Dr. Cox/JD (Scrubs)
Title: Why Do You Hate Me When I Show You Nothing But Love?
Author: rionaleonhart
Fandom: Scrubs
Pairing: Perry Cox/John ‘JD’ Dorian
Spoilers: Minor spoilers (mostly dialogue) for various Season One episodes, ‘My New Coat’ and ‘My Old Friend’s New Friend’; larger spoilers for ‘My Own Private Practice Guy’, ‘My Cake’ and ‘My Lunch’.
Notes: Most episode quotes are taken from the transcripts on My Own Personal ‘Net Thing.
Scrubs is an American sitcom set in and around a hospital and focusing on the work and personal lives of its employees. The main character is Dr. John Dorian, also known as ‘JD’, ‘Bambi’, ‘Newbie’ and assorted girls’ names depending on who’s addressing him, but I’ll be referring to him as JD because that’s what he thinks of himself as. He begins as an intern and works his way up - he’s an attending doctor in the current series - and he is idealistic, adorable and dorky. Because the show is from his point of view, we get to hear his personal thoughts and watch his ever-so-slightly-bizarre daydreams.
Dr. Perry Cox is an enormously sarcastic attending who acts as a ‘mentor’ of sorts to JD; he enjoys mocking people and going off on incredibly long rants. Although he may sometimes appear cynical or apathetic, he is very much a doctor because he wants to help people and will always be willing to break the rules of the hospital if it will save somebody.
JD adores and worships Dr. Cox; Dr. Cox, in return, insults him and calls him girls’ names. It is clearly true love.
Into Private Practice Together: Why It Works.
JD: That Mrs. Larkin's an aggressive lady. She wouldn't even let her husband finish a sentence -
Dr. Cox: Oh, shut the hell up, would you please? At least she's ballsy, unlike that husband who's the overly thoughtful, sensitive type that drives me crazy.
(JD grins at him.)
Dr. Cox: What?
JD: Nah, I just - I think the Larkins complement each other. They're a good team. Kind of remind me of us.
Dr. Cox: Roseanne, now, granted, I was as usual only halfway listening to you, but I got the sinking feeling you just compared us to a married couple. I know, I know, a girl can dream, but (motions between them) this? Never gonna happen.
The two characters balance each other beautifully - JD’s daydreaming and idealism is contrasted by Dr. Cox’s stark realism - and they care about each other a huge amount, although Dr. Cox does his best to conceal it. JD looks up enormously to Dr. Cox; he refers to him as ‘the person I trust the most’, he aspires to be close to him and to be like him, and when Dr. Cox is threatened with being fired he does everything he can to save him (“You asked her for help, didn’t you?” “Look, I don’t think you realise how important you are to some people around here.”). Dr. Cox may call JD ‘Newbie’ and ‘Clarabelle’, but he respects him both as a doctor and as a person (a revelation so startling to JD that he nervously asks ‘Are you dying?’ when Dr. Cox confesses it), and will occasionally do something nice for him: when JD’s father dies Dr. Cox secretly takes over all of his patients to give him a day off, and later visits him at his home so he’ll have someone to talk to about it.
Then there’s the fact that it’s just so much fun. When JD finds himself staring absently at Dr. Cox’s crotch (“...gosh, I’m thrilled you approve, but for the last time: I’m up here. I’m up here. *whistles* I’m up here!”), or Dr. Cox asks whether JD had trouble finding the right thong for ‘her’ low-rider jeans and slaps him on the backside, it’s difficult not to grin like a lunatic. There’s a particularly brilliant scene in which JD, under the mistaken impression that Dr. Cox is fighting with a private practice doctor over him (rather than Dr. Cox’s ex-wife), finds absolutely nothing odd about the exchange:
Pete: Perry, I can't change what already happened, but you’ve got to believe me - I never meant to come between you and anyone.
JD's Thoughts: Watching Dr. Cox and Pete fight over me was - aw, hell, I'll say it: it was awesome!
Dr. Cox: You went ahead and took something that did not belong to you.
JD's Thoughts: That seemed a little possessive... but I'm flattered!
Dr. Cox: And worse than that, you did it knowing full-well just exactly how I felt about her.
JD's Thoughts: Ahh, he just wouldn't be Dr. Cox if he didn't refer to me as a 'her.'
Pete: Hey, for what it's worth, I didn't make the first move.
JD: That's a lie! You bought me a latte!
Of course, I have to mention the sheer, unbelievable cuteness of the pairing. While Dr. Cox tends to avoid speaking to JD about any matters not work-related, JD desperately wants to be accepted as part of his personal life, spending his time thinking of ‘possible nicknames for Dr. Cox when we become best friends’ and cunning ways of sneaking into his apartment. JD’s determination to get Dr. Cox to interact with him on a more personal level is hilarious and adorable - at one point he pretends to have stolen all the spoons from the cafeteria in an attempt to force him into eating lunch with him (“Lunch for us: Not Going To Happen. Normally I’d tell you something harsh right about now, like ‘we’re not friends’, but then you’ll just grin that stupid grin and shake your head back and forth like ‘How could that possibly be true?’”); he is ridiculously thrilled when Dr. Cox refers to them as ‘we’ (‘We! After all these years, he’s finally made us a team!’); and then there is, of course, his eternal quest for a sincere hug:
Molly: Dr. Cox is a textbook closed-off alpha male. I mean, you can try forever, but you're never going to get that hug that you really want.
JD: Uh, excuse me, I'm not a child. I'm a doctor.
JD’s Thoughts: And I'll get that hug!
Dr. Cox: I know what you want, I do. (checks to see if anyone else is around before holding out his arms) Come here.
JD’s Thoughts: Oh, my God, it's finally happening! Don't miss a moment! Take it all in! Ba-buh-ba-buh-buh-buhh, buh-ba-ba-ba-ba-buh-buhhh -
(JD leans in to accept his hug, and is stopped short by Dr. Cox whistling sharply in his ear.)
JD: Ow.
JD endangers his romantic relationships in favour of Dr. Cox more than once. The first of these is when he is going out with a girl named Alex: Dr. Cox constantly interrupts his dates by paging him and demanding his help with patients. It’s understandable that JD would answer these summons - after all, it’s his job - but one might wonder why Dr. Cox would specifically summon him when there are so many other interns at his beck and call. In addition to this, JD jeopardises his relationship with Alex by working with Dr. Cox even when he doesn’t need to: he stays behind after his shift ends to help Dr. Cox treat an arthritic patient instead of meeting Alex for a date they had previously arranged, even though Dr. Cox says that he can manage himself:
Dr. Cox: Now, Newbie, I’m relatively certain I can handle this. You’re off anyway, aren’t you?
JD: Yeah, whatever. I’m with you.
Dr. Cox: Fair enough. Let’s go treat the patient.
(later:)
JD: Alex dumped me.
Dr. Cox: Okay, Newbie, how'd you drop the ball on this one? And don't tell me you cried, or I'm gonna have you banned from the men's room again.
JD: Well, I was just so excited about what we were doing here last night, I just forgot all about our date.
Dr. Cox: ...You didn’t forget. You kept looking at your watch. I saw you.
Alex is immediately succeeded by Elliot, a girl JD has been pursuing ever since meeting her in the Pilot. What is interesting is that, two weeks later, he makes the exact same mistake that he did with Alex: he destroys his relationship with Elliot by valuing Dr. Cox above her:
Dr. Cox: Oh, what the hell, Barbie? You should have gotten the cardiology fellow to give Mrs. Zuckerman a transvenous pacemaker one hour ago.
Elliot: Dr. Cox, I was waiting to see if she would tolerate her low heart-rate, which is exactly what all the medical textbooks tell us to do. Am I right, JD?
Dr. Cox: (mimicking Elliot’s voice) Is she right, JD?
JD: Uh... well, technically yes. (Elliot smirks.) But, you know, it's - it's really a judgment call, and if she really was that bradycardic, I probably would've called the fellow...
(Elliot stares at him, then leaves.)
Dr. Cox: Wow. Always side with the hoochie, Newbie? It’s a rookie mistake. Gosh, I - I hate to see it.
Losing All Lapdog Privileges: The Many Fallings-Out of JD and Dr. Cox.
Bottom line... is the couples that are truly right for each other wade through the same crap as everybody else, but, the big difference is, they don't let it take 'em down. One of those two people will stand up and fight for that relationship every time, if it's right, and they're real lucky. One of them will say something.
One thing that Dr. Cox and JD do a lot is fight. When Dr. Cox is in a good mood he mocks JD and calls him girls’ names, but when he is angry with him he refuses to speak to him at all, and JD quickly becomes very upset. When Dr. Cox first ‘breaks up’ with him in the second episode, JD obsesses over it - much to the annoyance of everyone around him - and eventually, after asking everyone about Dr. Cox and finding out that he has no real friends in the hospital, becomes worried about him being lonely and visits his home. Dr. Cox mocks him mercilessly for it (‘Would you stay? I can braid your hair, and I know the couch isn’t very deep, but we could move the back cushion... and spoon’), but the visit is a well-meaning gesture and shows how much JD cares about Dr. Cox, even though they haven’t known each other for that long.
The second time JD and Dr. Cox fall out, due to JD’s unintentionally thwarting Dr. Cox’s attempt to sneak past the Head of Medicine and get treatment for a woman with no insurance, we hear JD’s thoughts as he walks through the hallways: I don’t need Dr. Cox. Big jerk. I hate him. He sounds as if he is about to cry. It is adorable. Dr. Cox’s resolution to never be in the same room as JD again does not last long, however, and neither does JD’s to stay angry at him:
JD’s Thoughts: Look at him, pretending like yesterday never happened. Well, if he thinks I'm going to forgive him without so much as a -
Dr. Cox: Anyway, newbie, the reason I was all bent out of shape yesterday -
JD: (beaming) I accept!
This happens many, many times - JD and Dr. Cox will argue, Dr. Cox will refuse to speak to JD for a while, but eventually JD will apologise or Dr. Cox will come back to him. The quote from Dr. Cox at the beginning of this section fits his relationship with JD perfectly. One of them will always try to repair the connection.
How To Save A Life: The Serious Side Of JD/Cox.
I would like to make special mention of one intern here: John Dorian. Smart kid, he's extremely competent, and his enthusiasm - and his determination to always be better - is something I see in him twenty-four hours a day. He cares. Probably cares too much. But he's definitely somebody you don't want to lose.
While the arguments and girls’ names are all fun, JD and Dr. Cox’s relationship is genuinely important to them, and they both need it for their own reasons. It is immediately apparent that JD needs Dr. Cox for the lessons that Dr. Cox teaches him and his ability to alleviate his worries and insecurities - when he first begins working at the hospital and is too frightened to attempt the medical procedures, he only finds the courage to do so after Dr. Cox tells him ‘You can do this’; when Dr. Cox says ‘Once you start blaming yourself for deaths that aren’t your fault... my friend, that’s a slippery slope that you can’t come back from, and trust me, I’ve seen it ruin a hell of a lot of good doctors and I will not let it happen to you’, JD, trusting him completely, tells us ‘And because he said that, I knew it wouldn’t’ - but it may not be obvious at first that Dr. Cox benefits from the relationship.
However, JD is important to Dr. Cox: he is one of the few people with whom he has a connection that in any way approaches friendship, and so he helps to keep him sane. After having a breakdown and destroying a lab room in a fit of rage, Dr. Cox kidnaps JD from his apartment and confides in him; when Dr. Cox’s psychiatrist says to him ‘if there's someone in your life at that hell-hole of a hospital who you actually listen to, you should do everything in your power to keep them around’, we just know that the camera’s about to cut to JD singing ‘Kung-Fu Fighting’ in an elevator. In the episode ‘My Lunch’ when JD finds Dr. Cox overwhelmed by guilt, believing that he was responsible for the deaths of two patients, it is when he says that he would have done the same thing that Dr. Cox begins to seem as if he might recover. In spite of what he may say and how he may treat him, Dr. Cox really respects and trusts JD, and this episode in particular shows that, although JD often needs Dr. Cox, there are times when Dr. Cox needs him even more.
In Conclusion...
Elliot: Be more sensitive. Try giving him a hug.
Dr. Cox: Barbie... you’ve met me before, yes? Now, at most, I can muster one hug a year, and nine months ago I hugged my son, so you’re going to have to do it.
Elliot: Um, you saw us before, we're still awkward from the break-up.
Dr. Cox: H--hold the phone, are you suggesting that - if I sleep with him, that I won't have to deal with problems like this? Because I'm seriously considering taking that hit. (as Elliot walks off) I mean, honestly, what is he like in post-game? Is there spooning? Because I don't spoon, I'm not a spooner.
When I first began watching Scrubs, I expected people to be writing slash between JD and his best friend Turk, so I was a little surprised to see that JD/Cox was by far the most popular pairing. When I watched a few more episodes with its popularity in mind, however, I really began to see why it would work. The relationship is unbalanced, and Dr. Cox would probably prefer to have his eyes put out than ever actually say anything along the lines of ‘I love you’, but he has a closeness with JD that he doesn’t with anyone else, and - on the shallow side - the inequality of power in the relationship has the potential for extremely hot dominant/submissive sex. JD/Turk is handed to the watcher on a silver platter; JD/Cox takes a little more effort, but the dynamic is so interesting that it’s definitely worth looking for.
The relationship between JD and Dr. Cox is a wonderful one to watch. Dr. Cox really cares about JD, although he pretends not to. JD hero-worships him and worries about him and obsesses over falling-out with him and is so determined that he'll get that hug, dammit and is thrilled in such a ridiculously cute way whenever Dr. Cox says something nice to him. The pairing is, at the very least, utterly adorable.
There can be little doubt that they love each other, whatever the type of love may be. I adore the relationship between the two characters, however it may be interpreted, and that, along with the slightly desperate hope that it will somehow persuade more people to look towards Scrubs with a fanfic-writer’s eye and the fact that the title was too good not to use, is why I am writing this essay.
Resources:
The majority of the fanfiction on the scrubsfic community seems to be JD/Cox; it’s a very popular pairing within the fandom, but unfortunately, although the amount of fanfiction featuring it is relatively large, the fandom itself is very small.
My Big Breakup, by iamsab, is probably the best-known JD/Cox fic; and for good reason, because it is fantastic. PG-13.
My Claustrophobia, by julianlee, is brilliant from the first sentence (which is ‘Let me regale you with a list of the dumbest things I’ve ever done’, if you don’t believe me). PG-13.
My Distraction, by thegreatesthits, is hilarious, adorable and captures the voices of the characters perfectly. PG.
My Spiders From Mars, by mandysbitch, is wonderfully funny and also very hot indeed. R-ish
Skate the Night Away, by gabriellemb, manages somehow to be adorable and fluffy while keeping Dr. Cox in-character. I had no idea that was possible, but apparently it is. G.
Fanart in this fandom is pretty rare, but geekgirlofdoom has done this ridiculously cute JD/Cox drawing. G.
Author: rionaleonhart
Fandom: Scrubs
Pairing: Perry Cox/John ‘JD’ Dorian
Spoilers: Minor spoilers (mostly dialogue) for various Season One episodes, ‘My New Coat’ and ‘My Old Friend’s New Friend’; larger spoilers for ‘My Own Private Practice Guy’, ‘My Cake’ and ‘My Lunch’.
Notes: Most episode quotes are taken from the transcripts on My Own Personal ‘Net Thing.
Scrubs is an American sitcom set in and around a hospital and focusing on the work and personal lives of its employees. The main character is Dr. John Dorian, also known as ‘JD’, ‘Bambi’, ‘Newbie’ and assorted girls’ names depending on who’s addressing him, but I’ll be referring to him as JD because that’s what he thinks of himself as. He begins as an intern and works his way up - he’s an attending doctor in the current series - and he is idealistic, adorable and dorky. Because the show is from his point of view, we get to hear his personal thoughts and watch his ever-so-slightly-bizarre daydreams.
Dr. Perry Cox is an enormously sarcastic attending who acts as a ‘mentor’ of sorts to JD; he enjoys mocking people and going off on incredibly long rants. Although he may sometimes appear cynical or apathetic, he is very much a doctor because he wants to help people and will always be willing to break the rules of the hospital if it will save somebody.
JD adores and worships Dr. Cox; Dr. Cox, in return, insults him and calls him girls’ names. It is clearly true love.
Into Private Practice Together: Why It Works.
JD: That Mrs. Larkin's an aggressive lady. She wouldn't even let her husband finish a sentence -
Dr. Cox: Oh, shut the hell up, would you please? At least she's ballsy, unlike that husband who's the overly thoughtful, sensitive type that drives me crazy.
(JD grins at him.)
Dr. Cox: What?
JD: Nah, I just - I think the Larkins complement each other. They're a good team. Kind of remind me of us.
Dr. Cox: Roseanne, now, granted, I was as usual only halfway listening to you, but I got the sinking feeling you just compared us to a married couple. I know, I know, a girl can dream, but (motions between them) this? Never gonna happen.
The two characters balance each other beautifully - JD’s daydreaming and idealism is contrasted by Dr. Cox’s stark realism - and they care about each other a huge amount, although Dr. Cox does his best to conceal it. JD looks up enormously to Dr. Cox; he refers to him as ‘the person I trust the most’, he aspires to be close to him and to be like him, and when Dr. Cox is threatened with being fired he does everything he can to save him (“You asked her for help, didn’t you?” “Look, I don’t think you realise how important you are to some people around here.”). Dr. Cox may call JD ‘Newbie’ and ‘Clarabelle’, but he respects him both as a doctor and as a person (a revelation so startling to JD that he nervously asks ‘Are you dying?’ when Dr. Cox confesses it), and will occasionally do something nice for him: when JD’s father dies Dr. Cox secretly takes over all of his patients to give him a day off, and later visits him at his home so he’ll have someone to talk to about it.
Then there’s the fact that it’s just so much fun. When JD finds himself staring absently at Dr. Cox’s crotch (“...gosh, I’m thrilled you approve, but for the last time: I’m up here. I’m up here. *whistles* I’m up here!”), or Dr. Cox asks whether JD had trouble finding the right thong for ‘her’ low-rider jeans and slaps him on the backside, it’s difficult not to grin like a lunatic. There’s a particularly brilliant scene in which JD, under the mistaken impression that Dr. Cox is fighting with a private practice doctor over him (rather than Dr. Cox’s ex-wife), finds absolutely nothing odd about the exchange:
Pete: Perry, I can't change what already happened, but you’ve got to believe me - I never meant to come between you and anyone.
JD's Thoughts: Watching Dr. Cox and Pete fight over me was - aw, hell, I'll say it: it was awesome!
Dr. Cox: You went ahead and took something that did not belong to you.
JD's Thoughts: That seemed a little possessive... but I'm flattered!
Dr. Cox: And worse than that, you did it knowing full-well just exactly how I felt about her.
JD's Thoughts: Ahh, he just wouldn't be Dr. Cox if he didn't refer to me as a 'her.'
Pete: Hey, for what it's worth, I didn't make the first move.
JD: That's a lie! You bought me a latte!
Of course, I have to mention the sheer, unbelievable cuteness of the pairing. While Dr. Cox tends to avoid speaking to JD about any matters not work-related, JD desperately wants to be accepted as part of his personal life, spending his time thinking of ‘possible nicknames for Dr. Cox when we become best friends’ and cunning ways of sneaking into his apartment. JD’s determination to get Dr. Cox to interact with him on a more personal level is hilarious and adorable - at one point he pretends to have stolen all the spoons from the cafeteria in an attempt to force him into eating lunch with him (“Lunch for us: Not Going To Happen. Normally I’d tell you something harsh right about now, like ‘we’re not friends’, but then you’ll just grin that stupid grin and shake your head back and forth like ‘How could that possibly be true?’”); he is ridiculously thrilled when Dr. Cox refers to them as ‘we’ (‘We! After all these years, he’s finally made us a team!’); and then there is, of course, his eternal quest for a sincere hug:
Molly: Dr. Cox is a textbook closed-off alpha male. I mean, you can try forever, but you're never going to get that hug that you really want.
JD: Uh, excuse me, I'm not a child. I'm a doctor.
JD’s Thoughts: And I'll get that hug!
Dr. Cox: I know what you want, I do. (checks to see if anyone else is around before holding out his arms) Come here.
JD’s Thoughts: Oh, my God, it's finally happening! Don't miss a moment! Take it all in! Ba-buh-ba-buh-buh-buhh, buh-ba-ba-ba-ba-buh-buhhh -
(JD leans in to accept his hug, and is stopped short by Dr. Cox whistling sharply in his ear.)
JD: Ow.
JD endangers his romantic relationships in favour of Dr. Cox more than once. The first of these is when he is going out with a girl named Alex: Dr. Cox constantly interrupts his dates by paging him and demanding his help with patients. It’s understandable that JD would answer these summons - after all, it’s his job - but one might wonder why Dr. Cox would specifically summon him when there are so many other interns at his beck and call. In addition to this, JD jeopardises his relationship with Alex by working with Dr. Cox even when he doesn’t need to: he stays behind after his shift ends to help Dr. Cox treat an arthritic patient instead of meeting Alex for a date they had previously arranged, even though Dr. Cox says that he can manage himself:
Dr. Cox: Now, Newbie, I’m relatively certain I can handle this. You’re off anyway, aren’t you?
JD: Yeah, whatever. I’m with you.
Dr. Cox: Fair enough. Let’s go treat the patient.
(later:)
JD: Alex dumped me.
Dr. Cox: Okay, Newbie, how'd you drop the ball on this one? And don't tell me you cried, or I'm gonna have you banned from the men's room again.
JD: Well, I was just so excited about what we were doing here last night, I just forgot all about our date.
Dr. Cox: ...You didn’t forget. You kept looking at your watch. I saw you.
Alex is immediately succeeded by Elliot, a girl JD has been pursuing ever since meeting her in the Pilot. What is interesting is that, two weeks later, he makes the exact same mistake that he did with Alex: he destroys his relationship with Elliot by valuing Dr. Cox above her:
Dr. Cox: Oh, what the hell, Barbie? You should have gotten the cardiology fellow to give Mrs. Zuckerman a transvenous pacemaker one hour ago.
Elliot: Dr. Cox, I was waiting to see if she would tolerate her low heart-rate, which is exactly what all the medical textbooks tell us to do. Am I right, JD?
Dr. Cox: (mimicking Elliot’s voice) Is she right, JD?
JD: Uh... well, technically yes. (Elliot smirks.) But, you know, it's - it's really a judgment call, and if she really was that bradycardic, I probably would've called the fellow...
(Elliot stares at him, then leaves.)
Dr. Cox: Wow. Always side with the hoochie, Newbie? It’s a rookie mistake. Gosh, I - I hate to see it.
Losing All Lapdog Privileges: The Many Fallings-Out of JD and Dr. Cox.
Bottom line... is the couples that are truly right for each other wade through the same crap as everybody else, but, the big difference is, they don't let it take 'em down. One of those two people will stand up and fight for that relationship every time, if it's right, and they're real lucky. One of them will say something.
One thing that Dr. Cox and JD do a lot is fight. When Dr. Cox is in a good mood he mocks JD and calls him girls’ names, but when he is angry with him he refuses to speak to him at all, and JD quickly becomes very upset. When Dr. Cox first ‘breaks up’ with him in the second episode, JD obsesses over it - much to the annoyance of everyone around him - and eventually, after asking everyone about Dr. Cox and finding out that he has no real friends in the hospital, becomes worried about him being lonely and visits his home. Dr. Cox mocks him mercilessly for it (‘Would you stay? I can braid your hair, and I know the couch isn’t very deep, but we could move the back cushion... and spoon’), but the visit is a well-meaning gesture and shows how much JD cares about Dr. Cox, even though they haven’t known each other for that long.
The second time JD and Dr. Cox fall out, due to JD’s unintentionally thwarting Dr. Cox’s attempt to sneak past the Head of Medicine and get treatment for a woman with no insurance, we hear JD’s thoughts as he walks through the hallways: I don’t need Dr. Cox. Big jerk. I hate him. He sounds as if he is about to cry. It is adorable. Dr. Cox’s resolution to never be in the same room as JD again does not last long, however, and neither does JD’s to stay angry at him:
JD’s Thoughts: Look at him, pretending like yesterday never happened. Well, if he thinks I'm going to forgive him without so much as a -
Dr. Cox: Anyway, newbie, the reason I was all bent out of shape yesterday -
JD: (beaming) I accept!
This happens many, many times - JD and Dr. Cox will argue, Dr. Cox will refuse to speak to JD for a while, but eventually JD will apologise or Dr. Cox will come back to him. The quote from Dr. Cox at the beginning of this section fits his relationship with JD perfectly. One of them will always try to repair the connection.
How To Save A Life: The Serious Side Of JD/Cox.
I would like to make special mention of one intern here: John Dorian. Smart kid, he's extremely competent, and his enthusiasm - and his determination to always be better - is something I see in him twenty-four hours a day. He cares. Probably cares too much. But he's definitely somebody you don't want to lose.
While the arguments and girls’ names are all fun, JD and Dr. Cox’s relationship is genuinely important to them, and they both need it for their own reasons. It is immediately apparent that JD needs Dr. Cox for the lessons that Dr. Cox teaches him and his ability to alleviate his worries and insecurities - when he first begins working at the hospital and is too frightened to attempt the medical procedures, he only finds the courage to do so after Dr. Cox tells him ‘You can do this’; when Dr. Cox says ‘Once you start blaming yourself for deaths that aren’t your fault... my friend, that’s a slippery slope that you can’t come back from, and trust me, I’ve seen it ruin a hell of a lot of good doctors and I will not let it happen to you’, JD, trusting him completely, tells us ‘And because he said that, I knew it wouldn’t’ - but it may not be obvious at first that Dr. Cox benefits from the relationship.
However, JD is important to Dr. Cox: he is one of the few people with whom he has a connection that in any way approaches friendship, and so he helps to keep him sane. After having a breakdown and destroying a lab room in a fit of rage, Dr. Cox kidnaps JD from his apartment and confides in him; when Dr. Cox’s psychiatrist says to him ‘if there's someone in your life at that hell-hole of a hospital who you actually listen to, you should do everything in your power to keep them around’, we just know that the camera’s about to cut to JD singing ‘Kung-Fu Fighting’ in an elevator. In the episode ‘My Lunch’ when JD finds Dr. Cox overwhelmed by guilt, believing that he was responsible for the deaths of two patients, it is when he says that he would have done the same thing that Dr. Cox begins to seem as if he might recover. In spite of what he may say and how he may treat him, Dr. Cox really respects and trusts JD, and this episode in particular shows that, although JD often needs Dr. Cox, there are times when Dr. Cox needs him even more.
In Conclusion...
Elliot: Be more sensitive. Try giving him a hug.
Dr. Cox: Barbie... you’ve met me before, yes? Now, at most, I can muster one hug a year, and nine months ago I hugged my son, so you’re going to have to do it.
Elliot: Um, you saw us before, we're still awkward from the break-up.
Dr. Cox: H--hold the phone, are you suggesting that - if I sleep with him, that I won't have to deal with problems like this? Because I'm seriously considering taking that hit. (as Elliot walks off) I mean, honestly, what is he like in post-game? Is there spooning? Because I don't spoon, I'm not a spooner.
When I first began watching Scrubs, I expected people to be writing slash between JD and his best friend Turk, so I was a little surprised to see that JD/Cox was by far the most popular pairing. When I watched a few more episodes with its popularity in mind, however, I really began to see why it would work. The relationship is unbalanced, and Dr. Cox would probably prefer to have his eyes put out than ever actually say anything along the lines of ‘I love you’, but he has a closeness with JD that he doesn’t with anyone else, and - on the shallow side - the inequality of power in the relationship has the potential for extremely hot dominant/submissive sex. JD/Turk is handed to the watcher on a silver platter; JD/Cox takes a little more effort, but the dynamic is so interesting that it’s definitely worth looking for.
The relationship between JD and Dr. Cox is a wonderful one to watch. Dr. Cox really cares about JD, although he pretends not to. JD hero-worships him and worries about him and obsesses over falling-out with him and is so determined that he'll get that hug, dammit and is thrilled in such a ridiculously cute way whenever Dr. Cox says something nice to him. The pairing is, at the very least, utterly adorable.
There can be little doubt that they love each other, whatever the type of love may be. I adore the relationship between the two characters, however it may be interpreted, and that, along with the slightly desperate hope that it will somehow persuade more people to look towards Scrubs with a fanfic-writer’s eye and the fact that the title was too good not to use, is why I am writing this essay.
Resources:
The majority of the fanfiction on the scrubsfic community seems to be JD/Cox; it’s a very popular pairing within the fandom, but unfortunately, although the amount of fanfiction featuring it is relatively large, the fandom itself is very small.
My Big Breakup, by iamsab, is probably the best-known JD/Cox fic; and for good reason, because it is fantastic. PG-13.
My Claustrophobia, by julianlee, is brilliant from the first sentence (which is ‘Let me regale you with a list of the dumbest things I’ve ever done’, if you don’t believe me). PG-13.
My Distraction, by thegreatesthits, is hilarious, adorable and captures the voices of the characters perfectly. PG.
My Spiders From Mars, by mandysbitch, is wonderfully funny and also very hot indeed. R-ish
Skate the Night Away, by gabriellemb, manages somehow to be adorable and fluffy while keeping Dr. Cox in-character. I had no idea that was possible, but apparently it is. G.
Fanart in this fandom is pretty rare, but geekgirlofdoom has done this ridiculously cute JD/Cox drawing. G.