually that makes sense. Uh- you didn't hear that from me.” She made a silly nervous face
“We won't bring it up to him, don't worry.” Robby reassured her
“But there was a point to having you meet us here. We wanted to ask you what you think we should do.” Jack said
“Who, me?”
“Uh yeah? Who else is in the room with us”
“Robbys right, you are being an ass” she shot back before giving the question a thought
Robby smiles at her like he was proud.
She sits there thinking for a moment. You could practically hear the gears turning in her head.
“Just- just blame me. Say that I had let it slip on accident” she pauses. “I don't think he has it in him to stay mad at me for long, if at all. Also i dont think he gets to be mad because he told me he already told you guys.” she said that last part with a little heat.
Jack furrowed his brows “He did?” he didn't think of Dennis as a liar. But at least that meant that he wanted to tell them at some point, right?
“Yup” she emphasized the p with a pop
A couple moments passed “are you sure you're okay with practically blaming you?” robby asked cautiously
“You have too much of a guilt complex I swear, and yes I'm sure. I'm the one who suggested it”
Robby squinted at her at the comment but didn't say anything about it
“Okay, thank you, you can go finish your charting”
She groaned quietly as she was reminded about the charting, “good luck” she said as she walked out
Jack turned to robby “okay, you and Dennis have tomorrow off right?”
Robby nodded
“We can talk to him after I get home”
“Sounds like a plan”