Chapter Text
He just wanted some damn groceries.
Steven recently picked up baking and needed a whole bunch of crap like baking soda and some shit called Zanem gum?
“ Xanthan gum, it should be in the baking aisle,” Steven explained, Marc heard the loud hum of the mixing machine in the background. He could imagine Steven pacing around their tiny kitchen with the phone pressed firmly against his ear.
Marc groaned as he looked at the wide selection of baking materials. Marc could barely boil pasta, what makes Steven think that he understood any of this crap.
“The hell do you even need this for, Steven?”
“It’s to make the cinnamon rolls gooey! I’ve told you this, Marc. Please hurry as the dough is due to be ready within the hour.”
Marc eventually picked out a bag with some old guy on it. Turns out that xanthan gum wasn’t really gum, but some weird powder. He checked out and made his way out the store.
Couldn’t even get to the car before he heard it.
Screaming
Just the lot across from him was some woman, groceries sprawled all around her. Seeming to have dropped a jar of pasta sauce, broken glass, and red mixed among the mixed, he continued walking, figuring she was just pissed about losing 3 bucks worth of food.
He didn’t see it until he reached his car.
Oh
She was hunched over a kid
He looked to be about 8, arms up instinctively as his, assuming, mother got even closer to him. Her yells getting even more intense, Marc could only imagine that she was practically spitting in the boy's face.
“For fuck sake, Jason. You can’t even put the bloody bags away? The hell is wrong with you, huh? I’m asking you a fucking question!” She hits the top of his head, the boy only getting more scared and shutting down.
Marc only could watch in his own paralyzing fear as the display continued. He wanted to do something, he really did, but he couldn’t. Move. His own thoughts were racing, the hell was wrong with him?
He watched as she kept smacking him, his cries, her screams and yet nothing. Tears welling at his own eyes, his legs trembling.
The woman eventually shoved the boy back in the car and drove off. Leaving Marc staring at the empty parking spot.
He felt useless
He felt like he was in his room again, hands smashed against his little ears. Nails digging into his skin in hopes blocking it out, repeating his little mantra.
“ It’s not my mom. It’s not my mom.”
But Steven is not here to take over.
Marc left on his own.
Marc willed himself to get into the car, throwing the groceries in the back and the key in the ignition. Turning the radio on full blast, he rammed the gas and sped out of the parking lot. He needed to get home.
He needed Steven.
Steven was growing impatient.
Marc had been out for over two hours, the hell could he have gone? What if something had happened?
Steven was now growing concerned .
Oh good grief,
What if Khonshu was back? What if he took Marc back knowing that he wasn’t a problem anymore, the worm was gone.
No Knonsu wouldn’t, right?
He was the one to separate them.
Oh, but what if one of the bad guys caught wind of Marc's whereabouts and was coming for revenge.
Steven paced around the apartment, his mind racing.
When he heard the door unlocking Steven damn near gave himself whiplash. Oh was Marc about to hear an earful, what gave him the right to-
Steven's thoughts came to a halt.
Marc looked scared shitless
Marc widened comically when he saw Steven.
“Stevie!” Marc bolted for Steven like a bull chasing a red flag. Steven barely had any time to drop the bowl of mix he was holding.
Marc engulfed Steven in a lung-crushing hug, tucking his head into his neck. Immediately bursting into tears. Steven simply hugged him back in sheer bewilderment, not that he was irritated by Marc. But what the hell was happening right now?
They stood in the middle of their flat, Marc holding onto Steven like he was going to run away if he didn't. Steven felt a little bit like a child's stuffed toy. He rubbed circles on Marc’s back, softly rushing him.
Marc’s cries began to die down and his breathing settled, Steven took it as a sign to pull away. Marc tensed up and picked up his head,
“Don’t leave me, Stevie. Please.”
Steven’s heart sunk
“I won’t bud, I promise.”