Chapter Text
If prompted to explain, Dennis would truly not know what to say or how it happened, just that is was quick. Between lectures and exams and labs and deadlines, his living situation was more of a background ominous cloud than something urgent that needed to be addressed.
Well, maybe quick was an understatement, he can clearly draw a line between the two points of before and after; the shady student housing with roaches and unlivable conditions, and the rapidly approaching end of his lease.
And for a while he managed to toe that line, between exams and part times and too expensive hospital cafeteria food and the ominous chill in the air that crept up with November.
November used to be a good month in Dennis' books. November meant harvest and clambering on combines with his brothers. It meant hours of harsh labor and harsher winds, breaking away to chase down wayward cows when they find the only part of the fence that broke off.
His dad used to joke that they didn't need to inspect the fences anymore. See, they just had to wait for one of their neighbors to call out for Dennis on his way home from school in the crap truck his older brother drove before him, and tell him that their cows were loose, didn't you know?
Then the lease. The lease to his most definitely illegal, eight people packed in a barely studio apartment housing situation expired, just before Dennis managed to see the light at the end of the tunnel. And between figuring out how to renew his lease with $16.57 in his bank account, and taking the Step 2 that had drained his account in the first place, he had hunkered down in the university library for three days and decided post-exam Dennis would figure it out.
Post exam Dennis, running on a stale Red Bull and gnawing fear he had failed spectacularly, had stared blankly at the cold email from his tenant informing him that, due to increase in cost of living, in the eighteen hours between the end of his lease and power walking away from other students comparing their answers post exam, the housing unit upped its rent by $200/month, and rent was first of the month.
Dennis had just finished up his third year, so suddenly losing a place to sleep had been, well, less than great, but the clouds kept rolling over the impossibly tall buildings of Pittsburgh, and he knew that somehow, he'd have to manage his way through this.
Fourth year was rolling in, uncaring as he discovered academia tends to be, and he needed a place to sleep and charge his phone and generally not be homeless. And someplace to shower, he can't be the MS4 intern that looks half dead on his feet and smells bad.
And Dennis was really trying not to panic here, so he did the responsible thing. He walked into the nearest overpriced coffee spot, flushed the last of his money away for a student discount latte and bagel combo and the wifi password, parked himself in a bean bag, and opened reddit.
He had never felt smaller, swallowed by cow print fuzz, typing out the words homeless soon to be ms4 student while surrounded by exposed ventilation and mugs hanging from every wall.
Undergrad Dennis Whitaker would never had thought to concern the internet with his worries, let alone blast himself on reddit of all places. But undergrad Dennis' biggest concerns were keeping up with his family's weekly calls from home, and being waitlisted on electives he needed to graduate on the student portal.
Dennis had hit the post button like it was a sin, closing his laptop with a resounding smack! before hurriedly opening it up again to check he didn't crack the screen. His post, still under review by mods, stared back at him, and Dennis had felt a sense of shame and self consciousness so deep it formed a pit in his stomach and lead in his feet. He had considered deleting the post, but the urgent need for help overruled the shame.
Sipping on his latte, Dennis had kept nervously people watching. He had an absurd fear that someone would lean over and read his post, that they would point and yell at people to come over and laugh at the little homeless med student.
Obviously, that didn't happen, but it only made his mood worsen. He had just gotten the rug pulled from underneath his feet and the world dared to keep spinning. People still bought overpriced coffee and stale sandwiches and took mirror selfies in the millions of mirrors peppered around the shop.
It had, oddly, reminded Dennis of tornados back home.
They didn't have cable, so the news warning never reached them, but his dad's buddies would ring the home phone and tell him to look outside, and his father would grab a lawnchair, crack a Busch light, and watch as the funnel of the tornado formed in the distance.
One time, the winds had crept dangerously home, and his mother had bundled up Dennis and his brothers in the bathtub with strict orders not to break the sink again, and thrown a heavy blanket over their heads.
They did have a perfectly functioning basement, but mom kept the nice china down there, and refused to tempt fate by putting all her four boys down there.
They didn't break the sink that day, but one of Dennis' older brothers chipped his tooth on the edge of the tub when they all piled on him when he threatened to pull a dutch oven. His mother saw it a success, all things considered.
The stupid memory calmed him down, and he could almost taste the limp lettuce in his bagel. This just was one tornado in his life, everyone couch hopped at one point in college after all.
Dennis had hit refresh on his tab, and prayed.