#not only does dennis give up the fight he wants Mac to stay with him

[charmac]

That's a point for Mac

[kimwexlers-brownhair]

I'm suddenly delighted by this concept, what if an AU where Kendall+Shiv+Roman and Dennis+Dee+maybe Charlie (for rule of three and because they've all thought Frank was their father at some point) have swapped parents? Not sure whether to include Connor because of the age difference but the possibilities for the havoc they could wreak is deliciously endless.

(Actually maybe swap Charlie with Greg because they have similar connections? 🤔 Whatever I just want the evil capitalist Gang and white trash Roys)

I've absolutely thought about this! I can see Dennis and Dee's degraded incompetence driving Logan mad in a different way than the golden trio. He and Dennis are a little too dangerously alike, with the explosive rage and obsession with control. Logan would be fonder of Dee but see her clearly for the distaster she is, unlike Shiv where he's (at first) proud of her intelligence and accomplishments. Dee's too crass and it embarrasses him that his only daughter is like that. He's haunted by the tabloid covers of her passed out on garbage bags outside of fancy New York nightclubs.

But what really pushes Logan over the edge is their utter lack of ambition to enter the company. He'd see red when Dennis tells him, "I know what's important to you is money and power, but I don't want real power because with real power comes real responsibility, and I don't want any of that shit. I just want the money and the illusion of power." At least with Kendall, Logan knew he earnestly craved leadership and did have good ideas. Same with Shiv and to some degree Roman. Dennis and Dee may occasionally make half-hearted efforts to grasp for the throne when properly motivated, but ultimately they want to sniff gas with Charlie and dance to Genius of Love in Waystar's board room -- which they've done frequently, just as Logan enters with a bunch of potential investors.

And so, yeah, maybe Logan turns to his nephew (or bastard son) Charlie as a potential heir. While Dennis and Dee openly scoff at Charlie's illiteracy and less privileged background, Logan would see someone who came from nothing like him, someone who might have potential if he smooths out the rough edges. But unlike Greg, Charlie is not at all intimidated by Logan. After all, Charlie is consistently the only character who isn't that cowed by Dennis's rage and in the rare times he's lucid, Charlie's pretty unflappable and tells it straight. Kind of the Shakesperean Fool type, y'know? So if Logan pulls the "I like you, Charlie" line that he used with Greg in Dundee, Charlie would just deadpan, "I don't give a shit." He just wants to stay Waystar's janitor, and any excitement he might feel if Logan offers to show him the ropes would fade like in Frank is Back in Business. He'd just point out all of Waystar's failings to Logan, and that would of course make Logan furious.

Meanwhile, the golden trio would end up very much like the Gang if raised by Frank Reynolds. I think Shiv would try to hold onto her dignity longer than Dennis and Dee, but deep down she's just as vulnerable and insecure as they are. She'd definitely have a "This doesn't represent me" breakdown on Family Fight. She'd force Willa not to acknowledge Frank and Roman at dinner until they come over to "pay tribute". Ken would grow up trying to get an in with Frank at his company, but he's way too fragile to just sit and watch his father bang a sex worker and not shrivel up and become another Cricket.

I'd bet Roman has the best chance of getting along with Frank as his father, because there's no way he'd feel the same pressure to conform and impress him like he does with Logan. He would eventually come out like Mac does (maybe not as gay, but maybe as some mix of panromantic graysexual). So in a weird way, I think he'd certainly not flourish, but at least feel more comfortable at Paddy's Pub looking down at Frank than he does at Waystar as the sleekly fashionable but fucked up little prince trying ever so hard to get a kiss from daddy.

Connor I see as maybe the wildcard Charlie in this scenario. Instead of being obsessed with the presidency, he's obsessed with rats and ghouls and composing.

(Tom is Pondy and Greg is a mix of Charlie, Mac, and Gail the Snail.)

(Dennis tries the D.E.N.N.I.S. System on Tabitha, Rava, Jess, and Gerri, and ruins the RECNY gala by screaming that he's the Golden God when they all reject him.)

(Barbara and Caroline are already twins in spirit so I don't see much changing in their relationships with the children. Roman/Dennis would still be the favorite, Shiv/Dee would still get the fucked up projection.)

[devils-reign]

boygenius equivalent of the gang (mac, charlie and dennis) meets their designated boygenius songs !!

mac - cool about it (honourable mention is salt in the wound)

i feel like the reasoning for this one is pretty self explanatory if you’ve heard the song !! in a nutshell, mac is in love with dennis (duh) and he’s trying to be cool about it. there’s been a whoooooole lot of interpretations for this song. things like bringing something up and having it cause a fight only for you to go “we can just move past it, it’s fine,” or seeing childhood friends after years. but i think with mac it’s the point blank, romantic interpretation.

“tellin’ myself i can always do without it.” i think this was such a huge thing for mac before he even came out. it’s like the culmination of his internalized homophobia and feelings for dennis. we don’t know much about mac’s thought process on his sexuality before he comes out. his constant denial and confusion when one of the gang mentioned him being gay can either be seen as genuine, or as a deflection because he wasn’t ready to face the truth with it. i think mac had told himself multiple times that he could “do without it.” only before he came out, what that would be in reference to is his sexuality as a whole. giving up the happiness he would get from being open and out. and after he comes out, it’s in reference to his feelings for dennis. he’s finally out, and in love with his best friend who mac probably thinks shows no signs of reciprocating, so he convinces himself he could do without it.

and then, by god, we have the whole “we don’t have to talk about it” verse. if this doesn’t just SCREAM mac than i don’t know what does. the whole verse is pretty much stating that ‘we don’t have to talk about it. we can forget i said anything, and i’ll ignore how i feel and pretend it doesn’t make me feel like i’m drowning.’ it’s blatantly obvious to everyone in the gang that mac likes dennis. and whether dennis truly comprehends that or not, he started to distance himself and just became more of an asshole to mac. and i think this verse would really resonate with mac, because i’m sure he would do anything to go back to how they were before he had come out (as heartbreaking as that is).

dennis - bite the hand (honourable mention is stay down)

opening to this song goes as follows: “i can’t hear you, you’re too far away. i can’t see you, the light is in my face, i can’t touch you, i wouldn’t if i could” and OH boy is this dennis. the idea of being too far away made me think of dennis moving to north dakota for a bit. he’s too far, he can’t hear mac, can’t see mac, and he can’t touch mac. except he wouldn’t, even if he could. some more of that sweet, sweet internalized homophobia !! boooo !! i think this whole line is pretty self explanatory. dennis wouldn’t touch mac, even if he could. this could be a metaphor for reciprocating feelings. maybe he wouldn’t ever commit, even if he came out and could. because dennis is deeply troubled, and clearly so afraid of commitment. and i think the idea of committing would be so much worse with mac, because deep down, dennis has feelings !! he has big feelings !! and would be too caught up in the idea that he could lose one of his closest, and only friends if the relationship fucks up.

this also ties in with the repeated line at the end of the song, “i can’t love you how you want me to.” in my first post i rambled a little about macden and dennis’ inability to comprehend mac’s feelings. i still stand by the fact that i think dennis doesn’t really understand that mac really loves him, and it isn’t just some ‘oh i just want to fuck you’ kind of thing. but if he were to know the true extent of mac and his feelings, i think he’d very much have the notion of not being able to love mac, the way mac loves him. this can kinda stem back to the idea of not wanting to, even if he could. dennis can’t see himself being able to love mac the way mac wants him to because he’s emotionally unavailable. he’s closed off and keeps his feelings to himself. even if he could, he wouldn’t because he doesn’t feel capable of being able to meet those expectations.

from my perspective, the entire point of this song is being your own downfall. biting the hand that feeds you often symbolises treating someone poorly when they’ve been good to you. and that works for dennis as well. but i also see it as biting your own hand. dennis bites himself in the hand, and i don’t necessarily mean it in the way that he treats himself terribly. while he does, i see it more of a self sabotage type thing. dennis is his own worst enemy, and i think that won’t stop any time soon.

there’s also a really cool line in the song that goes “your hands are gravity while my hands are tied.” and i think that’s just really cool symbolism that could be portrayed through dennis. biting his own hand, holding himself back. he’s portrayed as cold and emotionless, but it’s really just the bubble he’s encased himself in, which doubles as some self sabotage.

charlie - revolution 0 (honourable mention is we’re in love for the little charmac moment)

in the same way mac is, i see charlie as very much a ride or die kind of guy. if anything, i see this as charmac moment kind of song. while it does mention imaginary friends, it does talk about wanting to look out for your friend. “i just wanna know who broke your nose, figure out where they live so i can kick their teeth in.” that screams charmac to me. anyway !! these particular lines do simultaneously remind me of mac, HOWEVER. i think charlie is so similar to mac in that way. while the gang often times fight with each other, they have their moments were they truly show that they would go to extreme lengths just for one another. and i think charlie truly is the person who would look out for his friends.

this song is probably the more depressing of the ones i picked out for the rest of the gang. but i think it really suits ireland charlie. with charlie’s breakdown, i think we get a glimpse into how tired he is. and the song talks about being exhausted when you wish you could stop. for so long charlie had just been left guessing when it came to his father. he talks about how he wasn’t there when he needed him, and i think having an absent father kind of made charlie think about his worth as a person !! the song talks about not being enough, and if that’s the case, then said person gives up. having just found his father, i think charlie was really looking through rose tinted glasses. it didn’t always seem like the best when charlie was spending time with his dad, and though it was probably unintentional, i think the show gave off the indication charlie was much better off with frank. but meeting his father was such a monumental moment that he was probably trying to will it to be enough. he’d spent all those years with frank who was like a father figure to him, and i think there’s a moment of realisation that what he had with frank was better than what he had with his dad. which is where i connect the whole “if you’re not enough, then i give up” line. it’s his biological father and he has the thought that meeting him should be enough. it should fix all the years he’s spent wondering and yearning for that moment. but it’s not what he imagined it to be, and has the opportunity to learn that his found family, the gang and frank, are where his worth lies.

>_<

anyways, i rambled a BUNCH, but i had to flood it all out of my system 💔 shout out to anyone who reads the whole thing 😨😨 if none of it makes sense i blame the 8 page lab report i wrote today :]

matt when he uh …. when he umm … matt when he assigns the boygenius equivalent of the gang (mac, charlie and dennis) boygenius songs

[theentiregdtime]

ready when you are.

“It went okay! I mean, it wasn’t great… Plus, our rating is totally trashed on AirBNB. We’re gonna have to set up a different account- you know, for next time.”

Dennis swallows the swig of warm vanilla coffee in his mouth and sets the mug down on the counter. His eyes dart up to focus on Mac, standing on the other side of the kitchen, struggling to work his fingers around the delicate buttons of his denim shirt.

He can’t remember the last time he saw Mac wearing an actual shirt- with actual buttons- but it’s a good look on him. 

Yeah… Mac’s a good-looking guy.

Dennis lets those sorts of thoughts cross his mind now, because the hole in the bottom of his stomach is full. It’s full of the things he’s buried and repressed and denied for the past forty years of his life, and there’s no more room down there. Trying to ignore those feelings about Mac is like stuffing a pile of laundry into an overpacked suitcase, and Dennis is so tired of balling everything up and sitting on top of it and fighting with the zipper. 

He’s not fighting anymore. He’s starting to let go of things he imprisoned a long, long time ago. He starting to set them free.

It doesn’t feel as bad as he thought it would. Sometimes it’s better to look at the monster in the corner of the room dead-on. Sometimes it turns out to just be a shadow- the light playing tricks on you. 

Dennis sees the light now, and it’s not nearly as scary as he expected.

“Next time?” he asks; he doesn’t want there to be a next time.

“Yeah, next time. I’m not giving up on you, dude,” Mac swears as he secures the last button. When his promising eyes glance up at Dennis, they’re so big and brown that he can see his face in them, and he wants to keep seeing himself like that- as a reflection of Mac- but he can only do that if they always stay this close. “You know, you could try a little harder to make people fall in love with you.”

But what if they didn’t try?

What if they stopped searching in all the wrong places? What if they stopped searching at all?

Dennis likes how he looks in Mac’s eyes, and he knows that he doesn’t need to search anymore, because he’s found himself right there and he thinks he could see himself there for the rest of his life.

“I am,” he answers softly. It isn’t a lie.

What if they did give up- not on each other, but on everything else in the world? What if they said fuck it to what people think of them? What if they never even left the apartment again, because everything they need is right here- coffee and red wine and warm blankets and each other’s clothes? What if they wasted the rest of their days playing board games and watching movies and dancing to the radio and getting hammered, until they end up on the floor, soft-touching and slow-kissing and laughing, because nothing so complicated ever seemed so simple?

Suddenly, after twenty-five years, it’s clear to Dennis how ridiculous it is that they’ve done all the hard parts of a relationship without the easy ones.

They’ve fought and fallen apart, moved out and moved back in, cleaned up after each other and taken care of one another. Mac’s kneaded circles into his head when it hurt and rubbed at his back when he threw up into the toilet and carried him to bed when he passed out on the couch. Dennis has washed the blood off of Mac’s hands when he did something reckless and ran his laundry through the drier when he was cold and pulled him back to reality when he woke up in the middle of an anxiety attack.

They’ve seen the worst of each other: the ugliest, most disgusting parts; the parts no one else could possibly love- seen each other bare, vulnerable, weak, raging, and scared- and they’ve stayed.

So why not finally let themselves enjoy the good stuff? Why not kiss and fuck and sleep wrapped around one another? Why not shower together and touch each other’s bare skin and let the water wash away the paper-thin walls between them? Why not do the easy shit if they’ve already fought for it, if they fight for it every day?

After all, Dennis doesn’t think he could do much better than Mac. He doesn’t think he’s ever met anyone better than Mac. He tries to imagine it, what they would look like and the way they would act and how the two of them would fit together, and he can’t.

“-and I don’t know if there’s, like, a box you can check for singles only, but if not, we can just message some people and feel it out, you know-”

“Mac,” Dennis stops him. He hasn’t really been listening, but he understands the sentiment well enough.

Mac’s attention is on him all at once.

There’s something about him nowadays- not his chiseled jaw or his broad shoulders or his washboard abs... Sure, those things certainly don’t hurt, but that’s not what makes him glow.

It’s how gently he’s settled into himself, like he’s getting too old to be uncomfortable with who he is, so he’s stared down all his demons and made peace with them. It’s in the warmth of his eyes and the curve of his lips when he smiles, and there’s something about the way he looks at Dennis that makes him wonder if maybe he could be like that, too- like maybe he’s beautiful in Mac’s eyes.

He doesn’t know why he was so afraid of that before. It’s not such a bad feeling after all.

“Look, just… let it go.” He crosses his arms over his chest and shrugs his shoulders. “Why are you suddenly so obsessed with setting me up, anyways?”

Mac laughs like it’s obvious.

“’Cause I want you to be happy, man.”

Huh.

It’s crazy… but he is.

For the first time in a long time, he is.

Maybe not all the way, not all the time, but he’s content. He’s comfortable. There’s no sense in trying to change a good thing, just because they feel they’re supposed to. They don’t have to concoct schemes in the hopes of finding the perfect domestic picture-frame family. They can keep living like this as long as they want- and maybe it won’t be normal, and maybe society’s not ready for it, but it’ll be Mac and Dennis and nothing else in the entire world sounds better than that.

“Do I seem unhappy?” Dennis prods, trying to keep his voice from getting too defensive. He doesn’t want to turn this into an argument- not when Mac is doing something so selfless, not when he’s trying his best. He doesn’t want to act like that anymore simply because he’s too chicken-shit to be kind and attached and codependent.

“Not, like, all the time, but… Don’t you want to spend your life with someone?”

It’s a stupid question.

He already is. All he’s ever wanted is here.

Dennis stares at Mac for a long time, waiting patiently for a response. He wishes Mac could see right through him; it would make this so much simpler. He wishes Mac would laugh and wink at him and grin and say You want me, don’t you? 

Maybe that wasn’t what he needed before, but it’s what he needs now. He’s finally ready to let himself need it.

“Yes,” is all he whispers back.

For a couple of seconds, nearly gone before Dennis can recognize it, he thinks he sees a wave of clarity glaze over Mac’s eyes like they’re getting the picture. If only his hands and his lips would do the same- but they don’t. He just stands there, balanced against the counter, rolling his teeth over his mouth, standing much too far away.

It’s selfish of Dennis to ask for these things- for Mac to slip his arms around him, to crush his lips against his and kiss him until his lungs buckle, to press him into the wall and tell him he doesn’t need anything else, doesn’t even want it, because they’re a good thing just the way they are. It’s selfish of him, because he so bluntly told Mac not to, and now he’s being all respectful and minding his boundaries and moving on, and Dennis can’t take it anymore.  

He doesn’t want him to move on. He doesn’t want him to move anywhere. He wants him to stay right here where he’s always been- where he belongs.

“Me too,” Mac mumbles in reply.

A fire can only burn quietly for so long before something’s engulfed. A bubble can only hold so much air before it bursts. A barrier can only stand so much weight until it breaks. And they’re about to break, they’re about to burst, they’re about to burn. They can’t go on much longer like this. Eventually, something is going to have to explode.

He thinks Mac wants that, too- at least, he hopes he still does. Dennis doesn’t want him to move on. He can’t move on.

Mac is his best friend, his roommate, his blood brother, his partner in crime, his guy, his everything. Mac is his and he’s Mac’s and they belong to each other. They always have, no matter how difficult it’s gotten and no matter how far they’ve roamed, because you can only run for so long before you come back home to the things you love.

Dennis is home again. And it’s time to stop running.

He bites his lip and takes a step closer, running his fingers along the counter, moving towards Mac more sure of anything than he’s been in his entire life- because fuck it, there’s no fight left in him. His hands are tired of gripping the cliff and he’s ready to fall, and he wants Mac to fall with him.

Mac does, for a moment. He leans forward and ducks his head down and reaches out, and this is happening, this is going to happen, because it hasn’t happened for twenty-five years and Dennis is so fucking tired of waiting.

He’s only just shut his eyes when loud, jarring techno music startles him. He and Mac jump apart like they’ve been caught in the act, and Mac fumbles for his phone to turn the ringer off.

Afterwards, they’re silent, breathing a little harder than normal, still in a daze. No two people in history have ever been so afraid of an alarm.

“I guess we better go,” Mac sighs, pointing his thumb in the direction of the door. 

When he starts to walk away, Dennis reaches out to stop him.

“Wait,” he says as his hand clasps onto Mac’s shoulder. “Just- one more thing.”

Mac turns around and looks at him like he could do anything- like one more thing could mean whatever he wants it to and he’d trust Dennis to make it feel good, to make it feel safe- like he’s never blindly trusted love before but he’d do anything if it was in Dennis’ arms.

He doesn’t take advantage of that.

Instead, he winds gentle fingers around Mac’s neck to adjust the collar of his shirt until it’s straight. He tucks the tag underneath the fabric with his thumb, but doesn’t pull back right away. His hands linger and their bodies stay close together, not touching, but so close.

And there’s this moment… this moment where he swears they both see this for what it is. There’s a moment where the veil is lifted and the expression on Mac’s face is telling him he can be his if he wants to, and that he doesn’t have to keep looking for something he’s already found, something he found when he was young and something he’s always kept, something he’s had close to his heart every day but held too tightly to see it for what it really was all along.

Dennis thinks he’s probably looking at Mac the same way.

But there’s no movie moment- there’s no impassioned kiss or tender embrace or cloying one-liner. That’s not how it is with them. They aren’t the kind of couple you see on a screen. Hell, they aren’t even the kind you see on the street. And they certainly aren’t a romantic comedy.

But they aren’t a tragedy, either. It’s taken Dennis a few years too long to realize that. They aren’t doomed or star-crossed or destined to be apart by some cruel twist of fate. They’re right here, standing at the threshold of their apartment- the apartment where they’ve shared the last two decades of their life and counting, the apartment where they talk for hours and have dinner on the sofa and sleep in the same bed, the apartment where they spend nearly every waking minute together, where everything is softer and easier, where the world’s a safer place, where they’ve lived so much like a couple for so long that it’s impossible to tell they aren’t from the outside.

“You, uh... ready to go?”

They’re so close. There’s just one more step, one last leg of the race, one final twist in the tunnel- and they’re almost at the end. And maybe they are something like a movie, because it feels like there’s going to be a culmination to this story any day now, any minute, because they’ve spent so long with it paused, pretending they could stay there- in that safe space- forever, pretending there wasn’t a finale at all. But there is and it's about time they let it play.

No point in starting a movie without finishing it, right?

And Dennis doesn’t think the ending is going to be as scary as he always pictured. Because this isn’t a horror film. It’s a love story in a lot of ways, and what’s so bad about the possibility of being gazed at like you’re young and beautiful and being wrapped up in strong arms like you’re never going to have to fall alone again and being kissed like some things are more important than breathing?

He wasn’t ready for that before, but he thinks he’s ready now; in fact, he’s sure of it. Because what is his ending, if it isn’t Mac? What was it that he always thought would be so much better than him? Than living like this forever, as long as he’s here?

Women? Casual sex? A bachelor pad where he could be alone for once and only care for himself and do whatever he wanted all the time, where there’d be no one to argue with, to fight with, to fuck it up with over and over and over again?

It sounds pretty goddamn awful.

They’re going to keep messing it up in their own special, shitty, dysfunctional way- and hey, maybe they’re never going to be all smiles and sweetness and perfect chemistry like other couples are.

But maybe that’s okay. Because those people grow out of phases. They change and they get old and suddenly they’re bitter and tired of one another, suddenly they’ve lost something they used to have when they were young.

And Mac and Dennis might be real pieces of shit to each other, but they’ve never lost anything.

It’s been twenty-five years and Dennis is still Mac’s leading man.

And that’s a lot better than most people have.

He just has to wait for Mac to sweep him off his feet. Maybe it won’t be this morning, maybe it won’t be today, maybe it won’t be this week- but it’s going to be soon. Dennis can feel it in the air. He can sense it all around him. It’s here, and it’s warm and promising and forgiving. It feels like the start of the rest of his life. It feels less like the end and more like the first page.

Mac and Dennis are a love story their whole lives in the making, and somehow, this is only the beginning.

And Dennis has a feeling it’s going to be a pretty good story.

He doesn’t say all of that, though, because it isn’t quite time for it. They’re not in the final act just yet.

But they’re right on schedule.

Instead, he pats Mac on the shoulder, and gives him his best leading-man smile.

“Ready when you are.”

[sunnykeysmash]

S14's theme of Trust: How Global Warming reaffirms the Macden meta we already know

Or, a half reworked set of discussions from my Twitter about the underlying themes of FAITH/TRUST and CHANGE present in this season. Particularly between macden because I don't give a damn for the rest. Sidenote: my twitter thread about trust that takes up half of this post was actually written BEFORE GW came out, and despite that it got reinforced thanks to GW meta.

I apologize in advance if the reading isn't as fluid as it could be, it's hard to order the threads in a single cohesive explanation but I still tried my best. Plus, english isn't my first language.

This post contains speculation that links to my previous meta posts, tagged under "iasip meta". That's where I discuss the theme of change more in detail, not here. They're a little outdated in terms of episode prediction but the meta analysis in them holds up and was reinforced in GW.

The bible = Trust/Faith

So, how does faith/trust get in the way of their relationship? Who has it, who doesn't?

Let's address it. This might be long but bear with me I guess. First we need to address what broke their trust.

North Dakota

(aka the element that broke the link of trust between macden for good, from which they are still trying to recover; and how we got there; their shift in dynamic because of it and how it's a vicious cycle that feeds itself until a breaking point, with no possibility for rational discussion. "How Mac will reject Dennis as a final test to restore their trust")

Part 1: how it affected Dennis

It is my understanding that dennis has been left profoundly scarred by how his decision to leave to north dakota went and he has been blaming the gang for failing to stop him from leaving, and especially blaming Mac. Which lead to the events in Chokes.

Where he felt frustrated at Mac for doing everything Dennis says and never going against him. He's constantly pushing him and being abrasive because he wishes for him to snap and act on his own volition.

Because aside from feeling like he can't trust anyone, and like no one in the gang cares for him, he most of all feels like he can't trust himself. He has been scarred by the consequences of his own actions, and doesn't know what else he might do that could have a similar effect.

Of course a person who can't really trust himself would feel paralyzed, they would not act or do anything. Which is why we are moving away from that, slowly. We need to have this progression in order for Dennis to Realize anything at all.

So Chokes as an episode is sort of a milestone, it runs really deep in multiple overarching events and developments. It's not just fixing macden's dynamic, it's beginning to fix a core problem that stops dennis from reaching macden and that has been prominent at least ever since Tends Bar.

It's something that has been going on in the background for a while, that is touched upon sometimes. Dennis desperately wants the gang to care about him.

So when he is surprised by the RPG on the day that for him is most emblematic of the gang not caring, I think it hit deeper than what we're assuming. His feelings were challenged.

DDL is a result of many things. On the surface it's him wanting to be a dad for his child the way Frank never could for him. I think it was also a test though. If they truly cared, they would stop him. They wouldn't want him to go away.

Now. They don't. That stings. Then things possibly go south in North Dakota. That also stings. It's easy to mentally connect the two and realize the hurt he's experiencing. "If they had stopped me, none of this would've happened" I assume is the correlation he made mentally.

So then he probably thought about Mac, and the gesture he made. He thought that meant something, but then him, like the rest of the gang, did nothing. So he's even more angry at him. "For a moment I really thought he cared, why wouldn't he do something?" Betrayal.

So that to me explains why he's been acting like shit towards Mac. And he's been slowly trying to work through his feelings on the matter, as S13 sorta showed initially, with him not wanting to address it at all for a while, and when he tried again no one cared. He's been trying.

I wonder if it's a possibility that, as we reach the resolution to this circumstance, he will try to bring it up again. I wouldn't count on it necessarily, but character wise it would simply make sense. If he's getting over the problem, he's leaving ND behind. He should, I mean.

Part 2: how it affected Mac

But this isn't just a circumstance that hinders Dennis, it has deeply afflicted Mac too, in a way that is just as personal. "No matter what I do for a person, they can still choose to leave me", it is no wonder to see that side of him exacerbated, then.

Before ND, Mac trusted Dennis' words, enough to let him leave if he said he wanted to, even if it hurt. Before ND, Dennis trusted that Mac would always "be there to catch him if he faltered", that he cared, especially after the RPG moment.

These were true. They could always count on each other, trust each other. ND changed everything, and altered their dynamic in a way that we are still feeling, and still trying to remedy. That Mac and Den especially are still desperately trying to remedy.

They /want/ to go back to their codependent dynamic, they /need/ to. But the way they are desperately trying to is only making things worse and worse, and it's a terrible cycle.

[ The more Dennis rejects Mac in hope that Mac will finally go against him, the more Mac is desperately trying to appease Dennis so that he won't leave him, the more Dennis is annoyed and dissatisfied of Mac's submissive behavior and becomes more abrasive in return. ]

Which is why I think discussing that event is a necessity in order for macden to even happen at all. They theoretically need a face to face conversation to resolve these core insecurities that are getting in the way of their friendship (and possibly more).

It doesn't have to be a romantic thing either, it is just necessary for this conflict to be addressed in order for their dynamic to go back to normal. But that can't happen without a breaking point. We know them enough to assume that they're not gonna just discuss it rationally. It would be the correct way to handle the situation, but they're not like that.

Whether everything resolves positively (as in, their dynamic finally shifting back to before ND) depends on how much they want to stay together and what they are willing to sacrifice or compromise for it. Whether certain grievances can be stronger than their bond itself (and I'm pretty sure they can't, or mac and den would've parted already, long ago).

Mac's internal conflict is likely what will make it so that we have to wait a year. If it just isn't resolved, then he would want proof that Dennis isn't /just saying/ stuff. Den might assure him that he isn't but is that enough for Mac?

How do you resolve a conflict that is basically just a huge almost debilitating fear of abandonment and mistrust of the other person's words? In what way can you possibly prove it wrong?

We know Mac loves Dennis, of course he does. But does he trust Dennis? The way he has been behaving towards him tells me otherwise. He doesn't stand up to him.

Not only that but, more specifically, he's always "interpreting" everything Dennis says, you can see it in Texts for example. He knows den never means what he says, and always has an ulterior motive or hidden meaning. He doesn't take den's rejections at heart too much because he knows they're fake.

So now imagine Dennis has a change of heart. Now he goes to Mac, and he tells him Exactly How He Truly Feels. Knowing the way Mac is used to interpreting Dennis, I don't think he'd believe him. He'd want to, but he probably couldn't.

And I don't think Mac even realizes this lack of trust at all. I think it's gonna hit him exactly as it's happening. He might feel happy at first, then be confused at his sense of uneasiness like he's been used and lied to, like Dennis is saying it to manipulate him.

But that's just for words. Physically speaking, I think Mac is very much aware that Dennis has no intention of ever leaving again, nor can he really. That's how it seemed to be in tggr at least.

The abandonment Mac is afraid of is purely emotional at this point with Dennis. It doesn't need to be a "what if he moves out". More of a "what if he doesn't like me anymore and is using me".

So anyway, about the cycle I mentioned earlier.

This feels like a build up. They can't go on like this forever, they will reach a breaking point. I don't expect them to have an honest and open and calm confrontation and solve their differences before a huge snap of both of them happens, I expect the snap.

You know, either Dennis gets too abrasive and Mac finally "snaps out of him", or Mac gets too submissive and Dennis grows tired of him.

However thanks to Chokes and now Global Warming, we can safely predict it'll be the first one. Chokes set us on a path of Mac making his own decisions, which thanks to GW we know will backfire.

They'll fight, Dennis will be overwhelmed by it as Mac ""leaves"", more on that later, first let me finish my discussion on trust.

I find it suspicious how all the episodes with a semblance of resolution that we have had so far only seemed to fix Dennis' conflicts with Macden. We have failed to address Mac's lack of trust in Dennis' words, even in Texts I think. Especially in Texts.

In Texts it wasn't communication that solved the problem, it was an act, a stare. And we only ever heard Dennis' side of it. Mac at this point already believes that Dennis likes him, so there was nothing new for him to discover at the end.

If anything, it reinforced his belief that Dennis says the opposite of what he thinks, that he isn't honest. Because despite how he's been acting all day, he still saw affection in his eyes, I assume.

But Mac has already always paid attention to what Dennis "really meant", I mean, he does it throughout Texts, thought in the wrong way because it was still through text (miscommunication) and he didn't like to consider the alternative.

I put "really meant" in quotations because Dennis doesn't really work like that. Sure a lot of times Dennis doesn't say what he really means so of course Mac would start interpreting him like that, but there are still many times when he's actually honest. This is just Mac's black and white way of seeing den.

Anyway.

As a result of not feeling heard, Dennis actually developed a heavier and more frequent use of sarcasm. Because if people won't do what he says, then maybe if he says the opposite they'll listen to him. It's a reflex born out of frustration.

Back to the "trust" thing now, because see, all this time Dennis has been acting under the underlying assumption that Mac will choose Him every time. Mac doesn't have this assumption, he has been acting to Prevent Dennis from NOT choosing him.

It's gonna be really interesting, if this turns out to be correct, to see the tables be turned and find out that Dennis was the one with faith. We are used to see Mac believe have it, in god and in their relationship, but ultimately it's Dennis that is trusting Mac to make the right decisions. Which includes choosing Dennis every time.

That's a bigass trust to have for someone who says they have no faith. In contrast to that, what faith has Mac put in Dennis? None that I can think of, he actively does stuff that will please dennis, so far.

"leaving"/"rejecting" Dennis in the finale would constitute, again, Mac's faith in Dennis. He would be choosing something that goes right against everything Dennis wants, having faith that this won't mean they grow apart, and maybe even trusting that it's what Dennis actually needs. And it's what Mac would need as well, as proof that Dennis is serious. Because if he doesn't change his mind, then he is. And you can finally see how the whole season has been constructed as a way to move away from the ND conflict in order to fix their dynamic and broken trust in order to make macdennis work.

This calls back to my meta reading for the first half of the season. Again. This is old stuff. But still accurate.

Some snippets.

I now have a more detailed speculation on how Jumper will go which is no longer the one I had in that meta post, but I will spare you the useless talk and get back to my point. Maybe save that for another post. All I need to say here is that Dennis will be adamant that the answer is SHOULD WE: NO, Mac will want to prove him wrong but Dennis will be proven right, subsequently starting the path for Mac's change of outlook. And what will make him say "no"(t yet) even once Dennis believes they should. Boom, karma.

ANYWAY.

Dennis knows he can depend on Mac or at least he's learning so, Mac isn't sure if he can do the same.

As the two bicker over who had trust in who, and who broke the other's trust, it'll come to the surface, through text, that the roles have shifted. Dennis was trusting Mac all along, Mac wasn't.

Which is why Mac deciding for himself, deciding something that goes against Dennis, saying "no", is the biggest leap of faith Mac can take, the thing that would show us that yes, finally, Mac believes Dennis will still choose him.

TGGR's final part of macden's plot itself shows us Mac accepting Dennis' cynical point of view and losing faith. "I guess we're not gonna get that romantic comedy ending after all". But that is not the note the episode ends with.

Right as Mac accepts that it's not happening, we see Charlie and Frank's ending part of their plot. They're reaching back, they have a new realization. Nikki says that they feel the same way, but they still say no for the time being.

How does this all link to Global Warming, finally?

The Global Warming meta

The jump, the realization, the acceptance, in all the meta I have analyzed in the episodes, it all comes AFTER the explosion, the rejection. First things explode and Mac "leaves", THEN Dennis is overwhelmed and changes his mind, reevaluates. Think of the Nikki&Alexi and Charlie&Frank plot as a frame of reference for this. Think of Chokes also, first Mac says "No", then Dennis is satisfied.

NOW, Global Warming macdennis meta, at its most basic, goes as follows:

Dennis thought what he liked was the sexy girls dancing, then they revolted against him and literally overpowered him, and in the aftermath he has a new outlook on the japanese guys that he once disliked. At the same time as this happens, Mac isn't there to help him.

At the same time, we always see Dennis trying to rationalize his way out of conflicts, and it never working, not with Mac, not with the people in the bar.

Basically, we reach a breaking point in the conflict, and Dennis is overwhelmed by it, Mac doesn't help him in GW, he "leaves", I imagine this symbolizing that Mac finally agreeing with Dennis in the actual final conflict would feel to Den like Mac is "giving up on them". Dennis took Mac choosing him for granted, and he now learns how much trust he had in Mac despite saying otherwise (Chokes) and how much it meant to him. Dennis comes out of it changed.

They both do.

This, as I posted about previously, is all part of "God's plan". Dennis gave Mac back his "free will" in Chokes so that Mac's harsh final decisions could ultimately aid their relationship and trust.

We need Mac to turn Dennis down for the time being AND for Dennis to not change his mind during the wait, for the trust to be restored for both of them. To remedy North Dakota once and for all, and move into the macdennis territory. In a year, aka next season.

So finally, we can see how TGGR, Chokes, Texts and now GW all work together as milestones that set us in that direction.

[lesbianfreyja]

80 + macden 👀

80. You owe me.

-

“I’m not doing this. I don’twant to do this,” Mac insisted. His head tipped back, looking up at the sign hungabove the entrance to the building before them.

“You’re doing it,” said Dennisfirmly.

Mac felt Dennis’s knucklesbrush against his a few times before Dennis fumblingly caught his hand and squeezed.Mac snorted and rolled his head to the side to look at him, watching Dennisgrin back.

“We can’t afford it, Dennis,” he complained. “We paid rent late twice thisyear already. Last time we did date night, you took me to Denny’s!”

“Here’s the thing, baby boy.”Dennis moved in front of him, patting his chest. His fingers curled into thefront of Mac’s shirt. “Last year, you got me a bag of salt and vinegar chips formy birthday, and the year before that you forgot it completely.”

“I didn’t forget,” Mac interrupted.“I gave you that blowjob!”

“That was because you’d spentfour hours watching a Ryan Reynolds marathon that afternoon and you felt guiltyfor calling me the wrong name in bed,” said Dennis. “You didn’t even know you’dmissed it until the next day.”

Mac shifted around, his eyesrolling.

“Den…”

“So, this year, I’m picking outexactly what I want and all you have to do is swipe the card.” Dennis slung anarm around his shoulders. “You owe me.”

Mac sighed. “Fine, man. Whatever.But if one of them tries to scratch me like it did last time I’ll never forgiveyou.”

“You like cats,” Dennisreminded him. “It was one feral cat one time. Come on.”

He took Mac’s hand again andstarted pulling on him, and reluctantly Mac followed his boyfriend inside. A bellabove the door tinkled when they came in, and several animals in cages nearbylooked up eagerly at them, wagging their tails.

“Hi!” a saleswoman popped up togrin sunnily at them. “How can I—”

“Oh, Mac! Look at this one!”

Dennis pulled Mac around thegirl and released his hand to drop down to his haunches. He stuck his fingersthrough the slats in the cage, and the kitten inside slunk as far away from himas it could.

“Black cats are bad luck, dude,”said Mac. “Every time it runs by you, it means a witch is cursing God in yourhonor! I don’t wanna be cursed that much, bro.”

Dennis twisted around to lookup at him. “You don’t really believe in witches, do you?”

“It’s true! That’s a straightup fact!”

Dennis snorted softly, shakinghis head as he turned back to the cat. Even though he’d been waggling hisfingers through the cage at it, slow and hypnotic in an attempt to coax itcloser, it stayed trembling as far away from him as it could. Grunting, Dennispulled his hand away from the black cat and straightened up.

“Whatever,” said Dennis. “Youwere an ugly little bitch anyway.”

Mac trailed after him as he meanderedfurther down the same aisle.

“Maybe we could look at thedogs?” Mac suggested, eyes widening hopefully. “If we have to get a pet, a dogwould be way more badass—”

“Don’t even try it,” Dennis saiddryly, shooting Mac a look over his shoulder. “It’s my birthday. And I want a cat.”

Mac sighed. Dennis wandered pastmore cages, dismissing the animals inside as being too scrawny, too big, toobitchy-looking, not enthusiastic enough about him jamming his hand in their cage.They walked up and down a few more aisles, with Dennis rejecting every single catthat they saw. They were only a few cages left, filling Mac up with dread thatthis errand was about to extend well into the afternoon if they had to drive togo look at another pet shop.

Dennis frowned at a fat brownone who kept swiping at his hand. Mac’s eyes drifted away from his millionthpainful rejection, scanning the surrounding cages absently.

“Holy shit!” Mac shouted out. Hedarted past a few more cages and dropped hard to his knees on the floor. Heshoved his face in close to the bars of this cat’s enclosure. Instead ofrearing back, it stayed nibbling at its food bowl. “Dennis, look at him! He’s socool!”

He heard Dennis trailing afterhim and felt him settle just behind him to the side. When he glanced upeagerly, Dennis had his arms crossed and he was frowning down at Mac on the ground.

“What are you talking about, Mac?It’s just a—” Dennis picked at the nametag hung on the cage, squinting at thedescription. “—Mac, it’s just a stupid tabby cat. They’re like, everywhere.Charlie’s got about five that follow him from his building to the bar.”

“But he’s so orange!”

Mac’s face scrunched up in aweand he leaned back in close to the cat’s cage. It finally stopped eating longenough to acknowledge him, and it slinked closer, sniffing the air tentatively.Mac pressed his face right up near to the bars and it flinched back at first,minutely, at his sudden movement forward. After a second it padded closer againand ducked toward the side of the cage too. It pushed its snout near Mac’s noseand sniffed again. Mac laughed. When he looked up, a faint smile was tugging onthe edge of Dennis’s mouth. Mac grinned and stood up.

“He’s so cute, Dennis!” hesaid. “We have to get him! Can I hold him?”

Mac whipped around to look fora sales associate. Dennis spotted one first and flagged them over.

“This one’s a girl, bro,” saidDennis.

“No way. It’s way too cool-looking.Look how orange he is!”

“Yeah, she’s really orange.” Dennisrolled his eyes. “But look, dude, the tag says right here that her name is Chloe.”

Chloe lookedup at them both through the top of her cage, tilting her head. Behind them, someonecleared their throat and they both turned around to look at the girl from earlierstanding behind them.

“Hey there,” she said. “Youlike—”

“I wanna hold this one,” saidMac, pointing at Chloe.

“It’s my cat,” Dennis snapped, stepping in front of Mac. “She’s for me. Potentially. If we decide to gether.”

Mac leaned against Dennis’sback to get closer to the salesgirl.

“Whatever. Just take her out!”

The salesgirl stepped aroundthem to undo Chloe’s cage.

“Be careful,” she said, easingChloe up out of it. “She doesn’t usually like men.”

She handed the cat off toDennis, after he won the shoving fight between him and Mac to hold her first.Dennis was surprisingly still, and quiet, as he gathered her up in his arms. Shewas tense at first, but when Dennis stroked a hand down her back she started torelax.

“Wow,” said the girl. “I’m surprised,she generally doesn’t trust—”

“Yeah, yeah,” Dennis interrupted.“We’re done with you. You can go now.”

“I — can’t just leave you herewith an animal unattended,” said the girl, uncertainly. “Um, I’ll stand overhere while you make a decision.”

She moved a little way away to watchthem from over by some fish tanks. Mac shuffled in closer to Dennis, reachingup to scratch at Chloe’s ears. Her eyes closed, and she nudged into Mac’s hand.

“She likes us!” Dennis said, lookingup to grin at him.

“It’s probably because we’regay, dude,” said Mac, moving to rub her under her chin. “She can sense that we’renon-threatening.”

“That’s not a — you know what, sure,”said Dennis. He knocked Mac’s hand out of the way so he could lift her up andlook her in the eyes. She blinked slowly at him. With one paw, she reached outlike she was going to touch him on the shoulder — then instead she brought herarm down and smacked Dennis in the face.

Mac doubled over laughing.

“Bitch,” Dennis gasped softly,but he brought her back to his chest and kept running his fingers down her backanyway.

“Oh, my God, dude! She’s perfect!”Mac said. “Dennis, bro, we have to get her! Look at her, she’s so cute…She’s alreadycopying me, we have to take her home. She’s…what’s the word? She’s imprintingon us!”

“Cats don’t do that,” Dennissaid. He still sounded a little annoyed but he tucked Chloe under his chin andhugged her closer.

“Yeah, they totally do!” Macinsisted. He reached out to pet her side, dancing around where Dennis’s arm wastucked beneath her.

“You’re thinking of ducks.”

“Ducks do it too. It’s a thingthat like, any small mammal does. Trust me, that’s science.”

“It is absolutely not,” said Dennis.“So what? You think that big dogs don’t imprint on people but little ones do?”

“Of course not, Dennis,” Macsaid, rolling his eyes. “That would be stupid! If they have the potential to become big, then they can’timprint. Duh. It’s a gene some animals have, bro, trust me.”

Dennis thought this over as heput Chloe back in her cage and the salesgirl brought them up to the counter tostart filling out adoption paperwork. They would need an interview-type meetingfirst, apparently, to bring them up to speed on Chloe’s background and historyand make sure they had the means of providing for her. Institutions were sostupid. Mac wanted to bring her back now but the saleswoman said it was literallyimpossible, even when he argued and got loud. Bitch.

“Lions,” said Dennis as theywere walking back to the car. He snapped his fingers in the air like he’d justsolved an impossible riddle.

“What?” Mac turned to look athim. “What are you talking about?”

“Lions are like big cats. So byyour own theory, cats can’t imprint.”

He smiled proudly.

“No, you’re getting confused,”said Mac, shaking his head. He pulled open the passenger side door to the carand climbed in. “Lions are just relativesof cats. One of the genes that makes them super big and gives them a mane alsomakes it so they can’t imprint. They’re different.”

Dennis rolled his eyes.

“Let’s just go buy stuff fordinner,” he said, twisting the key into the ignition.

They got to bring Chloe home aweek after they met her. Dennis had gone all out and bought her a bed andlitter box and several large bags of food from Walmart already, but Mac hadgone back to the pet store to pick up things for her to play with. Annoyingly,she avoided all of Mac’s super cool food-shaped toys to gnaw on the edge of thepillow they had sat her on so she could lay between them on the couch.

Dennis was obsessed with her,wouldn’t stop nudging her ears and stroking her back while she ignored him tokeep chewing on their pillow.

“I guess it’s okay that she’s agirl,” said Mac, frowning at her. “At least her color is still badass.”

“Don’t listen to him,” Dennis cooedat the kitten. “He’s just jealous that you like me more than you like him.”

“We should still call her somethingcool, though,” said Mac. “Hey! Remember how you promised to name your firstbornkid Murphy? After I died, remember?”

Dennis finally looked away fromthe cat to glare at him.

“No fucking way, Mac,” he said.“We are not naming her after Robocop. She’s sweet, we should name her somethingsmaller—”

“You promised!”

“When you actually die forreal, I’ll change her name to Murphy. Okay?” said Dennis. “Until you’re in theground I don’t have to do jack shit that was on your little list of funeraldemands.”

“But you’re—”

They were interrupted by a loud,plaintive meow coming from betweenthem. Mac glanced down at her, but Dennis was already lashing out to scoop herup in his arms. He petted at her head, pulling her into his chest and turning awayfrom Mac like he was trying to hide her from him. Mac made an irritated noise,trying to swipe out around Dennis to pet her again.

“I won’t let him name you Murphy,”Dennis promised.

“Well, we have to change it tosomething because Chloe was the name of the bitch who pushed me off a swingsetin fifth grade!” said Mac. He brought his fist down hard on his thigh. “We saidwe’d be cat dads together, Dennis.You don’t get to hog her.”

Dennis sighed. He lowered thecat onto his lap, where she promptly started kneading at him until he wassuitably comfortable enough for her to curl up on and go to sleep. Dennislooked up at Mac, smug.

“Why don’t you go scoop hersome food?” Dennis suggested. He gestured down at her. “I can’t move.”

Grumbling, Mac pushed himselfoff the couch to deal with her dinner. While he worked, he tried to come upwith a better name for her, but everything cool that he liked was a dude’s name.It wasn’t his fault that women were never in any good movies.

“What about Anne,” he said suddenly,spinning around with a finger in the air.

Dennis wasn’t listening to him.Dennis was bent over, rubbing at the cat’s stomach and murmuring something intoher ears. Mac softened, watching them for a minute or two. Eventually he turnedaround to keep scooping her some dinner. He guessed they could fight about what to name hersome other time.

DISCLAIMER! i clearly knownothing about cats or pet shops lol so that’s all creative liberty at work. i mean, i skimmed the pet smart website on adoption. and my friends have cats. also, adopt don’t shop x

[macdentrash]

I have some issues that I want to talk about...

Ok so I’ve been thinking about macdennis (as one does 25 hours a day) and I just wanna share something... so we all know Mac and Dennis are gay for eachother, as does anyone who’s seen them interact in the slightest, and that’s been apparent since the literal first episode of the show (this isn’t necessarily related but I think it’s cute that the literal first lines of the show are between these two gays but to continue on...) and the levels of said gayness have evolved over the seasons. We have season 1 twinks who are subtle (at least for the most part) in their homosexual subtext and this could be played off as two “really good friends” but nothing beyond that (not how I choose to see it but some do and that’s not necessarily invalid just because some of us disagree), moving on through the seasons the gayness becomes more blatantly obvious, it’s brought to the viewers point of focus in a more straight(lol)forward way and the climax of this really shows in season 5 with the tipping point being Mac and Dennis Break up. Other than the few scenes with Frank/Charlie this whole episode is devoted to the blatant codependency of Mac/Dens relationship, not to mention the sexual tension (which is completely unsubtle imo), they literally cannot function without eachother and there is NO heterosexual reasoning that can explain the extended scene (beautiful lips!)... as we progress further in the show the homosexual undertones only become stronger (I could site every point in individual episodes and have a thesis level of critical analysis but for the sake of brevity we won’t go there today) which can be seen in the double parter Mac Fights Gay Marriage/Dennis Gets Divorced, any Mac and Dennis titled episode really and many more (every episode or at least most of them shows some level of interaction between the two that makes the viewer go “hmm well that’s gay as fuck”). Continuing on though, I’m writing this mostly to get into the newer seasons (11/12 respectively) so obviously in season 11 we have the ICONIC suburbs episode where they literally move to a house together and take up their individual “marital duties” (i.e. honey do list, Mac staying at home and taking care of things in his way lol, and Dennis going to work, etc) and we learn a lot about their dynamic and see that the codependency has not in fact weakened over time but grown to incomprehensible levels, in the rest of season 11 there’s fairly limited interaction and Mac/Dennis team ups but in the 2 part finale of The Gang Goes to Hell there are some important pieces. To start Dennis in the beginning is the one who supports Mac’s decisions (saying something along the lines of “you don’t have to mean it, just say what he wants to hear” etc) and it shows how well he knows Mac compared to the rest of the gang, again we have limited interaction until the end of the first part but there’s some really interesting stuff once they do get to interact. I’d like to start with Dennis’ reaction to Mac coming out and how “he always knew”, he always knew and still acted the way he always has (and knowing that he knew, makes one doubt Dennis’ own self proclaimed heterosexuality), moving on, when the boat first malfunctions Dennis automatically reaches his hand out to steady Mac and doesn’t show any real concern for anyone else, fuck even after the boat steadies he keeps his arm reaching out towards him... there’s definitely more in part two but I’m going to skip ahead a little to the tail end of part two. Dennis hid the letters that Mac’s dad sent him from prison and he looks heart broken when Mac gets upset, showing that Dennis actually gives a shit no matter how much he tries to pretend that he doesn’t (this is pre onion that I’m talking about here) and I believe that he honestly was just trying to protect Mac from his shitty father (which could have to do with Dennis’ own daddy issues but we won’t get into that here), also in the end of this episode we have Charlie saying something along the lines of “send us a miracle” and Dennis looks @ Mac in that super love sick way (he is his miracle! i’m so soft i apologize). The last thing I want to touch on in this episode is that when Mac is shoved back into the closet at the end, Dennis makes a very frustrated face... the face of a man who just wants his best friend to come out already... wow ok this is long but let’s move on to season 12, that will continue in the next paragraph break for the sake of breaking up this wall of text...

Ok so in season 12 is where imo everything kind of culminates and comes to a head as far as Mac and Dennis’ dynamic goes...to touch briefly on Making Dennis Reynolds a Murderer, we have “Well if Mac’s going to do it... I’m going to do it” (which speaks for itself) as well as Mac and Dennis just generally being portrayed as spending quite a bit of time together. Moving on to where everything really kicks off in this season imo is Hero or Hate Crime. We have Mac finally escaping from the closet but there’s a lot that’s woven into that, Dennis encourages Mac to come out of the closet until he actually does so (we’ll get to that in a minute) and when Mac leaves Dennis is the one who encourages the gang to just let him enjoy his first day out. The importance of Dennis pushing Mac to come out and then getting uncomfortable when he actually does is because HE NEVER THOUGHT IT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN, and when it does he makes the same fucking face as he does when he’s trying to hide his emotions during the RPG scene... after this episode Dennis becomes “emotionally distant” (to quote Mac himself) and he generally is just kind of weird about Mac being out, I personally believe that’s because he’s too scared to admit his own feelings and scared to have to explore his own sexuality and how that impacts his overall identity. Obviously next we have PTSDee and Mac’s dream/subsequent reality, so at this point it’s well established that Mac has a thing for notorious 5 star man Dennis Reynolds but now we have to ask the question “does Dennis reciprocate those feelings?” (spoiler alert: yeah he does but moving on), in this episode it’s made apparent that Dennis is aware of Mac’s attraction (and has been for a long time) but even though it comes very close, he does not act on that attraction in a substantial way and we as an audience collectively heave a disappointed sigh (in gay) and hope for better next time. Next up is the The Gang Tends Bar, which is a fucking masterpiece... so from the beginning we have Dennis trying to avoid Valentine’s day and get the gang to “just do their jobs!”. Later we have the parallel between Mac trying to talk to Charlie about Dennis and Dee trying to talk to Frank about Charlie (both convos are interrupted by that intruding Jerry) and that is really solid evidence for the Chardee Macdennis Theory™... to get to my point here we have the “I have big feelings” speech and Mac coming in to save the day with his gift. So this is where it goes off, Mac who is now openly out gives Dennis a Valentine’s Day gift and makes no move to clarify this as a friendly/unromantic gesture, and the way that Dennis looks at him (other than being hella gay) is one of realization and just realizing that someone actually loves him (our collective hearts break for the bastard man), and going back to Hero or Hate Crime, he makes that same face when he glances back at the gang which is him trying to hide his emotions and how much Mac/the RPG really mean to him. Lastly in season 12 we have DDL, imo the most crucial part of this episode as far as Macdennis goes is in the beginning when they are coming up with the plan, I’ll insert the script here because it says more than I ever could: 

Mac: Look, I think the point is, maybe we got to close the emotion door for Mandy by telling her that you're gay. Dennis: Yeah, right, but I already had sex with her. How am I gonna convince her I'm gay? 

Mac: Just go with me here. Brian's not above having a one-night stand with a woman, but he's got no room for her emotionally - because he's in love with me.

Dennis: With you? 

Mac: Well, yes, the lover is me, of course.

Dennis: Mm.

So this to me is just the writers pointing out the nature of Mac and Dennis’ relationship, they literally change the dynamic in no way and they’re almost screaming “THEIR IN LOVE YOU FOOLS”... the rest of the episode shows Dennis being confused at Mac’s actions (”why would you say you want to raise the kid?!” and showing discomfort when Mac launches into the same “he’s my bottom” speech from Mortgage Crisis) and Mac becoming more brazen with his obvious huge crush on Mr. Reynolds. Dennis leaves dramatically at the end and takes about 10 times longer to say Mac’s name than any other member of the gang, while Mac looks on with that sad puppy dog look on his face. This is how they leave it, other than Mac and the rest of the gang blowing up the Rover.

So to get to the original point I was trying to make before going the fuck off... now that we’re in season 13 we all are kind of wondering where they’re going to take this. After all the evidence I’ve discussed here, plus literally the entire roster of episodes, I just want to say that something with a capital S is going to happen. I mean, why would they be focusing so much on their relationship (to the point of it being uncomfortable *cringes and thinks about the sex doll*) and not ... take that anywhere? I mean they’ve been upping the anti since around season 10 and I feel like that character development and plot evolution is not for nothing, RCG know what they’re doing and I truly believe that we may get something at least resembling canon Macdennis this season, add in the factor of promo like “The Machelor” and it’s almost impossible that we aren’t going to get anything... also in the promo for the new episode we have Mac and Dennis holding a fucking heart shaped object between their hands...HEART SHAPED and that’s a level of metaphor that’s not even trying to be subtle... anyways I’m gonna go now but these are my surface level thoughts on the matter and if you want to hear some more specific analysis (on episodes/scenes) don’t hesitate to ask and I’ll type out something similar and not as lengthy. If you made it this far, I wish your heart luck moving further in this new season and we can all cry together

[bluebuckstallion]

kinda ramble-y fic below the cut, rougly 1.9k words, includes a metric fuck-ton of angst, macdennis, teen au, drinking, and a Lot of implied abuse/trauma

summary: mac’s a rebellious 14 year old tht hates the rich, dennis is a dick tht really just needs an outlet to share his feelings, they’re sad together

     Mac and Charlie were growing more reckless by the day. Nearly every night they'd sneak out of their houses together, fueled by the yearning for a better life. But their late night adventures quickly blossomed into a blur of adrenaline and laughter - as they'd show up at random parties someone down the street was throwing. They'd show up undetected at the peak of the utter chaos that is teen rebellion, take a shitload of booze, and then ditch just as fast. They'd go by the train tracks after and get wasted together, drowning out the deafening reality that is their parents don't care enough to notice they're not at home every night & that life isn’t going so well. And for once, they can be happy in each other's company and have a taste of a childhood they deserved, even if they can only find it at the bottom of a bottle.

     One night Mac goes off by himself, probably because Charlie just hasn't been as up to going out. Mac has no clue why, the only things Charlie’s been sputtering about between drinks every night is his ‘son of a bitch of an uncle’ who moved back in recently. Mac doesn't understand and Charlie won't give him what he needs to understand it. So Mac gives it no second thought. He spots an absolutely huge house in the suburbs and his breath is swept away in awe. He's never seen something with architecture like this and he'll sure as hell never understand how someone can afford so much room, or what it's even used for. The yard is donned with blacked out kids he knows from his classes, and the inside of the house is filled with the melody of drunk kids slurring and laughing to party songs.

     He decides this is it-this is the one place he'll allow himself to go without his best friend. And he'll definitely save booze for him. And he won't allow himself to feel guilty for it, he never does anything for himself anyways. He strides in with a nonchalant facade and his best ‘yes-I-definitely-belong-here’ smile from cheek to cheek, waving at classmates that never noticed him before and definitely won't now. Which is the only advantage that comes from being the rat, one of the sore losers in the bullshit hierarchy that is high school popularity. Nobody will notice when you're taking something right in front of them.

     He makes it to the kitchen and finally pieces together who lives here - it's the piece of shit he has half his classes with, the word snob as a person, someone he can't help but loathe for his gross elitism. It's Dennis Reynolds. Some kid that's really full of himself, someone who helped trademark ‘The Rat’ and laughs at Mac while he's down. He didn't really mind, it's not like he was bullying Charlie, and he was strong enough to take the half-assed insults this guy threw at him. It wasn’t a big deal.

     But here, now - he found Dennis in the midst of his own party, alone in the kitchen, half-empty bottle of tequila in tow, and what looked like mascara trailing from his eyes. 'What a pussy,' is what he was about to say, but something stopped him. Dennis looked at the other boy looming over him and flinched, covering his face instantly. Mac was confused, what the hell was he doing that for? When Dennis realized he was fine, he instantly tried to revert back to his Cool Guy defense mode. Something compelled Mac to crouch down next to him because, well geez, the poor kid was a mess.. and he felt like it humanized him. The urge to steal his things for a taste of a life he never had slowly died down as he said hello to the gracious party host himself. 'Why-are-you-here's  were spit out in half-spoken slurs instantly, because Dennis didn’t remember inviting some dirty street rat to his party. Mac gave a really half-assed excuse, which was all he needed to convince Dennis he was supposed to be here, considering all his thoughts were mush from how out of it he was - he never had the opportunity to drink this much on account of his sister beating him to it, or his mom emptying everything after heated arguments with his dad. And although it annoyed him when she was drunk, it was better than falling asleep to the melody of fighting and the threat of an impending divorce.

     But anyways, now Mac is lost in his eyes and they’re both half a bottle of tequila down, and he isn't sure if he's holding his hand or just dreaming it. And oh God, his eyes are so beautiful, and his lips are coated with strawberry chapstick and he wants to kiss them so bad. He wants to keep holding his hand for all of eternity, but at the same time he wants to cup his soft face in his hands and, wow, he wants to kiss his dimples so bad and to taste the strawberry chapstick and God, he's infatuated. He wants to wipe his tears away and to kiss his rosy cheeks and run his hands through his hair, so bad. And it hits him that he's too deep, what would Charlie think of this? Falling for the enemy? Fuck. But that doesn't matter because all that matters now is the fact he's really hand in hand with someone hes fallen in love with, and all it took was talk of trauma and a bottle of tequila.

     They're no longer on the kitchen floor as they're giggling hand in hand stumbling up the stairs, leaning on each other and shushing one another as they laugh too hard to smile right and their cheeks are flush and they aren't sure if it's the drinking or their company. They're trying to be quiet as they close the door to the twin's room and Dennis tries to lock it with a shaky hand. Mac watches him in utter jaw-dropping awe, feeling butterflies fill his stomach and suffocating any insecurity he'd ever felt before. This was new to him. But Dennis felt it even stronger. He'd spent so long building up a wall, he'd spent so long listening to his mother's vodka-fueled lectures about never letting yourself fall in love. Barbara made him promise he'd never do that to himself, 'It hurts too much,' she told him. But now he was sitting on the top bunk of his bed with what seemed to be the boy of his dreams, he didn't know he could ever feel this way or honestly feel anything at all, and he was too drunk to feel guilty for it.

     Hours pass and now Mac is laying on his bare chest. Dennis has his hands intertwined in his hair, and he's taken away by how soft it is when he strokes it. Mac's never felt a wave of clarity envelop him so softly before. He's at peace. The droning hum of party music is drowned out by the wave of happiness he's feeling. All he can hear is the soft rhythm of their hearts and their cautious breathing, both scared that this still might not be real. Mac's heart flutters when he realizes Dennis’ breathing gets faster as he moves his hand across his chest, and he looks up with half-slit puppy dog eyes that Dennis is absolutely in love with. Mac opens his mouth to speak, but changes his mind. He doesn't wanna jinx it, he's so scared he wont be able to impress Cool Kid Dennis Reynolds, and he doesn't wanna do anything to change this moment. He plays it safe. As he snuggles closer, Dennis holds him and Mac's face is the warmest it's ever been, and he buries it in the other boys chest. He doesn't know how to react to this, he's never known how to react to anything, but especially nothing like this. His face is even warmer than Mac's and he's trying so hard to not let him know that he likes him, because that’s something Barbara and Frank would be ashamed of. Mac falls asleep on his chest, and Dennis can't stop playing with his hair.

     It's only a couple of hours later when Dennis wakes him up, because he knows everything would be compromised if anyone found them together, especially his sister. God knows what she would do. And Dennis tries to tell him he should leave, but the words choke him too much to come out when he sees Mac's adorable face glance up at him. And he's just too shy to say a word.

     The next thing they know, Dennis pulls him closer and they're both kissing for the first time, and Mac feels wrong. He wants to push him away, and he knows he should feel absolutely horrible. He knows God would be disappointed in something like this, and he's terrified of the consequences. But he pushes the thoughts away and succumbs to the warmth that hugs his body. Dennis is holding him so gently and neither want to ever move again, and something compels them to stay together. The kiss is only broken by Dennis’ nervous laughter, and a smile that he can't hide. When the boys recollect themselves they start kissing again. They never went further than that, partially because they couldn't get it up this drunk and partially because they were too scared to ruin it, but it was still nice to fall asleep side by side, even if they didn't mean to.

     Mac wakes up to the soft golden smile of the sun's rays against the bed, and he vaguely remembers last night. Panic sets in and eats him alive like it never has before. He's never stayed somewhere else this late before. What if Charlie’s looking for him? What if whoever he's with didn't lock the door and someone saw him? And then he remembers who he's with, and he's terrified. What the hell did he do? He feels tears of shame well up because he knows hes a sinner in God's eyes, and he's made the biggest mistake of his life, and oh fuck when he tried to get out from under the covers he woke Dennis up. He isn't even half as shocked as Mac is, he's calm. He's happy. He's never woke up so peacefully before, and he's grinning. He tries to tell Mac good morning but he's rambling under his breath about how wrong this is and he's going to Hell, and Dennis takes that as a sign he should've taken his mother's advice. He's utterly crushed.

     Mac doesn't even apologize as he leaves, he slips on his boots and gets out as soon as he can, despite the wavering tone in Dennis’ protests and pleads to stay. He leaves Dennis confused and more scared of opening up than he's ever been, and he doesn't know how to deal with his feelings anymore. Mac tries to forget everything. He never tells Charlie. He doesn't ever want to look Dennis in the eyes again. He never wants to feel that way again, because he went from feeling on top of the world to being ashamed, and thinking he knows it's wrong. He doesn't tell anyone.

[ramajmedia]

It's Always Sunny: 10 Episodes That Hit Too Close To Home

It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia is pretty well known for the antics of its character. The gang never falls short when trying to find new ways to make money or just complicated shortcuts that end up putting them down the hole. It’s easy to not really feel any empathy for the characters because of the many horrible things they’ve done on screen in the name of their personal benefit. But underneath those despicable personalities, there’s a good bit of trauma responsible for it.

RELATED: The Wire: 10 Storylines That Were Never Resolved

In this list, we’ll go over 10 of the saddest moments that really hit us throughout the show.

10 The Christmas Episode

Christmas is supposed to be fun for everyone, but unfotunately, some bad luck meets every member of the gang in a pretty sad fashion. Well, except for Frank who rolls up with a Lambo at the beginning of the show. It also shows that Frank hasn't gotten Dee and Dennis Christmas presents... again.

RELATED: Veep: Ranking Selina’s Best Employees

Charlie finds out about his mother’s promiscuous past, and it really gets to the guy, as he throws a fit in the mall and even fights a mall Santa out of anger. And then Mac learns that his family used to steal presents from other families as a child and that his parents never really cared about him at all.

9 The Great Recession

Frank is an interesting character. He came into the show a very depressed, but extremely successful, businessman. He looks to give up his rich lifestyle to get closer to his kids, Dennis and Dee. Little does he know that Charlie is also his kid, which is revealed later on in the show by Charlie's mom. In this episode, Frank tries to kill himself because he is still unable to find a way to be truly happy.

While attempting to hang himself, his weight forces the noose to snap, preventing him from going through with the deed. This moment really opened up the audience’s eyes into his mental state.

8 Dennis Rips Macs Letters

Mac’s desire to grow closer to his father is referenced somehow in almost every episode. Charlie and Mac even go as far to try and smuggle in drugs for Mac’s dad, and their failure to do so only makes the father and son rift grow wider. With the gang being locked up in the holding cell of a cruise ship after getting into trouble, the cell starts to fill up with water, and it doesn’t look good.

The gang began to disclose their secrets to each other, where Mac learns that Dennis has been ripping up his father’s letters to him. This understandably angers Mac with the fact that he lost numerous opportunities to grow closer.

7 Cricket Leaving The Priesthood

If you know just how bad Cricket gets it in this show, the moment he leaves the priesthood is a really sad one. He went from a clean-cut man of God to a street rat that sells himself out for hard drugs. He does this because of Dee, who consistently manipulates the man into doing what she wants. Their run-ins happen time and time again.

RELATED: Dee Reynolds: 10 Funniest Quotes From Always Sunny’s Golden Goddess. 

His slow descent into being a crack addict spans a few seasons, with the later ones showing him at his absolute worst. He gets the chance to clean up his act, and that too fails as a way out of the life he currently lives.

6 The Joke's On Dee

Dee is always the butt end of the jokes in the gang. Absolutely no one gets it as often or as bad as she does. When Dee starts to agree with the gang’s harsh words, they start to wonder if they went too far. Dee takes her self-pity back into a comedy club that she visits a few times a week and starts to slowly gain more fans from her routines.

RELATED: IASIP: 10 Ways The Gang Has Changed Since Season 1

She meets a promoter who offers to fly her out to do a big show and get her name out there with promises of being famous. She goes, being led blindfolded back to Paddy’s Pub, where the gang reveals it was another cruel joke.

5 Charlie And The Waitress

At the end of the infamous “Mac Bangs Dennis’ Mom,” The waitress admits she only slept with Frank to get back at Dennis. We know Frank will get his hands on anyone who will look at him long enough, and Dennis has always been the apple of The Waitress’ eye since the beginning, much like she was to Charlie.

What makes this episode hurt so much is Charlie’s tearful expression when hearing the news. He had spent multiple seasons at this point trying to win over her favor, and hearing her sleep around with his father to get back at his best friend, made us feel for him.

4 The Gang Goes To The Jersey Shore

The gang decides it would be a wise idea to live it up in New Jersey and get wasted in a new scene. Each member eventually gets into their own antics. Charlie spots The Waitress on the beach and for the first time in their relationship, she wasn’t disgusted to see him. The two end up having a pretty fun time on the beach picking up shells and getting to know each other better before falling asleep on the beach together.

RELATED: IASIP: 10 Ways The Gang Has Changed Since Season 1

When The Waitress wakes up, she tells Charlie she only hung out with him because she had taken ecstasy and tells him to never talk to her again.

3 Psycho Pete Returns

When the episode “The Gang Gets Analyzed” aired, it made a subtle nod to Danny Devito’s earlier work in One Flies Over The Cuckoo’s Nest. He tells the therapist he was in a mental home as a young boy and got really close to his deformed roommate, “Frog-Boy.”

Frank begins to break down and have a panic attack on the therapist's couch, and it’s continued when he sees an abandoned hotel in “Psycho Pete Returns.” What makes the episode sad is Frank’s determination to find his long lost friend and to see if he is actually okay. Talk about a gut-punching moment for the show.

2 Mac And Charlie Die

Mac and Charlie are definitely the gang’s whipping boys from time to time. Episodes like “Charlie Work” can show you just how much the gang takes each other for granted, and how easily dismissive they are about each other's problems and responsibilities. Mac and Charlie decide the only way to see if the gang really cares about them is to fake their death, and that’s exactly what they do.

The gang seems to not care at first before Charlie catches Frank alone in their apartment. He is found clutching a mannequin that is dressed in Charlie’s clothes and whispering “It’s okay, I like you too” over and over again.

1 Mac Finds His Pride

Mac’s sexuality has been joked about and referenced throughout every season of the show. In some cases, episodes revolve around it, and how far he goes to stay in the closet. He comes out but is often met with harsh criticism, specifically from Frank.

Mac decides the best way for everyone to understand how he feels is to put on a show, where he expresses himself through ballet. It worked as intended, leaving many of the people watching it in tears, including Frank. The last words spoken from the episode is Frank saying that “ I understand now.”

NEXT: IASIP: The Gang’s 10 Best Inventions

source https://screenrant.com/its-always-sunny-philidelphia-episodes-hit-close-home-tv-show/

[mbtizone]

Dennis Reynolds (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia): ENTJ

Dominant Extroverted Thinking [Te]: Dennis enjoys being in charge and likes being in positions of power and authority. He’s a planner, and spends a lot of his time coming up with and implementing the gang’s various schemes. He is very blunt and other people’s emotions are of no concern to him. Dennis is a huge control freak and has no problem organizing other people to accomplish his goals (Te-Ni). He’s known to snap when other people are being illogical, such as when the gang attempts to make plans that he knows will never actually work. Dennis is the one who works hardest to keep the gang on task and gets extremely frustrated when they lose focus, particularly when they’re discussing ludicrous ideas that can never actually come to fruition.

Auxiliary Introverted Intuition [Ni]: Dennis loves speaking in metaphor, particularly if insulting or threatening another person. When he has a goal, he knows what he needs to do to achieve it. He knows exactly how he wants his plans to unfold, and expects every step to go exactly the way he envisioned it. When something causes his plans to go awry, he becomes frustrated, angry, and usually throws a fit. Since Dennis is a sociopath and a narcissist, he uses his intuition to manipulate people or to achieve his own selfish ends, particularly in his carefully crafted plans to get girls to sleep with him. Everything Dennis does is strategic, deliberate, and has been very thoroughly plotted. Everything he does is a step in an overall plan (Te-Ni). The D.E.N.N.I.S. system is one of the most blatant examples of Dennis utilizing his Te and Ni. He also thinks ahead enough to believe that a woman won’t refuse sex with him on a boat in the middle of the water “because of the implication.”

Tertiary Extroverted Sensing [Se]: Material possessions are important to Dennis. In many instances, he uses them as a way to present himself as a superior to others. Though he likes to have things well planned out before taking action, he does a good job of adapting to unexpected events in the moment. Dennis takes a lot of pride in the way he looks. He is a tremendously sexual being and enjoys doing things to make himself appear more attractive. He often feels threatened when other people attack his physical appearance. Dennis wants the best of everything and refuses to settle for less.

Inferior Introverted Feeling [Fi]: Not only does Dennis dislike feelings, he claims he doesn’t even have them. He does not like to deal with anyone’s emotions and mentally checks out when they come into play. Morality is not a very big concern for Dennis. He is rarely shown to value any of his personal relationships, and prioritizes plots to advance his own agenda above all else. Often, Dennis will refuse to accept his own flaws or shortcomings. When Dennis is motivated to help another person, it is purely because of how their mental state will impact him, not out of actual concern for the person and their wellbeing. Dennis decides to create an online dating profile for Charlie when the gang finds out the waitress is getting married because he doesn’t want to have to deal with how Charlie will react. When the gang “breaks Dee”, he helps because her depression is “bringing him down.” In rare instances, he does seem to genuinely care about his friends, though these moments are few and far between.

Note:: Obviously, the characters on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia are completely unhealthy. Dennis, in particular, is a sociopath, a narcissist, and seems to have serious rage issues. This, ladies and gentleman, is an ENTJ gone very, very wrong. Though, Dennis is one of my favorite characters on television, so I’m not sure what that says about me.

Enneagram: 3w4 8w7 5w6 Sx/Sp

Quotes:

Dennis Reynolds: Mm. I have contained my rage for as long as possible, but I shall unleash my fury upon you like the crashing of a thousand waves! Begone, vile man! Begone from me! A starter car? This car is a finisher car! A transporter of gods! The golden god! I am untethered, and my rage knows no bounds!

Dennis: Okay, Dee, this is truly pathetic, and you are really bringing us down, so we’re gonna help you out. We realize we may be in some ways responsible for the state you’re in.

Dennis: You know what I just realized? I don’t care about anything she’s saying. Not a bit. What I do care about is the fact that… Charlie might go postal if he finds out about this and kill all of us.

Dennis: Think about it. She’s out in the middle of nowhere with some dude she barely knows. She looks around her, what does she see? Nothing but open ocean. “Oh, there’s nowhere for me to run, what am I gonna do, say no?” Mac: Okay…that seems really dark though. Dennis: No, no, it’s not dark. You’re misunderstanding me, bro. Mac: I think I am. Dennis: Yeah, you are. ‘Cause if the girl said no, then the answer obviously is no. The thing is that she’s not gonna say no, she’d never say no…because of the implication. Mac: Now, you said that word “implication” a couple of times. What implication? Dennis: The implication that things might go wrong for her if she refuses to sleep with me. Now, not that things are gonna go wrong for her, but she’s thinking that they will.

Dennis: If you do not get my sister her stories and a new room as soon as possible, then I will come down on this hospital like the hammer of Thor. The thunder of my vengeance will echo through these corridors like the gust of a thousand winds.

Dennis Reynolds: You’re gonna wanna nurture that dependence that she’s feeling on you now, guys. Have her car towed, or you could slash her tires. Either way, make her depend on you for rides. Or you can use my personal go-to, which is to create a fictional angry neighbor who’s threatening her and tell her you’ll take care of ’em. Hit up a payphone so that she can’t trace the calls back to you, give her a call and say something along the lines of, “I’m watching you, you bitch. You’re gonna die tonight!” Dee Reynolds: Oh for Christ’s sake, you’re a complete sociopath! Dennis Reynolds: Don’t interrupt.

Dennis Reynolds: And then naturally, we bang. And this is the best bang of all because it’s very emotional for her. You see, she thinks she’s broken through my tough exterior and coerced affection from a man who was afraid to love. And then I slink out into the night, never to talk to her again.

Dennis Reynolds: Aw, merge, merge! You had your… Come on, you got, you have to seize the goddamn gap! People are so goddamn inefficient! Oh, goddammit! I don’t care if you’re old, seize the gap! You old fat bitch! You fat bitch!

Dee Reynolds: What’s going on with Mac and Charlie? Dennis Reynolds: It’s… I can’t get them to stay focused. They keep escalating the conversation into evil curses and opening leather shops in Arizona. Dee Reynolds: A leather shop, in Arizona? Dennis Reynolds: Yeah. Dee Reynolds: They’d be out of business in a weeks time. Dennis Reynolds: That’s exactly what I said.

Dennis Reynolds:Dee, you escalating shit is exactly what I’m talking about. We immediately escalate everything to a ten. It’s ridiculous. Somebody comes in with a preposterous plan or idea. Then all of a sudden everyone’s on the gas, and nobody’s on the breaks. Nobody’s thinking, we’re just talking over each other with one idiotic idea after another. Until finally, we find ourselves in a situation where we’ve broken into somebody’s house, and the homeowner is home.

Dennis Reynolds:Dee, you gangling uncoordinated bitch. I am not getting hogtied over your lack of grace.

Dennis Reynolds:[inner monologue] I’m gonna make Mac look so bad. My form is perfect, I’m like Jerry Rice. Feel that stride, so fluid and fast. I’ve got the stride of a gazelle. A beautiful, beautiful gazelle person. My body is achieving a perfect symmetry right now. It’s that long, lean muscle I’ve worked so hard to achieve. Hm, I should’ve popped my shirt off. Goddammit, really should’ve popped that shirt off. I wonder if any women are watching from the sidelines… [gets hit with football and is knocked unconscious]

Dennis Reynolds:She doesn’t need you here. You need to thrust her into a hostile environment so that she needs you to protect her. Frank Reynolds: I should dump her under the bridge!

Dennis Reynolds: All right, listen, this is Family Fight. This is a nationally televised program. This is a very big deal for us, okay? We’re talking… What are you doing? Are you stealing an ashtray right now? Mac: Yeah. Dennis Reynolds: Why? We have ashtrays, and you don’t even smoke.

Dennis Reynolds: I want to talk about faith. It’s not about whether something is true, or-or-or based in fact or reality or the laws of physics or nature or even basic common sense. It’s about whether or not we’re dumb enough to believe in it that matters. Oh, folks, who the hell am I to say that there is no God? Who am I? Or to say that anybody’s belief in the church doesn’t make their life better? Maybe it does. Or that this man, Dr. Jinx – who am I to say that he can’t cure diseases with his sorcery? I don’t know. I say maybe he can. And I believe that maybe he can. [chuckles] Ladies and gentlemen, if we believe… if we just believe… then we can do anything! [audience cheers] Dennis Reynolds: Oh, yeah, ladies and gentlemen. I feel it now! Do you feel it? Do you feel the spirit? Do you feel the invisible things around you that don’t really exist? Oh, it doesn’t matter!

Dennis Reynolds:But I will say this – the church’s scam? It’s a pretty good one. It’s effective. Look at all the money these people are giving to the church. So I say we use that model to raise money for your mom at Paddy’s. Guys. Let’s throw a beef and beer.

Dennis Reynolds: Mac, these gentlemen are courting me for my business savvy. How’s it gonna reflect on me if I promote my bodyguard to VP after a two-minute conversation at a ball game? Mac: It’s not gonna reflect on you at all because you’re not Brian LeFeve. Dennis Reynolds: …I’m not what? Mac: Dude, clearly you were floundering. Dennis Reynolds: Mac, I was gathering information so that I can more fully become this man. Look, look, this is about much more than just business. This is about the thrill of wearing another man’s skin. Feeling his innermost wants and desires and being in control of his every single move. That’s how you get off. Now don’t you guys want to get off with me?

Dennis Reynolds:[getting Mac to switch seats] You’re gonna switch places with Becky, right, because while I don’t particularly find you conventionally attractive, I do find you oddly sexy. Becky: Huh, excuse me? Dennis Reynolds: That was a compliment.

Dennis Reynolds:Dennis Reynolds: Hey, whoa, whoa, I’m sorry. Since when did you become the brains? Mac: Uh… I’m sorry. I’ve always been the brains. Dennis Reynolds: What? What are you talking about? I thought I was the brains. What the hell am I? Mac: You’re the looks. Dennis Reynolds: Well, yeah, of course I’m the looks, but I always thought of myself as the brains and the looks.

Dennis Reynolds:All right, buddy, now explain to me how exactly we are going to calculate the totals. Charlie Kelly: Oh, it’s easy, dude. You pour gas into the car using one of these funnels, right? And I count how much gas is going into the car. Dennis Reynolds: All right, let me- let me just stop you right there. How exactly are you planning on counting a liquid? Charlie Kelly: Uhh, I know how to count, dude. I’m not… Dennis Reynolds: Okay, you do it. You do it, Mac, because I can’t speak to him. I don’t understand him.

Dennis Reynolds:[interrupting her] You know what Dee, I don’t want to hear about your dream, okay? I hate listening to people’s dreams. It’s like flipping through a stack of photographs. If I’m not in any of them, and nobody’s having sex, I just… don’t care.

Dennis Reynolds:As I tried to explain before, you cannot get honey from a hornet’s nest. Charlie Kelly: I just don’t think there’s any science to support that, buddy. Dennis Reynolds: There’s some very basic science out there supporting that.

Dennis Reynolds: And although I seem relaxed, I’m actually incredibly tense at all times.

Dennis Reynolds:I’m a five star man! I’m a five star man! I’m a five star man!

Dennis Reynolds:My nose was chiseled by the gods themselves, Frank. My body was sculpted to the proportions of Michelangelo’s David. You, on the other hand – well, you’re a pit of despair. Frank, you disgust me. You disgust everyone. And you will never, ever be on that billboard.

Dennis Reynolds:This is crazy. I’m having feelings again. Like some kind of 14 year-old kid. You remember feelings, right? Mac: Yeah… I have feelings every single day of my life. Dennis: Do you? Mac: Are you saying you don’t have feelings?

Dennis Reynolds (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia): ENTJ was originally published on MBTI Zone

[alwayssunnyprompts]

Imagine Dennis can't chose between the gang and caring for his child, so Mandy ends up staying in Philadelphia in her own place and the kid goes between her and Mac+Dennis like Mac wanted

Thanks so much for the prompt, @alluminumlilies! I hope you enjoy!

In the end, it’severything and nothing like he thought it would be.

 He didn’t eventhink it was possible for his life to get more fucked up but the universemanages to prove him wrong. He feels the pressure of the decision like a weighton his chest. It makes him sick. He can’t focus on anything, feels himselfdrifting, feels the pull of darkness at the edges of his mind and he doesn’ttry to fight it. The anxiety in the pit of his stomach works well as an appetitesuppressant.

Mandy says she’s giving him time. Time forwhat, he doesn’t know. It could be 10 minutes or 10 years and it wouldn’t makea difference. He can’t leave Brian alone, he wants to succeed where his parentsfailed. He wants to. He doesn’t know if he can. But leaving meansletting go of what defines him, the only mess of a family that he’s ever known.Letting go of Mac. He thinks that after a while Mac will find someone thatdeserves him. He’ll be okay.

 Denniswon’t. 

He spends a weektrying to make sense of things. Tries to distance himself, forces the feelingsdown into the pit where they belong. But all he has is emptiness, not ananswer.

He goes to see Mandy,and even though they aren’t that close, he thinks that maybe she understands.She’s like that. She’s gentle and respectful and understanding in a way thatvery few people are.

They’re sitting onher couch as Brian tries to mash a puzzle together across the room. He doesn’teven know where to begin. He’s still trying to distance himself. She stands up,walks out of the room. A few minutes later he’s being handed a mug of tea. It’salmost too hot to hold but he likes the way it feels against his coldfingers. 

“You don’t haveto do this alone,” she says.

She’s wrong. He does.

“I didn’t comehere to force you to come back with me. There’s no pressure, I want you to knowthat. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.“ 

What if he doesn’tknow what he wants?

“I don’t want tomake you abandon your life. That wouldn’t be fair to either of us. We don’tknow that many people in Dakota, you know.“ 

What the Hell is shetalking about? 

“If you’rewilling to help, we…would consider moving here. You can take Brian onweekends.”

His mind is movingtoo fast. He must look overwhelmed because her eyes soften a little and sheputs a hand on his shoulder.

 "It’s okayif Mac is around, too,“ she adds, searching his face. 

He can hear his heartpounding in his ears.

He feelslight-headed. 

“Why…whywould–?” he can’t even speak. Pathetic.

There is genuinekindness in her eyes. Why is she so nice?

“I understand.You don’t need to explain yourself to me. I just want you to know that it’sokay. Whatever it is. Okay?”

He thinks he might behaving a heart attack.

But underneath it, hefeels a sense of calm he hasn’t felt in a long time.

“Okay.”

She smiles, widerthis time. Turns and pulls him into a careful embrace. She’s softer than Mac.She’s all gentle slopes rather than muscles and angles. But it’s…nice. 

The first weekendwith Brian is clumsy and awkward. By the end of that Sunday, he feels dead onhis feet. But things get better. The next weekend he’s a little less tense, thenext a little less tired. Then Mac joins in and it’s almost like having twokids around. It’s loud and messy and things get broken, but Mac is…happy, hethinks. Good with the kid. He feels a little bit of anxiety slipping away as hewatches them trying to build skyscrapers out of Legos. Mac is telling Brianthat any pieces can fit together if you have enough muscle. Dennis rolls hiseyes at the ridiculousness of the statement, a smirk playing on his lips, andsteps in to show them how it’s done.

[theentiregdtime]

So I’ve been seeing a lot of posts lately about how Mac deserves so much better than Dennis, and if he ends up with Dennis, it will basically be an act of kindness and self-assured destruction. To be fair, that’s somewhat true- I mean, that’s the whole point of the first episode of Season 13. Even though their lives are considerably better without Dennis, the rest of the gang will still choose him time and time again and deal with the consequences, because they’re all codependent to some extent (although you could argue Dennis is actually the most codependent of all of them). But they’re all pieces of shit, they’re all terrible people who deserve nothing, including Mac (I mean, we love them, but they’re just terrible). Mac is not some pure little angel baby who has done everything right and is the light to Dennis darkness or whatever. No one ever wants to talk about how often Mac breaks Dennis’ heart. Granted, everything I’m about to cite may be due to his obliviousness, ignorance, and inner turmoil... but the same is true for the way Dennis treats Mac. It’s a double standard (more below the cut because this got long). 🐸☕️

In the early seasons, Dennis is clearly more confident with his sexuality and more capable of expressing emotions. In general, he’s a much more real and honest person, and he’s not hiding behind a fabricated version of himself like he is now. Now, that may have been because his character wasn’t completely solidified at the time, but either way, it’s still canon. Time and time again, everyone (including Mac) shut Dennis down when sexuality or emotions were brought up. Every time he had big, loud, genuine feelings, the gang got confused and wrote him off and acted like he was being a total weirdo. Mac has historically been very in-your-face about his condemnation of gay relationships as well, and every time, Dennis has reacted by dismissing him or punishing him in one way or another. Hearing that shit over and over again has obviously been pretty tiring for Dennis, especially if you subscribe to the Season 5 theory (if you do, ouch, it’s not fucking fun to be messing around with someone who’s ashamed of you and thinks they’re committing a sin)- and that’s only the extent of it we see onscreen. What we don’t see is how many times Mac has rebuked gay relationships all throughout his friendship with Dennis, in high school and when Dennis was in college and basically their entire lives. As long as Dennis has known Mac, he’s reiterated over and over again that being gay is a sin, and it continues to drive Dennis further and further back into himself (whether you argue that he’s bisexual or gay, he clearly isn’t straight, yet he’s devolved into flat out stating that he is in the most recent season). Mac repeatedly retreats to women he cares nothing for rather than being with Dennis because it’s a safety net (and yes, I’ll give you that Dennis does this, too). Then Mac suddenly whips back around and is out and confident and openly calls himself gay at every given opportunity- and that has to be a punch to the gut. The way he felt about Dennis, how much he loved him, was never enough to make him comfortable in his sexuality. In Goes To Hell, Mac’s coming out is partially a love confession for Dennis as well, which is made quite clear when they’re drowning- then he takes it back at the end. But he comes out over a goddamn lottery ticket and stays out. That has to sting. (Not only does it sting, but it means Dennis actually has to deal with his feelings, but that’s a whole other can of worms I’m not opening right now).

And it’s more than just Mac’s religion and his fight against gay relationships. It’s instances like the one in Beats Boggs. For a moment, Dennis quite visibly gets his hopes up that Mac might be kind to him, might ask him to stay because he cares about him and enjoys his company because he’s his best friend and doesn’t want him to go. And then he doesn’t- he just marks him out of the competition. Dennis’ face clearly screams why did I expect anything more? This is not an isolated incident. In both Beats Boggs and DDL, all it would have taken for Dennis to stay would have been Mac asking him to- but he never does. All Dennis ever needs is one good reason to stay, and Mac never gives him one, reassuring Dennis over and over again that he doesn’t care if he stays or goes, doesn’t need him, which has to hurt. Mac is often comfortable writing Dennis off immediately. He never fights for him. If Dennis leaves, then he leaves, and Mac adapts. In Tends Bar, after knowing him basically his entire life, Mac still thinks Dennis doesn’t have feelings! He sees Dennis on such a surface level sometimes, actually believes the front he puts up, but doesn’t see what’s underneath, doesn’t see the real Dennis. Everything in Dennis is clearly constantly begging for Mac to just see him and really know him. Dennis knows Mac better than he knows himself and Mac... sometimes doesn’t really know Dennis at all. Dennis basically has to kick and scream and shove it in Mac’s face for him to actually comprehend what he’s saying, thinking, or feeling.

And Dennis doesn’t want to have to be loud- he’s not ready to be loud. He wants Mac to look at him and just know what he’s feeling, because he should, because they’ve known each other forever and they’re best friends. But Mac is more or less incapable of noticing anything Dennis doesn’t clearly state. When Dennis snaps and goes against the character of himself he’s constantly playing, Mac is confused and surprised by it- just as much as Charlie and Dee are and even complete strangers are. Dealing with Mac can be like dealing with a dog at times. He loves Dennis unconditionally but doesn’t always know why, he’s adaptable and moves on a thousand times faster than Dennis can (Dennis honestly can’t- there could be a thousand people out there for Mac, but there is no one else for Dennis), he’s easily distracted and confused and hardly ever sees past the surface (he doesn’t even understand why his own actions frustrate Dennis sometimes, even when it’s pretty obvious as to why), he can be perfectly carefree and happy while Dennis is going through hell, he’s impossible to talk to a lot of the time and he pretty much doesn’t see Dennis on a deeper level than anyone else does, despite knowing him and loving him for so many years. But Dennis continues to want Mac’s approval and reassurance and love, very clearly thrives off of it, and this isn’t a goddamn power play or some sort of dominance/ego trip bullshit. I see that as part of the “Mac deserves better”’ argument so often and it’s not the case. Sure, Dennis has an image of himself, and sure, he cares about his reputation, but that’s not why he wants and needs Mac’s approval. He needs it because it makes him feel validated and happy and safe.

So yes, Mac could easily do better than Dennis, but he probably doesn’t deserve it. That’s the whole point of the show- these people are together because no one else wants to be friends with them. They stay together because they’re pieces of shit and all they have is each other. Mac is not an innocent, pure baby who’s been trampled on by Dennis the entire goddamn time. They’re both awful, they’ve both hurt one another over and over and over again, and they’re both terrible at recognizing Dennis’ feelings. If Dennis works overtime to stifle them and Mac can’t see past the charade, then how are his emotions ever supposed to come into the light? How are they going to move past that if Mac can’t see below the surface, if Dennis has to scream it aloud just to get him to understand? One can only hope they figure that out.

And if they do, it won’t be Mac staying with Dennis as an act of kindness and generosity, it won’t be Mac refusing to do better because he’s blindly in love, it won’t be Mac having a thousand options but choosing Dennis anyways. It isn’t any of that. People so consistently want to pretend that’s the case and none of that is true- and even if it is, then the reverse is also true.

They both deserve better and they both deserve nothing, simultaneously. They’ve both broken each other’s hearts time and time again, they’re both equally as awful, and yeah- maybe Dennis needs Mac more than Mac needs Dennis, but that’s just another example of what’s made Dennis so insecure and desperate. This is not some light vs darkness, manipulative, unevenly balanced relationship dynamic as people so often want to portray it. It’s just two shitty people (and let me reiterate, I absolutely love them) who should probably be in jail, who are so emotionally damaged and repressed and fragile, who don’t ever get the timing or the words quite right and who are always so close to figuring it out yet so far away. But they’re going to figure it out, and when they do, when they can finally be honest for the first time in forever, they’re going to deserve to be so happy. Sometimes two awful people deserve each other and sometimes that’s perfect. No one is going to be settling. No one is going to be surrendering. No one is going to deserve better. They deserve exactly as much as each other and nothing more. 

[theentiregdtime]

Please bless us with some charden in high school

Dennis is on his way to meet Charlie under the bleachers.

They usually get high about this time of day, but unfortunately, they need Mac for that- and he's home with the flu.

Normally, Dennis would be pissed, but he and Charlie both went to see him after school yesterday and... yeah, he didn't look so good. Or smell so good.

So they're settling for cigarettes today. It'll have to do.

Before he's even under the bleachers, though, he can hear the sound of sniffling echoing off of the steel. At first, he thinks Charlie is probably huffing something, but then there's an unmistakable sob.

Ah, fuck.

Dennis doesn't like these kinds of situations- that's why Mac and Charlie always just handle them together. Dennis can't wrap himself up in other peoples' shit, because he's got his own shit to deal with, and he doesn't want to deal with it. He wants to stuff it down and pretend it doesn't exist, so why can't everybody else do that, too?

Fighting all of his instincts to bolt, he makes his way down the bleachers. He's not entirely sure how to handle this, but he's not going to abandon him. Mac's not here and Charlie needs someone, and Charlie only has Mac and Dennis, so...

This is sort of the only option.

When Charlie comes into view, he's curled in on himself, bundled in a too-big hoodie despite it being eighty degrees out. He has days like that, where he wants to buried in his clothes and he doesn't want anyone to touch him. Dennis pretends he doesn't know why, but he kind of knows all too well.

That is one thing they share that Mac just can't understand- at least, as far as Dennis knows.

Not that Dennis has ever been... He wanted to...

He shakes his head and forgets it.

"Hey, man..." Dennis starts, stuffing his hands into his pockets and rocking awkwardly on his feet. He doesn't know if he should stand or sit, or touch him, or keep his distance, or talk, or say nothing...

Charlie sniffs into his jacket once more, a gross, snotty, phlegmy sort of sound. For a moment, Dennis thinks he might be getting sick, too, until he glances up and he's perfectly healthy (at least, by Charlie standards), but his eyes are red-rimmed and his face is soaking wet.

"Oh," he mumbles, noticing Dennis' presence. "Hey."

"Are you...?"

"You don't- don't have to stay, dude," -he hiccups- "I-I'm okay."

He doesn't really mean that- it's a guilt trip thing. It means Dennis definitely does have to stay.

He sits on the ground and makes himself comfortable next to Charlie, drumming his fingers nervously on his leg. He doesn't look at him, not directly. He tells himself that it's because he looks gross, not because he doesn't know how to deal with genuine, raw, honest emotions.

"Is, uh... Is this about Mac?" Dennis asks tentatively, sliding the pack of cigarettes out of his jeans. "'Cause he's gonna be fine, man, he'll be back by next week."

Charlie shakes his head softly, arms wrapped around his knees, eyes on his own shoes. "No, i-it's-" -another hiccup- "it's not that."

"Then, uh..." -he pulls a cigarette out of the pack and cradles it between his fingers, fumbling for his lighter, just to give his hands something to do, just to give him anything else to focus on- "what's... what's up?"

Charlie snorts again, then swallows. Blech.

"It's just- It's like- I-" He takes a couple of strained, shallow breaths.

He needs a minute. He's not going to say anything coherent otherwise.

Dennis doesn't pry, instead lighting his cigarette and taking a long drag. It makes him cough, deep in his chest, but he holds it in and pretends it doesn't.

A few minutes pass, and nothing changes. Dennis has taken to staring into space, drawing occasional puffs and blowing smoke up into the air. Charlie snuffles quietly beside him, but neither says anything. Dennis doesn't know what to ask and Charlie isn't ready to talk quite yet.

A long whine escapes Charlie's throat, and it's like a punch straight to Dennis' chest. Every muscle in his body tenses. He knows exactly what that sound is, and he knows what it feels like. It's helplessness. It's vulnerability. It's knowing you can't change the shitty hand life is dealing you, but you can't be one of those people who claim they're better off for it, either, so you just collapse on yourself like a house of cards. Anything would be better than this, that's what that sound means, just, please, any reality but this one. But nothing ever changes because no one is ever listening.

Dennis slips his cardigan (his expensive cardigan) off of his shoulders and drapes it sloppily over Charlie's back. He's already wearing about three layers of clothing, so it's kind of moot. Dennis doesn't know what else to do, though.

Charlie lifts his head up and sniffles, gaping at him all doe-eyed like no one's ever been that tender with him before. That seems ridiculous at first, but Dennis figures it makes sense- he and Mac are always wrestling and throwing rocks at each other and using fist bumps as a form of affection.

His face is still damp, but he's not really crying anymore. His breathing is shaky, but it's there, and it's steady, and it's all coming back down.

"It's like," Charlie whispers, "sometimes there are no- no distractions. And it sucks."

Yeah. Dennis knows exactly what he means.

He should have realized that. He should have known that if Mac wasn't here, then Charlie would be spending a lot of his day alone, and Charlie isn't good at alone.

Dennis puts his cigarette out on the ground. He isn't sure how many hands he's going to need. He reaches over- not hesitant in any way, just gentle- and wraps his arm around Charlie's back to tug him in by the shoulder. He gives him a couple of soft pats. He's going to be okay. At least, their version of okay.

Charlie doesn't object. He doesn't say anything at all. He simply lets his head tip over until it falls onto Dennis' chest. It's fine. He's not too heavy.

"World's a really shitty place sometimes," Dennis mutters. "It's never gonna stop being shitty. But I'll be here to back you up, okay? I'm not..."

He swallows a lump, afraid he's making a promise he can't keep. But so what if he is? It's better than nothing at all.

"I'm not gonna let anything happen to you again, man."

He can feel Charlie nod against his chest. His muscles relax, and all of his defenses come undone, like he really believes him. Even if it doesn't work out that way, maybe it's better for Charlie to believe have something to believe in, right?

And then he's asleep- out cold like he hasn't slept in days. Maybe he hasn’t.

Dennis fumbles for another cigarette the best he can- and holds it between his thighs while he lights it, trying to keep from setting Charlie's hair on fire. He lifts it to his lips and takes the first drag right as the bell for the next period rings.

It doesn't wake Charlie. Dennis doesn't mind.

They stay there, under the bleachers, until the final bell goes off at the end of the school day. Dennis runs out of smokes, and his legs fall asleep, but he never lets go.

He has a strange, haunting, unfamiliar feeling like everything is going to be all right.

[lesbianfreyja]

Mac and den fighting over the last cigarette and decide to share it (begrudgingly) but they’re gay

It’s cold and rainy when hepushes out of the gym. All the dirt on the track field in front of him looksdark as mud from the shadows of the thick thunderstorm overhead, but no rainhas broken yet and it’s still dry on his sneakers when he crosses toward thefootball field.

He’s lucky it’s dark out fromthe impending storm, because most of the teachers draw the shades across thewindows on days like this and no one will be looking out to notice him skip class. Mac can’t afford any moredetentions. His guidance counselor is already threatening to hold him back,although Mac thinks bitterly that it won’t make him any more likely to get tocollege. So what if he can’t graduate this year? He still doesn’t have the grades, or theambition.

A list of things that MacMcDonald does possess:

His dog, Poppins, who he rescued from the street one day and who answers to nobody else.

About thirty cents, in his back pocket.

The spot under the bleachers where he sells weed, where no one ever goes except to buy from him.

It’s there that he heads now, because there won’t be anyone out in the field, not with the rain about to come. He slips in just long enough to get his pack of Camels and the lighter he stores there before he ducks out to find better cover. He heads to the dugout instead to light up and to escape the downpour when it comes.

But it’s not empty after all. Tucked into the corner on the bench, feet kicked up to rest against the metal fence, Dennis Reynolds is sitting sprawled out and watching the sky.

He looks over when Mac comes in.

“Hey,” he says. His feet fall to the ground as he sits up. His eyes zero in on the pack in Mac’s hand, and he waves around the cigarette he’s already smoking. It’s barely burned; he must have just lit it. “Hope you don’t mind, I went through your stuff. Don’t bother trying to light up. I took the last one.”

Mac opens the pack anyway, to check, but Dennis is telling the truth; it’s empty. Mac throws it to the ground and steps on it as he walks over to Dennis.

“You dick,” he says, throwing himself down next to his friend. He sits so close that their thighs are touching, every inch of the outside of their jeans pressed together tight. “You steal from me, and it’s the last one? There’s no honor in that, bro. You’d have a fit if I did it that to you.”

Dennis glares at him. “I don’t have ‘fits,’ I have reasonable arguments with unreasonable people.”

Mac rolls his eyes. He saw Dennis crying and yelling last week because Dee wouldn’t buy him a dime bag when she picked up from Mac. Whatever. It’s no use saying it, because Dennis will never look himself straight in the mirror, even if someone else holds the glass up for him.

“Whatever,” Mac says. He reaches out, index and middle finger parted to make room for Dennis to slot the cigarette in between. “Give me a drag, at least, considering it’s mine.”

“No,” Dennis says. Smoke billows out of his mouth when he talks. “I got to it fair and square.”

“C’mon, man, I’m having a shitty day,” Mac complains, his hand falling back into his lap. “I failed the math test - I knew I should have called in a bomb threat. And Chrissy Orlando told me to fuck off when I asked her out. And, Mom didn’t have enough money for lunch for me today, so I’m fucking starving. I want to stave off the shakes.”

“Dude, Chrissy Orlando is way out of your league,” Dennis laughs. He has the sense to keep the cigarette firmly in the hand not near Mac, so he can’t easily snatch it away. Mac glares at him. “Also, you’re gonna fail calc even if you get 100s on every exam from now until the end of the semester, so it doesn’t matter.”

Mac crosses his arms. “Fuck you. What gives you the right to my shit?”

Dennis leans in close, teeth showing, but he couldn’t really call it a smile.

“Because I own everything you have,” Dennis says, and he stays there with a cheeky look for a long few seconds before he pulls away.

“No you don’t,” Mac says. He ticks them off on his fingers. “My bike. My dog. My signed Bowie t-shirt. Erica Cassidy’s virginity.”

Dennis laughs at the last one, but he quickly sobers, shaking his head and taking another long drag.

“I do, though,” Dennis says, looking at him squarely. “And you own everything of mine. It’s only fair, right? What else are best friends for?” 

“If that’s true, then give me half of your fucking cigarette,” Mac says.

As he chuckles, Dennis is looking at Mac like he’s proud. He doesn’t give it to him outright, but he lifts the hand holding it up to Mac’s face. Mac looks at Dennis for a long moment before he leans in and wraps his lips around the filter. He closes his eyes when he breathes in, but he can feel Dennis watching him steadily, unblinking. The heat of his thigh pressed to Mac’s is even warmer than the flame and ash tickling down his throat.

Mac leans back, and Dennis pulls his hand away. Mac opens his eyes into Dennis’s and breathes out slowly, feeling like he’s exhaling smoke from the very bottom of his lungs.

“That’ll give you a buzz,” Dennis says.

Mac laughs, shaky. “That’s the plan.”

“I should have rolled my own,” Dennis says, “mixed pot in it. If I had known you were having a bad day.”

There’s something warm in Mac’s chest, hovering there like a lantern, and he doesn’t think it’s the nicotine.

“That’s okay,” he says quietly.

“But you can’t shotgun a cigarette,” Dennis says.

And Dennis’s eyes are still on him, boring into him. The lantern in him heaves and brightens. Outside the dugout, the sky opens and the rain begins to fall.

“Can I come over later?” Mac says. “I don’t want to go home after Dad got picked up again. Mom is…”

Dennis snorts, rolls his eyes. “Yeah, I’ve met your mom,” he says, bumping his shoulder into Mac’s. “Sure thing, buddy. Stay as long as you like.”

“Thanks.”

There’s an impulse in him to put his head on Dennis’s shoulder, put an arm around him, ask him to do - something. He doesn’t know what, exactly. But it seizes him like an ache with fingers dug into Mac’s skin, and it shakes him. He wants, he wants, he wants.

Dennis holds up the cigarette again, and this time Mac keeps his eyes open when he breathes it in. Dennis’s gaze still doesn’t waver, even when it’s met and challenged. Or maybe, Mac thinks as the smoke starts to work on his head, it isn’t competition that they’re holding between them after all. The lantern sparks, the fire in it growing tendrils that reaches out in Dennis’s direction. Mac releases the cigarette and breathes out.

Dennis doesn’t take his turn. He doesn’t move away, either, and neither does Mac. They just sit there close together, like a quivering string pulled out tight and poised to snap.

“Do you feel like skipping last period?” Dennis says. Despite the rain beating down on the ground outside, Mac feels like he can’t hear anything else except the sharp sounds of their increasingly ragged breathing, and his own pounding heartbeat.

“Where the fuck else are we gonna go in this?” Mac spits, and Dennis throws the end of the cigarette to the ground. He pulls him in on the same movement and kisses him hard.

[bluebuckstallion]

kinda ramble-y fic below the cut, includes a metric fuck-ton of angst, macdennis, teen au, drinking, and a Lot of implied abuse/trauma

summary: macs a rebellious 14 year old tht hates the rich, dennis is a dick that really just needs an outlet to share his feelings, theyre sad together

ok no offense but i just...really love the concept of like, teen mac & charlie crashing house parties. them sneaking out of the house together and their late night adventures quickly becoming a blur of adrenaline and laughter as they jus show up at random parties someone down the street is throwing. they show up undetected at the peak of the utter chaos that is teen rebellion, take a shitload of booze, and then ditch just as fast. they go by the train tracks after and get wasted together, drowning out the deafening reality that is their parents dont care enough to notice theyre not at home every night & that life isnt going so well. and for once they can be happy in each others company and have a taste of a childhood they deserved, even if they can only find it at the bottom of a bottle

one night mac goes off by himself, probably because charlie just hasnt been as up to going out. mac has no clue why, the only things charlie’s been sputtering about between drinks every night is his ‘son of a bitch of an uncle’ who moved back in recently. mac doesnt understand and charlie wont give him what he needs to understand it. so mac gives it no second thought. he spots this absolutely huge house in the suburbs. hes never seen something with architecture like this and hell sure as hell never understand how someone can afford so much room, or what its even used for. the yard is donned with blacked out kids he knows from his classes, and the inside of the house is filled with the melody of drunk kids slurring and laughing to party songs.

he decides this is it-this is the one place hell allow himself to go without his best friend. and hell definitely save booze for him. and he wont allow himself to feel guilty for it, he never does anything for himself anyways. he strides in with a nonchalant facade and his best ‘yes-i-definitely-belong-here’ smile from cheek to cheek, waving at classmates that never noticed him before and definitely wont now. which is the only advantage that comes from being the rat, one of the sore losers in the bullshit hierarchy that is high school popularity. nobody will notice when youre taking something right infront of them.

he makes it to the kitchen and finally pieces together who lives here-its the piece of shit he has half his classes with, the word snob as a person, someone he cant help but loathe for his gross elitism. its dennis reynolds. some kid thats really full of himself, someone who helped trademark ‘the rat’ and laughs at mac while hes down. he didnt really mind, its not like he was bullying charlie, and he was strong enough to take the half-assed insults this guy threw at him. it wasnt a big deal.

but here, now-he found dennis in the midst of his own party, alone in the kitchen, half-empty bottle of tequila in tow, and what looked like mascara trailing from his eyes. what a pussy is what he was about to say, but something stopped him. dennis looked at the other boy looming over him and flinched, covering his face instantly. mac was confused, what the hell was he doing that for? when dennis realized he was fine, he instantly tried to revert back to his cool guy defense mode. something compelled mac to crouch down next to him because, well geez, the poor kid was a mess.. and he felt like it humanized him. the urge to steal his things for a taste of a life he never had slowly died down as he said hello to the gracious party host himself. “why-are-you-here”s  were spit out instantly, because dennis didn’t remember inviting some dirty street rat to his party. mac gave a really half-assed excuse, which was all he needed to convince dennis he was supposed to be here, considering all his thoughts were mush from how out of it he was-he never had the opportunity to drink this much on account of his sister beating him to it, or his mom emptying everything after heated arguments with his dad. and although it annoyed him when she was drunk, it was better than falling asleep to the melody of fighting and the threat of an impending divorce.

but anyways, now mac is lost in his eyes and they’re both half a bottle of tequila down, and he isnt sure if hes holding his hand or just dreaming it. and oh god, his eyes are so beautiful and his lips are coated with strawberry chapstick and he wants to kiss them so bad, he wants to keep holding his hand for all of eternity but at the same time he wants to hold his face in his hands and wow he wants to kiss him so bad and to taste the strawberry chapstick and god, hes infatuated. he wants to wipe his tears away and to kiss his rosy cheeks and run his hands through his hair, so bad. and it hits him that hes too deep, what would charlie think of this? falling for the enemy? fuck. but that doesnt matter because all that matters now is the fact hes really hand in hand with someone hes fallen in love with, and all it took was talk of trauma and a bottle of tequila.

theyre no longer on the kitchen floor as theyre giggling hand in hand stumbling up the stairs, leaning on each other and shushing one another as they laugh too hard to smile right and their cheeks are flush and they arent sure if its the drinking or their company. theyre trying to be quiet as they close the door to the twins’ room and dennis tries to lock it with a shaky hand. mac watches him in utter jaw-dropping awe, feeling butterflies fill his stomach and suffocating any insecurity hed ever felt before. this was new to him. but dennis felt it even stronger. hed spent so long building up a wall, hed spent so long listening to his mothers vodka-fueled lectures about never letting yourself fall in love. barbara made him promise hed never do that to himself, it hurt too much she told him. but now he was sitting on the top bunk of his bed with what seemed to be the boy of his dreams, he didnt know he could ever feel this way or honestly feel anything at all, and he was too drunk to feel guilty for it.

hours pass and now mac is laying on his bare chest. dennis has his hands intertwined in his hair and hes taken away by how soft it is when he strokes it. macs never felt a wave of clarity envelop him so softly before. hes at peace. all the droning hum of party music is drowned out. all he can hear is the soft rhythm of their hearts and their cautious breathing, both scared that this still might not be real. macs heart flutters when he realizes dennis’ breathing gets faster as he moves his hand across his chest, and he looks up with half-slit puppy dog eyes that dennis is absolutely in love with. mac opens his mouth to speak, but changes his mind. he doesnt wanna jinx it, hes so scared he wont be able to impress cool kid dennis reynolds, and he doesnt wanna do anything to change this moment. he plays it safe. as he snuggles closer, dennis holds him and macs face is the warmest its ever been, and he buries it in the other boys chest. he doesnt know how to react to this, hes never known how to react to anything but especially nothing like this. his face is even warmer than macs and hes trying so hard to not let him know that he likes him because thats something his mom would be ashamed of. mac falls asleep on his chest, and dennis cant stop playing with his hair.

dennis wakes him up because he knows everything would be ruined if anyone found them together, especially his sister. god knows what she would do. and dennis tries to tell him he should leave, but the words choke him too much to come out when he sees macs adorable face glance up at him. and hes just too shy to say a word.

the next thing they know, dennis pulls him closer and theyre both kissing for the first time, and mac feels wrong. he wants to push him away and he knows he should feel absolutely horrible, he knows god would be disappointed in something like this and hes terrified of the consequences hell get. but he pushes the thoughts away and succumbs to the warmth that surrounds his body. dennis is holding him so gently and neither want to ever move again, and something compels them to stay together. the kiss is only broken by dennis’ nervous laughter, and a smile that he cant hide. and when the boys recollect themselves they start kissing again. they never went further than that, partially because they couldnt get it up this drunk and partially because they were too scared to ruin it, but it was still nice to fall asleep side by side, even if they didnt mean to

mac wakes up to the soft golden smile of the suns rays against the bed, and he vaguely remembers last night. panic sets in like it never has before. hes never stayed somewhere else this late before. what if charlie’s looking for him. what if whoever hes with didnt lock the door and someone saw him. and then he remembers who hes with, and hes terrified. what the hell did he do? he feels tears of shame well up because he knows hes a sinner in gods eyes and hes made the biggest mistake of his life, and oh fuck when he tried to get out from under the covers he woke dennis up. he isnt even half as shocked as mac is, hes calm. hes happy. hes never woke up so peacefully before, and hes grinning. he tries to tell mac good morning but hes rambling under his breath about how wrong this is and hes going to hell, and dennis takes that as a sign he shouldve taken his mothers advice. hes utterly crushed.

mac doesnt even apologize as he leaves, he slips on his boots and gets out as soon as he can despite the wavering tone in dennis’ protests and pleads to stay. he forgets his jacket during the rush. he leaves dennis confused and more scared of opening up than hes ever been, and he doesnt know how to deal with his feelings anymore. mac tries to forget everything. he never tells charlie. he doesnt ever want to look dennis in the eyes again. he never wants to feel that way again, because he went from feeling on top of the world to being ashamed and thinking he knows its wrong. he doesnt tell anyone.