#macdennis sort of but not entirely

[absolutely-not-my-main-blog]

Holes. Keys. What Have You.

I have full analyses I've been wanting to actually do and gather images for over the entire past year, but in the meantime, have this <3.

[nighttiming]

hahaha yeah i accidentally controlled my best friend’s anal beads but that’s like something we do haha it’s not gay just guys being dudes haha

[yawpyawp]

I spent entirely too long on this comic version of my super soft established relationship Macdennis fic

Turns out reconfiguring a written narrative to work as a comic was a challenging but interesting process!

Nerdy details under the cut!!!

1. Dee’s ‘Useless Femme’ t-shirt is from Sapphic Southerner

2. Charlie has always given me Toynbee vibes so the ~classic Toynbee Tile seemed like an appropriate graphic tee for him lol

3. Mac needs to get into shonen anime and he would love Yu Yu Hakusho because it’s literally the greatest anime of all time

4. Dennis’ shirt in the last scene (actually Mac’s shirt) is from 12th St Gym, which was a fixture in the Gayborhood for years and years. Mac was totally going there out of ‘curiosity’ in the same way he was going to the Rainbow before he came out. Unfortunately 12th St closed right around the time Mac came out for good :(

5. (VIEW FULL SIZE!) Lots of little details in the bathroom cuz there needs to be clutter! It’s mostly Dennis-focused items, cuz the thinking here is this is Dennis’ bathroom (cuz I subscribe to the belief that their apartment has two bathrooms)

A: Mid-2000s Phillies ticket

B: Charmacden at the bar :)

C: Literally a printout of this Aquaria Instagram post! I think drag would be a very healthy and constructive outlet for Dennis to explore, and I think Aquaria specifically is sort of an idealized version of what Dennis would want to look like in drag. (Also she’s originally from Philly!)

D: A Lamborghini Countach, ofc ;)

E: Cute lil Macdennis selfie

F: Lipsticks (stolen from Sephora)

G: A mug he stole from a Green Line Cafe and subsequently broke

H: An origami elephant that Mac made to demonstrate Finesse

I: Recently I learned that Rite Aid is Philly-based (although not exclusive to here) so those bandages are specifically store brand for additional local flavor lol

J: Lil figurine of Gobo from Fraggle Rock

K: Drugstore foundation (stolen from Rite Aid)

(I guess this version of Dennis shoplifts a lot?)

[translesbianvampire]

the way mac & dennis use third parties (or some external situation) to "referee" for them so that they don't feel like spending time together is gay ...

1x05 gun fever: the entire episode lmao. theyre in love. also the cold open sounds like some sort of event where they had sex with girls together

1x06 the gang finds a dead guy: mac & dennis try to make advances on a recent widow together

2x01 charlie gets crippled: mac & dennis get trashed at a strip club together (and dont bring any strippers home unlike earlier. they left their heterosexuality behind)

4x01 manhunters: mac puts his pubes on dennis' face while he's sleeping, dennis puts his balls in mac's mouth "as a prank" (also while he's sleeping), then in cricket's together!!!

4x04 mac's banging the waitress: mac being very adamant abt watching dennis' sex tapes even tho they're that bad angle u see in porns where it's balls and male ass just *clip* *clap* *clop* *clep* *clup*

5x01 the gang solves the mortgage crisis: mac & dennis using the mortgage crisis to become partners in real estate, then merging this with dee's surrogate baby idea to become partners in real estate & partners in life

6x02 dennis gets divorced: mac & dennis canonically spend 15 hrs at the strip club b4 crashing back into their place SLOSHED. they don't even refute maureen when she calls mac dennis' boy toy

6x03 the gang buys a boat: (shoutout to @ocularpatdowns key macdennis chronology!!!) mac & dennis doing the whole boat sex thing to have sex together (makes it feel less gay if there's women involved)

7x06 storm of the century & 7x11 thunder gun express: mac watching dennis bang girls

8x08 charlie rules the world: the guys all watch dennis' sex tapes together

8x10 cereal defense: mac & dennis send the idiots off on smth they think is a race, while they get to spend alone time together in the range rover...mac's flirting & puppy-eye look at dennis right b4 the gang crash into them & revert to status quo makes me die inside

9x04 mac and dennis buy a timeshare: it's in the title innit?

9x09 the gang make lethal weapon 6: mac & dennis film the gayest scene ever for like, a D-movie action flick

10x02 the gang group dates: dennis says "the sex tapes are only for me. ...and mac. ...and charlie! :)"

10x05 the gang spies like US: they literally masturbate to creampie porn together!!!!

[charmac]

Prevv tags, @sunnykeysmash

#this isn't an inherently wrong post but i really feel like one simply Cannot discuss or dissect anything from FvR -#unless they keep in mind the continuous push on dennis having a 'double life' and how he wants to move on from that and is trying to#but mac is completely and utterly deaf to it. very much shown in inflates#in fact i dont think dennis is keeping mac at arms length at all. they literally slept on the same couch. i think dennis#was trying to reach mac the entire season#and it's mac who can't exactly cope with this sudden... shift and doesn't really get it. like willfully in denial

#we also have to remember sunny is a show about people letting each other down and macdennis doesn't do that onesidedly#dennis is very much pissed that mac Won't Hear that he is johnny no matter how obvious he makes it#in fact i believe dennis has been ''sending signals and implications'' to mac the entire time. but they communicate and operate differently#on a purely PURELY meta sense dennis speaks in subtext while mac operates on the surface. to me. they're not resonating in FvR#not in the way they were in s15 ep1 when theyre playing music together. and i could get into an entire thing there bc the meta is massive#i actually already wrote about this i think. i dont remember all my points. they're out there on my blog somewhere#god in heaven i really dont think macdennis is interpretable without acknowledging the entire meta layer of their narrative#even and especially when discussing an episode like gets romantic. which is so immersed in its own metatext it forgets itself

#actually mac prefers a distant detached love so much that dennis could only reach him by pretending to be johnny. it's also all a dance for#control in a sense.in a different sense. in a Chokes sense. like dennis pretending he calls the shots but mac has the wheel (den wants)#dennis wants mac to take control and woo him and he has Desperately been trying to hint at it since s14. IMO#and mac is wonderfully oblivious to it because he's still stuck on the TEXT that Dennis rejected him (times up etc)#AND THERES EVEN MORE I COULD SAY BUT IVE ALREADY TALKED ABOUT ALL THIS AT GREAT LENGTH 😭😭😭 but yea idk#anyway mac has a lot more control on dennis than some think. please reflect on this#meta#analysis#Jumper was a crazy episode in dennis trying to send hints tbh#i fucking love sunny meta i dont even care ... real ones oomfs know#wait i actually do have more to say. because there is a constant implication that mac doesn't actually really get dennis.. AND he Does too#at the same time. it's shown kinda well in tends bar i think. he misunderstands dennis the entire episode but in the end he Gets it right#thats kinda what they have going on. dennis is always waiting for the moment mac Gets it but. well it almost never comes#they both know parts of the other but not the full picture. never that. and i think it's also because of the mask#neither of them particularly likes themselves. they are content playing a part of someone else... sort of.#theyre also opposites in that. mac wants to 'define his true self' at all costs. Dennis runs from it. but uh... uhm.

I don't think we talk enough about what Mac falling for Johnny means in terms of his perception of love and his relationship to Dennis. I mean, we talk a lot about Dennis catfishing and e-dating him and the sexual component of it —which gives us plenty to unpack about Dennis' psyche, so it's understandable— but my favorite aspect to dissect is Mac's willingness to "fall in love" with a ghost.

In the episode, Dennis mentions there being texts between them so we know Mac wasn't just talking to a wall the whole time, but he's been stood up by Johnny so many times.. yet he keeps at it, keeps going on errands and to motels just in case Johnny decides to actually meet him this time. He's constantly waiting for someone who never shows up for him, and that's reflective of Mac's entire character. He keeps searching for love and validation from his mom, his dad, Dennis.. and when he doesn't get it, he just keeps on pushing, putting in more effort because maybe this time it will be enough. He holds so tightly onto his faith in god, a being he can't even see or hear, but that represents a hope for eternal love if you do everything right and conform nicely to its supposed expectations.

Mac isn't a stranger to loving distant beings, so of course he fell in love with Johnny. He's so desperate for someone to love him back but the only form of "love" he recognizes is a distant kind. That's why he can't give his date from the episode a chance, and why he doesn't want anything to do with uncle Donald. Easy and earnest love isn't something Mac knows. Hell, it isn't even worth it. Love, in his experience, requires work and sacrifice, otherwise what's the point?

This also plays a lot into his dynamic with Dennis, and why Mac will never let go of it. Sure, we saw him kind of trying to move on in 'The Gang Gets Romantic' by fabricating a love story for himself with Greg, and a more genuine attempt in 'Frank vs. Russia' by dating Johnny, but all roads eventually lead back to Dennis. A part of it can be attributed to Dennis not letting him move on —keeping Mac at arm's length while giving him just enough to keep him hooked— but that's not all. At this point I don't think there's anything Dennis could do or not do to put a definitive end to Mac's obsession with him, because he's exactly the type of person Mac craves in his life. As mentioned before, Dennis is someone that makes him earn his love and respect, and Mac can't find that in other potential romantic partners. He already tried looking for it online, where you can meet all kinds of people from all kinds of places, and who did he find? Dennis.

Obviously, the Johnny thing being orchestrated by Dennis means that Mac "found him" on purpose, but the point here is that Mac didn't know that. From his perspective, it was a fresh start with someone completely new, a guy that met his subconscious requirements. It just so happens that his requirements are Dennis. Because as mushy and gooey as it sounds, at the end of the day Mac is irreversably in love with him. He loves Dennis so intrinsically that he falls for him a second time, without even being aware of it. And I suspect he always will, no matter how many times he tries to move on.

[gubler-garbage]

I really appreciate your thoughts on that subject!! I was curious about what you meant by somewhat toxic shipping culture, if you're comfortable talking about it? It surprised me but I feel like it makes some sense tbh!

okay so i wanna preface this by saying I have never been deeply involved in the shipping aspect of sunny fandom, I am very much an outsider looking in so take this with a grain of salt. I also want to say this isn't a call out or whatever like its fuckin tumblr shipping its really not that deep, do you, your not hurting anyone.

Having said all of that I personally feel like the fandom that has developed around sunny on tumblr and specifically the growth of macdennis as a ship has distorted the way some fans view the show and interpret its content and the creators. I think this specifically applies to macdennis truthers, like I don't want to burst anyones bubble here but this idea that the creators have this sort of longcon and overarching narrative to the show and its characters is very strange to me. I'm not saying macdennis is impossible or even that I wouldn't like it to happen I just think that when you start ascribing such weight to small and somewhat incidental comments from the creators and moments from the show it starts to distort what is really being said and and creates such a narrow view of the show that what the creators are really trying to say is wilfully ignored for the sake of shipping wish fulfilment. In my opinion, a prime example of this is the way the fandom has interpreted "time's up for the gang". It's really strange to me that such an emphasis has been placed on charlie's rape accusation against Dee, to the point where the ship has been vilified and blacklisted by many (a completely valid and fair response, that isn't my complaint at all and if shipping them makes you uncomfortable that is more than understandable), but when dennis monologues about how mac's continued advances towards him make him uncomfortable the fandom has somewhat decided this was an instant of Megan Ganz "going rogue" or have opted to ignore it entirely. Its this sort of view of the writing process that i really have an issue with. Personally I feel it has given the fandom license to decide what is and isnt canon based entirely around whos name is in the lead writing credit which has somewhat served as a shield for rcg for some of the more questionable or gross moments, especially in later seasons. I have seen people blame Megan Ganz entirely and solely for the blackface in "Dee Day" as if as head writers, producers, creators and actors rcg did not approve and possibly even suggest this addition to the episode.

This also applies to the scene in "Mac and Dennis Manhunters" in which Mac says to Dennis that he has sexually assaulted him but that moment has never been treated with the same gravity as in "time's up" because it's from an older episode I presume. which is another narrative I've seen regarding rcg in that they have at some point had a magical leftist transformation that absolves them of criticism for early season content for the sake of retconning non macden compliant content.

This last one kind of applies to the whole fandom to a certain degree but I've just most prominently seen it with macden ship discourse is the propensity to villainise rob, glenn or charlie in order to boost up another, and generally the one being boosted will be the one saying or doing something macden related. Specifically with people attempting to claim that the lack of macden content in season 13-14 was entirely due to the absence of glenn in the writers room, which for one isnt even true and presents a fundamental misunderstanding of how a show is even written to begin with. But outside of any of that it creates a narrative that while one of them may be saying something backwards or ignorant, the silence of the others indicates their disagreement. It's an overall propensity to take anything vague or silent from them as an invitation to insert personal perspective which isn't present in the work itself. This to me is really clear in the fact that the fandom's opinion on any of them can be traced back pretty directly to the amount they post on social media. Rob who has generally the largest presence gets the most flack, Glenn then comes in second and Charlie's basically non existence has kept him out of alot of fandom discourse purely because his silence allows for people to presume his perspective or opinion. I'm not saying they don't deserve the flack they get but the idea that Rob is a disgusting person for buying an nft and whatever else while glenn is some sort of angel is based purely on the sort of parasocial bonds that form when people spend so much time being hyper invested in a piece of media. We don't know these people, they're just a bunch of rich, white, old guys who make a show we like. I personally don't really understand the surprise of people realising they aren't some sort of radical leftist collective, to me there's no point where they have ever given that sort of indication except in the fan interpretations of miniscule interactions and statements they've made that are just vague enough to support their argument.

Rcg have somewhat accidentally managed to do the same magic trick as their show, in remaining vague enough in their statements and generally silent in online discourse people have been able to ascribe their own beliefs to them and project personalities onto them that don't actually exist.

This post is already so long and I haven't really touched on the other side of this coin which is the complete separation of art from the artist, attempting to discredit rcg and the rest of the writing team from the show and attempting to love the show, while completely demonising the creators. I understand where these sorts of fans are coming from but I think it's really dismissive of the genuine nuance that sunny presents as a really complex program in terms of its place in pop culture. It also feels like an attempt to continue watching the show without having to deconstruct any of its harmful aspects because you can just blanket dismiss the creators as awful people. I also see a pretty severe double standard with this sort of stuff where people will call out sunny but only if its shipping related, like that merch drop with the "i love you like mac loves dennis" tee and people trying to call out fx for queerbaiting, like first of all thats straight up stupid, like im sorry i can't even be diplomatic on that, its the dumbest shit i've ever heard, touch grass. But when it comes to discussing problematic aspects of the show that first of all, actually exist and also don't involve anything to do with macden or even lgbt issues its crickets because its pretty clear y'all dont care about genuinely harmful content, you just care about your ship. Not to sound like an apologist but i do genuinely think that the show has had alot of interesting things to say and generally speaking has never attempted to be actively hurtful, although their execution leaves alot to be desired at times. I think to a certain degree sunny tumblr is in a similar place to sunny reddit but in the opposite direction, wanting the show to be something it never was in the first place.

[trillgutterbug]

sunny asks for brrrrrr wanna know about no. 8, 9, 11, 14, 16, 17 and 18/19 for you... is that too many? he he he

asdjgkldg calling my dumbass bluff with this one lmao. appreciate you friend 🙏. (already did 14, 16, and 17.)

8. Favorite side character

liam mcpoyle my beloved...... unironically thirsty for cricket too, the later the season the better. roxy also, oneoff character of ALL time 😍 rip queen. BUT THE LAWYER no contest. furthermore i've sipped deeply of the delicious refreshing lawyer/charlie koolaid.

9. Favorite non-Paddy’s location

macdennis apartment of course. regardless of how many bathrooms it may or may not have.

11. Favorite meme from the show

what an impossible question. for THE most memed show in human history?? probably dennis throwing the macaroni down the hallway tbh. even without context of any sort it's hysterical.

18. Do you create fan content? If so, what kind and what do you like about it?

in theory i write fic lmfao. in actuality i THINK about writing fic and then i message jackie a bunch of horny bullshit at 2am and fall asleep instead. i mean,, i've written a couple things but not nearly as much as i want to. what do i LIKE ABOUT IT THO??? not much lol. writing is the worst thing on earth and it's very unfortunate that i'm pathologically compelled to do it. but writing smut is truly my calling in life and it is very..... ~*inspiring, so. also love to make jackie lose her entire mind when i do manage to squeeze something out!!!! the greatest gift of all, sending your friends into a frenzy.

19. If you had the skill/talent/time to create any content you wanted, what would you want to make?

hoo this is a long list bc i'm so smart at generating ideas and so stupid at following through on them. listen i've got adhd meds coming in the mail this week so maybe that'll cure me. everyone hold your breaths starting now.

1) i wish i could figure out how to write charlie/the lawyer in a way that would make sense

2) macdennis in lockdown. i did start this one, it's the only wip on my ao3. im trying to shame myself into finishing it via the perceived judgement of others, ie the only way i ever accomplish anything. is that tactic working here? no.

3) abo, bc jackie and i have Thoughts about how that would shake out and tbh they're really good Thoughts. sure would love to write em down someday! honestly everyone send me their thoughts on gang abo dynamics im ravenous about this topic 👀

4) endless reams of senseless plotless pornography in which dennis cries his eyes out through dozens of variations on the theme of mac folding him in half and voiding his warranty

5) some kind of one-sided charden bc that is something else i have Thoughts about

6) just a metric fuckton of dennis/dee

7) i have a 3500 word document of nothing but little ideas i want to stick into fics but none of which are big enough to be fics on their own, so like..... i guess an 80k fic with some kind of magically generated plot that will permit me to wedge in seven hundred unique references to mac holding dennis' hand in public

[coveredinsun]

okay here it is. this is completely and utterly arbitrary but i’m confident that it actually makes a lot of sense. there’s probably some more nuance that can be added but frankly i don’t care. slam that “keep reading” button for an explanation

there are 3 main bubbles for toxic (self explanatory but also applies if they’re regularly just sort of mean to each other), doomed (do one/both of them die, or are they just fated by a higher power, aka the narrative, to never be together?) and …… happy???? (either they genuinely do get a happy ending, are endgame/canon-adjacent, or are just content with one another)

the only two couples to be happy??? and nothing else are gimleaf and zukka. i think both of these go without explaining. zukka’s got some in-universe drama probably but it all works itself out, and gimleaf sailed away to valinor together. next.

the two couples in the toxic/happy??? intersection are macdennis and loustat. they represent the varying degrees of toxic (macdennis mistreat each other but they’re not smashing the other through walls and trying to kill each other violently) and they also represent a facet of the happy??? category: they work with no one else but each other. they’re so toxic yet so perfect together as individuals that they couldn’t possibly be with anyone else. hannigram would potentially be here if i watched that show but i have not.

we’re skipping the “toxic and nothing else” category because i truly couldn’t think of anything. i’ll think of it 70 years from now but whatever.

you’ll notice brokeback mountain in the doomed but toxic category…. maybe controversial but i’m sticking to that. they’re tragically toxic. inadvertently and accidentally toxic. toxic because of society at large. i can write a master’s thesis about queerness and repression and class and some more profound ideas if you gave me a single monster can, a brokeback mountain rewatch, and 24 hours

next is the doomed and nothing else category. ineffable husbands count as doomed because no writing is good enough to save them from a 90-minute stand-in for an entire season. cherik are fated by the narrative never to be together, and thorin dies so bagginshield is obviously doomed. in the case of kenstewy (arguablyyyyy toxic, but toxic by normal people standards, not succession character standards) they’re also just fated to never be real because kendall roy has never had, and never will have, a single good day in his life. next

okay jayvik (FROM ARCANE idfk league) in the doomed/happy??? category makes me giggle because like….. yeah. they both die but they do so while locked in a cosmic, world-saving forehead touch. their “affection” almost ended the world and actually did save it. like they’re gone (maybe?) yet they’re as content as they can possibly be because they’re together. bitch that’s going in the happy???? category

and finally. the intersection of them all. hilson. they’re mean to each other, doomed as fuck, yet LITERALLY are meant for no one else but the other. big beautiful brown eyes man and piercing blue “give that thing some brown contacts” man. match made in hell truly. i’ve only watched 2 full seasons of house and i have no idea how it ends but i saw a silver springs edit on tiktok which tells me everything i need to know

all my favorite yaoi pairings fit into a surprisingly neat venn diagram? which i created the other week. let me post it for shits and giggles

[hereditary-2018]

it’s weird that the quality of Alwaye Sunny actually started declining when they started becoming more morally conscious and treating Mac’s storyline w care and giving him his really serious Coming Out arc. especially because Dennis has been essentially removed from reality and is also having his own weird character arc very separate from the main narrative, where he’s just slowly losing his mind, and the distance of Dennis from the rest of the show sort of reflects how glenn howerton seems to have lost interest in the character/show.

so you have Mac who has been given a pretty sensitive gay storyline largely in response to the show’s LGBT following and his entire character is inseparable from Dennis with whom he is now explicitly in love, and who jsut seems like a character from a totally different show slapped in the middle of Always Sunny and it’s tiresome. Make Macdennis History 2020

[theentiregdtime]

Thoughts on the season ending with Dennis' revealing he's not-straight AND that he's in love with Mac but only we the audience know but Mac doesnt'.

okay i know it isn’t exactly what you asked but i’m gonna use this as an excuse to ramble a bit. first of all i just wanted to say that i really, really did not expect dennis’ sexuality to be explored in any way other than eventually being like “oh yeah me and mac are happening now it’s no big deal whatever” and like, yes i still think his sexuality is very much framed and expressed through mac, but it’s been hinted at a lot more than i thought it would this season. unfortunately i sort of relate to dennis more so than mac with my personal ongoing struggle with my own sexuality (embarrassing i know) and there was weirdly something about the scene in thundergun that struck a chord with me (i know they’re like hollering about dongs but his closeted face journey... oh boy i felt that). and i’m surprised by that- pleasantly so.

but of course, i still think his relationship with mac and his personal reveal go hand in hand. i’d concede that it could go either way if not for how strongly sunny’s social media is preaching macdennis right now... which seems silly, but really! and i know you can say they’re just pandering or messing with people or whatever but i really don’t think they would do that. of all the things sunny hasn’t learned to fully respect and understand, they have made serious progress with sexuality and understanding how not to disappoint their lgbt+ fanbase (plus, i didn’t ask for them to do this! it’s way over the top they’re harlots). and i just really don’t believe they would be acting like that if something big wasn’t going to happen with mac and dennis this season. i know some people are thinking next season but- forgive me if i’m out of the loop- i don’t think s15 has been confirmed in any sense yet and i really don’t think they’re going to leave mac and dennis’ relationship up in the air after all of this.

but back to your actual point, oof. ouch. i’m not saying it’s not entirely possible it could end that way, but i think something is certainly happening with mac and dennis- whatever that means in the context of sunny. i think it’s going to be made obvious enough. i think there’s a reason the season opened with gets romantic and a whole shitton of meta about the structure of their relationship and then continued to follow that exact structure. i know everyone is imagining things in different ways, and honestly i try not to “predict” anything because sunny is such a wild card that all i can do is just sit back and let it happen, but i really think something more than dennis privately revealing how he feels is going to happen with mac and dennis.

[mhaccunoval]

Basic ask but thoughts about MacDennis, Charmac, Charden, Chardee?

ok this is gonna take a hot second. 

macdennis: mac & den are blood brothers and have been roommates for god knows how long. in a way, they get each other. maybe not on a level that dee and dennis get each other (because they’re twins) but they think similarly sometimes and just. have a dynamic together that makes them good in schemes when they work together. and hell, we know that at least in s12 (and early s13) mac has feelings for den beyond friendship which i feel like came about from finally giving into acknowledging feelings after years of repression and denial (since the first sign of feelings was ptsdee, right after coming out in hero or hate crime). so mayhaps we may get something out of this old married couple this season..... 

charmac: tender. they’ve been friends their entire lives so they know each other well, even if mac feels like he vibes more with dennis. they’ve been there for each other through thick & thin, through the tortures of their childhoods, and shared new experiences with each other no doubt. they’re sort of. childhood friends slow burn to lovers ya know. like they’ve always been close friends and in later years started becoming a little more than that, knowing they can count on each other and be able to reminisce together if they wanted. they’re just a wholesome duo when the show allows

charden: (ok really gonna try my best to stay out of tyler & i’s dark canon on this) perhaps not as wholesome as the other 2 but still has it’s softness. they don’t always meet eye to eye on their habits and thoughts but can still take some comfort in each other (i mean we did get the drinking to their trauma bit so). as far as an actual opinion, i’d say i’m a little more partial to the other two (unless thinking about dark canon) just because i feel like the dynamic of the others allows for a bit more tenderness and uhh clicking than charden really. but also my opinion is dumb and bad so

ch*rdee: ok i feel like after 2 posts (...more like 1 & a half) about it, yall would know my feelings on ch*rdee, so much so that i’m blocking it in the post but not the tags. i mean there’s some tender moments between them (like that season 1 scene where dee is wearing charlie’s jacket & a half of a second of charlie rules the world) and i hate to admit some of the fanart is actually cute. but the thing that makes me just. not want anything to do with it isn’t the fact that it’s a straight ship (and i’m a heterophobe) but the whole gang misses the boat incident that time’s up shed light on. like i really can’t excuse that instance like. at all. mostly because i love charlie so much. again, like i said on my first post about that incident, i don’t hate dee but also that was an extremely shitty move on her part. now i need to stop talking about it before it becomes a ramble

i doubt this was as opinion-based as you wanted oops

[zolusbian]

iasipchatfic, part 1: The Cum Caper

y’all remember chatfics? they’re a stupid guilty pleasure of mine and i couldn’t sleep last night so i wrote this. inspired by the idea of an episode called the gang texts in s14, which i am hoping will be done entirely in text messages. probably not tho. so here’s this. it’s macdennis because of it is.

10:04 A.M, Wednesday, Philadelphia, PA

paddy “pussy power” pub group chat

Charlie: WHO DIDN’T CLEAN UP THEIR CUM ON THE DESK Mac: Since when did Charlie know how to use letters Charlie: THIS IS ACTUALLY FRANK. I AM HELPING CHARLIE. Dee: awwwwwww CHARLIE: BUT THE CUM!

Mac: Dude who cares just clean it up Charlie: NO I AM NOT CLEANING UP ONE OF YOUR CUM Charlie: I KNOW ITS NOT DEE Charlie: WOMEN CANT CUM Dee: ………….. You think women can’t orgasm? Dennis: INCORRECT! Dee: God Dennis this is when you pop in? We get it. You’re straight. Charlie: THIS IS FRANK. I THINK A DNA TEST IS IN ORDER. Dennis: THOSE TAKES WEEKS! JUST TELL CHARLIE TO CLEAN IT UP! IT’S TOO EARLY IN THE GODDAMN MORNING FOR THIS BULLSHIT! Mac has changed the name of paddy “pussy power” pub group chat to The cum caper Dennis: MAC YOU’RE NOT FUNNY! Mac: I think its funny Dee: It’s kinda funny Dennis: I HATE YOU ALL!!!!!!!! Charlie: I HATE YOU ALL. Charlie: LOVE FRANK AND CHARLIE. Mac: Look clearly the only thing to do Mac: Is arbitrate

12:05 AM, Thursday, Philadelphia PA

Dee has changed the name of The cum caper to MAC AND DENNIS FINALLY BANGED Dennis: NOT FUNNY!

12:06 AM, Thursday, Philadelphia, PA

Dennis has changed the name of MAC AND DENNIS FINALLY BANGED to Paddy’s Pub Dee: You are so BORING Mac: Yeah I liked the old name Mac: But gotta keep the wife happy Dennis: I WILL SKIN YOU ALIVE!!!!!!!!! I WILL TURN YOU INTO A SHOWER CURTAIN!!!!! I WILL HANG YOU FROM THE RUNGS!!!!!! Frank: IS THAT SOME SORT OF GAY SEX THING? Dennis: I AM GOING TO BED!! Dee: Cause your 40 Dennis: DEE YOU ARE ALSO 40!! Dee: Thought you were going to bed Mac: Oh he is Charlie: 😯 😯 😯

[bastardreynolds]

ooh 13 or 18 macdennis for the prompt 👀

original prompt post

13.   “No, that’s not how you do that”

18.   A new mattress

i’m something of a loose canon and so combined these two prompts into one fic. enjoy this utter chaos. 

fic after the “keep reading” break but i would prefer if u would read here on ao3 because tumblr fucked up the formatting and got rid of all my italics, which imo add to the tone in important ways

Mac and Dennis Buy a Mattress

“So you’re telling me,” Dennis says. “That your mattress just spontaneously caught on fire?”

Mac shuffles awkwardly in his seat. “Yes.”

“And you expect me to believe that?”

“I’m not lying, dude. I was just minding my own business, thinking about God, checking out our new flamethrower and –”

“Wait, so you were using the flamethrower inside?”

“No, that’s –”

“You realise that you actively doing things to cause the fire doesn’t make it spontaneous, yeah? You do understand what the word spontaneous means?”

“Yeah, but I didn’t do it, Dennis!”

Dennis raises an eyebrow and Mac glares at him.

“I’m just asking you to check the bank account to see if we’ve got enough for a new one. Also, my room smells like burnt mattress so I’m gonna crash in your room tonight.”

Mac suddenly can’t look Dennis in the eye, but simultaneously pushes himself further towards Dennis’ end of the couch.

“Check it yourself, asshole.”

“You know that I always forget the password for the internet thing.”

“My god!” Dennis is getting increasingly exasperated. “My god, fine! Also I know we don’t have enough, because you spent all our goddamn savings on the flamethrower, which you then used to set your mattress on fire!”

Mac pouts, and fixes Dennis with a look that is completely and utterly pathetic, but still has its desired effect, making Dennis give in and say, “Fine. Fine, I’ll ask Frank. Also, we’re getting the new one today, because I don’t want you sleeping in my bed.”

Two hours later at the mattress store, Mac and Dennis stand facing a rows and rows of beds. Mac’s hands are resting on his hips and he’s glaring at the overwhelming number of options in front of them like he’s resisting the urge to whip out the flamethrower and make the entire store spontaneously catch fire. Dennis slings his arm around Mac’s shoulder, to make sure he doesn’t run off and do something dumb.

“Where should we start?” he asks Mac.

Mac’s frown deepens. “I didn’t think it’d be this complicated. Last time I bought a mattress –” he pauses to think. “Actually, my old mattress was just your old mattress when you upgraded.”

“Okay, well,” Dennis starts to lead him toward some of the mid-range queen mattresses. “My personal recommendation is this one. Perfect balance of hard and soft, and optimal bounce for banging.”

Mac ducks out from under Dennis arm and sits down on the mattress, bouncing gently to test Dennis’ assertion. “I don’t know dude, I feel like it needs more bounce.”

Dennis chortles. “No, no, no, Mac. Trust me, when you’re plowing a chick, this mattress is perfect.”

Mac hums, but doesn’t seem convinced.

“Okay, let me show you,” Dennis says, because it’s really the only option left. “So I’m the girl in this situation,” he says as he climbs on and lies in the middle of the mattress. He pushes himself up on one elbow and looks at Mac. “Now come straddle me.”

“What? Why, dude?”

“Trust me.”

Mac shrugs and moves towards Dennis. When he’s kneeling beside him, he grabs Dennis’ waist and tries to roll him over. “What are you doing?”

“Rolling you over, duh.”

“Why? That’s not how you do this. What are you –”

“Well if you’re a chick I’m gonna roll you over,” Mac says, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “I don’t like seeing their front. It wigs me out.”

Dennis blinks. “You don’t like seeing the faces of the girls you bang?”

“It’s not the face so much as the,” Mac gestures vaguely at his own front, and Dennis thinks it’s maybe meant to indicate tits and things that make it clear that Very Gay Mac is fucking a woman.

“Okay, whatever. Just don’t roll me over, okay.”

“But if you’re the girl –”

“Then I won’t be the girl, I don’t care. Just straddle me, it’s important.”

Mac does as he’s told and swings his legs over Dennis waist, settling comfortably at the top of his thighs.

“Now,” Dennis instructs. “Feel how easy that was. And notice how the mattress gives way just the right amount under your knees.”

Mac nods. “Dude, you’re right.”

“And then, when you thrust, the girl – the uh, the other person –”

“A hot chick.”

“Yeah, whatever. The other person, they also get a fantastically sensual experience, because the physics of the mattress are perfectly in tune with the thrusts of an expert sexual partner.”

Mac places his hands either side of Dennis’ head, lifts his hips, and then thrusts down, and repeats several times. “I can see that.”

Dennis notices Mac’s boner, but doesn’t comment on it, because he’s kind of used to that shit by now.

“Um excuse me, sirs,” a voice says from behind them. Mac’s head twists to fix the stop assistant with a scowl. “You can’t, uh – do that on the display mattresses.”

“Buddy, I’m doing your job for you right now,” Dennis rebuts. “Do you want a sale or not?”

The shop assistant doesn’t reply, and just sort of gawks.

“Well, do you? Do you?”

“I mean – I guess so?”

“In that case, you’re welcome. A good mattress needs to be good for plowing, and that’s what I’m perfectly demonstrating to my friend right now. I’ve basically sold him on it, you know?”

“And he’s right,” Mac adds.

The shop assistant doesn’t seem to know how to respond. “You still can’t – I’m going to have to ask you to dismount – to, uh, to get off the bed.”

Mac rolls his eyes, and pushes himself away from Dennis, flopping down next to him.

“Can you believe this asshole?” he asks.

“I know right,” Dennis responds, turning his head to meet Mac’s eyes.

“I think you’re right about this mattress though, dude. Could definitely get some plowing done.”

“If you’re going to make a purchase can you please do so and leave,” the shop assistant begs.

So they buy the mattress, and after an extended argument at the till decide to waive the $100 delivery cost (which is quite frankly extortionate), because there’s no reason they can’t just strap it to the roof of the Range Rover and drive it home. It turns out it’s harder to secure a mattress to the top of a vehicle than initially thought, but after several attempts, and Dennis taking a trip to the hardware store to buy more rope, they’re relatively confident it’s fine.

“So, I was thinking –” Mac starts, staring up at the mattress.

“You’re not riding home on the roof,” Dennis cuts him off, and Mac frowns.

“Why not?”

“That’s so unsafe, on so many levels. And illegal, probably. And not a thing that grown men do.”

“Think of the core strength I’d need to stay holding on. It’s totally manly.”

“I’m not – we’re not having this argument. Just get in the car.”

They’re half way home, and crossing a bridge over the river when Dennis has to swerve to avoid some piece of shit old lady who obviously shouldn’t be on the road.

“Die quicker, you bitch!” Dennis shouts after her red Toyota, for good measure.

By the time either of them realise what’s happening, it’s too late to stop it. There’s a creak, and a snap, and then the mattress is sliding off the roof of the car, and falling into the Schuylkill River. The whole thing seems to happen in slow motion, but Dennis just sits in the driver’s seat of the car and stares like an idiot as his money (Frank’s money) bops languidly under the bridge.

“Oh goddamnit!”

Frank refuses to give them more money for another mattress (I’m not gonna keep bailing you out every time you throw a mattress in the Schuylkill River!) This is how Mac ends up sleeping in Dennis’ bed.

It’s about two weeks into the whole arrangement, when Mac rolls over to Dennis and asks, “So when you fuck in this bed, are you normally on top or underneath?”

“What?” Dennis asks, blinking and looking up from his phone screen.

“I mean, where does the chick normally go.”

“It – it depends. Depends what we’re doing, what role –”

“But you are on the bottom sometimes?”

“Yes. What does this have to do with anything?”

Mac shrugs. “Was just thinking about it.”

The next night Mac asks, “So what about blowjobs?”

“What?”

“Is the mattress any good for getting head?”

“Yes. For giving head too, but – What are you doing? What is this?”

“I miss my mattress, dude. I bet some homeless dudes dragged it out of the river and are going at it right now.”

Dennis frowns, because not only is that an unpleasant image, but Mac’s questions are also completely bizarre.

The next night, Mac restarts the line of questioning. “And so, for handjobs?”

And then the next night. “Do you ever do butt stuff?”

And the next. “What about just for making out, you know?”

It’s then that Dennis can’t fucking take it anymore. He screams, and then he’s kissing Mac. It’s hot and furious, and he isn’t surprised when Mac kisses him back, arches up against Dennis, breaks the kiss to push Dennis’ shirt over his head.

Afterwards, Dennis’ head is resting on Mac’s shoulder, and Mac’s fingers trace the outline of his spine. “The bounce was pretty fucking great, dude.”

Dennis hums. “I told you so.”

“Gotta try it again though. For the scientific method.” Mac’s words are complete nonsense, and Dennis kicks at his ankles to shut him up, but their legs just end up tangled together.

“And facing you was okay and shit too. I didn’t even know dudes could do it facing each other.”

“Oh my god, will you shut up for one second.”

“I’m just saying it wasn’t how I thought it’d be. Also, I’m pretty sure I’m gay.”

“I know you’re gay, Mac. Everyone knows.”

“Hey, you have no way of knowing for sure that I’m gay.”

“Your dick was in my ass like ten minutes ago.”

“Okay, but that doesn’t prove anything, that –”

“Just shut up and go to sleep or I won’t let you fuck me again.”

Mac is silent for a moment, and Dennis thanks God and Jesus and all of Mac’s Catholic Saints because he just wants to go to sleep.

“You so will let me fuck you again,” Mac says.

“I’m not replying to you anymore.”

“I’m gonna give you a blowjob tomorrow morning, so be ready for that.”

“If you don’t let me sleep I won’t be ready.”

Mac seems to find that argument compelling, because he hums and lays a kiss to Dennis’ hair, and whispers goodnight, before mercifully shutting the fuck up. True to his word, Mac gives Dennis a blowjob the next morning, and they’re late to work, because Dennis drags Mac into the shower with him and returns the favour.

By the time they’ve saved up enough for a new mattress, it’s no longer a priority, or even a necessity really, because even with a second bed, there’s no way that Mac is going to extricate himself from Dennis’ space. And that’s just how it goes.

[caroline-in-hr]

another long macdennis-related finale pre-angst post

me trying to consolidate (or maybe just console) my macdennis-related anxieties regarding the finale:

I’m not even concerned that It’s Not Going to Happen - I’m banking on that, honestly. I think my worry is unnecessary cruelty.

without knowing anything beyond promo material, and with the caveat that I have a track record of getting most shit completely wrong, I’d be incredibly surprised if RCG instantly pursued macdennis beyond the confines of the fake-dating setup. I said instantly for a reason - a possible setup could be dennis gently letting mac down, only for s13 to be mac discovering grindr, catching up on all the gay sex he’s missed, and dennis seething with jealousy covering up a lot of emotional cowardice.

but I feel like the setup would lead to a lot of unnecessary (perhaps unintentional, but we’ll make that call on wednesday night) cruelty if the entire possibility of mac and dennis Actually Having Feelings was summarily dismissed - “mac’s just obsessed with dennis because they’re close friends!” and “dennis likes mac, but just as a friend, he wouldn’t want to Sully Their Friendship!”

I can put up with a lot, a lot of bullshit. but I draw the line right about here.

I have no problem with romantic entanglements that begin as friendships quibbling over how much damage said friendship can sustain in the pursuit of non-platonic feelings. it was the entire basis of sunny fic 1, from dennis’ side of the story; it is something I’ve lived through, being a queer girl sorting through intense crushes on straight female best friends. I have no problem with friendships being given as much importance as romances - I encourage it, in fact.

my worry here is that the finale will prioritize mac and dennis as friends at the expense of a possible non-platonic narrative. anyone is free to argue that mac’s dreams about dennis in ‘PTSDee’ default to lust instead of love, and that lust is a different animal. my argument here also contextualizes ‘the gang tends bar,’ an episode that begins with dennis claiming people come to a bar on valentine’s day ‘because they don’t have people who love them or get them shit,’ continues with dennis’ passionate declaration of having ‘big feelings’ and sustained hurt over no one getting him a holiday present, and ends with mac getting dennis ‘the one thing he wanted more than anything else in the entire world’ - even if it was a rocket-propelled grenade launcher. dennis’ reaction is a maelstrom of Big Feelings.

in the world of television, with anywhere from 17-22 minutes of screentime ten times a year, an overt narrative is expensive. subtext is much cheaper, and for the past 11 seasons sunny’s made do with subtext to augment character, though not without noticeable breaks in the pattern (confirming dennis’ BPD in ‘psycho pete returns,’ having mac come out of the closet for good in ‘hero or hate crime’). it would be difficult to argue events related to mac and dennis as subtextual anymore.

I don’t expect their feelings (at the very least, mac’s more ardent affections for dennis) to go unaddressed in the finale. a fake-dating plot is more than enough segue for a real conversation about their feelings. what I do fear is for their feelings to be evaluated and immediately dismissed in favor of the status quo. my concern is dennis gently telling mac he would never want to jeopardize their friendship, it’s too important to him; mac’s only in love with him because they spend all their time together, and he’s not the right kind of guy for mac anyway. my concern is mac accepting this with only a token resistance, before accepting the offer of friendship and forgetting all about his crush on dennis.

one of my biggest appreciations for this ship is its deep roots in friendship. and again, from a more personal context, I understand the fear of ruining a friendship in favor of a romantic pursuit (again, literally why dennis ran off in sunny fic 1). but given the recent overt narrative taking great pains to illustrate not only mac’s feelings for dennis, but dennis’ reaction to demonstrations of said feelings, it would be some unequivocal bullshit to present viewers with the excuse of ‘oh, but they’re Better Off As Friends!!!’ instead of carefully disentangling plot threads. the finale can address dennis as feeling ‘not ready’ for a relationship with mac (especially with a kid on the line). the finale can claim mac should play the field more, exploring his sexuality openly instead of jumping at the first committed relationship within reach. the finale can address worries about what would happen to their friendship if something happened and they broke up - it’s a valid fear! - but it should address this, instead of jumping straight to ‘let’s just be friends’ without another thought.

addressing the situation offers plenty of opportunities to drop or sustain a macdennis-related plotline. it can carry over into the next season. it can filter out. I won’t pretend to know the writers (with the possible exception of #shitposting), and I’m fully cognizant of the show’s general penchant for never letting anyone get what they want, not generally entertaining romance, and being a dark comedy. I make my argument here in that it is unnecessarily cruel to take several years’ worth of subtext, stir in a rapidly-textual subplot, and at the end drop everything in favor of an unchanged status quo.

[adrianicsea]

hi, i love your blog, especially all your analysis posts! i was wondering if you could recommend the best dennis/mac episodes? idc if it's macdennis or just guys bein dudes, i love their relationship. you seem to know the seasons pretty well so i hope it's not like a burden but just something you can name off the top of your head. thanks so much!

oh sure! i doubt this will be like, a Comprehensive list but i’ll try and rattle off the ones that come to mind, sorted by season

s1- none really? the gang gets racist has that scene where mac gets dennis drunk and then i guess they hang out a lot in gun fever but that’s the only really notable stuff from s1 i can think of

s2- hundred dollar baby and maybe charlie goes america all over everybody’s ass? those are the only like really strong ones i can think of. maybe also the gang gives back idk they’re coaching rival basketball teams in that one

s3- the gang gets held hostage (also worth noting that this episode is just really solid for EVERYONE and is one of my all-time favorites), the gang gets whacked sort of, the gang dances their asses off

s4- mac and dennis manhunters obvs, america’s next top paddy’s billboard model contest (side note i HATE HOW LONG AND AWKWARD THAT TITLE IS), mac’s banging the waitress (a good charliemacdennis episode), the gang cracks the liberty bell, the nightman cometh

s5- the gang exploits the mortgage crisis, the great recession, the waitress is getting married, the world series defense, paddy’s pub: home of the original kitten mittens, mac and dennis break up, the DENNIS system

s6- mac fights gay marriage/dennis gets divorced, the gang gets a new member, possibly dee reynolds: shaping america’s youth? there’s not a lot here tbh s6 was like The Year Of Charliemac

s7- unless i’m REALLY wrong then i think the only high content macdennis episodes in s7 are the high school reunion episodes and maybe kind of how mac got fat? the gang gets trapped is pretty good too

s8- the gang recycles their trash, the gang gets analyzed, frank’s back in business, the gang dines out

s9- mac and dennis buy a timeshare, mac day sort of (also dennis had a thing for country mac run and tell that), the gang saves the day, flowers for charlie

s10- the gang group dates, the gang spies like US, possibly frank retires? (i’ve only seen that one once so i don’t remember), sort of ass kickers united: mac and charlie join a cult

s11- mac and dennis move to the suburbs, the gang goes to hell

s12- there really? hasn’t been a lot yet i feel. there’s some moments in the gang turns black and making dennis reynolds a murderer but they haven’t had a proper team-up yet this season

i’m tired and i put this list together by staring at all the episode titles by season and seeing which ones i remembered so it’s ENTIRELY possible that there’s some i’m missing-- feel free to add on in the replies!

[ineffably-human]

now the real reason I came on the blue hell site to textdump my theories: the metaplot this season is making me second-guess everything all the time, and I have theories and wild guesses for all the things.

 - isn’t it interesting that we see dennis act semi-parental and then he’s an actual parent? isn’t it interesting that mac has come out for good now and one of his first big moments of the season is getting blissed out with that pool drain? my theory is that ‘water park’ comes at the end of the season, although I could definitely be wrong, but he just looks so at peace and HAPPY there, I wonder if ‘water park’ is a hint of events to come.

- i feel like mac and dennis’s fake marriage is going to be a dream, and so is whatever ‘indecent proposal’ thing frank is doing in that episode. some of the trailers have them both doing a ‘catapult nightmare’ out of bed after they’ve clearly been sleeping, and they’re the ones with the big plans to deal with dennis’s kid, so either it shakes them both up into nightmares or they both have dreams that lead them to suggest the things they do in the actual plot. ...dennis has said he hates mac like 200 times though, i am definitely not holding out for canon macdennis, i love them but i think it’d actually be funnier if once the whole gay world was open to mac he had no interest. - heyyyy so dennis sure is after girls who look twelve years old lately and it’s predatory and awful, i bet he’s having an aging crisis. which makes him dealing with fatherhood, and with seeing himself in a kid he ‘parents’, all the more interesting. - mac and charlie are making this ‘old lady house’ series, and then the end scene makes it seem like it’s been going on for weeks, to the point that frank describes the show as having plot arcs? then they’re helping to influence a documentary about dennis and maureen, talking about it almost as if they’re part of production? does mac’s money finance some sort of tv thing before they can make him pay for the arbiter? 

the big thing for me though, and the thing i was doing those anon asks about, is dee. so here are the facts i’ve been going over:  - dee’s been injured in the neck twice this season.. she has her neck stuck in the banister during ‘old lady house’ (and the sudden cut to a neck brace after), and then tthe flea collar in ‘making dennis a murderer’. - dee insists on playing maureen in the reenactment, and then the whole business with the flea collar happens and is supposed to indicate something about who the killer is. the flea collar thing seems too extraneous and weird to just be a red herring.  dee sustains an injury in the same area in two different episodes, and the injury she shows in 'murderer’ could easily just be the one she got in ‘old lady house. she could be using it to ‘prove’ the flea collar injury, even though it’s really from a totally different incident.. - her concern about parkinson’s seems like a really terrible lie. I don’t think there’s any reason she couldn’t just go to a doctor, or even look it up online, rather than pouring through an entire medical textbook based on some genetic risk stuff. she needs that textbook for another reason, and maybe it has to do with the smoking, but i don’t think it even has anything to do with her own medical problems.. - ‘find the collar, find the killer.’ I don’t even understand why that’s the documentary’s logic but tbh - I wonder if Dee didn’t kill Maureen. not directly, but Maureen was apparently running around on a rooftop in the dark before she fell. she was definitely taking medication. she could have had her meds switched with something else to put her in an altered state - and a medical textbook could have given dee a clue as to how to do that. - why did Frank give himself a tapeworm? why is Charlie covering up that he smokes? are any of them hiding something more important from each other?

this is like 300% me speculating, I’m just thinking of all the things that don’t exactly add up, on a show that’s very tightly written for solid comedy and very focused on making sure character motives make sense. I really doubt anyone’s leaving permanently, or that it’s going to be a dramatic moment in the traditional sense, but I do think whatever happens is going to be A Lot.