He realized that he never even had to tell Trinity. She just knew. She just accepted him and this was his normal. He didn't ever worry, didn't have to stress, they were watching their episode of Drag Race and eating ice cream and doing face masks after eating takeout and having wine. Dennis smiled and looked over at his best friend, her own outfit nearly mirroring his own but she preferred pajama shorts.

"How did you know?" Dennis asked as he looked at her. Trinity turned, spoon popping out of her mouth.

"Know what?" Trinity asked, looking at how stupidly glowy Dennis's arms were. She did not tan like that.

"How did you know I was a girl? I never even told you." Dennis said with a smile and watched as Trinity blinked and swallowed her ice cream.

"What are you talking about?" Trinity asked confused. Dennis giggled and motioned with his spoon to his body, his outfit, everything about himself.

"I know I never told anyone or anything, or really changed anything, but how did you just know I was a girl. You give me your hand-me-downs and treat me, ya know, like one of the girls. I just want you to know I really appreciate it." Dennis said sincerely and went back to looking at the TV. Trinity paused it and turned to really look at her roommate.

"Den, I treat you like a friend. I- Are you coming out to me right now?" Trinity questioned incredulously. Dennis was shocked and turned to really look at her, waving his hand out.

"What do you mean? I thought you knew!" Dennis said and froze, both of them staring at each other in confusion before Trinity leaned in, hand grabbing one of Dennis's.

"Are you really like... a girl? I'm being so serious right now, Den. Are you..." Trinity cocked her head, not wanting to offer the wrong word. Dennis blinked at her, looking between their hands and her face. Her mask was purple which made her eyes really sparkle.

"I... I thought you knew. I dunno intuition or something since you just... you always treated me like a girl so I thought you knew. I just... I dunno I'm just a girl. Like right now and when I'm at work and when I'm at the store. I just... feel like one." Dennis tried to explain. He couldn't try and get the words out, wearing Trinity's sweatpants, buying women's scrubs, his socks, the products in his hair, he couldn't start to explain the thousands of choices he's made that make him a girl.

"Shit... Do you wanna go by something else? Want me to use different pronouns?" Trinity asked and sat back in her own couch spot. Dennis shook his head and drew his knees up, poking at his ice cream.

"Not really. Names, words, none of that ever made me feel like a man so I doubt they'd make me feel like more of a girl. I just... I don't wanna get on hormones or anything. I'm just a girl." Dennis said quietly and glanced at Trinity to see how she'd react.

"Alright well... I guess we're just two butch bitches in an apartment." Trinity said and Dennis cracked up laughing, throwing them both into a fit of laughter because God... they were a wreck.

Trinity starts teaching Dennis how to actually understand women's cloth sizes and takes him to the mall with her to window shop and buy "fancy" underwear. Dennis turns cherry red when Trinity brings him into Victoria secret to look at "slutty bras to wear to the bar".

He realized that he never even had to tell Trinity. She just knew. She just accepted him and this was his normal. He didn't ever worry, didn't have to stress, they were watching their episode of Drag Race and eating ice cream and doing face masks after eating takeout and having wine. Dennis smiled and looked over at his best friend, her own outfit nearly mirroring his own but she preferred pajama shorts.

"How did you know?" Dennis asked as he looked at her. Trinity turned, spoon popping out of her mouth.

"Know what?" Trinity asked, looking at how stupidly glowy Dennis's arms were. She did not tan like that.

"How did you know I was a girl? I never even told you." Dennis said with a smile and watched as Trinity blinked and swallowed her ice cream.

"What are you talking about?" Trinity asked confused. Dennis giggled and motioned with his spoon to his body, his outfit, everything about himself.

"I know I never told anyone or anything, or really changed anything, but how did you just know I was a girl. You give me your hand-me-downs and treat me, ya know, like one of the girls. I just want you to know I really appreciate it." Dennis said sincerely and went back to looking at the TV. Trinity paused it and turned to really look at her roommate.

"Den, I treat you like a friend. I- Are you coming out to me right now?" Trinity questioned incredulously. Dennis was shocked and turned to really look at her, waving his hand out.

"What do you mean? I thought you knew!" Dennis said and froze, both of them staring at each other in confusion before Trinity leaned in, hand grabbing one of Dennis's.

"Are you really like... a girl? I'm being so serious right now, Den. Are you..." Trinity cocked her head, not wanting to offer the wrong word. Dennis blinked at her, looking between their hands and her face. Her mask was purple which made her eyes really sparkle.

"I... I thought you knew. I dunno intuition or something since you just... you always treated me like a girl so I thought you knew. I just... I dunno I'm just a girl. Like right now and when I'm at work and when I'm at the store. I just... feel like one." Dennis tried to explain. He couldn't try and get the words out, wearing Trinity's sweatpants, buying women's scrubs, his socks, the products in his hair, he couldn't start to explain the thousands of choices he's made that make him a girl.

"Shit... Do you wanna go by something else? Want me to use different pronouns?" Trinity asked and sat back in her own couch spot. Dennis shook his head and drew his knees up, poking at his ice cream.

"Not really. Names, words, none of that ever made me feel like a man so I doubt they'd make me feel like more of a girl. I just... I don't wanna get on hormones or anything. I'm just a girl." Dennis said quietly and glanced at Trinity to see how she'd react.

"Alright well... I guess we're just two butch bitches in an apartment." Trinity said and Dennis cracked up laughing, throwing them both into a fit of laughter because God... they were a wreck.

Trinity starts teaching Dennis how to actually understand women's cloth sizes and takes him to the mall with her to window shop and buy "fancy" underwear. Dennis turns cherry red when Trinity brings him into Victoria secret to look at "slutty bras to wear to the bar".

dennis gets flirted with by a bunch of lesbians (to which he awkwardly responds “oh i’m not…”), and the whole time trinity is like “wtf, i’m right here??”. it isn’t until a young trans person comes up to trinity and asks about her transition that they realize what’s happening. then they’re both like,

“ohhhhhhh, we’re stupid”

That kind of thing comes with bad habits. It’s a common stereotype that farmers will refuse to come into the hospital or admit that they’re in any sort of pain or injured in the first place.

Dennis is not an exception to that.

So, when a split piece of wood under the sink, around five inches in length and two inches in width, lodges itself in the middle of his palm, Dennis takes a moment to close his eyes and simply breathe through his nose.

He focuses on the pain radiating from his hand and pushes it down. It’s not the first time he’s accidentally hurt his hand, and with his clumsiness, it would certainly not be the last.

The only difference was that he now had the resources to take care of it himself. Before, sleeping on the streets, it was always a toss-up to see if it’d get infected. He was lucky. And even before that, his father would rub dirt on the wound and tell him to shut up.

Dennis got very good at not crying very young.

Trinity’s not home. Out on a date or at work, or something, he wasn’t really listening to her late-night rambling. He just wanted to go to sleep early so he could enjoy his day off.

Dennis grunts as he breaks off the splint of wood from the rest of the cabinet, contemplating suing the whole fucking building so he and Trin could be rich, before making his way over to the bathroom to raid their small first aid kit.

Maybe Trinity would find this funny? His brothers found it hilarious whenever he got hurt, and Trinity was kinda his big sister in a way. He’s never really interacted with girls, but Trinity punched him in the arm and told him not to treat him any differently than he would treat guys, so…

He can’t really tell if what he’s doing is a good idea; the pain makes it a little distracting to think, but he takes a picture and sends it to Trinity.

Huckleberry: I know you said there were splinters under the sink, but damn

Huckleberry: Didn’t think they were that bad lol, let’s sue and get bank

He tosses his phone onto the bathroom counter, ignoring the clatter as it most likely falls into the sink, and opens the mirror cabinet. “Yay, bandages.” He cheers, only slightly dizzy from the pain and blood loss.

He takes a moment, awkwardly sitting on the closed toilet seat, sucks in a deep breath, and yanks out the piece of wood all in one go.

And, holy shit, there’s a fucking hole in his hand that he can see through. It’s small, and the chances of it closing up are great, but it’s still morbidly fascinating.

Dennis keeps his eyes on his hand as he feels around the counter with his other, grasping his phone, and once again making the stupid decision to take a photo and send it to Trinity.

Huckleberry: Lol, you can see your ugly rug through my hand

Huckleberry: Gonna wrap my hand and take a nap, I’ll clean up later

Huckleberry: I’m soo tired lol

He’s 100% sure he’s dribbled blood across the apartment from the kitchen, but the loss of blood was making him really tired, and his ability to care had long since faded. He probably misspelled most of what he texted.

It was a shoddy wrap job; he wasn’t using his dominant hand after all, but the wound was no longer bleeding everywhere.

Dennis tilted his head, mentally deciding whether or not he wanted to be a wimp and take a handful of pain meds. The dulled pain would make it easier to sleep, and he probably wouldn’t have too bad a headache when he woke up.

Dennis decides to ignore his father’s voice in his head and pop two aspirins before taking a third just for the hell of it.

He’ll think about stitching his hand closed later in hopes to avoid anymore scarring on him. It’s not the end of life.

He takes a moment to breathe before lifting off the toilet seat, letting out a sharp gasp as he wobbles and his vision swam. Nothing a nap wouldn’t fix. Tottering his way to Trinity’s spare room was easy; he could do it with his eyes closed at this point.

Dennis throws his phone onto his pillow as he flops down and immediately falls into a deep, dreamless sleep, the rhythmic pulse of his hand fading into the background as he basically passes out.

He faintly realizes he should’ve at least washed the wound before wrapping it up, practice some safe methods, but then again, he had rubbed literal dirt in most of his wounds since childhood. If forgetting to wash this one little thing took him out, then he deserved to die.

——

Dennis is startled awake by pounding on his bedroom door and his phone vibrating itself to death on his pillow. He doesn’t even get a second more to think before his door is forcibly swung open and his best friend and boyfriend are rushing him.

“Whitaker!” Dennis blinked slowly, looking up to see his boyfriend standing over him with a panicked expression he’s never seen before.

Trinity looked no better.

“What?” He coughs out, his voice scratchy and his throat sore. The room spins a little as he lifts his head and- yup, he probably has a fever. Dennis groans softly and flops back down, intent on riding out his sickness with more sleep.

“Oh no, you fucking don’t.” Trinity hissed, patting him harshly on the cheek and forcing him to keep his eyes open.

“Do you understand how worried everyone was when you sent those pictures to the work chat?” Robby said softly, sitting down on his bed and grabbing his hand gently, frowning at the small wince Dennis let out. “It was very concerning.”

Dennis blinked slowly. “Work…?”

“Yeah, that’s right. You tried to send it to me, but you sent it to the morning shift group chat.” Trinity gripped, rummaging through her bag, hastily strewn on her shoulder, and pulling out a bottle of water. “Thought you fucking died when you didn’t answer anyone’s texts. Everyone is freaking the fuck out.”

Dennis blinked again, the light from the hallways shining in his room and exacerbating his pounding headache. And his pounding headache only seemed to make his hand hurt more.

He shakily took the pre-opened bottle from Trinity in his unoccupied hand and gulped it down, only stopping when Trinity pulled it away from him. “You’re gonna throw up at the rate you’re going.”

“Tender, increased redness, and your hand seems to be swelling,” Robby muttered, going full doctor mode. “You’ve got incoming signs of infection.”

“Are you an idiot? A wound of that size definitely needs to be treated.” Trinity cussed, covering her eyes with her hands and walking away before immediately walking back. “Alright, let’s get you to the ER, doofus.”

Robby nodded along. “Yeah, we definitely need to get you on some antibiotics. We also need to see if you’ve damaged any nerves. Did you take any medicine?”

Dennis slowly processed the words coming at him, taking a moment to digest their concern for him. “I’ve had worse… I took some, uh, aspirin...” he muttered softly, unsure of what to do with the warm feeling inside his chest. Maybe it was another sign of infection.

“Doesn’t matter, baby.” Robby frowned. “We’ll talk about the ‘worse’ that you’ve been through, but we need to get you back to the Pitt.”

Dennis struggled momentarily as his boyfriend tried to pick him up, shaking his head. "Don't... you'll hurt yourself..." he joked, making Trinity snort as she went to support his left side.

"Brat," Robby murmured fondly, taking Dennis's right and helping him wobble out of bed, taking the brunt of the other man's weight.

"If you've still got time for jokes, I think you'll make it," Trinity says softly, grabbing a hoodie from nearby, Robby's, just in case he got cold in the ER.

Dennis hums, clumsily moving his feet in a failed attempt at helping them move him, but really just causing more trouble. "Sorry," he apologizes because it seems like the best thing to do in this scenario. "Didn't mean... to bother you all."

"You're not bothering us, stupid." Trinity snapped. "In fact, you dying in my fucking apartment would be a lot more of a bother than you having to go to the ER."

Dennis hummed, his head drooping from exhaustion. Despite the deep sleep he was just in, he felt like he hadn't rested at all, and the fever combined with a pounding headache was really starting to take its toll on him.

"Just leave it to us, love, we'll take care of you," Robby promised, making Dennis smile at the two closest people in his life, before letting his eyes flutter shut while they moved him.

Dennis wasn’t going to step in; the bartender had already rushed away to grab security, and a lot of people were already giving him a verbal lashing

But for some stupid, stupid reason, this man decided that Trinity would be the perfect victim for his harassment campaign and would not leave her alone

Then he started to advance, pushing aside the people who were doing their best to hold him back

Dennis doesn’t really remember what happened at that moment; he was so scared and angry that he saw red, but on that walk home, Trinity held his hand tightly and was still smiling. And he was unscathed, which is always a plus when you get into a fight. So, it must’ve been good

"You should've fucking seen yourself, Huckleberry. You were like a hurricane!" Trinity cheered, arm linked with Dennis. "I'm surprised you had so much coordination considering how much you drank."

"... I think I'm gonna throw up..."

"And now, because of your heroic deed, the bar is giving us free drinks for a year! An entire year! You're my lucky charm, farm boy!"

"Trin... walking too fast..."

Good things never last, though, because the next morning, captain douchebag was at the ER causing another fucking rucus. Which seemed to be the only thing that he was good at

In the light of day and no longer under the influence of the free alcohol he garnered for being the hottest twunk at the bar, he was able to see the damage that he had done

It wasn't pretty

There was a clear black eye, dark purple and swollen, that had stretched down to his cheekbone. He also had a split lip, a broken nose, and, from what Dennis could see when he flabbed his gums, a missing tooth. If he had to guess, there's probably a lot more damage underneath the clothes that he was wearing

Yikes

Luck was apparently not on his side, since he was called over by Robby to help out. He warily walked over, unsure if he should speak up and tell his boyfriend, but he didn't get the chance

The man screamed shrilly when he saw Dennis, backing up as far as he could in the hospital bed and holding his broken nose that once again started gushing blood

“No! No! No! Get him away from me!” He shrieked at a register that made the doctors and the nurses close to him wince and then turn their heads away from the sound

Trinity rounds the corner, jogging toward the commotion, only to stop and stare wide eyed at the man screaming bloody murder

“Whoa… small world…” she muttered, standing beside Dennis and leaning her elbow on his shoulder.

“Stop that, we’re the same height.” Dennis pushed her off and took a step forward. "Dr Robby, I believe it'd be unwise for me to work on this case. The patient and I have a history."

Robby's brow furrowed as he looked between Dennis and the enraged man. "A history? If you don't mind me asking, Dr Whitaker?"

"He's the one that fucking did this to me! I can't believe you employ doctors like him!"

Several eyebrows shot up as everyone turned to look at a wincing and embarrassed Dennis. Trinity, gleefully laughing behind him, did not make it better.

Robby's eyebrows shot up, and he completely ignored the patient, turning to Dennis completely and walking closer, taking his boyfriend's hand into his own. "Are you alright? Not that I don't think you can take care of yourself, but he's a bigger buy."

"I... it wasn't unwarranted." Dennis simply stated, giving a small squeeze to Robby's hand. "But I swear I'm all good. Trinity can vouch. I'll get outta your hair, and we can talk more later. If he says anything homophobic, though, just give me a call, and I'll stand menacingly in the corner." He joked.

"Ah, I see. Don't worry, we've got a lot of scary nurses to keep him quiet." Robby winked, pressing a kiss to Dennis's knuckles and chuckling at the cute blush on his cheek, expertly ignoring the gagging coming from Trinity.

Robby raised an eyebrow in interest, and Trinity grinned, bumping her shoulder against his.

“Oh yeah? How much speech therapy did it take you to get rid of it?” She teased, her eyes glinting with joy as she was blessed with another sliver of information to tease Dennis on.

“Santos,” Robby said in that disapproving tone that let you know he wasn’t actually disappointed; he just didn’t want to get in trouble in case Gloria popped out of nowhere like a chupacabra.

“It’s fine.” Dennis chuckled. “I actually didn’t go to speech therapy.”

“Oh, so you simply grew out of it?” Robby asked, a small smile on his face from imagining little Dennis tripping over his words.

Dennis shook his head, looking down at Robby’s computer and continuing to try to finish the chart he was doing. “Uh, no, my Dad ran me over with the tractor, and then my stutter was just kinda gone. Guess it’s cause my head got knocked around somethin’ serious.”

Dennis heard the drop of something heavy on the floor and turned around to see Trinity and Robby staring at him in shock.

“Are you guys okay? What did you drop?” He asked worriedly.

“Shut the fuck up, whaddya mean your dad ran you over?”

Dennis looks over at her like she’s stupid. “I mean, my Dad ran me over? Duh.” Other nurses and doctors nearby stopped and turned to look at him, but Dennis hadn’t noticed that. “He said he didn’t see me, but I tried running out of the way, and he turned the steering wheel to follow me, ha.”

“Fuck kid!” Dennis jumped when he realized Dana was now standing right next to him. “And? What were the medical procedures?”

“Oh, uh, I didn’t go to the doctor.” Another bomb.

Robot closes his eyes and takes his glasses off.

“It was too far and way too much money, that’s what my parents said.” Dennis looked over at them with apprehension in his eyes. “They just… held a cloth to my head till the bleedin’ stopped and waited for me to wake up.”

“Dennis.”

“What?” Dennis looked around to see people staring at him pitifully. “Seriously? What?”

“We’re going to talk about this later, Mouse,” Robby says seriously, eyes darting over to the patient just rolled in by serious EMTs, rattling off what they knew of the situation.

“Talk about what?”

“Seriously, Huckleberry, that shit is messed up.” Trinity frowns and looks serious, even if she uses his nickname.

Everyone expects Robby and Abbot to be all gross and pervy but Whitaker? It’s never Whitaker

He grew up in rural Nebraska, the only computer he had access to being from the library

The only way he was getting porn was from magazines from a friend of a friend

And once he got down to Pittsburg he suddenly had an unlimited amount of pornos

He didn’t know what was ‘normal’ and his algorithm guided him towards some really kinky fucking shit

While he knew it was slightly abnormal he was under the impression that he was pretty light when it came to kink

When he gets into a relationship with his bosses they expect some simple vanilla sex, not that they really care, they are getting too old to do that many scenes anyway

But Dennis Whitaker just turns around and goes

“Can you treat me like how you would a literal dog and put cigarettes out on me?”

And he’s like ‘oh yeah, I didn’t really go to kinky straight away, I’ll tell them the real freaky shit later’

say less anon :P

appearance wise i imagine dennis to be generally smaller than your typical wolf; the lack of proper nutrition growing up severely stunting his growth however he is VERY well built. due to spending his youth turned over-night, he’d regularly have to scare predators off the property to protect his pack aka the livestock, so he’s used to fighting things like coyotes. this adds onto the obscene amounts of scars on his shifted form, with one of his ears being half gone and one of his legs having a permanent limp due to having gotten a nasty bite which never got treated.

this adds onto his terrified behaviour around robby and jack when they all shift together for the first time because his only experiences around other canid predators was fighting and he knows he’s not strong enough to fight back, hence the submissive behaviour to try dissuade them from hurting him (which they never would). ofc the two older wolves see this and take their time with him, mostly with jack approaching him as his slightly smaller form and missing hind limb makes him appear as less of a threat to dennis’ hindbrain. robby however takes awhile before he can get close without the younger running away as he is large even by werewolf standards, so instead he resorts to hunting for dennis, dropping off rabbits or picking out the most nutrient-dense organs from larger hunts to specifically gift to dennis. overtime the steady supply of food combined with the lack of stress when shifted allows his wolf to flourish, growing a thick curly blonde coat which the other two simply can’t stop grooming as the curls leave him a shaggy look.

the one aspect that never changed is dennis’ control though. his human and wolf minds are simply too separated for too long, so jack and robby go out of their way to teach him werewolf social customs when not shifted; scent marking people, how territory works, what certain sub-vocal sounds mean, better ways to handle his senses etc. and slowly he starts to accept these parts of himself, not as being some sort of demon that possessed him as a child, but instead as a natural part of himself. he learns the science behind lycanthropy and begins to really flourish, though it doesn’t stop the nightmares of his brothers beatings and the exorcisms that were performed on him as a child that lead to him waking up in utter terror and praying desperately for forgiveness.

They were right.

They got me.