niko

Jack who passes so hard that no one knows he’s trans, not that it’s a secret but it never comes up and genuinely no one notices, so imagine Dennis’s shock learning that the hottest man he’s ever met has arguably one of God’s greatest gifts in his pants.

They’d been circling each other for weeks atp, enough for Jack to sus out that Dennis is indeed a bottom, which he is thrilled about but it makes him so nervous because what if Dennis is disappointed? Not that Jack is insecure, but he really cares about the kid and doesn’t want something as silly as this to ruin a good thing.

Dennis genuinely feels lightheaded when Jack tells him he’s trans, and he’s very glad to be at Jack’s house because he immediately buckles to the ground and starts begging to get his mouth on Jack.

Over the course of the next week, they learn a lot about themselves and each other. Like the fact that Dennis can ride Jack for a solid hour before his legs actually give out for real. Or that they both absolutely lose their fucking minds rubbing their dicks together. (Jack’s is so much bigger and prettier than Dennis’s. It makes him feel a type of way he’s not ready to analyze yet.) Or that, if Dennis is lucky, Jack will let him cockwarm him for hours, just holding Jack in his mouth and providing minimal stimulation. And if Dennis is really lucky, which he finds true more and more these days, Jack will get mean about it and press Dennis’s face onto his dick until he can’t breathe, muttering all the while about how Dennis is nothing more than a piece of furniture made to please Jack, a toy created solely for Jack’s enjoyment.

Amusingly enough, it's experience on the farm that's actually put to use, and he ends up Steri-Stripping and super glueing the guy back together, but at least his bandages look professional. He crashes on the sofa whilst the guy sleeps in his bed and wakes up to an immaculately cleaned bathroom and freshly changed sheets. Weird and a little bit concerning, but Dennis pushes it to the back of his mind and refuses to think about it any further.

Back when he was still small and too useless to work for long out on the farm, his father would get angry just at the sight of him, and everyone knew to keep Dennis quiet and hidden. He would sit with his mother and listen to the story of how she and his father had started dating.

How sweet and kind he was when he courted her. How he lured her in easily with sweet words and tender commitments, and jumped into marriage, claiming true love.

How he got her pregnant as quick as he could and bought a farm for dirt cheap at the outskirts of town near the unwalked hiking trails of the forests. How happy everything was.

Until he realized she wasn’t changing with their marriage. She wasn’t the meek and quiet submissive wife that he had been promised since he was a child.

She was still strong-willed, and free, and loud, and opinionated, and happy.

And he didn’t like it. Not one bit.

He understood that in relationships, there comes a certain point where you must expect the blow, anticipate it, and try to avoid it by using your words and gentle promises. And when that doesn’t work, grit your teeth and tell the neighbors you fell over a calf in the pasture while they look at you with knowing eyes.

There will be no one coming to save you. You are on your own.

It only takes one argument for it all to come out into the open.

He understands that it’s simply a part of life. That under every good man, no matter how good they portray themselves, is a monster that you must hold back from the rest of the world. He would destroy himself if you weren't there; therefore, you must allow him to destroy you. That no matter how many bruises you have to hide under your sleeves, they love you.

You must never doubt their love. It is all you have.

Dennis knows the end is coming when he, Jack, and Robby get into their first big argument.

Maybe he was never meant to be in this role. Maybe he was supposed to be the angry man with the cowering wife and the hushed, unspoken secret that every household shares in town. But everyone already knew Dennis was different. Too different. He would never be like them, for better or for worse.

Maybe that’s why she told him her story and told him to be careful.

Dennis can feel his lips moving, but he has no idea what he’s saying. He can only hear the beat of his heart wildly thrumming through his ears. He can only feel the coolness of his sweat dripping down his neck as his body flushes and overheats.

He shouldn’t be arguing back; he knows this, and yet as the tingly numbness travels up his fingertips, he can’t stop himself. Moving to Pittsburgh had changed him. Made him forget the importance of stillness and silence, his mother had instilled in him over and over again.

He can only see his partners' angry faces, biceps bulging from their restraint. Veins popping in their neck.

He can appreciate it, he’s thankful that they’re giving him time to steel himself and come up with an apology after they beat correct him.

They were kind enough to allow him to be on the outskirts of their relationship, treating him as if he were an equal instead of a way to spice up their marriage.

Spit flies from Abbot’s mouth as he steps closer, his body tense as he makes himself bigger. Dennis can only focus on his fists balled tightly at his side.

He wishes it were Robby who would hit him first. Jack was in the military, he was trained, and he still goes to the gym to exercise daily. His blows would be powerful and all-encompassing. It would probably hurt less if it were Robby, but Dennis really can’t be picky.

He closes his eyes and tenses his body, unable to stop the small flinch his body makes as he anxiously awaits the blow that he’s sure is coming.

The world goes silent.

There’s a shaky exhale of air, and he feels the two bodies stumble away from him, hears them too. He doesn’t open his eyes. Maybe they were getting a belt, or a paddle, or something else, so they wouldn’t further dirty their hands.

So he waits, gripping his jeans so tightly he thinks his fingers will bleed.

Then, a soft, “Denny…?”

The tears that he’s been so bravely holding in immediately spill, and he can barely hold himself upright as shudders overtake his body and his knees go weak.

“I-it’s okay… I-i can d-do it. I know it’s f-for my own g-good.” He stutters out, trying not to choke on his tears. Tears cannot sway the heart.

His mother said his father despised tears, that it made him angrier than anything in the world, that it made him feel like he was doing something wrong. So she never cried and taught all her children not to as well. His brothers got it easily, swiftly following in their father's footsteps as they grew older.

He had failed her in so many ways.

“You think… You think we’re going to hit you?”

Robby’s voice was so disbelieving and devastated that Dennis couldn’t stop himself from cracking his eyes open.

Robby was collapsed in on himself, as if Dennis’s expectation of punishment was physically weighing on him in the worst way. Jack had walked to the window and was staring outside. From the angle he was standing, Dennis wasn’t able to see what expression was on his face.

Dennis opened his mouth, but nothing came out. His mind was blank.

“You need to know,” Jack turned around, his face carefully blank, but his eyes were so sad, “we would never lay a hand on you, Dennis. We love you.”

Again, stupidly, Dennis opened his mouth, and nothing came out.

Dennis watches as his boyfriends exchange a mournful glance between the two of them, before carefully moving closer to him. Dennis watches their hands as they slowly, oh so carefully, move to hold him.

Their touch is so light, and it doesn’t hurt.

He falls into pieces.

And they hold him. They hold him as he cries and wails and apologizes and shakes pathetically.

And unlike his father and mother’s relationship, they’ll help him pick up the pieces and rebuild him stronger and full of love. A love that is not dependent on his submissiveness or anger. Something his mother never had and never prepared him for.

He knows he is nothing she’d ever thought he’d be. Nothing like he was supposed to be raised. Nothing like his dad, or his brothers, or any of the men in town.

Far away from the farm forever, gay and no longer hiding it, a legitimate doctor, and safe in his relationship. Safe in a way that she would never feel with his dad.

Pope moves from California to Pittsburgh for Dennis. It wasn't a hard decision. Especially not after Smurf’s passing. And even before then, staying in California was a battle he fought with himself every morning. So when the conversation arose. Andrew jumped on it. Cramming himself into Dennis and Trinity’s tiny apartment whilst him and Dennis searched for an apartment of their own. Though pope knew that the searching was only half hearted considering that Dennis loved living with Trinity.

The arrangements were comfortable. Trinity and Dennis didn’t mind doing dishes, and pope hated them, Dennis and pope didn’t mind doing laundry, and Trinity did, and Trinity and pope didn’t mind grocery shopping, and Dennis did. It worked out for them. Though Pope could pout over his lacking of sexual activity because (and as much as he cared for the woman) Trin always seemed to be around when him and Dennis were in the mood. And neither Andrew or Dennis were confident enough to say “hey we’re going to hang out in our room for totally not important reasons.” But it worked. And Pope was… happy.

Today was one of the days he was near ecstatic. Him and Dennis had gotten the entire day alone. Trinity was at work, and Dennis had the day off. Which meant plenty of time to lay in bed and be lazy without the expectation that Dennis had to go to work. Grocery shopping was done. Cleaning was done. Dishes were done. Laundry was done. All they had to do was chill.

Trinity came home a little after eight, pope was sitting on the floor in front of the couch. Watching an animal documentary whilst Dennis sat behind him. Playing with his hair and listening to an audiobook.

Andrew looked to the door where she was standing “how was-“

“Don’t.”

He nodded and looked back to the Tv. Letting Trinity run through her range of sighs until eventually she walked over and sat next to Andrew. Splaying out over his lap, adjacent to that of a grumpy black cat. He patted her shoulder and heard Dennis remove his headphones before his long fingers went hastily back to Andrew’s hair.

“Hey Trin,” he spoke softly.

“Huckleberry,” she said in place of a greeting. “Amy called.”

Andrew’s spine suddenly crawled. Going slightly cold at the name. He screwed his lips shut. Unsure who that statement was directed at until Dennis spoke “yeah? What did she need.”

“Apparently one of the fences need fixing and just some general maintenance stuff. She said she tried your cell but you didn’t answer.”

“Oh yeah. My phones been dead all day.”

“Dude. How are you listening to your audiobooks then?”

“My phone.” Pope spoke simply as he reached over to carefully undo her hair from the tight ponytail she had it in. Though it had gotten a lot longer since they had met.

“Gag. You guys are so gay.”

"Why is Amy calling you...?"

"Cause she needs help around the farm, sometimes I stop by the farm on weekends, but she hasn't really needed me since you moved in."

"Farm?"

"Yes, farm, you know she can't really do all that stuff with the new bouncing baby-"

"Baby," Andrew hadn't even known Amy was in Pittsburgh, he thought she was still back in California. Let alone married. He wasn't jealous, maybe a little upset. But he had Dennis.

"A cute baby, one sec. Trin give me your phone."

Trinity handed it over without argument and Dennis spent some time looking through it before he presented a photo to Andrew. A blonde woman, maybe the same height as Dennis holding a young baby with unruly blonde hair and big blue eyes.

"That's Amy," Andrew muttered, finally separating the two women in his mind, Dennis's Amy was different to his own.

"Yep. Wanna come to the farm with me this weekend? I'll need more then just me to fix a fence."

Andrew tossed the options around in his mind before he finally nodded and went back to watching his documentary silently.

====

Dennis drove them to the farm in Pope's truck, claiming something about Andrew not being used to driving on farm roads, but Andrew couldn't say he was really upset. He liked sitting with the windows rolled down, feeling the air against his skin.

The farm wasn't very big, or at least the house wasn't. It was a modest little thing with plenty of room for the baby and Amy. Amy was sweet, and happy to have the extra help around the farm. Thanking Pope for being around since it was normally only Dennis.

They got to work moving hay first, shit that needed to be cleaned up and moved out of the way. Andrew picked a small haybale up and tossed it into the forming pile when he looked to the side and saw Dennis. Balancing three haphazardly in his arms that were... flexed and beautiful. Dennis was wearing an old wife beater that rode up on his hips and stomach, revealing the cute little happy trail Pope knew he went crazy for and jeans that sagged. It wasn't fair.

He breathed out slowly, biting his inner cheek and watching Dennis place them down before he heard some yelling from the porch. Thirsting would have to wait. He turned his attention to Amy who was standing on the porch waving them down.

The two men walked over, Pope sliding an arm around Dennis to hold as they walked.

"Everything okay," Dennis asked.

"Fine I just... I'm sorry to ask but I really need to shower, would one of you mind watching him?"

Pope looked to the blonde little baby, his lips pressing into a hard line as he nodded at her curtly and reached out for him.

She seemed somewhat trepidatious "are you sure I-"

"I have a lot of nieces and nephews," Andrew said. It wasn't exactly a lie. He had two, one just happened to be nineteen and the other didn't belong to him anymore.

"He's great with kids," Dennis promised.

Amy nodded, biting her lip as she carefully handed the baby over. Andrew took him and cradled him close, adjusting his swaddle and cap "go take a bath... I've got him."

Amy breathed out, nodding and backing up slowly. Andrew tried to smile but it probably didn't do much to reassure her. He simply turned and began bouncing him gently as he fussed, smoothing his pinky down the babies nose until he soothed.

Dennis went back to work and Pope wandered the fields with the little baby in his arms, gently adjusting his swaddle and little cap every now and again. Keeping him from fussing. He wandered into the middle of the field and stared down into the blue eyes. He was a cute kid, Pope thought about the fact that this kid had a whole life in front of him, a loving mother, no father, but a family in his mother and Dennis none the less. He sucked in a shaky breath, he held Lena like this after she was born. He was lucky he had been there, out on bail until his hearing and then it was off to jail.

"Andrew?"

Pope turned to look at Dennis who was reasonably sweaty and tired looking, hot. "Hi."

"How is he?"

Pope looked down at the baby in his arms, unable to help the shaky exhale "perfect..."

"Mmm... sappy," Dennis walked over and looked at the baby, smiling softly and tickling his cheek, making the baby gurgle happily.

"You ever think about having kids?"

"Maybe. I'm not sure... I wanted a big family when I was younger, but that's because that's what my parents wanted."

"And now?"

"Getting you pregnant is a nice idea."

Pope flushed, rolling his eyes "I'm..." the words died on his tongue.

"Serious?"

Andrew nodded.

"I want to get a little bit further in my career, but if your asking me to have a baby with you Andrew, I'm not saying no."

Andrew nodded, looking at the baby again and giving him a small kiss on the forehead.

Amy got her baby back after a nice long bath, taking the baby inside to feed and put down for the night. The sun was dipping slowly as Pope and Dennis worked on fixing the fence, a nice sense of calmness shared between the two of them. Pope helped where he was asked to do so, spending a lot of time holding wood (unfortunately not his own) and watching Dennis work, his farm boy muscles popping after a long day of work.

"What are you staring at," Dennis asked, a slight western tang carrying in his voice.

"You."

"Mhmm," Dennis smiled, trying to look casual, but that blush was hard to hide.

"You look sexy," Pope shrugged.

Dennis glanced up from where he was hammering a nail into the post and dropped the hammer "so do you. I like flannels on you."

"Farm life looks nice on both of us then" Andrew totally wasn't wondering how much money he would need to buy them a farm.

"Yeah, it does," Dennis walked over, grabbing hold of the bottom of Pope's flannel and drew him in close, kissing him softly.

Dennis' kisses always sent him swimming, his head turning busily for a few seconds before he was being pressed up against the fence. He hummed softly, reaching back to fist at the white shirt on his boyfriends back, slightly damp with a days worth of sweat. Pope moaned into the kiss and closed his eyes when he felt Dennis cup his groin. He pulled back, sighing softly.

My contribution for the HankConMinibang2026 ! Read my partner's, @nickel-eater 's amazing fic, we had so much fun coming up with the story and they made an awesome work writing it! 🩵🩵✨