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This morning was, by all possible definitions, abnormal.
First of all, Morrissey woke up with a strong feeling of anxiety in his chest, which had been happening for a long time lately, but now everything was nowhere near what he had been going through before. Everything he saw in front of him seemed to be someone else's and not his own.
Secondly, he really couldn't find out anything from what was in the room. Even after a few minutes of wakefulness, this feeling did not go away, and the feeling of heaviness and hopelessness penetrated even more into his heart, which made all his limbs feel like cotton wool, and his thoughts became tangled in one thick lump.
Closing his eyes and covering his face with his hands, he was just trying to collect his feelings, because there was clearly some explanation for everything that was happening, right?
Fortunately, Morrissey didn't have to wait long for an answer, and everything became clear as soon as he looked in the mirror.
Maybe he really had gone mad, but for some reason, understanding the situation he was in made him feel a little better. It was probably a mental blurring.
___
Still, something was obviously wrong.
Andy had been watching his friend, a part-time colleague, all morning and couldn't figure out exactly what had happened, or rather what had changed in him. Something was clearly there, and Rourke felt it, but he couldn't put it into words or catch it with his eyes, but it was clearly felt, he knew for sure that something was there.
After all, you still start to involuntarily memorize all the habits and behaviors of a person when you work hand in hand with him for so long.
That's why Andy was now closely following Marr's movements and trying to figure out exactly what seemed strange about his friend's behavior.
Glasses. Johnny took black glasses with him almost at every opportunity, even if there was no sun outside, and now it was an extremely sunny day and he came without them? It was hard to believe, but this was the first oddity, although it could be attributed to forgetfulness or hasty packing in the morning, which could cause him to forget to take this item of his unique image.
The second oddity was that Marr arrived earlier than the time they had agreed on. Johnny seemed to want to sort things out before work, and Andy promised to cover for him without really going into the gist, but apparently Johnny's plans were canceled since he was here right now. He never told Rourke what was going on, although Marr usually doesn't hide his business from him.
And the last thing that bothered Rourke was his friend's detachment. A muffled hello, an awkward look, and stiff movements. And how could he forget where the staff room was located during the evening?
Something had obviously happened, and Andy would get to the truth. There is a possibility that Marr is simply not in the mood, then Rourke will give him freedom without any problems and will not interfere, but something told him that everything is not so simple here.
"Johnny," Andy called, standing next to him, but getting no answer, "Johnny, are you in the same room with me right now?" Rourke repeats more perplexedly and a little displeased when the other person ignores him.
Marr just twitches and looks at Andy with the same displeasure, but remains silent.
"Did something happen?" Johnny catches his partner's scrutinizing gaze and Andy takes a step towards him.
"No, it's fine," Marr waved off and rubbed the counter harder, which was already clean.
"No, it's not okay. Did your shy bespectacled "flame" from the library turn you down? You were going to come up with a way to attack his heart yesterday, didn't something work out? Was that why you were going to leave? " Andy doesn't back down and looks attentively at Marr, who freezes, and as soon as a customer enters the coffee shop, he immediately runs to the staff room.
Andy sighs and looks at Johnny's back before faking a smile and turning to the checkout counter.
"Good afternoon, what do you want?"
___
Morrissey looked at himself in the mirror and tried to figure out what he had done wrong.
Although it was obvious that he was most likely completely unaware, since it is difficult to get used to the role of a stranger, even if he is the object of your sympathy.
Why did this happen at all? What happened that one day he woke up not in his body?
Morrissey combed his hair back, which was slightly longer than his own, but couldn't help but run his fingers through the black tresses once more. It would be better if Morrissey did the same thing in his own body, and Johnny was himself.
When he was going to "his" job in the morning, he tried to remember what Marr usually wears, but it was hard. Do you remember the specific image of the person you see every day? You can definitely catch a glimpse of a specific thing if it stands out, or the whole image if it somehow resonated with your soul, but Morrissey didn't remember anything specific. He only knew that Marr had a white knitted sweatshirt because it was visible from under the barista's apron, which both Marr and his partner wore, but mostly Johnny's smile was stuck in his memory when he sincerely laughed at some nonsense that Morrissey himself said to lighten the atmosphere, their talking
about nothing and everything at the same time, and the smell...
Because of this smell, Morrissey took so long to get ready in the morning, picking up clothes and allowing himself a little privacy, nuzzling into the collar of each fitted garment and inhaling deeply, filling his lungs with this fragrance.
Johnny did not spray himself with a ton of cologne, as some men did, especially those who came to his library and made an important appearance, choosing abstruse books on the shelves, mainly for scientific articles. Morrissey always had a headache after that.
And he thanked the almighty that Johnny wasn't like that. Some of the things smelled like tobacco he hated, but Morrissey literally turned a blind eye to it. Marr had some kind of tart scent, while Morrissey liked something lighter, but it was even better this way.
After sniffing through half of the wardrobe and blushing when he realized what he was doing, the guy packed up in a hurry and took some kind of bag, a password-protected phone, keys, and the rest seemed to be already in the bag, but Morrissey still felt uncomfortable, as if he had forgotten something.
___
Closer to three o'clock in the afternoon, Andy noticed that his friend was strangely impatient. Maybe something really happened to that guy from the library, whom Marr clearly fell for, and maybe something happened the day before that made him not himself anymore.
Rourke carefully approached him and put his hand on his shoulder.
"Dude, let's go get a smoke, you're obviously nervous."
"Mm, thanks, but not now," Johnny gently declined, and Andy arched an eyebrow, not expecting such an answer.
Rourke noticed that Marr hadn't left the coffee shop for a smoke break at all, which was strange. It wasn't that Andy was going to "smoke" his friend or was outraged that Marr didn't poison his lungs with tobacco, but that was another oddity that day, unless Johnny decided to quit smoking abruptly. In general, Andy decided to give him freedom for this day and watch him from the sidelines, and if nothing changes tomorrow, he will obviously do something about it, but for now he will write off his behavior as a bad day.
Closer to four o'clock in the afternoon, unexpectedly for everyone, the same guy from the library confidently enters the coffee shop and Andy, standing at the coffee machine, notices how Marr confidently and quickly approached the cashier for the first time all day.
Johnny only has time to open his mouth to say something, but a tall guy with glasses rests his elbows on the counter and gives Marr a playful look with a satisfied smile, interrupting him.
"I'd like to get a flirt from you," Morrissey cooed and winked at Marr.
Andy mustered all his willpower not to open his mouth when he saw this scene. What's gotten into everyone today?
But the usually shy Morrissey confidently keeps eye contact with Marr, who in turn... Blushing?
Rourke was no longer so sure that this librarian wanted to order tea with that name from them and suspected that this guy was really waiting for a reciprocal flirtation, but there was only an awkward silence and even so he didn't seem confused.
The blue-eyed guy looks at Andy and smiles at him, "I want take him away for long, do you mind?" He winks again, this time at Rourke.
Andy doesn't even have a chance to answer, he doesn't understand what's going on here at all and decides to just let it all happen.
Morrissey gently takes Marr's hand and leads him out of the building.
___
"What's your plan of action?"
A voice comes from the side and Morrissey looks up, looking at himself and realizing once again that the world has gone crazy.
Morrissey doesn't answer right away, because he thinks that even once inside his body, Marr's voice takes on a purring tone that was unique to the dark-haired barista himself.
"You can't just ignore me, okay?" Marr doesn't rebuke and speaks softly, placing his hand on Morrissey's palm (which was now his own, but he ignored it).
"What do you think my plan should have been?" Morrissey sighs and looks at himself.
Marr just shrugged his shoulders.
"Let's say... Did you do something special yesterday?" His eyes light up and he looks at the other person expectantly.
"I came in after work, fed the cat, and almost immediately fell asleep after I had to arrange books all day after the restoration," Morrissey mumbled, but he was waiting for Marr's answer.
"No, the theory that we were doing something at the same time is a failure." He purses his lips and looks ahead at the park path.
"But we obviously didn't exchange bodies by accident," Marr adds, grinning.
Morrissey immediately looks away and tries to think about anything but the fact that Marr could actually realize how much Morrissey likes him.
As luck would have it, he left his notebook with small sketches of poems and lines that came to mind in the most visible place, not expecting that someone else would wake up in his body. The last thing he wrote down was about Marr...
"Ho girl, I'm just a Jeepster for your love"
Marr broke their short silence by singing a line from a well-known song in his hoarse voice.
Morrissey immediately blushed and hid his face in his hands to hide from this shame.
The night before, Morrissey was sitting at his desk, putting a T.Rex record on the background, which he had bought once out of sympathy for Marc Bolan, but it seems that this album did not quite catch his eye. It was at this moment, when he was writing something down in his notebook, that this song started playing. A simple, repetitive motif that sticks in your head and makes you think so easily... The thought of an attractive guitarist with brown eyes that you want to plunge into and drown completely. Bolan's voice was singing something about Dr. Strange and the girl he dedicated his musical creation to, but Morrissey had only one image in his head, and with each statement in a new verse, he represented it.
Stop. Johnny was humming a different song than the one Morrissey had so diligently written down in his notebook one evening, imagining Marr. The song was from the same album, but it wasn't the same song he wrote about, so Marr might not have read all his love revelations?
"I'm sorry, I rummaged in your room a bit and couldn't miss that you had my favorite T.Rex album in your room." Marr smiled and reached into his pocket, taking out a cigarette.
"Don't tell me you're really going to smoke now," Morrissey stared at him intently, not wanting Marr to spoil his lungs while he was in his body.
Marr looked sadly at the coveted cigarette, but put it back away and put the pack in his pocket.
"You know, I haven't eaten much since this morning, maybe we should go somewhere?" suggested Marr.
Morrissey hesitated, not knowing how to hint to Marr about his food preferences and life beliefs, but the advertisement for a cafe serving pancakes was a salvation for him, and Morrissey immediately suggested that he go there.
A solution to the situation they were in had never occurred to either of them, but they could now talk more among themselves in a less formal setting. It turned out they had more in common than they expected.
After ordering two cheese toasts (having seen them on the menu), they were waiting for their order and trying to find a topic for conversation.
"If we're already here, I don't think there's any point in hiding it," Marr's soft voice was heard as he addressed Morrissey, looking at him with a ridiculous smile. "It sounds ridiculous, but yesterday I was trying to figure out how to invite you to go out with me to get closer, but it seems nature has done everything for us." Johnny chuckled briefly, without taking his eyes off his interlocutor.
Morrissey examined Marr carefully, as if his facial features could tell him more, reveal his lies, but none of that happened. Morrissey stared blankly at his own face and could only sigh while hungry Johnny munched his sandwich in awkward silence.
"Actually, I was also thinking about talking to you somehow, but I doubt I would actually do that." Morrissey licked his lower lips before pursing his lips and staring at the table, not noticing how Marr's eyes lit up.
"That's it!" Marr wiped his hands on a napkin and waited for Morrissey to meet his gaze. "We were both thinking about each other, right?"
"That's right, but how will it help us?" Morrissey replied with a shrug, not so flustered. They found the reason, but how will it help them with a solution?
"I know what, but first you have to turn on for me T.rex." Marr's eyes flashed again, and Morrissey looked at him in complete disbelief.
___
After a meal together, they headed home to Morrissey's.
Johnny obediently sat on the bed and waited for Morrissey to take out the right record and insert it into the player, mentally calculating the time.
Watching Morrissey carefully place the record on the turntable, a plan is already forming in Johnny's head and he doesn't have a second to waste if he wants everything to work out.
As soon as the needle descends, the pleasant melody of "Mambo Sun", which Johnny also knew well, spreads through the room. Morrissey sits down on the bed next to him and Marr knows that he needs to act and let go of all doubts.
"I think I've found a way out, but I'm not sure. I just need you to trust me, okay?" Marr mumbles very quickly, while Bolan's voice has already begun to sound in the background.
Morrissey is worried, but Marr doesn't seem scary to him, in fact, he wanted to take it all back, but he was afraid that after this incident they might distance themselves from each other forever.
"Okay," Morrissey nods his head when he agrees and waits for Marr to do it, when he suddenly realizes that the song playing in the background is the one that caught Morrissey listening when he was thinking about Johnny.
Morrissey smiles when Bolan mentions mountain range and that Marvel comic book character and closes his eyes, getting into the music, but...
Johnny is gentle in his movements and careful. Part of him understands that it's not wise anyway, but he likes the idea so much, and what if it really works?
For some reason, it is at this moment that such a suitable loss begins and Marr's lips cover Morrissey's lips, gently holding him by the cheeks, but not holding him in one place.
The kiss is not demanding and does not last long at all, because Marr does not want to put pressure on Morrissey. But it was a pleasant soft touch of lips, barely noticeable due to the inability to hold on to this moment longer when it was so desirable.
Upon a savage lake
Make no mistake
Morrissey hears Mark's words against the background again, after a slight loss, when he looks wide-eyed at Johnny, who has just kissed him.
"I love you" is in sync with Bolan in the song, Marr says on an exhale and in a hoarse voice and runs his eyes over Morrissey's features in confusion.
The two of them belatedly realize that they are now really looking at each other, being in their own bodies.
"Such absurdity is not even written about in those books on the shelves of women's novels in my library." Quietly, as if to break the silence he would trigger irreversible consequences for them, Morrissey said.
Marr just smiled at him, "Are you talking about our magic kiss?" he murmured and leaned a little closer.
Morrissey only pulls back a little, more out of confusion. It's hard to believe everything that's happening when the whole day has been just crazy.
"Don't worry, I won't do it anymore if you don't like it. But I want you to know that I really meant it all." Marr says softly, unable to resist putting his hand on top of Morrissey's palm, which was lying on the bed.
While Mark was talking in his song about how he danced outside the space when he was twelve years old, a strong bond was formed between the two guys in the room.
It's so strange, but in four minutes they got to know each other and became closer than in the whole month of their awkward glances inside the coffee shop. The awkwardness still remained, but now, after all that had happened, was there any point in hiding something? They liked each other, so why not give it a try?
The song about the possibilities of dancing changes, and when Marr hears the music, he immediately becomes more active and playfully approaches Morrissey again, this time pulling him into a kiss with his consent.
For the most part, they were just fooling around together, exchanging quick kisses wherever they went and trying to calm down the new feeling they were facing, but they were happy.
When it all turned into a competition, no one knows, but everyone made efforts to overpower the other and no one knew for what purpose, but they did not give up.
Marr still wins and with the most satisfied grin looks at a slightly out of breath Morrissey under him, and Bolan, still sounding in the background, gives him a tempting idea.
"I said, girl I'm just a vampire for your love," repeats one of his favorite lines from Marr and bends down to kiss Morrissey on the neck.
Morrissey only shudders slightly under him and giggles a little when Johnny's lips tickle his skin and send warmth all over his body, while against the background of all this, the singer of the band tironasaurus rex makes not quite decent noises, which makes the two of them giggle.
"This is my favorite song," Marr says as they decide to turn off the music and devote their full attention to each other.
"I'm not sure I can repeat what he just demonstrated," Morrissey smiles, blushing.
"Don't worry about it, I'll do my best for it." With a more sly and playful grin, Marr cooed, pulling Morrissey back onto the bed.