i'll leave (a light on) ch.5
ch.1, ch.2, ch.3, ch.4, ch.5
"Please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, pleeeease, Mary! Please! Come on!"
Marlene's on her knees on the stage floor at soundcheck. The band has just finished, but Mary hasn't gone on yet and Marls is now clutching her legs begging, begging, BEGGING to hear the song she and Sirius are going to perform tomorrow night.
"I already told you – you'll hear it on stage tomorrow night."
Marlene's body falls along Mary's legs which almost makes her fall over. "But that's so far away." She pouts up at her and has her hands on Mary's ankles now. Well, one ankle and a hunk of metal, but who really cares.
Mary smooths Marlene's hair over her head. "You'll survive."
"But what if I die? This is grand tier homophobia." She groans on her way down Mary’s legs to sprawl out on the stage floor.
"Okay," she whispers. "Hey, Cas! Littering ain't cool. Come get your kid– ACK!" Mary lands with a thump on the floor and glares death at a cackling Marlene who's squirming like a crab flipped on its back. When Mary moves to get to her feet Marls immediately lets loose a string of curses as she scrambles off the stage. She jumps off the side stage and scrapes her elbow.
"So aggressive. Save it for sex."
"I know where you sleep, McKinnon.”
"Good. It's a no-clothes zone, by the way." She shrugs, walking backwards and throws a piece of gum in her mouth. "Just a reminder." She stalks off backstage to Dorcas and Peter with a pop of her bubblegum.
When Mary turns to look out at the stands from the center stage she senses Sirius coming up behind her, even though she can't hear his footsteps. She knows why.
"What are you doing? I can see you in my side mirrors, stop creeping up on me."
Sirius walks up until they're side by side and squints incredulously at her. His eyebrows are as high as they can go and his eyelids are straining to stay close enough to call it a squint. "Your side mirrors?"
"I'm bilingual, okay? I forget words sometimes. You know what I mean. The corner of my eye. Stop squinting at me like that. You look like a newborn.
"One, rude. Two, your peripheral vision?"
"Tomato, tomato; they're synonyms in this context."
"Peripheral does not equate to a side mirror?"
"The way I see it, as long as you understand what I'm saying—it's a win. I have no respect for grammar."
"We'll circle back to this."
"It's because I'm a goldfish, isn't it?"
Mary swings her arm around his shoulder and he wraps his arm around her. "Yeah, your memory ain't all that hot, dushi. We still love you."
"Yeah, whatever. I love you too."
They stand there for a long time staring at the empty stadium. So this is the big leagues, she thinks. There was something about all this empty space and the way it amplified her insignificance; it was refreshing.
The rain made a mirror of the stage floor and showed her someone she hadn't seen in so long, but still recognised. The version of herself that was brave.
Mary could tell it was reaching for her. The vines were slowly winding their way up her legs, soon her torso, then her mind. It was undeniable in the way it lingers; the mourning to be someone you love. Again or for the very first time. It's a vague emotion until it's not and she could feel it. Her melancholia is growing, it never dies.
"Yeah. Sorry." She pulled her eyes from the stage all across the stands and then to Sirius. All her excitement seeps from her pores and her breath comes out shaky with all of her nerves. And with it, a real smile, something that hadn't felt like it in so long.
"This is going to be the time of my life." Sirius matches her with all the enthusiasm he has left, which is, quite frankly, running on E, but he'll always have a smile for her.
“Oh, terrified. In a good way. I feel like this marks the beginning of what’s going to be the happiest memories of my life.”
"Well, in that case, may it never end. July 25th, a day to remember." Sirius hands her a mic and turns to signal their audio guy.
The opening chords start playing and the tambourine might just be it. The beginning of something; something brave.
The car ride to lunch is an actual disaster. They end up stopping at a Krispy Kreme for donuts because it's taking so long to decide where to go. Mister Kingsley Shacklebolt in particular has, frankly, had it from here to hell with them. Marlene and Sirius are talking over each other and can’t even agree between Mexican and Thai. It all stops though, when Kingsley comes to a hard brake and sends the two of them crashing forward into the seats in front of them.
"We know you can drive better than this." Marlene says, rubbing her cheek.
"Should learn to strap in outside of the bedroom." He takes the keys out of the ignition then jumps out and goes around the front to the other side to open the door for Minnie. Then the door in the middle for Dorcas, Mary and Peter and shut it leaving Sirius and Marlene in the backseat with nothing but a box of Krispy Kreme with a lonely donut.
"This is a thousand percent on brand for him, Sirius, don't be surprised."
She holds the door open for him as he shimmies out of the van with a donut and an empty box, before Marlene grabs and crushes it.
She shrugs and throws it in some random trashcan on the sidewalk. "What is this place anyway?"
"I couldn't care less as long as they have something sizzling on a plate."
"I just hope it's not Indian again."
"Why are you such a hater? Why do you have the palette of a baby, an allergy to anything exercise and the immune system of a sickly Victorian child? And yet have the audacity to look like a jock?"
Sirius opens the door and holds it open with his back to face Marlene. "Survival of the fittest, Sirius. Girls don't really care if you're a picky eater when you're this hot."
"Survival of the fittest?"
She puts a condescending hand on his shoulder, looks him up and down, shakes her head then sighs out a ‘you’re hopeless.’
Sirius pulls his head back in offense then starts fake coughing all over her when she walks past him. Marlene's skeleton and all vital organs abandon her as her fleshbag body runs through the restaurant with Sirius hot on her heels.
"Don't! I actually do have an immune system worse than a preemie NICU baby!"
Minnie solidifies out of thin air and grabs them both by the ears before a worker comes to kick them out.
Marls and Sirius drop into the booth next to each other rigid as a stoner next to a drug dog. Seriousness all but nonexistent by half a strawberry glazed donut dangling desperately from his mouth.
"Sirius, what are you guys doing?" Peter asks with a high eyebrow.
"Wuht?" He bites into the donut and catches the rest of it before it makes a sticky pink mess all over his jeans.
"Can't you two read a sign?"
That's when Marlene and Sirius turn over their shoulders – and butt each other's head on the way there – to look at the coloured signs basically lining the door frame. Eyes specifically snagging on a sign with a dog silhouette with a bright red block sign over it.
Sirius slowly turns his head back to Peter. Then he sees Minnie with a hard smile trying not to laugh. "Don't be racist." That's when the Italian waiter decides to show up at their table with the heaviest accent ever to ask if they have a problem. Peter and Mary squint at Dorcas utterly confused and she's supposed to translate for her two baby idiots.
"He means dogs are also a race." They blink at each other understanding but still gobsmacked at how stupid it sounds.
"Your sign is racist." Marls tells the waiter as he asks for their order. Sirius hisses and jumps to cover her mouth while they all stare between Marls n Marco wide-eyed. All except Dorcas of course. Who has had to live with this for years.
Cue heaven sent Dorcas Meadowes to the rescue. She and Minnie distract and order. Almost everyone moves around and under the booth to get to who they want to sit next to. Sirius ends up next to Mary which he later realises will be a big mistake because she asks if he wants to see a magic trick. Of course, he says yes. What else is there to say? It's Mary.
She pulls out a water bottle from her purse and pours it into an empty glass on the table. Then she takes her glass and pours the water into his. When she's done she moves her hand around the cup like it's going to make magic happen. Next thing he knows – he's drenched. Water splashed all over his face and soaked in the front of his shirt.
"That's going on the band's main insta account." Peter snickers already typing up a caption for their insta story.
Sirius' eyebrows shoot all the way up and he strains to keep his eyes near closed and blinks to make that funny face of 'what.’
Then Sirius' phone pings and he's tagged in the story of his own personal Percy Jackson showdown that he embarassingly, predictably, lost. With '#stayhydrated' after his username.
Sirius, then and there, pulls up one of his many many pictures of Pete sleeping in various acrobat level positions. Specifically that time he fell asleep in what was basically a king cobra pose, his foot caught in the cushions of the couch in the studio. He retaliates as is his birthright. In his following of this existential purpose, naturally, he posts it. Drool and all. And he tags Petey. Obviously.
Peter's lips purse like a squished sponge but he's already come to terms with the fact that there are tons of pictures of him like this on the internet and this won't be the last.
Lots of jokes, munch, munch, yum, yum, if you don't know how to make Italian food it's borderline tasteless, blah, blah, blah. They had fun.
They're leaving when Sirius, still munching on garlic bread, asks if they weren't supposed to catch a movie.
"Yeah, but are you grandmas still up for that?"
Marlene rubs her stomach like there's something in there. "I'm still nursing a food baby but if you want to, Minnie, we'll go with you."
"Well the movie's at 8. So," she checks her pocket watch, "an hour and a half. What do you want to do in the meantime?" Minnie fiddles with the keys through her thin fingers. Mary snatches them and dashes to the car.
"Thank you." She points the keys at Peter while holding the passenger door open for Minnie."Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
Petey's eyes light up and he runs to grab the keys from Mary and slide over the hood. "I'm driving!"
Mary looks at the pregnant food fetus carriers with her eyebrow cocked like a shotgun. "Get in or get an uber." Car doors slam with just Minnie, Peter and Mary in the jeep. Sirius trails after the girls to the car like he has nowhere to be. That's until the car starts reversing to drive off. Then it does. Slowly. Tauntingly. The back window over the tailgate opens and the jeep starts to pick up a bit.
Dorcas and Marlene sprint and launch themselves over the backdoor. Sirius almost doesn’t make it past the corner but does end up grabbing the support at the back end and swinging himself inside. He drops his head on the bed of the wrangler with a thump. Marlene's monologuing, on insta live with Mary's phone. "That, my dear friends, is what 5 years of jockdom looks like. Former athlete in the flesh. Emphasis on ‘former.’" Sirius glares at her through panted breaths, grabs the phone and flips the camera.
"You act as if I didn't hear you wheezing like you were choking up a hairball after Dori had to throw you into the jeep." He flips the camera back to his face with a low blush, "That's what 4 years of vicarious jockdom looks like." Mary leans over the backseat and scrambles his hair as a distraction to grab the phone from his clawing fingers. "Where are we going anyway?" He leans his head against the tailgate.
"Same place." Mary and Pete say in unison. It happens a lot. Childhood best friends and all that. They're also highschool friends with Alice and… that roommate they live with, who Sirius has never seen somehow.
"You little freshwater fish. Welcome to America. The arcades are in the cinema." Peter cranks up the radio and it's ‘paradise calling’ by Birdy.
They get there maybe half an hour later so they definitely killed some time. Between getting tickets and trying to figure out the arcade, then realising that you can’t just use money. You need a buy a card for the arcade and put money on it. When did everything get so complicated? They play, stand in line for popcorn and then drag Sirius and Marlene away from Dance Dance Evolution so they don't all miss the movie. There was never a dull moment.
The commercials finish rolling and then the movie kicks on. It feels really creepy at first with just a couple girls playing with dolls.
The movie ends and the lot of them are walking hand in hand out the cinema. Tears streaming down their faces and red noses. Dorcas is the first one to say anything since the credits rolled. She tilts her head almost totally confused like she almost can’t remember what happened only that she’s crying.
i feel like the movie was pretty obvious and i know they would all cry. marlene specifically. last update for the next three weeks cause exams and my life is not my own, alas BUT next chapter IS the wolfstar finally meet so yay
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