I absolutely believe that dennis has, around the house, very haphazard ways of doing things that often really aren't safe at all. it's brought on by his upbringing on the farm, where he did what worked, regardless of the risk. it's not an attitude that does robby's poor heart any favours.
one afternoon he'd walked into their living room to see dennis changing a light bulb for a fixture in one of their ceiling corners- but they had high ceilings, and the stepladder wasn't quite tall enough. and so dennis- beautiful, brainless dennis- had planted one foot on the top bar of the ladder that was meant to be held, and his other? resting against the wall itself to boost him high enough to change the bulb.
underneath him, given his horrific position on top of the stepladder, was fifteen feet of empty space followed by a hardwood floor. robby could actively feel the adrenaline pump through his veins as he locked eyes on his idiotic boyfriend teetering in the air. his heart seized and he gripped the doorframe for support, mind filling with visions of dennis slipping and falling, breaking his arms, legs, neck... the panic he felt was total.
he kept his voice as calm as possible.
"dennis... dennis get down from there. get down. right now. now, please dennis. down."
dennis, cool as a cucumber, turned his head and smiled at robby from up in the air.
"oh, hi robby! im just doing the light. I'll be down soon, just gotta screw this bad boy in."
robby wasn't playing this game today.
"no dennis. down. now. leave the light alone. it doesnt matter, please just fucking get down."
something about the raw fear in robby's voice made dennis's face fall and his eyes widen. oh. his boyfriend really looked terrified- he was pale as a sheet and sweating, grasping at the doorframe and tugging his hair in anxiety. he looked to be on the verge of tears. dennis got down.
the second his feet touched the floor, robby was on him, holding him tight and kissing his face like they'd been apart ten years. he held dennis so tight that the younger man's face was smushed into his chest and his lungs struggled to fully inflate given the force of robby's arms.
"dennis whitaker. dont you ever, ever do that again. do you hear me? that is not safe. you could've fallen, I could've- i could've lost you, don't ever do that shit again. fuck the fucking light bulb."
dennis felt guilty. he knew his farm methods weren't standard, but he never realised how terrified they made his boyfriend.
that night, robby sleeps on top of dennis like a blanket, clutching at him like a life raft. dennis hugs him back, resolving to let someone else do the lights in future. it wasn't worth how he'd managed to scare robby. old farm habits die hard, but it seemed it might be for the best for these ones to die all the same. there were more important things now.
yousharknotpass
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vaporwave
theartofmadeline
