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Dennis has these memories. Really nice memories, of when he was younger. Kid young. His Mom would have these two men around to babysit him. Usually, Dennis was used to the men in his life being his mother's lovers, but these two? No, these two were her friends, or - something. He doesn't remember how they were introduced to his life, but he remembers them.
They were funny, and they took him on excursions he still remembers. Holding both their hands at the zoo, screaming and running from the reptile house. Riding on their shoulders way up high through the streets of Pittsburgh on their way to his favourite playground.
They were the brightest part of his childhood, these men. Stuck around for a few years, until he was old enough for school, and then - just gone.
He never understood where they went, or why they left him. He just remembers the light dimming out of things, a little. As an adult, he figures - well, they probably moved away or something. Fell out of touch. People do that.
He moved on. He got old enough to not need babysitters.
They're barely more than a warm feeling in the back of his mind by the time he's starting his emergency rotation. A warm feeling that he's never really been able to replicate. Total safety and the knowledge that he's looked after. Two grown-ups who adored him, and would always be there at his back.
Until they weren't.
When he meets the married attendings, Robby and Jack, he feels a flicker of that warmth. He writes it off as just admiration. They're very handsome. Like, very handsome. No wonder everyone in the department has been whispering about them to him.
"Just wait til you meet Dr Robby's husband," Princess had murmured, waggling her eyebrows. "They are yummy."
They are. She's right. They're also a powerhouse together. In the midst of the nightmare that is Pittfest, they move together with such grace and unspoken cooperation that Dennis is in awe. It's like they've done this dance with each other a thousand times over. And maybe they have, maybe that's why it's so effortless.
Dennis has always had a bit of a competency boner. It's only natural that it pops for the two of them.
The surprise is that they seem to like him, too.
They'll crack jokes with him, chat at the admissions hub about his day, about his plans for the weekend off. The flicker of warmth returns. He writes it off as a little crush. "You doing anything tomorrow night, kid?" Robby asks him, weeks into his rotation. "Me and Jack have the night off."
"Oh, that sounds nice," Dennis replies, trying not to picture exactly what Jack and Robby might do on their night off together. "You guys should do something fun. Go - uh, I don't know, see a movie, or something. I'm just gonna rot in front of the TV."
Robby's face flickers in something that looks like it could almost have been a laugh, and shakes his head.
"I meant," he says, smiling. "Are you free for dinner?"
Dinner. Oh.
His cheeks go a little pink.
"Oh!" he says, embarrassed. "Um. You sure? Isn't it kinda rare you guys get a date night, or - ?"
Jack slaps Robby on the shoulder as he approaches behind him.
"Who said we're not doing date night?" he chimes in. "So, you coming or not?"
He ends up at a table in a much fancier restaurant than he's ever set foot in before, seated across from the two of them. There's candles, and wine that doesn't taste like pure ethanol, which is what he's used to, and two men who are holding hands and playing footsie with him under the table.
"You grew up here?" Robby asks, looking at him like he's going to be dessert. And - yeah, fucking, sure. Dennis is still convinced this is kind of a dream, and he's going to wake up hard and sorely disappointed, but, whatever, let the dream be as hot and indulgent as he wants.
"Uh-huh," he answers. "Not far from Squirrel Hill. My Mom raised me. She's the best."
"Dad not in the picture?" Jack asks. He's cradling his glass of wine in one hand and stroking Robby's thumb with the other.
Dennis shakes his head.
"Nah. He was a one-night stand, Mom says. But she had boyfriends and stuff. And for a while, I had these awesome babysitters," he says, eyes lighting up.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah, they were just - they were so cool. I think they might've been friends of my Mom? These two guys, just. Hanging out with little me. They took me to a Penguins game once, and I sat on this guy's shoulders the whole time. It rocked," he says, grinning at the memory.
Jack and Robby exchange glances.
"What?" he asks, hesitant. That was a strange glance.
"What's your Mom's name?" Robby asks, slightly strained.
"Caroline," he answers slowly.
Jack starts laughing so hard he has to stand up and walk away from the table, wheezing as he ducks into the men's.
"What the fuck?" Dennis gapes, watching him go.
Robby, rather than laughing, has gone red.
"I think, uh. Kid, I think that might have been us," he winces.
Dennis stares blankly.
"What do you mean?"
"Well. Jack and I babysat for a real nice lady called Caroline. About … twenty years ago now. Little more," he says, head in his hands.
Jack rejoins them, his eyes shining.
"Man, I fucking loved that kid," he says, still laughing a little. "I can't fucking believe - although, y'know, I can kinda see it now, your hair was just as curly back then, too."
Dennis sits back in his chair, stunned.
His most cherished memories of childhood are … the two men he wants desperately to fuck.
No.
"I … huh," he manages finally. "I guess, um. Let's be friends. Again?"
Robby lifts his head, and nods.
"Yeah. Friends. For sure. God, I can't believe how big you got," he says.
Dennis feels something hot trickle down his spine.
"Friends …" Jack says slowly, looking between the two of them. "Michael, we had plans other than - "
"And now we know he's the little boy we used to push on the swings, Jack," Robby hisses.
So Dennis is … not going to be dessert.
Damn it.
"Okay, hang on. Hang on, I never understood - like, you guys just vanished? Overnight? I remember, 'cause, the last time you babysat me, we watched Ice Age. And that movie slaps. And then - then you were just, like, never ever there again?" he asks, head spinning.
He tries not to wince too much when he says it. He's not still hung up on it. He's not holding a grudge. He just - he's always wondered.
Robby's eyes soften, and he reaches out a hand for Dennis' across the table. Holds it just the way he was holding Jack's.
"Oh, kid," he murmurs. "I graduated med school, and Jack started taking on nights, and we just couldn't really hang out much anymore. With anyone."
Oh. Well, that makes sense.
It stings a little. Which is fucking stupid. He was a five year old, and they were grown men who weren't even his fathers. Even if, for a while, it felt that way.
"Right," he says quickly. "Yeah, makes sense."
"It's not because you did anything wrong, kiddo. Or we stopped liking you. Just, life," Jack adds, gentle.
Life. Twenty years of it, and now here he is.
He swallows, and proceeds to ask if they remember this, and then that, and then they've spent two more hours lingering at a table that the servers definitely want back reminiscing about things he'd completely forgotten.
When they took little Dennis to the local creek for him to paddle around in, and he got covered head to toe in mud. Taking him home to scrub him clean in the bath.
Robby teaching him Yiddish nursery rhymes, the words of which have left him, but the melodies remain as ghosts in his mind. When the man sings them, very quietly, at the table, he can feel something sparking back to life inside him.
The two of them taking him to the planetarium, lying on their backs with Dennis squished between them, staring up at the dome littered with stars.
"So were you, uh," Dennis asks, three glasses of wine and in and inexplicably embarrassed. "Always together? Like, back then?"
Robby laughs.
"Oh, yeah," he says, rolling his eyes. "This guy took one look at me in med school and decided, I'll marry that one."
Jack shrugs, pleased.
"And I did."
"Huh. It's weird, as a kid, I never even thought about it. You were just my two Da - "
But he cuts himself off, going deeply pink. Shit, he has not meant to let that slip through.
Jack leans forward, eyes glinting.
"Dads?" he purrs.
"No," Dennis protests weakly. "I know you weren't. Aren't."
Robby nudges Jack, and their eyes meet for one long moment. Whatever decades of marriage have done to them, it's given them the ability to communicate without speaking.
"It's getting late," Robby says finally. "We should get going."
The servers sigh with relief.
"Oh. Uh, yeah. This was great. Like, really cool. Thanks for inviting me … out," Dennis says, a little confused, a little disappointed. This hasn't been what he thought it would be, but … it has been great.
Jack pays the bill, without letting Dennis even try to pretend like he can cover his portion. Pushes the kid out of the restaurant with a hand in the small of his back.
"So," he says, voice low. "I don't think we should really let you walk home. It's late. Dark. It'd be irresponsible."
He can't afford the Uber, or cab, and they know it.
"Oh, it's fine," he waves off. "I'll be fine."
Robby grins. It feels … predatory.
"Sweetheart," he says, taking Dennis' hand. Jack takes his other. It feels familiar. "You're coming home with us, mm?"
And - oh, fuck.
"I thought we said … friends."
They tug on his hands, keeping him between them, and he's still shorter than them, which is annoying, until he's walking in tandem with them.
"I think I'm more interested in finding out more about how our little boy grew up," Robby murmurs. Dennis squeezes his hand, unconsciously.
When they peel him out of his clothes, it's familiar, too. And not.
"Arms up, baby," Jack hums, and pulls his shirt off over his head. God, this is more than a little fucked up. He remembers this. A version of this.
"I … fuck," he breathes, as Robby unzips him gently, pulls his jeans off and leaves him standing bare before them.
"God, kid," Robby moans, just looking at him. "Oh, you got big."
And his hand wraps around Dennis' half-hard cock.
"Jesus," he mutters, all the blood in his body going from his cheeks to his cock. "Oh, fuck, Da- "
"Oh, no no no," Jack growls from the bed. "You say it."
He doesn't want to. He desperately wants to.
He shakes his head.
"Robby, let go of the boy's dick and - yeah, good, come here, little one," Jack groans, settling Dennis on his lap, Jack's back firmly against the headboard.
He can't help it. He whines.
They used to call him that, all the fucking time.
Come on, little one, time for a snack.
Little one, your shoes are untied again. I'll show you how to fix it.
And now.
"I am going to take you apart, little one."
It's only when Jack's cock is fully seated inside him, and he's so full he can barely think, that he manages to choke it out.
"Wait!"
They both stop what they're doing. Jack, rocking up into him, and Robby mouthing at his nipples.
"If - if we're doing this," he pants, and God he wants to be doing this. "You can't leave again."
"Oh, sweet boy," Jack coos, bouncing him very gently on his cock. "Your Daddies aren't going anywhere."
"Gonna take such good care of you, baby. Just like always," Robby adds, kissing all the way up his chest to meet Jack's mouth, messy and tender where he's licking into Dennis' mouth.