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His stomach is doing that nervous flip-flop again as he brushes his teeth.
For a moment his mint toothpaste burns strong enough to distract him, but by the time he spits the mouthwash into the sink the giddy nerves have come rushing back.
Robby has been like this since he woke up, in the space between someone who was giddy with excitement and someone completely terrified.
Which, in hindsight, probably explains why he woke up for work before his alarm had gone off for once
Robby had blinked awake slowly, still tangled in his sheets, before rolling onto his side and stretching an arm across the bed. His fingers brushed the empty pillow beside him.
He’d known it would be, obviously. Jack had gone home late last night after they’d both finally admitted defeat, knowing Robby had an early start at the hospital.
Still, the cool fabric had made something flutter in Robby’s chest.
Because yesterday, yesterday...it had finally happened.
After years of friendship, years of circling around something neither of them had been brave enough to say out loud, he and Jack Abbot had crossed that line they’d been toeing for so long.
The weirdest part? It hadn’t been some big moment like Robby had pictured it so many times before.
No dramatic confession. No sweeping gesture. They’d just been… them.
Sitting on Robby’s couch, a couple of beers in, the game playing on the TV purely out of habit while neither of them paid the slightest bit of attention to it.
They’d been caught up in one of their usual intense conversations, sitting a little too close like always.
Jack had laughed softly at something Robby has said and pointed out their main form of communication was basically just flirting these days...
Before Robby had even fully processed the words, that invisible line between them was just… gone.
Everything after that had felt strangely easy, like something clicking neatly into place for him.
They’d even talked about it afterward, still tangled together in Robby’s bed. Actually talked, because that was just who Jack was.
About what this meant for their friendship, about what they wanted from a real relationship. How they'd keep it casual at work for now. No need to broadcast something so new until they'd figured it all out.
It had felt very adult and very 'un-Robby'.
But maybe that was the point.
Maybe this was exactly what he needed, he'd always known, really. Jack Abbot was all he wanted and he'd resigned himself that it was too late to ask.
He'd tucked Jack behind his heart and learned to be content with their friendship.
---
Robby is halfway through pulling a clean shirt over his head when someone knocks his apartment door.
Two quick taps.
He freezes with one arm still stuck in the sleeve.
That knock is familiar, but at this hour? It made him uncomfortable.
“Coming!” he calls, voice slightly muffled by cotton as he yanks the shirt down the rest of the way.
When he opens the door, Jack is standing there, in all black. Looking like he's stepped right out of Robby's dreams.
He’s holding a cardboard tray with two coffees in front of him.
For a minute they just stand and stare at each other.
Which is ridiculous, because Robby and Jack have never once in their lives struggled to fill a silence. Jack Abbot was a renowned yapper.
“Hi,” Jack says eventually, like this is the first time they've said this instead of the thousandth.
“Hi...this is...early."
Jack lifts the coffee carrier slightly. “Yeah... but I brought caffeine.” it wobbles between them like an anxious peace offering for the early hour.
"And I love you for that." Robby says automatically, reaching for the nectar from the gods. He hears what he says as soon as he says it. He blushes...
"Uhm, I didn't mean... You know what I meant. Just...come in." Fuck. Why had this turned awkwardly embarrassing, he'd never have second guessed saying that to Jack before.
"It's fine, Robby." Jack smiles, clearly noticing the familar blush rising on Robby's neck, although this time he looks a little flushed too. He steps into Robby's home and closes the door.
Robby motions to his hot drink. “so, is this a bribe or an apology?" Jack pulls his own cup from the cardboard holder, tosses it onto the table.
Jack considers that, taking a long sip.
“Preventative damage control.”
“…That’s concerning.” Robby chuckles, although it sends a shard of ice into his veins.
“You’re welcome.”
Robby steps aside to let him move towards at the living area. Jack sets his own coffee down on the mantle over the fireplace, Robby takes another sip and then does the same.
They both hover there for a small moment. Their usual energy is now a little different.
Robby folds his arms trying to bring the conversation on. “You look like you've been up a while.
“Yeah."
“So you got me coffee and show up at my door at six in the morning...?"
Jack shrugs, trying for casual and missing it by a mile. “Mayhe I had a question.”
“Oh good,” Robby says dryly. “Nothing ominous about that at all."
Jack holds up one hand, rolling his eyes fondly. “Hey, before you get dramatic...”
“I’m not dramatic.” he cuts in.
Jack raises an eyebrow.
Robby tilts his head.
Jack ignores him. “Shut up. I just wanted to check something."
Robby clears his throat. “…Am I being audited?”
Jack exhales a quiet laugh and rubs the back of his neck. Robby wants to die.
“Just wondering if...Did you wake up this morning,” he asks carefully, clearly struggling for the right words, “and decide last night was a terrible mistake?”
Robby stares at him.
Then he lets out a sharp laugh.
“...Jack.”
“Yeah?” Jack looks worried at the reaction.
“I was literally brushing my teeth five minutes ago trying to figure out how to ask you that.”
Jack blinks.
“Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
They both stand there for a second before the tension cracks completely and Jack huffs out a laugh.
“Okay,” Jack says. “That’s… yeah, that's actually very reassuring.”
Robby tilts his head again. “So you didn’t come here to tell me we should never speak of this again and return to aggressively platonic flirting?”
Jack snorts. “Please. We were terrible at platonic.”
“Fair."
Another pause settles between them, but this one feels easier.
He nudges Robby’s shoulder lightly as he passes him, lifting his coffee, to lean against the counter, shifting the weight off his leg. The tiny bit of contact affects Robby more than it should for such a small thing.
“For the record,” Jack says, taking a sip and swallowing, “I’m not having second thoughts. At all."
Robby studies him for a moment, deep relief settling in the pit of his stomach.
“Good,” he says. "For the audit...me either."
"Good." Jack echoes quickly and firmly.
“That sounded vaguely threatening.”
“It was.”
Jack smiles into his coffee.
They drift into a comfortable silence after that, the kind that usually settles easily between them. Robby picks up his coffee again and thinks.
He is suddenly very aware that Jack is standing about two feet away.
Which has never seemed a problem before last night./p>
Jack glances at the clock on the wall.
“You’re going to be late,” he says. "If you're walking this morning."
“I’m not late yet." Robby replies automatically. "and sure, it's pretty mild, I'm walking."
“Well, you’re still standing in your living room debating the emotional implications of coffee. Better get a move on.”
“I am not.” Robby stops. “…okay maybe a little.”
Jack smirks into his cup.
Robby looks at him over his eyelashes. “Don’t start.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You’re thinking things.”
“I’m always thinking things.”
“Yeah, well, stop.”
Jack raises his hands in surrender. “Alright, fine. New territory. We’re both adapting.”
Robby narrows his eyes. “You say that like you’ve done this before. Started seeing your male best-friend slash colleague."
Jack snorts. “Please. If I had any idea what I was doing I wouldn’t have shown up here at dawn like a nervous raccoon with coffee.”
Robby huffs a laugh despite himself.
“Okay,” Jack says after a second. “Important question.”
“Another one? Dangerous.”
“It is.”
Jack gestures vaguely between them. “What are the rules now?”
Robby blinks. “The rules.”
“Yeah.”
“What rules? I thought we agreed last night not to tell anyone at work. Not yet."
“No. You know.” Jack waves a hand again. “Couple rules.”
The word couple lands in Robby’s chest like someone dropped a pebble into still water.
He pretends it didn’t. Swallows the rising emotion in his chest and the urge to crash his entire body into Jack immediately.
“What, like a contract?” Robby asks. “Do we need to draft paperwork?”
Jack shrugs. “Just trying to establish expectations.”
Robby squints at him. “You’re a doctor. You can’t just apply clinical procedure to feelings.”
“oh you know me, I can and I will.”
“God help us.” Robby remarks, grudgingly fond.
Jack takes another sip of coffee before saying, very casually, “For example...”
Robby immediately regrets everything.
Jack tilts his head toward the door.
“Do I walk you to work?”
Robby blinks.
“That’s… not a rule.”
“It could be. I don't mind.”
“You’ve never walked me to work before.”
“Well yeah- that was before,” Jack says.
Now it's Robby who gestures vaguely between them. “Before whatever this is. Us."
Jack nods. “Exactly. Us."
Robby considers that.
“…And are we the kind of people who walk to work holding hands?”
Jack makes a thoughtful face. “We could be. Who knows yet?"
Every shred of Robby, the eternal romantic, secretly lights up at the thought. “We’re not twenty two."
“So?”
“So isn’t that aggressively adorable?”
Jack looks at him, completely deadpan.
“You say that like we haven’t spent the last decade flirting like idiots in hospital corridors.”
“…fair point.” Robby shrugs.
Another small silence settles.
Then Jack clears his throat.
“Also,” he says, “logistically speaking...”
“Jesus...”
“...do we kiss hello now?”
Robby nearly chokes on his coffee.
Jack watches him with the calm patience of someone who has just detonated a conversational grenade.
Robby wipes his mouth and stares at him.
“You cannot just drop that into the conversation like it’s normal.”
“It is normal.” Jack replies, looking curious.
“It is not normal for us.”
Jack shrugs again. “Feels like it should be.”
Robby opens his mouth.
Closes it again.
Because… yeah. Jack’s not wrong.
Jack studies his face for a second, then softens slightly.
“We don’t have to figure it all out this morning,” he says.
Robby exhales slowly.
“That’s probably wise.”
Jack nods.
A beat passes.
Then Robby gestures toward the door.
“So… say hypothetically...”
Jack’s eyes flicker with amusement. “Hypothetically.”
“If someone were walking someone else to work,” Robby says, “would that person be expected to… you know.”
Jack’s mouth twitches. God he's so attractive, Robby's almost infuriated.
“Kiss them goodbye?”
Robby sighs, willing his blush away. “You’re enjoying this.”
“A little.” Jack's eyes are sparkling with amusement.
“Jack.”
He pushes off the counter and moves in Robby's direction.
“Well,” he says, setting his empty coffee cup down, “only one way to find out. Make sure you've got your phone, something to eat, let's go..."
Robby groans.
“God, I hate you...just let me grab some protein bars for my bag first."
Jack grins, lifting their empty paper cups and tossing them into the bin.
“No you don’t.”
-
Jack reaches the door first, like he’s fully committed to this new “walking Robby to work” concept.
Robby watches him and shakes his head.
“You know,” Robby says, “we could just pretend none of this conversation happened and go back to aggressively ignoring the obvious. It's not too late."
Jack puts his hand on the door and glances back at him, eyes narrowing.
“Too late,” he says. “We already acknowledged feelings. There’s paperwork now.”
“God, I hate when you get procedural about emotions.”
“Occupational hazard.”
Robby lifts his bag and steps closer, still trying to look casual and probably failing.
They end up standing there again.
Two feet apart.
The same distance as earlier.
Jack tilts his head slightly. “So?"
“So,” Robby says.
Jack gestures vaguely between them once more, sheer determination in his eyes like when a challenging patient is delivered into his care.
“Good morning kiss?"
Robby huffs a nervous laugh. “You are unbelievably direct about this.” he curls his hands around his house keys.
“Robby."
“Yeah?”
“We slept together.”
“Right, but that was different.” Robby says dumbly.
Jack raises an eyebrow. “Oh yeah? How so?”
Robby opens his mouth. Pauses.
“…I don’t actually know.” Why is he floundering this hard?
Jack’s mouth curves slightly, soft rather than smug this time.
“Well,” he says gently, stepping a little closer, “we should probably figure it out.”
Robby’s heart kicks a little harder at that.
“Very scientific approach, Dr Abbot,” he mutters, tongue darting out to lick over his bottom lip quickly.
Jack shrugs.
Then he reaches out and nudges Robby’s arm.
"You know for someone who flirts with me every day for years, you suddenly seem really shy about the concept of kissing me again."
Robby nods, "well, yeah." He answers bashfully, "That's because now it really matters, Jack."
He takes a breath...
“Come here.”
It’s such an easy, familiar gesture that Robby moves without thinking. His hands drop the bag and keys on the floor like they have no will of their own.
And then suddenly they’re close enough that the joking part of his brain goes very, very quiet. His ears are thundering with blood rush.
Jack hesitates for just a second, the smallest pause, like he’s giving Robby time to change his mind. His eyes asking, maybe begging, for permission.
Robby realizes he's doing the same thing, letting Jack choose too. When he sees the sureness in Jack's eyes suddenly Robby doesn’t hesitate at all, happily closing their gap.
“Hi,” Jack murmurs, impossibly close now, at last, “...good morning..."
"It really is..." Robby practically whispers, lips actually grazing Jack's as he speaks.
Then Jack kisses him.
It starts soft, almost cautious, like they’re both still figuring out the new rules, hesitant and remembering that this is now allowed.
Which lasts approximately three seconds...
Because apparently now that the option exists, neither of them has much interest in restraint anymore.
Robby’s hand finds the back of Jack’s neck, pulling him a little closer. Jack exhales against his mouth, one hand settling warm and steady at Robby’s waist, gripping him closer. He realizes dimly that Jack is smiling.
The kiss deepens, familiar in a way that feels almost unfair considering how extremely new this is, like they’ve been waiting a long time to stop pretending that they didn't want this, and Jack tastes like coffee, mint and home.
Robby melts into Jack's embrace, his body needing to be impossibly closer. One of his hands slides up Jack's neck, onto his jaw. Cradling him, wanting to hold him there forever.
It's not until Jack thunks against Robby's mantle that he even realises that he's been pushing him backwards this whole time, his other hand is under Jack's t-shirt, scratching at his skin. Jack makes a deep moan that sets Robby's insides on fire.
He's about to step back and tug Jack's shirt off over his head and put his lips on every bit of his torso, just like last night, but the action makes him stop a second, he eventually remembers reality.
He pulls back a little, breath slightly uneven.
“…shit!" Robby gasps.
Jack grumbles lazily against his mouth, chasing him
.
"Don't...I have to go to work.”
Jack doesn’t move his hand from Robby’s waist, but he groans and drops his forehead against his like they've been doing this forever.
“Tragic.”
“Patients. Responsibilities. Ethical obligations.”
Jack sighs dramatically. “All terrible priorities. Why did we willingly sign an oath?"
Robby laughs softly, enjoying the simple act of resting his forehead against Jack’s for a second. Even these little things made him burn. He slides his arms around Jack then, pulling him into a tight embrace, letting his head fall into the crook of Jack's neck, he sighs when he feels himself being wrapped up just as tight, being swayed just a little. He can't recall a time he's felt this safe or content.
The nerves from earlier are gone now.
Replaced with something steadier, almost like a quiet certainty that this was where they were always headed. Robby can hardly dare to believe this is their new reality.
“Hey,” Jack says quietly.
Robby looks up.
“We really don’t have to figure everything out today.”
Robby nods.
“Yeah,” he says. “I know.”
Jack smiles a little. "Sorry, I barged in here so early. I guess I was afraid you'd bolt, y'know? So, sorry for that, but you know me... Can't wait when it's something so important and you're about the most important thing I can imagine..."
Robby hopes his swallow isn't as embarrassingly audible as it seems. Fuck. He is so gone for this man.
"No, I get it, Fuck...yeah, I'm so glad you're here...and I’m planning on doing that again later.”
Robby raises an eyebrow suggestively.
“The kissing?”
“The kissing...and the rest.”
Jack smiles, looking oddly bashful.
“…okay, that does sound like a solid long-term plan.”
Jack gives him one last quick kiss, lighter this time, still lingering dangerously close.
“Fuck, you smell so good. Get out of my lungs, Go to work, Doctor Robinavitch.”
Robby laughs and grudgingly steps back out of Jack's arms, he lifts his keys and bag from the floor, grabs the door handle, then glances back at him.
“You’re still walking with me, right?”
Jack’s grin returns instantly.
“Oh yeah,” he says, “we are absolutely being that couple.”
Robby groans
But he doesn’t argue. "Let's go, I'm actually running late now. Your fault for being all sexy."
"Sexy?" Jack smirks, heading out first. "noted."
-
The walk to the hospital is mostly normal.
Which is impressive, considering under twenty minutes ago they were standing in Robby’s home debating whether they were emotionally mature enough to hold hands.
They don’t hold hands.
Not yet.
But at some point halfway down the block Jack’s little finger brushes Robby’s while they’re arguing about the ter hospital cafeteria's terrible new coffee blend, and neither of them really moves away.
After a second, Robby turns his hand just enough that their fingers hook together for half a step before they both pretend that didn’t happen.
By the time the hospital comes into view, Robby feels oddly calm.
Like the nervous energy from this morning has finally settled into something steadier, much more solid, exciting.
Jack slows as they reach the ambulance bay entrance.
“Well,” he says.
“Well,” Robby echoes, playing with the strap on his back pack.
A paramedic crew pushes a stretcher past them and Robby instinctively steps aside, work-brain already flickering on.
Jack watches him for a second, faintly amused.
“Don't panic. You’re doing the thing.”
“What thing?”
“The ‘I can see the hospital therefore I am now a professional who has never had feelings in his life’ thing.”
Robby scoffs. “It’s called boundaries, remember?"
“It’s called repression.”
“Same difference. How long do you think we'll last at keeping us private? A week? More?"
He knows this is going to be a struggle for them.
Jack grins. "What is it with you day- shifters and the betting pools? You're totally thinking about starting an anonymous board about us, aren't you?"
Robby laughs loudly.
They stop just outside the doors.
The morning rush is starting, nurses coming in, night shift soon filtering out, enough people around that both of them instinctively shift into public mode.
Which means they suddenly look like two completely normal coworkers having a normal conversation.
Robby adjusts the strap of his bag.
He looks at Jack, hoping the happiness he's drenched in is somehow visible.
“Okay,” Jack says.
There’s a small pause.
Jack nods toward the hospital behind Robby.
“You should probably go save lives.”
“That's the plan.”
“And I should probably go home and collapse.”
“You should,” Robby says. “You’ve been awake for way too long. Please go to sleep. Enjoy your day off. Take the rest."
Jack tilts his head slightly.
“Aw, Are you worried about me, Robby?”
“Don’t start.”
“I’m just saying, it sounded concerned, kinda cute. I could get used to that."
“It was medically responsible.” Robby tries.
“Sure.”
Robby sighs, but there’s a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. God, he wants to wrap himself around Jack and kiss that smugness off his face.
Another pause settles.
Then Jack shifts a little closer, lowering his voice and Robby really has to control himself. Every part of him is ready to forget their work rules.
“Last Important question.”
Robby eyes him suspiciously. “You’re enjoying these today.”
“So much.”
Robby gestures impatiently. “Go on then.”
Jack nods toward the hospital doors.
“What if we do a goodbye kiss here?”
He has a wicked smile on his face.
Robby fights the urge to lean right in. He knows Jack is just teasing him, and it's working.
“Jack.”
“What?”
“There are at least six nurses behind that glass who would never let me live that down and your team are probably right behind them..."
Jack glances toward the entrance.
“…fair.”
Robby nudges his shoulder, teasing.
“Go home. Sleep. Dream about me."
Jack studies him for a moment. "I already do that."
Then he nods once.
“Alright, alright. I'm gone."
He turns to leave, walking backwards a couple steps.
“Hey, Robby?”
Robby looks at him.
Jack’s expression softens just slightly.
“I meant what I said earlier."
“Which part?"
Jack smiles.
"About not rushing to figure us out in one day."
Robby feels that same steady warmth from earlier settle in his chest.
“Yeah,” he says quietly. “Me too.”
Jack smiles wider.
Then, because he’s apparently incapable of leaving things alone, he adds;
“Tonight though, right?"
Robby raises an eyebrow.
“What about tonight?” he says trying for aloof.
Jack takes one steps back.
“We’re definitely kissing hello.”
Robby shakes his head, laughing under his breath as he heads toward the doors.
“Wait, you're not coming to walk me home?" Robby teases. "That was a joke, by the way! Please stay home, enjoy your day off. Then maybe, just maybe, I'll swing by your place this evening. But, I guess it'll depend on if you go home now and actually go to sleep, Jack. Right now, please. You're distracting me from starting my day."
Jack lifts a hand in a lazy salute without turning around, and leaves.
And Robby walks into the hospital feeling lighter and happier than he has in years.
---
Robby can't wait to kiss him hello and goodbye forever.