Work Text:
Dennis slammed open the front door, storming into the apartment. The hinges squealed in protest but were ignored. He had his phone pressed hard against his face as he was pacing around the apartment. Rambling on to Mandy.
Simply put, today was not a good day.
And for whatever reason his living room was full of half eaten peaches. He picked one of them perplexed and disgusted and barely payed mind to whatever was said on the phone. He threw it back on the coffee table, interrupting Mandy.
'Today was suppose to be a blast. Easy money to be made, but no. Just like in every scheme somebody had to be a dick and bail on us' Dennis was practically shrill on the phone. His hand was trembling from squeezing the device so hard.
'Yeah I suppose, but I don't get why you couldn't be the dancer? ' Mandy the ever so caring voice of reason was trying to placate his angry tirades.
He took a deep breath. His hands were still shaking. On the tip of his tongue was an insult to throw back at her but withheld it.
'Right?! And I suggested that. Hell, I would have been perfect for it but the gang felt a fully gay person' and at that he gesticulated sarcastically to an empty living room ' would have made the whole thing more genuine.'
There was a beat of silence on the other side of the call. He knew exactly what she was going to say next but frankly he couldn't bother arguing with her in regards to his sexuallity. The gang's intelligence combine would only be more or less equivalent to a safety pin and they couldn't wrap their heads around the concept of bisexuality.
Christ, even the alphabet soup community that they tried to scam today had some struggles with the concept so all he could do was release a long heavy sign. He looked around desperate to find something to distract him from his rage, but the peaches sure as hell were not helping. Until something caught his eye.
Leaning against the wall connected to his room was a wooden crate. Inside was the rpg. His heart squeezed uncomfortably in his chest at the memories. He hasn't touched the crate since he got back and by the accumulated dust neither has Mac. He turned away, refusing to ponder on that.
'And then they expected me to drive the damn thing!' He again was waving his arm widely as if she could hear his indignation more clearly. ' You could barely see through the window and then who would serve the drinks? Don't expect Dee! With her ungodly lack of skills and constant flirting with gay dudes we wouldn't have made a dime.' As if the 100 dollars they barely scored today could count for something,he thought lamely.
'So the driving was left to Frank but then that stupid bastard somehow managed to mutilate his ugly face and he too bailed. It was only the three of us left Mandy. Only three. It was a disaster!' His voice was strained.
He mentally patted himself on the back for not completely blowing his cap off and shout into her ear.
'Well for what's its worth this was your first pride you went to right? Must have taken tons of pictures. ' her cheery voice was already doing wonders to his composure.
A second wave of anger was slowly building up inside him.
Yeah pride.
He thought grimly. He didn't take pictures. What was anything about today worth taking a picture of, to memorialize forever? A hyperventaling Charlie crammed into the tiny driving seat? A beligerantly drunk Dee on the verge of falling off of the dammed platform at any moment or the fucking cherry on the fucking top that was Cricket? This disgusting ring worm ridden homeless degenerate that was scaring away customers with his spastic moves?
His anger was reaching new levels. As much as he prided himself in finally having some semblance of control over his emotions, begrudgingly crediting the therapy that Mandy forced him to get, today was the day he will finally give in to release his wrath on the stupid disgusting world.
The main door open and all that anger faltered to a halt. His back was turned away but he knew exactly who it was.
The fucking nerve of that guy Dennis almost sneered.
'I'll talk to you later. Tell Brian goodnight from me ' and with that he quickly hang up ignoring Mandys protests on the phone.
He turned around ready to unleash his wrath on his first victim of today but the sight before him shocked him.
Leaning against the door was Mac. He looked defeated. All that bulk he gained in the past several months barely made a difference in how weak and small he looked right now. His head was low, eyes staring down at his feet. Dennis wanted to scream, to lash out, hell even try and throw some punches towards his roomate but all of the anger that was about to explode quickly dissipated. His tongue felt heavy. He noticed he was holding his breath as if he was afraid to spook the guy.
They stood like that for a few seconds in silence, uncertain on who should make the first move. Dennis just noticed that Mac was soaking wet, the sound of droplets of water that fell on the floor caught his attention. Today's weather didn't mention any storms and Dennis hated the worry that started to pool in his gut.
'What the hell happened?' He internally cursed for letting his voice sound this weak. He wanted to be angry at Mac. This whole plan revolved around him and he screwed it all up but Dennis couldn't say any of this. All he could do was stare at his friend for what seemed like forever.
That's when Mac lifted his head. His big brown eyes were empty,hollow and they starred at nothing in particular. Just followed the noise. Dennis noticed the tears and felt winded.
He took a tentative step towards Mac. Before he knew it the space between them disappeared and big strong arms were desperately grabbing him. Mac was sobbing uncontrollably and violently shaking Dennis' frame.
He ran his hands over Mac's massive back and tried to calm him. He was always awfull at comforting others. When he was in North Dakota and Brian was upset he felt the most useless, unable to stop the child from crying. But he could always rellay on Mandy to fix the boy's emotional outburst. But right now in this apartment there was no Mandy, nobody that he could turn to and help fix this. In this apartment it was only him and Mac, who was still sobbing. He barely managed to hear through the cries unintelligible words coming from his friend but didn't ask anything. He let him cry it all out. His designer shirt was beyond ruined from the water and tears and snot but he could barely pay any mind to it. He just held on hoping that it would help Mac somehow.
It felt like forever passed when the cries slowed down. They were still holding each other. Mac's head was nestled between his neck and shoulder and each shaky breath was sending shock waves in Dennis' system. His heart was pounding wildly in his chest and was appaled that his eyes were teary too. He quickly blinked trying to clear his blue eyes. But his arms were shaking.
He hated how Mac always managed to bring out this vulnerability out of him. For years he genuinely believed that he was immune to emotions. That he was an empty powerful being that wouldn't lower himself to this ugly side of humanity. To subjugate himself in letting something so trivial as feelings to wreck his God status. But Mac always managed, somehow oblivious, to elicit an emotion and Dennis was left breathless every single God damn time. He thought that by moving to North Dakota he would be immune to it again but in a sick twisted fate Mac somehow managed to pass his skills to Brian now. Every day his son managed, just as oblivious, to tinker away at his God complex and leave him raw with emotions.
So all he could do now to prevent from breaking down himself was to hold onto Mac even harder. His hands painfully squeezing the wet shirt. He leveled his breathing and closed his eyes.
'I'm sorry.'A small voice echoed in the room.
And all the anger and fury that left Dennis's body returned with a vengeance. He willed all of his strenght to not let go of the big frame and lash out. He counted to ten in a poor attempt to compose himself but Mac must have felt the tension building in his body because he was already trying to move away from Dennis. He tightened his grip on the wet shirt. For a second he thought he might rip the damn thing to shreds with the sheer force of his grip. He kept counting, kept leveling his breathing.
'You better have a good reason why of all days you decided to ditch us asshole.' His voice felt grating to his own ears, and what use to be his intimidating wrath of God tone, now it was a meek soft whisper. Mac still tense up but Dennis felt no sense of power. He truly must be getting old but he'd rather eat lead than admit that.
'I told my dad, Dennis.'
I told him I'm gay but Dennis didn't need him to finish. He understood. His heart was pounding, without a doubt Mac must feel it too.
He took a step back, put some distance between the two but his hands stubbornly were holding onto Mac's shoulders. He leveled his expression, his anger again ebbing away in the back of his mind, like a retreating beast inside a cave. Blue eyes searching for brown ones. The two finally looked at each other.
Wordlessly he dragged Mac to their couch and before they even had a chance to sit Mac was retelling the events of today. Jumbled up and out of order but Dennis let him ramble on. Somehow Frank got involved in all of this, helping him with his pride. And in the process the goblin got into a brawl with their front door and lost. Dennis snickered.
'Wait, so that's why his face looked peculiarly extra disgusting today?' He nudged mac's shoulder with his.
' Bro if I wasn't so depressed this morning I would have laughed so hard. Like he kicked it so hard and the door just like ' He was flailing his arms around painting the picture, his vocabulary always failing him when he would get too exited about a story, Dennis couldn't help but laugh at the mental image.
But he quickly sobered up. He was so focused on the dumb scheme for the past few days he failed to see his friend was struggling all this time, drowning in his worries. Mac noticed the change and reached out for Dennis's shoulder and squeezed. They briefly exchanged a look. No words were needed. Mac's face was soft and smiled at him. Dennis cursed himself when his heart actually skipped a fucking beat.
You're 40 years old, asshole! Pull yourself together!
Mac removed his hand, but the warmth was slowly spreading beneath Dennis's skin, sending shivers down his spine.
Mac continued on, talking about the prison,about the dance but chocked up again when he briefly mentioned how his dad walked out on him in the middle of the performance. The room was quiet again.
Dennis was always aware what an awful man Mac's dad truly was. A poor excuse of a man, a drug dealer, a low life , but seeing Mac crumble once again he couldn't help but let some of his anger emerge back to the surface. But this was thick like tar, full of hate. He never hated someone as much as he hated that looser right now.
'Screw that guy, you were always too good for him. Atleast you can move on now.' but Dennis wanted to kick his teeth in when Mac tensed up next to him. His voice sounded too harsh but he still meant every word.
'Yeah. I guess...' Mac swiftly wiped his eyes. 'Pretty dumb of me to think he would like, be cool...'
Dennis used all of his willpower to not smack Mac across his stupid head for blaming himself once again for his dad's failures. He took a deep breath and took mac's hand in his. He couldn't look at him but heard a gasp. His eyes were aimlessly wondering their living room, quickly falling on the crate. He squeezed his hand.
'You aren't dumb for asking your dad to be there for you once in his life. To actually be a fucking parent.' He couldn't stop staring at the crate, the memories of that valentine's slowly coming back.
'You're not the only one with an awful dad.' His voice was strained,with a lump in his throat but he pushed on ' Then to find out that he's not your actual dad and when you actually get to meet your real one he's so disgusted by you he downright disowned you' He really shouldn't do this.
This isn't supposed to be his therapy session where he cries like a bitch but the tears betrayed him, his vision blurred but still adamantly staring at the crate. He felt his hand squeezed in return and he stifled a sob.
'Yeah. I guess we're just not that lucky.' Dennis took a deep breath, for a bazillionth fucking time and turned to Mac who was also teared up.
He couldn't help but think of his son. And how he too must be failing him. And he couldn't deny it. He's all the way back in Phillie, miles away from him and even when he was in North Dakota he was struggling there too.
'But at least Brian is luckier than us.' It's as if Mac was hearing his thoughts.
'You're doing a far better job than both our dad's combined man!' Dennis felt the need to argue, to point out all of the examples where he failed spectacularly at fatherhood, how he ran away from his son when the weight of the world was crumbling down on him.
'Yeah right.' That was all he could master as an argument. But Mac must have taken it as a challenge because he straightened up on the couch.
'Are you kidding dude? You talk to him on the phone all the time. And you always tell him you love him and shit. And don't act like I don't know you started saving up money for his college. I saw the letter from our bank dude. He can like barely talk and you already give a shit about his future.' Mac's face lit up again not letting go of Dennis's hand. He couldn't help but smile back.
'Mac, are you looking trough my mail again?'
'Irrelevant man.' Mac blew him off. ' I'm serious.' And Dennis could barely breath.
A beat of silence fell over them again. But it no longer hurt. There was no uncertainty or fear. They sat alongside each other, holding hands.
'The point I was trying to make Mac, is that, sometimes you are better off with the family that you built around yourself than the one you're born into.' It took everything in him to not gag at his mushy speech, but Mac looked at him as if he hung the sun in the sky himself, wonderment spread across his face.
'Yeah. I guess you're right.' But Mac didn't sound so unsure like before, his head held high.
'But you gotta explain something to me, Mac' Mac looked at him, an eybrow arch high on his face. Dennis could barely contain a snicker.
'What's with all the fruit man?' And he waved his free hand around the place.
The slow cogs in Mac's head finally clicked and bashfully looked away from him.
'It's from a movie.' Dennis never saw a face blush that quickly and couldn't help himself but cackle.
His sides were hurting. He still didn't get it but whatever point the fruits had it was just downright hilarious regardless. Mac joined too, both laughing like idiots and for a second they went back in time. 20 years ago where they were young and stupid but always together. They quiet down, Dennis's sides hurting. It's been a long time since he laughed this much. He looked over and Mac was smiling still. He gave his hand a final squeeze before letting go.
'So today was shit huh?' Mac could only nod , his eyes shining bright.
'How about movie night man?' Dennis suggested. 'But you gotta take a shower cause you smell like a wet dog. Worse than Poppins. And you're definitely paying for the dry cleaners.' He made sure to point at his ruined shirt.
Mac all but snorted, a basic denial but got up from the couch heading to his room.
With the sound of the shower running in the background Dennis leaned over the coffee table looking for their usual runner ups for tonight. Mindlessly looking through the DVD cases his eyes wondered across the room falling back on the wooden crate.
As shit as today's events have been at least they could always know that they had each others back. If one fell, the other one would pick him up. This has been their song and dance for over 20 years now.
Sure Dennis dropped the ball a year prior by disrupting it with his abrupt departure from the gang, but maybe he needed the time away to realise how important the people in his life, that he hasn't managed to push away, are.
He's in his 40s, as much as it hurts him to admit this. Whatever plans he had in his mind when he was younger never paned out the way he wanted it.
The veterinary agle turned out to be a sub par performing bar. His big mansion was him sharing an apartment with his gay roomate. He was not married but had a child. And really hoped that Mac was right about Brian being lucky to have him as his father.
He really did.
And sure his family was far from a picket fence utopia catalogue. With a giant bird for a sister, a rat bashing janitor best friend who lives with an old face deformed goblin that's always bailing them out of whatever rut their in. He even had Cricket as their family dog to boot, ring worm and all. With all of the degeneracy and insanity this group shared he wouldn't want to change a thing.
Because this is his family. His Norman Rockwell version of hell, but his family still. His therapist will have a blast next week when he'll tell her about this revelation.
He turned around when he heard a door open. Mac was wearing his old RIOT t-shirt and sweats. He smiled at Dennis padding to their kitchen, looking for snacks and beer.
Dennis grabbed Predator and looked at the old case. The plastic wrap was torn up in random places, and the printed paper started to fade. He plopped the CD out of the case and made his way to the TV. He sat on the couch next to Mac when the title screen came to life, the soundtrack playing loudly through the speaker. Mac passed him a beer as he was stuffing his face with chips. They clicked their bottles and watched the movie in silence.
Yeah, he wouldn't change a thing.