Dennis sat in the back of Dana's car, watching the streetlight pass by in flickering flashes as they got further and further away from Robby's house. It still felt wrong to leave. It still felt like abandoning him in his time of need.
After Robby's admission of the abuse he suffered, and the fight he had with his brother, Dennis stayed downstairs, practically held back by Jack, trying to listen when he was told giving Robby space was the best thing to do, despite how sick he felt at the thought of Robby sitting by himself up in his room probably wondering why no one followed.
The tears he saw in Robby's eyes as they said goodbye made him feel even worse. It made him want to stay. Never let go. Wrap Robby up in a blanket and hold him tight until everything was okay again.
But he didn't stay.
And as he watched out the window, seeing streets he recognized as part of his neighborhood, he wanted nothing more than to go back.
"Do you think he'll be okay?" he asked quietly, almost as if he was just speaking to himself, not really expecting an answer.
Jack gave him one anyways. "Of course."
"Robby's tough," Dana added, glancing up to look at him through the rearview mirror. "He's made it through a lot worse. He'll make it through this, too."
Dennis rubbed his eyes as Dana pulled into the parking lot of his building. "I hope you're right."
Jack got out of the car when it parked, and even opened the door for Dennis since he was taking too long to do it himself.
Jack offered a hand, and Dennis took it, getting out of the back seat and holding on a little while longer.
Jack pulled him into a hug, rubbing his back and swaying slightly. "Just keep showing up for him, kid. That's all you can do," he said. "Trust me when I tell you that's all you can do."
Dennis stayed in the embrace until the cold night breeze chilled him to the bones, finally pulling back and looking up at Jack's soft and caring face. "Okay," he said simply, straying backwards until they were no longer touching. Then he walked off without looking back.
Inside, the apartment was already mostly dark, so he turned off the few lamps lighting the way to his room and collapsed on his bed, still in his clothes.
After taking a few deep breaths, he pulled his phone out of his pocket to check in on Robby.
I always want you around.
Maybe all the signs he had been ignoring or denying meant something after all. Just maybe.
Unfortunately, as he contemplated the possibility that Robby might feel the same way about him as he did about Robby, he got interrupted by a text...
Dennis smiled fondly, his heart pumping pretty hard in his chest as he got undressed and went to bed half-worried and half-happy.
What a day.
masterpost
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the cow jumped over the moon, because of course i’d jump on the pearl and gem cam account bandwagon. I’ll be doing AriesEva soon, I have a lot of ideas :D
For Pearlescentmoo, I really wanted to make ‘the cow jumped over the moon’ joke, so I made her a cow, and I wanted to make her a lot more alien than my regular Pearl design, because her skin looks really cool. I made her hair a lot choppier because the cam account skin is Pearl’s older more pixelated version (at leas the hair). I’m really happy with her!
I don’t have as much, I guess lore planned for moo, but I do have quite a bit for Aries, so can’t wait for that :D
A little bonus doodle because also she runs the tumblr account /j
