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He had seen them before, on multiple occasions too.
They were neighbors, so he wasn’t really sure why he had been surprised to see them nearly everyday, but unlike any neighbor he'd met before, they both seemed different. There was something about the two ladies next door that made Marvin interested in them. He most certainly did not know what it was, but it might have had something to do with how they were towards each other.
There was something odd about that, and he took notice of it the first day he moved here and saw them by the entrance of the apartment complex. They weren’t doing anything out of place, only talking and eating ice cream, but there was a specific atmosphere around them that Marvin hadn’t felt before.
So he did what any good neighbor would do, and decided to observe them from the first day he moved in.
He knew they had noticed him too, especially the tall blonde woman who did not intimidate Marvin with her height. The brunette was never too invested in anything outside of talking with the other lady, but he was positive that the blonde had said something about him to her. At least once, he was sure, but it could also be because he tended to be a self absorbed prick.
He had caught her once staring at him a week after he had moved in and was carrying a box up the stairs. The blonde had seemed flustered to be caught and instantly looked away, and that had made him conflicted.
He had however shrugged it off as something women do.
But on that same day, he had been bothered by knocking on the door as he was eating the very old leftovers in the fridge. He was both surprised at seeing the blonde from next door in front of him, smiling widely with a small aluminium tupperware in hand, but also expectant that this would happen someday soon.
‘’Hi! My name is Cordelia and I live right next door to you with my-’’ There’s a slight falter in her voice as she looks away for a second. ‘’-My roommate, Charlotte. Welcome to the apartment!’’
There was a pause when she finished, and he grasps that she had been waiting for him to introduce himself. Right, he can do this. Marvin smiles and tries to look genuinely glad that he had been bothered, but he supposes this was much better than eating moldy food.
‘’I’m Marvin.’’
Cordelia blinks when she realizes that that was all he had been planning on saying for now. She nods, then gestures towards the tupperware.
‘’I was making some brownies and I made far too much batter- No never mind, I made brownies specifically to welcome you with. I hope you’re not allergic to anything that is usually in brownies-’’
‘’I don’t eat sugar.’’ Marvin interrupts her nervous rambling, and Cordelia seems to be taken aback by his flat and altogether boorish tone. She swallows and half nods, the smile on her face falling. Her outstretched hand with the brownies starts retreating, and Marvin briefly finds himself glad that the conversation is going to be over.
It’s quickly gone when he notes that this was exactly what he was trying to improve. He needed friends, and Cordelia had so far not done anything that deserved his harsh behavior.
‘’No, sorry. I- Do you want to come in and join me?’’ Cordelia furrows her brows and takes a step back, and he curses himself again for not formulating his words better. Now he was both rude and a pervert. ‘’God, this is a disaster.’’ He says quietly to himself, not seeing that Cordelia had heard and was nodding to his statement. Marvin runs a hand through his hair straightens his back. ‘’I swear I am not a deviant.’’
‘’It’s okay. Sorry for bothering you, I’ll just-’’ She awkwardly points a thumb towards the door to her right, more known as the door that leads to where she lives. He bites his tongue, then opens his mouth for one more shot at being a good neighbor.
‘’My son loves to eat brownies when he’s here.’’ He says, his voice softening when the first thing in mind that came to him was Jason. Cordelia looks at him for a second, then tilts her head to the side a bit and eyes him suspiciously.
‘’You have a son?’’ She sounded suspicious as to what he had just said, and he supposes he understood why due to the conversation a minute ago.
‘’Yeah. I get to have him on the weekends, long story as to why’’ He vaguely puts it when Cordelia raises an eyebrow. ‘’His eleventh birthday is coming up… and I don’t have anything planned for him.’’ He finishes silently, not sure why he had let the last part slip up. He probably now looked like a horny single father who failed at parenting.
Cordelia, however, smiles softly and hands him the tupperware again, which he this time accepts with a genuine returning smile. ‘’If you want any help, I’m great at throwing children's parties. It’s practically what I do for a living’’ She laughs nervously, then shakes her head and looks him in the eyes again. ‘’I'll just be right next door, and I’d love to meet the birthday boy someday.’’
‘’Thank you.’’ He nods then watches as the blonde retreats into her apartment with one final beaming grin. He felt his own smile grow as he looked down at the tupperware again. Maybe this fresh new start will be better than he’d known, he finds himself thinking as he closes the door and places the tupperware into the fridge.
His first interaction with them, or at least one of them, might have started off a bit rocky, but he finds that the ending was overbalanced and made this into a good experience.
The other lady however, he was quite unsure of her as the days turned to weeks of observing. Not in the sense that she was suspicious, but more in the way that he thought it would be much harder to befriend her. The fact that she was friends with Cordelia eased his mind, since he already trusted the blonde the second Jason had met her and deemed her to be hilarious and great. They were an unlikely pair, he thinks every time he sees them at the grocery store next to their home or everywhere else.
Marvin doesn’t know much about Charlotte, since he has yet to have an actual conversation with her without Cordelia being there to lead it, but from what he had gathered she seemed rather serious. She would often wear a no-nonsense expression on her face when he passed by her out the door on his way to work, and her clothes were always neatly ironed and straight. The white doctor's coat she wore on top of the outfit made her seem like somebody who doesn’t play around, and he was assuming that his assumption was indeed very correct.
Yet Charlotte seemed to be spending every ounce of her freetime, if Marvin’s calculations were correct, with Cordelia. Somebody who will spend hours with Jason just because they seem to both find similar things to gush about, like the computer games that were taking the world by storm. They would sometimes just play baseball, just the two of them, outside and there would be so much yelling and laughter from both parties.
His neighbors seemed like very good friends, and he was envious that he had nothing like that in his life.
That is at least what he thought for the first few weeks, then he notices how friendly they were getting towards him as well.
They bring him over for food, or at least Cordelia does so, and Marvin couldn’t come up with a good reason to say no so he came along. It’s not that he didn’t appreciate their offers, it’s more or less the fact that he didn’t want to intrude more into their live’s than he already had. The food was also most certainly interesting, since half of it was brilliantly cooked meanwhile the kosher cuisine, the food he preferred to eat, was lacking in many things.
Charlotte however, the one who had alway seemed more sensible and logical, was not even bothering to critique it as she ate. He wonders if it’s because she was used to the food, or if it was because she didn’t have the heart to tell such an excited Cordelia about the lack of seasoning. He supposes that it's the last reason, since after only a few weeks of knowing the taller lady he would also find it difficult to confess that.
But like he thought before, there’s something odd about their friendship. He thinks of that everytime he catches them looking at each other.
They always did that. Stared at each other for too long and completely forgot that they had a guest over. Usually it was Charlotte who did the staring, for many minutes, as Cordelia animatedly talked about anything with Marvin. The man obviously noticed that they were also rather lovesick, and he wonders if there’s perhaps more to Charlotte than what she presents.
Perhaps he should have a talk to her about her sexuality. Try to help them out a bit, just like they helped him come out of his downfall. Perhaps he should do that to both of them, since he was starting to doubt that the blonde was also straight after seeing her inept love for violets and always buying some for their kitchen counter.
It isn’t until two months into their newfound friendship that he decides to finally bring it up. To finally ask the meaning of their relationship, and possibly try nudging them both together.
They had brought him to a rather remote place in a park, where the path was blocked by giant trees and many wild flowers. He was surprised when he noted the giant field that they arrived at shortly after, and the wind sang through the leaves as he looked around.
He had never seen a place so instantly calming in his life.
When he asked how they had found this area, as they were settling down the blanket and taking out non kosher sandwiches, Charlotte had responded that this was the place they had first met each other. Apparently, three years ago, on a day just as fine as this one, they had met by sheer coincidence. Charlotte had gotten her hat flung away from her due to the wind and she had needed to chase after it. She had arrived at this place, where Cordelia was found taking a nap alone. The then-internist had panicked and thought that the girl had fainted.
Marvin actually laughs when he hears their interaction after, where Cordelia had been frightened awake when a strange woman was checking her pulse and telling her to take deep breaths.
It was a pleasant day, everything seemed to be quite lovely indeed, and the dessert was a highlight since it was basically a fruit cocktail. He wished he could have brought Jason along with them, along with someone else who Jason would have loved to play with. Perhaps
When Charlotte had pulled Cordelia into her lap and hugged her from behind, both of them too invested in their own conversation to notice Marvin’s surprised expression, he knew that yes, he should definitely talk to them. Talk to them about their relationship and perhaps tell them to get a room someday.
‘’You two are awfully close roommates’’ He states after taking a bite of his dessert, then points a finger towards them. Their laughter stops short and he finds himself staring at two varying expressions, one shocked and the other displeased.
‘’Are you serious?’’ Charlotte grumbles, her brows furrowing in vague annoyance. Marvin nods.
‘’Yes. I know my ex-wife never had any physical contact with her friends.’’ He elaborates, and the two women glance at each other. Cordelia lightly Squeezes Charlotte’s hand, signaling for her to keep calm and that the caterer could handle this.
‘’Marvin. Me and Charlotte are together.’’ Cordelia says, her voice a bit distant ash she looks at him with her pale blue eyes. He stares at her for a second, then rolls his eyes.
‘’Yes, I know you two are roommates, but don’t you think you’re too intimate with each other?’’
‘’Marvin-’’ Cordelia tries again, but he continues his rant.
‘’-and you two are literally always together, which makes me wonder-’’
‘’Marvin. We are together as in we have a sexual and romantic relationship.’’ Charlotte snaps crudely, her hands around Cordelia tightening and making the blonde let out a small yelp, then the atmosphere falls silent as Marvin finally realizes.
He realizes how ignorant he had been. That made so much more sense, it really explained everything about those two, and he was feeling so dumb for not connecting the dots. Well, for not further connecting the dots and bringing them full circle.
Those two, Cordelia and Charlotte, had been there for him for the past two months even if they really didn’t have too. Cordelia never had to ask him to have dinner with them whenever she sees him, or invite him over to their apartment for wine. Charlotte never had to be a voice of reason that battled against his intrusive thoughts and needs. Yet they both were, and he had majorly offended them because he had yet again been a self absorbed prick.
‘’I am so sorry.’’ He instantly apologizes, and Charlotte was about to open her mouth to say something when Cordelia taps her on the arm and silences her. Marvin somehow knew that it meant Charlotte was about to insult him, and he hoped that he hadn’t just taken their relationship back to square one when they had just arrived to the second.
‘’No worries, Marv. It’s just, I’m wondering - ‘’
‘’What the hell did you think our relationship was?’’ Charlotte continues the blonde's question, and Cordelia rolls her eyes at her, now that Marvin finally knows, girlfriend. The doctor simply shrugs and awaits for his answer.
‘’I- I thought you two were very close, gay roommates who never realised the other is gay?’’ He answers like it was a question, and there was a small silence before Charlotte snorted and buried her face in the crook of Cordelia’s neck. Cordelia herself was holding back a laugh but wore a large grin on her face.
‘’You at least got the gay part right.’’ The brunette says, a teasing tone evident in her voice. Marvin sort of nods, but there was a large smile on his face as well. He was glad that they hadn’t hated him for mistaking their relationship for a friendship,
‘’Wait, should we start coming in and instantly announce our sexualities?’’ Cordelia giggles, her horrible idea sparking a wince from both Marvin and Charlotte. She rolls her eyes at their exaggerated reactions and leans her back to her lovers chest.
‘’Perhaps we should refrain from doing that.’’ Charlotte mutters, although her smile instantaneously returns as she places a kiss on the base of Cordelia’s shoulder. The blonde sighs and relaxes inte her lover's embrace, and he can’t believe he ever thought that those two were in a platonic relationship.
Marvin decides to look away and, now that he knows he has always been the third wheel, he wishes that he had a lover.