Work Text:
9:30pm
On a Friday
Philadelphia, PA
The bar as always is empty besides a few old, almost or already sleeping, patrons. The gang each doing their own things.
Dee is behind the bar, texting some guy she met through Tinder. Frank is in the back office either sleeping or jerking off. Charlie is down in the basement bashing rats while Dennis is out picking up some new concealer since Charlie ate his.
This leaves Mac basically alone and extremely bored. He’s been scrolling through his phone ever since Dennis left, hoping he would return quickly, but of course that is not the case. The man is very picky when it comes to his makeup (sorry, products).
He’s tempted to get up and leave, but Dennis is the one that drives him and he doesn’t really feel like walking home. He did an intense workout at the gym earlier and is a little sore, so he stays put at the bar while he slowly loses his mind.
He hears obnoxious chewing that halts his boredom and looks up. He sees Dee eating some cookies which grabs ahold of his interest.
“Hey give me some of those.”
“No they’re mine asshole.” Dee doesn’t even look up from her phone as she responds.
“Dee it’s pretty pathetic if you’re going to eat and entire container of cookies to yourself. Just give me a damn cookie.”
“Oh my god you’re annoying. I thought you didn’t eat this shit anyways?” she glares at him, finally turning her phone off.
“I don’t eat that shit everyday, but I also am a man that lets himself indulge. Plus I worked out earlier, can’t say the same about yourself now can you.” he smirks. She rolls her eyes but hands him a cookie finally.
He snatches it from her hand but smiles nonetheless while he takes a big bite. His smile quickly turns to disgust after realizing it’s oatmeal raisin.
“Ew are these oatmeal raisin?” Mac asks after swallowing his bite.
“Yeah. How could you not tell?”
“Well I didn’t examine the goddamn cookie Dee. But seriously? What are you, 65 years old?”
“Oh shut up. You practically begged for a cookie. It’s not my fucking fault you didn’t take one second to look to see what kind they are.”
“Whatever.” he finishes the cookie anyways. He already started it, so might as well finish it.
“And yet you finish the thing. Fat ass.”
“Fuck you bitch. I’m hungry and it’s not the worst cookie ever, it’s just like at the bottom of the list of all cookies. Number one being thin mints of course.” Dee ignores him and goes back to her phone, eating another cookie.
Charlie opens the door from the basement, covered in dirt and what hopefully is rat blood. He quickly makes his way towards the bar and takes a seat next to Mac.
“Oo are those cookies. Give me one.” Charlie says, already making grabby hands at the container. Dee slaps his hand away, looking him up and down.
“Do not touch these Charlie. You are absolutely filthy.”
“Oh i’m sorry Dee. What do you want from me. Someone has to bash the rats and it’s not an easy job. I have to really get up in there and make sure they die because sometimes they-“ Dee cuts him off, not wanting to hear how Charlie’s rat bashing works.
“Okay, okay. Jesus Christ, take the goddamn cookie.” she grabs one and hands it over to him. He happily takes it, munching on it as if it’s the first food he’s ever eaten.
“Are these oatmeal raisin?” he asks around a mouthful.
“Not this shit again. Yes they are oatmeal raisin, is that a problem?” she squints her eyes at Charlie. Mac looks between the two, getting some entertainment out of this.
“No, no. While oatmeal raisin is definitely not a popular pick, i’d say it’s in my top 10 at least.”
Dee smiles at that, happy someone for once isn’t immediately making fun of her for something she does. Charlie goes back to eating his cookie disgustingly.
Mac now bored once again, goes back to scrolling on his phone. While he goes to click on some stupid game he downloaded, he feels a tingling sensation in his mouth.
He coughs to try to clear it up, but when that doesn’t help, he takes a swig of his beer. Nothing seems to make the feeling go away and now he feels like he’s clawing at his skin.
He’s quickly hit with with a strong wave of nausea, completely thrown off by the suddenness of it. He coughs again which grabs the attention of Dee and Charlie, both looking annoyed with him. That is until they actually get a look at him.
“Holy shit dude you look terrible.” Charlie nearly shouts.
“My god, you’re covered in hives. And-and you’re all puffy and shit.” Dee points at his face. He brings his hand up and sure enough he can feel the atrocious state his skin is in.
Before he can focus too much on the state of how he looks, he leans over and pukes all over the bar floor. Both Dee and Charlie make a sound of disgust, clearly unhappy.
“Aw man, i’m not cleaning that shit up. It’s your puke so you deal with it.”
Mac ignores Charlie, trying to catch his breath, but having a hard time taking a proper deep breath in. He brings his hand up to his chest to rub at it, hoping to bring some relief.
Dee seems to catch on as her eyes widen. After the whole Fancy Nut fiasco, Dennis made a huge deal of explaining thoroughly that any peanuts or tree nuts will not be allowed in the bar because of Mac.
“Oh shit. Hey Mac, you have your epipen thingy on you?” Dee asks, pushing aside the cookies as if that will help.
Mac pats at his pockets and quickly shakes his head no. Dennis made sure that he always had it on him but soon realized he was not to be trusted, so he kept it on himself.
Dee sighs frustratedly and picks up her phone to call Dennis. While it would probably be easiest to just take Mac to the hospital since it’s so close to the bar, she decides she doesn’t want him upchucking in her car. He’s lucky she’s even making a call at all.
She’s quickly sent to voicemail and rolls her eyes. She thinks of just sending a text, but taking one look at the state Mac is in, she decides to try calling again.
Mac lays his head down on the bar, wheezing at each breath he takes. The first allergic reaction didn’t hit him so quickly, but this one feels like it’s kicking his ass. At least his head isn’t the size of a bowling ball, yet.
Charlie brings his hand up, awkwardly patting Mac on the back. Mac turns his head to look at him with what he hopes is a confused glare.
“Well I don’t know what to do. Thought you might appreciate that bro.” Charlie brings his hand back to fold his arms against his chest. Mac tries his best to roll his eyes, but he doesn’t think he succeeds in the act.
Dee finally gets ahold of Dennis after calling him 7 times. He’s very clearly annoyed with her when he picks up.
“What could you possibly need so badly that you had to call me 100 times?”
“You are so overdramatic. I did not call you that many times.”
“Whatever bitch. What was so important you had to bother me while i’m out?”
“Thought you might want to know your little boyfriend is having an allergic reaction and doesn’t have his epipen on him. But I guess if i’m bothering your shopping trip, then i’ll-“
“Wait what?! Did you give him his epipen?”
Dee holds the phone away from her ear, still be able to hear Dennis screeching on the line. She rolls her eyes and brings the phone back closer to her face but keeps it a little distance away.
“Well you see here, I couldn’t do that because apparently a grown man doesn’t know how to take care of himself. Oh and maybe also the fact that I just told you he doesn’t have it on him dumbass.”
Mac weakly gives her the middle finger. She gives it right back to him and brings her attention back to the call.
“Ah shit I forgot I keep it on me. Alright, make sure he doesn’t stop breathing. I’ll be there in 10 minutes.” and he hangs up on her.
Dee turns her phone off and looks at Mac. He’s kept his head on the bar, still rubbing at his chest. She can see the red marks he’s leaving on his skin and winces slightly. She pokes him in the head to grab his attention.
Mac slowly lifts his head, not quite sitting up all the way. He looks up at her with teary eyes, looking close to a tomato with all the hives but also being as pale as a ghost.
“Your knight in shining armor will be here in 10 minutes. So don’t die while you wait, it’s not good for the bar.”
He puts his thumbs up and lays his head back down. Charlie seemingly not interested in what’s happening anymore, reaches over Mac to get to the cookies. When Dee notices what he’s trying to do, she pushes him down and shoves the cookies further away.
“The hell are you doing Charlie?”
“I wanted another cookie, bring them over here.” he goes to reach again but Dee stops him.
“No you cannot have a cookie right now. Mac is literally having an allergic reaction from them.” she explains, feeling like it’s an obvious observation and knowledge. Apparently not.
“Yeah he’s having an allergic reaction. But i’m not and i’m hungry, so give me the goddamn cookies Dee.”
“Charlie you cannot have any. Mac can’t eat them and he shouldn’t even be around them.”
“Yeah but what harm will it do? He’s already having the allergic reaction, so why does it matter? Plus you’re the one that brought them in, so it’s kinda your fault.”
“My fault. How is it my fault?! I didn’t force feed him. It’s not my problem the idiot chooses to not read the goddamn ingredients of everything he eats.”
“The hell yous guys yelling about. Can hear you even with the damn door closed.” Frank comes walking out the office. He looks over at Mac, a disgusted look on his face.
“What’s wrong with this one?” Frank asks as he opens the cookie container, taking a big bite and getting crumbs all over the place.
“Oh, Mac’s having an allergic reaction to the cookie Dee gave him. Hey actually, pass one over here man.”
Frank hands one to Charlie, taking a seat at the bar next to him. Dee puts her hands on her forehead, too annoyed to try anymore.
Luckily Dennis walks in, well more like speed walks, making a beeline towards Mac. He puts his hand on Mac’s shoulder, gently trying to get him to sit up.
Mac slowly sits up, but once he notices Dennis is there, he gets up a bit faster. He quickly regrets doing so, as it makes him dizzy and sway nearly off the chair. Dennis grabs ahold of his shoulders to keep him steady.
Mac tries his best to give Dennis a smile, but it comes out more like an awkward grimace with how swollen his mouth is. Dennis smiles sadly at him and pats his shoulder. He already has the epipen ready to go in his right hand.
“I’m going to give you the epipen now, okay. You’ll feel better soon buddy.”
Dennis moves his hand to Mac’s thigh and injects the epipen in. He keeps it in for 3 seconds and then removes it quickly. Mac winces slightly at the contact, but is gone enough to not make a fuss out of it. Dennis massages the area for a minute, hoping Mac starts to feel some relief.
Mac regains a bit of color to his face and thankfully doesn’t look like he’s on the verge of passing out. The gang stares at the two the entire time, intrigued by the whole thing.
Dennis ignores them as he helps Mac up to bring him to the car. He quickly unlocks the car and opens the passenger side to get Mac in. He flops into his seat as Dennis rushes to the other side.
“How’re you feeling man? Any better?” Dennis asks, as he takes a quick glance at Mac. Mac tilts his head towards Dennis, still looking miserable.
“A little better.” Mac rasps out. Dennis nods his head and rubs Mac’s thigh, speeding towards the hospital.
He knows it’s going to be crowded as shit, it being a Friday night in Philadelphia. It doesn’t matter though, as long as Mac can get the care he needs, then that’s what matters.
When they pull up to the hospital, Dennis can see Mac visibly frown. He parks the car quickly and gets Mac out.
“I thought we were heading home?” Mac says, dragging his feet.
“Do you not remember anything from last time. They literally told you after you inject the epipen to go the ER to get checked.”
“Yeah but that’s stupid, plus we really shouldn’t be wasting our money on this.”
“We’ll just make Frank pay. C’mon man, don’t make this more difficult.”
___
They leave the hospital around 4am, both of them tired. They gave Mac some oxygen to help with his breathing. They also gave him intravenous antihistamines and cortisone to reduce his inflammation.
They hop in the car and Mac is immediately out cold. Dennis wishes he could do the same, but he’d rather not have to make another hospital visit. He drives home in silence, only the noise of Mac’s snores filling the void.
He may love Mac, but he can be a real idiot most of the time. He already yelled at him while in the hospital about the importance of reading the ingredients of any food he eats. He doesn’t want this to become a common occurrence.
He’ll yell at Dee later once he has more energy about bringing such food into the bar. He can’t believe she had the nerve to do such a thing, but leave it to her to fuck things up.
Dennis arrives at the apartment and parks quickly. He turns the car off, hoping the sounds he’s making will wake Mac up. Apparently it doesn’t work because he is still snoring peacefully as he gets out.
He opens the passenger door and gently shakes Mac. He finally wakes up, bringing his hands up to his face to rub his eyes. When he notices they’re home, he unbuckles his seatbelt and hops out the car.
They walk up to the apartment hand in hand. Usually Dennis doesn’t allow for such displays of affection for the open eye, but no one’s around and they’ve had quite the night.
The second they get inside, Mac makes a beeline to Dennis’ room. Dennis follows him, watching as Mac face plants directly onto the bed. He rolls his eyes and walks over to him.
“No sleep yet. You should change your clothes and I need to put that anti-itch shit on you. Your skin is already fucked up, don’t need it getting worse.”
Mac groans but relents, getting up to go grab some sweats and a tshirt. After they change their clothes, Dennis leads Mac to the bathroom. He sits Mac down onto the closed toilet and grabs the cream.
He puts some on his hand and rubs some in onto all the visibly angry red marks all over Mac’s skin. Mac closes his eyes as Dennis rubs the cream in, close to falling asleep. Before he can actually do that, Dennis finishes up and puts the cream away. He pecks Mac, his lips still a little swollen, and takes his hand to bring him to bed.
They both get in onto “their” sides and Mac immediately lays his head on Dennis’ chest, throwing his arm across his middle. Dennis rubs Mac’s arm, thinking.
Right as Mac was about to pass out, Dennis speaks out, “You gotta be more careful Mac. You could’ve killed yourself.”
Mac blinks his eyes open and looks up to Dennis. It’s a bit of an awkward angle, but it’ll do.
“But I didn’t. And to be fair, I didn’t even know they were oatmeal raisin cookies. Or that oatmeal raisin cookies could have nuts in them.”
“Yeah well this is why you need to start checking labels. Could’ve saved us from all of this.” Dennis sighs.
“I’m sorry Dennis. I’ll try to be more careful.”
Dennis knows that’s not true and this will happen again. There’s no pointing out the obvious though. He just has to make sure he oversees everything Mac eats and keep epipens anywhere Mac may be.
“That’s all I ask.” Dennis kisses Mac’s head and settles in.
“I love you.”
“Love you too.”
And with that, they are out for the night.