bending reality - falsettos oneshots

Story 9

A/N: I think things are a little too sweet. It's time to angst it up a little, if you ask me. 

QUICK DISCLAIMER: I saw this as a prompt on tumblr. This idea does not belong to me. 

(I love these boys so much, it hurts me more than it hurts you.)

-

"I loved you. Past tense."

It stung, but it was true, and Whizzer truly hoped Marvin understood. They were sat together on their couch, holding glasses of wine. It was almost picture perfect- the two men, curled into each other as though their bodies wouldn't fit anywhere else, the fire warm and inviting. A fake, pretty snapshot of the kind of life they both craved and despised. 

"I know." Marvin replied.

His tone was as vacant as his expression. The flames seemed to have his complete attention, and he stared at them as though they held all the answers to questions he didn't even know he wanted to ask. He'd seen this coming. He knew. 

 The silence that followed was almost comfortable. 

"I know." He repeated, his voice so casual you'd think he was asking for the sugar. "Thank you- you know. For loving me. For trying." 

'I just never saw it in time.'

Marvin had hoped- of course he had- but the idea had never seemed concrete. Whizzer didn't love. At least, not conventionally, not the way he'd seen in movies, or tv shows, or read about in books. It was different, and he'd come to despise it. 

"Are you going to be okay?" Whizzer asked, daring to punctuate the reticence. This was killing him, but he wasn't going to let any hint drip into his voice, because he didn't regret what he was saying. It was the truth. 

They couldn't keep on like they had been. It was time it all came to a stop. He was impressed, though- Marvin was taking it well. The room was once again coated in quiet. Grey light filtered through the slightly tangled blinds, the embers in the fire had began to fizzle out, and they took a few sips of their wine. Neither moved other than to lift the glass to their lips. 

"Probably." Marvin replied honestly, staring at the orange flames as they danced some insistent tango that he'd never understand. "I will be." 

"Are you sure?" 

He may not love him anymore, but Whizzer certainly wanted to make sure he would recover. Marvin had much more of a life than he had. There was his son and his ex-wife. Whizzer had nothing. 

Well, that wasn't completely true, he had booze; and men; and sex. He was okay with that. He liked the lifestyle he led- he could be and say and do whatever and whoever he pleased. Domestic life and real romance wasn't for him. 

"Yes." 

Again, Whizzer was surprised. Marvin was never this calm. He was supposed to get angry, to beg him to stay, to give him a reason not to- anything but stare at the flames and sip his wine. 

"I loved you. I really did. Past tense, though." He repeated. Any reaction would suffice at that point. 

Marvin let the quaint silence settle again before he replied. 

"Maybe when you can look me in the face and say that, I'll believe it."

With that, he unlatched himself from Whizzer's embrace. He walked out without turning back, grabbing the entire bottle of wine before he left. It was finished before the hour was through. 

Whizzer spent the night on the couch.