Chapter Text
Marvin ran aimlessly through the streets, dizzy and tired and unable to find his balance or focus his vision. He thought he might have kicked some street performer and gotten yelled at, but he couldn’t be bothered to remember. The lights and windows he’d known so well blurred in his vision and made his bare hands tingle uncomfortably. In the melee, he loosened his bowtie and was able to focus just enough to take a deep breath and direct himself to something familiar. The Grind. A gay bar turned coffee shop turned gay frequented coffee shop. If you asked, they’d spike your latte with the leftovers from when the bar closed. He knew well from the two times he’d gone there in college after some disastrous dates. It was appropriately ironic to find himself there at that very moment.
He paused in front of the door, the people on the sidewalk brushing past him with their anger and joy shouted for all to hear, the pavement pounded by their rushed steps, while Marvin simply stood there, silent and numb in the tux he’d rented for his wedding but with his left finger bare. He had nowhere else to be, he’d canceled all of his appointments for the day with a soft “Sorry,” and a sprint back down the aisle.
A sigh sunk out of him and he rubbed his face roughly and walked inside.
“No, really! The man on the subway had a third ear!” Marvin halted as soon as he stepped inside, bewildered by the words of a tall man stooped on a small chair, furiously gesturing to two women who were seated on a cherry red sofa. It was a harsh, brutal red, and he shook his head and rubbed his eyes, wondering for a brief moment if he’d stepped into an alternate dimension. Who knew what kind of punishments the universe had in store for someone who walked out of their own wedding?
“Whizzer, honestly, you need to stop drinking tequila for breakfast.” The dark-haired woman said, setting down her wide coffee mug and flipping the page in her magazine. Marvin glanced back at her, puzzled that she looked so familiar.
The man slouched back. “Fine. Don’t believe me. But when the aliens come and start mutilating you, too-“
“Charlotte?” Marvin murmured, mostly to himself, finally placing the woman on the couch in his memories. Though he’d said it softly, she heard him, and the group at once all turned to look at him. He recoiled slightly, but Charlotte was up and wrapping her arms around him before he could pay mind to look embarrassed.
“Marvin! Oh my god! It’s been so long!” She held him out, assessing his tux. “What… are you wearing?”
“I, uh-“
The blonde girl on the couch spoke up before Marvin could truly make a fool of himself. “Lottie, who’s this?” She set down her crossword and peered at them with a puzzled smile. Her face with bright and rosy and it made Marvin feel ill, thinking of Trina.
“Oh, this is Marvin! My best friend from high school!”
“Oh! The one you thought was gay!”
Charlotte gave him a nervous “I have no idea what she’s talking about” look, but he noted the glare she shot her friend. “Well, please. Come sit, come sit.”
Marvin did, in a grimy recliner across from the other man. The man surveyed him with a cocky tilt of his hips and his lips. Marvin tried not to flinch.
“So, what are you doing here? I haven’t seen you in years.”
“Well, yeah um… I’m getting married today.”
He held up his hands to stop their congratulatory squeals. “I… was getting married today. I kind of… walked out.”
Their open-mouthed gaps were nearly too much. Marvin went to stand up.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, honey, what happened?” Charlotte asked sweetly, leaning over to pat his knee but also keep him in his seat. Marvin sighed and thought it best not to fight. Again, he had nowhere else to be.
“I really don’t want to talk about it right now.”
“No, no, of course. Let’s get you a coffee.” She got up to do just that, leaving Marvin alone with two strangers who proceeded to awkwardly stare at him. After one too many beats of Charlotte-empty silence, the blonde girl piped up and held out her hand.
Marvin took it, all of her rings cold on his sweaty hand. “I’m Cordelia, Charlotte’s friend from college. She’s told me so much about you! I’m surprised we haven’t met up before.”
“Really? What did she-“
The man on the chair butted in before Marvin could finish his question. He swaggered over so that he leaned on the armrest of Marvin’s chair. “And I’m Whizzer. And may I just say that meeting you has made my day,” he said, and held onto Marvin’s hand for a moment too long.
Cordelia rolled her eyes and slapped his arm. “Whizzer. This is not the time.”
“What? He said he just left his own wedding, so at least he’s available.”
She shook her head regretfully, and Marvin breathed a sigh of relief to see that Charlotte was coming back to break all of this up.
“Alright. Black for you,” she set a mug in front of Marvin, and he took a scalding gulp before he could think twice or regret it. It was sweet that she still remembered how he liked his coffee. “And another latte for me, and tea for Cordelia.”
“And…” Whizzer batted his eyelashes at her expectantly. Marvin had to admit, they were some eyelashes.
“And none for Whizzer, because he still hasn’t returned my blue sweater he needed to “borrow” three months ago.”
“Ha, yeah, about the sweater…”
Charlotte had started to roll up her magazine, presumably to whack Whizzer, but was sorrowfully interrupted by the entrance of a loud and short man in the ugliest brown turtleneck Marvin has ever seen.
“Oh my god you guys, oh my god, you’ll never guess who I just got off the phone with,” he said as a hello.
“Mendel, what’s up?”
“So, get this, I’m sitting in my apartment, watching the new Freud documentary, when I get a call from the girl I was in love with in high school, Trina Goldblum, and it turns out she was getting married today-“
Marvin’s vision goes blank for a second and he has to grab the arm of his chair to not fall over. Trina. His Trina. His wedding. Holy shit.
“-but that’s not really the point because her fiancé walked out on her! Can you fucking believe that? And she’s pregnant!”
At this point, the other three were looking at Marvin with wide, startled faces, though he tried his best to slink back into his chair and become invisible.
“Can you guys believe that?” Mendel went on. “Anyway, I invited her over here once she escapes her reception disaster so I hope that’s okay, and why the hell are none of you paying attention to me, this is-“
That was when Mendel caught sight of Marvin.
“Holy shit.”
Marvin gave a small wave in acknowledgment. Mendel merely continued to stare.
Charlotte, the saint she was, intervened. “Honey, how about we go up to my place and settle this down, yeah?” She took Marvin by his shoulders and pulled him up. Cordelia slung her arm around his back, so that they were both practically carrying him. “We’ll talk to you later, Mendel. Whizzer, are you coming?”
Whizzer waved her question away. “Nah. I think there will be more drama down here. I’ll meet up with you guys later. Don’t undress the groom without me.”
“Is he always like that?” Marvin murmured.
Charlotte sighed, but it wasn’t without affection. “Yeah, pretty much. You get used to it, though.”
The streets were more familiar when he stepped outside again, but this time it was as if he were the murky one, the thing he couldn’t fit into his own memory.
As Charlotte and Cordelia led him up to the apartment, he murmured, “I need something to drink.”
To his surprise, Cordelia snorted and huffed, “I think we all do,” in reply. “Come on, bud. Let’s booze you up.”
It was the best thing he’d heard all day.