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Chapter Text

Whizzer Brown has never considered himself a family man for several reasons. In fact, he blames most of his family problems on his dysfunctional upbringing. His neurotic mother often holding herself with a false sense of pride she knew didn’t exist. His father putting all his time and money into everything that didn’t involve his least favorite son. Of course, he always had two other kids to put his faith in. Two other kids to carry on the Price family name.

Yeah, Price . Whizzer Brown wasn’t always Whizzer Brown. He was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah to a Mormon father and Jewish mother. He had two brothers, Jack and Kevin Price, the latter of which was (and probably still is) the poster boy for a perfect Mormon kid. In his father’s defense, Whizzer attributed his negligence to trying to make a good name for their family. It wasn’t that Whizzer was a bad kid. In fact, both boys were well behaved, good children. If Kevin was already better than Whizzer, why waste the time with the other one? So, Whizzer’s father invested all his time and affection for only one member of his family, leaving Whizzer and his mother with whatever was left. Why a woman as beautiful as her stayed with a man as awful as him, Whizzer will never know.

His story begins like this. During a freakishly hot summer in 1988, Eliana Brown-Price and Anthony Price brought home Micah and Kevin Price from a tiny hospital room. Growing up, their mother put the boys in the cutest matching outfits and gave them the same haircuts so no one could ever tell them apart. For a long time, Micah and Kevin were inseparable. They were each other’s best friend, even with the inclusion of another baby boy a few years later. Their bond never wavered until Valentine's Day in the third grade. Micah began to realize something wasn’t right when his heart fluttered at the thought of a fellow male classmate giving him a valentine. He never told anyone about how he felt, not even Kevin, though he swore he would tell his brother everything. Micah’s feelings were repressed as best as he could manage, still praying that his feelings would go away. They never did.

The rift wasn’t present until much later. Middle school was hell for Micah. He was faced with constant turmoil, never finding an escape from the bickering and fighting of his parents or the conflict in his own heart. Every birthday, Thanksgiving, and Christmas was an episode all in its own, being faced with judgement everywhere he went. Micah finally realized that he couldn’t be friends with his brother anymore. Besides, it wasn’t like Kevin was going to notice if Micah faded into the background. Kevin was the perfect Godsend, their family always praising him, saying he had such a beautiful spirit about him. But when it came to Micah, it was always that his posture was poor, or his grades weren’t as good as his twin. Why was it that they were born practically equals, but growing up in the same environment produced two different results?

Middle school came and went, and high school started with a bang. Kevin made the decision to go on a Mission with the church, and of course the entire family was overjoyed. Micah was pushed to the back once again in the shadow of his brother. It was never fair for him, that the attention he got was always negative. The only person who seemed to care was his mother, who continued to help with his homework and study habits until his grades improved. There was a college he wanted so desperately to be accepted to so he could study Photography, but it seemed his GPA refused to improve. Meanwhile, the rift between the twins grew larger as the days continued, and their communications with each other were minimal outside of the house.

Everything started to fall into place when Micah’s first report card with an A on it came home, but his father still wasn't satisfied. Deciding that his father would never be proud, Micah decided to do something awful. He knew what would spite his father more than getting better grades than his brother ever could. Micah was going to (metaphorically) burn every bible in his house. He could care less about his family image now, and instead did everything leading up to his excommunication to spite his father and perfect brother.

And so began the falling out of the Price Family.

Chapter Text

January 19th, 2018

Kevin Price had never been this excited since the first time he went to Orlando.

Here he was in New York City, ready to help new, upcoming members of his faith. Every time he traveled to a new city, it was like going to Uganda for the first time all over again. The new sights and smells of a new place just made him tremble with anticipation for what was in store.

The first thing he notices when he steps off the plane is how surprisingly clear the air is. Kevin was expecting something akin to the smoky air of Los Angeles, but despite the commerce, there is hardly pollution to be seen. The second thing is the sheer number of people he can see. Masses upon masses of people flooding in and out of Laguardia Airport. He thought about the airport where he departed from Utah and found himself missing home more and more. Fluffy, white clouds litter the grey tinged sky and Kevin took a deep breath. He still couldn’t believe he was here.

Dirty looks that usually came from wearing his religion on his sleeve were few and far between, as Kevin found himself hidden in the hoards of people exiting the airport with him. Usually, Arnold was here to accompany him on his travels, but this trip Kevin had insisted on doing alone. He had a good feeling about this city. Something different was going to happen, he could just sense it. Besides, if something incredible happened to him on this trip, he didn’t want his accomplishments shadowed behind his mission companion. As much as he had come to love his friend, he wanted some recognition for his church efforts.

Without delaying any further, he set off for his temporary apartment for the next 2 months, paid in full by his loving parents who were excited to see their son traveling the country to help spread his faith. Living in New York was expensive, but it gave him the chance to spend his own money on providing for himself and the church if need be. Research proved to be helpful too, and Kevin had already made plans to visit the Theatre District in Manhattan, the infamous Empire State Building, and how could he forget the New York Library. But first, he had to brave the massive subway system, like a network of veins connecting the entire city. One missed stop, and he could end up in a bad part of town. Kevin shuddered at the thought.

His apartment was nothing special. Getting settled into an apartment studio sized was hardly any daunting task, and he was able to unpack without any trouble. He wanted to familiarize himself with the area a bit more, so he decided to go door to door in a nearby apartment building down the street above a neat little cafe. He figured getting a head start before assisting in training upcoming missionaries wouldn’t be a terrible idea.

New York sidewalks were crowded, but not to the point of discomfort. Taking a brisk walk seemed like just the thing he needed to clear his head and grow accustomed to this new environment. It was similar to other large cities he’d visited, but yet different in its own right. This city was like a beautiful contradiction Kevin wanted to uncover. These thoughts brought Kevin a new sense of purpose when entering the apartment building.

He was walking up the steps into the building when a flyer caught his attention.

Whizzer Brown. Professional Photographer. Call xxx-xxx-xxxx for inquiries

Kevin blinked once. Twice. Was he reading that right? Someone actually named their kid Whizzer ? He remembers the name being used as a cruel and unusual nickname for his twin brother.

His twin brother...The last time he remembered speaking to his brother was 15 years ago, and he had been forbidden to speak of him after he ran away from home. Kevin had been on a frantic search to look for his brother, so distraught at his leaving that he almost considered leaving home himself. Sure, they had begun to grow apart in their later years, but Kevin always thought that was normal. After all, his brother was his first best friend.

December 10th, 1997

“You leave my brother alone!”

Fourth grade prodigy Kevin Price found himself standing between three awful sixth graders and his brother, Micah, who had been pushed to the ground when Kevin had run off to the bathroom.

One of the sixth graders, a girl with two blonde braids falling over her shoulders, gave Kevin the death glare of the century. “Or you’ll what, twirp?”

Kevin felt the sweat pouring down the side of his face and his heart was racing so fast he could hear it pounding in his ears. He was petrified at the thought of having to face someone much larger than him, but he would do anything to protect his brother. He wasn’t going to stand by and let someone push his best friend to the ground. “I’ll fight you!” The girl looked shocked for a moment, before erupting with laughter. The other two cowards behind her started laughing too, and Kevin could feel the confidence slowly deflate from his body. “I-I will! Don’t think I w-won’t!”

“You don’t have the guts to hit me!” She drew up a breath and spit on Kevin’s shoes. He recoiled with disgust and tried to run away, but he was caught by the back collar of his shirt. The other sixth graders were gripping his shirt like it was a lifeline. No matter how much he struggled, there was no escape from their hands.

After it seemed like there was no escape, Kevin was promptly dropped on his rear end and he heard the scuttle of feet running away behind him. When he scrambled to his feet, he saw his brother standing over the sixth grade girl who had been taunting him moments earlier. Her nose was bloody and her knees were badly scraped. She was looking up at Micah with terror in her eyes, and Kevin was something in his brother he never noticed before. He looked confident and sure of himself.

“Stay away from me and my brother.”

Right...always standing up for each other. Kevin remembered the girl had been making fun of his brother’s nickname that was bestowed upon him by Jack. He had never imagined that it was actually a real name. New York was turning out to be a stranger city than he originally expected.

Still, there were apprehensions, but Kevin decided to ignore them for the time being. He started on his door to door quest, ringing doorbells and trying to see if he could convert anyone on his first day here before the jet lag set in. A crazy idea, sure, but if anyone could do it it was the infamous Kevin Price. It seemed every door he appeared in front of was either never

He eventually made his way to the top floor of the building to the last apartment. Apartment 5E. He rang the doorbell and patiently waited for a response as he always did. This time, however, something was different. The door was opened and a 12 year old boy stood in the doorway. The boy was a great deal shorter than Kevin and looked really scrawny. His brown hair curled at the nape of his neck and just above his eyebrows. The baggy long sleeved shirt he was wearing added to the nerdy, but charming aura he seemed to exude. Glasses made his eyes even wider, and Kevin couldn’t help but think this kid was adorable. Before he could begin his normal shpeeling, the kid said something that chilled Kevin right to his bones.

“Whizzer?”

A huge chill shot through Kevin’s body and he was frozen to his spot. There was nothing he could say. His lips were parted but no sound left them. Despite the rigid appearance of his body, his mind started to race. Who was this kid? Why was he calling him the same nickname given to his brother all those years ago? Maybe the photographer from that flyer lived in this building? But why would he be mistaken for him unless they shared a likeness? His lack of response clearly gave the kid a chance to continue speaking.

“What are you wearing? I thought you were updating your album in your room?” His comment made Kevin look down at his white button up accompanied by his black tie. Normally, his nametag adorned his left breast, but in his haste he had forgotten to remove it from his bag. He should have worn it to alleviate confusion, then he wouldn’t have to be in this position right now.

Eventually regaining his conscience, Kevin finally spoke. “I’m sorry, you must have me mistaken for someone else. My name is Elder Price and I’ve actually come here to talk to you about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Do you have any parents around I could speak to?”

The boy was quiet for a moment before responding. “I’m Jewish.”

Well, at least the kid was honest, Kevin could give him that much. Still, the kid hadn’t closed the door yet, so he pressed on. “Well, could I give you this book and perhaps you could pass it onto a friend for me?”

“I don’t have friends.”

Stunned into silence again, Kevin was at a loss for what to do. He was about to make his grand exit before he slipped up again, when a voice called out from inside the apartment. “Jason? Who’s at the door?” Everything about the voice struck Kevin with a deranged panic. He felt like his feet were bags of sand, weighing him down to the ground. He tried to rationalize that it was the jet lag finally setting in, that he should really get back and get some rest, until he saw the other face from inside the apartment.

It was like Kevin was looking in a mirror. A mirror that made him look more fit, more fashionable, and definitely more suave. Two pairs of brown eyes met in both understanding and horror as Kevin stood face to face with a ghost from his past. “Micah?”

Time had not been kind on either of them. Micah still looked like himself, but with a dark sort of sorrow within him. There was a chip on his shoulder where there hadn’t been one before, and his eyes seemed less bright. Maybe it was the light or maybe his sour expression of shock, but . Kevin could see where the eggshell green button-up hugged his brother’s torso and accentuated his collar. It almost made him uncomfortable to see how good his brother looked, and Kevin couldn’t help but feel self conscious under Micah’s knowing stare. The part of him that wanted to be superior over others kicked in, and Kevin tried his best to force it down.

The stare never wavered when Micah put a hand on the boy’s--Jason’s shoulder and spoke very carefully. “Go to your room and don’t come out until I come back inside. And do not make any calls until I can explain.” The love that was in his voice previously when addressing Jason was now gone, replaced by a calculated coldness that made Kevin shudder. This wasn’t the brother he remembered. Micah was snarky and sarcastic sure, but never cold or ruthless.

Jason slunk away from the door, allowing Micah to step outside and close the door. He was silent at first, not doing anything except looking down at his shoes and clenching his fists at his sides. Kevin could tell he was angry, but he couldn’t understand why he wasn’t hugging his brother right now. He had missed his brother so much since he left and he wanted to start to catch up, but his brother was obviously distant. If his body language didn’t give it away, he seemed to emit an angry aura of anger that hit Kevin in waves.

Micah took a few more moments before finally speaking. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing here?”

Kevin was cut by the sharpness in Micah’s tone and felt himself getting emotional. “I haven’t seen you in 15 years and this is how you talk to me? I’ve missed you so much, you have no-,”

“Save it for the church, Kevin, I’m not interested in listening to you spew nonsense at me.” Micah crossed his arms and shifted his weight to one leg. The insecurity from before was gone now, replaced with extreme amounts of sass. Kevin didn’t like it one bit. “I want you to explain how you were able to track me down when I didn’t leave a trace. I changed my name and moved to an entirely different city to get away from you people.”

“You people?” Kevin gasped at the atrocious devalidation of his family. “You mean the family that worked so hard to raise us? How could you address them in such a way?”

Micah rolled his eyes pointedly at Kevin and huffed. “You act like I’m indebted to those maniacs.”

Silence hung heavy between them, like a thick sheet of metal that couldn’t cut. Kevin was reaching in his mind for something to say. An apology? He didn’t know what he should be apologizing for. A plea? He couldn’t think of a single thing that he wanted from his brother except information. So he asked. “Where have you been, Micah?”

“Whizzer.”

“What?”

“My name is Whizzer Brown.” Micah turned away from Kevin but refused to look down. Prideful as ever. It seemed pride was a common trait that ran in the family. “Micah Price doesn’t exist anymore. You don’t have a brother anymore and neither do I, so just go back to Utah where you belong.” He turned around so his back was to Kevin, and Kevin could feel the tears welling up in his eyes. He finally found his brother after so long, but his own twin wanted nothing to do with him. As Micah--No, Whizzer. His name was Whizzer now--opened the door to his apartment, Kevin spoke one last time.

“Jason. Is he your son?” He saw Whizzer visibly tense at the last word, like he was being accused of some crime. Whizzer whipped around to stare down Kevin before making his ultimatum.

“If you come near my family again, Kevin Price, so help me God I will put you in the ground myself.”

The door was slammed in Kevin’s face, and he forced back the tears threatening to spill down his face. After all this time, and his own brother didn’t even want him. Kevin thought God was playing cruel tricks of irony on him now. This was punishment, he supposed, for never standing up against his father after he warned Kevin not to look for his brother. He should have helped him sooner if something was wrong. Kevin knew he had to make it up to his brother somehow, but he was struggling with something to do. A shaky sigh escaped him and he decided to embark back to his apartment.

Leaving a small piece of himself behind, Kevin hoped Whizzer would call.

: : - : :

Marvin considered himself a very driven man. If he wanted something enough, he would find any means necessary to ensure it was his. Others often called this “stubbornness”, but Marvin claimed it made him driven. To him, it was the driving force in his life that led him to Whizzer Brown.

The two first met in college. Whizzer was studying to become a photographer while Marvin was pursuing a job in marketing, a path his family had steadily laid out for him since birth. Back then, things were clear cut. Marvin hated Whizzer’s snarky attitude and air of arrogance that made him seem like a cut above the others, and Whizzer hated Marvin’s taste in fashion and always complained that Marvin had a stick up his ass. They were never friends then, but some part of Marvin had always been drawn to Whizzer. Throughout his relationship and subsequent marriage to Trina during college, he kept imagining all the ways he could spend more time with his strange frenemy. Even still, Marvin refused to admit he was having doubts about his own sexuality.

It wasn’t until 8 years later that Marvin’s crisis resurfaced. His son was 10 years old at the time, and Marvin himself had recently crossed the threshold of 30. The stress of rearing a child could be seen on his face when he saw Whizzer again. It was at the office building he worked in, Marvin saw Whizzer taking photographs for a magazine that was featuring an article about the company. They started talking, as old acquaintances do, but the mood was different. Something hot and heavy was laden in the air around them, and it only drew Marvin to Whizzer more. Whizzer Brown was still an enigma, even after knowing him in college for what seemed like ages. Marvin wanted- no, needed to learn more about the man that had eluded him throughout his adolescence.

He had sex with that same enigma in an empty meeting room that day.

Their affair kicked off into high gear from there. Marvin began inviting him over for dinner with his wife and son, and he couldn’t help feeling like his life was coming together for the first time. There was finally a tight knit group he could call his own. What comes up, however, must come down, and Marvin knew he hit rock bottom when Trina did something completely unexpected.

She caught him fooling around with Whizzer in the den of their Jewish household. Whizzer told him it was a stupid idea in the first place, but Marvin was too stubborn to listen and knew how to get Whizzer to shut up anyway. Trina was silent when she left, and still silent when she returned a few hours later, with divorce papers already signed.

If you were to ask Whizzer how long him and Marvin had been together now, he would say a year and a half. Marvin would say two, because he counted all of the months during which he was married to Trina, but Whizzer refused to. Their relationship was still fresh, new, and interesting. There were no words to describe how Marvin felt. Through great times and rough patches that never seemed to end, Marvin emerged on the other side a changed man with a new plan: He was going to marry Whizzer Brown.

The idea had been in his mind for some time, but he wasn’t quite sure where he should start. He wanted the proposal to be and meaningful and romantic, but none of the places he had been to with Whizzer seemed special enough. Marvin was having second thoughts... What if Whizzer wasn’t ready for this type of commitment? The first half of their relationship, as Marvin recalled, was never exclusive to begin with. While Marvin was still with Trina, even while Whizzer was living with him, Whizzer always had a fling with another man once in a while. He explained to Marvin that he wasn’t the kind of man you could tie down with a fancy piece of jewelry and a promise.

But that was a year ago, and Marvin had seen more change in Whizzer than he ever thought possible. While he was still snarky and prideful, he was never malicious or arrogant anymore. Sometimes Marvin would see Whizzer playing with Jason at the park, helping him with baseball, and Marvin would call Jason their “son”– his and Whizzer’s son. The thought made him warm and fuzzy just thinking about it. Marvin was a family man (he had to be for 12 years of his life) and he knew Whizzer was losing his edge with Jason at their apartment every weekend.

His plans with Whizzer took a turn for the worse, unbeknownst to him. After returning home from work on a Friday evening, Marvin found a very strange business card lodged underneath his door knocker. It was plain and simple, with a sleek air to it.

Kevin Price. Missionary Trainer, Pastor, and Friend.  Xxx-xxx-xxxx

Marvin casually played with the card in his hands until he saw writing on the backside.

Please tell Whizzer to call me. I know we can work this out. We can do it. I want him to be part of our family again.

He couldn’t understand what the card was really asking for. By the looks of the card, this Kevin was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and what Whizzer had to do with Mormons, Marvin had no idea. And what was this talk about his family? As far as Marvin knew, Whizzer dropped all ties with his family, going as far as to forcefully shut down any attempt at conversation about the subject. Marvin figured that was the reason for Whizzer’s aversion to commitment. But now, Marvin had a link to Whizzer’s past, something he had ached to have for so long. It seemed like Whizzer knew everything to know about Marvin, but this wasn’t the same vice versa.

Part of him really wanted to call the number on the card, and ask this “Kevin Price” what he knew about Whizzer, however, he immediately felt regret by taking his cellphone out of his pocket. He decided to ask Whizzer about Kevin instead, even though he could smell the excuse for a fight coming from a mile away. A fight after a long, stressful day of work was the last thing Marvin wanted.

When he entered his apartment, Marvin could hear the low hum of the TV. He peered over the couch to see Jason asleep, propped up against Whizzer’s side. His lover didn’t appear to be paying any attention to whatever show was on, instead he was gently combing his hands through Jason’s messy mop of hair. The sight made Marvin’s heart melt. He was overcome with emotion over how domestic the whole thing was. Jason looked like Whizzer’s son, and in that moment, Marvin could tell Whizzer felt the same way.

It was no secret to Marvin that Whizzer cared about Jason more than anything else. Whizzer was the one who went to every baseball game, took Jason out when Marvin wasn’t home, even let him practice driving his car ( Marvin didn’t even get to touch Whizzer’s precious car. To think he’d let a 12 year old boy without a license drive it in New York City was nuts). Add that to the list of reasons why Marvin wanted to marry Whizzer: For Jason, because God knows he would never accept anyone else as a suitable partner for his father.

Whizzer perked up at hearing the door close and turned his head to look at Marvin. He carefully peeled himself away from Jason and got up off the couch. He sauntered over to Marvin and allowed his partner to give him a quick peck on the cheek. “Tough day?”

“You have no idea.” Marvin groaned. “Consider yourself lucky you don’t have to deal with people as part of your job every day.” His hand brushed against his pocket and he remembered the card inside. Taking a deep breath, he locked eyes with Whizzer and swallowed hard. “I, uh, found something really interesting on the front door on my way in.”

“Oh yeah?” Whizzer seemed to let out a chuckle in spite of himself. “Sounds like another flyer asking us to switch cable providers. Was it Comcast or At&t this time? Wait, actually, let me guess-"

“Actually... it was a business card from someone associated with the Mormon church.” A sudden tension grew Whizzer’s shoulders, but he gently pressed on. “... He wrote something on the back about you.”

“Did he now?” The tone in his voice was bitter and sharp, but Marvin knew he wasn’t the cause of that irritation. He decided to press one more time before giving up.

“Does the name Kevin Price ring a bell to you?”

Suddenly, Whizzer’s shoulders pressed back and he inhaled sharply. “So what if it does?”

“Whizzer, I’m not in the mood for an argument, I just want the truth.” Marvin reached out for Whizzer’s shoulder and brushed his fingers against it gingerly. “You don’t need to tell me how you know him. You don’t even need to give more than a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer, but I don’t want you lying to me.” He could see the hesitation in Whizzer’s eyes, the telling sign he was holding something back. Whizzer looked away from Marvin for a moment, eyes darting to the floor before speaking again.

“He’s an old ghost from 15 years ago I didn’t think I’d ever have to see again. Hardly anything to make such a big fuss over.” He looked back at Marvin with a softer expression. Marvin pulled the card from his pocket and handed it to Whizzer.

“He wants you to call.” The unspoken question hung in the air, but Whizzer brushed it aside with practiced ease. He didn’t want to be talking about this with Marvin. Not now. Not ever.

“Must be really desperate if he left his business card-”

“ Whizzer. ”

“ What? Don’t scold me like I’m 10, Marv. I don’t want to talk to him.”

“I think you should give him a chance. Meet up with him somewhere public to talk so things don’t get out of hand. I’ll even go with you if you want the support.” Marvin berated himself internally for sounding so childish. Why did he care anyways?

Because he hated seeing Whizzer hurt, tormented by a past he was trying to distance himself from as much as possible. Marvin wanted Whizzer to be happy more than anything else.

Whizzer rolled his eyes and with a dramatic sigh, he finally gave in. “Fine. I’ll meet him in the cafe downstairs, and if anything goes wrong, I’ll call you.” He trained his eyes on Marvin’s collar and busied his hands with fixing it. “Happy?”

Marvin’s smile was all teeth. “Yes.” He leaned forward and rested his head on Whizzer’s shoulder. “Everything’s going to be fine, I promise.”

“You can’t promise that.” Whizzer’s hands fell down to Marvin’s chest. “Not with these people. They’re…” He bit his lip trying to find the right word. “Psychotic.”

“Oh come on, how bad could they possibly be?”

Marvin never realized the mistake he made in believing everything would be alright.

Chapter Text

January 20th, 2018

Whizzer considered calling his brother a favor for Marvin rather than something he actually wanted to do. In hindsight, he should have stood his ground on the issue, but how was he going to explain to Marvin why he didn’t want to see his brother without simultaneously giving away his entire past? After working so hard to get away from his repressive family life, he wanted nothing more than to stay in his bubble of love and tolerance. His brother hurt him in so many ways and Whizzer was scared to revisit that part in his past.

And what about Marvin? Whizzer had tried to keep him at bay for so long, and it wasn’t certain that Marvin would want to stay after hearing the things Whizzer did and the places he came from.

God. Whizzer wanted Marvin to stay. He couldn’t bear the thought of having to leave his new family. When his relationship with Marvin was just a fling, he could care less about what happened to the people he hurt. He was just grateful for something other than his hand to help him get off. But now, everything was different.

Two years with Marvin and Jason have turned Whizzer into a complete softie. Living in New York with those two was what Whizzer wanted to do for the rest of his life, but he was scared . Never had he experienced any sort of commitment before Marvin. “Boyfriends” was just a fancy term for guys that that came his way consistently for more than a week. Two years ago, Whizzer would have laughed at the ridiculous idea of ever settling down with anyone.

Now, he wasn’t so sure.

Whizzer was cursing Marvin for caring so damn much while he was awkwardly sitting in a cafe booth across from his brother. He thought about all the enjoyable things he could be doing with his Saturday, none of which were watching Kevin absentmindedly stir his tea. The silence between them was staggering, and Whizzer found his mild irritation to be intensifying at an alarming rate. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could take it.

Kevin finally looked up from his tea, opened his mouth as if to say something, but abruptly closed it again. Whizzer snatched the opportunity to make a sarcastic remark. “Never have I ever seen the infamous Kevin Price SO speechless before.” His brother looked at him with astonishment, but laughed nonetheless.

“I was always the chatterbox of the two of us, huh? Always getting in trouble for talking so loud in Sunday school.” Whizzer couldn’t help but smile at the memory of their devilishly handsome Sunday school teacher. He wondered if that guy was responsible for turning him gay.

“I guess that was true. When we got older, it seemed like we switched places.” Whizzer failed to mention the large rift between them, but Kevin seemed to get the message anyway, and the mood turned sour again. Noticing his mistake, Whizzer cleared his throat and tried again. “So, how is Jack doing these days?”

“Same as he’s always been. Content with being quiet and away from the family.” Kevin smiled. “He’s engaged to be married, and he’s with the loveliest gal! She’s got a more chipper spirit about her, polar opposite to our baby brother. I don’t know how she could possibly put up with him.”

“No way! Jack’s getting married before both of us?” Whizzer laughed. “I thought for sure you’d have at least 7 kids by now!”

“The number of women who want to date the famous missionary from Salt Lake City is surprisingly low.”

“Speaking of missionary…” Whizzer took a careful sip of his coffee. “How did your mission go?”

Kevin told his brother everything. Starting from being paired with his now-best-friend, Arnold Cunningham, and being sent to Uganda, he recounted the events of his action-packed mission. Meeting the entire village, meeting with the other missionaries, running away from his companion and breaking the rules, his spooky Mormon hell dream, his attempt to confront a dangerous warlord and getting kidnapped. Whizzer listened intently, laughing on occasion and cringing when Kevin explained his relapse from 12 cups of coffee. When Whizzer inquired why he drank so much after never being exposed all his life, Kevin’s face flushed as he explained how he managed to have a momentary lapse of faith after getting an entire Book of Mormon shoved forcefully up his butt and Whizzer couldn’t contain his laughter.

“Holy shit!” He took a drink of coffee again and continued to chuckle through his words. “I can’t believe the poetic irony of it all.” Kevin glared as he continued his story.

“So, Arnold lied to the Ugandan people about what exactly was in the Book of Mormon, but the message was pretty much the same. We ended up using that as the basis of our Ugandan teachings, and we converted so many of them! When we returned, the church was so proud of us, we were practically considered heroes.” He was grinning profusely from ear to ear, clearly pleased with himself, and Whizzer suddenly found his sympathies going out to the entire converted population of Uganda.

“Sounds like you had a fantastic time.” Whizzer couldn’t help but smile at his brother. Kevin was practically glowing from his accomplishments, and suddenly Whizzer felt very insecure.

“What about you? I saw a flyer for photography outside your building. How did you get into that?”

Despite his brother’s calm demeanor, he wasn’t sure exactly what the ulterior motives were for his questions. Whizzer resigned himself to sparing his brother the details of his life. “After I was kicked out, I moved in with a friend. Finished high school. Then I went to college and decided to pursue photography. I went to college for 4 years then became a freelance photographer as a career.” He paused, then, feeling the need to justify his choice further, decided to continue. “I took the elective as a junior and I loved it so much, I took Advanced Photography and the rest is history.” He eyed Kevin suspiciously, but Kevin just seemed fully engrossed in what Whizzer was telling him.

“What about the boy that was at your apartment? Jason?” Whizzer froze up. “What’s the story with him?”

“My, uh...my boyfriend has a son that comes and stays with us on the weekends. Jason splits time between his mom’s house and ours.” He was stumbling to try and find the right words to say to Kevin without giving too much away. He didn’t exactly feel comfortable telling Kevin stuff about Marvin. What if he started asking more questions? Whizzer suddenly felt lightheaded.

Oh man, Kevin wanted to press his brother for all the details he’d been dying to know for so long. Nothing would have made him happier than having his brother share everything, but he’d rather not push his luck. He could tell Whizzer was still really uncomfortable around him, and he was trying to figure out a way he could make his way back into his brother’s life. “So, Whizzer, you ever miss the family much?”

“Oh please.” Whizzer scoffed. “I spent my entire life trying to get away from that Mormon hell hole, and I’m not really excited to go back. Plus, can you imagine the disapproving looks? Gay and Jewish, that's like a fast track Disney World ticket to Mormon hell.” He paused before scanning his eyes over Kevin’s face. “No offense.”

“None taken, but even if you don’t want to see the rest of our family, at least let me see yours.”

“Kevin, I really don’t think-”

“Please,” Kevin was staring Whizzer down with intensity that reminded Whizzer so much of their father. His brother was refusing to be a pushover, that’s for sure. “If you insist that Micah Price is gone, then I don’t really know my brother like I used to. I want you to give me a chance to get to know Whizzer Brown, my brother.” The way Kevin said brother made Whizzer want to vomit. He worked for so long to keep his past out of his life for his own sake, and now his brother was trying to make amends? The pressure was practically killing him. He needed a drink.

“You know I can’t say no when you say it like that.” Whizzer forced a laugh, but he could tell Kevin’s smile came naturally. “And I mean it. You can come over for dinner tomorrow night. Jason will be there, and we’ll have a party.”

Tears poked at Kevin’s eyes but he couldn’t help but smile even bigger. Getting to have dinner with Whizzer’s family was better than any Orlando trip he could ever go on. Normally, Sundays were days of rest and he tried not to make any plans. But for Whizzer? Kevin would skip a thousand holy rest days for him.

: : - : :

“You did what ?”

“I panicked and invited him to have dinner with us! The kid looked like he was going to cry, what else was I supposed to do?”

Marvin rubbed his temple with his hand and groaned. He knew he wanted the two brothers to reconcile, but he wasn’t a fan of being dragged into the middle of a family mess. He already dealt with that mess once and he wasn’t pleased about having to do it over again. “What happened to you hating the guy?”

Whizzer was currently arranging pillows on their couch, desperately trying to do something with his hands. He brushed some dirt off the seat before sitting down. “He wasn’t being a total prick like usual, so I lost control in his stupid, puppy dog eyes.” Marvin couldn’t help but roll his eyes while Whizzer picked a stray piece of fuzz off a pillow before continuing. “Be as mad as you want, Marv, but Kevin won’t leave me alone until he gets what he wants, and he wants to meet you and Jason. The sooner we get this out of the way, the better it will be for everybody.”

Marvin took a moment to study Whizzer’s face. His eyebrows were furrowed in frustration and he looked a little bit...nervous? Something in his expression was off, and Marvin couldn’t quite tell what. He took a seat on the couch next to Whizzer and put on his best smile. “I’m sure it won’t be awful. You said he wanted to meet us, right?” Marvin’s hand found its way to Whizzer’s shoulder, and he rubbed it gently in an attempt to ease Whizzer’s nerves. His tone lost the previous edge of frustration and adapted something much lighter. “I’m sure you made his day, and seeing the smile on his face here tomorrow will make the whole experience worth it.”

Whizzer melted into Marvin’s touch and softly sighed. “There’s just...so many variables here. On one hand, he could really be as nice as he’s presenting himself to be or he’s going to attempt a weird, Mormon exorcism.” He returned Marvin’s smile reluctantly. “I guess that just means we’ll have to take a shopping excursion tomorrow.”

Just like that, Whizzer’s smile was gone, and Marvin couldn’t help but laugh. “Come on, Whizzer, I thought you loved swiping my credit card.”

Marvin was met with a scoff and a playful shove from Whizzer. “Of course I do, but not on groceries . That’s just a waste of your hard earned money.”

“And designer shirts aren’t?”

“You know you love my taste in tight button ups.”

: : - : :

“Oh, Arnold, it was the best day of my life! I thought our mission was life changing, but I’m about to have dinner with my brother and his partner!” Kevin Price had just returned from having coffee with Whizzer and was currently dancing around his studio apartment. His best friend had called to ensure his safe travels, and poor Arnold got a much larger speech than he was anticipating. Still, he couldn’t help but feel elated for his best friend. “I’m so excited I can hardly stand it.”

“How come you never told me you had a brother before?”

“Well, after he left when I was sixteen, we weren’t exactly allowed to talk about him to other people. We basically had to pretend he didn’t exist.” Kevin shivered. “You know, everyone always said I was the perfect missionary-”

“And they were right-”

“But, no one seemed to know what our family was really like. It seems like everyone but Whizzer thought we had the perfect family, and I intend to find out what turned his mood so sour growing up.” Kevin plopped down on his bed and tucked his phone between his shoulder and his ear. Desperate to busy his hands, he began folding his laundry. “Don’t get me wrong, I love my family, and they’re all such wonderful people, but something about my brother seems very different to the way he used to be.”

“Well…” Kevin could practically feel the gears turning in Arnold’s brain from over the phone. “Maybe he just thinks differently ‘cause he’s gay?”

“You really think that’s it?”

“We’ve never really met any gay people before, so maybe we just don’t understand the way they think!”

Kevin thought for a moment before adding, “Does Elder McKinley count?”

“He was just having gay thoughts. I don’t think that actually makes him gay.”

“I guess I’ll figure it out when I see them tomorrow.” He grabbed his phone from its resting place and laid back on his bed, legs dangling off the edge. A sigh escaped him before Arnold spoke again.

“Are you nervous?”

A shaky laugh bubbled in Kevin’s throat and escaped his lips. “A little bit, yeah.”

“Are you...scared?”

Scared? Kevin thought. Scared doesn’t even begin to describe it. What if he tripped over his words? Or said something rude without meaning to? Maybe Whizzer’s family would understand his mistakes? But the possibility of ridicule made Kevin’s skin crawl. He always had to be correct, and he wasn’t going to allow himself to be the subject of any offense nor any failure. He was going to get his brother back no matter what. Still, his defiance didn’t make his irrational fears disappear, and in fact the more he dwelled on them, the more palpable his fears became. With a long, deep breath, Kevin spoke the word that he felt described his feelings perfectly.

“ Terrified .”

Chapter Text

January 21, 2018

The fated day was upon them and Whizzer could not stop cleaning.

It was like a curse. Any time they had guests over, Whizzer had to make sure the house was immaculate. Charlotte and Cordelia he didn’t really consider guests anymore, and he could give a rats ass what Mendel and Trina thought. (Not like they had much of a choice on where they were sending Jason in the first place. Where he and Marvin decided to live was none of their business, and the dick paintings were a one time thing Trina . Jesus, woman, take a joke.) It was when strangers entered the house that Whizzer had to ensure there was nothing to nitpick. His design skills were impeccable and combined with a clean house, well he was an unstoppable designer.

The dirty dishes on the counter were seriously testing his patience, and he wasn’t sure how much more of it he could take. He knew for a fact he cleaned the counters 20 minutes ago, and the offensive bowl and spoon were just sitting on the counter, mocking him.

“Marvin, for the love of God don’t make me use your last name, get in here and clean these dishes!” Sure, Marvin would probably call Whizzer a fussy housewife, no better than Trina, but Whizzer refused to pick up someone’s mess if he knew they left it on purpose just to spite him. “I refuse to let Jason grow up with this kind of example in his life.”

Mention of Jason seemed enough to get Marvin to stumble out of the hallway and into the kitchen, half dressed and still groggy from the lack of morning caffeine. Whizzer had the coffee pot on lockdown and refused to let anyone make coffee in it after it was clean. Which, in this case, meant no coffee for Marvin or Whizzer. Both of them were noticeably crabbier than usual.

“For Christs sake, Whizzer, it’s eight in the morning. Jason’s still asleep.” Marvin rubbed his eyes, already feeling the caffeine withdrawals taking hold of his brain. He wasn’t drowsy so much as he was irritated. Lack of good sleep didn’t help much either. “Can you not yell at me to do the dishes this early in the morning without coffee ?”

Whizzer just scoffed in response and shot Marvin a glare that would normally be playful on a better morning. “Oh please. I’m not hyped on caffeine and I’m doing just fine. You on the other hand…” Whizzer’s eyes raked over Marvin’s slumped figure with disdain, but not quite contempt. “We really need to invest in a mask for those eyebags.”

“You’re stressed.”

“You’re stalling.” Marvin frowned at the idea of being beat at his own game. He found a new idea for himself when he noticed that Whizzer looked extremely disheveled for a man who usually paid so much attention to the way he looked. Marvin was no fashion expert, but he swears he remembers Whizzer saying he would only wear a white button up with his classic brown pants if he was on his deathbed. Clearly, there was a need for an intervention.

“I think,” Marvin sauntered over to Whizzer with a playful grin on his face. “We should go out, get some coffee somewhere, do a little grocery shopping for dinner, and make our own little adventure out of it.” His hands lightly rested on Whizzer’s hips and he gently pulled the taller man closer. “You can go anal and clean when we get back. And besides, we’ll have to do dishes again after we make dinner.”

Whizzer looked down at Marvin with a slight twinkle in his eye, and Marvin knew he had Whizzer’s attention. It seemed he had successfully escaped the deadly clutches of dish duty. They both knowingly smiled at each other, and for a moment they were at peace. Having intimate moments like this in the morning were scarce between Marvin’s early work hours and Whizzer never wanting to leave their bed before ten am. They were always nice moments, even if there was bickering proceeding it.

But of course, leave it to Whizzer to kill the mood. “If you think charming me with a day on the town is going to get you out of dish duty, Mr. Marvin,” Whizzer escaped from Marvin’s grasp and pulled a towel from his back pocket. “You, sir , are incorrect.” He shoved the towel into Marvin’s now empty hands before sauntering off to their room. “I’ll be ready in twenty minutes. Don’t look like an embarrassment.”

Instead of pouting, Marvin just chuckled to himself as he watched Whizzer walk away. He looked down at the towel in his hands and shook his head.

Do two dishes and be ready in twenty minutes? Marvin smirked. Piece of cake.

: : - : :

“Thank god all the Mormons are still at church right now so I won’t accidentally run into Kevin.”

Whizzer and Marvin were currently walking into their neighborhood grocery store with a newfound pep in their step only caffeine could provide. Marvin had on his very classy red sweatshirt that was perfect for lazy Sunday wear, but Whizzer had insisted on taking an extra ten minutes to iron his pink polo. With his aviator shades and latte in hand, Whizzer looked like he stepped right out of the 80s. The alarming shade of pink was practically asking for Whizzer to draw attention to himself, and it made Marvin feel very inadequately dressed.

“You look like a member of the mafia or something with those stupid sunglasses.” Marvin grumbled, tucking his hands into his pockets. “We were just taking a trip to Starbucks and the grocery store, not Project Runway.”

“First of all, I’m surprised you even know what Project Runway is and second of all, as an official member of the Gay Mafia, I have to represent everywhere I go.”

“You know who wears sunglasses inside? Large FBI dudes and assholes.”

“And members of the Gay Mafia, Marv. Keep up.” Whizzer practically strutted into the produce aisle and Marvin found himself grabbing a basket and briskly walking to catch up with Whizzer. He was worried that if he left Whizzer unattended for too long, he might actually run away and join the mafia. Marvin still couldn’t tell if he was kidding with all that Gay Mafia nonsense.

When Marvin finally caught up with Whizzer, he was examining 2 avocados with an intense stare. He had one in each hand and appeared to be weighing them. Marvin noticed the sign on the avocados said “2 for 5”. It seemed Whizzer was intent on buying the avocados, but Marvin spotted a deal that was even better. “3 for 6”.

“What about these? It’s a much better deal.” Marvin picked up the fruit and examined it.

Whizzer looked over and scoffed. “If you think we’re buying those, you’re nuts.”

“Whizzer, 3 for 6 is obviously a better deal than 2 for 5. Did you even take a basic math class?”

“It’s not the math, Marv, I’m trying to stop you from buying mangoes we don’t need just because it’s a good deal.” Whizzer placed the avocados in Marvin’s basket and stared at him from the small space over his sunglasses. “I know you can’t seem to resist saving money, but you’re really outdoing yourself right now.”

“Is this supposed to be payback for not doing the dishes this morning?”

“Do the dishes next time and you’ll find out.”

: : - : :

“This is getting ridiculous.” Whizzer was now without his latte and his sunglasses were tucked into the collar of his shirt. Marvin rubbed his eyes while Whizzer spoke again. “Let’s just get some instant ramen and call it a day.”

The couple had been in the store for what seemed like hours and they were both starting to lose their patience. “You can’t make instant ramen for a guest you invited over to our apartment.”

“ Fine . Instant mac and cheese.”

“ Whizzer .”

Despite Marvin’s exasperated plea, Whizzer grabbed two boxes of the most expensive instant mac and cheese he could find, albeit just to piss Marvin off. He dropped them into the basket unceremoniously and placed his shades back on while walking to check out. On the way over, Marvin made sure to grab a pre-made chicken because he was sure neither of them were going to want to cook after this excursion. When Marvin made it to the counter, he noticed there was a relatively young, decent looking guy working the check stand. He almost felt bad for the poor guy if his only job was scanning people’s groceries.

That is, until he decided to start flirting with Whizzer.

It wasn’t like Marvin could blame the guy. Whizzer wasn’t exactly being subtle with his passion for fashion today and he didn’t have any rings on that made him look married. Of course, Whizzer was basking in the attention, smiling and smooth talking his way through the conversation with ease while Marvin tried not to seethe with visible anger and jealousy. He had truly never seen anyone scan groceries slower. When their groceries were finally bagged and paid for, the checker asked Whizzer if he wanted any help to his car. Whizzer just smiled sweetly and responded with, “No thanks, my boyfriend and I can handle it just fine. Have a great rest of your day.”

Never had Whizzer spoken any words sweeter in his life. While Marvin was walking past the checker, he couldn’t help the smug grin that spread across his face. That’s him. He thought to himself, smiling all the way to the car. That’s the man I want to marry.

: : - : :

As it turns out, Jason makes a mean instant mac and cheese.

Marvin had been busying himself with setting the table when he heard Whizzer and Jason laughing from the kitchen. His smile hadn’t disappeared since the grocery store, and hearing the laughter of his son and lover made it that much bigger.

“Jason, how do you make instant mac and cheese not taste like powdery garbage?”

Marvin could practically hear the shrug from the other room. “What can I say? It’s a talent.”

As soon as Marvin finished setting the table, the familiar sound of the doorbell rang throughout the house and seemed to echo with an ominous tone. It was exactly seven, meaning it could only be one person. Whizzer stepped out of the kitchen, furiously wiping his palms on his pants. On instinct, Marvin put a hand on his shoulder. “Do you want me to get it?”

Whizzer was uncharacteristically quiet for a long moment before mumbling, “Please do.”

With a deep breath, Marvin straightened out his back and tried to mentally prepare himself for the events to come.

Chapter Text

Kevin found himself entirely unprepared for the man who stood in front of him in the doorway, slightly shorter than him with dark, curly hair and wearing a charming blue plaid shirt. He had the sort of handsome air you would associate with an older man, and by the looks of it he seemed like he’d had his fair share of life experiences. Still, he had a bit of an adventurous look about him, despite what his appearance suggested. Business casual seemed to be his preferred attire for the night, and Kevin suddenly felt under dressed for the occasion.

“You must be Kevin,” The man smiled warmly and held out his hand. “I’m Whizzer’s partner, Marvin.”

A warm feeling bubbled up in Kevin’s chest and a smile spread across his face. He eagerly took Marvin’s hand and gave it a firm shake. “It’s so nice to finally meet you! I’m sorry to say I haven’t heard that much about you, but I’m hoping that will change tonight.”

Marvin tried not to wince at the subtle stab of his ego. He took the opportunity to take a good look at Kevin, and realized very quickly that he and Whizzer shared a perfect likeness. Besides their attire and the exact styling of their hair, the two were perfectly identical twins. He did notice that Kevin looked considerably younger than Whizzer, but it seemed to make him almost look...cartoonish,like he wasn’t real. He took good care in his appearance, similar to Whizzer. Marvin could tell Kevin clearly held himself in high regard, and his posture showed it too.

“Come on in and take a seat, dinner will be ready shortly.” Putting on his best host smile, Marvin stood aside and ushered Kevin inside their apartment. “The boys are in the kitchen finishing up the mac and cheese.”

Stepping through the door felt like stepping through a threshold. The apartment was neatly decorated and quaint in some respects. Accents of blue and yellow against white walls made Kevin feel right at home. He smelt the food before he could see it and already knew tonight was going to be amazing. Here he was, standing in his brother’s home, ready to make amends and try to be a part of his family again. He was even willing to overlook some slight offenses for the sake of them.

He followed Marvin into the kitchen and was greeted with Whizzer helping Jason make mac and cheese. They were standing in front of the stove while Jason was stirring the pot with a giant spoon and Whizzer had a hand ruffling through the kid’s mop of hair. Whizzer let out a laugh in spite of himself and turned to speak to Marvin, only to be met with Kevin’s wide stare. He faltered for a moment before forcing himself to fake a smile. He had to put on a nice face, no matter how much it hurt. Sitting with Kevin to chat hadn’t been to terrible, but now Whizzer had to worry about his family.

“Hey, Kev! It’s good to see you again.” Kevin smiled at his brother, but Marvin gave Whizzer an interesting look. It almost seemed like Marvin knew something was up but he ignored it for the sake of politeness. He ushered Kevin to take a seat at the table, skillfully facing away from the kitchen, and walked over to Whizzer and Jason. He snaked his arm around Whizzer’s waist and pressed a quick kiss to the side of his forehead. Whizzer flinched at the kiss, but relaxed into Marvin’s touch. “Go talk to my brother, Marv, I know you’ve been dying to meet him.” There was a sour touch to his voice, but in no way was it unkind. Jason made a gagging noise at their adamant display of affection and made his way to the table. Marvin and Whizzer followed.

Whizzer took the spot in between his brother and Jason, right across the table from where Marvin sat as soon as he set dinner on the table. Before the silent tension in the air became awkward, Jason piped up.

“So, Kevin, is it true your religion is based on plates no one is even sure exist?”

Whizzer and Marvin both shot Jason a look but Kevin just laughed. “Yes, Jason. I know it can seem a bit weird to someone unfamiliar with my religion.” He placed a hand on Marvin’s shoulder reassuringly. “Don’t worry about it. I love when people ask me questions.”

Marvin visibly relaxed and smiled at Kevin. “I am sorry about him. Sometimes he says things without thinking.”

“Really, it’s not trouble at all,” The smile he wore gave off such warm energy, and Marvin found it hard to believe why Whizzer never wanted his brother around in the first place. He seemed like a really sweet guy. He and Whizzer must have grown up really different to become such different people. “So, tell me about yourself, Marvin.”

“Me? Well, I work in marketing. I went to school for it, and it pays nice. Certainly makes up for Whizzer owning his own business.” Marvin shot a glance over at Whizzer, who snorted and rolled his eyes in response.

“Oh, please. A photographer isn’t exactly a job that pays well on a day to day basis, but at least I’m doing something I enjoy.” He smirked in Marvin’s direction. “Can’t say the same about your job though, can you?”

Instead of rebutting Whizzer’s snide remark, Marvin just continued his conversation with Kevin, much to Whizzer’s dismay. “I’m not exactly a people person.”

The way Kevin laughed and leaned in Marvin’s direction made Whizzer’s blood boil. Kevin was dancing the line between flirty and friendly and, even though Whizzer knew his brother didn’t swing that way, he knew he needed to change the subject as soon as possible.

“So, Kevin, what do you do for a living now?” Whizzer’s question had come out sharper than he’d meant it to, but he plastered on a smile for added effect.

“Oh! I train missionaries. Mostly when they’re traveling to certain parts of Africa, I teach them conversational Swahili so they can get around in case the locals don’t speak English.” He beamed with pride. “It’s really such a rewarding job, and seeing so many kids invested in the church makes me really happy. Plus, I get to travel free of expense.”

Jason piped up again. “Does your entire life revolve around your church?”

“In some ways, I guess it does, but it wouldn’t be that way if I didn’t work there.”

“Is it true you’re not allowed to do anything on Sundays?”

“Technically, yes. Sundays are meant to be days or rest, spent with family.” He gave Jason a gentle nudge. “No homework or chores allowed.”

Jason looked his father dead in the eye. “Dad, I want to convert to Mormonism.”

Everyone burst out laughing at his declaration and Kevin felt such adoration for this kid. This was his nephew in a way. He was bright, intelligent, and never afraid to speak his mind. Pride wasn’t the right feeling to describe how Kevin was feeling. Eventually, he’s sure he could find something better, but for now he was content with reveling in the moment.

When the laughing subsided, Kevin seized the opportunity to ask a couple of questions of his own. “So, I’m very curious.” He looked between Marvin and Whizzer with a keen eye. “How long have you two known each other?”

Neither Whizzer nor Marvin answered right away, both pretending to be deep in thought. Of course they both knew the answer, but Marvin didn’t want to say anything he wasn’t supposed to and Whizzer didn’t want to give anything away. There was an unspoken agreement between them not to say anything too compromising for fear of upsetting Kevin, and there were certainly things they never wanted to say in front of Jason.

Deciding to take the reins on the situation, Marvin spoke first. “We first met in college. We were taking the same foreign language class our freshman year, and we were forced to partner up for a project.” He chuckled at the memory. “We hated each other's guts back then. I thought Whizzer was a stuck-up prick-”

“-and I thought Marvin was an unfashionable jerk with a stick up his ass.” Whizzer smirked across the table and Jason laughed at his use of profanity. “Good thing Marvin did all the work on that project, otherwise I never would have passed introductory French.”

“We just kept running into each other after that. Our friends seemed to share the same circles, and we somehow always found each other, despite trying our hardest to avoid each other.”

“Being with Marvin really cramped my style back then.” Whizzer tried to redirect the conversation elsewhere. He really didn’t like where Marvin was going with this.

“The tipping point of our friendship came when we were assigned as roommates in our senior year.” Marvin shrugged. “Somehow living together had a positive effect on our friendship. My ex wife and I…” Marvin trailed off, knowing he was tap dancing on dangerous territory. A pleading look from Whizzer told him to choose his words carefully. “...we had plans on moving out together, but she dropped out of college 2 years earlier than me, so I had to get a job so we could support each other.”

Kevin anxiously scratched his chin before speaking. “So, you were married before you were with my brother? To a woman?”

Marvin began to sweat. “Ah, yes. Well, you see, our story gets a little convoluted from there.” He rubbed the back of his neck anxiously, and Whizzer tried to signal Marvin from across the table to stop what he was doing and abort mission. Kevin didn’t notice, and instead leaned closer to Marvin out of curiosity, which only caused Marvin to sweat even more. “We met up again about 8 years later when my company was being featured in a magazine. He was hired to take pictures for the article. We just got to talking, and talking, and talking, and eventually we just hit it off!” He chuckled nervously, and Jason found himself resisting the urge to smack his forehead over his father’s stupidity. Whizzer was anxiously looking between his lover and his brother, but he couldn’t read the expression on his brother’s face.

“I’m a little...confused?” Kevin mused. “Were you and your wife already...separated then?”

Silence. Kevin looked to Marvin and Whizzer for a response, but found nothing. The gears in his brain were turning, trying to figure out the reason for the silence, until everything clicked.

“You...you cheated on your wife ? With a man ?”

Marvin’s hand instinctively covered his mouth and Whizzer was frozen in fear. The look on Kevin’s face was nothing short of absolutely mortified. To make matters worse, Jason was clearly uncomfortable and quickly excused himself to his room. Kevin reeked of disappointment and disgust, and it was evident in his expression. He was now sitting up straight as a board, no longer relaxedly lounging on the table. Neither of them knew what to say. They already gave it away without having to say a work. Lying wasn’t an option anymore.

Suddenly, without a word, Kevin got up from the table. He gathered up his empty dishes and walked them over to the sink. When he returned, he had his Missionary Training Center smile plastered on his face. “Well, thank you both for the lovely dinner and send Jason my best regards.” He patted Marvin on the shoulder, like a mother would pat her child. It made Marvin extremely uncomfortable. “It was lovely to meet you, Marvin. Do give me a call sometime, I’d love to chat again.” With those parting words, Kevin showed himself out the door.

As soon as the door closed, the unbearable tension broke with it, and Whizzer felt laughter bubbling up in his stomach. He tried to cover it with his mouth, but it spilled past his lips despite his best efforts. Marvin couldn’t help but smile in spite of himself.

“Oh, you think that’s funny, do you?” He chuckled. “You like watching me embarrass myself?”

Whizzer practically fell back in his chair, cackling so hard his stomach began to ache. “I...can’t believe you...just did that.” He was choking out words between sharp gasps of air.

“Do what? Ruin any chance of reconciliation with your brother?”

“Oh, Marv...hah...I never wanted to reconcile with my brother! He was the one that wanted this stupid dinner in the first place.”

“So, I actually did you a favor, huh?”

“Yes, yes you did.” Whizzer was finally able to calm himself down from his laughing fit. “You really did me a favor.”

“You know this means you owe me one, right?” Marvin smiled coyly at Whizzer. “I think I have a couple of ideas to get back at you for nagging at me so much this morning…”

Whizzer crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back in his chair. “Joy.”

: : - : :

Kevin took two steps into his apartment before he wanted to vomit. Reality had quickly set in after he had made his getaway, and his hands were shaking from the adrenaline of running the whole way home. He’d thought Whizzer was living a better life, but now he realized his brother had a part to play in breaking up a perfectly straight marriage. Whereas before he wished longingly for his brother to call, he desperately wished to never see the likes of that family again. Never in his life would Kevin had imagined he’d have to take part in something so...awful. He shivered with the thought.

Somewhere in his pocket, he felt his cell phone vibrate, and he quickly tried to quell his nerves long enough to answer his phone. He took a deep breath after noticing the caller ID, and quickly swiped across the screen.

“Hello, Dad.”

“Hey there, son! Settling into New York okay? I sure hope those New Yorkers haven’t given you too much trouble.” Finally, Kevin felt like he could relax after hearing his father’s reassuring voice over the phone. “How’s it going over there?”

“It’s great, Dad.” Kevin felt bad about lying, but he knew it would be easier over the phone. “I miss home. Things were much simpler there.” Okay, so that part wasn’t a lie. His conscience felt a little more at ease.

“Listen, I called because your mother and I were thinking about taking the family on a bit of a vacation, and we were wondering if we could stop by your place this weekend to check in and see how you’re doing.”

Kevin’s heart was soaring with every word, and he felt the seed of an idea planting in his brain. “That would be wonderful! I’d love to have you all over! It might be a little cramped, this studio doesn’t leave much to the imagination.”

His father laughed. “Well, I’m glad you’d love to see us. You must be exhausted, so I’ll call you tomorrow after work.”

After hearing the click of an ending call, Kevin smiled. He had a plan now. A perfect plan that would allow him to get his brother back to the good kid he knew was hiding somewhere in there. Kevin just had to dig it out was all. Soon, Micah would realize the error of his sinful ways and come home to the rest of the family. The family he belonged to. There was a touch of guilt when thinking about Marvin and his son, but Kevin had a new mission now. A mission that didn’t involve them. Eventually, Micah would forget all about the person he was now and go back to being the way he used to be.

Kevin was about to do something incredible.

Chapter Text

January 23, 2018

Marvin thought he was going to be rid of Whizzer’s brother for good after their atrocious dinner the previous weekend, but he soon discovered Kevin was not so easily rid of when Marvin got an interesting voicemail on his desk phone.

“Hello! It’s Kevin Price, Whizzer’s brother. I wanted to apologise for leaving so early on Sunday night, and I really wanted to make it up to you guys. I’ll be hosting a dinner this coming Saturday, and I would love it if you three could make it. Call me back if you can go!”

When he brought it up to Whizzer, his lover quickly became skeptical.

“It isn’t like him to be this nice unless he has ulterior motives.” Whizzer barely looked up from his camera as he spoke. He was busying himself playing with knobs on his camera while sitting on the couch, trying to adjust it to the perfect setting. Holding the camera up to his eye, he looked through the viewfinder and pointed it outside the window. “You are more than welcome to go and suffer, but I would much rather stay home.”

“He’s trying really hard, Whizzer, I just think-”

“Don’t even start with that. Remember what happened last time you tried to play family therapist?” Whizzer’s lips twisted into a weird expression and he brought his camera away from his face to mess with the settings some more. “I got pressured into bringing that nut-job to dinner. And besides,” He brought up his camera once again. “I don’t want to subject myself to the torture of dealing with my insufferable brother again .”

Marvin moved to stand in front of Whizzer’s line of sight, effectively blocking his view. “He reached out to us. The least we could do is make an appearance. We can tell him we have other plans, but will drop by and say hello for a while.” Whizzer huffed and brought his camera away from his face to glare at Marvin, who gave him a cocky smile in response. “I think it’s a great compromise, don’t you?”

Providing a cocky smile of his own, Whizzer decided to make this a bit more interesting. “You drive a hard bargain, Marv. Tell you what, if you can find yourself a shirt to wear that isn’t absolutely revolting, I’ll consider it.” He set down his camera and stood up to tower over Marvin. His hands gently grasped the collar of Marvin’s dress shirt and he adjusted the fabric to make it stay put. Trailing his gaze up to make their eyes meet, he spoke again. “I think it’s a great compromise, don’t you? ”

Choosing to ignore the clear tease, Marvin smiled up at Whizzer. “Perfect. Care to join me on an extravagant shopping trip?” He snaked his arms around Whizzer’s waist and gently pulled him just a little bit closer. “There might be a couple new shirts in it for you if you play nice.”

“As much as I adore spending your money, I have a client to meet in about a half hour.” Whizzer quickly pulled himself out of Marvin’s grasp to swipe his camera off the couch. “I’m taking someone’s senior pictures and I was trying to adjust my settings before you so rudely interrupted me.” A little disappointed that Whizzer wasn’t feeling the romance, Marvin pouted.

“Well who am I supposed to take with me? I can’t go shopping for shirts by myself!”

“Take Charlotte or Cordelia. One of them should be available to help you,” Whizzer found himself engrossed in his camera and completely disinterested in Marvin’s complaints. Marvin groaned, both internally and externally, and went to go find his keys. It seemed he was out of luck in the fashion department today.

: : - : :

After hesitantly knocking on Charlotte and Cordelia’s apartment door, Marvin took a couple steps away. He heard a loud beeping noise and swearing coming from the other side of the door before it swung open to reveal a slightly disheveled Cordelia. Her curly hair was sticking up in all sorts of directions, and flour adorned her apron. Unfortunately, it seemed the apron wasn’t much of a shield, as there was flour on every other article of clothing she was wearing. Her appearance didn’t seem to phase her at all, and she smiled warmly when she was Marvin at the door.

“Marvin! I would have cleaned up if I was expecting guests over.” She hastily brushed some of the flour off her apron before opening the door wider. “Come on in, but mind the mess in the kitchen.” Marvin cautiously stepped inside and was greeted with the smell of burnt cookies. Cordelia’s catering efforts in the baking department had seemed to be taking a turn for the worse lately, but the smell had come to be a sign of homeliness that Marvin’s apartment seemed to lack. Ordering takeout all the time would do that to you. After closing the door behind him, Cordelia piped up again. “What brings you to my humble abode this afternoon?”

“I’m in need of fashion assistance.” Marvin suddenly felt a little silly having to go to Cordelia for help in the first place. “Whizzer is refusing to make an appearance with me at a dinner unless I can find a suitable shirt to wear.”

Cordelia couldn’t help but laugh. “Typical Whizzer. Let me just fix myself up and we can head over to the mall.” She started walking towards her room, but stopped before turning to face Marvin. “What’s the occasion? We gotta know what we’re shopping for so we have a game plan.”

“His brother is in town and invited us over for dinner.” Marvin saw Cordelia stiffen and look like a deer trapped in headlights.

“Kevin? What is he doing here? How did he even find Whizzer?”

“Whizzer told me it was by complete coincidence.” Marvin stopped when he realized Cordelia had called Kevin by name. “Wait, how did you know Kevin’s name?”

Cordelia murmured something under her breath before exiting the room, leaving Marvin completely dumbfounded. Seemed like Cordelia knew something about Whizzer’s past that he was unaware of, and maybe he was finally going to get some insight, since Whizzer was still being stubborn about telling him anything. Upon Cordelia’s return, she had a bright smile on her face which was a stark contrast to the grimace she had earlier. Marvin raised a suspicious eyebrow in her direction, but said nothing more.

“Now then, Marvin, let’s go find you a shirt.”

: : - : :

“Whizzer and I were childhood friends.”

Cordelia finally spoke up while her and Marvin were shifting through shirts on a clearance rack in the middle of a department store. Her sudden declaration made Marvin almost stop in his tracks. “Our mom’s met each other at the hospital we were born in and became fast friends. We were always over for every holiday dinner and playdates were commonplace when Whizzer and I were kids. One time, I remember playing House with Whizzer, and we told our parents we were going to get married someday.” She smiled sadly. “Little did either of us know what kind of people we would grow into.”

Marvin shifted over to place a reassuring hand on Cordelia’s shoulder. “What happened?”

She took a shaky breath before speaking. “One night, during our Junior year, he was standing in front of our door. He was soaking wet from the storm that had just come in, and all he had with him was the backpack he used for school. When my mom brought him in to ask what happened, he told us his Dad kicked him out and he needed a place to stay until he could leave for college. I tried talking to him, asking him what happened, but he refused to speak to me. He shut himself up in his room for days, refusing to eat, sleep, or go anywhere but school. After a while, he started talking to us again, but something had changed in him. He had a sort of...chip on his shoulder where there hadn’t been one before, and he became a completely different person. He was a little bit more careless than he used to be.”

Silence seemed to fill the room like a tank filling with water, and Marvin was drowning. What was he supposed to say to that? The more information he seemed to gather about Whizzer, the more questions he had about Whizzer’s past. “Did Whizzer ever tell you why he was kicked out?”

Cordelia shook her head sadly. “We could only guess. He’s never told anyone about what happened that day. All he asked from us was that we never tell anyone he was staying with us. He was afraid of what would happen if he was caught.”

“Caught?” Marvin couldn’t suppress his shudder. “You don’t think it was...something illegal?”

“It would explain why he was running, or why he legally changed his name, but not why he was kicked out.” She shrugged. “I never pried. It was his business, and if he wanted anyone to know, he would tell them.”

Marvin could tell Cordelia was trying to change the subject, so he quickly obliged by picking a random shirt from the rack in front of him. Even Marvin could admit it was an atrocious shade of green, but he showed it to Cordelia anyway. She responded as expected, with a grimace that matched Marvin’s internal dialogue about the color. Instead, she held up a deep purple button up. Now it was Marvin’s turn to cringe. Cordelia huffed, but didn’t put the shirt back on the rack, much to Marvin’s dismay. She went off to look at the ties, probably trying to find something to match nicely with the horrific shirt she’d picked out for him. He busied himself with finding something suitable in the meantime. His eyes were caught by a light blue plaid, and he was still eyeing it when Cordelia returned.

“A nice plum with a light grey tie.” She held up the offenders for Marvin to behold and smiled. “Pair it with some grey pants and you’re good to go!” Marvin instead grabbed the plaid he was looking at and held it up to Cordelia, and her smile quickly flipped. “You already have 3 other blue plaid shirts at home and you know Whizzer would never approve of you bringing home another one.”

“But, Cordelia, purple ?” Marvin could hear a whine start to creep into his tone. “ Really ?”

“It brings out the blue in your eyes!” She held the shirt up to his chest and pushed him into view of a mirror. “See? It looks great on you!”

Despite his distaste for the color, Marvin had to agree with Cordelia’s eye for color. The shirt made Marvin’s eyes bluer than ever before. With a sigh of defeat, he agreed to try it on for Cordelia’s sake.

: : - : :

“Thanks for all of your help, Cordelia. I don’t know where I would have been without you.”

Marvin was carrying a bag full of new shirts for Whizzer to judge while standing in front of Cordelia’s door. She smiled warmly at him before stepping through the doorway. Before bidding Marvin goodbye, she turned over her shoulder to look at him.

“Hey, Marvin? Thank you.”

Stunned by her sudden thanks, Marvin sputtered over his words a bit. “What do you mean?”

“For being there for Whizzer. It’s hard, knowing he’s keeping things from you, but he cares about you. Don’t forget that.” Her smile grew as she spoke. “Something tells me he’ll come around to you eventually.” With that, she left Marvin stunned at the door, and rushed into her apartment to greet her girlfriend.

The drive home was filled with thought, as Marvin didn’t have Cordelia's chatter to fill the dead air. His mind was occupied with what he had learned that day and how he was going to bring the issue up to Whizzer. Sure, Cordelia had just praised his patience with the whole situation, but there was only so much waiting he could do. The possibility of Whizzer never telling him kept looming over Marvin’s head with every turn, and doubt continued to plague his every waking hour.

Waiting was agonizing, and Marvin wasn’t sure how much longer he could take it.

Chapter Text

January 28th, 2018

“If this takes a turn for the worst again, I’m blaming you.”

Whizzer couldn’t seem to keep his mouth shut on the way to the dreaded Kevin Price dinner, part two. Marvin was trying not to roll his eyes as he was towing Jason along behind him who was also less than happy to be attending such an event.

“Why did I have to come? It’s not like Uncle Kevin invited me too.” He mumbled under his breath.

“Do not give my brother the satisfaction of hearing you call him Uncle Kevin. ” Whizzer sneered, not really towards Jason in particular, but more towards the idea of Kevin receiving any sort of gratitude from his family. Marvin could feel the stress from a mile away, and felt his own heart rate increase when he began to climb the stairs to Kevin’s apartment. Upon reaching the door, he could hear joyful chatter and light jazz music from inside. It was in this moment, Marvin knew he was likely making a grave mistake. Still, pride was a bitch, and he wasn’t about to let this go so easily

After gently knocking on the door, Marvin took a few steps back and waited. The noises inside didn’t seem to stop, so Whizzer huffed and reached over Marvin to get the door knocker. Before he could reach it, someone answered the door. He appeared strikingly similar to Kevin and Whizzer in his eyes and hair, but upon further inspection, the rest of him didn’t appear that similar to them at all. His attire was completely black, from his tie all the way down to his shoes, and he looked considerably younger than the other brothers. Whizzer seemed to be struck with horror when the two locked eyes with each other.

Trying to clear the tension, Whizzer awkwardly cleared his throat. “Sorry, Jack, I’m just going一”

“Whizzer? What are you doing here? Kevin didn’t tell me you were coming.”

Marvin felt bad for the poor guy. Whoever he was, he seemed over the moon over getting to see Whizzer, but he could tell Whizzer had a worse feeling than he did before. “Is the rest of the family here?”

“Of course they are! Didn’t Kevin tell you it was a spontaneous family reunion?”

Whizzer felt his blood go cold. Of course this was a set-up. There was no other explanation for why Kevin was making such an effort to be nice. He was trying to use Whizzer as a scapegoat in order to bring up his status among their family. His fists were clenched at his sides, and Marvin saw them shaking. “No, actually,” He gritted out between his teeth. “He regretfully left that part out.”

“Jack? Who’s at the door?” Whizzer felt the murderous intent creeping up on him as he saw Kevin bounding towards the door. Kevin’s face instantly lit up at the sight of his brother. “Whizzer! So good to see you again! Come on in, the party’s just getting started!”

“Kevin, what the hell is going on?” Marvin quickly stepped in between Kevin and Whizzer, acting as a barrier between them. He knew Whizzer would likely be offended by the sudden display of chivalry, but he could deal with that later. Someone needed to stop Whizzer from strangling Kevin on the spot. “You didn’t tell me this was going to happen. Why did you really bring us here?”

Kevin looked dumbstruck for a moment. “I was going to reintroduce you to the family in the hopes that maybe…” Kevin trailed off and looked at the floor. Jack looked more uncomfortable than anyone else in the room, shifting side to side and anxiously tugging on his shirt sleeves.

“Well you hoped wrong.” Whizzer instinctively reached for Marvin and Jason, fully intending to pull them away from the situation. Marvin pretended not to notice. “We’re leaving.”

“Wait, Whizzer, please―!”

Before Whizzer could even blink, he heard a voice that made his blood run cold. “Kevin? Who’s at the door?” He would recognize that voice anywhere, even if it had been more than 15 years since he’d last heard it. His father.

With an eloquent swing, Kevin opened the door and revealed the guests inside. Whizzer felt the panic begin to set in when he realized he recognized every single face in that room. Distant cousins, aunts and uncles...Kevin clearly made sure no one was left out. It was like a wave of judgement was crashing over his head and Whizzer suddenly felt like he was drowning in it. He wanted to shrink into nothing.

That’s when he saw her. The saving grace standing in the center of the room with his father. Eliana Brown-Price. His mother. She looked a little worse for wear and her eyes were filling with tears, but she was still the same woman he remembered. Her stature seemed so small compared to their father, but nonetheless, she was all Whizzer could see. With some hesitation, she took a few steps forward, stopping only when her husband grabbed her wrist. “Micah?”

Whizzer couldn’t help but smile as his own eyes threatened to spill over. He wasn’t normally like this. Only losers cry. he used to tell himself, but as he got older he had less control over his own tear ducts. Seeing his mother again after so long could only be described as cathartic, like the ending of a good movie where everything turns out okay. His mother had been his support system growing up, and without her his life had been empty. With a shaky breath he stepped into the room, continuing to stand even when he felt the pressure of all eyes on him. “Hey, mom.”

The same restraint and hesitancy from earlier gone, Whizzer and Eliana ran towards each other and clutched one another in a crushing hug. She was sobbing into his shoulder, muttering to herself while he was shaking beneath her. The entire room went silent, for fear of disrupting such a precious moment between mother and son. When they finally separated, if only for just a moment, Eliana placed her hands on either side of Whizzer’s face and smiled wider than she had in a long time. “Christ, we all thought you were dead. When your father told me you’d ran away, I...I…” She burst into tears again and Whizzer wore a look of betrayal on his face.

Ran away? He hadn’t run away all those years ago, he was forced to leave his family by his father. Even though he wanted to get away from the Mormon church with all his heart, he never wanted to leave his family. He had plans. Plans that involved staying in contact with his mother and Jack, his other brother he cared so much for. Maybe even Kevin, if he ever came around and wanted to reconcile their friendship from years past. He had no intention of dropping off the map, but the paranoia of being hunted by a past he couldn’t get away from kept him moving after high school. Changing his name and moving cities seemed like the best way to get away from what was haunting him. He even made sure his cell phone number was completely different from the one he used to have. On a particularly paranoid night, he even erased all record of him ever changing his name, effectively creating the illusion that Whizzer Brown had always been his real name. It was supposed to be better that way, with everyone assuming Micah Price was dead. But now that he finally had his mother back again...Whizzer wasn’t so sure anymore.

The moment was eventually disrupted when Whizzer’s father, Anthony Price, angrily stalked across the room and made sure to get right up in Whizzer’s face. “I thought I made myself clear back then. What are you doing here?”

Whizzer tried his best not to shrink away. He was an adult, damn it, and he wasn’t going to let another adult boss him around like he was five. So, he put the sassy pants on. “Trust me when I say staying away from you was the ideal scenario here.”

“That doesn’t answer my question, boy.”

It took every ounce of Marvin’s strength not to run up there and punch that guy where he stood. He was still standing in the doorway with Jason, Jack, and Kevin, the latter of which was approaching the battle zone in the center of the room. Jason looked just as shocked as Marvin felt, and with every passing moment Marvin began to realize why Whizzer never disclosed anything about his past.

With some sort of false determination, Kevin puffed out his chest and stood between Whizzer and his father. “I invited him here.”

“And why did you think it was okay to go against my wishes?”

“Because...because...Micah was―no, Whizzer is our family.” Kevin took a deep breath. “While I was on my mission, I learned that Mormonism is really all about loving your family. So, if we were true Mormons, we would have never abandoned him in the first place!”

His father looked stunned at Kevin’s sudden outburst, and for some reason Kevin felt more alive than ever. Anthony looked between Kevin and Whizzer briefly before grabbing Kevin’s wrist and angrily pulling him into another room. Once they were away from the prying eyes of their family, he shoved his son against a wall. “I hope you realize how much you’ve disgraced this family by inviting that dirty homo back here. I’ve worked so hard to preserve the Price family legacy, and this is the thanks I get?

“Technically, being gay is perfectly acceptable, so if that’s your only issue with―”

“You don’t understand! We don’t have room for deviants like him in this family.”

Silence fell between them as one word hung heavy in the air. Deviants. Is that what Kevin would be called if his father knew about all the things he did on his mission in Uganda: the coffee he drank, the doubts he had, the boy he kissed ―

Suddenly, Kevin was struck with a thought that shook him to his core. With shaking fists at his sides, he asked, “Did you kick him out because of what I told you that night?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I remember telling you and mom he was having people over while you were gone. When I came back, he was nowhere to be found and his room was being cleared out.” Kevin swallowed hard. “What did you do to my brother?”

Anthony rolled his shoulders back and straightened himself out, holding himself up with a false sense of bravado. “I caught him making out with another fag in his room, so I kicked him to the curb.”

Kevin’s eyes widened in horror. “At 16 years old? That’s practically killing him!”

“He would have been better off dead anyways!”

“So you wanted him to die?!”

“Of course I didn’t!” Anthony was grasping at strings, and Kevin could tell he wasn’t telling the whole truth. “I just didn’t want him influencing you or your other brother. Micah was a troublemaker from the start, and I should have never let him near you when I knew something was wrong.”

Kevin was fuming now. “Without my brother, I wouldn’t have had any friends! It was a miracle I even met Arnold in the first place! Heck, it was a miracle I could even find anyone to be friends with me to begin with!”

“You were on a righteous path and there wasn’t any room for distractions. Keeping Micah would have been a terrible mistake.”

With a huff, Kevin stormed into the other room and headed straight for Whizzer and his mother. Ignoring the cries of his father, he grabbed onto Whizzer and began pulling him towards the door. “We need to leave. Apparently, we’re not wanted here.”

“Wait, we ?” Whizzer mused. “Perfect poster child Kevin Price isn’t wanted?”

“Just shut up and come with me.”

Before Kevin could leave with Whizzer and his mother in tow, his father called out to him. “Kevin Price! Think about what you’re doing, young man!”

Kevin smirked and stared down his father. “I have, and I’ve decided I like the taste of coffee more than I like being around you pricks.”

: : - : :

“Oh my gosh I can’t believe I said that to him.”

Kevin was sitting at a table in the middle of a run down diner with his mother, Whizzer, Jason, Marvin, and Jack. He was holding his head in his hands, and his milkshake was mostly untouched. Whizzer rolled his eyes for the hundredth time since they’d gotten there and propped his head on his hand.

“Relax, Kevin. That was probably the coolest thing you’ve ever done in your stupid life.”

Looking up from his hands, Kevin looked like he was going to cry. “You thought I was cool?”

“Ugh!” Whizzer recoiled like he’d been hit. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and pouted. “Forget I even said anything.”

Laughter erupted from the table, and Marvin found it hard not to grin himself. It was strange, sitting at a table with Whizzer’s family, but he loved it just the same. Jason and Jack hit it off right away, swapping stories and sharing all the things they loved about playing board games. Eliana was ecstatic that she finally had a grandson, and she was constantly fawning over Jason, gushing about how smart he was and how tall he was for only being 12 and a half. Marvin didn’t interject much, only to add to the conversation or make the occasional joke. When he was feeling particularly bold, Marvin joked that his milkshakes brought all the boys to the yard, which earned him a collective groan from the whole table and a snarky comment from Whizzer.

“Marv, please. Your milkshake brought one boy to the yard. That was me, and I regret all of my life choices.”

Marvin just laughed and reached for Whizzer’s hand under the table. While everyone else was momentarily distracted, Whizzer silently held hands with Marvin and enjoyed the small moment of intimacy between them. With a gentle squeeze, almost like a form of silent communication between them, Marvin tried his best to reassure Whizzer that everything was going to be fine.

Neither of them found comfort in something they knew to be false.

: : - : :

Mrs. Price, as Marvin found out that night, was actually a converted Jewish woman, which explained why Whizzer always called himself “half Jewish”.

They were talking with each other outside the diner before going their separate ways for the night. After exchanging contact information and promises to get in touch, Eliana took Marvin’s hands in hers and smiled up at him fondly.

“I never got the chance to thank you for taking care of my son.”

Marvin was suddenly struck by her honesty and he could only manage a nervous chuckle. “I...don’t know what you mean…”

“I can tell by the way he looks at you. I may not have seen my son in 15 years, but I know his tells. He looks at you the same way he used to look at Harrison Ford.” She laughed and Marvin felt his face flush with embarrassment. “He adores you. Maybe you don’t see it, but I think you know it’s there.”

Marvin shook his head. “I really don’t think about it all that much.”

“You can’t hide something like that from me. What’s on your mind?”

He stiffened up and felt Eliana’s gaze on him. If there was a prime opportunity to ask, now was the right time. He took a deep breath. “I want to ask Whizzer to marry me."

Eliana smiled back at him. “Then why don’t you? Worried he’ll say no?”

“Whizzer isn’t exactly the poster child for marital commitment.” Then again, neither am I . “He made it very clear that he’s not interested in what a marriage has to offer him.”

She pursed her lips into a frown. “I wonder if I gave him a jaded view of marriage…”

“What do you mean?”

“I gave up everything to be with Anthony. My religion, my family, my independence...All of that was taken from me once I became a baptized Mormon. I told him all of this, of course, when he turned sixteen. I just felt like it was his right to know the truth about my life since I knew the truth about his. I don’t think he realizes he doesn’t have to forsake everything he has if he were to get married.”

Marvin was stunned by the sudden revelation, and it seemed like everything made perfect sense. When he and Whizzer were in college together, and Marvin had told him he was getting married, Whizzer had gone on an entire tirade about how marriage was complete and total bullshit. At the time, it had only caused a rift to form between them, but now Marvin could understand why the idea of marriage seemed to scare Whizzer so much: he didn’t want to make the same mistake his mother did.

He locked eyes with Eliana. “I would never want to change him. I only want him to be happy.”

“We see eye to eye then.” Her smile grew even wider. “You have my blessing to ask.”

Her words stayed with Marvin the whole drive, and he wore a pleasant look on his face that only served to confuse Whizzer. Once they returned home, Marvin put a sleepy Jason to bed and made plans to retire himself, but he instead sat down on the couch with Whizzer. Silence fell between them for a moment before Whizzer spoke up.

“We need to talk.”

Chapter Text

“We need to talk.”

Whizzer had his mind set. There was no going back. He had to tell Marvin the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. After the ridiculous charade earlier that night, he was sure Marvin would have questions. The guilt had been eating him up inside since Marvin had asked him about his past the first time Kevin had weaseled his way back into Whizzer’s life. He could tell that with every new bout of information, Marvin seemed to be growing more and more understanding. Of course, that wasn’t a bad thing, but the only person who truly knew Whizzer’s past was himself. The idea of sharing something that protected with anyone―even if it was someone he cared deeply for―terrified him. Still, he knew with all of Kevin’s shenanigans and the entrance of his mother and other brother there wasn’t much he could keep from Marvin anyways.

“Talk? About what?” Marvin feigned confusion, but in the end, he knew what Whizzer was talking about. He tried not to let the excitement and nervousness bubble up and show on his face.

Whizzer took a deep breath before speaking again. “I need to tell you everything. About my family, my past, why I was excommunicated from the church in the first place…” He made sure his eyes were locked with Marvin’s. “I can’t keep this a secret from you anymore. You’re too…”

“Nosy?” Marvin offered jokingly.

“ Important. ” Whizzer retorted cooly, still staring into Marvin’s eyes, and Marvin suddenly realized that this really wasn’t the best time for jokes.

Marvin reached out for Whizzer’s hands and grasped them with his own. “Whenever you’re ready. You don’t have to say anything you don’t want to.” Marvin thought he should have told Whizzer he really didn’t care about his past or where he came from, but he would be lying and he thinks Whizzer would have been able to tell right away. As much as Marvin loved Whizzer, even he still wasn’t sure if that love was unconditional. What if Whizzer had done something truly awful? Could Marvin still forgive him for that?

While looking down at his feet, Whizzer wasn’t sure where to begin. “I’ll...start with what you already know, or rather what’s obvious at this point.” He sighed. Marvin being so accepting wasn’t really making things any easier. “I was born in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1988. My mother used to be Jewish, but she gave up her entire existence to be with my father. That logic makes no sense to me. Nothing about him is remotely husbandly or fatherly to begin with.” He paused. “Well, I know that now because I know what actually fathering a child looks like.” Marvin could feel his heart swell as Whizzer continued. “In any case, I was Kevin’s twin brother, born 4 minutes after him, and he was always my protector. We got bullied for being Mormon, so we kinda just stuck together most of our lives. We didn’t really start growing distant until middle school.”

“What happened then?”

“My grades started to slip because I was preoccupied with things other than school. My GPA went through the shitter and it took me years to fix it. At the same time, I was now standing in the shadow of my brother who had perfect attendance, perfect grades, and a charming personality that won over every single teacher in the school. The last good thing he ever did for me was smooth talking my english teacher into letting me graduate eighth grade. After that we just...stopped being close. I faded into the background while Kevin got all the praise from our family. He didn’t even seem to notice that I was away from home more often than I should have been, but my mom did.” He smiled fondly at the memory. “She gave me the biggest lecture of my life, but she was only halfway through it before she cried and apologised for not realizing I was struggling so much. Without her help, I would have never managed a 3.0 by the end of junior year. Once I brought home my first report card with an A since sixth grade, she was ecstatic, but my dad just berated me for not doing as good as my brother. He didn’t realize that I had been trying so hard to be like Kevin, but I just couldn’t keep up. So I...made a poor choice and it sort of put a wrench in all my plans.”

“You...ran away?”

Whizzer scoffed. “Hardly. I was young and dumb but not naïve.I knew better than to throw away a perfectly good roof over my head. I invited over my boyfriend at the time, the first of many flings in my life, and I had told Jack and Kevin not to blab since my parents were out of the house at a church event. It was supposed to be a subtle stab at my father, and I would have told my mother eventually. She was the only one who knew I was queer until that night.”

Marvin tried to settle the nerves in his stomach. “If it’s too hard, you don’t have to―”

“It’s fine. I’m…” Whizzer trailed off before continuing his story. “All I remember was Kevin and Jack leaving suddenly unbeknownst to me. My boyfriend and I were...doing things not appropriate for the Mormon church, and my dad suddenly came bursting in the door and screaming at both of us. Luckily, my boyfriend was able to get away, but I wasn’t so lucky. Long story short, he told me I had 5 minutes to grab what I needed and leave. I made sure I had my keys and any valuables I needed for school, then I just...left.”

“So you didn’t run away? I thought your mother said you did and that she thought you had died.”

“I don’t know what my dad told them after I left. That was the last I saw of them until now. I tried calling my boyfriend and asking if I could stay with him until I could make other arrangements, but he just told me he didn’t want to see me anymore and hung up. I didn’t have any money since I was never allowed to get a job, so I walked halfway across town to a family friend’s house.”

“Cordelia…” Marvin breather and Whizzer’s ears perked up.

“She told you?”

“Only what she knows. You came to her house and shut yourself up in your room, refusing to talk to anyone.”

Whizzer laughed sadly. “That was the same year I legally changed my name and switched high schools. I got a job before summer and started slowly building up some semblance of a closet for myself. I did try to go back to my house and get my stuff, but...the locks were changed and I could see through the window it was like I hadn’t even been there to begin with. I even tried going to the church we attended service at all my life and there was no record of Micah Price even existing. Luckily, I had my camera and my laptop, and becoming a freelance photographer on the side helped with some sort of income. I always tried to help Cordelia’s family whenever I could, and I sent them checks throughout college to make sure my portion for staying there senior year was more than covered. I graduated with Cordelia and went to college here in New York. The rest you already know.” He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly and looked at Marvin, waiting for some kind of reaction.

Instead, he was met with nothing. Marvin was looking at him with a surprised look on his face. Marvin stood up from the couch and huffed. “That’s...a lot to process.”

Whizzer looked away, almost on the cusp of getting emotional. “Yeah, I get it.”

“I just...need while to…”

“Yeah I understand.”

With slow movements, almost like he was walking through mud, Marvin grabbed his keys off the counter and reached for the front door. When he grabbed the doorknob he hesitated, almost like he was second guessing what he was about to do. After a brief moment, he slipped out of the apartment, closing the door gently behind him.

Just like that, Whizzer was alone again.

: : - : :

Kevin knew he fucked up immensely. His father had called him, offering forgiveness and acceptance through Christ if he repented and changed his ways. Kevin let the next few calls after that go to voicemail.

Finally coming home to his apartment after his family had cleared out was a bittersweet yet satisfying experience. It wasn’t clean, not in the slightest bit, but he still revelled in the fact that he was able to get all of them to leave by declaring that he was a coffee drinker. Still, that was the least of his transgressions against the church, and he would prefer to keep the rest of them in the dark about everything else. He sat down on his bed and casually turned his phone over in his hands. Usually, he never got so lost in thought that he lost track of his surroundings, but he couldn’t stop thinking about what his father had said to him. All his life, the story had been that Micah ran away from home after their father confronted him. Their father had actually seemed rather upset at the time, but Kevin couldn’t place whether or not it was sadness or anger. Still, he continued to ponder this interesting turn of events until he got a phone call. It was from a number he didn’t recognize, so he answered it hoping for a business call. He didn’t think he would get one this late in the night though. “Hello! Kevin Price speaking. How may I assist you?”

“I told him everything, Kev.”

Kevin shot up from his bed and began pacing around his apartment. “Whizzer? What’s going on?”

“It’s...Marvin. I told him everything about my past and where we came from, and he just...left.”

It was hard to distinguish from the other side of the phone, but it almost sounded like Whizzer was...crying? No, not yet. He couldn’t hear the sobs in his voice just yet, but the voice cracks were proof enough to determine something was definitely wrong. “Where are you now?”

“At home.”

“What about Jason?”

“He’s still sleeping in his room. I don’t think we woke him up.”

“Is he allowed to be left alone?”

“I, uh...I guess so. Why―?”

“Come over.” The words left Kevin’s mouth before he could think. “We can talk about it here. In person.”

“What about―?”

“The family is already gone. I think I scared them away.” He chuckled to himself. “No tricks, Whizzer. I just want to help you.” Like I should have done from the beginning.

The line went quiet for a moment, and the air around Kevin began suffocating him with each passing breath until Whizzer finally let out a shaky sigh. “Alright. I’ll be right there.”

As soon as Whizzer hung up, Kevin got to work.

: : - : :

It was like the first day all over again. Whizzer could feel himself sweating bullets and shifting his feet nervously as he stood in front of Kevin’s door. He felt awful leaving Jason at home like that, but he couldn’t stand to be in that house anymore. Everywhere he looked, there was another piece of Marvin, which was something Whizzer didn’t want to look at. He was still dressed from their night excursion, but was severely more disheveled. With hesitance, he knocked on the door, mentally prepared to bolt at any second.

Kevin quickly answered the door. “Hey, Whizzer, come on in.” He shuffled out of the door frame to let his brother inside. When Whizzer entered through the door frame, he noticed Kevin’s apartment was cleaner than it had been a few hours ago. It was sparsely decorated, save for a few family photos and mementos from his mission. What stood out of place the most, however, was the large pillow fort that sat smack dab in the middle of the living room. Next to it was a table full of assorted chips and candies, with a giant bucket of popcorn and a large stack of movies.

Whizzer was almost moved to tears. Almost. “Kevin...what is this?”

“Well, you sounded upset…” Kevin shifted awkwardly from side to side, uncharacteristically looking down at his feet. “I wanted to cheer you up, and we used to do this all the time when we were kids, so I figured it couldn’t hurt.”

Unsure of what to say except, “Thank you,” Whizzer crushed his brother in a hug and smiled. “You better have rented Titanic , or I might have to kill you.”

The two both changed into much more comfortable clothes, Kevin noticeably opting out of his religious undergarments. When Whizzer raised a questioning eyebrow at him, Kevin simply said, “I’m on strike.” and no more was mentioned about it. After piling all their goodies into the fort, Kevin popped Titanic into the disc drive while Whizzer carefully oriented himself in a blanket burrito. The two brothers snuggled up next to each other for the duration of the movie, both seeking some form of comfort with their current companionship. While Kevin spent most of his energy complaining about all the cheesy aspects of the movie, Whizzer mostly lamented about how hot Leonardo DiCaprio was and wished Marvin could be that attractive. They shared laughter and tears, both an emotional mess by the ending credits. As the credits rolled, Whizzer felt his phone buzz in his pocket. He checked the Caller ID. It was Marvin.

Noticing his hesitancy and apprehension, Kevin cleared his throat. “You don’t have to answer that.”

Whizzer sighed and smiled. “I know, but I owe him that much.”

“You don’t owe him anything if he made you upset.”

“He didn’t mean to, I’m just a baby.” Whizzer removed himself from his cocoon and answered the phone on the last ring. “Hey, Marv.”

“Whizzer, it’s one in the morning. Where the hell did you go?”

“I, uh…” Whizzer carefully stood up out of the blanket fort and walked into Kevin’s kitchen to get some privacy. Kevin let his brother go. “I’m at Kevin’s place.”

“You’re at Kevin’s? With your family?”

“No, they’re gone. It’s just us. We just finished watching Titanic. ”

Whizzer heard a sigh of relief over the phone which made him almost smile. Almost. “I’m just glad you’re okay. When I came home and you were gone…” Marvin trailed off, but regained himself quickly. “Stay right there. I’ll come and get you.”

“Actually…” Whizzer bit his lip nervously. “I’d rather stay here if you don’t mind.”

Dead air came through the phone, and Whizzer suddenly realized he may have screwed up, but his fears were quelled when he heard Marvin laughing to himself. “Yeah, yeah of course that’s fine, I just...didn’t think I’d ever hear you say you wanted to spend time with Kevin.”

“People change.” Whizzer looked at his brother’s pillow fort from the kitchen and smiled, his eyes scrunching up at the corners. “I’ll leave you to your sleep and see you tomorrow.”

“Sure. Hey, Love?”

Startled by the nickname, Whizzer caught himself stammering. “Y-yeah?”

“I’m sorry for walking out like that. I hope I didn’t make you upset, I just needed some time to myself, and driving just clears my head.”

“It’s alright.” Whizzer felt like a weight had been lifted from his chest. “I’m not going to lie and say I wasn’t upset, but I feel better. Thank you.”

“Goodnight, Whizzer.”

“Goodnight, Marv.”

There was a brief pause shared between them before the line went dead, almost like an unspoken declaration of love. With a contented sigh, Whizzer returned to the pillow fort where Kevin had waited patiently for him.

“How was he?” Kevin asked, prying for answers as usual. Only this time, Whizzer didn’t seem to mind much.

“He apologized for walking out like that and offered to come pick me up, but,” He paused to smile at his brother. “I’d rather stay here in this pillow fort than sleep in a regular bed.”

Kevin’s smile spread across half his face. It wasn’t anything incredible yet, but it was progress, and progress was more than Kevin could ever ask for.

The twins found their way back to the safe haven of the pillow fort, curling up in their blankets and enveloping themselves in warmth. They began to talk about everything and nothing all at once. They shared stories, laughed together, and talked about the strangest philosophical topics, their walls finally beginning to crumble. After a particularly interesting debate about the true nature of cheese and its existence in the universe, Kevin suddenly grew quiet. “Whizzer, I...I need to apologize to you.” Whizzer didn’t reply, so Kevin continued. “For everything. Trying to trick you into coming back to the family, for being so disgusted with who you were because I was too blind to see the bigger picture, and…” He took a deep breath. “...for getting you kicked out in the first place.”

Whizzer’s eyes widened in surprise. “Wait, that was you?”

“I ratted you out after you told me not to. I was so dead set on being the perfect child, and I was scared of what would happen to me if Dad found out I kept a secret from him.” Kevin couldn’t meet Whizzer’s eyes. “I didn’t realize that when I got home, we had to pretend that you had never existed to begin with. I thought about you all the time when I went to school and no one even asked me where you had gone. It was like I ripped you out of my life for good, and it tore me apart knowing that I messed up trying to do the right thing.

“Kev…” Whizzer put a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “You can’t blame yourself for something that isn’t your fault. You were trying to do the right thing, and you had no idea what Dad was going to do.”

“But you could have died, Whizzer!”

“You didn’t know that!” Whizzer laughed and shook his head. “If Marvin’s psychiatrist taught me anything, it’s that you shouldn’t ruminate on the past. You shouldn’t keep thinking about the mistakes you’ve made before now and instead focus on how you can do better in the future.” He smiled. “Like this. Kevin, this was the best I’ve felt in a long time, and I didn’t realize how much I missed moments like this. I tried so hard to forget about my past, but I should have never tried to forget you.”

Tears began to spill silently from Kevin’s eyes but he didn’t bother trying to wipe them away. Instead, he leapt onto his brother and trapped him in a bone-crushing hug. They stayed like that for a while, finally breaking the last of their barriers around each other and holding onto each other for dear life. Both of them felt a large weight being lifted off their shoulders and they could finally relax.

For the first time in Kevin’s life, he felt like he could truly be happy.

Chapter Text

January 29th, 2018

“Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you?” Kevin fussed over his brother all the way to the door. They were only four minutes apart, but Kevin still had a duty as the elder brother to look out for Whizzer.

“Marvin may act all tough, but he’s a big old softie.” Whizzer had to smile at his brother’s shameless bravado. “I’ll be fine. You don’t have to worry about me.”

“I always do.” Kevin gave his brother a tight hug and smiled. “Call me soon, okay? Or come and visit. And bring Jason too! I love that kid.”

Whizzer chuckled and pried his brother away from him with a flushed face. “You and I have that in common.” He took a deep breath and opened the door. “I’ll see you later, Kev.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

As soon as Whizzer left, Kevin raced for his phone. Feeling like he’d been born again was doing funny things to his brain. As soon as he found what he was looking for, he picked up his phone and skimmed through his contacts without hesitation. Once his eyes scanned through them all, he took a deep breath and made a call he should have made a long time ago, but he was too afraid to face. A lot of things had happened in Uganda, and many of them he had tried to forget. Now, after making amends with his brother, Kevin felt like he could fix his relationship with someone else too. He pressed the number and held the phone to his ear.

It only took a few rings for the call to go through. “Elder...Price?”

“Elder McKinley...It’s good to hear your voice.”

: : - : :

Whizzer shut the front door behind him with an audible sigh. It felt so good to finally be home in his own apartment. “Marvin? Jason? I’m home!” Strangely, there was no reply, and the place began to feel much more empty the farther he walked in. He was hesitant to advance until he saw a note on the coffee table. Upon inspection, he could tell it was in Marvin’s scratchy handwriting. He read it and almost immediately rolled his eyes. 

“Follow the clues to an address for you / The first one is easy, it’s in your left ______”

An address? Whizzer smiled at the little game Marvin had set up for him, likely with help from Jason. There was no way he could do something like this on his own. With a happy sigh that he was grateful no one else heard, he walked towards his closet with more of a pep in his step than usual. After spending a great night with his brother, he was happier now than he had been in a long time.

He opened his closet door and began searching through all of his left shoes until he found the note he was looking for hidden in his old racquetball shoes from his college days with Marvin. Another one written in barely readable scrawl.

“Bunnies are fast, unlike a snail / When you get a letter, they come in the _______”

Mail? We don’t even use the mailbox outside anymore. Whizzer walked back to the front door and opened it to search in the mail slot next to the doorbell. There wasn’t any mail, which made the next note much easier to find. 

“You won’t have to search for too long or too far / The third clue is where you park your _____”

Car. He ran out into the driveway and saw another piece of paper on the windshield of his car. Marvin was making this too easy for him. Was this his way of underestimating Whizzer’s intelligence? 

“I know this is fun, you might think it’s neat / Look in the place where you make food to _____”

Eat. Whizzer increased his speed as he darted back into the house and searched the kitchen like a mad man until he found another note taped to the side of the fridge.

“Your very last clue, try not to peep / Are you feeling tired? Look where we ______”

Sleep! Whizzer once again made it back to their shared room and turned over pillows until he found an unlabelled envelope. He quickly ripped it open and found a folded up piece of paper. He unfolded it and gasped softly.

It was a printed image of the university where Marvin and Whizzer had first met. On the back was Marvin’s scraggly handwriting.

“I’ll see you soon, darling. Try not to be late.”

Whizzer dashed off to get ready. Marvin definitely had something planned, and he had to make sure he looked his absolute best for the occasion. Although, he couldn’t quite figure out what exactly this occassion was supposed to be…

: : - : :

Whizzer couldn’t make his heart stop racing the entire drive to his alma mater. He did his best to calm down as he found a parking spot close to the entrance. As he exited his car, he saw Mendel and Trina waving him over towards the front office. Now he was extremely confused. What could Mavin possibly be planning that would involve his Ex-Wife and Ex-Psychiatrist?

He sauntered over to them, trying his best to hide any discomfort or nervousness on his face. The couple smiled at him, but Trina’s smile didn’t seem to reach her eyes. She had a far off look, and her demeanor seemed really sad. Still, she greeted Whizzer with the utmost politeness while her grip never wavered on Mendel’s hand.

“Hey, Whizzer! Good to see you.” Mendel was as cheery as ever, but his demeanor seemed less irritating than it usually did. “Marvin expertly placed us here to greet you, and to deliver an important message.” He winked, and Whizzer tried not to goran.

“Go to the place where you and Marvin first met.” Trina said, gently placing a hand on Whizzer’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, he said you’d be able to figure it out with just that.”

Of course. Leave it to Marvin to grossly overestimate Whizzer’s capacity for remembering something as menial as that. He thanked Trina and Mendel before walking closer to the heart of the college campus. Maybe walking through would jog his memory a bit.

As he passed by the Language and Literature department building, he was suddenly hit with a memory. Of course, how could he possibly forget working on that stupid French project with Marvin? He quickly rushed towards the double doors and swung them open.

September 20th, 2006

“Are you actually going to do any work on this project, or are you just going to keep staring at yourself in the bathroom mirror?”

Whizzer huffed and stuck his head out of the tiny dorm-sized bathroom, making sure he shot his best glare at Marvin before retreating again. “I told you already. I have a date I need to get ready for. I did enough already, thank you very much.”

“You’ve been in my room for two hours, and you only contributed about 2 sentences to this presentation.”

“Are you forgetting every single time I corrected your atrocious grammar?”

Marvin winced. “You’re not helping.”

“And neither are you, so make yourself useful and help me pick a shirt.” Whizzer stepped out of the bathroom, his button up accentuating the subtle curve of his waist while his high waisted pants hugged him so perfectly, Marvin had to assume they were tailored. He swallowed hard. This really wasn’t helping his case. Whizzer crossed his arms, obviously impatient. “Well?”

“I, uh, like the green better than the blue.” Marvin managed to stutter out. “I think it suits you.”

Whizzer looked down at his outfit and grinned. “For once, I think you might just be right.” He ran a few fingers in through the brown mop on his head and grabbed his aviator shades from Marvin’s desk. “Well then, I’m off to get laid. Hopefully you’ll have this project done by the due date, otherwise I’ll have to rat you out to the professor for slacking off. Vous savez ce que notre professeur pense des fainéants!”

With that final sentiment, Whizzer slammed Marvin’s door behind him, and Marvin let out an exasperated sigh. If only Whizzer applied himself more, he could be an incredible student. It really made him wonder how he developed such a careless attitude about everything except for the way he dressed. He couldn’t wait to be rid of this project, and be rid of Whizzer with it.

Whizzer jogged up the steps to see Charlotte and Cordelia waiting for him in front of his old French class. They were chatting happily before seeing Whizzer approach them.

“Congratulations for making it this far!” Cordelia giggled and ran over to trap Whizzer in a strong hug. “I’m so excited for you to hear what comes next.” She gently nudged Charlotte’s arm with her elbow, her smile never wavering for a second.”

Charlotte shook her head, but smiled nonetheless. “Go to the place where you and Marvin first lived together.”

Whizzer couldn’t contain his groan. “The dorms? But those are all the way on the other side of campus!”

“You’d better start walking then.” Charlotte chuckled. “It’s good for your health anyway.”

As Whizzer turned away, he heard the pair chatting again, and picked up something very distinct from Cordelia. “Do you think he’s going to say yes?”

“Honestly…” Charlotte murmured, thinking Whizzer was far enough out of earshot, “I have no idea.”

Just what did Marvin have so elaborately planned?

September 3rd, 2007

Whizzer set down the last of his boxes and casually wiped the sweat off his brow. He was grateful he didn’t have to move his things too far, since he stayed on campus over the summer, but it was still a pain. Luckily, his new roommate hadn’t arrived yet, so he made sure he claimed the bed closest to the bathroom and began unpacking his bedding.

As soon as his bed was completely made, Whizzer heard the door unlock, and he whipped his head around to get an eyeful of his new roommate. Maybe he’d be ridiculously pretty and at the very least bisexual enough to let Whizzer get some. Or, even better, he’d have an amazing sense of style and let Whizzer borrow some of his clothes. He was getting excited just thinking about it.

What Whizzer got instead, however, was the complete opposite of that. As soon as Marvin walked through the door, Whizzer did nothing to hide his disappointment.

“Oh, this is just great!” He sat down on his bed with a huff. “Of course the universe hates me enough to make sure you would be my roommate.”

Marvin seemed startled to see him, and furrowed his brows upon realizing this wasn’t some elaborate joke. “Well, looks like I’ll never be allowed in the bathroom in my own goddamn room again.”

“Oh, please.” Whizzer scoffed. “As if you use it to begin with.” He crossed his arms and pouted. “I was really hoping for someone much more attractive, but I guess I’ll make do with what I have.”

“Don’t worry, you won’t be seeing much of me here anyways. I prefer to work in the Library.”

“How inconvenient. That’s on the other side of campus.”

“It’s far away from you. I’ll crawl the extra half mile if I have to.”

Whizzer rolled his eyes and stood up to grab another one of his boxes. “Fine by me. Just don’t expect sharing a room with me to make us friends. I think I’d rather get grease stains on my nice pants than ever be friends with you.”

As soon as Whizzer entered the dorm building, he was relieved to see the modern addition of an elevator. He gratefully pressed the button and waiting for the doors to slide open, stepping inside and letting it take him to the top floor. He tapped his foot and couldn’t stop checking his watch before he was able to exit and find his way to his Sophomore dorm.

Jason was waiting to greet him this time, eyes big and smile wide as Whizzer approached him. “Hey, Whizzer! Glad you came.”

“Thanks, kid. I’m assuming you have a message for me too?”

“Mhm!” Jason nodded before adjusting his glasses. “Go to the place where you first fell in love with my dad.”

“I…” Whizzer could feel his hands getting sweaty. “You can’t give me anything else to work with?”

“Nope! Dad said you should know exactly what he meant by that.”

Whizzer sighed, and tried to force himself to remember something that Marvin would have given meaning to. His brain almost fizzled out before it hit him. The rooftop. He didn’t even stop to say goodbye to Jason before dashing off to the door that would take him up one more floor.

June 6th, 2010

“I really am going to miss you.”

Whizzer stopped swinging his legs absentmindedly and turned to look at Marvin, who was sitting next to him, refusing to dangle his legs off the roof. He was staring into the distance, eyes lidded and curly hair blowing in the gentle breeze that took the edge off the heat. Instead of laughing, Whizzer boldly scooted closer to Marvin.

“You can’t get rid of me that easily.” He grinned, even though he knew Marvin wasn’t looking. “I’m sure I’ll find some way to bother you after we graduate.”

“That’s just it.” Marvin sighed. “Trina wants us to move out of the city. Somewhere more suburban until Jason gets older. It’ll be less expensive on only one income.”

“Oh.” Whizzer couldn’t bring himself to come up with a snarky reply. “So, this really is goodbye then.”

Marvin finally turned to look at Whizzer, turning his whole body to face him. “Yeah, but there’s something I wanted to do first.” He scrambled to his feet and dusted off his pants before extending a hand to help Whizzer up.

Despite his suspicions, Whizzer obliged, but began to panic when he realized Marvin wasn’t letting go of his hand. “Uh, Marvin? Are you alright? You seem a bit spaced out.”

“Yeah, I just…” Marvin shook his head and smiled softly, staring at the ground between their feet. “I really don’t want to leave college with any regrets, and I still have one thing I’ve wanted to do since I met you.”

“And what might that be?”

Whizzer got his answer when Marvin tilted his head up and leaned up to capture Whizzer’s lips with his own. It wasn’t at all what Whizzer was expecting, and he surprised even himself by melting into the kiss. His hands found Marvin’s collar and he grabbed onto it like it was the last thing keeping him from floating away. Whizzer hadn’t even realized he wanted this so badly until it was happening.

When Marvin finally pulled himself away, Whizzer had to remind himself to let go of Marvin’s shirt and took a few steps away. “I…I don’t understand.” Whizzer couldn’t stop the chuckle that escaped his lips. “Why now?”

“I really should have done that years ago.” Marvin mused. “Before we became roommates, before I got into that mess with Trina, and definitely before our Senior year was over.”

“Yes, I get that part, but I don’t understand why you wanted to…do that.”

“You mean, it’s not obvious? Whizzer, I really like you. I have since the day we met.”

“That’s impossible.”

“But it’s true. And I’m sorry if you don’t feel the same way about me, but I can’t leave with regret knowing I’ll be walking across that graduation stage into the arms of a woman I can’t love.”

Whizzer blinked slowly, trying to process what Marvin was telling him. “But, if you don’t love her, why are you staying with her?”

The unspoken question hung heavy in the tense air between them, and Marvin understood what Whizzer was really trying to ask but couldn’t find the words to say it. ‘Why aren’t you staying with me?’

“Jason,” was all Marvin could manage in response. “I can’t leave him. I may not love his mother, but I love that kid with something I can’t even begin to describe. You wouldn’t understand even if I tried to explain it to you.”

“No, I guess I wouldn’t.” Whizzer didn’t mean to be bitter, but his words seemed to slip out of his mouth before he had a chance to catch them. He turned to walk away, and made it to the door before turning around to look at Marvin again, who was looking at him with a pained expression what Whizzer couldn’t garner any sympathy for. “I hope you’re happy with your choice, then.” He opened the door and slammed it behind him with an air of finality.

As soon as Whizzer made it back to his room, he barely opened the door and stumbled through it before the tears began to spill from his eyes. He was being so stupid, so foolish, crying over a boy he cared nothing about. Marvin was his friend, sure, but Whizzer didn’t even cry over men he had some kind of relationship with. Why should Marvin be any different? It’s not like they were together.

His eyes found their way to a picture of him and Marvin on Whizzer’s bedside table, and lingered there for a little too long. It wasn’t long before he realized what had happened to him.

Whizzer had fallen in love with Marvin, a man he could never have, to protect himself from facing a horrible truth he never wanted to confront. He was terrified of dying alone. Sleeping around could only bring him so much satisfaction, but he never truly understood what it meant to feel empty until Marvin kissed him on that rooftop. Now, Marvin was removing himself from Whizzer’s life, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

He was going to be lonely for the rest of his life. He was sure of it, because the only person he ever truly wanted to commit to was Marvin. And that scared him.

Whizzer stepped onto the roof, the memories tasting bitter in his mouth before his eyes settled on Marvin, standing where he did on the roof that June day almost ten years ago. He was dressed in a nice suit, hair still curling over his forehead and blowing gently in the breeze. Marvin, hearing the door close, turned to look and smiled when he saw Whizzer approaching him. “I’m glad you made it. I was beginning to worry you wouldn’t find me up here.”

“I’m honestly surprised I did. You made everything so impossibly vague.” Whizzer stopped in his tracks when he made his way over to Marvin. “Why didn’t you just tell me you wanted me to meet you up here?”

“Well,” Marvin fumbled around for something in his pocket, breathed a sigh of relief when he found it, but pulled his hand out of his pocket and instead took Whizzer’s hands in his own, “I wanted to make sure I gave you a proposal worth remembering. I’m quite the sap after all.”

Whizzer didn’t speak. He couldn’t even breathe. How could he have failed to realize that Marvin was planning something this huge. His mind was racing, and his lips could barely manage to form words. “I…I don’t understand, Marv.”

“Then let me help you.” Marvin squeezed Whizzer’s hands, tears beginning to form in his eyes as he began to speak. “Whizzer Brown, Micah Price, or any other combination of the two, I know that you are so much greater than the sum of your parts. I may have learned more things about you in the past month than I have in the six years that I’ve known you, but it doesn’t change how I feel about you. When you walked into my life again two years ago, I knew I was being given a second chance to really be with you. I know now that I should have taken that chance here, on this rooftop, where I kissed you for the first time. I made the mistake of letting you go once, and I’m not going to make that mistake again, Being with you has given me some of the best moments of my life, and I never want this to end. I may have been to scared and prideful to admit this before, but I want to spend the rest of my life with you. So, Whizzer,” Marvin gently dropped to one knee, never allowing his gaze to waver or his hands to let go of Whizzer’s, “will you marry me?”

Whizzer didn’t speak for a long time, and his face didn’t show any emotion other than total shock. It was a long time before the laughter began to bubble up from his chest. Marvin couldn’t help but be confused.

“Marvin, I…I don’t really know what to say.” Whizzer was smiling now, eyes crinkled up at the corners and hair falling over his face. “If I’m being honest, I’m not sure if I’ll ever be ready for any kind of commitment. You and I both know I’m not the kind of person to stick around for a very long time, but somehow I did, without even realizing it. I’ve grown into a dependable and reliable person because I have you and Jason in my life. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still scared as hell, but I want to try.”

“So…” Marvin grinned. “Does that mean you’re saying yes?”

“I thought I was being obvious, Marvin. Of course I’m saying yes.” Whizzer rolled his eyes, but his smile never fell from his face. Marvin practically jumped off the ground to wrap his arms around Whizzer and bury his face in the taller man’s shoulder. Whizzer returned the favor, allowing his arms to sit on Marvin’s waist, holding him in place. They held each other tighter than they ever had before, knowing they were taking the first big leap into the unknown, but they were doing it together, and that mattered more than anything else in the world.

Now, Marvin was becoming a permanent part of Whizzer’s life, and there was nothing he wanted to do to stop it.

Chapter Text

June 30th, 2019

“Right, we need to finalize the guest list and send out all the invitations at least three months in advance.” Kevin grabbed the pen from behind his ear and scribbled something on the pastel green notepad in front of him. He anxiously began chewing on the pen cap while his eyes scanned over the list they had come up with. For such a large venue, the list was…heartbreakingly small. Marvin’s family wasn’t particularly large, and Whizzer’s family wanted nothing to do with him. Aside from a few work friends, there weren’t many people filling the list. “Whizzer? I need your help making some additions.”

Whizzer stepped out of the hallway, rubbing his head frantically with a towel before draping it over his shoulders. After taking a seat on the couch next to Kevin, he scanned the list in his brother’s hands. “Well, didn’t you have that friend from your mission you wanted to bring as your plus one?”

Kevin felt his face flush. “Well, actually I was wondering if he could get his own invitation and plus one? He has a wife, you’d really like her, and I wanted to bring a different plus one if that’s okay with you.”

“Dude, of course.” Whizzer rolled his eyes. “We need to fill out venue seats anyways. The more, the merrier.” He leaned closer to Kevin with a smirk on his face. “You plan on telling me who this elusive ‘plus one’ is, or do I have to figure it out for myself?”

“In your dreams.” Kevin laughed and shoved his brother in the shoulder to keep him out of his face. “So, I know you had Mom, Jack, and his fiancée on the list, but…” He swallowed hard, not really wanting to bring up the topic of family again. “…was there anyone else from our family you’d want to invite?”

“I’ll call Mom and see if there’s any more family members that came around since we last talked. I think it’s just our dad that hasn’t really accepted it yet.”

“Speaking of which, didn’t mom say she filed for divorce or something?”

“Not quite. The Mormon Church is a little messy in that regard, so they’re just living separately now. She got a really nice place in Florida. I’m sure you’re excited about that.” Whizzer stood up with a chuckle and walked off towards the kitchen, dialing his mom’s phone number on the way.

With a large amount of hesitance, Kevin pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed his father’s phone number from memory. Before pressing the call button, he took a deep breath and prepared himself for the worst. He had been meaning to do this for a while, and this seemed as good a time as any. Ignoring the shaking in his hands and the sweat on his palms, he pressed the offending green button and held the phone up to his ear.

The rings seemed deafening until his father answered the phone. “Kevin! I’m so glad you decided to come to your senses and call. Have you finally decided to come back to Salt Lake City with the rest of the family?”

Kevin sighed. It seemed nothing had changed since January. He wasn’t sure what he was hoping for. “No, actually. I called to let you know that Whizzer’s getting married.”

“Well, this is great news! He’s finally coming around to the right way of living. Who’s the lucky lady?”

“His name is Marvin, Dad. The man he was with the last time you saw him. Nothing changed.”

“How unfortunate. Then, you’re calling to ask me to pick you up from the airport?”

A pause, and then, “I’m going to the wedding. I want to be there to support my brother. And I’m moving to New York. Permanently.”

Kevin waited anxiously for a response from his father, and he didn’t receive one for a few minutes. It would have seemed that his father had hung up on him, had his breathing not been audible from the other side of the phone.

“You can’t do that.” He spat. “I won’t let you.”

“I’m an adult. You have no right to tell me what to do.” Kevin gripped onto the couch cushions for some semblance of stability. “If you had any love for your family left in you, you would go to that wedding no matter how you felt about the union taking place.”

“It’s disgusting, Kevin! Homosexuals shouldn’t get married. It’s against God’s will, and you know that better than anyone else! Hell, it shouldn’t even be legal.”

“That’s your son! Why can’t you show him any kind of compassion, just once in your life?” Kevin shook his head. “I’m sorry that you can’t find it within yourself to love the children you helped raise. Truly, I am. I wish things were different.”

“You can still come back to the family, Kevin! You’re still the perfect, golden boy we always wanted! Just fly back, and we’ll talk about these doubts you’ve been feeling and how we can fix them.”

It was then that Whizzer walked back into the room, silently leaning against the wall, eyes fixed on Kevin while waiting for his response. Surely, he must have known somehow what his father was trying to do. Now, Kevin was making a decision that would affect the rest of his adult life. He had to choose his words carefully.

With a deep breath, Kevin gathered enough courage to face his father, even if it was just over the phone. “I’m not the golden boy. I may have been before I went on my mission, but things were different after that. I experienced hardships you cannot even begin to fathom, and I realized…things about myself that I never would have otherwise. I like the taste of caffeine, I hate wearing the stupid undergarments, and I might just like boys too. So, no, I’m not coming back. I’m staying here, because this is where I’m wanted for being myself and not someone I’m not anymore.”

“If you go to that wedding, you can never come back to your family. You’ll no longer be welcome here, do you understand?”

Kevin smiled. “I understand perfectly, and I have no need for you anymore. I found a better family here.” He pulled the phone away from his ear, his father’s screams of protest still audible, and he quickly pressed the red button to end the call. After releasing a breath he didn’t know he was holding, he felt tears welling up in his eyes as he looked at Whizzer, feeling more defeated than proud of himself. “I can’t fucking believe I just did that.”

Just like that, the tears began to silently spill from Kevin’s eyes as he sat in Whizzer’s living room, trying to make sense of what he had just done. Wiping away his tears didn’t seem to do much save for making more room on his face for more, and choked sobs were beginning to bubble up from his chest. For months, he had the safety net of going back to the life he had before, but he ensured that wasn’t possible now. He was alone in the wilderness, with only his wits to guide him, and suddenly Uganda was looking more and more appealing.

Whizzer strode over to the couch, sat down, and awkwardly wrapped his arms around his brother, because he knew, no, he understood what this feeling was, as he had experienced it many years ago when his father had kicked him out. He did his best to comfort his brother, but he wasn’t sure what he should do. It was rare to see Kevin exhibit any sort of emotion at all, aside from his trademark Missionary smile, and it made Whizzer wonder when that smile stopped being real.

“Hey…” Whizzer finally spoke up. “It’s all good. You’re not alone in this. Just because Dad’s a jerk doesn’t mean the rest of the family will be. Mom says they’ve been growing more supportive since you stood up to him a few months back.”

“I…I’m going to lose my job, my apartment, everything I had here was because of Dad, and now…” Kevin’s voice broke off into a sob.

“You can stay here. It’s cramped, but our couch pulls out into a bed. It’s pretty comfortable, actually. Marvin’s sent me out to sleep here a couple of times when I really pissed him off.” That earned a small chuckle out of Kevin, which made Whizzer smile in spite of himself. “Besides,” he added nonchalantly, “it’ll be easier to wedding plan with you if you live with us, especially since your job is about to get more complicated.”

“What…” Kevin rubbed his eyes and looked up at his brother, still stinging from the tears. “What do you mean.”

“Kevin, I…” Whizzer sighed. This was it, the moment of truth. He knew his brother would gladly accept, but that didn’t make this part any easier. Owning up to your own mistakes is the worst, Whizzer decided, and he didn’t plan on being this emotionally vulnerable in front of anyone again.“I want you to be my best man. I know that’s asking a lot when you’re already doing so much, but…I can’t really imagine it being anyone else. I really didn’t think I’d ever see you again, and even when we did, I still wasn’t convinced you really wanted to reconcile with me, but you did. You’ve come so far, and you’ve owned up to your past mistakes. Now that I think about it, there’s probably things I should be apologizing for, but don’t tell Marvin I said that, or he’ll start cashing in on things he wants me to own up to.”

The two of them burst out laughing, Whizzer still with his hand on Kevin’s shoulder as his brother wiped away the last of his tears. “Oh my gosh, Whizzer, I don’t know what to say! Really, I’m so thrilled and honored you want me to be such an important part in your wedding.”

“Oh, please.” He scoffed. “As if I could have anyone else by my side other than my twin brother. I mean, come on, who else am I going to ask?”

Kevin’s laughter died down and he couldn’t wipe the smile off his face. He jumped at Whizzer, wrapping his arms around his brother so tight, he never wanted to let go, and it made him realize that, in time, things were going to turn out for the better. In spite of what his father had said, and with Kevin’s own doubts about the church and his beliefs, he knew now that he had a family to support him. He had his brother back in his life, which was more than he could have ever asked for, and he was a part of a tight-knit family where he was free to be who he truly was without fear or judgement. There were still things he needed to figure out, still parts of himself that he needed to unpack even more, but he knew he could get to a place where he could be proud and happy with who he is again.

Kevin wasn’t okay right now, but he knew he would be eventually. All he needed was a little bit of time.