Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Down the block there’s and antique shop

And something in my head said ‘stop’, so I walked in

On the counter was a cardboard box 

And the sign said photos 25 cents each

Black and white saw a 30's bride and 

Two lovers laughing on the porch of their first house

The kind of love that you only find once in a lifetime 

The kind you don’t put down.”

Marvin tapped his fingers to the beat of the pop-country song playing on the radio. He wasn’t a big fan of both of the genres that the song was but he could appreciate the lyrics. He checked the back seat. Jason was staring out the window at the buildings passing by. He was excited, with a smile practically cutting his face in half. 

It was his first baseball practice of the year, which was a big deal to him. When Marvin and Trina had got divorced Jason used baseball as a coping mechanism, (after Marvin and Trina had convinced him to leave the house) and he ended up loving it. At first he was terrible. Dropping the bat while setting up to the home plate, trying to slide, eating the dirt, and chipping his tooth, and many other things. The kid was a mess. He was so bad he ended up talking to Marvin about quitting, but as he practiced he began to realize he actually had a knack for the sport. 

Marvin pulled into the parking lot of the school. The second he stopped the car Jason jumped out of it, running up to his teammates, leaving his bag of equipment behind. Marvin rolled his eyes, picking up the bag and walking over to the bench. 

He set the bag down on the metal bench. Going through it just to make sure Jason had packed everything correctly. He had his bat, his spikes, his cap, helmet, water bottle and a small bag of cheez-its as a snack. Everything seemed to be in order. Marvin zipped up the bag and turned to leave but was met with the chest of a tall man. 

Marvin paused for a second, taking a second to realize that his face was currently smushed into this random guy’s shirt. Marvin jumped, realization setting in. 

“Oh shit, I’m sorry,” Marvin says, frantic eyes meeting the man’s. 

The man in front of him was tall, obviously. He had tan skin, dark brown hair, and honey brown eyes. He was wearing the coach's outfit, which looked a lot like Jason’s. It was a dark purple top with white-grey pants. The shirt had the word “comets” in white, which was the school’s mascot. Marvin’s eyes trailed up a little further and saw that his name was embroidered into the shirt. 

Whizzer. 

What a weird name. 

“You’re new,” He says, looking Marvin up and down with a smirk and a brow raised. 

Marvin’s brows furrowed, confused. 

“I think you’ve got it wrong,” Marvin says, “My son has been in this baseball program for 2 years now. I think you’re the new one.” 

Whizzer smiled. Marvin watched his face light up and the crinkles around his eyes become more predominant. 

“I know, I’m just messing with you, calm down.” He said, raising his hands in defeat, chuckling. 

“I don’t know how you didn’t get it,” Whizzer patted Marvin’s shoulder, still letting out small laughs.

Marvin huffed, embarrassed. It wasn’t even that funny. Why was he still laughing? 

“I should be going now.” Marvin grumbled as he pushed past Whizzer and back over to Jason. 

“Wait! I never got your name!” Whizzer called out. Marvin ignored him. 

Jason was in a huddle with his team mates, one of them was showing a pretty bad scar he had gotten over the summer to the others. Marvin tapped Jason’s shoulder, grabbing his attention. 

Jason whipped around. 

“I’ll see you in 2 hours kid.” Marvin said, patting Jason on the back. 

“When am I going back to mom’s?” Jason asked. 

Marvin’s already very noticeable frown became a lot more noticeable. 

He pulled out his phone and opened the calendar app, which he only used to schedule Jason’s visits, and a doctor's appointment here and there. 

“You’re going back today. She’s coming at 7.” Marvin said, flatly. 

“Okay, thanks.” Jason said, turning back to his friends. 

Marvin stomped his way to the car. 

The drive back home was silent. Marvin was pissed off which he often found himself being. He was miserable all the time which made everything even more miserable. Why was Jason so eager to go back to Trina’s house? Marvin wasn’t the best dad but he’s definitely been trying. 

The entire week Marvin had him Jason was huddled up in his room. Doing his “homework.” Marvin knew that homework didn’t require you to scroll on your phone, but he never bothered him. He just wished Jason would try to talk to him at least. 

The car in front of him was going unbelievably slow which was just a sign of traffic. Marvin sighed. Marvin lived just outside of New York city, occasionally going into it for work, why was there traffic out here? Marvin groaned as his vehicle came to a full stop. He wasn’t moving for a long time. 

In the meantime, he thought of ‘Whizzer’ if that was even his name. Because who in their right mind would name their child that? Marvin replayed the moment in his head over and over again in his head, chastising himself for not catching on. But as he played it over and over again soon everything turned into a blur and the only thing he saw was his eyes, upturned and impish. 

He got even more pissed.

====

  When he finally got home after an hour he collapsed on the couch. He needed a nap. He was so tired for absolutely no reason at all. He hadn’t been at work since friday, he’s been able to sleep in the past two days so why was he so tired? Marvin groaned and got up, hobbling over to the kitchen where he downed a capri-sun in about 3 seconds. 

Marvin used to drink a lot, but not anymore. Thankfully he had gotten over that addiction. He still drinks sometimes, like when out with friends and stuff like that, but never at home. He began to see Mendel because of that addiction (among other things). But, he can’t really talk to him anymore after he married Trina. It’s awkward now. 

Marvin walked down the hallway of his apartment building to his next door neighbors: Charlotte and Cordelia. When he moved into his apartment they were eager to help him, and he couldn’t say no to that. They ended up becoming really good friends and now they hang out every other day. 

He knocked on the door and it was opened almost immediately by Charlotte with a big smile on her face. 

“Marvin!” She greeted him, “Come in!” 

Marvin’s mood got a little bit better now that he was around people he liked. He sat down on the couch where a movie was already playing. Charlotte was stumbling around the kitchen trying to pick up a mess that he assumed was Cordelia’s. 

“Is she trying new recipes?” Marvin asked with a smile. 

“Yeah,” Charlotte sighed, “ She seriously needs to read the instructions better.” 

In the past year Cordelia had picked up cooking (and sometimes baking) as a hobby. Sometimes when Marvin would come over it would stink of burnt something. Marvin was always forced to taste whatever she was making, and it definitely wasn’t the best.

“What is it this time?” Marvin watched as Charlotte washed the dirty cake pan. 

“Cake pops.” 

Marvin looked at her in sympathy. 

“The cake was fine since she was using a box set, but the frosting she made..” Charlotte shivered. “It was filled with chunks of butter and was way too sweet! And then she added too much to the crumbled cake so they were too heavy to put the melted chocolate on top! She didn’t even know she had to freeze the cake before putting the chocolate on, so now we just have a plate of ‘cake balls’ or whatever she calls it in the fridge.” 

Marvin laughed. 

“But seriously, they aren’t that bad.” 

“Really?” Marvin’s eyes widened. 

“Yeah, they’re mediocre, but that’s better than normal.” Charlotte snorted. 

Marvin walked over to the fridge and grabbed one of the ‘pastries’ if you could even call it that. He popped it into his mouth and chewed. It tasted…normal! 

“You’re so right!” He says, turning to her. 

“I know!” She exclaimed, walking over to the couch and sitting down. 

Marvin followed suit, grabbing a pillow to hold on to. 

“Isn’t your guys’ anniversary around next week?” 

Charlotte shot up 

“Oh my god it is!” she exclaimed. “What am I gonna get her? Should I plan something fancy? How did I forget?” 

Marvin watched her pace back and forth across the room, mumbling to herself. 

“I think anything you get her she’ll love. You guys have been married for 3 years now, she obviously loves you otherwise she would’ve left.” Marvin reasoned. 

“Well you and Trina got divorced,” She shot him a confused look. 

Marvin and Trina had been married for 6 years when they decided to have Jason. It was the best decision of his life. He loves him dearly. Trina on the other hand, not so much. Marvin never found himself attracted to her. The only reason he really started dating her in the first place was because he was pushed by his parents to do so, and ever since they’ve been in a loveless marriage. Until they got divorced. Marvin felt like a weight had been lifted off his chest. He didn’t have to fake smiles and kisses anymore. 

Marvin was straight, of course, Trina just wasn’t the one. 

At first Marvin always thought it was a little weird since he was a straight man hanging out with 2 lesbians, but he grew to not care about stuff like that anymore. 

“I know what to get her!” Charlotte practically yelled, pulling Marvin out of his thoughts. 

“What?” 

“I’ll get her a really fancy cooking set. Sure, I’ll have to work a few extra hours every day at the hospital but it will be so worth it to see her face.” Charlotte looked extremely proud of herself. 

“I’m sure she’ll love it.” Marvin smirked. 

Cordelia was out at her office job, which she absolutely resented. Her true dream job was being a caterer, but she had to get the money (and get better at cooking) before she could pursue it. 

“I’ll get her one of those hu-” 

DING 

Charlotte was cut off by a notification on Marvin’s phone. Jason’s practice was almost done. 

“Shit!” Marvin exclaimed, quickly getting off the couch. 

“What?” 

“Jason’s practice is almost done. I should get going. I don’t want him to wait for an hour because I'm late.”

“Oh Jason, I haven’t seen him In so long. How’s he been?” Charlotte cocked her head to the side. 

“He’s been fine. He’s just been hiding in his room the entire week.” 

“Oh. Well tell him I said hi!” She waved to Marvin as he left the apartment. 

Marvin ran to grab his keys off of his kitchen counter and hopped into his car. Speeding, a little bit faster than normal, he made it to the school just as practice had ended. Thankfully there was no traffic. 

He took off his red sweatshirt and laid it on the seat. School had just started so it was still warm out. He doesn’t know how the boys run around in those sweaty pants and knee high socks for that long. 

Marvin got out of the car and slowly walked over to where the field was, nervous to talk to Whizzer after making a big fool of himself. It’s not even that big of a deal why he is so persistent on being embarrassed. 

He began to sneak his way around the field, trying not to be seen by Whizzer. He did not want to talk to him and possibly make an even bigger fool of himself. But, God had decided to not answer his prayers because he heard a familiar voice behind him. 

“Hey,” Whizzer said with a sly tone to his voice. 

Marvin (reluctantly) turned around. 

“Hi.” He said, obviously not wanting to hold a conversation with him. 

“I never got your name,” He said, pulling out a clip-board. “I need to keep track of who’s kid is who’s.” 

“Marvin.” 

“Marvin? Who would name a baby that?” Whizzer scoffed writing down his name. 

“Seriously? You’re asking me that question? Do you even know what your name is?” Marvin rolled his eyes.

Whizzer crossed his arms. “You’re no fun, lighten up.” 

“It’s hard while you’re here.” Marvin grumbled under his breath. 

“What did I do to you? I’ve talked to you for a total of, I don’t know, 12 minutes.” Whizzer seemed to be agitated, but he kept that stupid impish smirk that Marvin hated. It reminded him of a predator playing with its food before it ends up eating it. 

“You have a weird smile.” Marvin said flatly. 

“How so?” 

“You know what you’re doing. Stop.”

“Doing what?” His grin seemed to grow even more wide. 

“You know what I mean. Stop.” 

“I can’t stop unless you tell me what I’m doing.” 

“I’m not doing this right now,” Marvin said, walking over to the group of 11 year olds packing up their equipment. 

Jason ran up to him, he seemed as ecstatic as he was earlier in the day. Marvin would’ve been wiped out, especially since the sun was setting. 

“Thanks for taking me, Dad.” Jason smiled and Marvin rustled his hair. 

“Get in the car i'll be there in a minute,” Marvin dug his keys and tossed them to Jason. “Here’s the keys, don’t drive away on me or you’ll be grounded for the rest of your life.” Marvin kid. 

Jason eyed the keys in delight, before running down to the car. 

Marvin sat down at the bench opposite to the one all of the kids were at, sitting and watching the sun set. Marvin loved bad weather but he definitely could appreciate a good sunset. The oranges, yellows, and reds all blended together like a painting. The clouds were scattered about the sky, orange from the rays of sunlight. 

He was calm. For the first time in hours. 

But all of that had to be ruined by his son’s new baseball coach, who sat down right next to him. 

To Marvin’s surprise, he didn’t say anything. He just sat there. Awfully close to Marvin like they were close friends which they were not. 

Marvin thought about his actions today. He really should be more nice to people. He’s been like this since Mendel married Trina. He has no one to talk to about his anger. 

“Um, I’m sorry about how I acted before, I was being a dick.” Marvin said, not looking over to Whizzer.  

Whizzer turned to him, at least that’s what it looked like in Marvin’s peripheral vision. 

“It’s okay.” Whizzer said and Marvin turned to him. 

He was smiling, but this one was different. It was more soft and welcoming. 

Marvin found himself smiling too. 

That was until Whizzer grabbed his shirt and stood up. Marvin was on his tip-toes, gripping the collar of his shirt, hoping it didn’t rip. 

Whizzer whispered, “You better not get in the way of my job or I’ll destroy you.” His breath was hot on Marvin’s ear. 

He let go of Marvin’s shirt, his mood changing the second Marvin’s feet were flat on the ground. 

“I’ll see you next Monday, Marvin.” Whizzer smiled, waving as he walked to his car. 

What the fuck?

Chapter Text

“I know, I stand in line 

Until you think you have the time

To spend an evening with me 

And if we go someplace to dance 
I know there’s a chance

You won’t be leaving with me

Then afterwards we drop into a quiet little place 

And have a drink or two 

And then I go and spoil it all

By saying something stupid 

Like, ‘I love you’”

Marvin put his head in his hands as the song played on the television. He had brought Jason back to the apartment after the encounter with Whizzer, which had Marvin’s mind racing. Why would he say something like that? Marvin was just over everything. On top of that Trina texted him that she wasn’t able to pick him up tonight, which meant Marvin would have to take him. But that wasn’t for a long time. 

 Was he just really serious about being a little league coach? Maybe, but probably not. He definitely had something else going on. Why would he tell Marvin that? He practically exposed the fact that he had a secret. He needs to talk to Char and Delia about this. 

The sound of a door opening caught Marvin’s attention. Jason, suitcase rolling behind him, stepped out into the main part of the apartment. He was holding a couple sweatshirts in his free hand, he always ended up over-packing clothes. 

Why does he bring his clothes even though Marvin bought him practically a whole other wardrobe? He didn’t know. But, they were always there just in case Jason wanted to suddenly change his mind and wear them one day. 

“Hey, buddy.” Marvin smiled. 

“It’s time to go back to Mom’s, we’re late.” Jason said, pointing to the clock. 

Marvin jumped up from his seat on the couch, staring down at his watch. He was supposed to be at Trina’s 15 minutes ago!

“Shit,” Marvin groaned as he followed Jason (frantically) out the door. 

They walked over to the elevators and Marvin repeatedly touched the button, pretending that it would make the elevator come to them faster, even though that never worked. 

After what seemed like hours the elevator doors finally opened and the two stepped inside. Marvin watched as the numbers went down painstakingly slow. It was a funny image, Marvin freaking out and Jason just kind of standing there, calm. Marvin would’ve laughed if it wasn’t for the fact that he was about to get chewed out by Trina the second he pulled into her driveway. He was not happy about that. 

The elevator dinged and they were on the bottom floor. Marvin bolted (mom-walked) out of the elevator and to the car, Jason close behind. He hopped in the front seat and when he saw that Jason was safely buckled he floored it. 

Thankfully, Trina lived quite close to him, so he wouldn’t be stuck in traffic for that long, right? And the gods had answered his prayers because there were barely any cars. Pulling into Trina’s driveway to her house (Yes, she had a big nice, actual house and Marvin had an apartment. Big whoop.) Marvin let out all of the breath he had been holding. 

Marvin stepped out of the car and gave Jason a hug before he watched him enter the house. But, as he entered, Marvin’s hell herself stepped out. And she looked mad. He quickly glanced over to the bottle of Aspirin he had on the passenger's seat, knowing he’d need it later. 

“Are you serious, Marvin?” Trina stomped over to him

“Sorry, I lost track of time,” Marvin grumbled. 

“Lost track of time? Lost track of time! Ha! That is total bullshit, Marvin. You’re always punctual to everything except for when you’re dropping off Jason.” 

“I-” 

“Were you drinking?” Trina looked even more furious. 

“No.” Marvin said, straight faced. 

Trina shot him a glare.

“The first 5 minutes I thought, ‘Oh maybe there’s just a lot of traffic tonight.’ But then I looked outside and there was nothing! Then I thought he was still at practice, but practice ended god knows how long ago! Then, I thought you had gotten into a car crash, which caused me to lose it!” Trina spat flames. 

“Trin, I’m sorry, really. I was thinking too hard, and got too zoned out.” Marvin tried to help his case, scratching the back of his neck. 

Trina’s anger softened, and she looked a little empathetic. 

“Just, don’t scare me like that again, okay?” 

“I’ll set 10 alarms from now on.” Marvin put his hand over his heart. 

Trina signed and returned to the house. 

Marvin got back in the car and looked in the back seat through the rear view mirror, and saw that Jason had left his jacket. 

He picked it up and walked to the entrance to the house where he overheard Trina and Mendel talking. 

“——Terrible eye bags.” Trina had just finished her sentence. 

“Maybe he’s just not getting enough sleep.” Mendel pondered. 

Jason sure as hell didn’t have any eye bags. They were talking about him. 

“He just seemed so tired and stressed, I couldn’t stay mad at him. He’s practically depressed.” Trina sounded sorry for him. 

“He needs to let loose. Do you know if he’s been seeing anyone? A partner can always help with boosting someone’s overall mood.” Mendel says, over-analyzing everything as usual. 

Marvin was doing fine. He had friends! Which is 2 more than he had when he was married to Trina. Maybe Mendel was right. He hadn’t felt the touch of another woman in however many years. But he’s gotten old. He wasn't as attractive as he was when he was in college. 

Work took up the majority of his time anyways. Well, not actually. Most days he caught himself lying down on the couch watching shitty horror movies that were on the channel at the time. He really should go out more. 

“I don’t know if he can treat any girl right. The one time we had-” 

Marvin walked away before he could hear the rest of the sentence. He didn’t want to know that Mendel knew what he was like married to Trina. 

Marvin sat back down in his car and took an Aspirin (dry), and began the drive home. But as he began thinking about what Trina and Mendel had been talking about he took a left into the city. 

He (poorly) parked his car, not bothering to fix it when he began his walk through the city. Looking at the buildings up and down trying to see if there was anything fun to do in them. He could get food, but he would look either weird or lonely sitting there by himself. 

Marvin hated the people of New York City but he loved the buildings and the lights. He sees the city almost every day, but he never gets tired of it. Growing up in a more rural part of New York the nearest store was always 20 minutes away, meaning small, nearby businesses thrived. The first time he got to see NYC was on his 6th grade field trip. His jaw had dropped when he laid eyes on it, and has loved it ever since. 

Marvin stopped at a building where it had a line of people going into it, most likely a club. Marvin wasn’t exactly in the best outfit to go to a club right now. A white t-shirt and baggy jeans which were slightly uncomfortable looked so bland compared to the people with glitter and sequins practically covering their bodies. 

When he finally reached the door he stepped inside and looked around. It was a club just like he had suspected. Nobody looked like they wanted to talk to him so he went straight to the bar. Marvin hadn’t been drunk in a long time, but he really needed it. 

He sat down at one of the exceptionally tall stools. The bartender turned around and Marvin was met with the same stupid smirk that had been haunting his thoughts for the past 7 hours. 

“No fuckin’ way,” Marvin whispered under his breath. 

“Oh! Hiya Marvin! Funny seeing you here!” Whizzer smiled like he hadn’t picked Marvin up by his shirt and threatened him 3 hours ago. 

“Yeah,” Marvin looked around. “Funny seeing you here too.” 

“So, what can I get for you?” 

“Whiskey.” 

Whizzer grabbed a glass cup and poured some of the Whiskey into it. 

“Honestly, I didn’t think you’d swing that way.” Whizzer thinks aloud. 

“That I wouldn’t drink Whiskey?” Marvin cocks his head to the side a bit. 

“No, I didn’t know that you were gay.” Whizzer says, cleaning a glass with a towel. 

Gay?

What? 

Marvin wasn’t gay. He liked women. He has a child and an (ex) wife for Christ’s sake. 

“What are you talking about?” 

“I didn’t know you’d come to gay clubs,” Whizzer keeps cleaning the glass even though it’s so clean it’s practically sparkling. 

“Gay clubs?” 

“Do you know where you are right now?” 

“A club?”

“You’re at a gay club.” Whizzer is clearly holding back a laugh. 

Marvin looks around at the dance floor. There were men with other men and women with other women and they were dancing with each other, kissing, and looking like they were having a good time. 

“Shit,” Marvin says under his breath. 

Whizzer bursts into a fit of giggles. 

“Did you even read the fuckin’ sign?” He was practically doubled over in laughter. 

“No..” Marvin could feel his ears turning red. 

Marvin felt a little out of place now that he knew what the place was. A straight guy in a gay club. He didn’t want any other men hitting on him. He was straight. Obviously. 

He chugged the rest of his drink.

“Why do you work as a bartender at a gay club?” Marvin asked, setting his used glass on the counter. 

“Some of us don’t have the money to go to college, Marvin.” Whizzer said with the same smile, but passive aggressiveness was practically dripping from his voice. 

“Sorry.” Marvin said. 

Whizzer let out a laugh and took Marvin’s glass and began to clean it. 

Why is he even talking to Whizzer after what he did earlier. Was this the job he was talking about? If it was, why was he being so somewhat nice to him? Is it because there’s other people around? 

Marvin couldn’t blame Whizzer for working two jobs. A little league coach wasn’t exactly the best paying job in the world. And the gay club seemed really nice, everyone was being respectful to one another, and it was a lot more fun than the other clubs Marvin had been to. 

“So, what was that about earlier?” Marvin asked. 

“What?” 

“The thing where you told me to stay away from your job or you’d destroy me.” 

As Marvin said that Whizzer’s eyes began to dart around and he cleaned the cup a little quicker, but his smile never faded. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,”  

“Quit your shit.” 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Whizzer’s face dropped and he looked stern, sending shivers down Marvin’s spine. 

“If it’s this job I’ll just leave you could’ve just said that.” Marvin raised his hands in defeat. 

“Leave.” 

Marvin got up. 

“I’ll see you Tuesday!” Whizzer’s usual chirpy nature was back. 

====

Why would he be so serious about his job as a bartender at a gay club? Why did he have to get so scary about it? 

Marvin lay awake in his bed. 

Maybe he should just stop pushing. He wanted to be friends with Whizzer, or at least he thought he did. Or it was just Mendel’s words making their way into his head again. Why would he want to become friends with a man who would threaten to destroy him? 

Sounds came from outside his door, along with a faint blue light that he could see through the small crack underneath the door. 

Marvin got up from his bed and walked to the main area of the apartment. 

Oh.

It was just the tv. 

Marvin listened to the news as he poured a glass of water for himself. Marvin didn’t even know news channels were on in the middle of the night. They must’ve been replaying the news from earlier today. 

“And the infamous drug lords are still walking the streets. Many people have reported their loved ones coming home claiming they see things that aren’t really there. If your loved one has dilated pupils, is throwing up, breathing quicker than normal, or is unusually warm, please contact the police and a doctor.” The news anchor said, staring straight into the camera. 

“People are being drugged without even knowing it. Mostly through their food and drinks. Make sure you don’t leave your food alone if you’re eating out. And remember to stay safe New Yorkers.” 

The Tv switched to another channel. 

Marvin couldn’t have had his drink drugged. He was holding it the entire time he was out. Yet, he still felt uneasy. 

There was frantic knocking from his door. 

Okay, maybe he was drugged because who was bothering him at 3 in the morning. Marvin set his cup down and walked over to the door, slowly opening it, fully expecting to be stabbed with a needle or something like that. 

Cordelia, or at least that’s who he thought it was, was standing in his doorway. He couldn’t really tell in the dim light. Marvin flipped on the lights. Just as he thought it was Cordelia. She was wearing her cherry themed matching tank top and shorts pajama set which she had often worn when Marvin was over for movie nights. 

“Hey, Marv,” Cordelia said. She sounded like she wanted something. 

“What.” Marvin said coldly. He wanted to go back to bed. Not that he was tired, he just wanted to be alone with his thoughts. 

“Um, can you come over to our apartment real quick?” She asked. 
Marvin nodded and followed her down the hallway. He stepped into the room and Charlotte was softly kicking a man laying face down on the floor. It looked like a crime scene. 

Charlotte looked so done. She was wearing her matching strawberry pajama set which was practically identical to Cordelia's. She had strands of hair everywhere and had dark eye-bags. 

The man on the floor was un-moving. 

“So, um, we were just wondering if our friend could stay at your place for tonight?” Cordelia asked, picking at her shorts. 

“I knew you wanted something from me,” Marvin huffed. 

“Sorry,” Cordelia said, dragging out the “e” sound. 

“How did he end up like this?” Marvin asked. 

“He was out at a bar and came here drunk. He came through the door and then splattered down on the floor.” Charlotte said, giving the man a harder kick to the rib. 

“Fine, he can sleep on my couch but I don’t want him murdering me in my sleep or something.” 

Cordelia silently cheered, clapping her hands together. 

“You also have to help carry him.” 

Cordelia didn’t look so cheery anymore. 

Marvin and Cordelia walked over to the guy on the ground. 

“We should probably turn him over first.” Charlotte said.

“That's a good idea.” Marvin scratched his head. 

“I’ll get his shoulders and you two can get his legs.” Marvin said. 

He leaned down and rolled the man so he was laying on his back. He was finally able to get a good look at his face. 

And of course.

Of fucking course.
“Why is Whizzer in your guys’ apartment?” Marvin raised a brow. 

“Oh you know him?” Cordelia asked.

“I’ll tell you tomorrow, for now let's just focus on getting him to my couch.” 

“On the count of three,” Charlotte said, bending down to prepare to pick up Whizzer. 

“One,” 

“Two,” 

“Three!” 

That was followed by a lot of grunting sounds as each person took on the weight. 

“Okay, out the door.” Charlotte guided. 

When trying to rotate to get Whizzer out the door, Marvin accidentally let his head get whacked on the door frame. He hissed and hoped that it wouldn’t leave a bruise on Whizzer in the morning. 

They were finally in the hallway and Marvin’s apartment wasn’t that far, but when you’re carrying dead weight it sure felt like years. Marvin contemplated on just dropping him. Maybe that would wake him up. 

The group had reached Marvin’s apartment, and he noticed his arms shaking. Cordelia stepped away so that she could guide them so Whizzer wouldn’t hurt his head again. Charlotte was definitely doing her best. If Marvin’s arms were shaking then Charlotte's were having a seizure. 

They dropped him down on the couch and Charlotte let out a sigh. 

“Thank you, Marv.” Charlotte said, turning to leave. 

After the door shut Marvin sat Whizzer up the best he could. Then walked over to his kitchen and filled another cup of water. He walked back over to Whizzer and threw the water in his face. He woke up almost instantly. 

“What the fuck?” He exclaimed, hand reaching up to touch the part of his head that was hit. He looked around the apartment. It took him about a minute before his eyes landed on Marvin’s. 

“Marvin? What’s.. What’s going on?” He slurred his words, obviously still drunk. 

“You showed up to Char’s and Delia’s, blacked out, and we carried you to my apartment.” Marvin crossed his arms. 

Marvin remembered what he saw on the news a few minutes earlier. What if he was drugged? Marvin felt a wave of sympathy wash over him. 

He checked his eyes. Bloodshot eyes and dilated pupils, not a good sign. Whizzer was breathing normally which was good. He wasn’t foaming at the mouth or anything. 

“May I check your forehead?” Marvin asked. 
Whizzer raised a brow. “Sure,” 

He was pretty warm, also not a good sign. 

“Can you tell me what you see right now?” 
“I see you, and your TV, and the coffee table, and the window, and the walls.” 
“Good.” 

Nothing out of the ordinary there. 

“I know it might be hard to remember, but can you tell me what happened before you showed up here?” Marvin asked, sitting down next to Whizzer. 

Whizzer thought for a moment, looking up at the ceiling. 

“Right before closin’ the club this guy came up to the bar. He started flirting with me, and I flirted back, trying to get him to buy more drinks. But, the time came to close and I had to usher him out the building. We were standing outside and he kept going. I told him to stop and go home. Uh, then he said something along the lines of ‘you know you want it baby,’” Whizzer recalled. 

“I went to go back inside and he grabbed me, he got really angry but I fought him off and ran inside. I locked the door behind me and he stayed outside for a good 20 minutes. I hid behind the bar. A I drank basically a whole bottle of vodka waiting for him to leave. Hm, I think I got in the car but I don’t remember anything after that.” 

Marvin frowned. 

Sure, Whizzer was a little shady, but no one deserves to go through something like that. Marvin wondered how many times something like that had happened before. 

Marvin looked over to his bedroom. 

“I’ll be right back,” Marvin said. 

He quickly picked up all of the stray clothes on the floor and made his bed, hiding any valuable items, he still had to make sure Whizzer wasn’t going to do anything bad. 

When he emerged from the room Whizzer was inspecting the pictures on the walls. 

“I’m surprised you can stand.” Marvin kid 

Whizzer didn’t say anything in return. His eyes were fixed on a picture of Marvin and Trina. It was taken on their wedding day. It was a picture of Marvin with cake and frosting all over his face, courtesy of Trina, who had a piece of cake in her hand. Marvin had his hands around her waist and the two were smiling. It was probably the only picture he was truly smiling in. 

Marvin smiled, recalling the memory. Sure, he didn’t love Trina romantically, but he sure as hell loved her platonically. They were best friends when they had gotten married. 

“You look happy.” Whizzer said

“I was.” 

“Are you happy now?” 

Marvin paused. 

Was he happy? 

“Not really.” 

“Oh.” 

They dropped the discussion. 

“You can sleep in my bedroom, it’s the door on the left, just don’t snoop or anything,” Marvin said, walking over to the couch. 

“Okay.” 

Marvin watched as Whizzer walked over to his bedroom door. He reached for the knob but hesitated. 

“Marvin?” Whizzer called. 

“Hm?” 

“Thank you for taking me in,” Whizzer said, turning around with the same soft smile he had on his face back at the end of practice. “I mean it.” 

“It’s no problem.” Marvin looked at him, and found himself smiling a little bit too. 

Whizzer entered Marvin’s bedroom and closed the door behind him. He turned the lights off and laid on the couch. 

He was getting really tired of seeing Whizzer. 

Chapter Text

“Anyone perfect must be lying 

Anything easy has its cost

Anyone plane can be lovely 

Anyone loved can be lost 

What if I lost my direction? 

What if I lost sense of time? 

What if I nurse this infection?

Maybe the worst is behind.” 

Marvin woke up to Whizzer softly singing the lyrics of a song and the smell of coffee. Marvin kept his eyes closed, scared that if he opened his eyes Whizzer would stop. Whizzer had a beautiful voice, much better than Marvin’s. 

But, Marvin was sweating even though he only had a thin blanket covering him. He felt Whizzer looking at him. He didn’t know how, but he could imagine. 

He was most likely looking at him with that stupid impish smirk that had haunted his dreams. Or maybe he was looking at him with murderous intent. Or maybe he wasn’t even looking at him at all. Maybe Marvin was crazy. 

Marvin stretched before he opened his eyes, careful to make it look like he was just waking up. 

When he opened his eyes the first thing he saw was Whizzer’s face standing over him. 

“Hey,” Marvin croaked. 

“Hi!” Whizzer smiled. “It’s about time you’d wake up.” 

Marvin sat up on the couch, throwing the blanket off of himself. 

“I made coffee, if that’s okay with you.” Whizzer said, handing Marvin a cup. 

“Yeah it’s fine,” Marvin said, bringing his lips to the rim of the cup. 

He took a sip of the coffee… and then immediately spit it back into the cup. 

“What was that for?” Whizzer asked, taking a seat next to Marvin. 

“Way too sweet!” Marvin’s face was still twisted in disgust. 

“It’s not that bad.” 

“Did you put the whole container of sugar in here or what?” He set the cup down on the coffee table. 

“Okay, now you’re overreacting.” Whizzer rolled his eyes, which is the first time Marvin had seen him do that. 

“I’m not! You seriously put something in there!” 

Whizzer cracked a smile. 

The news played in the background. Something about some random crime that Marvin didn’t care about. He was too distracted to focus on the news. There was a man in front of him. He had spent the night over. In Marvin’s bed. 

Marvin found himself staring at Whizzer as he watched TV. The way his brows scrunched when the news anchor said something interesting. The way his bottom lip jutted out a little bit further than his top. The way the corners of his mouth would turn up only slightly when something funny was said. How he had a small beauty mark just above his eyebrow. How he had a small scar along his jawline.

Marvin sat there looking at him for 15 minutes, just noticing his features. Only because he wanted to learn more about the man. Not because he was mesmerized or anything. Marvin wasn’t supposed to look at men like that. 

“You’re staring.” Whizzer finally says. 

Marvin looks away, embarrassed. 

Plus, Whizzer probably wasn’t even gay. So Marvin had absolutely no reason to be looking at him like that. 

“You’re still staring,” Whizzer laughed, turning off the TV. 

“Oh,” Marvin fidgeted with his hands. “Sorry.” 

“It’s fine,” Whizzer paused for a second. “What do you do for work?” 

Marvin quirked a brow. “I’m an accountant. Why? Is this an interrogation or something?” 

“No, I’m just curious.” 

There was an awkward silence. 

“So you’re like a math nerd or something?” The terrible smile was back. 

“I’m not a math nerd.” Marvin huffed. 

“You definitely are.” 

“You don’t have any evidence, you’ve known me for less than a day.” He crossed his arms. 

“You’ve got me there, but you totally dress like a dork,” Whizzer snickered. 

Marvin’s face turned pink. 

“I do not dress like a dork!” 

“You totally do though!” 

The two broke out laughing. They were pretty comfortable with one another for only knowing one another for a few hours. They practically clicked together. 

Whizzer wiped a tear from his face.

“Do you have work today?” Whizzer asked

“Yeah, but not until later. My schedule is weird.” 

They stared at each other. For what felt like hours to Marvin. He could get lost in Whizzer’s eyes. 

… 

What was he saying? 

That’s not something he should be thinking. 

Whizzer looked down at his watch, then jumped off of the couch. 

“I should probably get going, or I’ll miss my job.” He smiled at Marvin. 

“I’ll see you next Tuesday.” Marvin watched him leave.” 

“Next Tuesday.” Whizzer said as he left the apartment. 

====

About 3 weeks had passed since Marvin first met Whizzer, and a lot has happened since. 

First off he learned things about his strange companion, (hesitant to call him a friend because of the whole “I’ll ruin you” thing). He made a list in his head of the things that he does and doesn’t like, as he does for everyone he meets. 

Whizzer likes: 

• Alcohol
• Musical Theater 
• The color green, specifically mint
• Grape soda
• Scrolling on his phone (which he would do a lot)
• Singing 
• Jason
• Baseball
• More to be added (Marvin didn’t know everything about the man, they’ve only been friends for so long) 

Whizzer dislikes: 

• Being asked about his “Job” 
• Working at the bar
• People who don’t know how to dress 
• Having sticky hands 
• Acne (only on himself) 
• Marvin when he’s grumpy 
• Traffic 

Secondly, Marvin had gotten a promotion for his job! Which he celebrated at Charlotte and Cordelia’s house. A little more money would be helpful for rent and fun things for Jason, even though Marvin was doing fine finance wise, being an accountant and all. 

Thirdly, he was hanging out with Whizzer, Charlotte, and Cordelia today at a club tonight. Club? Bar? Marvin didn’t even know. 

Marvin wanted to look nice. Not for any particular reason. He just wanted to look presentable at the bar. He took a 45 minute shower, making sure to scrub every surface several times over. Then when he was done, he grabbed a white button up and some black dress pants. 

Whizzer was coming over to pick him up in 5 minutes and Marvin was nervous. But he didn’t know why. Not because he was going to be in the car with a pretty man for about half an hour, but because he was going to be going out with friends for the first time in weeks. Yeah. That’s it. 

Charlotte and Cordelia were already there, since they got out of work early, sending Marvin pictures of the outside of the building so he could guide Whizzer to where they needed to go. 

DING! 

Marvin rushed to check his phone, thinking it was a notification from Whizzer. But, it was just Charlotte sending a selfie of her kissing Cordelia on the cheek while she was sipping her drink. 

Don’t drink too much before we get there! 

Char: We’ll only have one drink, pinky promise. 

Yeah, sure….. 

Shutting his phone off and putting it in his pocket Marvin took the elevator down to the ground floor of the apartment complex. 

It was getting too cramped in his apartment, and if Whizzer pulled up to the building Marvin didn’t want to keep him waiting. So, he waited outside in the cold wind waiting to see Whizzer’s car pull into the parking lot. 

And almost seconds after he sat down, Whizzer’s car pulled up in front of him. Marvin opened the door and hopped into the passenger’s seat. 

“Hey, Marv.” Whizzer smiled at him, his eyes being shielded by his sunglasses. 

Marv was the nickname Cordelia had given him when they first became friends. Whizzer only started using it about a week ago, and it was weird to hear it come from his mouth. 

“Hey, Whiz. ” Marvin said, pulling down the sun visor and opening the mirror. 

“I don’t like that,” He laughed, pulling out of the parking lot. 

“So you can call me ‘Marv’ but I can’t call you ‘Whiz’? Seems kinda hypocritical.” Marvin kid, reaching into his pocket for his comb. 

“Yeah, I think that’s fair.” 

Marvin scoffed and started combing his hair. It wasn’t messy. There was no need to comb it. He just needed something to keep his mind off of his nerves. Going over parts of his hair multiple times, making sure that there were absolutely no knots. Yes, it did make his hair somewhat frizzy, but his hair looked like that the second he stepped outside of his house so nobody would know the difference. 

“What’s with the obsessive combing?” Whizzer asked as the car stopped at a red light. 

“ Some of us want to look presentable.” Marvin grinned. 

Whizzer’s jaw dropped and he brought his hand to his chest, offended. 

“How could you say something like that! I’m always presentable.” He faked a sob. 

They would fake fight all the time, it was their “friend” language. Sometimes, it would get to the point of annoying anybody else in a 6 foot radius, (mostly Charlotte and Cordelia.) 

Marvin put the comb back in his pocket and flipped the sun visor back up, though he would probably have to put it back down since the sun was in his eyes. 

“You excited to get absolutely wasted? ” Whizzer asked, not taking his eyes off of the road. 

“I’m nervous,” Marvin sighed. 

“Yeah, I can tell. Combing your hair over and over again when there’s nothing inherently wrong with it is a big give away.” 

Marvin didn’t respond. He looked down at his hands, waiting for Whizzer to say something. 

“Are you trying to get a date?” Whizzer waited for Marvin to respond, which he didn’t. 

“Well if you are, I can totally help with that.”

He was still smiling, but not as much as he was when Marvin was speaking. 

“I think I might try to pick up a girl, I just don’t want to make you guys mad.” 

“Pfft. You go to Charlotte and Delia’s like, every day.”

“Yeah, but this is special.”

“I think they’ll be happy that you’re trying to get yourself back out there.” 

“Yeah.” 

The rest of the ride was silent. 

When they finally arrived at the bar Marvin jumped out of the car, eager to see his friends. 

He walked through the door and spotted them almost immediately. Cordelia was explaining something to Charlotte using big motions with her arms. Charlotte looked like she was listening but she most definitely wasn’t. Her eyes were full of love and she had a dopey smile on her face. 

The bar was a lot different then some of the one’s he’d been to, it looked pretty fancy, which wouldn’t be good for his credit card. 

He walked up to the table his friends were sitting at, taking a seat. 

“Marvin! You finally made it!” Cordelia said, already tipsy. 

“Yeah, traffic’s a bitch.” 

“You weren’t even driving.” Charlotte pointed out. 

“Yeah I know, but I can still complain about it.” 

Whizzer walked up to the table followed by a set of groans and sighs. 

“Hey Whizzer! Why are you so down in the dumps?” Delia asked. 

“Someone,” He shot a piercing glare at Marvin, “Didn’t wait for me. It’s so awkward walking in here by myself.” Whizzer said, pulling out a chair and sitting down. 

“Sorry, I have places to be.” Marvin said accompanied by an eye-roll. 

Whizzer made a “humpf” sound. 

“Can we go get a drink? I’m going to die of dehydration.” 

“Fine.” Marvin groaned, standing up. 

As they walked over to the bar Marvin noticed that Whizzer’s mind was elsewhere. He seemed to be looking over at an old jukebox next to the bathroom. What could be so interesting about that? Maybe he was like Marvin, who would get lost in his thoughts constantly . 

When ordering their drinks, Marvin had to grab Whizzer’s attention by tapping him on the shoulder. And when asked ‘what’s up’ his response was ‘nothin.’  

Walking back to the table Whizzer kept his eye on the jukebox. 

Marvin sat down, sipping his drink. Whizzer soon followed suit.

“Oh this is so fun! We should do this every other Friday!” Cordelia offered. 

“That's a pretty good idea, Delia.” Marvin set his cup on the table. 

Charlotte frowned. 

“I might not be able to. Fridays are always the busiest for some reason. It depends on if I get out of work early. Last week there was this kid, a whole bag of jellybeans up his a-” Her words faded out as Marvin focused on watching Whizzer. He needed to know why that jukebox was so interesting. 

Whizzer drank his fruity drink rather quickly, soon getting up for another one. When he came back he was definitely starting to get tipsy. The way he talked began to become slurred, along with Cordelia’s. 

Finishing his second drink, Whizzer got up. 

“Hey guys, I think I’m gonna go make a move,” He said with a wink, “Marvin if I don’t come back hitch a ride with Charlotte and Cordelia.” He said walking away. 

“Delia’s obviously too drunk to drive, and I’ve only had a few sips, so I can drive.” Charlotte said, gesturing to her, now warm, drink. 

Marvin looked down to his drink which was slowly reaching the same state as Charlotte’s. He didn’t want to drink too much. He sighed. 

“I’m gonna go to the bathroom.” Marvin told Charlotte (since Cordelia was completely out of it). 

He was at the entrance, but he took a quick glance at the jukebox and saw two men making out right next to it. And, holy shit was that Whizzer? 

Marvin ran into the bathroom. He really wished he didn’t see that. Was he seriously going to hook up with a random guy at the bar? Marvin could feel himself getting mad. He didn’t know anything about him! Whizzer was gay? That was never brought up in the 3 weeks that Marvin’s known him, causing him to get even more mad. 

Why was he ditching his friends? Charlotte literally had mentioned that she’s not going to be able to do this all the time because of her job at the hospital! But he probably didn’t even hear that because he was staring a man up and down like he was hunting his prey. 

Marvin scoffed at the thought. The guy probably wasn’t even handsome. Whizzer could do so much better. 

WHAM! 

The door to the bathroom flew open and Whizzer and his “friend,” still locking lips, fell against the wall. Marvin, who wasn’t trying to look at them directly, because that would be weird, saw that Whizzer was the one being pinned to the wall. 

Marvin frowned. 

Whizzer opened one of his eyes and noticed Marvin. They made eye contact, but Whizzer didn’t do anything to stop the guy from kissing him so that Marvin could leave. In fact, they held eye contact for a whole minute! Furious, Marvin stormed out of the bathroom. 

When he sat back down at the table Charlotte almost immediately noticed something was wrong. 

“Why are you so mad?” She cocked her head to the side when she asked. 

“Because Whizzer’s in the bathroom grinding against a guy instead of hanging out with us! Like, It’s not that hard to make time with your friends and not bang a random guy! Do that on your own time!” Marvin spat. 

“Are you jealous?” She smirked. 

Marvin felt his already red face become a lot more red. 

“Of course not, I’m straight!” 

“Whatever helps you sleep at night.” Charlotte said under her breath, followed by a giggle from Cordelia. 

“Whatever.” Marvin rolled his eyes for the zillionth time tonight. 

“Marvin, I love you, but you’ve been looking at him all night.”

“I was not!” 

“I was talking about the hospital and I asked you a question, but you didn’t answer, and when I noticed what you were looking at, and that thing was Whizzer’s face!” She was smiling. 

“It’s normal to look at your friends!” Marvin argued. 

“Yeah, when they’re speaking to you! You were full on ‘I want you to kiss me’ staring at him.” 

“I think you’re hallucinating.” Marvin crossed his arms. 

The “I want you to kiss me stare” is a phrase coined by Marvin. The first time it was used was when Cordelia was talking about her dream catering business and Charlotte was looking at her like a meteor could hit earth and she wouldn’t bat an eye. It was back when they first met, and is often used. 

“You have a soft spot for him! You treat him differently than us.” 

Marvin didn’t respond. 

“Listen Marvin, I’m not going to push you about your sexuality, but I genuinely think you should look into it, because you might not be as straight as you think you are.” 

“I’m straight.” Marvin said, but not with the same assertion as before. 

Charlotte looked down at the clock on the wall, then over to Cordelia. Around 3 hours had passed since they first got there, the sun was down and everyone was getting tired. Cordelia, poor girl, had a very low tolerance to alcohol, so after a drink and a half she was practically black out drunk. 

“We should probably get going, I don’t feel like dragging her to the elevator when we get home.” Charlotte said, standing herself (and Cordelia) up. “Are you coming with, Marvin?” 

“No, I’ll probably drive Whizzer home, I want to make sure he gets there safely.” 

“But you won’t be able to get back to your own apartment.” 

“I’ll sleep over, he owes me one anyway.” Marvin said, fidgeting with his shirt sleeves. 

“Okay, well I’ll see you later!” 

“Bye!” Marvin said as his friends walked out of the bar entrance. 

====

About 15 minutes had passed since the lesbians had left, which meant Whizzer was in there for a whole hour. Jesus. 

Patience running thin, Marvin went into the bathroom again, and to his surprise, Whizzer was sitting alone on the ground. Had he been crying? 

He looked up at Marvin, not saying anything. 

“Do you wanna go home?” Marvin asked, holding his car keys. 

Whizzer nodded and stood up.

The walk to the car was silent. Too silent, especially for NYC. He opened the door for Whizzer then got in on his own side. 

Marvin was going to put the keys in the ignition, but he hesitated. 

“What happened in there?” Marvin asked, all of his past anger fading away. 

“Well, we were making out, but it didn’t go any further than that. He left and I got lonely. I don’t know why but I started crying. It’s so stupid.” Whizzer spat. 

Marvin looked at him with sympathy. 

“It’s fine, Whizz, you’re drunk. It’s a totally normal thing to cry about.” 

“I guess so.” He said with a sniff. 

“Maybe if you didn’t spend your time in the men’s bathroom practically eating another guy’s face and actually hung out with us you wouldn’t feel lonely.” Marvin kid. 

“That’s not making me feel better.” Whizzer said, but Marvin could hear the smile in his voice. 

“You need to tell me where you live.”

“Just take me back to your place.” 

Marvin put the keys in the ignition and drove home. 

After unlocking his apartment door, Whizzer ran to the kitchen, drinking more alcohol. Marvin scoffed, shutting the door behind him. 

“What happened to get absolutely wasted?” Marvin asked. 

“Well, I am. Not just the good kind.” Whizzer took a chug of the bottle. 

“And what’s the good kind?” Marvin entered the kitchen. 

“The kind when you’re making out with a random guy and you take him back to your house and you don’t remember anything in the morning.” 

“That doesn’t sound fun.” Marvin said, grabbing himself a glass of water. 

“You’re just boring.” Whizzer said. 

“I’m not boring, I just don’t like hooking up with random people at bars.” 

Whizzer put the bottle down and turned to Marvin. They were standing face to face. Or well, chest to face. Marvin had to look up at Whizzer. But not much. Marvin’s eyes were at the base of Whizzer’s neck. Maybe Marvin was exaggerating when they first met. 

They stood there for lord knows how long, staring at each other. A habit Marvin noticed happens quite frequently. 

They were quite close. Marvin could feel Whizzer’s breath on his face and neck. He caught himself looking at Whizzer’s lips more times than he’d like to count. Whizzer cupped the side of his face and Marvin involuntarily leaned into it. 

He couldn’t control himself. He didn’t know what was happening. He was straight. He was straight. He was straight. At this point it was like a chant to convince him he’s straight. 

Whizzer brought Marvin’s face closer, and as Marvin found himself leaning in for a kiss,  Whizzer pulled away. 

Disappointed, Marvin asked: “What’s wrong?” 

“I forgot you’re straight, I’m sorry.” Whizzer said, scratching his neck. 

“No! It’s okay, you're fine. You’re drunk! We all make mistakes when we’re drunk!” Marvin said, trying to lighten the mood. 

Mistake. The word lingered on his tongue, plaguing his mouth. Was it really a mistake if Marvin wanted it? Did he want it? No. He’s a man. He was raised to like women. He can hear his father say “Where’s that lovely lady you promised me?” Marvin rolled his eyes. 

“Let me just clean my room so you can sleep.” Marvin began the walk to his bedroom, but he was pulled back by his collar by Whizzer, who looked sorrowful. 

“Can you sleep in the bed with me tonight?” He asked. 

“Sure.” Marvin said without hesitation. 

After he realized what he said, Marvin was taken aback. Sharing a bed with another man. That wasn’t gay, right? People share beds all the time at sleepovers. That’s what this was. Just a sleepover between two guys who may or may not have almost just kissed. 

Whizzer grabbed Marvin’s wrist and Marvin found himself holding his hand as they walked into the room. 

Not bothering to pick the random clothes strewn on the floor, Marvin took off his clothes, leaving only his boxers, and got into the bed. Whizzer did too. 

They were laying on their sides facing one another. They didn’t say anything. No one even dared to shatter the silence. 

Marvin scooted himself closer. Whizzer did too. The next thing he knew Marvin was hugging Whizzer. It was so.. Intimate. Marvin hated that he had to use that word, but it was. 

But the sound of Whizzer’s breathing and the warmth of Whizzer’s body lulled him to sleep. 

It was going to be a rough morning. 

Chapter Text

“ I don’t care if he’s a nobody

In my heart he’ll be a somebody 

Somebody to love me! 

I need it 

Gimme, gimme that thing called love 

I want it.” 

The song came from his left headphone. It had a catchy tune and Marvin was enjoying it. Well, he was trying to enjoy it. It was hard when Debra (Dena? Daisy? Marvin didn’t remember her name) was talking his ear off. 

He was trying to do his work. He needed to get these numbers down but he was being distracted. He wasn’t even listening to what she was saying. It was just her voice that was distracting him, and not in a good way. 

“When do you have lunch?” She asked with a wink, pulling Marvin from his thoughts. 

“10 minutes.” He answered. 

“We should get lunch together!” She chirped. 

“I don’t know, I usually head home for lunch.” Marvin huffed. 

“Even better.” She had a scandalous look on her face. 

What was she even trying to do? Get some alone time with Marvin while they ate his leftovers from 2 nights ago? He didn’t even know why she was so interested in him. Ever since she had found out that he got a divorce from Trina she had been all over him. 

“I’d like to be alone.” 

Her face dropped, but she somewhat kept her composure. 

“Oh, well if you ever change your mind, give me a call.” She said, then walked away. 

Marvin put his other earbud in, listening to the show-tunes Whizzer had recommended Saturday morning. Which Marvin had been thinking about for the past 2 days. 

He was in a sticky situation with him and he didn’t know what to do. He would probably have to talk to Char and Delia about it. But he didn’t really want to, because they’d just make fun of him for being “gay” again. 

Marvin recalled the events of Saturday morning. 

****

Marvin woke up naturally, for the first time in god knows how long. He was warm, which was weird because he never turned the heat on before he went to bed. That’s when his vision cleared and he realized he was spooning with Whizzer. 

At first he flinched, but then after sitting there for a minute, he grew comfortable with the man in his arms. Even burying his face further into the crook of his neck. Marvin felt guilty. Oh so guilty. But it was nice. 

He shouldn’t be lying in bed cuddling with another man. It was fine if Whizzer wanted to do it with any guy but Marvin since he was gay, but Marvin wasn’t. Which meant he shouldn’t be enjoying this as much as he was. 

But Whizzer was so warm, and his hair smelled so nice. 

He knew the wonder couldn’t last for long. He pulled away from Whizzer and got out of the bed. Whizzer stirred at the sudden heat of Marvin’s body being taken away from him, but was still asleep. 

He threw on a random t-shirt and pajama pants that were laying on the ground so that he wasn’t only in his boxers. 

Marvin walked into the kitchen, making two cups of coffee. Hoping that Whizzer would wake up soon so his coffee wouldn’t grow cold. 

It was only 6:30, and Whizzer wasn’t the type of person who would wake up at the crack of dawn. Or that at least what Marvin had thought, since Whizzer soon came out of the bedroom. 

“Good morning.” Marvin hummed, handing Whizzer the cup of coffee he had made for him. 

“Ugh, I have such a headache.” Whizzer put his hand on the part of his head that hurt, which seemed to be everywhere. He took the coffee. 

“Yeah, you totally got wasted last night.” Marvin laughed, sipping his own coffee. 

“You remember what happened?” Whizzer asked, adding sugar to his cup. 

“Yeah, I only had a few sips, then I had to drag you here.” 

“Can you tell me what happened?” Whizzer pleaded. 

“You picked me up and we went to the bar. We had a good time with Charlotte and Delia before you downed like, three drinks, and made out with a random guy in the bathroom,” Marvin recalled. 

“Sounds accurate.” 

“Then I had to drive you back to my place because you were too drunk to drive or to tell me where you lived. Then you fell asleep in my bed and I slept on the couch.” Marvin took a sip of his drink. 

“Are you sure? Because that couch looks like it hasn’t been touched in a week.” Whizzer smirked and cocked his head to the side. 

Oh shit. 

He was totally right. The pillows looked like how they did before he left, but how would Whizzer know that? 

Quick, what’s an excuse? 

“I remade the couch after I woke up.” Marvin shrugged. 

“Okay,” Whizzer eyed him. “Are you sure that’s the only thing that happened?” 

Did he remember? Was he just playing with Marvin? Trying to get him to spit out the fact that they had almost kissed? Or did he not remember anything? 

“No, nothing else happened.” He averted Whizzer’s gaze, finding his coffee suddenly interesting. 

“Oh, okay!” Whizzer smirked. 

****

Marvin kept replaying the night’s (and morning’s) events over and over in his head. The way Whizzer’s features had softened. The way it was different from the look he was giving the guy next to the jukebox. That look was playful and lusty, whereas the one he gave Marvin right before they almost kissed was full of longing and maybe even…love? 

No. 

There was no way.

Marvin just needs to clear his head. 

He eyed the clock until it hit 1:30, and when it did he practically sprinted to his car. But he wasn’t going home. He was going to Trina’s house. 

The entire car ride he was thinking. Thoughts ran through his head as he watched the cars zip by him. 

When he pulled into the driveway, he had one thought in mind: Talk to Mendel. 

He walked up to the door and began to frantically knock on it. A minute and a half later, the man he wanted to see opened the door. 

“Marvin! What are you doing here?” Mendel asked, looking around. 

“I wanted to talk to you.” Marvin scratched his neck. 

“Well come inside!” Mendel opened the door so that Marvin could come inside. 

Thankfully, it seemed that Mendel was off today, which meant he could talk to him about his feelings, which he hasn’t done since the divorce. 

Mendel led him to the kitchen, where they sat across from one another at the table. 

“So, what did you want to talk about?” Mendel fiddled with his fingers. 

“Well, I know you’re off today, and that I’m probably not going to pay you for this, unless you want me to, but I want to talk about my..” Marvin paused, “My feelings.” God this was so embarrassing. 

“Oh that’s great!” Mendel beamed. 

“Really?” 

“Yeah, me and Trina had been talking about you getting another psychiatrist, not me of course, but someone to talk to about your feelings.” 

Marvin thought about the time he had accidentally eavesdropped on Mendel and Trina’s conversation. 

“Well what do you want to start with?” Mendel asked. 

“I think I might be gay.” Marvin blurted, then quickly covered his hands with his mouth. 

Mendel’s eyebrows raised and his eyes went wide. 

“Well that’s definitely something you should talk about.” He chuckled, grabbing a notepad from somewhere on the counter behind him. 

Marvin let out a nervous laugh. 

“When did you start thinking you might be gay?” 

“Well, Friday night my friend got super drunk and we almost kissed,” Marvin looked down at his hands, “But we didn’t, but we still slept in the same bed together.” 

Marvin watched as Mendel scribbled on the paper. 

“Do you know if you were having any thoughts before then?” 

Marvin thought. 

“I think so, but I’ve been pushing them down, I think.” 

“How so?” Mendel questioned. 

“I’d look at him and feel warm and fuzzy, but I’d say something like: ‘You shouldn’t be thinking these things about your friends. You’re a man. Even though there’s nothing wrong with two men loving one another.’” 

Mendel kept scribbling. 

“I know it’s early, but I think you might like your friend.” Mendel said, locking eyes with Marvin. 

“Yeah, of course I like him, he’s my friend.” 

“No, I mean ‘like’ as if you love him.” 

“Oh.” 

“Can you remember if you were thinking these things while married to Trina?” 

“Uh, I mean, I love Trina, it’s just hard to see her as a romantic partner y’know?” Marvin fiddled with his shirt cuffs. 

“So when you were having sex,” Oh god this is so embarrassing, “Did you ever find it difficult to ‘get things going.’” Mendel said, making air quotes. 

“Yeah, the only time that happened was when we had Jason.” 

“So you only had sex with Trina once? ” Mendel asked, puzzled. 

“Yeah.” 

Mendel kept writing and writing and writing. So much that he had to flip the page to the other side. 

“Have you talked to any other women since you’ve been married to Trina that you were attracted to?” 

“Well, there’s this one girl at my work who I think is trying to get with me, but I don’t feel anything for her, romantic or sexual.” 

“Any other women?” 

“No.” 

Mendel tapped his pen against the paper repeatedly. 

“So, I think I’ve come to my conclusion.” Mendel claimed. 

“That’s good.” 

“I don’t know what’s always going on in your head, or if any of the things you’ve told me are true, but I do think you are gay. At first I was thinking: ‘Maybe he’s bisexual?’ but what you’ve said about not feeling romantic or sexual makes me think you only like men.” 

Marvin shifted in his seat. 

“And liking men is totally fine!” Mendel continued. “I think maybe you should talk about your feelings to your friend. Is he gay as well?” 

“Yeah, but I only found out about it Friday night.” 

“How long have you known him?” 

“Like, three weeks.” 

“He probably should’ve mentioned that.” Mendel scoffed. “Do you have any other gay people in your life that you could go to about this?” 

“Yeah my best friends are lesbians.” 

“That’s great! Also, a little off topic, we should all have a get-together so we can all meet! I want to know your friends, Marvin.” 

Marvin smirked. “Yeah maybe.” 

“I think that was a successful session.” 

“Me too.” 

“I’ll see you later?” Mendel asked, extending his hand. 

“See you later.” Marvin smiled as he took his hand and shook it. 

Marvin left the house feeling a little bit better about himself. Now that he had the outside opinion of someone it helped him understand. Even if the person was someone he had despised for a long time. He’s glad that he’s able to talk to Mendel like a normal person now. 

In the car, Marvin called his boss, taking the rest of the day off. He needed time to process this information. 

==== 

When the elevator dinged and he was on his floor he was nervous. Yes, he had felt a little more complete now that he knew what those thoughts were and why they were happening, but suddenly realizing that you probably might be gay is a big change for someone. Especially if they were raised thinking that they shouldn’t like the same gender. 

He was also nervous because he would be met with a giant “I told you so” from Charlotte, which wasn’t the best motivator. 

First, he went to his apartment to set his work stuff down. Not bothering to change, he walked over to the lesbian’s apartment. 

Marvin brought his knuckles up to the door but he hesitated before knocking. He heard muffled talking through the door. Followed by some laughter. Hopefully he wouldn’t be interrupting something important going on. 

He knocked against the wooden door and at the sound all of the talking and laughing came to a stop at an instant. 

The door was soon opened by Delia with a smile on her face. 

“Oh! Guys, it’s Marvin!” She announced to the room. 

Guys? Who else was there? 

Stepping into the room Marvin’s eyes locked with the same ones that had been making him rethink his whole life for the past 3 weeks. He was sitting at their round table, holding 5 cards, Charlotte doing the same. Charlotte waved at him. 

“Hi Marvin, what are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be working right now?” Whizzer asked, the same stupid smile on his face. 

“Hi Whizzer. I took off the rest of the day because I had to talk to Charlotte about something.” Marvin shifted his weight from one foot to another. Could he tell that he was nervous? 

“Oh?” He asked with a quirked brow. 

“It probably won’t be that long, I’ll be right back, and maybe Marvin can play too.” Charlotte said, getting up from her chair and walking into the hallway. 

Marvin turned around and left the lesbian’s apartment, facing Charlotte. 

“So what did you want to talk about?” She asked, crossing her arms. 

“Can we go back to my apartment? It’s probably going to take longer than you think. Also, I don’t want them eavesdropping on us. These walls are super thin.” 

“Fine.” 

Marvin led Charlotte back to his apartment and they sat next to each other on his couch which hasn’t been touched in god knows how long. 

“So?” 

“I think I might be gay.” Marvin bit his lip. 

Charlotte gasped awfully loud, then looked at Marvin with an evil smirk. 

“I fuckin’ told you so!” She hit Marvin on his shoulder. 

There it was. 

“I’m not exactly the happiest about it. I mean, I’ve been thinking all my life that I’ve been attracted to women, but apparently not!” He put his head in his hands. 

Charlotte patted him on the shoulder. 

“It’s not always easy. Especially if you grew up in a homophobic household.” She looked down at him with sympathy. “It’s probably going to take you a bit to fully come out as gay to people. That's what happened to me, at least. It took me a full year before I was able to come out to my parents and loved ones. Sometimes people just stay in the closet their whole lives.” She comforted him. 

“In all seriousness, I’m glad you told me.” 

“Me too. I’m just not sure how to go about it.” He huffed. 

“Well, who made you realize you were gay?” Charlotte asked. 

Marvin looked at her confused. 

“Like your gay awakening. For me it was Janet Weiss from Rocky Horror.” 

“Well I think I was gay when I was married to Trina, but nothing made me realize that I’m gay, y’know? I just dreaded having to do anything romantic or sexual with Trina.” 

“Well who made you realize it now ?” 

“....Whizzer.”

Charlotte let out a yelp of laughter. Marvin could feel his face heating up. 

“Dude your closet was literally glass.” She chuckled. 

“Not helping.” 

“Do you like him?” 

“I think so? I’m not totally sure.” 

“That’s okay, how about we go play some poker to take your mind off of this whole fiasco.” Charlotte said, standing up. 

“You do realize the cause for all of this is in there, right?” Marvin asked. 

“Yeah, but hopefully it will help!” Charlotte walked out of the apartment. 

Marvin pinched the bridge of his nose as hard as he could. 

When he stepped into the Lesbian’s apartment all eyes were on him and he could feel sweat start to form on his forehead. Did she tell them? Did Whizzer know? Oh god. 

“Why are you all staring at me?” Marvin asked, pulling out a chair for him to sit on. 

“We’re waiting for you to get your slow ass over here so we can start a new game of poker.” Whizzer grinned. 

Marvin looked at the table. There were no chips to be found. 

“How are we gonna play if we can’t bet?” Marvin asked, taking a seat. 

“We’re just playing for fun! And because Whizzer forgot to bring the chips.” Cordelia ratted him out. 

Marvin watched as the cards were being dealt out. They were only playing for fun but he could feel his nerves growing more tense by the second. He was going through the possibilities of what he could get in his head. 

(only) A face card: There’s a high chance someone has something better than him. 

A pair: Depending on the number it could mean good or bad news. 

A set of 3’s: Not many people are able to get this in regular poker, but it would be an almost immediate win. 

Straight (something Marvin wasn’t now): Again, another high risk high reward. 

A flush: a little more possible than a straight, but still tricky. 

A royal flush: He would win the game. There would be absolutely no way someone else could have a royal flush if he had one. The odds were just too slim. 

“Marvin? Hello? Are you going to pick up your cards or are you just going to keep staring at the table?” Delia asked, straightening her cards out. 

“Oh shit I’m sorry.” Marvin picked up his cards. 

There was more than one suit which meant the flush and royal flush were out. Looking at the numbers he had three 2’s! Marvin tried his hardest to put on his “poker face.” 

“What were you even thinking about?” Whizzer asked, setting his cards face down on the table. 

“The odds of winning.” 

“We’re only playing for fun, it’s not like we’re betting anything.” Whizzer pointed out. 

Marvin shrugged. “I just like winning.” 

Whizzer looked at him in what seemed to be the same way he looked at the jukebox when they went out to drink and Marvin’s blood ran cold. He could feel his face heating up and his hands shaking. But, he kind of liked it? Is this what swooning felt like? He was so overcome with his emotions since it was his first time really feeling them. 

“So what does everyone have?” Asked Delia, putting her cards face up and spread out on the table. “I have an ace!” 

“Absolutely nothing.” Charlotte sighed. 

“Two 9’s.” Whizzer smiled, celebrating early. 

“Three 2’s! I won!” Marvin boasted. 

Everyone groaned at Marvin’s glee. 

====

“Well, thanks for having me guys, but I should probably get back to my own house.” Whizzer said, grabbing his keys from the counter. 

Marvin grabbed his sleeve, stopping him. 

“You could sleep over at my place?” Marvin offered. 

“Trying to get into my pants, Gardens?” Whizzer flirted. 

“No, I just want to spend time with my friends.” Marvin defended. 

“Charlotte and Cordelia are right there. Just say you want to hang out with me.” 

Marvin groaned. 

“Can we hang out?” 

“Sure!” 

Marvin smiled, and he knew he would be for the rest of the night.

Chapter Text

“I love him 

But every day I’m learning 

All my life 

I’ve only been pretending 

Without me, his world will go on turning 

A world that’s full of happiness that I have never known. 

I love him

I love him

I love him

But only on my own.” 

Marvin watched as Whizzer sobbed to the music. He had tears streaming down his face, mumbling “She doesn’t deserve this” under his breath every so often.

The reason they were in this situation was because Marvin didn’t really know what to do now that he had a pretty guy in his apartment. Whizzer didn’t know he was gay. Not yet. When Marvin asked if he had something in mind to do, Whizzer’s face lit up. 

Now, Marvin was stuck watching Les Misérables. Sure, it was an interesting story and the music was great, Marvin just couldn’t get a feel for the characters. It was hard to sympathize with them. 

The song had changed and Whizzer just seemed to cry harder. Marvin picked at his hands, feeling awkward. 

He felt Whizzer’s gaze on himself. 

“How are you not crying?” Whizzer asked. 

“I’m not the biggest musical fan.” Marvin shrugged. 

“Yeah, but it’s still sad !!” Whizzer argued. 

It was sad. A girl who’s been in love with this guy all her life only to lose her chance when he falls head over heels in love with a girl that he doesn’t know is depressing. It reminded Marvin of the situation he’s in right now. Granted, he just found out he probably likes men, but he wouldn’t want to wait too long for Whizzer, having him slip from his grasp. 

‘All my life I’ve only been pretending’ was a lyric Marvin could heavily relate to. Faking his love for Trina and any of the other women who he had dated before her. 

“Yeah, you’re right.” Marvin agreed, laying back further into the couch, resting his head against the cushion. 

Whizzer paused the TV, continuing to cry and sniffle. 

“D-do you want a hug?” Marvin asked nervously, spreading out his arms. 

Whizzer almost immediately flung himself into Marvin’s arm, burying his head into the crook of his neck. 

Marvin blushed (thank God Whizzer couldn’t see), and wrapped his arms around him and began to move his hand up and down his upper back. Whizzer cried into Marvin’s neck and he could feel the drops of water hitting his skin. 

This was already a good sign that Whizzer might like him back. Most normal straight guys don’t do things like this. Did gay guys do this with their straight friends? Probably not. 

After a while the tears had stopped and he only felt Whizzer’s breath against his neck. Marvin wished he could stay in this position forever. But all good things have to come to an end. 

Whizzer pulled away, pressing the home button on the remote. 

“I don’t think I’ll be able to watch the second half of that. I’ll be a wreck.” He kid, turning back to look at Marvin. 

“So what do you want to do now?” Marvin asked, putting his hands in his lap. 

“I don’t really know, what do you want to do?” Whizzer laid down, putting his head in Marvin’s lap. 

Marvin flinched at first, but grew accustomed to the weight on his legs. 

“Well, we don’t really know a lot about each other.” Marvin brushed a stray hair from Whizzer’s face. 

“What do you want to learn about me?” Whizzer questioned. 

“How did you find out you were, y’know,?” 

“Gay?” Whizzer quirked a brow. 

“Yeah.” 

“When I started asking questions like that. ” His signature grin forming on his face. 

“I don’t-” 

“I’m just kidding, Marv.” Whizzer interrupted him. 

“I can tell you a story if you want me to.” Whizzer looked up at Marvin. 

“Sure, go ahead.” 

“I was a junior in high-school. There was this big annual fall party at my friend’s house, and since he was popular, everyone would be going. I was one of those people. I was used to parties. I had been to several over my high-school career, but this one was different. 

There was a new kid in the grade, Ronan. He was built really nice. He was taller than me, which was a first, and he was a jock. He played for the football team and I would go to every practice or game I was able to. He didn’t even know my name! I just thought I wanted to be his friend, but It was so much bigger than that. 

When I found out he was going to the party, I was ecstatic! I wore my best clothing, my best cologne, and my best shoes. When I got there, I spent the entire night looking for where he was, but I couldn’t find him anywhere ! 

I stumbled into the kitchen where I saw my friend, among another group of people, playing some kind of spin the bottle-truth or dare-shots-seven minutes in heaven kind of game. 

Y’know who else was in that crowd?” Whizzer asked, beaming up at Marvin. 

“Ronan.” Marvin answered. 

“Correct! When I laid eyes on him I sat down immediately. I leaned over to the girl next to me and asked: ‘What are we playing?’ and she said something like: ‘Spin the bottle truth or dare.’ and I knew what I had to do. 

A guy from the other side of the circle was spinning the bottle and it landed on me. He asked me ‘truth or dare’ like any normal person would do playing this game and I said ‘dare.’ He told me to go into the bathroom with Ronan for 7 minutes, and I nearly cried. I would finally be able to talk to this guy.

He shrugged or something, I don’t really remember his reaction, just that he didn’t say anything, and we went into the bathroom. Thankfully, there was nobody in there already. I had closed the door and tried to talk to him but he had me pinned to the wall and was kissing me.” 

“Woah.” Marvin blurted. 

“Yeah, woah is right. And I kissed him back! Those seven minutes were the best minutes of my life, at the time of course. Before the 7 minutes had ended he asked me something like ‘Do you wanna leave?’ and I obviously said yes. We went back to his house, which was down the road. We made out for a long time but never went past that. 

And on the days that the baseball and football team shared the locker rooms were the best because we would stay after our teams had left and would fool around in the showers. 

I had realized I was gay not much after that and I wanted to have something more with him. I went up to him and asked what we were and he shut me down. Saying we weren’t anything at all. In fact, he had a girlfriend! And that was the last time I talked to him.” Whizzer finished. 

“Oh my gosh, that guy was a dick.” Marvin huffed. 

“Tell me about it!” Whizzer scoffed. “But, why did you ask that question in the first place?” 

“Well, I said I wanted to know more about you.” Marvin reasoned, feeling heat creep up his neck. 

“Yeah, but getting to know someone is usually a question about where they grew up and what they do for work, not how they found out they were a homosexual.” Whizzer kid. 

“I just wanted to know.” Marvin sneered. 

“Why? Do you think you might be gay, Marv?” 

Shit. 

He was caught red handed. He couldn’t say no, because if he did he would probably lose his chance of being with Whizzer. Also, he would be lying, so if he tried to talk to him about it later, he would be angry at him for being a liar! 

But what would happen if he said yes? Would they start making out like Whizzer did with Roman or whatever his name was? 

He was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Both with equally bad consequences. Or maybe not. Marvin wasn’t totally sure what would happen if he said yes. Or if- 

“Marvin?” Whizzer asked, pulling Marvin away from his thoughts. 

“What?” 

“You’re doing that thing where you just kind of sit there in silence.” 

“Oh. I was just thinking.” 

“Thinking about if you’re gay or not?” Whizzer joked. 

“Uh, yeah actually.” Marvin could feel his body warm up tenfold. 

“Oh shit! Really?” Whizzer asked, sitting up and facing Marvin. 

“Yeah, err, I’ve been thinking about it a lot recently. I talked to Mendel and Charlotte about it today.” 

“So that’s why you needed to talk to her in private!” Whizzer pointed at him. 

“Yeah.” Marvin’s face was dripping sweat. 

“Well, I’ll support you, obviously.” 

Marvin let out a nervous giggle. 

“Well, do you think you might be gay?” Whizzer asked, looking at Marvin intently. 

“I think I am. I’m still new to this whole thing.” 

Marvin needed to find a distraction quickly. He looked around the apartment, hoping Whizzer wouldn’t notice his eyes darting back and forth. The clock! It was 10:30! 

He forced a yawn. 

“It’s getting pretty late, I’m tired.” 

Whizzer stuck his bottom lip out in a pout. “It’s only 10:30! What are you, an old man?” 

“I’m starting to feel like one.” Marvin smirked. 

He stood up from the couch, walking over to his bedroom, Whizzer following close behind. 

“Let me just tidy up my room a bit.” Marvin said, picking up the random clothes on the ground. He had a rough time keeping his room clean. 

“Marvin, the last two times I’ve been here you had to sleep on the couch, you should be able to sleep on the bed.” Whizzer frowned watching Marvin throw the clothes into the laundry basket. 

“Whizzer, you’re my guest, it’s fine if I sleep on the couch.” 

“Are you sure, because I was only laying down on that thing for like, 15 minutes, and now my back is sore!” Whizzer argued, placing his hand on his spine. 

“Okay, you’re right for that one, but it’s fine, trust me.” Marvin tried to leave the room but Whizzer was blocking the door. 

“How about we just share the bed.” Whizzer put his hands on his hips. 

Marvin’s eyes grew wide. Sure, they had shared the bed once, but that was before Whizzer knew that Marvin was gay, and he was drunk! 

“Uh, sure?” 

WHY DID HE SAY THAT! Things were going to be oh so awkward. 

“Well I have to get changed into my pajamas.” Marvin told him, walking over to his closet. 

“I would ask to borrow some pajama pants, but you’re so short they probably wouldn’t reach the middle of my calf.” Whizzer over exaggerated.  

“So are you just going to sleep in your clothes?” Marvin asked, taking off his shirt, facing away from Whizzer. 

“I’ll just sleep in my boxers.” 

Great. Awesome. 

Marvin heard the bed squeak, Whizzer was probably laying on it. Marvin turned his head to check and Whizzer was staring directly at him. 

“Like what you see?” Marvin bantered, pulling a random t-shirt from one of his hangers. 

“Oh absolutely. Did you know you have a nice ass?” Whizzer smirked. 

“Do you know that you have a nice mouth when you’re not talking?” Marvin shot him a playful glare from over his shoulder. 

“That doesn’t even make sense!” Whizzer called him out. 

“You don’t even make sense!” 

Marvin pulled down his pants and quickly put on a pair of sleep shorts. 

“Come to sweetie.” Whizzer patted the bed and Marvin rolled his eyes. 

“Why are you still in your clothes?” 

“I was waiting for you. Why? Do you want to take them off for me?” Whizzer snickered. 

Marvin knew his face was the color of a tomato right now. 

“Whatever, just take your clothes off.” Marvin pulled up the sheets so that they were covering the bottom half of his face.  

“Why so eager?” 

Marvin threw a pillow at him. 

“Okay, okay I’ll stop.” Whizzer raised his hands in defeat. 

“Thank you.” 

Marvin looked away while Whizzer took his clothes off. He didn’t want to hear any more snarky comments come from his mouth. 

When Whizzer had blankets over his lower half Marvin allowed himself to look at him. It’s not like he hasn’t seen Whizzer in only his boxers before, It’s just that things are different now. 

Marvin shut off the light and laid on his side, facing away from Whizzer. 

“Oh come on, I don’t bite.” 

Marvin turned to face him. 

They were close to each other. Well, as close as they could be without Marvin becoming a flustered mess. 

He traced Whizzer’s features with his eyes. Noticing marks and spots he hadn’t noticed before. The kind where you can only see them up close. Then again, it was still hard to see with the light off but the moonlight from the window helped. 

“You have a staring problem.” Whizzer stated with a smile. The same smile that turns Marvin to mush every time he sees it. 

“I know, you’re just really pretty.” Marvin needed to be confident. 

“Thanks. That means a lot! Especially coming from you .” When Whizzer said “You” he made it sound like he was absolutely disgusted by the thought of Marvin. 

“Oh shut up I actually mean it.” 

“I know.” 

They sat in silence staring at each other. 

“Whizzer?” 

“Marvin?” 

“Can I kiss you?” 

“Yes.” 

They slowly scooted closer to one another. Whizzer shifted his body so he was sitting up on his knees, Marvin following close after him. 

Whizzer brought his hand up to cup Marvin’s face which he immediately melted into. Marvin was leaning in for the kiss, but Whizzer hesitated. 

“Is there something wrong?” Marvin whispered, scared that if he made any loud noises or sudden movements Whizzer would go running. 

Whizzer parted his lips. He looked at Marvin sorrowfully. 

“I don’t know if I should be doing this.” He faltered. 

“Whizzer, I’m okay with it, it's fine.” Marvin frowned. 

“This is wrong.” He said, pulling his hand away from Marvin’s face, leaving it cold. 

“I’m gonna go sleep on the couch.” Whizzer murmured, getting out of the bed. 

“Whizzer, wait,” Marvin called out, reaching for him with his hand. 

“Just let me go, Marvin.” Whizzer warned. 

Marvin watched as he left the room, closing the door, leaving Marvin alone in his empty cold bed for whom he was too small for. 

He flopped onto his back, staring at the ceiling. 

What did he do wrong? Things were going so well. Was it something he said? Was Whizzer mad at him for some reason? Did he lose his chance? Oh god. Marvin wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he lost his chance with Whizzer. 

Should he go try and talk to him? He tried doing that just now so maybe that wasn’t the best idea. Marvin huffed. This was so stupid. 

“Yeah, I told him I couldn’t.” Marvin heard Whizzer say through the door. 

He opened the door just a crack so that he could see out into the apartment. Whizzer was on the phone. But with who? 

He watched as Whizzer’s face morphed from sad to even sadder as he listened to the person on the other side of the phone speak. 

“Yes, I really, really want to, it's just…” He trailed off. “Yeah work and all that stuff.” He fiddled with one of the pillows on the couch. 

“I know it’s probably not him but what if it is? What then? I have to be careful.” Whizzer looked awful. “No he’s still in his room,” Whizzer shot a glance at the door, “He probably thinks it’s his fault, god, I’m the worst.” 

“Okay, you’re not supposed to agree with me! … Sometimes I wish I never signed up for this stupid shit in the first place.” 

“Then I’ll finally be able to quit my bar job once we catch the culprit. I fuckin’ hate that place. It didn’t even pay well! …. I think I’ll stay a coach, that job’s fun. So I'll go from 3 jobs to 2.” 

What the hell was he talking about? Whizzer had 3 jobs? 

“Hopefully we’ll be able to catch them next week, and I’m praying that it’s not him…. Do they have the room ready? …. Well that’s good. I just wish we didn’t have to worry about this.” 

Marvin opened the door fully. 

“Who are you talking to?” Marvin asked, causing Whizzer to flinch for a millisecond then regain his composure. 

“How much of that conversation did you hear?” Whizzer asked. Marvin could feel his stress. 

“Only that last sentence. What do you wish you didn’t have to worry about?” Marvin took a step closer to the living room. 

“I wish I didn’t have to worry about something I need to do at the bar.” Whizzer assured. He was talking with so much confidence Marvin almost believed it for a second. But he was definitely lying. 

“Oh, okay, sorry you were just talking really loud. I couldn't sleep.” Marvin tried to not make it obvious that he was angry. 

“Oh sorry.” Whizzer said flatly, turning back to his phone. 

Marvin slammed the door when he walked back into his bedroom. 

He needed to know what Whizzer’s 3rd job was.

 And that’s what he was going to figure out next week.

Chapter Text

“ It’s not a question, but a lesson learned in time 

It’s something unpredictable 

But in the end, is right 

I hope you had the time of your life.” 

Marvin tapped his fingers to the beat of the song on the steering wheel while he drove the car to Trina’s house to pick up Jason. The song always made him sad and sappy, like there was this kind of warmth to the past, sure he did some bad things, but without them he wouldn’t be where he is today. 

He got out of the car and walked up to Trina’s house, knocking on the door loud enough so they’d hear. 

The door opened and Trina was standing in front of him. 

“Oh, Hi Marvin,” She said, her confused face forming a smile. 

She opened the door so that Marvin could come into their house. He walked to the kitchen where Mendel was sitting at the table with Jason, playing chess. Jason was winning, of course. He had Mendel’s king stuck between his king and rook, practically trapping him in a box. Mendel had some pawns almost at the end of the board, but he couldn’t move them because he was in check every other turn.  

After about a minute of “intense” game-play Mendel and Jason realized Marvin was standing at the table. 

“Hey dad,” Jason said, moving his rook closer to Mendel’s rook. 

“Checkmate.” Jason declared with a smirk. 

“I was going easy on you.” Mendel said, standing up from his chair. 

“We all know that’s not true.” Marvin crossed his arms with a laugh. 

“You’re right.” Mendel sighed, defeated. 

“Can I talk to you?” Marvin asked, fiddling with his thumbs. 

“Sure, I’ll meet you upstairs in the hallway in a second, I just have to clean this all up.” Mendel groaned as Jason raced upstairs to his room. 

Marvin climbed the stairs and sat down on the top step. Jason was standing in the doorway to his room. 

“Why are you here?” Jason asked. Marvin felt a little saddened at the bluntness of his question, but most of the time Jason didn’t mean any harm. 

“I need to talk to Mendel, and it’s my week with you anyways.” Marvin said, bouncing his left leg up and down as he waited for Mendel. 

“Will Whizzer be at the house?” Jason asked. 

Marvin was a little taken aback by the question. Whizzer was only there once while Jason was, and they barely talked to one another. 

“No, why?” 

“Mom and Mendel keep talking about him. It’s like, nonstop.” 

“That’s weird.” 

“I know ! His name is usually followed by ‘Marvin’s house’ or something along the lines of that.” 

He was going to have to ask Mendel about that. 

“So, what did you want to talk to me about, Marvin?” Mendel said as he came up the stairs. Marvin heard the door to Jason’s room shut. 

“So remember when I was here a couple days ago?” 

“...Yeah? Is it about that ?” 

Marvin nodded. 

“Did anything happen?” 

“Well, I asked if he wanted to hang out one-on-one and he said yes, so we went to my apartment and watched some random musical. He insisted on me sleeping in the bed and we met in the middle by sharing it and..” Marvin trailed off. 

“Did anything else happen?” Mendel asked, taking a seat next to Marvin. 

“Well, I asked if I could kiss him, and he said yes. But he said something about how he shouldn’t be doing this.” Marvin looked down at his hands. 

“That’s odd. He said you could kiss him, right?”

“Yeah.” 

Mendel made a “hm” sound and scratched his chin. “Maybe he has a boyfriend?” Mendel offered. 

“He doesn’t. He talks about wanting one all the time, though.” 

“Did anything happen after that?” 

“He went into the other room and called someone about quitting his job at the bar and how he’d only have 2 jobs instead of 3 afterwards. But he only works as a coach and a bartender.” Marvin replied. 

“I don’t think he’s being very truthful with you, Marvin.” 

“You’re probably right.” 

“You should ask him about what he’s keeping from you.” Mendel said, standing up. 

Marvin nodded. 

“When’s the next time you’ll see him?” 

“Next Tuesday.” 

“So in 4 days. Think about what you want to say to him, and don’t take no for an answer!” Mendel looked proud of himself. 

Marvin scoffed. 

“I think this was a successful talk.” 

“Sure.” Marvin rolled his eyes. 

Every time Marvin tried to talk to Whizzer about how he had threatened to destroy him Whizzer acted like nothing had ever happened. It made Marvin furious. He knew it was real. It had to be. 

====

Jason threw his suitcase in the trunk then sat in the front seat, which was new because he normally sat behind Marvin. 

“What’s for dinner?” He asked. 

“I was going to take you out to a restaurant, but the majority of them are being closed for inspection.” Marvin drummed his fingers against the steering wheel as he pulled out of the driveway. 

“Why are they being inspected?” Jason cocked his head to the side. 

“Because there’s this guy drugging the food and drinks. They’re trying to see if they can catch him, which means they have to go to every single restaurant that has been drugged.” 

“That’s stupid.” 

“Yeah, I know, but it’s better to try to stop it from happening again. I’d rather wait a couple more weeks than be drugged.” 

They sat in silence. 

“Are you gay?” 

Marvin’s eyes widened. In his peripheral vision, He saw that Jason was looking at him straight on. 

“Why?” 

“I heard your guy’s conversation.” Jason admits. 

“Well there’s no way of getting out of this one.” Marvin mumbled under his breath. 

He sighed. 

“Yeah I am. Or at least I think I am.” Marvin focused on the road. 

“Okay.” Jason shrugged. 

“Are you okay with that?” Marvin asked hesitantly. 

“Dad, your best friends are lesbians, my baseball coach is gay, and I love all of them like I love Mom and Mendel. Of course I’m fine with that.” Jason sounded irritated, like it was obvious, which it was. 

Marvin let out a breath of relief. 

The rest of the ride home was silent. Marvin was happy that his kid accepted him. Of course, it would take some getting used to. Marvin himself was still getting used to it. 

He still had 2 people he needed to come out to. Well, probably only one because Charlotte most likely already told Cordelia about it. Trina was going to be hard, though. Would she cry? Would she be happy for him? Marvin didn’t know and he was honestly scared. Maybe she already knew since she and Mendel had been talking about Whizzer so much. 

He pulled into the parking lot but didn’t stop the car. 

“Dad?” Jason asked. 

“Hm?” 

“Does this mean I’m gonna be gay too?” Jason asked and Marvin’s heart broke a little bit. 

“That’s not how it works buddy. It’s not passed down by genes or anything like that. But if you find out you like guys, then that’s fine, because I do too.” Marvin smirked at the end of his sentence. 

“Can we go to the movies?” Jason asked, putting on his puppy-dog eyes which he learned how to do because of Whizzer. 

“Sure.” Marvin shrugged. 

“Can Charlotte and Cordelia come too?” 

“If they aren’t busy.” Marvin pulled the key out of the ignition. 

“Go run to their apartment and I’ll meet you there.” Marvin said, watching as Jason soon sprinted out of the car after he said that. 

He laughed. 

When Marvin finally reached the Lesbians’ apartment Jason was on the couch snacking on something Marvin could assume Cordelia had made. 

“Hey dad!” Jason greeted him. “They’re both down!” He shoved another one of the foods into his mouth. 

“What are you cooking, Delia?” Marvin asked, turning to the kitchen area. 

“They’re these mini taco chip thingies.” She pulled a pan out of the oven. It was a cupcake pan, which was a little weird. “I make my own tortilla chips and mold them into cupcake molds, then I throw them in the oven to harden. When they’re done, I pull them out and put the taco ingredients in the tortilla chips then put them into the oven.” She explained, sprinkling cheese into the molds. 

“Can I try one?” Marvin asked, picking one up from a plate. 

“Sure!” She said, turning back to the oven. 

Marvin popped it into his mouth, and it was surprisingly really good ! Marvin made a satisfied “mm” noise and Cordelia smiled. 

Charlotte emerged from the bedroom in a t-shirt and leggings. 

“Oh hey Marv!” She greeted him with a smile. 

Marvin waved. 

“How long is it gonna take until those are done, honey?” Charlotte asked, hugging Cordelia from behind. 

“Just another 15 minutes.” She smiled at her. “What movie do you want to see anyways, Jason?” Cordelia asked, looking over to Jason who was lounging on the couch watching TV. 

“I want to see the Lego movie.” Jason fiddled with his hoodie strings. 

“Hasn’t that movie been out for years now?” Marvin asked, taking a seat next to his son. 

“Yeah, but I wanna see it again.” 

Marvin laughed. 

“I’m surprised you have today off early, Charlie.” Marvin said and Charlotte flinched. Marvin hadn’t called her ‘Charlie’ in months. 

“Me too. Apparently I wasn’t needed. Which was weird since they had to call in a ton of doctors for people overdosing. Over 70 people, or so I heard.” 

“Holy shit.” Marvin gasped. 

“Yeah I know. All because of that damn drugger.” She muttered. 

“I’ve been hearing more and more about that recently, did he perform a mass drugging or something?” Marvin asked, opening his phone. 

“Apparently so. But there’s no way he can be in multiple places at once, which means he’s working with some people. But if they can find the main person they can shut it all down.” She shrugged. 

“This is all so stupid. I shouldn’t have to worry about being drugged every time I go out to drink.” Marvin scoffed. 

“Tell me about it.” 

The oven dinged. 

“They’ll be done in 10 minutes. You guys can go down to the car, I’ll meet you in the parking lot, okay?” She said, putting on oven mitts. 

Jason jumped up from the couch and ran to the elevator. Charlotte and Marvin walked calmly behind him. 

He pushed the button to the elevator over and over again. Jason always loved pressing the buttons, but who doesn’t? The doors opened and the three stepped inside. 

“We can take my car.” Marvin offered. 

“That will probably be our best option.” Charlotte agreed, fiddling with her wedding ring. 

The floors went down excruciatingly so. It felt like they were stuck in the elevator for hours. Marvin didn’t know why he was so eager to go see a children’s movie with his son and his lesbian best friends. Was he nervous? Maybe. All this talk about drugged foods made Marvin’s blood run cold. Especially the thought of Jason being drugged. What if it was enough to kill him? Marvin could never let that happen. 

The elevator dinged and the three walked to the car. Marvin got into the driver's seat and Charlotte in the passenger. Jason sat behind Marvin and they didn’t have to wait long until Delia was rushing to the car. 

She hopped into the back seat with her purse in her lap. 

“Okay, I’m ready now.” She said with a smile. 

Marvin put the keys in the engine and pulled out of the parking lot. 

Charlotte turned on the radio. 

“ Six o’clock already 

I was just in the middle of a dream.” 

Both Charlotte and Cordelia’s faces lit up. 

“I love this song!” Cordelia shouted. 

Charlotte turned the volume up. 

“I was kissin’ Valentino 

By a crystal-blue, Italian stream.” 

Charlotte mouthed the words pretending she was holding a microphone like she was some kind of pop star and Cordelia was just straight up singing it. They both had beautiful voices but Cordelia was singing obnoxiously on purpose. 

“But I can’t be late

‘Cause then I guess I just won’t get paid

These are the days 

When you wish your bed was already made. 

It’s just another manic Monday” 

When the chorus hit Marvin recognized the song and he hummed along too. Charlotte was swinging her head back and forth like crazy and Jason looked terribly embarrassed. But Marvin knew he knew the song as well. Trina used to play it all the time back when they were still together. 

Jason soon started to sing along quietly. 

As the song went on everyone in the car grew more confident. Marvin and Jason started singing louder and Cordelia rolled down the window and stuck her head out of it and her hair danced in the wind. 

The song came to a close and everyone in the car had a smile on their face. 

“You’re listening to the 80’s channel, and we have to interrupt the music to talk about something serious for a second.” The radio host said. “There’s been a mysterious drugger going around and drug-” Marvin shut off the radio before he could finish. 

There was an awkward silence for a minute or so before Cordelia spoke up. “We aren’t going to let something like that ruin our night.” 

“Yeah!” Charlotte said, turning around in her seat to face Cordelia. 

And suddenly everyone was smiling again. 

The parking lot was surprisingly empty. There were always a ton of people at the movie theater since new movies were coming out practically every day, but there were only about 6 or 7 cars. 

The four filed out of the car and began to walk to the entrance. Since nobody was there they were able to park scarily close. The teenager at the ticket booth looked extremely bored. He had his head resting on one of his hands. His eyes widened when he saw the four of them walk into the theater. 

“Hi! What can I do for you guys today?” He asked, suddenly perking up. 

“Four tickets to the Lego movie.” Marvin said, pulling his wallet out of his pocket. 

“That will be 30 dollars.” 

Marvin handed him his credit card. 

The worker put it into the card reader and it chimed. 

“Alright you’re all set!” He said, handing Marvin back his card. 

They walked into the main part of the movie theater where you were able to buy snacks and go to the bathroom before the show. The movie started at 6:30 and it was currently 6:15, which meant they had a good amount of time to grab snacks and go to the bathroom. 

Marvin was always a control freak when it came to deadlines. If he wasn’t at least 10 minutes early he would freak out. Especially at movies. Even though with both trailers and ads he always had more than enough time he just enjoyed being in the theater. He wasn’t the best with getting Jason to Trina’s on time, though. 

They walked up to the register. 

“One large popcorn and 2 soda’s please.” Marvin said, getting out his wallet. 

“What do you want for the Soda’s?” The cashier asked. 

“What do you guys want?” Marvin asked, turning to the Lesbians and Jason. 

“Coke-” 

Marvin’s wallet was stolen from his hands. 

He looked up and a hooded man was running through out of the theater. 

“Oh my god!” Marvin said. 

He quickly reached into his pocket and threw his keys at Jason. “Take my car home!” Marvin said as he chased after the man. 

The man was wearing a black hoodie and was incredibly fast . Marvin ran and ran, feeling his legs hit the ground as he weaved his way through crowds of people on the sidewalks of New York. 

Rain began to fall and Marvin pulled his hood up over his head. 

Marvin could feel his legs giving out, but thankfully the man turned into what seemed to be an old abandoned building. He was practically downtown which was littered with random old buildings that no one knew what they were for. 

Marvin tried to call out after him but he physically couldn’t get the breath to do so. Was this a dumb idea to follow a random stranger into an old building? Yeah. But he had important stuff in his wallet! 

The man jumped up a flight of stairs and Marvin was on his tail. They ended up in a room and Marvin had him cornered. Sure, there was a door behind the hooded man, but Marvin doubted that it led to anywhere. 

He couldn’t see the man’s face because of how dark it was and he was hoping it was the same case for Marvin himself. The man straightened his posture and threw a punch at Marvin’s stomach. And holy shit, it hurts . Marvin hit him back, punching and kicking, patting the man down trying to figure out where he had hid his wallet. 

The two continued to kick and bite and Marvin even got a good scratch in. It was on the man’s face when when his nails made contact with his face the man sucked in his breath with a sharp his. It went on for god knows how long before the man opened the door behind him. He pulled Marvin into a bear hug and fell backwards. 

Suddenly Marvin was falling with this guy wrapped around him. Marvin tried to squirm to get the man off of him, but to no avail.

 Marvin hit the ground and he blacked out. 

====

When Marvin woke he was laying face down on a mattress. So he didn’t land on the hard ground. That was good. Sure, falling from a certain height and landing on a bed was better than solid ground, but it still hurt . None of his bones felt broken, but damn did his body hurt. He could feel the bruises forming. 

He sat up and looked around, he was in a bedroom, somewhat similar to Marvin’s own. There was a window which the bed was pushed up against, two nightstands and a closet. Marvin couldn’t tell what color the walls were because the room was so dark since the sun had set. 

The man Marvin fell down with was nowhere to be seen. Marvin got up and rubbed his head, which also hurt. He heard talking through the door. 

“Yes, I think I’ve got him.” The voice said. 

“Good. He’s woken up, you know what to do.” Another voice said. 

Marvin began to sweat. Were there other people in here with them? Marvin turned the doorknob as quietly as he could, trying not to startle the man. He opened the door and pulled his hood up as a way to somewhat protect himself. 

Marvin walked out into the main area, and it looked just like an apartment. There was an open kitchen which connected to the living room where the hooded man was standing. 

“What am I doing here?” Marvin croaked. 

The hooded man didn’t say anything, he just turned to face the TV and opened Marvin’s wallet. He took out his ID and held it up close to his face, trying to read it in the dimly lit room. The only thing lighting the room was the faux fireplace against the wall. 

The man dropped the wallet and Marvin’s ID, his hands un-moving from the spot he was holding them in. 

“I got the wrong person.” He shivered, his voice just above a whisper. 

“What are you talking about?” 

The man brought his hands up to his face, distraught. 

“Answer my question.” Marvin demanded. 

“How did I not know it was you, Marvin?” He asked, turning his face to Marvin, who still couldn’t make out who he was. 

“You know who I am?” Marvin asked, pulling his hood off and stepping closer to the man. 

“I-” 

The lights flicked on, straining Marvin’s eyes. The hooded man turned away, shielding his face. 

“Who are you?” Marvin huffed. 

The man turned around, his face facing the ground so that Marvin couldn’t see. He slowly took off his hood. 

Whizzer Brown was facing him. 

Marvin couldn’t stop his jaw from dropping. 

“Whizzer, what the fuck is going on?” Marvin asked, stepping closer to him. 

“Get away from me.” Whizzer spat a fury of anger and fear. 

“What do you mean ‘wrong guy’ tell me!” Marvin shouted. 

Whizzer hesitated, then clenched his fists. 

“What did I fucking say the day we first met?” Whizzer’s eyes were pure flames. 

“Not to get into the way of your work or you’d destroy me.” Marvin answered, shifting his weight from one leg to another. 

“You did the one thing I literally told you not to do!” 

“I still don’t know what’s going on! I didn’t know your job was taking people’s wallets and trapping them in random apartments!” Marvin shot back. 

“We had a tracker on him, he was supposed to be in the movie theater.” Whizzer paced back and forth. 

“Tell me what’s going on!” Marvin demanded. He was really getting fed up with this. 

Whizzer took a deep breath in. 

“I work for the C.I.A.” Whizzer started and Marvin was already lost. “For the past month and a half we’ve been trying to track down the person drugging the food and drinks. He lived in your apartment building. You were one of our suspects, which is why we, or I, needed to get closer to you.” 

“So you’re telling me the last month of my life, of our friendship or whatever we are, was a lie?” Marvin fumed. He really liked Whizzer, just to find out that everything was one big lie. 

Whizzer had a regretful look on his face. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. 

“It was at first,” Whizzer admitted, “But I really started to enjoy being around you. I haven’t been faking anything for a while now. We really do like you Marvin.” 

“Who’s we?” Marvin seethed. 

“Charlotte and Cordelia are in on it too. Just not as much as me. They’re part time.” 

Marvin laughed. He let out a big hearty laugh. 

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Marvin asked, with a smile on his face, he was losing his mind. 

“No, I’m not.” 

“Well how was I supposed to know that you worked for the fucking C.I.A? You can’t just say something like that and expect them to understand what you’re talking about, especially if you’re a fucking secret agent!” Marvin argued, spitting flames. 

“I’m sorry, Marvin, but I warned you.” Whizzer reasoned, knowing he was in the wrong. 

Marvin scoffed. 

“So what now?” Marvin asked, throwing his hands in the air. 

“Well, we’re stuck here for a month or so.” 

Marvin snapped. 

He took a seat at the couch and put his head in his hands. 

“I have to get back to my son, Whizzer! How did you not see him or Charlotte and Cordelia when you snatched my wallet?” Marvin shot. 

“I had to keep my face pointed at the ground so nobody would notice who I was.” 

Marvin felt a hot lump in his throat. 

“Stuck here. For a month. I’m definitely going to get fired, Trina’s gonna be concerned, my life is ruined.” Marvin felt his eyes getting wet. 

“Don’t act like you’re the only one who has to endure a month in here.” Whizzer said. 

“You’re the one who got us into this situation in the first place since you can’t do your damn job right!” 

“Oh I don’t want to hear anything come out of your mouth. This job is harder than anything you’ll even endure.” Whizzer fumed. 

“Now the drug lord is still on the streets not yet caught, what are they going to do? Put him in here with us?” Marvin argued, tears welling in his eyes. 

“I was doing my job the best I could!” 

“Well clearly not good enough!” Marvin stood up and walked over to the bedroom door. 

“I wish I never met you.” Whizzer murmured. 

“The feeling is mutual, prick!” Marvin exploded, storming into the bedroom and slamming the door behind him. 

Marvin punched the walls until his knuckles began to bleed. 

He cried himself to sleep.

Chapter Text

“ That’s just how I rule. 

In life and in school, 

With fear and shock and gall! 

You’re nothing until, 

The thrill of the kill, 

Becomes your only law! 

Your only law! 

Your only law! 

Blood in the water!” 

 Whizzer finished the song quietly, which was funny because it sounded like it was supposed to be loud and obnoxious. At least he was being somewhat quiet because he thought Marvin was sleeping. But ironically his singing woke Marvin up. 

Marvin rolled over to his back, staring up at the ceiling. There was a giant metal opening above him. Or, it looked like it was supposed to be opened. It was clamped tight with black and yellow tape on the side. It didn’t look like it was going to open any time soon. 

Marvin groaned, stretching his arms. He looked around, finally being able to analyze the room now that it was morning. The walls were a light yellow and the bed was white. Marvin was still in his clothes from the night before, including his shoes which he forgot to take off. 

He threw his shoes off and walked over to the closet, maybe there would be clothes that would fit him. Throwing open the door he was met with a hallway. He walked through it and walked into a walk-in closet. 

This was supposed to be for a drug king? Why a whole wardrobe? 

Marvin looked around, there were different sections each for different sizes. He found the section that was his size and threw on some pajamas. He randomly picked some bottoms and a t-shirt. There was a basket in the middle of the room and Marvin threw his clothes into it. He’d wash them later. 

He left the ginormous closet and re-entered the bedroom. He stood near the exit to the room, listening for Whizzer. 

After not hearing anything for a minute or two he gently opened the door. He looked around. Whizzer was laying on the couch watching some random low quality play. He was still in his clothes from yesterday, which meant he didn’t go into the bedroom while Marvin was sleeping. He tried to not be noticed as he sneaked into the kitchen. 

The second he opened the fridge Whizzer made a grunting noise. 

“Morning.” Marvin croaked. 

“Mhm.”

Marvin searched through the cabinets over and over again looking for a cup, but he couldn’t find any. 

“Oh my fuckin’ god.” Marvin huffed under his breath. 

“What are you looking for?” Whizzer asked from the couch. 

“Cup.” 

Whizzer groaned as he got up from the couch, walking over to Marvin. He reached down next to Marvin to a drawer next to the fridge. He opened it and there were flimsy silicone cups. 

“Why are they in a drawer? Why are they not glass or something?” Marvin asked, taking a green cup from the drawer. 

“They’re in the drawer because the people who arranged this room are weird, and they’re silicone so that you can't break them.” Whizzer explained, squeezing a cup. “If there’s someone we need answers from, they can't kill themself while they’re in here. That's why there’s no sharp edges or objects. The phone chargers are also super short.” 

“What if they tried to bash their head against the wall or something?” Marvin asked, filling the cup with tap water. 

“Someone would come in through that door,” Whizzer pointed to a door at the corner of the room near a trash can. “ Normally , they’re able to open it.” Whizzer said with spite. 

“So why can’t they open it now?” Marvin scoffed, putting the cup down. 

“Before you woke up and we had the argument, I was talking to Charlotte, she explained to me that they wouldn’t be able to open the door for about a month, and that I would have to keep the person I originally intended to bring here drugged and tied up constantly since I couldn’t get out and didn’t want to put myself in danger. But, since it’s just you I don’t have to do that.” 

“Is she in here somewhere?” Marvin looked around. 

“No, I can communicate with her through the TV.” Whizzer shrugged like it was obvious. 

Marvin pinched the bridge of his nose. “Of course.” He mumbled. 

“I should probably give you a tour.” Whizzer crossed his arms. 

“That would be nice.” Marvin rolled his eyes. 

Whizzer walked around, opening the doors. There was a bathroom and an office space. Marvin thought that was a bit weird. 

Marvin dug out his phone from his pocket. He had absolutely no service or wifi. 

“Why do they have an office if there’s no internet?” Marvin scoffed, returning his phone to his pocket. 

“You’re allowed to have access to the internet but it’s monitored. If they see you trying to communicate with anyone they will shut it off.” Whizzer said, sipping from his cup. 

“This is so stupid.” Marvin put his head in his hands as he took a seat at the couch. 

“Tell me about it.” Whizzer huffed, walking into the bedroom. 

Marvin watched the musical-play-thing Whizzer had on the TV. The characters sang and danced perfectly, if only the quality was higher so you were able to make out who’s who. The main girl was lamenting about failing her classes and losing her “man.” 

Whizzer came back and he was wearing stylish pajamas. A lot better looking compared to Marvin’s. 

He sat down on the opposite side of the couch and they watched the musical in silence. Every so often Whizzer would let out a chuckle at a joke and Marvin would scoff at something stupid accompanied with an eye roll. 

When it ended Whizzer turned to him. 

“We should probably set some ground rules.” Whizzer suggested. 

Marvin nodded. 

“We get the bed every other night. So like, I’ll get Monday, you get Tuesday, and it keeps going like that.” 

“Sounds respectable.” Marvin agreed. 

“When you wake up you have to let me into the room so I can change my clothes. Also after showers.” 

Marvin nodded. 

“Don’t try to get in each other’s business.” Marvin added. 

“We should probably write this down.” Whizzer said. 

After an hour or two of bickering about what should be what they came up with a list. 

Marvin and Whizzer’s list of rules: 

• We switch who uses the bed every other night

• If someone asks to change their clothes or use the closet you must let them

• Don’t get into one another’s business

• Share the TV. Ex: Someone watches an episode of something then the other person can watch one episode. (This also applies to movies) 

• Whizzer can’t sing too loud / all the time

• Marvin can’t be a bitch all the time

• Marvin can’t hog the computer 

• We will leave each other alone 

• We will coexist fitfully

• Take turns making dinner

• Try not to bicker all the time 

“Where do we get food to cook?” Marvin asked, pointing at rule number nine. 

“They refill the kitchen with food every so often.” 

“How?” 

“They turn the inside of the fridges and pantry inside out and fill them up with food.” 

“They can do that but they can’t free us?” Marvin chastised. 

“Well they weren’t expecting you to be here, I knew that I was going to be stuck in here for a month.” Whizzer taunted. 

“You just have to make it seem like it’s my fault.” Marvin crossed his arms. 

“It’s both of our fault.” Whizzer rolled his eyes. 

“One more than the other.” Marvin shot under his breath as he walked into the bedroom. 

Day 3: 

Marvin woke up with an aching back. He rubbed the tiredness out of his eyes and walked to the bathroom. He took off his clothes and turned on the water to the shower. As he waited for the water to heat up he stared at himself in the mirror. His hair was flying in several different places and his usual eye-bags were about 10 times worse. 

He sighed and stepped into the shower and closed the curtain. Thankfully, the curtain was not see through so if Whizzer needed to come in to use the bathroom it wouldn’t be as awkward. 

The warm water against his cold skin felt amazing. Early morning showers when it was still somewhat dark were the best. He closed his eyes and let his mind drift as he stood there. 

How does Jason feel right now? That his father is missing? Maybe he doesn’t know that he’s missing. Maybe Charlotte and Cordelia made up some deliberate lie to make Jason think that there’s nothing going on. He’s probably back at Trina’s. What are Trina and Mendel thinking? That he took Jason to only have Charlotte and Cordelia bring him back to Trina’s? They probably think that he’s unreliable. He’s not going to have Jason for a full week for a while . He’s also probably getting fired from his job. That’s a no brainer. Sure, Marvin did have 2 and a half weeks of vacation time, but that wasn’t enough to cover his stay. 

There was a knocking coming from the door. 

“Marvin?” Whizzer called. 

“What?” Marvin responded, lathering his hair with conditioner. 

“Can I come in?” 

“Sure.” 

He heard the door open and suddenly Marvin felt a lot more vulnerable. Whizzer could just move the curtain and Marvin would be completely powerless. Why should he trust him? He put his trust into him for the past month and where did that get him? So why should he trust him now? Marvin rinsed his hair. 

The sink was turned on followed by a scraping sound. Whizzer was probably brushing his teeth or something. 

Marvin put conditioner in his hair then washed his body twice over. Whizzer was still in the bathroom by the time he had rinsed everything out. He sure took a long time to brush his teeth. 

He turned off the shower. 

“Uh, Whizzer?” Marvin asked, grabbing his attention. 

“Hm?” 

“Can you hand me a towel?” Marvin scratched his arm. 

Whizzer stuck his arm through the curtain, thankfully he didn’t see Marvin. Marvin wrapped the towel around his body and stepped out of the shower. The room was full of mist and the mirror was fogged up. Whizzer had both of his hands on the sink, he was looking down at them. 

“What are you doing?” Marvin asked, looking at Whizzer’s hands. 

“Thinking.” 

“Can’t you do that outside?” Marvin scoffed. 

“No.” 

“O-kay.” Marvin shrugged as he scooted past Whizzer and out into the main part of the apartment. 

The rest of the day went by awfully quiet. Whizzer spent all of his time in the room, which meant Marvin had full control over the TV. He felt awful as the sun set. He yearned to go outside, which was new to him because Marvin hated being outside. 

The best he could get for fresh air was a window in the bathroom which barely opened. Sure, they had air conditioning and heating which would be nice in literally any other situation besides this one. 

Day 4: 

Being able to sleep in the bed was like heaven compared to the couch. His legs didn’t hang off of the ends and he was able to sleep like a normal person. Of course, the bed wasn’t the best thing he’s ever slept on but it was definitely better than the couch. 

Marvin walked into the main part of the apartment. Whizzer was up and making breakfast. There was a plate of pancakes on the counter. 

“‘Morning.” Marvin said, reaching around Whizzer so he could grab a cup. 

“Good morning!” Whizzer smiled at him. 

“Why are you so happy?” Marvin asked in a mumble as he filled his cup up with tap water. 

“Look!” Whizzer said, pointing to the open fridge. 

It looked the same. 

“I don’t get it, it looks the same as it has for the past few days.” Marvin shrugged, taking a sip from his cup. 

Whizzer pointed to a giant tray of Redbull. 

“Oh my god.” Marvin pinched the bridge of his nose. 

Whizzer chuckled, flipping another pancake. 

“How many have you had?” Marvin asked. 

“Two, I think.” Whizzer added the pancake to the plate. 

“Whizzer, it’s 8 in the morning.” Marvin couldn’t help himself from smiling. 

“I know!” 

The rest of the day went by slowly. Marvin cleaned the apartment from head to toe, and he had done so in 2 hours, which meant he had barely used up his 16 hours of awake time. He couldn’t take a nap to pass the time because he wouldn’t go to sleep when he normally would want to later. 

He searched the apartment high and low to try to find something to do. They had board games, but he didn’t really want to act all “buddy buddy” with Whizzer, he was still insanely mad at him, it was just tiring to be pissed all the time. 

Marvin went on the computer for about 3 hours, playing any game he could get his hands on. He could feel his brain cells dying. 

Day 8: 

They were only about a week into their stay and things were starting to go downhill. Marvin woke up to Whizzer singing. He was allowed to sing, but just not loud enough to wake Marvin up. He broke a rule. 

Truth be told, only some rules applied. Marvin rarely used the computer and they cooked their own dinners. But Marvin still made that rule for a reason . 

Marvin shuffled out of the bedroom and into the living area. 

“Can you be quiet?” Marvin asked, but it was more of an order. 

“Fine.” Whizzer huffed, crossing his arms. 

Marvin went back into his room and fell asleep for about half an hour before he was woken up by Whizzer’s singing again. 

“Dude, are you fucking kidding me?” Marvin cursed, staring daggers at Whizzer. 

“Sorry, I didn’t know you went back to sleep.” Whizzer shrugged. 

Marvin rolled his eyes and sat down on the couch. 

The thing Whizzer was watching was interrupted by Charlotte showing up on the TV. 

Whizzer’s face lit up. 

“Hey! Any good news?” He asked, sitting up. 

“Hey guys! And no.” Charlotte greeted. 

Whizzer’s face fell. 

“Boss just wanted me to tell you that you’re on thin ice after this. If we don’t catch him before you guys get out you have a high chance of being let go.” Charlotte looked pitiful. 

“Oh. Okay.” Whizzer said. 

“That’s it. Bye.” She said then the screen flashed back to the show Whizzer was watching. 

Whizzer looked like he took the information pretty well. His expression hasn’t changed, which was maybe a good thing. 

“You okay?” Marvin asked. 

“Yeah, I’m just going to take a nap. You can kick me out if I haven’t moved in 3 hours, check the sensors.” Whizzer said as he stood up. 

“Sensors?” Marvin cocked his head to the side. 

“Yeah, the motion sensors?” Whizzer looked at Marvin like he had 4 heads. “You can check them on the TV.” Whizzer motioned to the remote in front of Marvin. 

“Oh.”

“Yeah.” Whizzer scratched the back of his neck then retreated to the bedroom. 

Marvin flipped through the channels on the TV before he found it. The screen was completely black except for the outline of Whizzer laying in the bed. He watched as he breathed. That was so weird. Yes, this is a C-I-A owned apartment, but watching people’s movements in the bedroom was crazy. 

After 4 hours Whizzer hadn’t moved. 

Marvin got up and banged on the door. 

No response. 

“Whizzer? I let you sleep in for an extra hour, your time’s up.” Marvin called as he pounded on the door. 

“Leave me alone.” Whizzer said coldly from the other side of the door. 

“It’s not your night with the bed! You had two in a row which means I get 2 in a row!” Marvin’s brows furrowed. 

“Marvin stop.” His voice was louder which meant he was close to the door. 

“Just let me in.” Marvin demanded. 

The door opened. 

Whizzer walked over to the bed and sat down. 

“What’s wrong?” Marvin asked, standing in front of him. 

“You know exactly what’s wrong.” Whizzer spat, staring at Marvin with hatred. 

“Not really, unless it’s being stuck here together.” Marvin put his hands in his pockets. 

“I’m going to get fired from my job because you just had to go to the movie theater while he was there.” Whizzer’s voice cracked as he spoke, a mix of rage and sadness. 

“I didn’t know you were a fucking CIA agent, I say this every single time we argue about this.” Marvin retaliated. 

“Charlotte or Delia should’ve said something. They were probably rooting for me to get fired.” Whizzer pulled his knees up to his chest. 

“I’m sorry they didn’t Whizzer. But it’s both of our faults that we’re here. We both have to accept that.” Marvin explained. 

He was somewhat surprised. Whizzer was usually the more matured one when it came to serious things, but this time it was Marvin. 

“I wish we never met.” Whizzer mumbled into his knees. 

Marvin frowned. 

Whizzer shouldn’t be mad. Marvin should be mad. He had every single right to be mad at Whizzer, to be furious, but he wasn’t. He couldn’t find the energy to be. Sure, the last month of his life had been a lie, but he still liked Whizzer. He was still his friend.

Marvin really liked Whizzer. 

Hell, he loved him. 

Whizzer made a mistake, sure a terrible one at that, but still a mistake. He was human. All humans made mistakes. 

“You can sleep in here tonight. You owe me one though.” Marvin said calmly walking over to the door. 

“Fuck off Marvin.” 

And he did.

Chapter Text

“I’m lonely but no one can tell 

Oh, yes, I’m the great pretender 

Adrift in a world of my own

I play the game but to my real shame 

You’ve left me to dream all alone 

Too real is this feeling of make believe 

Too real when I feel what my heart can’t conceal 

Oh, oh, yes, I’m the great pretender.” 

Marvin swayed back and forth through the living room as he danced. He was never a good dancer, but it sure was fun. Whizzer couldn’t come out and complain because Marvin had given him the bed for the night, an act of mercy. 

He kept dancing, if you could even call it that. He kept tripping over his own feet, bumping into things, knocking objects over, and falling to the floor a couple times, yet he still danced. Partly to piss off Whizzer because he was bored, and partly because it was fun. 

The song changed to a Queen song. Somebody to Love. Marvin grinned, he loved this song! He began to hum along for the first half then his humming soon came to full on singing. 

“Can you turn that down?” Whizzer asked, standing in the doorway to the bedroom. “I’m trying to wallow in sadness over here.” 

“Sorry, if you get the bed two days in a row that means no rules apply for the second day, and now that I’m thinking about it, there’s no rule against me singing.” Marvin said as he shuffled his body to the song. 

“Your dancing alone is making me even madder than I was before.” Whizzer sneered, staring daggers at Marvin. 

“It’s not that bad.” Marvin smirked, making his dancing worse on purpose to piss Whizzer off. 

“You’re dancing like this is an up-beat song, and it’s not, ” Whizzer mumbled, walking over to Marvin. “Have you ever slow danced before?” Whizzer asked, standing in front of Marvin. 

“No.” Marvin smirked.

“Not even at your wedding?” Whizzer’s eyes flew wide. 

“Nope.” Marvin responded. 

Whizzer sighed and shook his head. 

“Just let me guide you.” Whizzer took Marvin’s hand’s in his, putting them around Whizzer’s neck. 

Marvin didn’t say anything. He looked up at Whizzer, who still had a tinge of anger in his eyes, but besides that looked concentrated. All of Marvin’s cockiness had melted away the second his skin hit Whizzer’s. He hadn’t been this close to him in what felt like forever. Sure, their fingers would brush against one another when handing each other items, but that was nothing like this. Marvin had to drown the urge to stand on his tip-toes and kiss him. 

“Normally, I’d be the one putting my arms around your neck, but because you’re like, 2 feet tall, we’ll have to switch roles.” He shrugged. 

Marvin nodded, seemingly in a trance. Whizzer noticed this and the corner of his mouth turned upwards ever so slightly. 

“Just follow my lead.” Whizzer said softly. 

He moved his foot to the left and Marvin quickly followed. Then backwards, which meant Marvin had to move his foot forward. Then to the right. Back. Left. Front. Right. Back. Left. Front. Right. Back. Left. Front. Right. 

Marvin smiled, he was getting a hang of the dance. Sure, he had been staring at his feet the entire time, making sure he made little to no mistakes, but he gained enough confidence to look Whizzer in the eye. 

When he looked up, Whizzer was staring at him. Marvin couldn’t read his face. It was like he had just experienced a new emotion Marvin himself never had the chance of feeling. His face had a look of analysis: furrowed brows, sharp gaze, slightly parted mouth. But his eyes were telling a different story. Like he had re-experienced a childhood memory, like he had just seen a friend after they came back from their vacation. 

Marvin himself must’ve been staring for too long because Whizzer asked, “Why are you looking at me like that?” His normal smirk was back. 

“I don’t know, why are you looking at me like that?” Marvin shot back, their playful bickering making a comeback. 

The song ended and nothing came after it, silence filled the apartment. 

“Hold on.” Whizzer said, pulling away from Marvin and grabbing the remote. 

Marvin immediately felt colder and more isolated now that he wasn’t being held by Whizzer. He watched as Whizzer opened YouTube on the TV and typed “Frank Sinatra.” He clicked on the first video, a song Marvin was very familiar with. 

Whizzer returned and Marvin immediately fell into him, longing for a warmth that he would never be able to get by himself. Whizzer pulled him in closer, practically into a hug. The two stood there, swaying to the music. Marvin laid his head against Whizzer’s chest, listening to his heart beat. Whizzer rubbed Marvin’s back. 

Marvin really missed this. Has it only happened one or two times? Yes. 

“Why did you let me take the bed?” Whizzer asked, shrugging himself over so he could lay his head on Marvin’s shoulder. 

“You seemed like you needed it.” Marvin said softly. 

“But I told you I wish I’d never met you.” 

“I know you didn’t mean it.” 

“How?” 

“Well, we wouldn’t be in the position we’re currently in if you did.” Marvin pointed out. 

Whizzer chuckled. 

“This is so stupid.” He scoffed. 

“Tell me about it.” Marvin giggled. 

“Why do we have to fight like this? Why can’t things go back to the way they were?” Whizzer asked. 

“I’m not sure, but I’m not mad about being stuck here with you any more.” Marvin shrugged. 

“Really?” 

“Yeah. I realized that if I was able to choose who I’d be stuck with for a month, it’d be you.” 

Marvin wasn’t lying. He loved Whizzer, and nothing was going to change that. 

Whizzer stood there thinking. They had stopped moving, standing there holding one another. 

“Marv?” Whizzer asked after a minute or two.

“What?” 

“Do you still want to kiss me?” Whizzer asked, breath hot against Marvin’s shoulder. 

“What do you mean?” 

“Remember when you had asked if you could kiss me when we shared the bed together?” 

“Yeah.” 

“Do you still want to kiss me?” Whizzer asked, pulling away from Marvin, but only a few inches so that he could meet his gaze. 

“Yes.” Marvin didn’t hesitate with his response. 

They stood there for a second or two. 

“Are you going to kiss me? Or am I going to have to do it myself?” Whizzer asked, annoyed. 

Marvin slowly inched his mouth closer to Whizzer's, afraid that if he even touched the surface of his lips Whizzer would disappear. 

He closed the gap and they kissed. 

Marvin nearly passed out. He felt like a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. He reached his hands up and cupped Whizzer’s face, who leaned into the kiss with a sigh. Marvin had kissed women before, but nothing would ever compare to this . 

He was filled with a certain type of glee. Is this what love felt like? The thing he had been searching for his whole life was currently kissing him. 

They pulled away from one another to catch their breath, resting their foreheads against another’s. 

Marvin smiled a stupid giddy smile. Whizzer did too. They burst into a fit of giggles. Whizzer picked up Marvin and spun him around. 

“How about we both share the bed tonight.” Whizzer whispered. 

It was going to be a long night. 

==== 

Marvin woke up with a couple hickies along his neck and collarbone. He couldn’t see them but boy could he feel them. Whizzer was laying on top of Marvin, resting his head on Marvin’s chest. He was still asleep and Marvin watched as his chest rose and fell. 

He felt complete, in a way. 

He stroked Whizzer’s head. 

Day 11: 

The days went by a lot faster now that things were fixed between the two. They would sit on the couch and cuddle while binging random TV shows on Netflix. They fell into a routine. Get up, shower (sometimes together), make breakfast, watch TV for a few hours, (attempt to) work out, talk, make lunch, go on the computer together, make dinner, go to bed. 

When they talked it was usually about Whizzer’s job. His old missions, why he became an agent in the first place, and why he moved to New York.” 

“Nebraska just wasn’t for me.” He would say. 

Day 28: 

They would be out soon, that’s all that Marvin was focusing on. Whizzer seemed to be more gloomy as the day of their release would be upon them. 

Marvin noticed this as they were making breakfast. He was biting the skin off of his lip, a thing Marvin noticed Whizzer did when he was nervous. Marvin hugged him from behind, resting his head on his back. 

“What’s wrong?” He asked. 

“They’re going to fire me.” Whizzer sighed, stopping what he was doing. 

“That doesn’t sound that bad, you could always get a new job.” Marvin reasoned. 

“It’s hard.” Whizzer turned to face Marvin. 

“Well, I have to find a new job too, probably, so we’re in the same shoes.” Marvin smiled up at him.

“Marvin, you don’t understand what they do when you get fired.” Whizzer looked away with a tinge of fear in his eyes. 

Marvin reached his hands up and cupped Whizzer’s face, who immediately sunk into Marvin’s embrace. 

“Well whatever it is, we’ll get through it together.” Marvin reassured. 

He wasn’t lying. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with Whizzer, and if that meant he’d be stuck here forever he’d stay. He’d pull the stars down from the sky if Whizzer asked him to. 

“What are we?” Marvin asked, looking up at him. 

“What do you want us to be?” 

“Boyfriends,” Marvin blushed, it was embarrassing. 

“Okay then.” Whizzer shrugged, wrapping his arms around Marvin. 

“Is that it?”

“Yeah, there’s no big confetti cannon or a chorus of singers who pop out of nowhere.” Whizzer smiled down at him. 

“Oh.” Marvin was embarrassed. 

Day 31: 

Today was the day they were going to be released, or supposed to be released. The entire day the two sat on the couch, keeping an eye on the door, waiting for it to open. 

“It’s never gonna happen.” Whizzer groaned, sprawling himself over the couch. 

“Yes, it will, they have to get us out eventually .” 

Just as he said that the door flew open, a tall man with sunglasses was staring at them. The two spared a glance, one of hope and one of terror before they were ushered out of the room. 

Marvin was pulled away from Whizzer by two agents. They brought him into a room and sat across from him. He was so confused. 

“Hello sir,” The first one said, keeping a straight face. 

“Hi?” 

“We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience. We understand that you were falsely taken in by one of our agents here, and you will be rewarded for your hardships.” He said, expression not changing. 

“Okay ... .thanks?” Marvin looked around the room. 

“You will be brought back to your home shortly.” The other agent smiled at him. 

What was Marvin’s life?

Chapter Text

“ Park that car, 

Drop that phone, 

Sleep on the floor, 

Dream about me.  

Park that car, 

Drop that phone, 

Sleep on the floor, 

Dream about me.” 

Marvin was escorted back to his apartment and when he opened the door he nearly shed a tear. He was so happy to finally be home, even if it didn’t have unlimited food and water access. 

He creeped over to his bed and flopped down on it, letting out a sigh of relief as his stomach hit his bed. He wanted to give in to the feeling of sleep overtaking him, but he got up and inspected the house. 

Everything was the same as before, nothing had been touched. His jacket was still in the same place it was before they went to the movies, and his dishes in the sink were still dirty. 

He was going to have to talk to Charlotte and Cordelia about everything that happened at some point, but he was too emotionally and mentally tired to do so. 

He looked down at his phone, which now had service. 

42 miss calls from Trina, along with about a hundred texts. 

Two missing calls from Mendel, no texts. 

No texts or calls from both Charlotte and Cordelia. 

Trina: Marvin you have some explaining to do!!! 

Trina: I swear to god Marvin if you don’t get your ass over to my house right now I’m going to kill you! 

Trina: Fine, I’ll go to your’s, but you’re not getting out of this! 

Trina: Marvin? 

The next few texts were from the next day. 

Trina: Marvin, sweetie, where are you? 

Trina: We’re starting to get worried. 

Marvin frowned, did anybody even bother to tell Trina anything? She probably thought Marvin was dead by now. 

I’m fine. He typed out before deleting it. This was going to need an explanation. A lengthy one. 

After about 15 minutes he had come up with what he thought was a sufficient response to everything that happened. 

Marvin: Hey, Trina, sorry I wasn’t at my house or responding for about a month. I got trapped by the man who took my wallet, don’t worry, I’m not hurt or anything like that. He fed me everyday, which was nice. The police just found me and returned both my phone and my wallet back to me. Oddly, they didn’t use any of my money for some reason. I can take Jason this weekend if you need me to. :) 

Was he being a total liar? Yes, yes he was. Could he tell her that he was trapped in an apartment with Whizzer who was also apparently a CIA agent? Not really. 

Marvin opened his and Whizzer’s texts. 

Marvin: Hey, I don’t know if you’ve been fired yet or not, but can you come over so we can talk? 

Marvin remembered how horrified Whizzer looked when he talked about getting fired. He felt bad for him. They’d find a way to get through it together. 

His phone chimed. 

Whizzer: Omg I was just about to text you if I could come over. I also need to talk to you about something, probably not the same thing though. Is Jason there? 

Marvin was surprised at how fast he texted him back. 

Marvin: No, Jason isn’t here, just me. 

Whizzer: Good. I’ll be there in 10. 

==== 

Ten minutes later a knocking noise came from the door. Marvin got up and opened it and Whizzer was standing in front of him. He seemed a bit happier than he was when they left the apartment. 

He scooped Marvin up in a hug, taking him off guard. Marvin hugged him back, leaning into his touch. 

“So what did you want to talk about?” Marvin asked, sneaking behind Whizzer and closing the door. 

“I’m not being fired!” He beamed at Marvin. 

“That’s great!” Marvin smiled back at him, walking over to the kitchen. 

“It is! But…,” Whizzer trailed off, following behind Marvin and grabbing himself a cup. He had been over to Marvin’s so many times he didn’t have to ask for anything anymore. 

“But?” Marvin quirked a brow. 

“You have to help me.” Whizzer filled the cup up with tap water. 

Marvin stared at him, waiting for him to continue. 

“So you know the drug lord that I was trying to catch in the first place?” Whizzer asked, fiddling with the cup in his hand. 

Marvin nodded. 

“Well, we still need to catch him, and since you know that I’m a CIA agent now my boss thought that you should help.” 

“Fine. But you owe me.” Marvin shot him a glare. 

“Okay, we need to plan.” Whizzer put his cup down and pulled a gadget out of his pocket. 

It was a little black box with a blue circle on it. Whizzer clicked the circle and a hologram showed up, it was a map of the building. Marvin stared at it in awe. 

“How does that even work?” He asked 

“Honestly, I don’t really know. They haven’t really explained it to me.” 

“They?”

“The scientists who work on it.” He explained, moving the 3D model of the apartment building. 

“We think that the suspect lives on the 5th floor. His name is currently unknown, but we have an idea on what he looks like.” Whizzer pointed at the 5th floor. 

“Okay so what do we have to do?” 

“Basically the same thing we just went through.” Whizzer explained making a gesture between the two. 

“Will you get stuck again?” 

“No, I’ll just push him into the hole this time…Hopefully.” Whizzer turned off the hologram. 

“I don’t want you to go missing for a month.” Marvin crossed his arms. “You need to be more careful.” He lightly hit him on the shoulder with the back of his hand. 

“I will, scout’s honor.” He smirked, raising 3 fingers in the air. 

Marvin rolled his eyes. 

Whizzer scratched his chin. “We’ll have to get him while he’s out.” 

“How?” 

Whizzer smirked at him. 

Marvin was sitting across from the supposed “drug lord” on a date. He couldn’t be happier! Sarcasm was flowing through his blood. Surprisingly the guy looked like any other normal New Yorker. He had black shaggy hair, pale skin, and dimples. He looked a bit younger than Marvin, mid-twenties, Marvin was guessing. 

He had no clue that Jarred, if that’s even his real name, swung that way. Marvin had an image of an old man smoking a cigar with suspenders and salty hair in his head when he imagined the drug lord. Not a lonely looking 25 year old. 

Marvin was surprised that the restaurant was even open in the first place, since before he had gone missing for a month they were all closed down. Maybe they had stopped drugging the food so frequently. 

Jarred seemed interested in Marvin. They had matched on some random gay dating website and Jarred immediately asked to go on a date. He probably just wanted to drug his food or something. 

After they finished ordering their food, Marvin got a steak and Jarred got a salad, Jarred turned to him and asked, “So how long have you lived in New York?” He had his cheek resting on the heel of his hand. He looked smitten and Marvin felt somewhat bad because if this guy actually did like him he would be breaking his heart. 

“The city or the state?” Marvin cocked his head to the side. 

“City.” 

“About 15 years or so.” Marvin shrugged. 

“So you’re used to life here?” 

“Yeah, I used to work as an accountant for like, 6 years, so I’m used to the ‘9 to 5 lifestyle.’” Marvin smirked at him, taking a sip of his drink, except he didn’t. He put his mouth up to the straw and swallowed his spit to make it look like he was drinking it. He had to make sure that he stayed safe. He couldn’t be drugged mid date. 

“What happened?” 

“I got fired?” 

“Why?” 

“They wanted ‘younger people’ in the workplace.” Marvin lied with a scoff. 

“How old are you?” 

“Old enough.” Marvin looked down at his fingers. 

There was silence. 

“Why are you in New York?” Marvin asked, trying to spark conversation.

“Well, I came for school, computer science, but I never ended up really needing to go to college anyways.” Jarred took a sip of his drink. 

“Why not?” 

“My job doesn’t require any of that stuff.” He explained. 

“What’s your job?” 

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” He playfully flirted with a wink. 

Marvin felt gross. Especially since Whizzer was sitting nearby at a table by himself. 

“I would.” Marvin flirted back, holding back a gag. 

Their food came, and Marvin cautiously took a bite. After a few minutes of no symptoms he was able to actually eat his food. 

“Are you enjoying your food?” Jarred asked, swallowing a forkful of his salad. 

“Mhm, It’s really good.” Marvin smiled. “Thank you for taking me here, do you want to split the bill?”

“Sure.” Jarred looked at him with some kind of intent Marvin couldn’t quite understand. 

They finished their food and the waiter came with the bill. Jarred got out his wallet and on cue Whizzer came up in his hoodie, snatched it, and ran. Jarred’s eyes shot open. 

“Dude, that guy just fucking took my wallet!” He exclaimed, standing up from his chair. 

“Go chase him or something, I don’t know!” Marvin tried to act like he was surprised. 

Jarred nodded at him and booked it out of the restaurant. The waiter came up to Marvin. 

“What happened?”

“My date just got his wallet stolen, I’ll pay the bill.” Marvin said, handing the waiter his card. 

The waiter shrugged, took the card, and walked away. 

====

An hour and a half later Marvin returned back to his apartment with no word from Whizzer. He was a little worried. Was he stuck in the apartment again? Was it the wrong guy? 

Marvin took a deep breath as he walked into the hallway and to Charlotte and Cordelia’s door. 

He raised his fist up to the door but hesitated before knocking. Would they be home? Would they want to see him? Marvin was about to turn back to his apartment before the door opened and Cordelia was looking at him with wide eyes. 

“Marvin! Where have you been? We haven’t heard from you in weeks! I missed you!” She exclaimed while trapping Marvin in a hug. 

“Delia, I know everything, you don’t have to act like I’m stupid anymore.” Marvin looked down at her. 

“Oh.” She frowned, pulling away from him. “Well I wasn’t lying when I said I missed you.” 

Marvin smiled softly. 

“Why don’t you come inside?” She offered, opening the door. 

Marvin stepped into the apartment where Charlotte was staring at him like he had just killed someone. 

“Hi?” Marvin felt uncomfortable under Charlotte’s glare. 

She got up and walked over to him, looking him up and down furiously. 

“We missed you, man!” She wrapped him into a hug. 

Marvin laughed nervously. 

“You need to fill us in on everything that happened!” Charlotte demanded, pulling away and walking over to the couch. 

“Don’t you already know what happened?” Marvin quirked a brow. 

“We know the overarching story, but not the details of what happened there.” Cordelia chimed in. 

==== 

“So you guys hated each other in the beginning?” Delia asked, intertwining her finger’s with Charlotte’s.  

“Yeah, it was awful.” Marvin chuckled. 

“How did you make up?” Charlotte asked. 

Marvin felt his face flush, hopefully Cordelia and Charlotte wouldn’t notice. Marvin told them almost everything about his stay. He left out the details of him hooking up and becoming boyfriends with Whizzer. He wanted Whizzer to be there for the announcement, even if it was something as small as a text.

“You’re being weird.” Charlotte pointed out looking at him trying to assess what he was thinking. 

“We talked about the whole situation and now we’re friends again. Nothing more.” 

Cordelia barked out a laugh. “That’s definitely B.S.” 

“Changing the subject, I had to help him trap the drug lord today.” 

Both of their eyes opened in surprise. 

“Really? Did they find out who it was?” Cordelia asked, leaning towards Marvin who was sitting in the arm chair across from the couch. 

“I don’t know. The last time I saw Whizzer was when he took the guy’s wallet. He hasn’t texted me back. I really hope he’s not stuck in the apartment again.” Marvin’s smile fell as he said the last sentence. 

“It’s going to be okay.” Charlotte met Marvin’s eyes with sympathy. “Hopefully it’s the right guy this time.” She kid. 

Marvin rolled his eyes. 

“I should probably go back to my place, I want to take a nap. I didn’t really get the best sleep in the apartment.” Marvin said, getting up. 

“We’ll see you later!” Cordelia waved goodbye.

“Tell us if Whizzer texts you!” Charlotte said as Marvin left the room. 

Marvin reached his bedroom and flopped down on his bed. 

His phone vibrated. He had a new notification. 

Whizzer: You need to get here. Now.

Chapter Text

“To your joy I tether

Not a lot, just forever

Intertwined, sewn together 

Like the rock bears the weather

Not a lot, just forever.” 

Marvin looked down at his phone in shock. 

Marvin: Get where? I don’t know where you are. 

Whizzer was typing. 

Whizzer: Do you remember where we got stuck? It’s the building right next to it. 

Marvin: I’ll be there soon. 

Whizzer: hurry. 

Marvin ran to grab his sweatshirt and car keys. Not bothering to wait for the elevator he ran down the stairwell. He sprinted to his car, put the key in the engine, and drove off. He first went to the movie theater, then slowly retraced his steps. 

He finally had reached the building. Thankfully there was parking since this was in a part of the city that no one really went to. Marvin parked his car and looked up at the abandoned building. The building that had held him hostage for a month. The building where he learned to hate but also to forgive. Marvin frowned. 

Whizzer couldn’t possibly be in the apartment. It doesn’t have any service. Marvin looked to the building to the left of the abandoned building. Another abandoned building stood next to it. He’d never noticed it there. 

He slowly made his way over to the entrance. He knocked on the rotted wooden door. Nobody opened it. He knocked again. No answer. He decided to open the door and step inside. 

It was an old living room. There were cracks in the walls, and a window at the other side of the room letting in golden light from the sun. The wooden floors were chipped and scuffed. There was a rocking chair with a knitted pillow across from an old TV, one from the 70’s. Marvin walked in front of the TV, he stood on top of a faded circle rug, sharing the same yarn as the pillow. A series of faded pinks blues and purples. 

He looked at the TV and he found himself staring back. He creased his brows. Whizzer wasn’t here. There were no other doors in the room besides the one he walked in from. 

“Whizzer?” He called out. 

Nobody responded. 

Marvin scoffed and got out his phone. 

No new messages. 

There was a noise. 

Something like a clicking. 

The floor was taken out beneath Marvin. 

====

He woke up in a brightly lit room. He was sitting in a white office chair. He looked around. There was a wall of windows across from him, he could see a white hallway with a water dispenser. He was sitting at a sleek white table. The walls were a light blue and the carpet beneath him was a dark grey blue with a pattern of small lighter blue lines going across it. 

“You’re awake.” A voice greeted him. 

Marvin swiveled the chair so he could see behind him. A man wearing a navy blue suit was smiling at him. 

“Where am I?” He asked. 

“You know where you are, you’ve been here before.” The man explained, smiling. 

“Oh.” Marvin sighed. 

“Whizzer will be here in a moment, we need to have a conversation with you two.” The man adjusted his tie and left the room. 

There was some good news. Whizzer wasn’t trapped! Marvin felt like a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders.  

Hopefully he had gotten the right guy and the two would be able to go back to their normal mundane lives. 

Marvin wondered if Whizzer would move in with him. How would he explain their relationship to Jason? Jason knew he was gay, it might just be a little weird to see your baseball coach kiss your dad. 

Marvin would finally get the family he had always wanted. A nice husband, a son, and his best friends. Hell, even Mendel was a best friend. Sure, he had been dating Whizzer for only a week or so, but he was ready to spend the rest of his life with him.

He wouldn’t mind seeing the same honey brown eyes that made his stomach flip every time he saw them every morning. He wouldn’t mind the silly bickering. He wouldn’t mind introducing him to Trina and Mendel as his boyfriend. He wouldn’t mind growing old with him. 

He wouldn’t mind it at all. 

He was torn from his thoughts as an agent entered the room. She was wearing a black suit and a red tie and had her black hair up in a ponytail. She walked over to the table and took a seat across from Marvin. 

She didn’t say anything as she pulled out a stack of papers and laid them on the table. 

“He’ll be here soon.” She said, not making eye contact. 

And on cue, Whizzer entered the room. He had a goofy smile on his face like he had just won the lottery. 

Marvin couldn’t help himself from smiling when he laid eyes on him. He looked so happy, and that made Marvin happy. 

Whizzer walked over to Marvin’s side of the table and sat down next to him. 

“Shall we begin?” The woman asked, looking at Marvin and Whizzer. 

Marvin nodded his head and Whizzer did too. 

“Okay, so, we would like to congratulate you on successfully capturing the main drug lord, we’re very proud.” She read from the paper, expression un-changing. 

Marvin took Whizzer’s hand. 

“It was a hard task which surprisingly took only two people. You will be paid handsomely. Enough to cover a few years rent and then some. We thank you, Marvin Gardens.” She looked up at Marvin. 

Marvin’s brows furrowed. 

“What about Whizzer?” He asked. “Shouldn’t he be the one congratulated? He’s the one who did all the work.” 

She stared at Marvin like he had three heads. 

The tips of her mouth tugged up in a smirk for a split second then fell back to her neutral expression. 

“I was just getting to that.” She said, flipping over to the next page. 

“Whizzer Brown, you did an amazing job at capturing the drug lord,” The lady began. Marvin looked at Whizzer and beamed. 

“But, you have failed us on more than one occasion. This isn’t the first time you made a mistake working with us but it sure will be your last.” 

Marvin looked over to Whizzer who looked like he had just seen a ghost. 

“B-but, I captured the drug lord!” Whizzer exclaimed, standing up. 

“Yes you did, but the cons outweigh the pros in this situation. Do you not recall being told that this mission was your final chance to redeem yourself? Did you not think about that at all ?” The lady looked mad. 

“I did, but, I..” Whizzer looked around the room, trying to find something to save himself. Marvin sat there in awe. He felt just as scared as Whizzer right now. 

“We saved New York! People would still be getting drugged if not for us!” Whizzer argued, gesturing between himself and Marvin. 

“Key word: ‘us.’ If it was you by yourself then maybe, just maybe, you’d have a chance of still working with us.” She slammed the papers down on the table. 

“I-” 

“Do you want me to remind you of everything you did wrong on this mission? Or do you already know?” She glared at him. 

“I know everything I did wrong!” Whizzer slammed his hands down on the table. 

“Oh, do you really? Why don’t you share with the class then?” She spat. 

Whizzer crossed his arms and glared at her in silence. 

“If you’re not going to do it, I will.” She stood up. 

“Number one, getting too close to a possible suspect,” she shot a glare at Marvin. “Number two, capturing and endangering the wrong suspect. Number 3, revealing not only your own, but TWO other agent’s identities to said suspect. Number 4, setting back the hunt for the drug lord by a month because you got stuck in the trap room. Number 5, using a civilian to help you with your mission. Do you want me to keep going?” She snarled. 

Marvin looked over at Whizzer with an overwhelming pity. Not all of those things were necessarily bad to him. If Whizzer had never gotten close to Marvin they wouldn’t have really met . 

“To put it clearly, in case you haven’t caught on yet, you’re fired.” 

Whizzer fell back into the chair, bringing his knees up to his head, burying his face so it couldn’t be seen. 

“The boss will be here soon. You know what’s going to happen. Say your goodbyes.” The agent said, shooting one final glare at Marvin before she left the room. 

“Say your final goodbyes? What the fuck is she talking about?” Marvin put his hands on Whizzer’s shoulders. 

Whizzer looked up from behind his legs, his eyes were bloodshot and tears were running down his cheeks. 

“Marv,” He croaked. 

Marvin took Whizzer’s face in his hands. 

“Whizzer, everything will be alright.”

Whizzer took Marvin in a hug, wrapping his arms around him as tight as he could. 

“Marvin, I just want you to know that I love you, and I want you to never forget that, even if you won’t see me again.” Whizzer sniffled. 

“Whiz, what the hell is going on?” 

“I need you to say you understand.” Whizzer sobbed. 

“I-I understand.” Marvin looked at him with worry. 

“I’m so, so sorry.” Whizzer choked out another sob. 

Marvin ran his thumb across Whizzer’s lips. 

“Can I kiss you? Please?” 

Whizzer nodded. 

Marvin brought their lips together. This kiss was different than some they had shared in the past. This was soft and full of longing, like a hug goodbye before you leave. 

Whizzer pulled away and brought their foreheads together, still crying. 

“Whizzer.” A booming voice called from the doorway. 

Marvin got up and turned around. There was a tall man standing in the doorway wearing a white suit and a black undershirt, like it was inverted. 

Whizzer stood up. His entire body was shaking. Marvin stood there and watched. 

“I’m sorry, kid, but you knew this was coming one way or another.” He patted Whizzer’s back. Whizzer walked down the hallway, leaving only Marvin and the boss in the room. 

He looked at Marvin from his head to his feet, sizing him up. For a split second his face flashed from stone cold to sympathetic. 

“You should come with. I know he’s special to you.” The boss said, gesturing to the hallway.  

Marvin cautiously followed the boss into a secluded room. It had two parts. One was a completely white room, white walls, floor, and ceiling. It was separated from the main part of the room by a titanium door and large window. 

Whizzer was in the white part of the room, laying on the floor, sobbing. 

“Let me see him!” Marvin demanded, running over to the door and banging on it. 

Two agents in the room looked at the boss and he nodded. 

The door opened and Marvin ran and hugged Whizzer. The door shut behind him, locking him in the room with Whizzer. 

“You have 5 minutes.” The boss's voice boomed over the speaker.  

Marvin turned to Whizzer. 

“Whiz, you need to tell me what the hell is going on!” Marvin took Whizzer’s hand in his. 

Whizzer bit his lip, tears falling to the floor. 

“They-They’re going to erase my memory.” Whizzer sobbed even more as he spoke, making it hard to understand what he was saying. 

Marvin’s eyes shot open. 

“What? What do you mean?” Marvin asked. 

“When someone gets fired from the CIA, they erase their memory up until right before they start working there.” 

“But that means-” 

“It means that I won’t remember you, Jason, Charlotte, Cordelia, everyone. I won’t remember any of the time we spent in the apartment or before then. I probably won’t see you ever again, and I hate it Marvin.” Whizzer covered his eyes with his hands. 

“No, you’ll find me. I promise you will. Or I’ll find you, we’re intertwined in a way, like soulmates, right?” Marvin tried to lighten the mood with a smile but he too was sobbing. 

“Marvin I love you and I always will, even If I don’t know who you are I still love you. You changed my life for the better and I want you to remember me even if I won’t remember you.” Whizzer bawled. 

“What am I going to tell Jason and Trina?” Marvin asked. 

“I don’t know, just put in a good word for me.” Whizzer smiled. 

They spent their last minute together holding one another, sobbing, and enjoying each other’s presence for one final time. 

The door opened and the agents had to pry Marvin from Whizzer’s side. Marvin cried and yelled and wailed as the door closed. He banged his fist against it until it began to bleed. There goes the man that made him realize what love was. Without him, Marvin would still think he was un-loveable and that it was impossible for him to love anyone. 

He changed Marvin for the better. Teaching him how to relax, how to be happy.  

Now all of that was being stripped away from him. 

“Start up the machine.” The boss ordered one of the agents. 

Marvin wanted to get up and turn the machine off, to break through the window and save Whizzer from the fate he was about to meet, to run away and live the rest of their lives together like Marvin had wanted. But he couldn’t. He couldn’t find the strength to. All he could do was sit there and watch. 

The agent clicked a couple buttons and the machine charged up with a “vroom” sound. Marvin was broken. 

He stood up and looked through the window. Whizzer was standing as well, seemingly accepting his fate. 

“It’s ready, sir.” The agent said. 

Marvin put his hand up against the window. 

“Fire.” 

Whizzer smiled at Marvin, mouthing “I love you.” 

A flash of bright blue engulfed the room. 

==== 

For the first week or so Marvin wouldn’t get out of bed if he didn’t have to. He’d get up to use the bathroom and to grab water but other than that he wouldn’t move. It wasn’t like he was watching TV or scrolling on his phone, he just laid there, staring at the ceiling. 

The first couple days he would cry and cry and cry. Mourning his relationship with Whizzer, but around halfway through the week he stopped. He didn’t have the strength to cry. 

Trina offered to have Jason come over, but Marvin never responded to her text. The lesbians came over. They tried to talk him into getting up and starting his life again. They were also grieving. Whizzer was good friends with them. But their words fell on deaf ears. 

It was hard grieving someone who was still alive. Maybe he had found a new boyfriend, and they were going to have the life Marvin could only dream of. 

About 2 weeks of laying in bed later Marvin heard a knock. 

“Delia I don’t need any food!” He said. 

The door didn’t open. 

He got up from the bed and walked into the main part of his apartment. Nobody was there. The knocking came from the main door, which meant it couldn’t be the lesbians since they usually just came and went as they pleased. 

Marvin put his hand on the cold doorknob and opened the door. 

Jason was looking up at him, holding a present. When Marvin met his eyes Jason smiled a big smile. He didn’t usually do that when he came over. 

Marvin forgot he had a family he still needed to take care of, a son whom he needed to guide through life. If Jason saw him like this what would he think? 

He wrapped Jason in a bear hug and stood like that for lord knows how long. 

Jason walked inside, he didn’t have his suitcase with him, which probably meant he was only staying over for the day. 

“I missed you, Dad.” Jason said, and he meant it. 

“I missed you too, kid.” Marvin smiled at him. 

“I brought you a present.” Jason said, handing Marvin the box. 

“You didn’t have to do that, buddy.”

“Open it.” Jason urged him. 

Marvin took the top off of the box and there was a small trophy inside. He took it out of the box and held it in his hands, inspecting the details. The top of it was a cup, it wasn’t that big, the middle of the trophy was a circle with Jason’s baseball team’s name on it. The stand was white and said: “Jason Gardens, a part of the winning team.” 

Marvin looked up at Jason. “Winning team?” He asked. 

“Yeah, we won the tournament!” Jason beamed. 

Marvin sat there, looking down at the trophy. So much time had gone by without him seeing his son that he was able to win a baseball tournament without him ever going to a single game. Marvin felt a wave of guilt wash over him. 

“Why are you giving it to me?” Marvin asked, quaking a brow. 

“Well, you weren’t able to come to any of my games because you were kidnapped or something, so I thought maybe you wanted to be there in spirit.” 

Marvin laughed. 

“You weren’t actually kidnapped, were you?” 

“No. I got my wallet back and went home. I just couldn’t get out of bed for a month or so.” Marvin frowned at the last sentence. 

“Why?” Jason asked. He was always curious. 

“Sometimes someone important to us has to leave our lives. I just couldn’t handle it. I kept myself in my room.” Marvin explained. 

“I’m sorry, Dad.” Jason frowned. 

“Don’t be, it’s going to be okay.” Marvin hugged him again. “It’s not a lot that they’re gone, just forever.”

“But that’s a long time!” 

“That’s the point, kiddo.” Marvin smiled. 

====

Marvin and Jason spent a lot of time together after that. Going to restaurants, the movies, seeing baseball games even though Marvin despised them. Sometimes they’d bring Charlotte and Cordelia, other times Trina and Mendel. Sometimes Marvin would wonder how amazing things would be if they could bring Whizzer. He’d love to embarrass Jason by kissing Whizzer in public, it’s like a right of passage all kids need to go through. 

He started getting out of bed every day, cooking his own meals, normal people things. Did he still miss and think about Whizzer every day? Yes he did. But that didn’t stop him from loving the people around him. He wasn’t able to love Whizzer as much as he wanted too and he sure as hell wasn’t going to let that happen to his teeny tiny band. 

Jason handed Marvin a newspaper. 

“You should look at the job offerings.” Jason pointed at the page. 

“I think we’re doing fine.” Marvin smirked, taking a sip of his coffee. He wasn’t lying, they were actually doing really well money wise with the money the CIA gave him, but Jason didn’t know that. 

“No we aren’t! You need to get back out there.” Jason huffed, crossing his arms. 

“Fine, I might take a look.” Marvin bargained, setting his cup on the counter. 

“Thank you!” Jason said, throwing his arms in the air. “You might actually find a job you like on there.” He turned to go sit on the couch. 

It was summertime, which meant it was the perfect time to get a job before everyone had to start really working again. 

Marvin flipped through the pages. 

Trucker, 

Millworker, 

Nanny, 

Fast food worker, 

Mason, 

Waiter, 

Maid, 

Teacher. 

Teacher? 

It caught his eye. The school Jason went to needed a math teacher. He grinned at how perfect this opportunity was. He wasn’t going to tell Jason, if he got the job, until the first day of school. 

He snorted. That would be evil. 

Perfect. 

====

Marvin buttoned up his dress shirt looking at himself in the mirror. His job interview was today. Whizzer would be proud that he’s gotten himself back out there. 

He put on his blazer, grabbed his keys and drove down to the school. 

The interview was taking place in the principal’s office. There were other people sitting outside. Marvin felt a little silly, being all dressed up in a school. 

When it was finally his turn he got up and walked inside. The principal, Mrs.Laura, greeted him. 

“Marvin! It’s been so long since I’ve seen you!” She smiled, shaking his hand. 

“Yeah, I’ve been busy.” Marvin laughed nervously. 

“Well let’s begin.” 

After the interview Marvin was 98% sure he had gotten the job. She seemed to perk up when he mentioned he was an ex accountant and went to school specifically for math. He didn’t have the best patients but he sure as hell had a lot more than the other people outside. 

He drove home and Jason was sitting on the couch. 

“How’d it go?” He asked, changing the channel on the TV. 

“I think it went pretty well. I haven’t had to go to a job interview in forever.” Marvin laughed, taking off his shoes. 

“Will you tell me what job you’re trying to get?” Jason pleaded, giving Marvin “puppy dog eyes.” 

“That’s not going to work on me.” Marvin smiled. “And no, I’m not telling you. Not unless I get it.” 

Jason groaned and slumped on the couch. 

'No fair.” He mumbled. 

“Life isn’t fair, kid. Now get your stuff ready, you're going back to your mother’s.” Marvin put on his slippers, there was no way he was driving in his uncomfortable dress shoes. 

The ride back to Trina’s was full of the two duet-ting to the songs that came on the radio. Marvin didn’t know the majority of them so he just kind of hummed. He loved riding in the car with Jason. It made his day better. 

He had pulled into Trina’s driveway and helped Jason get his stuff out of the car. Jason ran inside and Marvin was stuck with hauling his suitcase through the door. 

“Someone looks fancy!” Trina pointed out, walking up to Marvin and giving him a kiss on the cheek. “Why are you all dressed up?” She asked.

“I had a job interview today.” He adjusted the cuffs of his sleeves. 

“What job?” She picked the suitcase up and walked to the dining room and Marvin followed suit. 

“I’m keeping that a secret.” He smiled impishly. 

“You can tell me.” She turned to Marvin and put her hands on her hips. 

“I don’t want you to tell Jason, and his ‘puppy-dog eyes’ work on you so you’d probably just end up telling him anyway.” Marvin chuckled, shaking his head. 

Trina stuck out her bottom lip in a pout. 

“We’re going to have to know eventually.” Mendel chimed in, setting plates down on the dining room table. 

“Hey Mendel.” Marvin waved. 

“Why don’t you stay for dinner, Marvin?” Mendel offered. 

Trina snapped her head to look at him. 

“I don’t know if I cooked enough food.” Trina brought a hand up to cover her mouth. 

“Trin, we always have leftovers and no one eats them.” Mendel countered. 

She rubbed her arm. “I guess you have a point.” She said, then turned back to Marvin. “Take a seat!” 

And Marvin did just that. 

“Jason! Dinner!” Trina called and Jason came into the dining room. 

“Dad, what are you doing here?” He asked, taking a seat next to Marvin. 

“He’s eating dinner with us.” Mendel said, carrying out a pot full of pasta. 

Trina sat down across from Marvin and Jason. Mendel gave out servings of Pasta to everyone. 

Marvin was happy. 

==== 

Marvin sat in the auditorium with an assortment of other teachers. Some he had met before at parent-teacher conferences and others he had never seen before in his life. He had gotten the job and he was the 8th grade math teacher, the grade that Jason was going into. 

Mrs.Laura stood on top of the stage with a microphone in front of her. 

“Welcome to the new year!” She beamed. 

People clapped, some cheered. Marvin thought most teachers hated their jobs. 

“Before we start, I’d like to have a warm welcome to all the new teachers working here! How about a round of applause?” 

The room was filled with the sound of people clapping. 

“Okay so this year we’re focusing on blah blah blah…..” 

Marvin zoned out. Every so often he would check the screen behind her so he knew what to do, but other than that he didn’t hear a single word that came out of the woman’s mouth. 

After the ceremony was over Marvin was guided to his classroom. It was so bare. The only things decorating the room was the whiteboard which also doubled as a projector and a teacher’s desk at the end of the room. 

“Desks will be put in here before school starts, you just need to decorate.” The janitor told him. 

“Is the school going to fund me with decorations?” Marvin asked. 

The janitor pulled on the color of his shirt. 

The next day Marvin came in with a ton of decorations. He hung stuff from the ceiling, he put math posters up on the wall, he added some lamps around the room because he hated the school’s bright overhead lights. 

He put a picture of Jason on his desk, along with a group picture of his “Tight-knit family.” But someone was missing. And he always would be. Marvin frowned, turning to his computer where he began typing his lesson plan. 

It was the night before the first day of school, and Marvin was finally able to tell Jason what his job was.

“Hey buddy,” He turned to Jason on the couch. 

“Hm?” Jason perked up, eyes going from the TV to Marvin. 

“You know how you were so persistent in finding out what my job is?” Marvin asked.

Jason nodded, his eyes growing wide with curiosity. 

“Well, I’m going to be a teacher.” Marvin smiled. 

“Dad, that's great!” He hugged Marvin.  

He pulled away and stared at Marvin in confusion. “Wait, why is it such a big deal that you’re going to be a teacher?” Jason asked. 

Marvin got up and walked over to the kitchen where an envelope lay on the counter. He picked it up and handed it to Jason. 

He opened it. 

“Hey! It’s my schedule! I was wondering when I’d get it!” He unfolded the paper. 

“English with Mr.Fox, Science with Mrs.Taylor, Math with..” Jason trailed off, looking up at Marvin who had an impish grin on his face. 

“Oh no.” Jason grew pale. 

Marvin burst out in a fit of laughter. 

“You jerk!” Jason hit him with the paper. 

Marvin kept laughing. 

“You better not embarrass me!” Jason huffed and crossed his arms. 

“I promise I won’t do it that often.” Marvin giggled, wiping a tear from his eye. 

Jason grumbled. 

====

Marvin woke up bright and early the next morning, which would probably be the only time he’d do that. 

He got Jason up early too, much to his dismay. 

He put on his best button up and dress pants. He wore sneakers though because there was no way he was walking around all day in those. They hurt his feet. 

The father and son walked to the elevator and to the car. Jason was going to be there early because teachers were supposed to be at the school before the students, but Marvin wanted to show Jason his room. 

They pulled up to the school and Jason begrudgingly got out of the car. The walk down to his room was longer than he wanted it to be, since Jason was dragging. 

They finally reached the door and Marvin opened it. 

When Jason stepped inside he gasped. 

“This is actually really nice,” he touched the posters on the walls. “Maybe I won’t hate being in here every day.” He kid. 

The bell rang and Jason ran to his homeroom which he didn’t share with Marvin. He took a seat at his desk and kids started to slowly fill the room. He got some confused looks but when the bell rang again (letting all the kids know they had to be in their advisory) he went up to the board and introduced himself. 

“Hello, everyone.” He smiled. 

A few students mumbled out a “hi.” Some smiled at him and some waved. 

“I’m Mr.Gardens, and I’ll be your math teacher this year.” He looked around. “Now, time to take attendance.” 

====

The first day of school wasn’t as bad as he thought it was going to be. Every class he just repeated the same thing about the syllabus over and over again. It was honestly boring. By the last class he was exhausted. Hopefully tomorrow will be better since the classes he had were all different. The honors class would be doing different work than the normal classes so that would be super fun to grade. 

He didn’t give out a lot of homework because when he was a kid he hated homework so why have your kids be tortured? 

About halfway through the school day he heard a group of students talking about the new gym teacher. 

“Yeah he’s new.” One with a mousey brown bob said. 

“Is he a harsh grader? I don’t like running.” Another said. 

“No, he seems pretty chill.” The brown haired girl explained. 

“Isn’t he the new baseball coach too?” A kid with dark hair chimed in. 

“Yeah, he loves baseball.” 

Marvin scoffed. 

Jason had his first baseball practice today, which meant Marvin would be meeting the mysterious baseball coach/P.E teacher. It would be a little hard though, being at the same place where he met Whizzer for the first time. 

Everywhere he looked he was reminded of Whizzer. 

It was painful. 

Marvin packed up his things and drove back to his apartment. Jason was already there because students were sent home before teachers and he had ridden the bus. When Marvin walked through the door he was already changed and ready to go. 

He looked like he was going to explode because of how happy he was. 

“Hey dad!” He smiled, greeting Marvin. 

“Hey, let me change really quickly and I’ll take you down there, okay?” Marvin asked, walking over to his bedroom. He shut the door behind himself. 

“I actually had a pretty good day today,” Jason said from the other side of the door. 

“Oh really?” Marvin asked, taking off his button-up and replacing it with a t-shirt. 

“Nobody knows you’re my dad yet, thanks for not pointing it out when I was in your class.” 

“You’re welcome, but the further we get into the year the more embarrassing I’m going to be, so you better be weary.” Marvin put on a pair of jeans. 

Jason groaned and Marvin laughed. 

He stepped out of his room and grabbed his grey sweatshirt which was hanging on one of the coat hangers. 

“You ready?” He asked Jason. 

“Yes, duh!” Jason said. 

Marvin opened the door and Jason ran to the elevator, clicking the button repeatedly like it was going to make the elevator come to him faster. 

The elevator dinged and Jason jumped inside of it. Marvin walked inside. 

Jason pressed the ground flood button and as the numbers went down he fidgeted with his bag straps, mumbling “come on, come on” under his breath. 

Marvin looked over to him. “We aren’t going to be late, why are you so worried?” 

“I’m not worried, I'm excited. I want to get there as soon as possible so I can warm up.” Jason took his water bottle from his bag and took a big sip. 

“If you drink all of the water now you won’t have any for practice.” Marvin pointed out. 

“I know I just need to do something.” Jason fidgeted. 

The elevator dinged and the doors opened. Jason sprinted out of the building and to the car. Marvin took his sweet sweet time, antagonizing Jason. 

When he finally got to the car Jason looked like he was going to faint. Marvin put the key in the engine and drove to school. The second the car was unlocked Jason sprinted to the field where a few of his classmates were. 

Marvin got out of the car and looked in the back seat. Jason had left his bag. Marvin chuckled and rolled his eyes, grabbing the bag and walking over to the field. 

He set it on the bench with the rest of the bags and went through it to make sure he had packed everything. 

Cleats, glove, helmet, bat, water bottle, and a granola bar. Everything looked to be in order.

“You’re new.” Marvin hears a voice say from behind him. 

His heart sank and his hands started shaking. 

He turned around. 

Whizzer Brown was standing in front of him. 

Baseball coach uniform and all.