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Dennis knew that he had a slew of nasty habits. But he didn’t think any of them were really that bad. He had a terrible sleep schedule, occasionally he smoked and drank–and yeah, sometimes when he was lost deep in thought, whatever was in his hand would find its way to his mouth.
He would chew on pens, pencils, his nails–even his badge wasn’t safe on the retractable string by his chest pocket.
It wasn’t the most hygienic thing in the world, especially considering he worked at a hospital, but when he was charting or something stressful was going on he didn’t even know he was doing it. His pens got it the worst. Most of the tips were mangled and indented from his teeth. The plastic was squished and sometimes still wet to the point where he couldn’t even click them down anymore.
Then there was that one unfortunate time he bit too hard and the pen exploded.
He shivered at the thought. It was so embarrassing. The blue ink had stained his chin and fingers for days after and Trinity had taken to calling him “Blueberry,” which was worse than Huckleberry.
Today had been a pretty normal day in the ER. A broken bone here, a burn there, and several fevers as they were entering flu season. Nothing too out of the norm. Dennis was sitting at the charge station, leaned over as he looked at a report on a patient in one of his rooms. His hip was cocked out as he rocked back on his feet, eyes scanning the notes, and subconsciously, the pen in his hand he was using to make notes made its way up and into his mouth.
Initially, he was just poking the plunger into his chin, hearing it click out and in. Then before he had really registered it, he was chewing on it. Thinking really hard about what the patient needed before he could maybe have a quick lunch break.
The ER was always full of noise. Feet hammering the floor, monitors beeping, like a lull that Dennis had mostly grown used to. He was so lost in the medical notes that he hadn’t heard the sound of feet thundering up to him before the pen was promptly snatched away.
“Ah Ah Ah…Whitaker,” Dr. Robby clicked his tongue as he stuck the pen in his pocket, “That is disgusting, do you know how many people have touched that pen probably in the last hour?”
Dennis paled, “I’m sorry, Dr. Robby, I was just thinking and-”
“Here.”
Robby fumbled around in his pocket before handing Dennis a slightly mushed granola bar, the kind he liked.
“Chew on that instead.” and with a pat to his shoulder, Robby was off to do whatever Robby does.
Dennis was dumbfounded at what had just happened, yet relieved, he didn’t have to buy anything for lunch now. He looked over to Dana sitting at the desk who had watched the whole encounter and he frowned.
“Dr. Robby just took my only pen…”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This went on for weeks.
Dennis would be lost in thought and chew on the closest thing in his hands, and Robby would round the corner like it was his sixth sense. He would chide Dennis with his signature “ah ah ah..”, take the item away, and then offer him a small treat to chew on instead. Sometimes it was a granola bar and sometimes Robby would give him small chocolates and candies.
In this time, Robby had managed to save a number of pens, Dennis’ badge, and a handful of little paper clips that Robby actually made Dennis spit out into his gloved hand before rewarding him with a small pack of starbursts.
It had gotten to the point where even Santos had noticed the behavior and brought it up to Dennis one night.
"He's training you," She said over noodles that night.
Dennis looked up from his bowl, noodles still slurping into his mouth. He chewed for a bit before responding.
"Training me? Isn't that like…his job? He is the attending." Trinity face palmed.
"No, dummy. Like a dog," she stirs her noodles with a sly grin, "Or maybe in your case a fucking puppy…"
"Puppy!?"
"YES!" Trinity barks out a laugh, "You do something he doesn't like and he reprimands you before giving you a treat…like a puppy." Dennis shrinks back in his chair before his cooling Ramen suddenly becomes VERY interesting.
"Maybe he's just being nice and trying to help me break a nasty habit-"
"Or maybe he has something else he wants you to orally fixate on." Trinity couldn't hold in the laugh and she tilted her head back at the sight of Dennis' red flustered face.
He grabbed the dish cloth off the table and whipped it at her a few times.
"Don't say things like that, Trin! He's our boss! You're so grosssss!" Dennis threw the cloth at her as Trinity struggled to catch her breath. Using the cloth to wipe the tears from her eyes as she tried to regain composure.
"Chill out, Huckleberry, I'm just fucking with you." she took another cautious bite of her noodles before speaking with her mouth full, "But the training thing is definitely happening. Some psychological 'Oh yes, Dr. Robby, I'll stop having full on PICA episodes for you…Can I please have a granola bar,' type of shit."
Dennis groaned, thoroughly done with her for the night. He sat his bowl in the sink and made his way up to his room.
Was Robby really doing this with some kind of intention?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next day, Dennis had forgotten about the embarrassing dinner. The ER had been busy that day and he had barely gotten a chance to think to himself, let alone take a break. He had rushed out of the house so fast this morning, it wasn't really like he had any food to take a break with. Maybe Robby might have something for him?
If Trinity was right, he would be kissing so much ass later.
He waited until Robby was in his general vicinity and grabbed a tongue depressor off the supply cart, not wanting to lose another pen to Robby. He grabbed a piece of paper off the printer and pretended to read it with the wooden stick in his mouth, chewing and trying to break it in half with his teeth.
Like clockwork, he could hear Robby excuse himself from where he was talking with Dr. Abbott, his footsteps thundering up towards Dennis.
"Ah ah ah. Spit it out, kid."
Dennis rolls his eyes in faux annoyance before trashing the stick and holding his hand out expectantly, like he was used to, waiting for his treat. But it never came. Robby just stared at him with a sympathetic look before shrugging his shoulders.
"Sorry, Whitaker, I'm fresh out. Someone must have caught wind I had a secret stash of food. Box was empty this morning."
Robby saw Dennis visibly deflate. Heat rising to his cheeks as the embarrassment of holding his hand out like a beggar hit him.
MY TREAT!?
"Oh…yeah, no. That's okay, Dr. Robby. It's fine, really."
This hit Robby like a punch to the face. He felt so bad. Whitaker looked like a kicked puppy.
Whenever he found the person that stole his snacks, he'd be sure to tell them-
"Hey, Whitaker? Looking for a pick me up? I got something for ya!" Abbott walked over from the doorway he had been previously speaking to Robby at with a shit eating grin on his face.
Dennis perked up and smiled as Jack rifled through his scrub pocket and produced a very familiar granola bar. Dennis' favorite.
"Thank you, Dr. Abbott! I really appreciate it. These are my favorite!" Dennis walks off with a satisfied smile, unwrapping the granola bar and taking a large bite.
Robby's glare cut through the background of the ER as he stared at Jack.
"Really? You stole my snacks just so you could play hero?"
"Gotta let him know you're not the only attending he can rely on around here," Jack laughs.
Robby groans and runs his hands down his face in annoyance, "You need to stay out of my locker and my business."
Jack walks past him to clap him on the shoulder.
"Oh buddy, this little game you're playing with Whitaker just became my business. You aren't the only one that passed general psychology, my friend." and with that, Jack was gone into an exam room while Robby was left to fluster and write another grocery list in his head.