A Visit With Marvin: The Holiday (Book 2)

2

The door creaked open, the hinges old and in desperate need of replacing, but Marvin had always been of the mind that repairs could be fixed better with magic. Chase recalled that and laughed, stepping into Marvin's bedroom just as Marvin himself turned from his desk, a slightly guilty look of shock on his face. "Oh, hey. You're up early."

Chase closed the door behind him and stepped closer, ignoring whatever was on the desk and replying playfully, "It's 10, but I could say the same to you. I know you didn't get to bed until late; your cloak's in the laundry and wet through from the snow, where did you go?"

Hearing the time, Marvin spun around to look at his clock, causing another laugh to escape Chase. His feet shuffled against the carpet toward Marvin's bed. "Well, uh- shit..." Marvin mumbled, rubbing at his face sleepily. "I just went for some fresh air is all."

"Hope you bundled up with more than just your cloak, it's still ought to be fucking freezing out there, right?" Chase said, looking out the bedroom window to see the snow pelting down just as hard as it had been. They were bound to have feet of it, maybe covering house doors. "I mean, I know it is, is that even a question? But do you know how easy it would be to catch a cold in that? Very."

Marvin tilted his head innocently, a small smile on his face. He was slightly awestruck hearing Chase ramble through his words, worry lacing every one like the fantastic father Marvin knew he was. He was breathless as he replied, "yeah..." but it seemed hearing Marvin speak even that one word made Chase's alarm bells ring off.

Maybe it was the tone sounding on the verge of exasperated despite Marvin's intentions being anything but, but Chase suddenly shut in on himself again, looking from the window the floor. "I'm sorry, was I rambling too much? That, uh, happens. I'll slow down some."

"What? No!" Marvin quickly said, falling to his knees in front of Chase unexpectedly. Even Chase jumped—Marvin had always liked people knowing he had the high ground in most situations, whether that was out of some need to cover his own insecurities or not, but this was him making someone else bigger for a change, and making himself vulnerable even to the already vulnerable. "Chaser, no! Who told you that?"

Chase continued to sit in shock, his mouth fumbling for the right words to say, finally ending up with, "I don't know. Jackie, mostly."

Marvin's eyes raged, and he quickly stood back up to head to his desk. He cleared it of everything, but a phone that was buried underneath. Chase stood to see what he was doing, and recognised the phone right away. "Wait, that's- Marv, did you go see Jackie last night?" Marvin turned to see the hurt in his eyes, handing him the device. "You, you got it for me?"

"Yes, but Chase, if he was being such a prick to you, why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't want him to get in trouble," Chase mumbled, taking the phone and looking at it. "He isolated me a couple of times when I wasn't doing too well, but other than that he took pretty good care of me; I didn't want his effort to go to waste."

"His 'effort' means nothing to him. What good he did was the bare minimum, and he expected you to praise him for it, but he didn't actually care if that just meant punishing you when he thought you were inconvenient." Marvin stepped closer, grabbing Chase's hands and making him look into his eyes. "He had some pretty big choice words to say about you to me, as well. Things I would never repeat for the continued sake of your mental well-being.

He wants to talk to you today, to make sure you're okay; that's the only reason he gave me the phone. He doesn't trust that you're being taken care of here, but now I know it's better than there, and I'm breaking my promise of trying to convince you to stay. Now, my promise is keeping you safe, and I don't think that can happen with him. Please, tell me you'll stay."