triangle
~1400 words.
cabfic?
author: perfectionists
for patty/ ahomegirlslife
triangle.
So I'm mostly very spoiled on a regular basis, but now that I'm sick I'm just that bit more spoiled than usual. I asked nicely to re-post this; every comment made on this fic shall be forwarded to the author.
they eat lunch like this every day, and everyone's already used to it. some of the homophobes complained, but there wasn't really anything anyone could do. every day for lunch, deleon would hop up on the brick wall that, when sitting down, brought him up to marshall's eye level. marshall would stand between his knees, and they'd eat lunch like that. every. fucking. day. sometimes, on bad days or if one of them just wasn't feeling too talkative, they wouldn't even speak. just stare at each other. to someone who didn't know them, it was kinda cute. to their friends, it was disgusting.
today, though, marshall doesn't show up. deleon sits by himself on top of the wall, and marshall walks out of the school building with a tall redhead by his side. deleon glances up. feels a pang of jealousy. says nothing. he glances down at the sandwich in a bag to his left, picks it up, and sighs. it was spring, and never once had either of them missed a day of school or a day doing their usual lunch routine. until joey showed up.
see, joey was the kid that just moved from britain, and marshall said, "he doesn't have many friends. we should eat lunch with him, okay?"
at the time, deleon had given him a look. a look that said, i don't think so. but he didn't say that; instead, he said, "yeah, alright."
so he sighs. jumps down and makes his way over to the table marshall and joey sit at.
today's going to be a long day.
-
there was absolutely no reason whatsoever that marshall should have gotten that day off. when he asked why his boss had him down to work the rest of the week, but not that friday night, marshall's boss just shrugged and said, "i don't know. have fun, it's a friday night," and left it at that.
this is why alex marshall believes in fate.
usually, marshall just walks from school to the little ice cream shop a block away from his house where he works. on off days, he walks right home. since friday is an off day, he walks past the shop and down the road that'll lead him to his neighborhood.
if marshall had work that day, he'd never have seen joey, too, walking down that same road in the same direction marshall was headed.
marshall sees his shadow first, then looks up, and sees his hair second. third, he calls his name, and fourth, the air leaves his lungs as joey turns around.
"hey."
-
as soon as deleon walks in the doors of his homeroom the following monday, he knows something isn't right. marshall's head is turned, to the back of the class where joey's sitting. joey's name tastes like bile on deleon's tongue. usually, marshall's head is turned to the front of the class, waiting with excitement for deleon to show up. not today.
this is the first sign that something's not right.
deleon half smiles at no one and takes his seat next to marshall. the clattering of books against floor get his attention and marshall turns back to deleon, grins, says hello, kisses him good morning. no one says anything, including deleon. before marshall looks up at the front of the class, he steals another glance at joey.
deleon's blood boils. he says nothing.
-
marshall has another day off, so he walks home, and joey's there too. last friday, as they walked together, joey told marshall he didn't live too far from him. that made marshall's heart flutter in such a wrong, wrong way. so they walked together, talking until they had to part ways. and even when they did that, they still watched each other until they literally couldn't anymore. so it's no surprise to see joey walking here, too.
marshall trots a little to catch up with him. it's still monday, and the sun isn't close to setting yet because it's almost summer. kinda. joey grins when he sees marshall, and marshall smiles, too, and this is when the first bad thing happens. they hold hands. they are most definitely not supposed to do that.
-
deleon is getting more and more suspicious as the days pass. marshall is getting more and more distant as the days pass. and joey? joey's making a mark in a place deleon doesn't like. specifically, marshall's neck. this is the second sign that something's wrong.
deleon notices, and as usual, says absolutely nothing. goes home, doesn't sleep. doesn't do anything.
he has to make a choice, he knows. he just doesn't want to, so he doesn't.
-
it's late. it's exactly 10:05, and marshall only faintly acknowledges this in the back of his mind as he gets pushed against the outside wall of the ice cream shop he just closed up. the one doing the pushing, that would be joey. seconds later, their lips crash and marshall thinks about deleon.
-
"i'm sorry-"
"you're sorry? you're right. yeah, no, you're sorry. you're the most sorry son of a bitch i've ever met. a year and a half, marshall. did that mean that little to you?"
their voices were the opposite of calm as they duked it out in deleon's cul-de-sac outside of his house. deleon's face was red and he was fighting back the lump in his throat. he couldn't take it anymore. so he asked marshall to come over and now here they are.
it's late. it's exactly 11:34. marshall only faintly acknowledges this in the back of his mind as he crosses the distance they'd made between them, and he cups deleon's cheeks in his hands and he says, "just shut up," and their lips crash. marshall thinks about joey.
-
joey didn't really do anything but sort-of stumble into this mess. he didn't even know marshall was in a relationship until he sees them holding hands in the hallway the day after the two of them fought. joey shoots marshall a half smile, but at the look on deleon's face, it's gone instantly and he pushes his way to class.
joey hates this.
-
marshall and deleon are back to their routine. smiles at the beginning of the day. lunch together. holding hands in the hallways. kisses goodbye. promises of calling. but marshall's heart isn't in it. when he shies away from a kiss goodbye, that's the third sign that something's wrong.
physical cheating, deleon can look past. it hurt. it definitely hurt. he didn't want to think about it, and he was still recovering from that fucking hickey on his boyfriend's neck that he didn't leave. but it was physical. it wasn't emotional, and deleon was still the one marshall came back to in the end.
until he didn't.
until one day, instead of meeting deleon after work like marshall said he would, deleon's left waiting for an hour with unanswered calls and texts.
while he waits, while he kicks stones on the side of the road, marshall's being shoved against joey's bedroom wall. this time, though, they don't kiss, and this time joey's trying to make marshall look at him.
"please. come on. you're bored, you. you need me. right?" his tone is more along the lines of begging than stating, and marshall's staring at the floor and swallowing every single lump in his throat that he can because he knows joey's right.
deleon goes home. marshall goes home. joey sits on his bed with his head in his hands for an hour and forty five minutes. no calls are made, and no sleep is had.
-
"it's facebook official."
that's how everyone knows. a click of a mouse, and the whole school knows why deleon isn't in school for the next two days. and the whole school knows why marshall eats lunch with joey now.
-
it's a cold afternoon. deleon left his blinds closed, still asleep in the shadows of three pm. as much as deleon could say he hated marshall, he never really wanted him to go. so why, then, is deleon alone?
he doesn't know. deleon sits up and runs a hand through his hair, drops it to his lap, stares at the closed window. hopes to hear marshall's car horn.
but he doesn't. he won't. so he falls back to his bed and stares at the ceiling. sighs.
today's going to be a long day.