One sending memes to each other while they're at work so much they turn their phone off in exasperation.
At first, it had started off as a joke. Whilst exploring the brilliance of the Internet, something that Ruby was now catching up on with the help of Henry, she had come across these images with funny text captions. Henry had informed her that these were called memes, and they had been made for almost everything imaginable, many becoming viral sensations.
Since receiving Ruby's mobile number from napkin that came alongside his burger, Whale had felt that part of falling in love with someone was that you had to put up with them sending you these strange memes and links to videos of cats in the early hours of the morning.
And whilst Whale certainly didn't mind watching a cat repeat the word "no" in a bizarrely human way, he felt that a distance had to be maintained between his home life and work life.
Evidently business at Granny's wasn't doing as well with another set of villains terrorising the town, as his phone hasn't stopped buzzing all day. Whale knew that he shouldn't answer it, but anything was better than the mountain of paperwork that sat at his desk.
So he opened her texts, trying to understand what the wine-glass holding, moustachioed and monocled cartoon faces were talking about. It had seemed like some kind of secret language, though Whale had to admit, some of the puns were rather funny.
But after the 50th image, the jokes were beginning to wear a little thin, especially when the reality of his work came calling with the buzz of his pager.
Even though Whale had responded to Ruby's previous text with an emoji that Henry described as being 'rolling on the floor laughing', his phone was already vibrating the moment he had begrudgingly left his office.
Whale made it all the way down the corridor before checking his phone. This time, the meme wasn't even that funny. Pausing to re-read the meme, Whale had the slight suspicion that Ruby didn't fully understand the implications of some of the memes. The one that had come through appeared to be either a very sly pun- or an innuendo that would give Granny a heart attack if she looked at Ruby's phone.
Take a step back so that he was no longer blocking the corridor, Whale hastily typed out a reply: 'Seriously stop I need to work.'
His pager gave another insistent bleep, and Whale slid his phone into his coat pocket before hurrying down the corridor.
'No doubt it's probably something trivial anyway,' Whale thought as he reached exam room ward. The pager was flashing exam room three, and Whale pushed open the door.
Sat upright on the bed was an anxious looking Snow, baby Neal cradled to her chest. There was no sign of Charming.
"Is your husband with you?"
Snow shot him a funny look, and Whale realised how it'd sounded. It wasn't as if he had anything against Charming, but the prince still didn't seem to have forgiven him for sleeping with his wife during the first curse. And if he was getting death glares for that, Whale dreaded to think of Charming's reaction if he did dare ask out Ruby. Then again, Snow's might be even worse.
"No, he's out with Emma, trying to track down Gold and his trio," Snow answered, adjusting her arm around Neal slightly.
"Right, so uh, what appears to be the problem?," Whale said, trying to get back out of the awkward hole he had inevitably dug himself into.
"Well I've noticed over the last few days that this scaly dry skin has started forming on his forehead and-
"
The vibration of Whale's phone cut Snow off.
"Are you being paged for somewhere else?" She asked, "I'm probably just over-reacting anyway, I can always come back-"
"No, no, it's fine," Said Whale, with an apologetic smile gained after many years of being a doctor, "It's just a text. Now, this dry skin of Neal's, where about is it?"
"Just here, on his forehead," Snow gently lifted Neal's knitted hat to reveal dried skin upon his otherwise soft forehead, "It's just, I thought he'd grown out of cradle cap, and I tried moisturising it but-"
Again Whale's phone vibrated, and just as Whale opened his mouth to apologise, his ringtone suddenly bursting out. Despite being inside his coat, the tinny sound of Justin Timberlake's SexyBack was still very audible.
If Whale had felt awkward when he first stepped foot into the room, he was now mortified. But he couldn't answer the phone to Ruby. Not in the middle of an examination: especially not an examination involving Ruby's closest friend.
"You can take the call, it's alright," Snow chirped above the noise, looking slightly less uncomfortable than him.
"Trust me, it's not important," Whale said, his mouth as rigid as the rest of his body as he helplessly awaited for the song to cease. That was the last time he agreed for Ruby to 'fix up' his mobile.
After what felt like the length of the first curse, his phone silenced itself and Victor let out a sigh.
"Sorry about that," Clearing his throat, as if to regain the little dignity he had left, Whale crouched down to better look at Neal's forehead.
"It could well still be cradle cap, but there are also many types of eczema that can be common for young babies. It's perfectly normal, I can assure you," Rising from his haunches, Whale went over to the nearby cabinet.
Pulling open a drawer, he felt his phone vibrate again. Having deemed any professionality to have been obliterated by his ringtone, Whale took out the phone. Another two texts, plus a missed call all flashed up from Ruby. With a shake of his head, Whale held down the power off button as he took out a prescription slip with his free hand.
If Ruby needed to contact him due to a real emergency, she'd have to run down to the hospital herself.