Chapter Text
“Okay, so where exactly are we going?” Marvin said, walking with his hands tucked in his pockets as Whizzer strode ahead.
“I don’t know. Wherever the wind takes us I guess.” Whizzer replied, not really paying much attention to Marvin’s complaining.
“Wherever the wind takes us? Are you Mary Poppins or something?” Marvin retorted, a large smirk on his face. Whizzer whipped his head around, furrowing his eyebrows with confusion.
“Who?”
“Are you serious? You don’t know who.. ugh nevermind.”
“No, now I wanna know.” Whizzer stopped in his tracks, forcing Marvin to stop walking too. Marvin rolled his eyes.
“You know. The nanny. The one who flies with an umbrella and sings about tidying up.” Marvin stared at Whizzer, waiting for the moment of realisation that never came.
“Do you seriously not know the song?” Whizzer shook his head.
“Ugh. It’s not worth it for me to sing it to you.” Whizzer’s eyes lit up at the thought of embarrassing Marvin, and played stupid to increase his chances.
“Come on. You’re telling me that some lady just flew down with an umbrella and sings about cleaning. Sounds like the worst song ever.” The look on Marvin’s face gave Whizzer all the satisfaction he wanted.
“How dare you! Julie Andrew’s is a national treasure.”
“If she’s a national treasure why have I never heard of her.”
“Well, she’s not really, because she’s British, but she should be.” Whizzer rolled his eyes dramatically.
“Well whoever she is, that doesn’t mean the songs good anyway. Just because one person can sing it well, doesn’t mean it’s good.” Whizzer carefully planted the seeds of annoyance in Marvin, seeing his frustration rise in him, and he eventually caved in.
“Fine. I’ll prove it.” Marvin hesitated. “Promise you won’t laugh.”
Whizzer held his hand to his heart and raised the other like a Boy Scout, “I swear it.”
“And you’re not crossing your toes either?”
Whizzer laughed. “That’s probably the first time someone’s ever told me how I’m allowed to use my toes. But I swear, I’m not crossing them.” Marvin sighed.
“Okay.” He took a deep breath in, and belted the most glorious rendition of A Spoonful of Sugar that Whizzer had ever heard. He stood there stunned as Marvin finished, and couldn’t even smile at his achievement because of the shock. Marvin stared at him with confusion.
“What?” Whizzer scoffed.
“Man, we’ve got to sign you up to school musical.”
“Our school doesn’t do them. We do plays.”
“Oh. That’s lame. Who wants to watch that?” Marvin shrugged.
“I like them. And besides, you don’t need a big solo to feel a character. It depends on how good of an actor you are.”
Whizzer smiled, and continued walking. “Seems you’re really into this theatre stuff, huh.”
“I guess so.”
“Never really understood it. I mean, yeah it’s impressive, but it’s why am I paying $50 to see something once when I could pay $10 a month for a Netflix subscription, and watch it as many times as I like?”
Marvin scoffed at Whizzer’s lack of appreciation for the arts. “It’s not about that. It’s about the atmosphere and the dedication of the actors and the crew, and the fact that they can consistently deliver amazing performances.” Whizzer shrugged.
“Maybe you’ll have to take me to see some, and I might change my mind.”
Marvin chuckled, “Maybe.”
“Sooo.. have you been in any plays?” Whizzer asked.
“Umm, every know and then. I audition for the play, and I usually get the lead, not to brag.” Whizzer rolled his eyes. He was definitely bragging.
“And?”
“And I used to do community theatre; that’s where we would do musicals and stuff.”
Whizzer smiled, “I can’t imagine you on a stage. I feel like you’d just freeze. I mean, look how you acted then being so hesitant to sing to me.”
“It’s not that bad on stage, because you can’t see the audience. The lights are too bright, and you kinda get immersed in the scene anyway.”
Whizzer turned to look at Marvin as he spoke. He was so expressive, talking with his hands, smiling as he told Whizzer about costumes and learning lines and auditioning. He was so passionate - it was the first time Whizzer had seen him talk about something like that. Just as Marvin’s theatre stories came to an end, they reached the parking lot of the target again, but luckily this time there was barely anyone there.
“So, what now?” Marvin asked. “I mean, we can just walk around town all day, but that’s pretty boring.”
“Yeah.” He thought for a second. “The bus stop out of the city’s pretty far from here, so I guess we’re stuck.”
“I can drive us.” Whizzer turned to look at Marvin.
“You have a car? You, Marvin… wait. I actually don’t know your last name.”
“Gardens. I actually don’t know yours either.”
Whizzer hesitated before saying it, causing Marvin to tilt his head slightly with confusion. “Brown.”
“Huh. Whizzer Brown. Suits you.” Whizzer smiled to himself.
“Marvin Gardens suits you too. It sounds like a journalist name. Or like a weatherman or something.”
Marvin laughed loudly, “Ha! That’s funny, because I’ve actually been thinking about that.”
“Wait, seriously? That’s crazy because I wanna go into journalism. Man, imagine if we start working at the same place after college. It’d be like we reunited.”
“Yeah. That’s assuming we’d even remember each other. I can’t wait to forget half of the assholes that go to our school.”
“Wait. Are you saying I’m one of the assholes? Damn. Cold, Marvin.” Whizzer said dramatically, acting betrayed, to which Marvin gently laughed.
“Anyway. Back to the point. You, Marvin Gardens, can drive?” Marvin rolled his eyes.
“Are we going to my car or what?” he said.
“Oh right. Yeah, okay.” The pair walked together into the parking lot towards Marvin’s car, which was probably the most expensive thing Whizzer had ever seen.
“No way this is your car. You’ve got an Audi?!” Whizzer said, shocked to his core.
“Uh.. yeah. My parents are lawyers, and living in New York means they make a ton, so when I turned sixteen, they bought me a car.” Whizzer still stood there in awe.
“Yeah, but still. For your first car?! That’s something that some people dream of as a goal in their forties.”
Marvin shrugged, “I’m just lucky I guess,” and hopped into the driver’s seat.
“Yeah, you’re telling me.” Whizzer said under his breath, and got into the passenger side. “So. Where to, Mr Fancy Car?”
Marvin looked at him with disbelief. “I don’t know?! It was your idea!”
“Ugh, fine. I’ll choose.” Whizzer pulled out his phone.
“What are you doing?”
“Looking something up. Top ten places to go to in New York.” Whizzer scrolled, not really satisfied with the results. Marvin sighed.
“You’ve got to add ‘that aren’t tourist attractions.’ Else you’ll just get the Empire State Building, or Times Square.”
“I know that. I just.. forgot.” Marvin punched Whizzer’s arm playfully. He scrolled some more, still not happy with what was coming up. He eventually sighed with resignation.
“Whatever. New York sucks.” Whizzer stared out of the window, looking out at the rows widespread road. Why would people want to live here? Suddenly, Whizzer felt the car move as Marvin pulled out of the parking lot.
“What are you doing?”
“Going where the wind takes us.” Marvin said with a smirk, to which Whizzer smiled back.
“Okay, but actually where are we going?”
“There’s this nice park I used to go to in elementary after school for hours. I’d ride my bike there and just go around the whole thing, and then go home. My parents wouldn’t know because they were still at work, and the maid would be too busy cleaning to notice I was gone.” He paused, noticing that Whizzer was staring at him, and focused on the drive. When Whizzer looked away, he began again. “It was nice, you know, to get away. At least for a few hours a day.”
Whizzer looked at his face; he looked so sad as he relived the memory. He assumed that in Marvin’s mind, Whizzer just thought he was being nostalgic, but Whizzer could see how hurt he was about being forgotten. Maybe that was why he was such a loner now. Maybe that was why he was so defensive all the time. What if he just wanted someone to talk to?
Whizzer looked out the window at the houses zooming past him, wondering if one of them was Marvin’s. None of them looked very homey. He wasn’t surprised that Marvin wanted to be away from here - it looked so lonely. He turned to Marvin, noticing his hands tightly clutching the steering wheel, anxiously flicking his eyes between the rear view mirror and the road ahead. Maybe Marvin was just lonely too. Maybe this day was just what he needed, to feel less trapped. Whizzer scanned Marvin’s face, almost seeing a little boy, and knew that he had to be there. He had to help this mess of a man feel less alone.
- - -
Marvin pulled over into the street beside the park, and the two got out in silence, not a word having been said the rest of the drive. The park was pretty nice, big, but not too big that it took you the whole day to walk around it. To the left of the entrance was large lake, where ducks lined the outskirts begging for a scrap of bread from eager children, who paddled in the water or climbed the branches of the trees to drop the bread from above (Whizzer guessed it was only a matter of time before one fell in).
“Well. This is it.” Marvin said nonchalantly, locking the car door and walking to Whizzer’s side. Whizzer looked around, taking in the view.
“It’s nice.” He said, pausing cautiously to look at Marvin, who still seemed out of sorts, and was staring off into the distance. “It’s pretty.”
Marvin scoffed loudly, “I wouldn’t trust your judgement on what’s pretty and what isn’t.” Whizzer, spying a challenge, seized the opportunity to fluster Marvin - anyway to get him back to normal was needed.
Whizzer smirked, “Well, say what you will, but I can see a whole lot of pretty things around.” Marvin whipped his head around, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion, to which Whizzer winked and walked into the park. Marvin stood still for a moment before trailing behind him.
“Do you even know where you’re going?” Marvin whined, catching up to walk by Whizzer’s side.
“Well, forgive me if I’m wrong here, but I’m pretty sure there’s a massive fucking path that we can follow. Besides, it’s not like we can get lost in here.” Marvin scrunched his nose in contemplation.
“Yeah I guess. Maybe that’s why I’ve always liked it.” Whizzer was intrigued by Marvin’s comment.
“So you like being trapped in here?”
“No, I like the security, you know. Like, no matter how far you go, eventually you’ll circle back to the start. It’s comforting.” Marvin’s eyes were locked on the horizon, while Whizzer just watched him. Each movement was so loose and carefree, but so tense at the same time, to the point where Whizzer could barely keep his eyes off of him. He suddenly felt that someone was watching him, and quickly reverted his focus back to the conversation.
“No way. Not for me. I like being able to go out, like you’re limitless. What’s the point in feeling secure when you’re just circling around the same stuff all the time. It’s boring.” Marvin pondered on that thought for a while.
“I guess I never thought of it that way.” Was it working? Was Whizzer finally getting Marvin out of his closed in, paranoid shell? The pair walked in silence again, both looking out at the scenery, until eventually Marvin couldn’t take it anymore.
“Okay, can we actually go somewhere? And I don’t mean leave the park, but just sit down or something? Find a nice spot with a good view.” Marvin huffed. Whizzer raised his eyebrow.
“Careful there Marv, sounds like we’re on a date or something.” The minute the words slipped out of his mouth, Whizzer regretted them. His flirty remarks were a second nature to him, so he couldn’t control them, which made it even worse that he’d just called him ‘Marv’. They were not becoming friends. They were just.. in the reconciliation phase. “Come on. Let’s find a spot.” Whizzer said harshly, and he quickened his pace, leaving Marvin once more trailing behind.
They eventually came across a fountain, mostly empty now due to the late afternoon creeping into evening, and sat on its side, which a bit damp from kids splashing water around. The gleam of the water reflected onto Marvin’s, leaving a rippled glow across his face, as sunlight caught in his curls. His hand gripped the edge of the fountain side, straining the muscles in his forearm, which Whizzer still didn’t know how were so defined. He caught himself glimpsing at Marvin’s mouth, which was slightly parted, his teeth barely visible behind his pinkish lips.
Whizzer could help but think to himself as he took in Marvin’s appearance: he was pretty fucking beautiful. Not in an ethereal God way, but in a damn this dude is just built in all the right ways kind of way. Don’t get him wrong, Marvin was a total self obsessed, arrogant prick who always said and did the wrong things, but he looked damn good doing them. Still, Whizzer would never go for him. As much as looks were the main attractor for Whizzer, a personality like Marvin’s unfortunately couldn’t go unnoticed, but that didn’t mean that Whizzer didn’t think about it.
Marvin sighed deeply, “I’m so fucking bored right now. And I don’t mean it as an attack on you, but god damn, are we seriously just gonna look at water?”
Whizzer chuckled lightly, “You’re right. This sucks.” He thought for a moment, looking around for any kind of inspiration, and his eyes locked onto the coins at the bottom of the fountain. He eagerly reached into his pocket and pulled out two quarters, passing one to Marvin. Marvin just looked down at it in his palm, then back at Whizzer.
“Um, hate to break it to you, but in this economy, this gets us literally nothing.”
“Jeez, you’re a nerd. No, dumbass. We’re gonna make a wish. In the fountain. Duh.” Whizzer dramatically rolled his eyes, although the corners of his lips slightly tilted upwards into a smirk.
“And whose the nerd now?” Marvin said flippantly, but he seemed on board for the most part, causing Whizzer to sit up straight and fully face Marvin.
“Okay. So we’re gonna count to three, close our eyes and make a wish-“
“I know how to make a wish with a coin.”
“Um, if you let me finish, you’d know that you flip the coin and then throw it in.” Marvin snorted at the extravagance of Whizzer’s rules.
“Are you serious? I have never made a wish like that.”
“Well, have they ever come true?” Marvin thought for a moment.
“No. Has this ever worked for you though?”
“No. But that’s because I’ve never done it before, because my wishes never came true. Maybe everyone’s missing the crucial flair.” Whizzer watched Marvin’s critical expression. “… you never know.”
Marvin signed dramatically, but obeyed Whizzer’s ridiculous rules and waited for the countdown.
“Okay. Ready?”
“I don’t really know how I could be unready for a countdown but yes.”
Whizzer grinned widely, “Okay. Three… two… one…”
The pair closed their eyes and thought for a second about their wishes. Whizzer racked his brain, thinking about what he wanted most in the world. Money? Sex? His mind flicked back to Omaha, and he suddenly felt pressure in his chest. He never wanted that, ever again. Not after what happened. He scrunched his eyes, nodding his head slightly to lock the wish in place: I wish to never fall in love. A bit bleak, Whizzer had to admit, but necessary. Love was just too complicated, and he always liked to be on top of things, having perfect clarity, rather than be blinded by emotions.
He opened his eyes and flipped the coin in the air with a bit more force than he expected, causing it to hurtle downwards and hit Marvin in the face.
“Fuck!” He yelled, before clasping his hand over his mouth after seeing dozens of parents whip their heads around and look at him with disgust.
“Oh my god.” Whizzer cringed, covering his face with his hands, before giggling, “I’m so sorry.”
Marvin sighed deeply, “It’s fine. Just throw it in,” he huffed, passing the coin to Whizzer, and he dropped it into the water.
“So.” Marvin said, “… what did you wish for?”
Whizzer scoffed, “You’re not supposed to say, or it won’t come true.” Marvin rolled his eyes, and turned to look outward towards the park, gazing into the sunlight as it peeked through tree branches. There was a brief pause.
“Thanks.” He mumbled, not averting his gaze from the trees. Whizzer looked at him, smiling with confusion at the comment.
“For what?”
Marvin sighed, looking down to his feet, “I don’t know. For us going somewhere. I had fun. I’ll admit, it was a little boring at times, but you made it more fun.” He peeked through his curls to look at Whizzer, and their eyes met for a second, before Whizzer turned away smiling, and patted Marvin on the back.
“You’re alright Marvin. Man, can you be a pain sometimes, but you’re alright.” He said through a laugh, to which Marvin lightly chuckled as well.
“Yeah you’re not so bad yourself, even though you can be a bit of a prick sometimes, but you’re not bad.” Whizzer jabbed Marvin in his side, and the pair descended into fits of laughter. After a unanimous sigh, and a long but not uncomfortable pause, Whizzer broke the silence.
“So… you still up for baseball?” Marvin smiled reluctantly.
“Yeah I guess. You know, this might not be the worst thing in the world, but if it is I’m blaming you.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Whizzer thought for a moment. “So, can I have your number?” Marvin turned with confusion, his cheeks beginning to flush.
“Uhh.. why?” Whizzer wondered why Marvin was getting so defensive, but decided not to ask, feeling that an argument would begin if he did, and he didn’t want to ruin a mostly good day.
“So we can do baseball together? We’ve got to coordinate meet ups, or organise practices and stuff.”
Marvin tilted his head with doubt, “Seems a bit excessive to me.”
“Come on, Marv. Just give me the god damn number.” There it was again. Marv. Whizzer harshened his tone slightly in an attempt to sway Marvin, hoping it wasn’t too much. Luckily it wasn’t and Marvin pulled out his phone to give to Whizzer so they could exchange numbers.
The two stayed sat on the fountain ledge for a while longer, not really talking about anything in particular, but having a good enough time that neither of them wanted to leave. As people began to filter out of the park, they sensed their cue to leave and leisurely strolled towards Marvin’s car, ready to part ways for the weekend.
- - -
Marvin
Hello Whizzer. It’s me, Marvin.
Whizzer scrunched his eyes open, woken by the glare of his phone that was laying against his pillow, having been dropped out of his hands after falling asleep scrolling on Twitter. He strained his eyes, trying to make out what Marvin was saying through his… he glanced at the time… 3:47am drowsiness. Jesus. What was this guy doing up so late?
Whizzer
hey marvin
whats up
Marvin
I just wanted to check that I had the right number.
Whizzer
you couldntve done that in the morning?
Marvin
It is the morning.
Whizzer
i mean the actual morning dummy
not 4am
why are you even awake now
Marvin
I couldn’t sleep. Plus I had nothing else to do.
Whizzer
well you didn’t have to wake me up
Marvin
Sorry.
Whizzer
whatever idc I’m up now
There was a brief pause where neither of them had anything to say, Whizzer still waking up from his deep sleep. There was no point in him trying to fall asleep again, so he stumbled over to the bathroom, splashing cold water on his face to wake himself up. It didn’t matter. He didn’t have school, and he was just going to have a lazy day anyway, but still the inconvenience of being woken by Marvin of all people still annoyed him.
He looked up at himself in the mirror, taking in every crevice of that all too familiar face: every crease in the corners of his eyes, the faint smile lines framing his mouth, the very slight divot on his chin. He tilted his head back, allowing himself a better look at his chin, gently tracing his thumb over the bumpy, jagged scar imprinted under it, feeling the raised, irregular flesh that was permanently etched into his jaw. He frowned, discontent with the slight disfiguration, his shallow pursuit of a perfect complexion oozing out of him. An uncomfortable ache began to loom in his chest and he pulled his glance away from the mirror, walking back over to the bed to see if Marvin had said anything else.
He picked up his phone, the bright gleam of the screen still hurting his eyes. Nothing. He assumed Marvin had fallen asleep, or just had nothing else to say, and lay on his bed, back straight, with his arms against his head. He stared up at the ceiling, taking note of each little bump of paint or slight scratch until his vision grew darker and darker, the corners of his view slowly caving in as he drifted to sleep, wondering, almost hoping that Marvin’s message would wake him again.