unprompted asks feat. dennis~
@untetheredrage asked: “Hey, Merc... how do you feel about kids?" It sounds as though he's going to propose they have some of their own but Dennis is actually just trying to find a way to tell her that he actually has a son and will soon have to care for him for a few weeks. His ex was finally going on the vacation that he had promised her last year and now he was stuck either ignoring Mercy for a few weeks to avoid her finding out or suffering through it with her.
she’d been in the midst of sending a barrage of texts to an employee, all of them irate and more than a little unhinged, when dennis spoke. and while she had been completely absorbed in absolutely demolishing a fellow human being mercy was still able to pay attention to him and understand everything he was saying at the same time. it still didn’t mean she wasn’t taken aback and it was apparent by the way her shoulders stiffened and her fingers ceased their furious swiping across the surface of her touchscreen.
she looked up and slid her phone in her pocket to demonstrate that she was fully invested in their conversation, all the while trying to keep her expression carefully neutral and her tone even and measured.
“i mean... i can’t have them, so i guess i never really thought about it.” a pause, then she spoke again. “that’s... no, that’s not true. i have thought about it. but, like. i stopped thinking about it after i found that out. why... are you asking me this?”
she wasn’t even sure if she’d call him her boyfriend, though maybe it was heavily implied by this point. mercy didn’t actively pursue anyone else, nor did she want to. but it was an uncomfortable thing to approach and the both of them seemed to have a weird thing against labels. they came with expectations, limitations, and rules. but if they hadn’t even talked about that... why were they talking about something this heavy?
but with as much time as they’d spent together and as she’d gotten to know dennis, she assumed that this must have been one of his roundabout ways of ultimately asking her something else, as he did that often.
at least she hoped that was what he was doing. she’d rather not have a real connection fall apart because of something she had no control over. again.
“i suppose i didn’t actually answer your question, though, did i?” the woman ran her fingers through her hair and heaved a sigh. “i mean. i guess... i like them?”
as if the terrible and childish drawings pasted on her refrigerator weren’t telling enough. most of them were from her nieces and nephews, others were from some of her neighbors’ kids. she’d always been good with them, for the most part. babies, though. babies were gross. she’d keep that much to herself as she waited to see where this whole thing was going. she kept her gaze on his as she tilted her head inquisitively and waited for him to explain just where the fuck that came from.
