Dennis Whitaker headcannons except I'm from TN and I know nothing about Nebraska and most of these are based off stuff from when I was a kid (I grew up surrounded by cattle farms)
He had a bucket calf. It was the smaller of the twin calves born and his parents warned him not to get attached. He made himself so sick when it died that he had to stay home from school
His family has two dirtbikes, two small four-wheelers, and a big four-wheeler. The big four-wheeler is Pa Whitaker's and the kids aren't allowed to touch it, but the other four vehicles are first come first serve. No one remembers how they obtained the vehicles (other than Pa's because he bought it for the farm), and Mama Whitaker is very serious about wearing pants and helmets while riding. ("Dennis Riley, you better not be gettin' on that four-wheeler without havin' jeans on, young man! And I better see a helmet on your head!")
He loves ABBA and Johnny Cash
His K-8 had a two hour after school program where they did homework for the first hour and played for the second. Normally his parent would pick him and his brothers up at 4:00 when the first hour ended (they were needed on the farm), and the only time they got to stay for the full two hours was on Wednesdays because a local Babtist church would run a bus for Wednesday night youth group. (This actually happened where I grew up)
His favorite color is green, but like a light green
He's a daddy's boy. I know he seems like a mama's boy, but he loves his Pa. He'd follow that man everywhere when he was a kid
He used to hide up in the hayloft of the barn to eat his candy (his mama would've insisted he share with his sibling even if he bought the candy with his own money), and his dad knew this. The only time he'd bother Dennis in his hiding place was when he was needed for chores, though. Other than that he got to eat his candy in secret
He still has not told his parents that he's gay. He knows his mama would freak out and thinking about how his Pa would react makes him sick
He was one of those kids obsessed with wolves. To the point that he'd run around on all fours at recess
He grew up going to civil war reenactments because of his grandfather
When Dennis was in kindergarten, there was this kid named Cameron who kept acting out so they put the kid in a three sided refrigerator box with the front wall cut out so the boy could see the board and not the class. Dennis liked the idea of not having to talk to his classmates that he asked his teacher for a box at the end of the day (she said no) (This actually happened in my kindergarten class)
He learned what condoms were when he went to 4-H camp after a kid he befriended told him that they overheard a counselor saying that they brought condoms
He went to a free week-long summer camp called Police Camp ran by the local police force and hosted by the local Bible camp. It was mainly about safety and learning about first responders (each day was dedicated to a different department) and had nothing to do with being a cop. Girls and boys weren't allowed to contact each other (it's called "purpleing"), and they had all of their meals separately. Also, at one point the camp got in trouble for littering, so the girls had to pick up flower petals leading to a giant cross, and the boys had to do PT. The only time the girls and guys got to interact was on the last day and Dennis didn't ask to go back the next year (based off my own experience btw)
He went to STEM camp every year in middle school (also a free camp)
He was a biter as a kid. If he didn't like something, he'd bite and scream. He still bites Robby occasionally
He had an evil ex in high school that threatened to tell Dennis' parents that he was gay if he broke up with him
He's really good with kids. He says he's not because he doesn't talk to them correctly, but really he's just talking to them like future adults
He's a really big fan of being told what to do. He's been in one too many toxic relationships with older men because of it
Everyone at his high school owned a pair of cowboy boots, even if they didn't need them. He never understood why the kid that lived on the golf course needed a pair of ostrich leather boots, but he never said anything
