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Failure to Thrive: The Things We Wake Up With by Thefriendyouhata
Fandoms: The Pitt (TV)
03 Jun 2026
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Summary
Dennis Whitaker has always been good at holding it together, until he isn’t.
After a panic attack leaves him shaken in the middle of the Pitt, Dennis begins to question everything: his competence, his place, and whether the things he’s spent years burying will ever loosen their grip.
He doesn’t talk about home. He definitely doesn’t talk about the way his heart stutters when Dr. Robinavitch smiles at him, or when Jack Abbott calls him kid with that crooked grin.
They’re married. They’re happy. They’re kind to him. That has always been enough.
Until a patient forces Dennis to face the parts of himself he’s spent years refusing to name. Trauma doesn’t stay quiet, and neither does the anger that comes with it. As old wounds resurface, Dennis is pushed to confront how deeply his past still shapes him and whether healing is possible when you’ve spent so long just surviving.
The Pitt is about saving lives. Dennis is starting to wonder if anyone can save his.