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internetminestrone · 2 months

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@shellyshellshell you inspired me to churn out some more! thanks for the encouraging words, you rock! :)

a new chapter - Dennis

A/N: This goes out to everyone who has ever had a landlord. The name Dennis popped into my head before I remembered that Chris Evans character from many moons ago, but that connection made me laugh. It's not the Dennis that appears in this story, unless you want it to be.

This a henry x reader story, where the reader's name is Rose. Because I'm the first reader/writer - the reader normally looks like me. In this edition there is brief mention of Rose being a black woman, so if you simply can't stand that, don't read! If you can stand it and want to be a beta reader on henry x rose moving forward please let me know, I'd be happy to read your work as well!

Also, there might be more segments about this period in Henry x Rose's life. Who knows, stay tuned!

Summary: Henry has something to say.

Word Count: 2800

Content: fluff, slow burn?, reader/Rose briefly described as a black woman. Dennis.

“Move in with me” Henry said, lacing his fingers through yours as you walked down the sidewalk. The warm summer air smelled sweet and the dying sun gave the sky a delicious lavender hue as it faded beyond the horizon.

“What?!”

“You heard me.” He said, taking another lick of his soft serve.

“Henry I- ''. It wasn’t that you were flabbergasted, although you were. Nobody had ever asked you to move in with them before and when you even dared to imagine what that conversation would be like it hadn’t been like this. So casual. So normal. As if he was just asking you for some of your mint chip. “I don’t know what to say.”

“That’s okay.” he replied, casting his eyes over to yours for a split second before licking his cone again. “You can think about it. But you might want to have some of your ice cream, it’s melting.”

You remembered the dish of ice cream in your free hand, and brought it up to your mouth for a lick. You were more of a dish girl than a cone girl. Cones brought a sense of urgency with them that you just didn’t want when enjoying a frozen treat - that kind of thing was supposed to be relaxing. Yet here you were, with it melting anyways.

You were quiet for a minute as you walked together. It would’ve been easy to say you were thinking about the implications of his ask and wondering if that’s what you wanted, but you weren’t. Instead you were looking at him. He was so calm. The gentle breeze jostled his chestnut curls ,and there was ice cream in his beard, and also on his sweater.

He’d insisted on ice cream tonight, which had surprised you. While he did have a sweet tooth, normally you’d just pick up a pint of something from the corner store and bring it home to eat on the couch while watching tv together, cuddled together. But you’d had a long day at work, and today was Friday, plus the weather was nice and you’d both been lamenting you needed to incorporate more fresh air into your days. So here you were. Walking back from Nicki’s Ice Cream Parlor, hand in hand, somehow completely unphased that he’d asked you to move your relationship to the next step. Was it the next step? How were relationships and relationship stages even defined anymore.

“What made you think of that, just now?” You said, unclasping your hand from his so you could use the spoon for your ice cream instead of continuing to shove it in your face.

“I’ve been thinking about it for a while.” he hummed back, licking a fallen gob of his twist from his hand. “Your landlord sucks.”

“Dennis does not suck.” You protested with a bark of a laugh. “He’s just traveling a lot! For work or whatever.”

Henry shrugged and smirked mischievously. “I don’t know…”

“He’s out of the country!” You smacked his arm playfully with the back of your hand, making Henry smile wider - his big eyes crinkling at the corners.

“His traveling aside, he’s not good at looking after his property.” Okay true. That was hard to argue with. Your neighborhood was great, all of the townhomes had their own charm even though they looked nearly identical. But, that being said, there were definitely some less-than-stellar options, your rental being one of them. The tiny front lawn was patchy, the tree out front looked rough, the front steps and porch were crumbling, the paint on the front door had seen better days. And that was just the outside of the house.

It was a fixer-upper for sure, except you weren’t going to dump a bunch of money into a place that wasn’t yours. Instead, you built a little nest egg by adding a couple bucks to a jar every time you found something to complain about with the place. That money had quickly eclipsed its container and had been moved into its own savings account.

The funny thing was it wasn’t even that you needed to save up to move, you could’ve moved ages ago, the jar was supposed to be a reminder to actually do it. But something kept you there. It was predictable, the location was great, and when you could actually nail Dennis down he would come fix stuff for you. If you were being completely honest, maybe you didn’t move because you were holding out on a good reason to leave, a compelling thing to signify that the Dennis stage of your life was over and you weren’t returning.

“No, but I don’t mind. I can fix most of it.”

“But you shouldn’t have to,” Henry said. “That’s supposed to be part of the point of renting. Plus he’s got a crush on you.”

You rolled your eyes as you let the last bit of your ice cream melt over your tongue. “Not this again. There’s billions of guys in the world and the one you get nervous about is Dennis? Oh please.” you said with a smirk. There were probably people out there who appreciated the very specific kind of appeal Dennis brought to the table.

“Dennis does not make me nervous.” Henry said, straightening up. “I just don’t like how he conveniently happens to find himself at your place whenever he isn’t doing whatever he normally does out of town.”

“You said it yourself, the place is falling apart. He’s doing his job.” You chuckled. There were not many things that bothered Henry, he was cool, calm, and collected as anybody ever. But he did have some sort of thorn in his side when it came to Dennis, it had been that way since the two first met.

“I don’t like how he looks at you, it makes me feel-” he shook his head and tossed the last bit of his cone in his mouth, chewing loudly. “Uncomfortable” he finished between loud bites.

“I just don’t understand why he gets you going like this, it’s just Dennis.” You bit back another laugh, as, although the situation was funny to you, and had been funny for a while, it was absolutely not funny to Henry when he got going. Were you poking the bear a little bit? Yes. Was Dennis the reason he asked you to move in with him? No, but you’re sure getting away from Dennis definitely crossed Henry’s mind. “Dennis isn’t my type.”

“Doesn’t matter!” Henry said, starting to get revved up now. “It’s like…like that time he came over and you gave him ravioli!” he threw his hands up in the air. “Ravioli for goodness sake.”

“I gave him ravioli because he was starving! I could hear his stomach rumbling when I showed him the hot water heater. He’d just gotten off the train, or… the plane? Anyways, he’d just gotten in and came straight over to see what was the matter.”

“If you can hear his stomach growling, he’s too close. You didn’t see the way his little eyes raked over you when you had your back turned.” he growled, cracking his knuckles one after the other, like he often did when he was feeling frustrated.

“No, but-” You stopped to throw out your napkin, dish, and held out your hand for Henry’s napkin too, to throw in the street trash can as you passed. “lots of people probably look at me when I’m not looking at them. It’s sort of the more polite way to do it.” You glanced up at him as you dusted off your hands on your jeans before setting off again.

If Henry knew you were being cheeky to spite him, he didn’t care, because now he was rolling. “But he did it right in front of me. As if I wasn’t even there! And then there’s the flirting that followed!”

“He said it smelled good, which it did, because we’d just finished making homemade ravioli. Then he said, if I recall, something about the natural light in the space and complimented me on how I had rearranged some of the decor since the last time he dropped by. Then he said he liked my hair. That’s not quite flirting, he was making conversation. He’s sort of hyper-friendly.”

“You had just gotten braids for the summer when he said that.” Henry pointed out. “Long ones.”

“They’re always long!” You said, twirling one between your fingertips, “That’s half the point!”

“He was staring at your chest and found the perfect excuse. Might I add, also right in front of me.”

“I’m confused if the part that makes you uncomfortable about Dennis is that he checks me out, or the fact that he ignores you.” You stopped to read a sign taped to a telephone pole about a lost cat, and mentally filed it away to remember next time you were out on a walk.

You could feel Henry brewing behind you, as you turned back around to set off once again towards. home. You were right, of course, his brow and nose were scrunched together as if he’d just smelled a skunk. “I don’t care that he ignores me.” he said slowly, the gears in that brain of his spinning so hard as he processed each word you could basically see them through his forehead. “I care that he ignores me when it comes to you. Other times, when guys look at you they cut it out once I give them a big fat only-one-warning look. Dennis couldn’t care less.”

“Okay but that being said, it sounds like you don’t like him disrespecting you by looking at me.” Suddenly this was a little less funny. “Does that sound about right?”

He could sense that something changed with you, his face, once angry-tense, was now sort of realization-and-uh-oh-tense instead. “Maybe… which is fucked up.”

“Yeah.” You let out a soft sigh and started to pick up the pace a bit, hoping to out-walk the way this “funny” conversation had taken a turn.

“Baby.” Henry brought you both to a stop and stood before you, reaching down to take both of your hands in his. “It’s fucked up. But the part of my brain that does the thinking and not the feeling knows that it's irrational, it’s Dennis. But more than that? The bigger, more mature part of me is more hurt that he’s disrespecting you. Because before you were ever mine, even still while you are, you are yours Rose. And I’m a fucking idiot, also - that less mature part, but also all of the parts. By the way.”

“I know.” you said, lips curving up just a touch.

“You know?” gently, he brought his hand up to tilt your face back up towards his. Until there you were, standing close together under the light of the streetlamps, eyes locked on one another.

“I’ve known since the day we met, you oaf.” You replied, sliding a hand to rest on his chest comfortingly. The feel of his heartbeat in your hand, slowly speeding up as you leaned into his palm, would never stop making you feel like you riding on a carousel in the sky.

“Not just any oaf baby. Your oaf.” His eyes darted down to your tongue as it moved to moisten your lips. He took a deep slow breath, still holding your gaze. “I want to kiss you.” he murmured, barely over a whisper, both of you standing there, still entranced by one another.

“I want you to kiss me too” His free arm wrapped around your waist pulling you to him, his hand was warm and sturdy on your back. Something about that always made your knees weak, knowing he could literally toss you about like a sack of potatoes by the seat of your pants if he wanted to. And you weren’t a tiny little thing.

Your hand spread a bit, massaging his chest as you let your eyes flutter closed. You could smell the chocolate on his breath as he got close, and could practically taste it as you opened your mouth a bit in willing invitation. His tongue glided past your upper lip -

HONK! HONK HONK HONK!

You stepped apart, somewhat dizzy from the shock of the car speeding towards you with its magnificently bright headlights. Disoriented you looked around, trying to gauge what on earth was going on. Apparently all of that conversation had lasted longer than you thought because there was your place just up ahead. And, wait. Didn’t you know that car?

“You’ve got to be kidding me” Henry said curtly, but even with your now starry vision you saw that some of the lightness from before this whole thing was back in his eyes and in his posture. You grabbed his hand and walked swiftly towards your home, and it wasn’t until you got on the front steps that the person in the car - who had parked across the street- called out your name.

“Rose!” There he was, waving wildly in your direction as he quickly darted over after making sure the road was free to oncoming traffic.

“Dennis…” You replied flatly, sure that the smile you plastered on your face looked even more fake than it felt. “What a surprise.” You handed the keys in your pocket to Henry in an effort to give Dennis your full attention. Normally he didn’t just show up, unannounced, for no reason. Henry gave your hand a squeeze and you knew he was there to back you up, but that you were in charge here.

“Did you not get my text? I texted…?” Dennis trailed over, doing something of a jog towards you.

“Ohhh. No sorry Dennis, Henry and I went out for a bit and I left my phone here.”

“That’s a-okay! I just got back from Greece and you had texted me a while ago about that disposal in the sink acting up? I just felt so bad. Anyways, these are for you! As an apology present.” And then there was a big bouquet of flowers held out in your direction.

Your eyes widened. Henry’s presence shifted from annoyed to alert. “Oh Dennis. Wow.”

“Yes, yes, please! Have them. They aren’t from Greece of course, ha!”

“Ummm.” You heard Henry unlock the door behind you softly, and wished you had gotten home just a tiny bit faster. “Wow.” Dennis thrust the flowers out towards you again, but you slipped your hands in your pockets to avoid them.

“So, tell me more about the issue. I know you did type it all out but it’s escaping me.” Dennis said with a little laugh as he took a few steps up towards you and towards the door.

“Um- you know what Dennis, it’s late.”

“That’s okay! I don’t want you to go without for even one second longer. Plus we should get these flowers in some water.” he smiled brightly up at you. Greece had certainly treated him well. His face was redder than usual and peeling around the nose. He wore a suit coat over some sort of linen-ish shirt, with shorts and dress shoes. Maybe this was all that was left in his closet and he hadn’t unpacked? The flowers were gorgeous. And expensive looking. It was quite a large bouquet, and much fancier than something you would find at a supermarket. Was this the first time he’d ever brought you flowers? No. But in light of your night with Henry, they were definitely hitting differently.

“It’s really alright. Henry actually helped me sort part of it out. You just need to replace part of the connector that goes under the sink, why don’t I send you the information in the morning? You can have it shipped here and we can handle the install so you don’t have to keep driving out here, so far out of your way..”

Dennis’ face faltered. “You didn’t need to do that Rose, I can take care of you, I mean uh, all that for you.”

Oh brother. What a time for a freudian slip. “That’s so kind Dennis,” You tried to make your smile look even brighter and even more positive. “But it’s no big deal. Honestly, the whole thing can wait for the next tenant. I’m sure they’ll appreciate some updates around here, and it’s so hard to find a good landlord these days.”

His face twisted, his grip on the flowers loosening causing them to tilt towards the ground. “Next tenant?”

“Oh yes”, you said casually, as Henry swung open the front door behind you and stepped in. “You know what you should drop those flowers with Ms. Merishism four houses down, she’s always up and this hour you know. She’d die to see you!” You walked into the house and causally slid off your coat and hung it on the coat rack. “I was going to call you on Monday.” you said slowly, the words bubbling up on my tongue as you faced Dennis once more, with your hand on the door. “It’s time for me to move out.”

#thank you!

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