#iasip tgc

[jealousbitchdennis]

Since we didn't end with jealous Dennis and Mac with a boyfriend in TGGR, I'm prepared to settle back in for a normal, silly season of classic MacDen shenanigans. Which is perfect! That's exactly what I want! I want each episode to be just a little more cute and a little more clear about how comfortable and deep Mac and Dennis's bond has really become. I want insight into how their texting relationship has regrown since Dennis came back from North Dakota. I want homoerotic tension ala the old Hollywood Noir films in TJAMT. I want explicit, over the top, on the nose metaphors in Solves Global Warming with Dennis making faces in the background because he's the only one who notices only for those faces to fade into little shrugs and nods and maybe even smiles to himself because it doesn't scare him anymore. I want little domestic moments all through the whole thing, references to the movies they watch and each others' opinions on coffee.

And then I want them to play laser tag in Waiting For Big Mo. It's dark, and the adrenaline is pumping, and they've been waiting forever for this Mo guy that Frank insists is going ti be here any second but clearly is never going to show. They started a game with the promise of restarting should the mysterious man actually make an appearance, and they've all been joshing around and pissing each other off to pass the time, teams forming and breaking every few minutes, and it feels natural. Classic Gang stuff.

I want the atmosphere to get to Dennis, the annoying but familiar sounds of the arena pinging off in the background, and the constant, comforting presence of Mac at his side. A noise a few yards away puts them on high alert, and without a word, Mac yanks his arm, and the two of them duck to the side, finding a short lived safe haven behind one of the stacked-cube obstacles. When Dennis looks up, the neon lights break through the shadows and paint Mac's face in slices of inhuman colors, blue and green, exaggerating his cheekbones and putting a synthetic shine in his eyes. His hair is all ruffled from the gameplay, and they're both panting from running around so much.

It makes Dennis's eyes go wide and he starts to get that feeling he's been fighting for a while - the same one from the restuarant and the RPG and... he starts to lift a hand to Mac's face. It's so easy, even though before it always seemed so hard. Maybe that means he's finally ready... for whatever comes next... Then the lights go up, and he freezes, and they whip around to find Frank walking up with a big cheesy grin, Charlie and Dee grumbling furiously on his either side.

"Hey, assholes! Look! I told you he'd show any second. We're starting again - with real teams this time. Hope you losers are ready to get your ass beat!"

The three of them part, and a moderately fit and attractive man in his forties steps through from behind to apologize for being late, it was a family emergency or something, when he stops short. Dennis follows his eyeline to Mac, who stares back with his mouth hanging open.

"Mac?" The man starts to grin, a little taken aback.

"Wait," Frank interrupts, waving his hands around. "You know this homo?"

Just the look on Mac's face alone confirms it. Mac and the random man that Frank found on craigslist who knows his name - Big Mo, according to Frank, Morgan according to Mac - marvel over running into each other for a second, before Dee gets the bright idea to cut in and demand to have it explained how the two jerkwads know each other anyways. Mac stops short, fumbling for a moment, and the two men lock eyes. It's weird and obvious and Dennis is starting to lose feeling in his legs.

"Well," Big Mo says, looking to Mac, who immediately flushes.

"Right... so..."

"Well?" Dee prompts.

"I mean..." he starts, but doesn't get any further.

"Oh!" Charlie claps, looking between the two, then scrunches his nose. "Ohhhh..."

"Oh! Woof," Dee grimaces. "You and him?"

Mac glares at them.

"What?" Frank narrows his gaze, looking around at each of them. "I don't get it."

Charlie turns to answer his troll-like roommate, voice sliding a bit higher as he uses made up terms to explain that Mac and Big Mo are, in fact, gay lovers. Dennis can feel his brows furrowing, and his scowl deepening but he can't do anything to stop it. Something, a feeling, an impulse, is clawing at his ribs. Dee corrects Charlie's terminology with a sick combination of glee and repulsion contorting her expression, and Mac practically trips over himself to correct her and then tell all three of them to shut up because that's not it, okay?

"Actually," he says, "we didn't just hook up, okay? We went on a date. We dated. I'm dating material now, so."

The response he gets is a chorus of "Oof," and "Awkward," and "Wait, Big Mo's a gay? I hired a gay guy off Craigslist?"

Mac scowls, agitated. "No, no, not awkward! Not oof, because it didn't end badly!"

"It didn't end at all," Big Mo notes, linking their hands. "We're still dating"

"Exactly!"

"What?" The word rips from his throat like it's been waiting impatiently to escape. Dennis can't even appreciate finally finding his voice, as everyone stares at him. He only has enough eyes to stare back at Mac.

Big Mo nods, oblivious to the tension. "Yeah. We've been seeing each other about - what was it, babe? Three months?"

The entire gang balks before losing their shit. "WHAT?"

"No! No, we. I mean, our first date was..." Mac's eyebrows jump. He clears his throat awkwardly, before untangling their hands and wrapping an arm around Big Mo's waist. "Okay. So... guys... I guess I have something to tell you."

"Oh, do you?" Charlie drawls.

Mac swats at him with his gun. "I have a... boyfriend, now. And, uh, this is him."

Dennis feels the gun slip out of his fingers. The others have already processed the information, are responding and poking fun and telling him his boyfriend must be an asshole for making them wait so long, and arguing with each other about the game they've already played and whether it's Mac's fault seeing as it's his boyfriend that Frank hired who ended up late, and all Dennis can think is, seriously? That's it? They're just going to nod their heads and except this massive, earth-shattering shift to the status quo as if they were in any way prepared for this to happen? Seriously? Seriously?

"The laser tag arena will be closing in fifteen minutes," a voice interrupts their thoughts over the loudspeaker. "Please wrap up your games and return your guns to the stations, located at the front desk, or to any of our standing attendants by the arena exits."

The words echo in his head as Charlie starts yet another fight with Frank, and Dee complains over the top about being undervalued as a player because she's a woman. He can't seem to stop staring at where Mac's hand rests on Big Mo's hip. Nobody else seems to have heard the overhead announcement. They have to go soon, but nobody else seems to even realize. They can't stay, but nobody is moving. Only Mac's brow furrows, and he turns to look at Dennis.

"Hey, did you hear that? Should we get going?"

Dennis blinks before forcing a smile. "Right, yeah, of course. No, of course. Actually, you know what? You two go on ahead."

"You sure?" Mac's mouth turns down.

Dennis keeps his smile pinned. "Course! We'll catch up."

He nods, brow furrowed, shrugging and taking Big Mo with him through the exit, leaving Dennis to stand there, like an idiot, watching after him as their three other idiots blow his ear drums out with their incessant screaming.

[good-then-dont]

so the whole ep of 'chokes' is abt frank going to ""the one person who really cares abt me"" and then we have mac trying to get dennis to depend on him??? and we always see frank&charlie mirroring mac/den... mac is the one person who cares abt him... Fellas Its Gay

[grace-mcleans]

[liquoricebxxxh]

*thinks about buying yet another s14 episode on iTunes*