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Robby can’t help but stare at the real Christmas trees as he walks home from his shift one night. His hands are stiff in his gloves as he walks off the sidewalk. He really hadn’t made it into a whole thing, but the way that Dennis had looked so disconsolate. The pair of them had been together for two years now, and with this being their second Christmas together Dennis had been excited about it until Robby had pulled that stupid artificial tree out of storage and laid it at his feet.
Denny is far too nice for his own good, and that means that even though he’s upset about not having a real christmas tree that smelled of christmas time, and pine. He’d suck it up and would thread the lights around the prickly plastic limbs anyways Robby remembers Denny quietly, and softly mutters to himself. “My mom always bought the real ones.” Robby is sure that Dennis didn’t mean for him to hear him say anything about it, but now that’s it in his head.
So when Robby passes a pop-up christmas tree lot on the corner, he practically is dragged over to the pop-up where they have lights that are strung up overhead, and the smell of pine. Before Robby can talk himself out of doing something rash, and in a 7 word sentence he’s paying for a medium sized christmas tree that is over priced and carries it off the lot.
He holds on to it like it’s the most precious gift he’s ever bought. On his walk back to the apartment Robby nearly slips on ice. One time not far from the lot that has him gripping the tree through his tight fitted gloves. The second time is in front of the apartment building, trying to get his footing right when he manages to get onto the covered entrance.
When Robby walks in, Dennis is sitting on the couch. His legs tucked under him, and the tv playing hallmark movies. His head shifts to look over at the front door, and when he sees the tree hanging over his boyfriend's shoulder his eyes widen. “You… you got a real one?” Robby just shrugs and walks in. Trying his hardest to hold onto the tree and slip his shoes off at the same time.
With his shoes Robby walks in and drops the tree gently onto the floor in the living room. The tree had cost a bit more than he wanted to pay, but then he remembered that they would need that stupid stand so that the tree wouldn’t die prematurely before the holiday season was over. “You said you liked the real ones, not the fake ones.” Robby says setting up the stand for their tree.
“Anyways I figured it would feel like a better christmas if you had something you actually liked in the house.” Robby adds. He can hear the shift of Dennis on the couch, throwing the blanket off his body and standing to walk over to the real tree. Robby watches as Dennis threads his fingers through the pine needles, and a small smile grows on his face. While Robby was still on the floor he unplugged the lights from the fake tree and looked up at Dennis.
Dennis looked down at Robby in the corner of their apartment, in the dark corner. “It smells like being back home, Robby.” Robby smiled, a small one that was riddled with hope. “Then it was most definitely worth it, cause I almost fell on my ass two times trying to get it home.” Robby says.
As the night went on Robby could see that Dennis was calmer, even more content. Robby made dinner and Dennis sorted through their ornaments and practically destroyed the artificial tree to get the lights off the fake branches. “Do you want any help sweetpea?” Robby had asked when the fake tree fell over with a light thud and hit the floor. “No I’m fine, just trying to get the damn string light off the tree.”
Robby tried not to laugh, but every time the younger man would get ever so slightly frustrated or upset and get loud, that midwest accent would come flying out of his mouth. Robby had made something simple, and warm. A noodle dish that his grandmother had made for him during the colder months. “Come on sweetpea, we can finish decorating the tree after we eat.” Robby murmurs as he wraps his arms around Dennis' waist and presses a kiss to his temple.
They ate on the couch, and watched another hallmark Christmas movie play. Dennis made comments about how the romance was a little too heavy, and Robby commented that it kinda looked like Christmas had vomited all over the place. Dennis laughed, and snuggled up into Robby's side as the movie finished out.
Somewhere between washing and cleaning up dinner mess, and getting ready for bed with Robby taking a shower, and Dennis throwing the extra pillows off the bed and placing them on the floor. Dennis' mood had flipped, something had changed. Robby doesn’t notice it when he comes back from the bathroom. His hair damp and stuck to his forehead and a pair of sweats slung loosely around his hips.
Dennis laid down, and Robby pulled him close to his side. “Goodnight sweetpea.” Robby muttered as his 12 hour shift finally caused his eyes to close, and the snores to fill the room. “Goodnight Robby.” Dennis says quietly. Except Dennis couldn’t close his eyes, instead he stared up into the ceiling. Watching the blades go by as he tried to will his mind to shut down, just long enough to let his eyes close and go to sleep.
Dennis lays there until feels Robby's breath go even and his weight around Dennis' body go heavy. Dennis knows that he probably shouldn’t get out of bed, but he can’t help himself as he quietly slips from Robby's heavy hold and walks from the bedroom to the living room. The tree is lit up. The ornaments glow under the classic white lights that Robby and he had chosen almost a year and half ago now.
Dennis finds himself sitting on the couch. His legs crossed. Right in front of the tree, he can still hear the snores coming from Robby. There is a deep ache in Dennis' chest, and he isn’t sure where it came from all the sudden. All he knows is that he can’t sit here and keep thinking. He breathes in deeply, and whispers “I miss them.”
Before Dennis can stop his feet from moving, he reaches for his jacket, and boots. Before he can think of writing something down for Robby to read, if he wakes up in the middle of the night he walks out the door. His house keys jingled in his jacket pocket.
Dennis really didn't know where he was walking when he walked out of the apartment door into the cold Pittsburgh air. It was snowing once again. The streets were mostly cleared of drivers and pedestrians. Somehow Dennis manages to walk straight to a church, ‘St. Pauls’ It reads, and they keep their doors open for midnight mass.
He walked in, wiping his feet off to dust the snow off his boots. He didn’t slip his jacket off, and opted for sitting in the back near the doors. It was beautiful but didn’t remind him of the church back home. Instead this one had stained glass windows that had a warm golden light flowing through them. The warmth hits him as he sits down. Incense, the scent of old wood, and melting wax that dripped down the floor and left small piles.
Something in his heart ached as he felt at home sitting in the back of this random church. Dennis had been in Pittsburgh for nearly four years now, and this was the first time he was back in a church. The church pews filled quickly. With families in bundled coats,scarfs and fingers covered with gloves, old couples that were holding hands keeping each other warm, teenagers that walked slowly behind their families as if annoyed to be at church or with their families. Little girls and boys in cute outfits that stared at the nativity scene with an innocent awe.
Dennis stayed seated, and then the choir began to sing. A song he hadn’t heard in such a long time and that was meant to cause your emotions to sky rockets. ‘Silent night’. Dennis could feel his throat start to close from the tears threatening to fall down his cheeks. Dennis moved forward, with an instinct deep rooted in his bones. He slipped further into a mostly empty row.
He didn’t kneel, couldn’t not with the way he was picking up patients in the ER. He’s surprised that they had managed to make it home. So instead Dennis opts for bowing his head, and lacing his finger together as he rests them on the back of the pew in front of him.
That’s when the memories start to flood in.
The warm hands that guided him towards the pews as a very young child.
The way his mother sang the harmonies so beautifully that he would stare up at her in awe.
How his father would try to clear his throat and sing along with his mother.
The laughter of his brothers as they horsed around in the pews as they got older.
The light that would come through the old church windows at eight in the morning.
The sense of belonging to something more than just himself, or his job.
The sense of family.
Tonight, right now he feels none of that though. Instead he stands lonely in the pew with cracking knees, and an aching back. An old, soft voice interrupts his current spiraling. “It’s cold out there to be here all alone.” It’s an older woman who came out of nowhere whispering to him. The lines on her face make her seem kind, and Dennis melts when he looks down at her hands clutching onto a rosary tightly.
Dennis swallows thickly, as he closes his eyes and mutters quietly as to not disturb other church goers. “I couldn’t sleep.” He admits without hesitancy. The older woman nods as if she completely understands what Dennis is going through, “The holidays can… they can leave a heavy feeling in our chests. Letting old memories catch up to us.” The woman says as if she had known what was going before she interrupted his spiraling.
Dennis doesn’t like being found out, “Somethin’ like that ma’am.” He huffs out quietly. Her next words hit Dennis right in his heart, “You’re always welcome here, it doesn’t matter where you’re coming from.” He feels like a lost lamb, finally finding his way back home, and it nearly breaks him as her words settle in his chest.
The priest's voice echos through to the back of the church, “Be not afraid, brothers and sisters. Tonight is a night that gives light, hope. A return to the home that will always welcome us, even when we feel far from it.” Dennis can feel the tears starting in the back of his eyes. The words echo and hit way too close to home, and harder than anything else has in a long time. Dennis wipes the tears that fall from the corner of his eyes quickly to not let the older women notice.
Dennis stays, and he’s not sure why. But he stays for the readings, all through the hymns, new and old ones. Dennis stays through the soft, and kind echoing amens that comb through the pews like you’re at a baseball game doing the wave. The congregation stands for the final prayer and his body knows it’s coming. Dennis can’t help but be hesitant due to his aching knees, or not feeling like he’s allowed. Yet he pushes himself up and stands up.
The old woman next to him shares her pages with him, and he hums along to the last and final hymn of the night. ‘O come all ye faithful.’ Dennis can’t trust his voice right now to sing along. Dennis looks around and for a single tiny moment he feels held in a way that he hasn’t felt in years. Not since leaving Nebraska, not since working in the Pitt.
It’s not the people, or the beautiful building he’s standing in. Though it is a familiar feeling, it’s something older, something with roots that has grown for many years. It’s the pain. As the midnight mass ends Dennis grabs his things, slipping his jacket back and slipping outside into the harsh midnight cold Pittsburgh air. The cold air hits him like he’s being dunked and cleaned of all of his past and future sins.
Dennis can’t help but stand there in front of the church and stare up at the sky, it’s not the same as back home. Too many street lights in the way, and too tall of buildings in the way. Not able to see the stares behind the clouds that have winter snowflakes falling. “I wish you could see me now.” Dennis whispers into the air. “I hope you’re proud of me.”
The buzz of his phone in his pocket pulls him from his thoughts, and his eyes drag down to the phone screen in front of him.
THREE MISSED CALLS. - Robby
Three missed calls from Robby. “Shit” He mutters as his hands shake from the cold and sheer panic he knows he’s caused by his boyfriend. He hadn;t meant to just leave… he wasn’t thinking when he walked out of the door and left it unlocked. Dennis just needed to breathe and go someplace to grieve. Dennis is quick to pocket his phone, and walks back home “I’m coming back home, please Robby don’t worry.” He mutters to himself at nearly three in the morning.
He tries to hurry through the snow, and tries to be careful at the same. The guilt started to mix in his chest. He really hadn’t meant to scare Robby, he just… he was lost and needed guidance. All the thoughts in Dennis' head sound wrong. Because he knows he could have just woken up his boyfriend and talked, but he was afraid. Afraid of what he wasn’t sure, not anymore at least.
2:10 AM
Robby only wakes up because he has to go to the bathroom, but that plan simply disappears when he feels the cold spot next to him on the bed. He reaches out and only feels the flatness of the bed, and ripples in the sheets under his palm.
Robby swings his legs over the bed, his feet planted on the grows with a groan. “Dennis?” He calls out into the house, he waits. Nothing, but the panic isn’t there yet. Once again he calls a little louder, this time “Dennis?” Still nothing, no quiet snores can be heard. He gets up quickly even though there is an ache in his back and a pop of his knees.
Check the bathroom quickly, and it’s empty. He does end up taking a piss because that’s why he’s awake. He walks down the stairs and into the kitchen, the space is clean but also empty. He checked the living room even though he walked past it. “Denny?” He calls out, voice breaking by the second. Then his chest tightens when he notices that the front door is unlocked.
“Shit, shit shit. Where’d you go Denny?” He mutters out loud, before climbing the stairs to grab his phone. His panic is starting to rise, and he can’t help it. He looks for Dennis' contact in his phone and presses the call button. It dials and goes straight to voicemail. “Hey, sweetpea, um… please pick up. Just please call… call me back” Robby's voice wobbles. Another part of him breaks. He doesn’t hear the phone ringing, or vibrating in the house so Robby guesses that's better.
Robby tries again, and again. Still no answer, just straight to voice mail and he leaves two more voice mails listening to himself become more and more distressed as he falls to the beds edge. The lamp on the bedside is faint and he catches the tears that are rimming his tired eyes in the mirror. Robby ends up pacing around the living room, his phone sitting on the table. Glaring at him as he runs his fingers through his hair. His mind is floating some very dangerous ideas past his mind's eye. It’s all worst case scenarios.
Dennis has been kidnapped.
Dennis is dying in a ditch somewhere.
Dennis is currently dying on the OR table in the Pitt and Jack hasn’t had the heart to call his best friend and tell him what’s going on yet.
Or the worst of it, Dennis walked out on him. Just walked out and left Robby in the middle of the night.
The only other person he knows that is awake right now is Jack. With shaky hands he unlocks his phone once again staring at the background of him and Dennis from a few months ago at some event.
Robby thicks fingers press onto Jack contact and the call goes through. Ringing a few short times before Jack answers. “Robby?” He answers and Robby can hear the sounds of the ER behind his voice. “Jack… Jack is Dennis in the ER right?” Robby's voice cracks. “What? No I don’t have… what is going on right now?” Jack asks, Robby can hear the shuffle of his feet as then it’s a little quieter.
“He left me… I don’t know where he is, but I woke up and he’s nowhere to be found in this apartment. I don’t know what happened, everything was going fine.” Robby mumbles. “I tired calling, but I keep getting his fuckin’ voicemail.” Robby adds. Jack's tone is sharp and cuts through straight to Robby's brain. “Michael, stop and breath. One in and one out deep breaths, man.” Robby tires and fails then tries again and has a steady breath once more. “Michael, is anything stolen?” He asks seriously.
Robby looks around, and notices that the only thing that is gone is Dennis' coat and winter boots. “Just his coat, and winter boots.” Robby answers quickly and quietly. Jack hums into the phone, “Then he probably went for a walk Robby, and probably didn’t go too far from your apartment.” Robby sinks down onto the couch, the warm glowing tree stares back at him. “How do you know that for sure?” Robby questions his best and oldest friend. “Michael.” He says sternly into the phone call. “He didn’t leave a note, he didn’t wake me up. He just slipped right out of our bed and slipped out of our apartment. What if he needed me, I should have been awake to take…” Robby sighs heavily.
“Robby.” Jack cuts him off softly “It isn’t your fault brother, you care that’s why you feel like this, but that man loves you Michael. Dennis wouldn’t dare disappear on you just because you did something.” Robby's breath shakes as he leans his forehead forward and pressed the phone into his cheek. “Then why didn’t he wake me up, Jack?” Robby asks Jack. There’s a beat of silence, “Ask him when he gets home, Michael.” A hard swallow from Robby, “You think he’ll come home?” Another question, “Michael, we both know he’ll come home.”
The ringing out of codes, and medical jargon hits Robby’s ears and he ends the call with a simple thank you to Jack. He throws his phone onto the coffee table, and braces his elbows on his old knees. His hands run through his hair. Sitting and waiting.
Watching the ticking of the clock go by.
15 minutes go by
30 minutes go by
And then it’s an hour
Robby didn’t care he was staying on this couch, until Dennis made it home. Safe and warm. He would refuse himself sleep, so that when Dennis walked back through the door it was Robby that he saw first and nothing else.
3:15 AM
The door clicks open, and Robby shoots up from the couch. Tired eyes staring at Dennis, at his snow coat covered Dennis. Dennis steps inside, and tries to quietly shut the door and lock it. There is a dusting of snow over Dennis' hair, eyelashes, and shoulders. His gloves are damp like he was making snowballs as he walked around downtown Pittsburgh at three in the morning. His breath still has the winter in it.
When he looks up from toeing off his boots he freezes, his eyes go wide as he catches the burly terrified, tired man standing in the middle of the living room. “Oh.” Is all Dennis can think of at the moment. “You’re awake.” He whispers. Robby stares at him, “Of course I’m fucking awake.” Robby says as his voice breaks with relief not panic or pain. “Fuckin’ hell Dennis” Robbys shoulders slump as he started to walk out of the living room.
“Where’d you even go?” He questions right away, unable to keep the questions at bay. Dennis feels like he’s been caught doing something he should have done. Like when he was a kid in the pews and would punch his older brother in the arm and his mother would give him that look. He sinks and his eyes drop down to the floor. Looking at his mismatched socks. Dennis is pretty sure that one of the socks isn't even him. “I went to midnight mass.” Dennis finally admits.
Robby can’t help the anger that floods into his words as he steps closer to Dennis. “At three in the fucking morning.” Dennis cringes at the way Robbys anger comes out in full force, his Robby isn’t one for cursing unless he’s stressed, or tired as fuck. The guilt churns in his stomach as he realizes just how much stress he had caused Robby. “It was midnight mass, Robby” Dennies mutters, still looking down at his feet. “I wasn’t really thinkin’ about the time…”
Robby rolls his eyes, his hands flying to his hips, “Obviously.” His words stings, but Dennis knows that he deserves it. The way they slap across his face, forcing him to continue. “I needed to go, I needed to be somewhere that reminded me of home. I needed the scent of incense and candle wax, I needed to hear the hymns.” Robby watches as Dennis looks up and he watches how his eyes flicker over to the tree. “I needed to go back to something that I can’t have anymore.” Dennis' eyes are sad, sadder than normal and Robby's anger melts into something else. It’s just the fear that remains as he steps closer finally able to grab a hold of Dennis.
“Dennis you should have… you could have woken me up.” Robby holds Dennis half warm, half cold hands in his own. He can feel wince “But you had just gotten off a 12 hour shift I didn’t… you were tired Robby.” Robby's voice is thick, “So what, Dennis. You matter to me.” Dennis looks like he believes Robby, “I would have gone with you.” Dennis shakes his head and looks down at their hands.
“You don’t know anything about it, none of the rituals, or the hymns.” Dennis tries to convince the older man in front of him. “Or the prayers.” Dennis whispers. “Doesn’t matter” Robby says walking them towards the couch, “The only thing that matters is you.” Robby can tell that Dennis is on the verge of crying, the rim of his eyes are red and layered thick with tears. “I didn’t wanna bother you, Robby.” Robby sighs heavily. “Sweetpea, you never bother me.” Robby says firmly, like it’s the law and nothing else applies. “You’ve never once bothered me, I want you to bother me. I want you to come to me with anything and everything.” Robby admits.
Dennis finally gathers the courage to look up at his older boyfriend, his lips trembling as he tries to hold back the tears through calculated breathing techniques. His eyes are wet, but not his cheeks. “I’m sorry Robby. I really didn’t mean to scare you.” Dennis says. Robby pulls the younger man into his lap on the couch with ease, and tells him straightforwardly. “Yeah you did scare me.” Robby gently cups Dennis’s cheeks and forces Dennis to really look at him.
“It’s because I woke up to a cold, empty side of the bed. I had a million thoughts run through my bed. All I could think was that you were in the ER, that you were kidnapped, or that you just left me.” Robby admits. Dennies’s breath hitches and his bottom lips start to wobble again. Dennis shakes his head and he grabs Robby's shoulders, “I wasn’t running from you Robby. Please understand that.” He begs the older man, the more he looks at Robby the more he can the tears stains on his cheeks.
He melts a little more in the older man's lap. “Then what were you running towards?” Robby finally asks after looking deeply into the part of Dennis wishes he could keep closed and under wraps. The answer isn’t quick. Their breathing syncs as they sit with each other. Dennis lets out one more shaky breath as he gives his answer to Robby. “Home.”
Robby's hand drops from Dennis’s cheeks and slides down his sides. Keeping him close to his chest. “So talk to me Denny, please.” Robby begs. Dennis seems hesitant before the truth just spills from his mouth like one of those old water spigots outside in the front yard.
Dennis' eyes flicker over again to the Christmas tree. “The tree, it smells like the ones that used to be on my parents' property. It made me think of the way my mother would usher us out of the house on sunday mornings, and while we would wait for church to start she’d fix my stupid fuckin’ tie. How my dad would tap my shoulder and let me know when it was time to kneel.” Dennis’s voice cracks.
“I just realized that I haven;t belonged to something like that in a long time, not since I left home and came here.” Dennis's admission crushes Robby's heart. And immediately he’s trying to fix the issue. “You belong here, you belong with me.” Robby tries. Dennis twists his fingers in his hand, and shakes his head. “No Robby. You already do enough, carry enough. I don’t want you to carry my sadness”
Robby's hands leave Dennis' sides and rest on Dennis twisting his fingers about in his hand. “Dennis, you don’t get to decide what I can handle.” Robby says as if it’s that simple. “I want to carry your sadness, and your joy, your anger. I wanna carry everything that is yours Dennis.” Dennis blinks hard, and quickly. “You’ll come?” He asks, “To midnight mass?” Dennis clarifies.
“Denny I’ll go every fucking week, I’ll go do whatever you want to do if it makes you feel less alone.” Robby admits. The shaky laugh that leaves Dennis' chest feels good, as he questions Robby some more. “You know you’ll be the only one standing while others are knelling, and you’ll be so lost.” Dennis says. Robby smiles and cups one side of Dennis' warm face, “Then you tap my shoulder Denny.” Robby can feel the twitches in Dennis’s face “You really mean it?” He questions the older man.
“Of course I mean it.” Robby says it like he should have to question it. “Wherever you go I go. I’m yours Denny.” Something in Dennis breaks and then he’s leaning forward and resting his face in Robby's chest. Robby wraps him gently but also tightly in his grasps. One hand holding the back of Dennis' neck, and his other hand around Dennis’s back.
Robby murmurs into Dennis' hair “You’re safe matok. You’re not alone, not ever, and not now.” Dennis clings to him, shaking and unable to stop the shaky breaths that follow. “I didn’t buy the tree so it would hurt you.” Robby whispers, “I just… I wanted to give you something good, something better.” Dennis takes a deep breath against Robby's chest. “It did.” He says hoarsely as he looks up at Robby through wet lashes. “It just made me think about things that I was missing.” Dennis admits.
“Then we don’t try to replace anything now, we build brand new things.” Robby says. “No more replacing things you lost, let's add to it, yeah.” Dennis nods against Robby's chest.
BEFORE SUNRISE
Robby has Dennis curled up in his chest. Dennis longs legs on either side of Robby thighs. Robby grabs the discarded blanket from the night before. He wraps them up in the blanket as the tree glows behind Dennis.
Dennis leans into the warmth that Robby gives off, his eyes half-closed. Worn out from his walk, from the talking, and the crying. “You waited for me.” Dennis murmurs sleepily against Robby's chest. “I wasn’t… I couldn’t sleep without you in my arms, pressed up against me, or close to me.” Robby admits. Dennis hums “You… You're so good to me, Robby.” Dennis whispers as the sun starts to rise over downtown Pittsburgh. Robby's reply has Dennis melting in the best possible way further into the older man's chest. “Dennis, you make it easy to be good to you.”
Dennis' laugh is breathy against Robby's chest, “Don’t lie to your boyfriend.” Dennis says “Not a lie, Matok.” The silence that settles between is comfortable, “Robby?” Dennis asks quietly between them. “Yeah sweetheart?” Robby can feel Dennis grow hot in the face against his chest at the nickname. “The next time… when I get like that, feel like that.” Dennis starts, “The homesickness thing.” Robby corrects. “Yeah that.” Dennis mutters. “You tell me.” Robby says without any hesitation.
“And you promise that you won’t think that I’m weak or anything like that?” Dennis mutters, “No, I don’t think that homesickness is a weakness. I think it just means that you have something that is worthy of missing.” Robby can feel Dennis swallow hard. “I pinky promise.” Robby says, “and plus, now you’ve got someone who is worth coming home to Denny.” Robby adds. Dennis threads his pinky through Robbys. “I have you now.” Robby smiles and presses a sweet kiss into Dennis' temple. “I’ve got every single part of you, the parts that are filled with joy, the parts that hurt with never ending pain.” Dennis closes his eyes and breathes clearly for the first time in a long time.
A FRIENDLY CHECK IN
A gentle knock on their apartment door has Robby squinting at the oven clock. He thinks he can see a seven, but isn’t really sure. He’s careful to adjust Dennis off of him, and walk towards the front door. When he opens it Jack is standing there.
He’s covered in snow, and has a brown paper bag in one at once, and three coffee cups in a cup holder in the other. “Are you two alive today?” Jack asks dryly. Robby just shakes his head, and steps aside allowing his friend into the apartment. “Come in, jackass.” Robby mutters.
Dennis pokes out from under the blanket. His hair is half messy and his eyes soft but very tired. He sits up quickly when he hears and sees Jack enter the apartment. “Listen, Jack I…” Dennis starts to talk, but Jack cuts him off, and waves a hand. “Honestly I probably could own a bar for the amount of times Michael has called me in a panic. Don’t worry about it, kid.” Jack says setting the coffees and brown bag down on the counter in the kitchen.
Robby rubs the back of his neck, “Come on man.” Robby mutters. “Who wants a coffee?” Jack just passes Robby's comment. “And pastries, because it looks like the two of you haven’t eaten yet, and I would hate for these to go to waste.” Jack says, opening the bag. “You bought some pastries?” Dennis asks, blinking trying to sleep away from his eyes.
Jack chuckles. “Dennis, I’ve had enough conversations with Robby to know that this type of thing turns into a ‘we talked until the sun comes up’ kinda thing.” Robby elbows his oldest friend in the side, “Really dude.” Jack just shakes his head, but his expression softens and he looks back at his friend and Dennis. They look tired, disheveled, but in complete and utter love with each other.
“You’re okay though right?” He asks, looking between the two other men. Dennis nods with a smile on his face, “We worked it out, it was just a rough night.” Dennis admits. Robby walks over to Dennis and slides his arm around Dennis' shoulder and pulls him closer, “We talked it out.” Jack watches, how Dennis leans into the touch, and the way Robby seems to be content and happy unlike any other time he sees him. His smile is a small one, but it’s approving regardless. “That’s good, cause that’s all that matters in the end.” Jack says.
Jack grabs a danish out from the bag, and takes a bite before looking back at the couple, “Anyways midnight mass isn’t a bad place to go at three in the morning, you don’t wanna know the places I found Robby at three in the morning twenty years ago.” Jack jokes. Dennis can’t help but laugh at Jack's words, and how Robby seems to grow flustered and groans next to him. “Jesus, Jack.” Jack's shoulder shrug, “What it’s true and you know it.”
Robby just rolls his eyes. The tension that was in the room previously has disappeared and been transformed into something that was warm, domestic, and steady. It feels good like a warm blanket pulling over you at night. Jack takes one last look at the couple on the couch. Before heading for the door. “Take care of each other, and if anything else like last night happens again, please call me before you’ll start to panic.” He says softly, as he slides his gloves up his hands and puts his coat back on.
Robby's nod, “We will, Jack." he confirms. Dennis looks at Robby then towards Jack, with a grateful smile on his face. “Thank you, Jack for helping.” Jack nods, and shakes his head “Anytime, kids.” Jack says as he shut their apartment door. “He does know that I’m in my mid 50’s right.” Robby says Dennis can’t help but laugh and let his cheeks burn. “Go grab the coffee, and those pastries before it all goes cold.” Dennis says with a shake of his head. “I mean seriously.” Robby mutters as he gets up off the couch and grabs the coffee, and paper bag.