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Moving was always a hassle. Dennis mistakenly assumed that he still had just one bag of things as the day he moved in with Trinity, but living with her for couple years made him acquire quite an arrangement of clothes, trinkets and books. Packing was absolutely miserable even with Santos' help, at times he felt overwhelmed that he definitely wasn't supposed to have that much things. But they powered through and packed everything in five neat boxes. It made his chest squeezed in a weird way, he managed to actually start a life and earn his place in Pittsburgh after being basically a stray cat for entirety of med school.
Actually moving his stuff into Abbot-Robinavitch household wasn't that much of a trouble as three of them carried box by box inside. At this point Dennis would've called it a day and dealt with the boxes some other time, which most likely meant never. But his partners insisted on him unpacking today. Dennis played a tortured soul for Robby's and Jack's amusement and they set to unpacking. It was easy enough to go through his clothes and put them away as his partners cleaned out couple shelves for him beforehand, which helped quite a lot. They however overestimated how much clothes the younger man has, leaving most of the shelves empty. For that Michael and Jack both promised, more like threatened to take him shopping soon enough. His resistance was countered with kisses and pokes to his side, they liked to way overindulge for him sometimes. Surprisingly, they did struggle with arranging their shoes as Robby apparently had too many pairs that he all deemed important to have on the shoe rack at all times. After some playful ribbing they made space for Dennis' shoes too.
Where the problem came from is trying to delegate space for Whitaker's books and trinkets. He tried to say that it was unnecessary and he could just keep some of his stuff in the box. The couple wasn't having it and took it fully upon themselves to arrange the younger man's things around the place. They wanted for it to feel like Dennis was a permanent fixture in their lives, not just a guest who is temporarily occupying a corner in the house. It warmed his heart that they were ready to extend a gesture like that too him, he was way too used to be ready to leave in a hurry if he was no longer welcome. Back at Trinity's flat it took him a whole year to finally start leaving his books and coats outside of his room and bathroom, allowing himself to trust that her kindness didn't have an expiration date Whitaker took an almost back-sitting role, only offering his like or dislike about the placements. In the silliness and warmth of the moment, Dennis allowed himself to forget about other things he had packed…
"Hey, Mouse, is this a picture of your family?" Robby lifted couple of pictures from the box and Dennis felt a chill run down his spine. He took some pictures with him before he left Broken Bow as a sentimental fool he is and now it came to bite him in the ass. "Oh, little Mouse, I wanna see," Jack smiled and pecked his cheek before joining Michael to look at the photos. On leaden legs Whitaker approached his partners.
"Huh, I though there were four boys in your family? You didn't say you had a sister," Jack looked at him curiously and Dennis felt his mouth go completely dry as if hes eaten sand. He looked at the photo, it was him all his brothers and one of their cousins who's birthday it was that day. He had two braids his mother always insisted on, no matter how much Dennis protested. In most he was wearing his baby pink Sunday dress that he loathed with his entire being even now. He could almost hear his mother's voice, scolding him for running around with the boy as it was 'unladylike', the thought alone made him grit his teeth to regulate the anger bubbling deep inside all the way from childhood. "It's me…" Dennis said quietly and carefully plucked the pictures from Robby's hands.
"Ah, right, I'm sorry, Den. I forgot," Abbot drew in a breath through his teeth and rubbed a hand on his neck. Robby's face froze for a moment, as he tried to gauge Dennis' reaction, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have touched them. We didn't mean to make you feel bad, Mouse." Whitaker looked through the couple pictures, sudden nostalgia and sorrow filling him. He looked happy in those pictures the rare moments when the family felt like a real family.
"It's okay, I just completely forgot they were there with my stuff," he shook his head lightly and looked up at the two men, "Just keepsakes when i missed them sometime, these can definitely live in some box. Absolutely don't want these displayed." He tried for a joke, but it fell flat. Jack pulled him in by his waist, tucking the boy's head under his chin. "You're okay, Mouse. We can pretend we never saw these if it makes you feel uncomfortable. Doesn't make us see you any other way, don't even think so for a second," The older man squeezed him tightly for a moment. Dennis just shook his head, wrapping his arms around Abbot. Robby came closer, rubbing his back in comforting motion.
"My family is… complicated, maybe I will tell you more a bit later," Dennis said quietly, peeling away from his partner and looking at the pictures again, "My life is better now and I don't really want to remember that time all that much." He gave a bit of strained smile to his partners and carefully untangled himself from them. He put the pictures back into the box, chewing on his lips in a nervous tic. "Dennis, we know all about difficult families, you don't need to explain that to us," Jack huffed lightheartedly, "Families are hard and complicated, but that's when we get to build our own family without those that hurt us."
"I think coming to Pittsburgh really helped me see that," Dennis sat down on the sofa, pushing the box away with his foot, definitely not in the mood to unpack anymore. His partners joined him on both sides. "You guys are kind of the closest thing to a family I have, after Trinity, of course," He chuckled, putting his head on Robby's shoulder and intertwining hands with Jack.
"You guys are basically twins, we could never rival that," Robby chuckled fondly, putting his head on Whitaker's, "You are definitely a part of our family now, there's no doubt in that." Dennis closed his eyes with a sigh, basking in the warmth of the two men basically enveloping him, "Thank you… for loving me as I am."
"Don't even think of thanking us, Mouse. We will always love you no matter what," Abbot brought their joined hands to his mouth and kissed Dennis' hand softly. "You're ours now, sweetheart, you will never get rid of us," Michael huffed, kissing his hair.
This is it, Dennis thought, this is exactly where he needed to be and the peace he deserved for all he has went through. This was his happily ever after.