Chapter Text
Dennis Whitaker
Your question isn’t really supposed to mean anything. It’s just some joke you had seen on tiktok and thought in passing you’d see what Dennis would say. But then the thought lingered and festered like an old wound coming back to life.
You don’t even look up from your phone when you say it. “Den do you ever wish that I was more athletic?” For one singular moment nothing passes, time freezes, nothing movement, there is no sound that bounces off the apartment walls.
“…What?” Dennis sounds completely and utter in shock. You take a chance and glance up from your phone. He’s staring at you with the most confused and completely caught off guard expression. He looks like you just rewrote the rules to a conversation without a single warning. His brows are drawn tightly together not annoyed just in shock.
You shrug lightly, and can already feel the flicker of regret seeping in through your body. “I just saw something online. Like I don’t know, do you ever…” You’re cut off by Dennis “Wait… I’m confused.” It’s a quickness that you aren’t used to with him, not sharp, just immediate in a way that isn’t normal for the farm boy.
He shifts on the couch, sitting taller into the cushions. Looking like something had snapped in front of his face and he’s been brought back to life. A switch flipped somewhere deep behind his eyes. “Why are we even talking about this right now?” He asks, and there is a solid minute where you just stare at him suddenly thrown off by the intensity of how Dennis is staring at you and his question.
“HUh?” Is all that you can manage, mouth left open as you just look at Dennis. “Did I say something that made you think…” Dennis stops himself almost as if he can’t bear to say the rest of the thought. “No, You didn’t…” You shake your head, and let the most awkward laugh slip from your lips. “It was just a question, Den.” But even as the words leave your mouth you realize you can’t look at Dennis.
And of course the farm boy notices.
Something shifts, and his expression changes not drastically just enough. The confusion isn’t all gone, but it’s replaced by something that is far more focused, and a lot more careful. “Baby.” He tries softly.
You can feel it way before you fully register it, the way that Dennis' attention narrows in on you. The way the rest of the living room seems to fall apart and away from him and his bright blue eyes. Dennis leans in, bracing his elbows on the tops of his knees. Just trying to catch your gaze.
“No, seriously baby tell me. Where is all this coming from?” He asks, “It’s not coming from Den.” Even as you insist it you can sense that you’ve answered far too quickly for him, and your voice carries a little too light for his liking.
You wave your hand about like you’re just trying to brush the entire interaction away. “It’s just a dumb question that people ask sometimes.” You glance up at him, and you know it’s a risk because you can still feel his eyes on you. Except Dennis is looking at you with judgement, or any inkling of suspicion.
Dennis just looks at you like he’s searching.
As if the answer is written so clearly on your forehead, and he just needs a few moments longer to get the true meaning behind your words. You feel your chest tighten just ever so slightly. “It really doesn’t matter, Den.” You add.
That seems to be the worst phrase you could have uttered. There is a single moment where it all clicks for Dennis. Not the world but the space that you’ve ended up leaving between them. The way you hesitate before telling him that you’re fine. The way your voice shifts just a little like you’re trying to cry. Plus it doesn’t help your case now that you’ve basically tried to make this so much smaller than it actually is.
You watch as Dennis exhales slowly, and calmly. Like he’s trying his hardest to steady himself and his thoughts. “You know I don’t…” He pauses, dragging a hand over his face. obviously trying to readjust and come up with better words. “I hope you know that I don’t care about that sort of stuff.”
You go to open your mouth but are interrupted as Dennis just continues going on. The words coming out of his mouth like water out of a faucet. Not that his words feel rushed, instead they feel very deliberate and meaningful. As if he’s trying to make sure he dots all his i’s and crosses of his t’s.
“I would… I could never be like that with you, never you, baby.”
There is a firmness that settles in his voice as he continues on. “I mean Jesus.” He huffs with a little laugh. Frustration poured out of him in different ways. “If I ever made you feel like that mattered. I didn’t mean it. I would never, and will never think of you like that.” Dennis stops taking a breath, reaching out and grabbing both of your hands in his.
“I don’t ever compare you to anyone. Or whatever the hell that question of yours was supposed to mean.” He says waving both of your hands together. AS if the entire concept of your question is just ridiculous. “I never said that you did.” You mutter softly under your breath. He still hears you and doesn’t let the words linger in the air to long. “I know, baby. I just…” Dennis stops himself again.
You can see the overthinking, the wheels turning in his head almost automatically. As Dennis tries to search for the right words, just so they will stick somewhere in the back of your mind. He looks down at your connected hands and then back up at you. He’s softer now, more careful than before.
“You do know that right?” He asks, the question has so much meaning for only being five little words. It pulls at something deep in your chest, “I’m serious, baby.” He adds quickly when you aren’t quick to answer yourself. “I really need you to know that I’d never think of you that way.” When you manage the guts to finally look up at him properly.
Of course Dennis is already looking at you, watching and waiting for you to meet his icy blue eyes. There is no tease or sight, there is no deflection, and there is no attempting to make light of what you’ve brought to the table. There is just a concern, a ripe, real, and steady concern for you.
“Are you okay, baby?” he asks, even softer than before. But still not pressing you. Just a steady presence in the room. It hits you like a load of bricks, how the conversation had shifted and had been turned around so quickly it left you feeling dazed.
You asked a simple yes or no question, a throwaway that could be forgotten in less than a minute. Somehow though Dennis had probably without realizing turned it into checking up on you. Making sure that you weren’t carrying unbearable things on your own.
You breathe out gently, and for some reason you feel the tension leave your shoulders with an ease that you wouldn’t have noticed before. “Yeah.” You answer him quietly. “I’m okay now.” Dennis doesn’t move away from you, but he doesn't relax. Instead Dennis studies your face once more, like he’s determining if he likes your answer, if he wants to take it for face value or dig a little deeper. “Yeah?” He asks.
It’s nothing but a confirmation. You give him a nod this time, that seems to settle something in his not completely but it's enough. “Okay.” He murmurs gently. Except he doesn’t lean away. He instead shifts closer, his hands still gripping yours. Grounding you further.
“I just don’t want you thinking that it’s something I care about.” He starts quietly. The urgency has faded from his voice but still there is care infused into each word. “I wasn’t.” You say looking down at your hands. “You were just a little.” Dennis says, you huff next to him, feeling embarrassed as you laugh. “Okay maybe a little.”
Dennis’s voice dips, “Hey.” Again he’s soft. “It didn’t matter to me. You don’t have to be anything different.” The simplicity of his words land hard, and with no overcomplicated explanation it’s just that. True words, because Dennis means exactly what he says.
“I mean it, baby. I like you just how you are. I’m never gonna sit here and tell you who you are supposed to be.” The words die on his lips and he drops on your hands to vaguely wave them around. “Whatever “more athletic” is supposed to mean.” He says using air quotes. You smile anyways, “I’m not sure what it means either.”
Dennis laughs, and smiles. “Exactly. It’s a weird question.” He says has the tension filters out of the room. Leaving the both of you feeling lighter and much more calm. Dennis does one final check, glancing your way. A single scan over you to make sure he hasn’t missed a single thing.
As if you’re a patient in the ER. When Dennis doesn’t find anything, he drops it. “Okay.” And even after a long moment passes under his breath “I mean it though, babe.”