MACDENNIS WEEK

In honor of MacDennis Week (Day 7: Free Choice), below are a list of my fave MacDennis songs!

1. “You Need A Hero” by Pages 

Summary: 80′s pop/soft rock song. From Mac’s point of view. 

Relevant Lyrics:

“You need a hero, someone to rescue you. Don’t run away, I’m waitin’ to love you.”

“I’ll be there to catch you when you fall. It’s the only thing you wanted at all.”

2. “Sow Into You” by Roisin Murphy

Summary: 2000′s electropop song. From Dennis’ point of view.

Relevant Lyrics: 

“I am a lyrical soul, bound to get carried away. But there’s nothing left to say ‘cept I. I am a lyrical soul. I love you.”

“I chose you for your wave frequency. You take me up against the freak in me. Just tell me what you expect of me.”

3. “No One Gonna Love You” by Jennifer Hudson

Summary: 2010′s pop/r&b song. From Mac’s point of view.

Relevant Lyrics:

“See I don’t mind you putting up a little bit of fight, it’s alright. But why run from what’s gonna hold you tight through any complications, baby, maybe we can start tonight.”

“Ain’t no one gonna love you, like I’m gonna love you. And if you dare, don’t dare send me straight to voice mail, babe, I’m just gonna text you.”

4. “Luv” by Janet Jackson

Summary: 2000′s electropop/r&b song. From Dennis’ point of view.

Relevant Lyrics:

“Now I’m like a deer caught in headlights. Ugh, he hit me with his love. And now I’m in love. Got me caught in a wreck, I’m a mess.”

“I can’t believe the way you wrecked into my heart. I think I should sue ya.”

5. “Un-thinkable (I’m Ready)” by Alicia Keys

Summary: 2000′s down-tempo r&b song. From Mac’s point of view. 

Relevant Lyrics: 

“I was wondering maybe, could I make you my baby? If we do the unthinkable, would it make us look crazy? If you ask me, I’m ready.”

“Why give up before we try? Feel the lows before the highs? Clip our wings before we fly away? I can’t say I came prepared. I’m suspended in the air. Won’t you come be in the sky with me?”

6. “Radar” by Britney Spears

Summary: 2000′s electropop song. From Dennis’ point of view.

Relevant Lyrics: 

“Confidence is a must. Cockiness is a plus. Edginess is a rush. Edges, I like them rough.”

“Interesting sense of style. Ten million dollar smile. Think I can’t handle that. Animal in the sack. His eyes see right to my soul. I surrender self-control. Catch me looking again. Falling right into my plan.”

7. “You Know Me Better” by Roisin Murphy

Summary: 2000′s electropop song. From Dennis and Mac’s point of view.

Relevant Lyrics: 

“How long have I known you? Not in all this time be untrue. I think we’re more than friends. Let me see this through. You know me better than I know myself.”

anyways these assholes mean a lot to me

Fic request by Anonymous

“I’m not jealous.”

Mac has never been a man good with words. Not like Dennis, who somehow manages to say what he’s thinking before he even figures it out himself. It’s like sometimes the words just get jumbled up in his head when he tries to get them out.

It shouldn’t be hard. It’s just plain English. But sometimes it drives him nuts.

Like when they get back to their apartment and Mac sees the damn Transporter 2 DVD sitting on their coffee table. The lighthearted laughter fades from his throat. It might be the six rum and cokes, or maybe it’s something else that hits him as a wave of discomfort flips his stomach over.

Fic request by @shawnnhunter

“I don’t want to think about what I’d be like without you.”

It’s an easy night after a rough day. A few shots along with ham soaked in rum and more cigarettes than he’d like to admit, and it gets easier to forget his car stuck in the river and the tall, beautiful brunette with a liking for angel dust. At the end of the night, Dennis and Mac find themselves alone in Dee’s living room and there are some things Dennis decides he just can’t let go.

“You called her the love of your life,” Dennis murmurs softly, kicking the carpet gently under his feet.

There’s a long pause before Mac finally looks up. There’s something in his eyes that looks strangely like fear. “I thought we didn’t have to talk about it?”

Yeah, maybe that’s what Dennis implied earlier. But by now, he’s completely plastered on rum ham, and his earlier words don’t hold much substance anymore. “Some pretty serious words, don’t you think? The love of your life…”

Fic request by Anonymous

“Did I say that out loud?”

“What did you just say?”

Dennis blinks dumbly. In the haze of his rage, his mind is having a hard time catching up with his mouth. But Mac had flinched at him and is currently staring with wide eyes and parted lips, so Dennis thinks it must have been really bad.

A heavy moment of silence stretches between them.

“What did you just say?” Mac whispers again.

“Uh…” Dennis stammers embarrassingly, his mind still struggling to backtrack. And then it slowly dawns on him the words that had just come out of his mouth. He stares at Mac in horror as dread fills the pit of his stomach. “Did I… did I say that out loud?” He whispers hoarsely.

Macdennisweek Day 7 - Free choice: Protection

Mac saving Dennis in “The gang gets whacked”

MacDennis Week Day 7: Free Choice

“Coming in here, talking about how in love with my thighs you are???”

MacDennis Week Day 6: Favorite Underappreciated Moment

“Dennis,” Mac whispers. The U-Haul is pitch black, and there is still a lingering smell of smoke in the air. He knows Frank and Dee are asleep because Frank is snoring louder than anyone his size should be and Dee hasn’t squawked in a while. “Hey, Dennis. Are you sleeping?”

Dennis is lying next to him but Mac can’t see whether or not he has his eyes open so he reaches out to slap Dennis’ shoulder gently. “Hey, Dennis.”

“I’m trying to sleep, asshole,” Dennis groans and Mac allows himself to smile because he knows Dennis can’t see it. They have this thing going on where they pretend to hate each other but every so often, they’ll let their guard down.

“Sorry, I couldn’t sleep,” Mac whispers and if it wasn’t for Frank, he could actually believe that it was just him and Dennis. “I’m just so excited about going to Grand Canyon, man!”

“Yeah,” Dennis agrees. “Not terribly excited about getting my car fucked up though. Or having Charlie and Dee tagging along,” he adds as an afterthought. “It was supposed to be just the two of us.”

Mac lets himself hope that what he hears in Dennis’ voice is longing, a yearning for something that could’ve happened but never would.

“And Frank,” Mac corrects him and Dennis hums uncommittedly.

“Yeah, but Frank would be easy to forget at a gas station or a rest stop,” Dennis says and even though he can’t see him, Mac can almost hear the smirk in his voice. “Then, it’d be just you, me and the open road.”

Mac hates when Dennis talks like that. He hates that he’s itching for that kind of affection Dennis so rarely shows. He thinks this might be the I of the D.E.N.N.I.S. system; Inspire Hope. Mostly, Mac hates that he falls for it every single time.

“We’d drive each other crazy,” Mac argues weakly, but he wants it. He wants the kind of closeness that would procure a road trip with Dennis, without the rest of the gang’s judgment, and scrutinizing looks and “toxic co-dependency” speeches. He feels like if it were just him and Dennis, things might be different.

“No way, dude,” Dennis says sleepily and he keeps his voice low to not disturb Frank and Dee sleeping. That’s the reason why Mac shifts closer to him, he tells himself. It’s to hear Dennis better. “We’d have the time of our life.”

“Tell me,” Mac asks him and he can’t be sure but he thinks he feels Dennis moving closer as well. Or maybe his mind is just playing tricks on him. Mac like the first option best.

“We’re not bad people,” Dennis says and Mac nods because he’s right, they’re not. “We would drop Frank off somewhere just outside of Philly so he could find his way home pretty easily. Although, we would make sure to steal his credit card first.”

“Smart,” Mac comments.

“Yeah, we are,” Dennis says and Mac smiles the way he always does when Dennis refers to them as a unit. We’re the dynamic duo, he thinks.  “We’d put on some sweet tunes, beginning with the masterpiece that is Steve Winwood’s Back in the High Life. Then, maybe some of your Red Hot Chili Peppers, and afterward Rick Astley and then…” Dennis trails off, and Mac thinks he must be trying to come up with something for him.

“My Creed mix?” he supplies and Dennis hums.

“Yeah, sure. Your Creed mix. We’d go back and forth like this, each picking a CD until I’d get too tired to drive. We’d stop at a resting area where we’d try to get some sleep but the range rover isn’t the best option as far as sleeping goes. When we’d wake up, we’d drive to the closest little diner. You would probably get a huge plate of pancakes. I’d simply order a horrible instant coffee.”

“No way, man,” Mac interrupts him. “You gotta eat too, you’ll be driving all day. At least get a bowl of fruit or a peanut butter toast. Protein, bro.”

Dennis sighs, but it’s not impatient or infuriating. It’s conceding and even if it’s just pretend, Mac counts it as a win. “Alright, I’ll eat some fruit and dry toast as well. You’d read the map and we’d bicker about the best route to go, but we’d also enjoy the different sights on the way there. We’d wonder what kind of scheme the gang would be planning back home. Mostly, we’d just be enjoying the trip.”

Mac thinks this sounds improbable. They’re too messed up to just enjoy a trip without ruining everything. He thinks there would be screaming and arguing. Mac would probably storm off at some point and Dennis would tell him to get his ass back in the car and then drive off when Mac refuses to. He’d come back to get him of course. They’re no good without one another.

Mac likes Dennis’ version better though, so he tells him to go on.

“We’d rent a sketchy motel room this time, tired of being holed up in the car. We’d be happy to sleep in a bed again.”

Dennis doesn’t specify him with the details of the room so Mac’s brain fills in the blanks. They’d ask for a two queens of course but they would all be full so they’d settle for a single room. They’d think they would get sick of each other after spending so much time together in the car but it would only make them crave more.

That night, Dennis would kiss Mac and Mac would be surprised, but not shocked. Most importantly, Mac would kiss him back. In between kisses and roaming hands, they would wonder why they never did that sooner. They’d fall asleep in each other’s arms, content. They’d never want to get back to Philly.

Mac thinks he likes his version better now.

“Then we’d wake up really early,” Dennis says and his voice is comforting and Mac is starting to feel sleepy. He grabs his blanket and tucks it under his chin as he listens to Dennis’ imaginary road trip tale. “We’d get to the Grand Canyon right before sunrise. We would be blown away by the sight.”

Mac closes his eyes and he sees it. He’s with Dennis, and the sun is peeking out on the horizon. He turns to Dennis and kisses him softly and when he pulls away, he’s more enthralled by the look on Dennis’ face than by one of the seven wonders of the world.

“We’d think ‘This is it. We made it,’” Dennis says and Mac isn’t sure if it’s Dream Dennis or his Dennis. It doesn’t really matter. Mac pretends it’s both.

MacDennis Week Day 6: Favourite Underappreciated Moment

You can’t tell me what to do!

“you’re telling me that you believe that christ comes back to life every sunday in the form of a bowl of crackers, and then you proceed to just eat the man?” “correct. you consumed his corpse and you drank his blood, that’s part of…” “[soft] ah, okay, good”

MacDennis Week:  favorite underappreciated moment

A close reading of a MacDennis micro-interaction in “The Gang Dines Out,” after Mac – imitating Dennis, who just slipped a five-dollar bill into the waitress’s bra – attempts to bribe the waiter with a crisp George Washington (and gropes his butt in the process):

1. wink at Dennis

2. lip bite

3. finger gun

4. second wink at Dennis, in case Dennis missed the first one

5. shy averting of eyes, accompanied by pleased smile, which silently asks: Did you see that, Dennis? Are you proud of me?