5 times Dennis wasn’t as innocent as they thought and one time he exceeded their expectations
5.5k words, mostly just fluff/character stuff. hints of religious trauma and internalized homophobia (former baptists will get it lol). tw for canon typical violence cause i just like hurting whitaker so much. gun violence aswell.
Dennis had chronic innocent face. He’s not sure what about his amalgamation of features makes everyone assume he's been in a room eating saltines his whole life, but it was there.
It made growing up fun. His brothers would get blamed for breaking lamps, his teachers believed whatever he said about his homework not getting done, his mother didn’t question why the barn always smelled like “skunk.” His pastor never asked what he was doing up in his son’s bedroom.
It was convenient; Dennis didn’t go out of his way to correct it. He didn’t lie about anything, but not bringing up aspects of your personality at work wasn’t abnormal. It’s typical not to be completely yourself around everyone.
What people did with the details of his life, he had no control over. Their preconceived notions about rural living and devotees of the bible were not his fault. One of the first rules of emergency medicine was to check your biases at the door. Too bad his coworkers only assumed that applied to patients.
1.
The first thing to show cracks in the facade that other people had painted for him was his potty mouth. He was good at keeping it under control, his mother hated it, and getting your mouth washed out with soap was a punishment you could remember after twenty years. But Dennis had been on his own for a while and his inner monologue had a way of externalizing itself when he was stressed or in pain.
The first time he slipped up was when Myrna rolled over his foot in her chair.
“Motherfucking shit, Myrna. Ow!” He said as he hopped on one foot. It wasn’t broken or anything but he wasn’t positive his toenail survived. “Jesus fucking Christ.”
Dana glanced over and knew what had happened. She looked at him, unimpressed. “Myrna, try to be careful. And Dennis, don’t talk like that in my ER. It’s not a pirate ship.” Dana had a way of making him feel chastised.
He was still hopping a little when he said, “Sorry, Dana.”
“It’s alright, go ice it. You must be hurtin’ bad to say all that.” She spoke in a soft tone.
He didn’t clarify that it was just his response to moderate pain.
There was also the time the break room sink sprayed water all over him. Trinity and Mel were in there eating lunch and going over a new protocol from the CDC when the knob broke off and water started shooting directly at Dennis.
“Shit! Fuck. A little help, please?” They didn’t know what to do, they’d also never heard Dennis swear like that. The version of Dennis in their head didn’t swear at all. “Where’s the goddamn shut off?”
They figured it out eventually but not until Dennis and them were soaked. Dennis was lucky he kept a pair of Crocs and socks in his locker.
McKay came in and whistled when she saw them. “Wet T-shirt contest?”
Dennis laughed a little, “Fuck off, I gotta change again.” Dennis was used to being teased by his brothers and that was his automatic response.
McKay raised her eyebrows as he slid past her. He was feistier than she thought. Good, maybe he’ll make it through this internship after all.
2.
It was a hard day when the next “out of character” moment came. A seven-year-old was playing with a gun left on the kitchen table when it discharged and hit his four-year-old sister. She didn’t make it to the hospital, even. They tried to bring her back, but that amount of tissue damage and blood loss couldn’t be saved if it had happened in the parking garage. Sibling shit always fucked Dennis up. The mother’s cries ringing in his ears still didn’t help much either.
Trinity wasn’t on that case and seemed to be having a much better day than he was. She was going to spend at least twenty more minutes hanging around to catch Ellis coming in. Dennis could forgive her.
He couldn’t forgive himself for leaving his vape at home.
He was kinda embarrassed that he still used them. It was a nasty habit he picked up trying to end his other nasty habit. It started with the intention to lower his nicotine gradually, but then he just never did. He used to bum hits off of people during college. When his financial situation was dire, he even swiped his hookups' disposables after they fell asleep. It curbed his appetite and gave him energy, which at one point in his life felt necessary.
He went out to the alley beside the ambulance bay that the smokers used. Trinity didn’t like her car smelling like electricity and tropical fruit, which he respected. When he walked out, he realized his stupid little anti-anxiety flash drive, as Trinity called it, wasn’t in his stupid little pocket he kept it in. He just wanted to curb that craving feeling he’d had since the middle of his shift.
Dana and Robby were already out there. It had been a rough shift for them, too. Their backs were turned to him, and Dana leaned her side on the wall while Robby had one hand in his pocket, one hand holding his cigarette.
Dennis approached, “Can I bum one?”
They looked spooked; they must’ve not heard him. They looked a little shocked at the request. Robby especially. “Kid, don’t start these just because we do ‘em. They’ll kill you.”
“I was kinda counting on it, Sir.” Not the right answer, apparently. They looked one step away from writing down a mental health crisis plan with him. Dennis held his hands up. “Sorry, bad joke!”
Dana took pity and blew a little smoke out before she said, “I’m not giving Little Whitaker his first cigarette.”
Dennis leaned against the wall in front of her. “It’s hardly my first. I forgot my vape today, and I’m all jittery.” He put on the puppy-dog eyes that got him Red Bulls from her sometimes. “Please, just one?”
She seemed more surprised, but one corner of her mouth turned up. “Shit, man, these might be better for you than whatever scented oil you guys are huffing nowadays.” She grabbed her pack out of her scrub top and slid one out for him. Robby sighed before he used the lighter on his key chain.
Before he passed the lit cig, he looked Dennis in the eye and said, “Just this once.”
“Fine, give it to me before it goes cold.” He took a hit and felt better immediately. It’s hard to tell what’s psychosomatic or not. Whether it was the mental dependency and the deep breathing or the physical addiction that made it necessary. Probably both if he was honest. “I forgot how good going acoustic was.”
They looked amused before Dana breathed out, “I feel like we just gave a Cabbage Patch doll crack.” Robby tried to be neutral and not portray how funny and terrible all of this was. He didn’t want to encourage it.
Dennis took another long and deep drag and huffed it out without coughing. “Come on, that cherry was popped a while ago. I’ve been smoking in some way or another since I was, like, thirteen.”
“Huh?”
“I would steal my mom’s and smoke ‘em in the hayloft. She quit when I was 15, but by then, I was making some money by showing animals in FFA and selling the meat. The gas station in town didn’t care.”
Robby rubbed his temple like the thought of a teenage Whitaker smoking gave him a headache; maybe it did. “Jesus, Whitaker. What other secrets do you have back there?”
Dennis grinned a little and took another hit. He kept the smoke in his lungs as he croaked out, “Lots.”
Dennis didn’t forget his vape again. He didn’t want to smell like smoke all the time, and his roommate hated the stench on his clothes. But sometimes Robby and Dana would look at him like they were trying to figure him out, or like he was a baby with a switchblade.
3.
It was as normal a day as an ED could have. A couple of concussions, a dislocated shoulder, plenty of urgent care or primary doctor worthy ailments none of them wanted to deal with. Then Doug Driscoll snuck in via the ambulance bay.
He walked in on a mission, stomping in his heavy work boots towards the nurses' station. He smelled a lot like vodka for three in the afternoon. Dana was talking to Princess about some transfers to the ICU when she saw him and froze. Security was in the waiting room breaking up a fight. She had called them there herself.
“You fucking bitch. You ruined my life!” He pushed her against the desk. When Princess tried to knock him back by the shoulder, he pawed her away roughly. People were yelling, but they were too terrified to approach, nervous that the big man had a gun.
Dennis was walking out from behind a curtain when he saw a violent man approach Dana. As soon as he saw beefy hands outstretched, he was running. He would be damned if one of the only people in Pittsburgh who gave a shit enough to wish him Happy Birthday got hurt in front of him.
He never played football; his brothers were the athletes. He wasn’t big enough to join the team. That didn’t mean he never joined in on the Thanksgiving games in the backyard.
Before he could think, he tucked his shoulder down and knocked his body into the larger one. He grabbed the back of the man’s thighs to maintain control over the momentum. Doug stepped back from Dana when he saw someone running at him full force. He was sluggish and big and had no chance to react.
He was knocked off his balance before landing on his ass. Dennis stayed on top of him.
People were shouting for security to come in. Dennis didn’t trust them to get here fast enough. Doug was big, but Dennis had practical strength. He lifted people all day and grew up manipulating animals. He could hold down something wriggling.
He used his legs to brace Doug’s clumsy ones and felt his opponent try to hit him off, so he grabbed his hands and pressed them to the ground by the wrist. They struggled for a second while surprise and breathlessness were on Whitaker’s side. Doug bucked him off and tried to get at him, but Mateo and Donnie were jumping in now and got a hold of his arms while Dennis got back on top of his legs.
The assailant was irate now. “Fuck you guys! Let me at her.”
Dennis was pissed. “Fuck us? Wait till I fuck you up when you get outta whatever hole they put you in.” He was still sitting on his legs while they tried to kick him off. The adrenaline made him stronger.
Security came in and was able to get plastic handcuffs on him. He wasn’t coordinated with how drunk he was, and the guard was just as big as him. They sedated him until the police could arrive.
Dennis just watched it all once he was restrained. Breathing heavy from the physicality and stress. He didn’t stop watching him until he was limp in a bed.
When he looked around, everyone was looking at him. It was like that time he killed the rat but more intense.
Robby wanted to clap or something but that was probably flippant when multiple of his ER staff were assaulted by a giant man. Trinity had no such qualms. “Way to go, Huckleberry!”
Dennis looked at Dana and Princess, paying no mind to the praise. “Y’all ok? I’m sorry I didn’t get there sooner.”
Dana was obviously shaken up. She put it to the side. Moms put on straight faces when scary things happened. “We’re fine, kid…Are you ok? You just WWE body slammed a guy twice your weight.”
“Not twice! I’m a regular-sized man!”
Trinity was still grinning. Robby checked in with Dana and Princess before going up to Whitaker. His hands found their way to his student's shoulders like they often did. “That was very impressive, but please don’t put yourself at risk like that again. We have security.” Dennis thought he looked disappointed. Everyone else could tell it was unease.
Dennis was confused as to why he was being chastised. “They were on the other side of the hospital. You want me to just watch Dana get fucked up by some man?” He was angry now.
Robby knew how it sounded, but he couldn’t take watching Dennis get hurt. It was just different. “You could’ve gotten fucked up just as easily. Don’t play it like that.” Robby ducked to maintain eye contact and his face was so soft. Damn Dennis to hell. Why did he have to show concern? “Your safety is as important as anyone else’s.”
“I-I’m ok, Dr. Robby. I’ve done stuff like that before. I knew reinforcements were coming.” He went from angry to supplicating so easily the minute Robby showed an ounce of regard.
There were onlookers to the exchange. It felt like middle school, where the boy gets in a fight and the girlfriend is all, ‘Babe, look at me, this isn’t you!’ Except this was adults working in an emergency room, and the little girlfriend was their god damn fifty-year-old attending. This place was going to hell in a handbasket.
Robby should probably stop touching him now. And stop looking at him the way he knows he’s looking at him but that was scary. Robby wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he let Dennis get hurt under his supervision. This was all a little transparent in a way he promised himself he wouldn’t be when he recommended the then student for the internship.
Dennis was just…precious. Sure, he had a potty mouth and the nicotine tolerance of a 60-year-old chain smoker but he had an innocence about him that Robby wanted to protect. He wouldn’t let this place taint his purity.
4.
Turns out other people had been tainting Dennis’s purity the whole time and he was inviting it!
Everyone found this out when there was an end of day huddle. A school bus crashed and caused a pile up. Chaos ensued. One fatality and dozens were injured, all needing to be admitted at the same time. Everyone had to stay an hour late and the night shift came in multiple hours early. The team deserved a stiff drink but what they got was a lukewarm debrief by an exhausted Robby.
Robby was in the middle of thanking the techs and hospitality staff when Dennis’s do-not-disturb automatically turned off. Turning off at 8:30 usually meant he had time to get home and shower before his notifications turned back on. Trinity teased him for keeping the sound on, but he liked to reply to people promptly and she never complained when he was able to pick up the phone and let her in anytime she forgot her fob.
“Thank you to our transport staff who kept everything running smoothly. We couldn’t have done this without-“ The melodic Grindr notification rang out. Dennis froze a little, then hoped it was a one-off. Maybe no one noticed? “Uh. We couldn’t have done this without you guys. Please make sure you-“ Another Grindr notification. Oh shit, Dennis had plans and the guy probably thought he was playing hard to get. Some people seemed oblivious to what the sound meant, but others were raising their eyebrows and looking to see who was getting multiple messages from a gay dating app centered around just hooking up.
Trinity was doing a bad job suppressing her laugh.
One more time was all it took for Dennis to breathe out a little to steel himself and take his phone out of his pocket to turn the whole damn thing off. Trinity was nudging him, making it more obvious he was the originator of the sound.
Robby was surprised. He didn’t expect the former theologian, country boy who made glove balloon animals for children to be on Grindr. He also, self-servingly, closed his mind to the idea of Dennis being a sexual creature. Or into men. It was safer to wall off any possibilities. This day just had to end. “Rest up! Goodnight, everyone.”
Robby walked right past the pair of roommates and went to the lockers. Dennis was thankful he could put off the conversation about professionalism for twelve hours. He’d need to come back after some serious relaxation to not feel like he was going to die. This was so much worse than the funky music debacle.
5.
Dennis maybe should’ve considered this happening. If you fuck people above the age of forty enough, they may come to the ER you work at with age-related injuries or illnesses. One of Dennis’s fuck buddies had, honest to god, broken a hip. He officially needs to find a boy his own age.
David was admitted via ambulance as he had fallen and couldn’t get up (Dennis is going to hell for that thought.) He was administered pain medication in the ambulance so the edge was taken off. His grey hair was mussed and he had a dopey smile on his face before he saw the young man he had fun with.
Dana called out an ETA on a broken hip to Robby. He, of course, knew who he wanted with him. “Whitaker! Ambulance bay, with me. Page ortho for a possible hip fracture.”
“On it, Captain.”
The paramedics wheeled him in. “David Wheeler, 53, fell down a flight of stairs in his home and now has intense groin and upper thigh pain in his left leg. Can’t bear weight on it. Gave him 2 milligrams of IV Dilaudid, blood pressure dropped once pain was addressed. His other vitals are stable. He’s high as a kite, though.”
He was being wheeled into an examination room with a bed when he saw his former paramour. “Denny, you’re a real doctor!”
Dennis was blushing already. This was going to be the talk of the hospital for at least a week. They just got over the Grindr incident. Princess had told the entire staff what that sound meant and Dennis was teased relentlessly for it. “Oh God! Hi, Dave. It’s been a while.” They made some charged eye contact before Dennis looked over to Robby with a helpless expression before he locked back in. “Slide board? To reduce friction and possible further disruption?”
“Right on, Dr. Whitaker.”
Once the patient was transferred to a bed, Dennis tried to leave the room. Neither of the old men liked that. Robby had a questioning look as Dennis was stepping away. David grabbed his wrist limply and tilted his head. “Denny, stay with me. You never stay.” He slurred. Dennis felt like the air was getting thick. People were making assumptions and they weren’t even wrong.
Dennis felt hot. He pried the loose grip off and put David’s hand back on his own stomach. He patted it to make sure it stayed there. “Uhhh, I need to talk to my attending and then I can come back and check on you. Ok?”
“Fine, don’t take too long.” His tone was satisfied. He liked telling Dennis what to do. Dennis didn’t like it as much in this setting.
Dennis nodded his head towards the door when he looked at Robby. They stepped out and Dennis tried to say in the most grown-up tone he could muster, “I can’t treat him.”
“Why not? You can treat acquaintances, and you need practice on this protocol.” Robby was scratching his beard and shifting his weight, antsy to continue the treatment, get this guy in an OR and flip this bed. He was right. Dennis had only treated one possible hip fracture before and it was in a much more elderly woman.
Dennis couldn’t look at his boss while he admitted this. He could barely keep his coherence. “Uhhh. Not my acquaintance.” His voice was pitching up the more uncomfortable he got.
“Like a close neighbor? Family friend. I’ll be supervising and looking out for a conflict of interest. You’re not even the primary physician on the case.”
He had to wipe his sweaty palms on his scrub pants. He gulped a little. “Me and him were more…romantically involved.” It wasn't very romantic but that sounded better.
Robby’s eyebrows raised, accentuating the wrinkles Dennis may be developing a fetish for. He pointed a thumb behind his shoulder at the door they just walked through. “Him? He’s my age!” That was not the right thing to say. Way to sound somehow hopeful, judgmental, and jealous, Robinavitch. All emotions were wrong in this setting. Robby was rubbing his eyebrow now, where tension was building.
Dennis tried to smile, like that could make this less awkward. “I can’t treat him, right?”
“No. You can’t.” He practically said it through his teeth. “Go talk to Mohan or something.” He shooed him away with his hand like a fly before he turned back into the patient's room. He was going to load Dennis with so many tasks he couldn't see that man ever again.
Why was Robby so mad at him? Yeah, it was a little weird, but Dennis was an adult having consensual sex. They’d seen much worse. Maybe it was the resting innocent face thing? Sometimes, people were oddly surprised that Dennis had casual sex. It was actually the only type of sex Dennis had ever experienced. Robby would get over the shock eventually.
+1
Robby could not get over this. Not only was Dennis queer and open to men, but he was open to older men. It was too much. He couldn’t keep his mind in check anymore about the delusions of Dennis wanting him. It was a theoretical possibility, just not one that would ever happen.
It had been days since he’d directly asked Whitaker to work with him. They would end up on the same emergent cases out of coincidence, but he wasn’t scruffing him and putting him in the same room anymore. Dennis noticed. Everyone noticed.
It was making Dennis feel a little crazy. He didn’t realize how motivating those touches were. How impactful the praise was. He blew off the accusations of favoritism but working without it made it obvious. He was a favorite. Was being the operative word.
Maybe Dennis had been too honest. He hid parts of himself for a reason. They were undesirable attributes. He was uncouth and unbridled. People liked him when he played innocent; it was more sympathetic. Once people knew him long enough, well enough, they saw things they didn’t like.
Robby wasn’t a staunch traditionalist, but maybe Dennis took it too far. Maybe being confronted with the extent of his hedonism made Robby rethink how close he wanted to remain with the younger man. Dennis probably disgusted him. He’d let him touch him, knowing he was attracted to the older man. He didn’t initiate it but he’d stood closer, tilted his head, smiled when it happened. It must’ve become obvious with the benefit of hindsight. He had another two and a half years here with his residency, and he’s already violated his attending in a way that made him scared enough to not interact with him. He was lucky if Robby didn’t stick him on nights for the rest of his tenure at this hospital.
When Robby blew past him without even making eye contact for the third time that morning, McKay had to say something. “Trouble in paradise?”
Dennis huffed a little. “I think he’s repulsed by me or something.” He looked down at his chart, trying to pretend he wasn’t taking it personally.
McKay’s eyes widen a little at his obliviousness. She didn’t realize they weren’t just dancing around each other. Possibly trying to pretend at work like they were less close than they were. Dennis sounded absolutely crushed while trying to play it cool. “Um…Are you sure that’s it?”
Dennis was still looking at his chart and he started to fiddle with the paper corner a little. “Yeah. He hasn’t really talked to me since we had that patient that I had to dismiss myself from.”
“The old man you were fucking?”
“Jesus, McKay!” He looked away and then up at her. “And, yeah.” He said quietly.
“You know, when people avoid you after finding out you’re interested in other people, it doesn’t always mean they hate you. Right?”
“Why else would he refuse to look at me unless he couldn’t stand me?” He was abandoning the pretense of his charts and turned fully in front of his friend.
McKay tilted her head a little, trying to appear sympathetic. These guys were idiots, however, so it was hard and probably looked patronizing. “Could he be jealous? He kinda lost his shit when he found out you were on Grindr, too.”
“What? No. Dr. Robby is not into me like that. I think it’s the opposite.”
She smiled. “The opposite? So you’re into him.” Dennis went to talk and try to deny, but he couldn’t get the words out.
He sighed a little more. He might as well be honest. “I am. But it doesn’t matter because he, like, hates me. Reviles me. He won’t even touch me anymore. Which he probably should’ve never done in the first place, but it was all innocent. Practically brotherly. And he found out I’m gay and he doesn’t want to encourage it anymore.” Dennis had a self-deprecating smile now. “He isn’t wrong to pull back. I…perverted it myself.” Dennis had gotten sloppy; people were right to judge.
McKay's face got tight like she was in pain. She knew where the kid came from. She knew where this idea was coming from, too. “You didn’t do anything wrong. You should talk to him.” She grabbed his shoulder as she was walking away and Dennis wished it made him feel better. Wished he was just touch starved and indiscriminately looking for affection. He wished the hand were bigger.
Dennis thought about bringing it up all day. He didn’t want to; it felt very messy and possibly vulnerable, which he didn’t do well with. He had no choice when it became apparent that it was affecting their ability to treat patients.
Robby and he were coding an accidental drowning, and Dennis got in the way. He didn’t mean to. Usually, Robby would just nudge him, but he didn’t want to. They got her resuscitated but it was noticed that they lost crucial seconds because their attending was acting like an awkward little boy with a crush.
Dana noticed and just told Robby, “Fix it. I don’t care how, but it’s going to be dealt with before next shift. Capeesh?” Her tone, akin to a mobster, scared Robby enough to just nod. He wouldn’t let his hurt feelings get in the way of his job or Whitaker’s education.
In the end, Dennis came to him because Robby was a coward. It was after hand-off but before they all had reached the lockers. Dennis hesitated before he went to touch Robby’s arm to get his attention. He let it hover a second before he aborted the attempt. Robby could feel it anyway. Dennis was always in the corner of his eye. Awareness of him was second nature at this point, for good or for bad.
The young man held his own hands in front of himself. “I think we need to talk.”
Robby inhaled, did a long exhale, and put his hands in his pockets before saying, “Yeah, kid, we probably do.”
“Stairwell?” Robby gestured forward, letting Dennis lead.
The door shut loudly behind them, and all was quiet. Everyone used the elevators so they could be confident no one was overhearing. Robby should have the conversation in a more public place. It was probably overstepping to take an R1 into the stairwell to tell him he was just awkward around him because he had a little crush he was hoping to get over, and to please let him move on before someone reported him. Maybe explain that his brain just melted a little at the thought of him being attracted to older men but not being attracted to his boss, and it all made him sad in a way he was trying (and failing) to cope with. Jesus, was that his plan? He so deserved to be reported. No doubt darling Dennis would be weirded out but still sympathetic. He should be beating him off with a stick and demanding termination but he wouldn’t.
Dennis was the first to speak, even though Robby should have. He was the one making it awkward. He was the one who made this what it was. “I’m sorry that I made you uncomfortable. I understand it, though.”
“Me uncomfortable? No, Whitaker. I’m making you uncomfortable.” He insisted.
“Why would you be making me uncomfortable?” His eyebrows were scrunched up so cute while his head tilted. Robby needs to cut thoughts like that out now that he was about to get a resounding rejection.
“Because I’ve been…withholding.”
“Yeah, but only because I’ve been unprofessional and improper. You shouldn’t have to be confronted with my personal life so much.” Dennis's head was bobbing along with the words.
Robby was confused, too, when he said, “You’ve been completely normal. It’s ok that you are a guy in your twenties who has fun! I just need to come to terms with it all.”
“No! You shouldn’t have to come to terms with it. I should’ve done a better job not shoving it in your face when it obviously makes you uncomfortable to think about.”
This kid was so sweet. He shouldn’t internalize that burden at all. Robby was old enough to deal with a little heartache. “You don’t have to change how you act for me. I just need to get over these feelings and it’s not your fault I have them.”
“But it is! I shouldn’t have encouraged all the touching and sharing drinks when I knew you were straight and I was, I don’t know, getting some sick satisfaction out of it.” Dennis needed Robby to understand that he was a freak. That he knew people didn’t want him like that. He was mangled and odd and ruined things. Robby was normal and giving and didn’t deserve to take the blame for his justified discomfort.
Robby looked really confused now. “Straight? Dennis, I’m basically confessing I have a big fat crush on you and it almost made me kill a little girl today.”
Dennis's neck straightened to attention, nostrils flaring a little with the force of the breath he took. “Huh?”
Robby rubbed the back of his neck and closed his eyes. “You don’t make me uncomfortable. At least not in ways that matter professionally. I think there’s been a misunderstanding here. Am I right?”
“I-I’m not sure I know what you mean.” He was timid now; he didn’t want to get his hopes up. He was half-convincing himself that Robby was implying he was jealous or something. Dennis obviously couldn’t handle this rejection, and his brain was latching on to any positive phrasing it could.
Robby had never been an honest man. He tried, but he was always too sardonic. Too unwilling to show that soft underbelly. Ready to cut and run when it got tough before having to say what he needed to, what he actually meant.
But Dennis deserved honesty. He didn’t hide things. Maybe he omitted, but he didn’t lie. Some may say it’s the same, but Robby never felt that way. People could ask him direct questions and he would lie to their face. Dennis didn’t earn that, though. He was honest about his bad habits, the fights he’s gotten into, his history. He complicated things for himself for the benefit of other people. Robby could do that once for him.
“I’m telling you that I have-“ Robby had to swallow the lie he wanted to tell. “I have feelings for you. And I touch you because I want to. You don’t get a sick satisfaction. It’s very welcome.”
Dennis felt a flutter of hope. Robby was feeling better the more that hope became visible. Maybe this would be fine? Nothing ever seemed to go right for either of them, but maybe this would? They’d sure as hell try. “Really? Because I want you to touch me. It’s very welcome.” Dennis was getting back to cheeky.
Robby wanted to groan. His frail heart wouldn’t survive this. “You need to be exceedingly clear with me before I proceed.” They looked at each other for what felt like the first time in days. Maybe it was. “You have to tell me you want this. All of this.” Dennis never had someone say something like that. Not to him.
“I do. I want it all with you.”
“Thank fuck.”
Dennis laughed a little and put his hands on Robby’s chest. He looked up at him. “I have the swearing problem?”
Robby grabbed his wrists loosely and looked down. “You do it in front of the wrong people.”
“And you’re the right person?”
“Yes. We’re the right people.”
The kiss felt right, too.
pls like/comment/reblog if you enjoyed! i hope this is funny to other people because i have a tendency to laugh at my own jokes lol. thanks for reading :)
