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Mac deciding he wanted to become a Catholic priest was decidedly not a decision the gang loved. Or, rather, Dennis and Dee, as Charlie and Frank were too busy hanging out with Charlie's new found father.
The two of them were in the castle, prior to night falling. It was spooky as shit, but they figured drinking a bit would help. Or that’s what they tell themselves.
"I think he's going through a midlife crisis," Dee says. "First it was because he's not Irish, and now he's deciding religion is his identity."
"More than a crisis, I think," Dennis says. "I mean, does he really want to become a priest, when they're so… creepy." He subtly shivered, and it wasn't because of the COVID.
"Understatement," Dee says, taking another swig of beer.
"I think he's challenging me."
Dee was somehow not suprised by his line of thinking, though it made no fucking sense. But things didn't need to make sense, she reasons, because nothing makes sense and she should be acting as an American MILF right now. (Or an abused wife, she really wasn't picky.)
That, and Dennis tends to make everything about himself.
"You see, Dee, more than anything, Mac wants to belong," Dennis says, beginning his spiel of psychoanalysis. "His father didn't want him, he's pissed about his heritage, and he doesn't fit in with us heterosexuals. Hell, I'd feel like that too if I were him."
"What does that have to do with challenging you?" Dee questions.
Everything, Dennis wants to say. He wants to examine me, he wants to see how well we fit after all this time. How will he react when his attention truly isn't on Dennis anymore?
Because Dennis knows the answers to these questions, and yet he doesn't want to say them.
"He doesn't know if he belongs to me anymore."
Or if I want him to.
He can’t trust family, can’t always trust friends, doesn’t know if he can trust Dennis, and wants to find comfort in religion again. Mac surely feels like it’s his only choice.
Dennis wheezes heavily, patting his own chest down like it's the common cold. "I told you to get the fucking vaccine," Dee scolds. She seems disturbed however by how long the coughing fit lasts.
She doesn’t seem to question his statement about Mac, though.
"It's a scam, dumb bitch."
The two of them stop drinking and decide to head up to sleep. As he lays down in bed, he can only think of Mac. Why does he have to dominate his every waking thought? Dennis would never submit.
"He's going to look so dumb," he tells Dee. "The fucking priest robe. I bet he'll snitch on all the confessions he hears or whatever."
He can imagine it now. The gang all together again in the bar, clinking their glasses together as Mac shares a grotesque confession, something that would make them feel better about themselves. And they’d say, “Wow, Mac! How’d you stay so nonjudgemental?”
Really, Dennis thinks he has this thing all worked out, but he doesn’t like it.
Dee sighs loudly in that way that tells Dennis he's overthinking it. And of course she's right. Mac will not take this catholic priest shit very far. Just far enough to be annoying, but he really doesn't have the devotion to stick to it.
But it doesn't change how annoyed it makes him feel. This whole identity crisis was fundamentally bullshit, and it surprised him that the rest of the gang didn’t question it more. Dennis is the only one who probably cares, as everyone’s wrapped up in their own bullshit while he’s left to just rot in this castle with his cold that definitely is not COVID.
So, naturally, Dennis continues plotting in his head what he’ll do, considering Mac will inevitably fail and go back to him like a kicked puppy. He’ll invite him to the castle, he thinks, because Mac would appreciate it and would agree that there’s a lot of wool in there. Maybe they’d write more songs together.
Something about their previous songs made him ache. It may be the closeness, the inherent intimacy of writing songs with someone and putting genuine thought into it, putting your heart into it. It’s perhaps part of their problem that has made them dance around each other for so long.
Dennis thought there’d always be time, but he’s not so sure anymore. Not when Mac is clearly getting antsy and tired of the wait.
He starts talking. It seems to Dee that it’s to himself, but it’s really not. His coughing fit returns, and it gets to the point they’re concerned about his health. This time, he is willing to admit that it probably is COVID.
Dee calls the ambulance, and Dennis doesn’t feel alright anymore.