thinking about werewolf!dennis whitaker
he got bit at an extremely young age, thinking like 7 years old, when he snuck out to the barn one night. he parents came out when they heard him screaming and shot the wolf but it didn’t go down and that’s how they knew it wasn’t a normal wolf. being out in the countryside, they’d known about supernatural-esque stuff so they immediately knew what dennis now was. but with their extreme religious takes, they essentially now viewed dennis as being possessed by a demon.
he wasn’t allowed in the house anymore, wasn’t allowed to interact with other kids outside of school hours. and since he was essentially stuck outside overnight, dennis’ natural instincts would prompt him to turn every single night rather than just on the full moon to protect himself from the cold and he essentially became the guardian dog of the farm. he would eat the scraps his family through out or the rodents he could catch around the barn, but he’d never touch the farm animals. when the nights were particularly brutal it was the sheep and the cattle that he’d curl up with for warmth. they were his pack. and because of this, dennis would have no control over his behaviour when shifted. his wolf had had no positive experiences with humans (his brothers would regularly torment him when shifted), yet plenty of positive experiences around other animals, he acts purely off instincts when shifted since he wasn’t taught how to merge the wolf and the human side of him like other werewolves.
he doesn’t even meet any other werewolves until he’s at the ptmc, when he meets robby and jack. he doesn’t even clock them as wolves because his own wolf and him are so disconnected, he only realises when jack and robby invite him to join them on the full moon. he says yes but is absolutely shitting himself. he never remembers anything when shifted and it afraid of hurting someone or embarrassing himself, ever since he’s been in pittsburgh he’s been locking himself up in a sewer to shift so the open woodlands that robby drives them to is very different. they can obviously tell that he’s nervous so they simply try and keep him calm, and when he shifts it’s becomes obvious why.
he’s submissive. like painfully terrifyingly submissive. he doesn’t let either of them get close and when they do he immediately drops to the floor showing his belly and whining like an unsocialised puppy. they also note the scarring on his body and immediately take him in.
it becomes routine, he joins them on every full moon (whether he wants to or not) and they begin to teach him how to actually be a werewolf, hunting with him, play fighting, grooming, the whole thing. it also translates into their work. jack becomes just as handsy with him as robby, both of them scent marking him constantly, checking up on him when he’s doing perfectly fine, jack even starts calling him pup. they become their own little ragtag pack of misfits.
whether it stays platonic or becomes something else is up to you but yeh.