Chapter Text
It’s the end of his shift and Dennis is exhausted. Though Internal Medicine wasn’t as fast paced as some of the other rotations he’d had it was still tiring. He leaves the unit and heads for the back staircase, glancing around to see if anyone’s watching before he hauls ass up the stairs to the 8th floor. When he gets there the hallways are dim, and the air smells stale and a little damp. He has to remind himself that this is better than what he was doing before, oscillating between staying on the street or in a shelter, never sure if he was going to have a bed that night.
He goes through the motions of getting ready for bed, showering in the small stall tucked into the corner of the room, slipping on his last pair of clean pajamas. He’ll have to find a way to scrounge up enough money for a load at the laundromat tomorrow during his day off. He settles himself onto the hospital bed and grabs his laptop to pull up his coursework. He might be fighting sleep, but he can’t afford to fail, he has to make it to graduation. Maybe then all of this will feel worth it.
He pulls up his student email first, and sees a message that has been sent to his entire cohort. It’s an invitation to a networking event the next night for med students on campus. An opportunity to meet other students as well as respected physicians from local practices and hospitals all over Pittsburgh. Normally he’d discard the invite right away, he has way too much on his plate right now, but before he does a line at the bottom catches his eye. ‘Dinner will be provided’. Dennis can’t afford to turn down a free meal right now, he’s barely making it work with the money he has. At least it’s on a day off.
…
Dennis jolts awake and frantically looks at the time, 11am, damn it! He needs to go do laundry today and then figure out how he’s going to get to campus for that dinner later. He gathers up his meager wardrobe and digs around for his stash of quarters he keeps specifically for laundry. He has just enough for one small load and if he leaves now he’ll have enough time to finish that, get dressed, and head to campus.
He sneaks out of the hospital the same way he gets up to the 8th floor and then starts walking towards the laundromat. The early afternoon sun is warm, but not overbearing, and even though he’s in a hurry Dennis is able to take it all in. It’s beautiful days like this when he forgets about any regrets he might have about leaving Broken Bow.
The laundromat is blessedly empty and he’s able to snag one of the smaller machines right away. Someone else has left a small ziplock with a few detergent pods in it on the adjacent machine, and before he can talk himself out of it he snags one and tosses it in. This will not only save him the couple extra quarters he would’ve spent on the small vending machine they have here, but it’s also significantly better quality. Once he’s gotten the washer started he pulls out his laptop and sets up at the rickety little plastic table in the corner to do more school work while he waits for the load to run.
He’s halfway through a peer review on a recent paper for his pharmacology course when the washing machine finishes. He finds a good stopping point and switches everything over to a dryer and takes a few minutes to plot out his bus ride to campus. Luckily his school ID doubles as a bus pass so he doesn’t have to worry about an extra expense there, just the extra time it will take. He finishes up his school work just as the dryer finishes its cycle. So he packs everything up and heads back towards the hospital to get ready.
…
He finds the banquet hall listed in the email with minimal effort, luckily it’s in one of the medical buildings that he’s already had a few courses in. He spies an empty table and sits down before he can start to feel too self conscious as he tugs awkwardly at the collar of his shirt. It’s the only dress shirt he owns and it’s small on him. Not surprising since he’s had it since high school. It used to be his church shirt, but he hasn’t attended a service in a long time, not since right after he left Broken Bow the last time.
He scans the room, which is starting to fill with other med students, faculty members, and what he assumes are the invited professionals. He lets out a breath as he notices how many of the other students are also fidgeting awkwardly, and a few of them start to join his table ahead of dinner being served. They all introduce themselves, some of them he already recognizes from shared courses and his previous rotations. They settle into easy conversation as they wait.
A girl he was on rotation with in peds, Maria, let out a huge sigh. “God, I hope they feed us soon. It’s been way too long since I’ve had anything other than ramen or a pb&j.” Everyone at the table chuckles and nods in agreement, bemoaning the fact that they’re all ultra broke students. He tries his best to laugh along at the right spots, but it feels hollow. He knows he’s not the same kind of broke that they are. He wishes he was, wishes he had the problems that they all seem to have; too many roommates, a cramped apartment, a car that keeps crapping out on him, having to borrow money from parents. Almost anything would be better than what he’s dealing with now.
He checks out a little, paying just enough attention to nod at the right intervals. He half listens to the dean of the college give a small speech about the importance of networking and briefly introduce the professionals joining them tonight before announcing that dinner is about to be served. He feels out of place again as soon as well dressed waiters come out with bread and salad, placing the plates neatly in front of everyone, but he shakes his head and digs in.
They’re halfway through the entree course when one of the other girls at his table says something that makes him almost whip his head around.
“You know, maybe what we all need is to get sugar daddies.” She cackles a little at herself. “My roommate in undergrad had one for a while, used to take her out for nice meals all the time and shit. I think she used some kind of app?”
Everyone is nodding in agreement and he can’t help but nod along. If only he had some hot, rich dude paying for his food and buying him nice things. And honestly, it would be nice to have regular sex again. With clear boundaries and no chance of stupid feelings getting involved. Just mutual satisfaction. Before he can get too wrapped up in the daydream of it all dinner is over.
He doesn’t have the energy to actually do any of the schmoozing that will take up the rest of this night. So he makes an excuse to his table about going to find the restroom and slips out of the banquet hall and out onto the street. The walk to the bus stop is long and filled with more musings. He doubts any of the men on those apps would actually want him, but what does he have to lose? He’s homeless and living in the fucking hospital he works at. What’s the worst that can happen, he gets rejected?