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Mary is in her kitchen when she sees it happen. She’s washing the dishes (fuck off, Joseph), and she’s used to being able to seeing into Robert’s living room from there. She entertains herself that way sometimes; he’s interesting when he drinks alone and dances with Betsy in his arms.
But, this time, he’s not – he’s not alone. She sees him kissing someone feverishly for a quick moment, but then all she can see is Robert’s back and someone’s hands buried into his hair. Mary is confused for a brief moment, seeing as Robert hasn’t exactly had a lot of one night stands lately. It’s been months, actually, and she knows for a fact because he would have told her about each and every one of them, just like old times. Mary thought maybe Robert was past that, but she isn’t going to judge him if he isn’t. He’s been doing a lot better anyways, drinking less and showering more. Maybe he deserves a little something.
Mary smiles a bit at this, and chuckles as she begins to wash one of her wine glasses. “Get some, sailor,” she jokes to herself, looking down for a moment before she notices a lot more movement coming from across the way. When she looks back up, her heart actually plummets when she realizes what the hell is actually going on.
Robert is attacking the other person’s neck with his mouth, giving Mary a clear view of who this other person actually is.
“No, no, no!” she exclaims, dropping, and inevitably shattering her wine glass in the sink. “That’s my baby brother!”
Before she can even process it, Mary’s feet are dragging her to Robert’s door and her fists are pounding on it.
“Robert Small, you open this damn door right now!” she shouts among the sounds of her fist rapping against the door. Her knuckles are going to be sore tomorrow but frankly, she doesn’t give a damn because her brother is inside with Robert, kissing him and getting kissed. Mary loves Robert, god bless his soul on every other day except this one, but she knows his reputation, knows how he treats the guys he sleeps with if he hasn’t gotten the chance to open up to them yet. And, to Mary’s knowledge, he hasn’t done that very important thing. “Robert, I saw what you were doing to my brother! Get out here now so I can kick your ass!”
On the other side of the door, Robert and Damien are looking at each other, hair disheveled and shirts untucked. “Well, this was a good run, yeah? Four, five months?” Robert tells Damien as he quickly buckles his pants and kisses Damien’s forehead. “That’s honestly a lot longer than I thought we’d get, and it’s all thanks to you, Dames, thanks for not letting me turn this into a train wreck. But I’m gonna let you go before your sister murders me.”
Damien is laughing, equally terrified, but finding the amusement in the situation.
“Let me handle it,” he tells Robert, fixing his appearance before he goes to open the door and smile innocently at Mary. “Greetings, Mary, how are you today?”
Mary, however, is having absolutely none of this as she pushes her way past Damien and sets her target on Robert. “How dare you!” she shouts at him. Robert scutters behind Damien at the door, which is when they all notice that Mary attracted a bit of an audience. Their not-so-new neighbor, Mason, Craig, and Hugo are all nosily peering in from the sidewalk.
“My best friend and my brother?!” Mary scoffs at them, her chest rising and falling steadily with her heavy breaths. “How could you?”
Damien takes this chance to look back at Robert who looks back, then to Mary as he sighs heavily. “It’s not like that,” he offers to her, but she doesn’t seem any calmer. Not until – “We’re not just foolin’ around. I – I love him. I’m in love with him.”
The room stops for a moment, his heart, Damien’s, and probably even Mary’s. Damien looks to Robert with the softest eyes, eyes filled with love and admiration as he takes one of his hands, then one of Mary’s. Damien peers back over to her, and offers her a small smile. “I quite adore him too, Mae. I’m sorry you had to find out this way.”
As the room continues to stand still, Mary eyes them skeptically. Their nosy neighbors have moved a bit closer as they anxiously await the ending to this love story to see whether or not Robert gets to live to see another day.
Mary’s edges seem to soften after a few intense moments, then her eyes as she finally coos to them. “My best friend and my brother!” she says and drags them both into a tight hug. The small crowd outside gives their awe’s of approval. Damien and Robert both hug her back before she pulls away to ask them a thousand questions on how it happened, when it happened, and why it happened. She gives them a moment to process her ambush before turning to the little crowd now at the doorstep.
“Isn’t this exciting?” Mary asks happily.
The three have fond smiles, but, stupidly, Craig goes, “Oh, we already knew.”
The fire is back in Mary’s eyes, but Damien and Robert can’t seem to care whether or not Mary gets some blood on her hands tonight as they close the door behind her just to finish what they started.