ksjdndbhsjshdhs i hope u don’t mind that im answering this on my mk blog instead but @tiptapricot you . you got my mind spinning . and pardon my brevity here- but during that little period of time tip? i think... marc fell in love with layla all over again. i hope to maybe go into more of a story/scene rewrite of this but for now- for now have some of my own soft marclayla hc’s yeah?
i think the moment she popped into his vision with that smile that could freeze time and melt the fuckin ice caps sipping her lil drink, he was done for. He knew it was coming, knew it from the moment he saw her wandering Steven’s flat, her curls ever as wild and unruly as the heart that beat so fiercely in her chest, when she looked at Not-Gus and through him he knew that there was never any hope for him. He loved her all the way, entirely. In the way that suddenly had him . wishing he knew stupid shit like poetry. the way all she had to do was look at him and he felt.. whole. better.
so after they met up in cairo, i think Marc was re-learning how to breathe with her so close to him- she who could be so free with her touch and her light and her smile- he’d seen it before, had known the intricate steps of they way Layla El Faouly lived and breathed and moved and existed for just enough time for him to never forget it, he cherished her so deeply. [i think marc strikes me as the sort of person who recognises how good someone is because he’s . seen some of the worst of the worst. and when he comes across a soul that shines as bright as Layla’s?? well, i think he works to memorise everything he can, to keep close to his heart forever, because he knows - he knows there will be a time where he will be without it .]
relearning how to coexist is like ice cold condensation on the outside of a glass on a sunny day- refreshing and delightful and he keeps catching himself staring at her when she’s not looking, keeps getting distracted because he’ll be looking at her and trying to listen to the things she’s saying but the only thought in his brain is about how she’s beautiful and how her eyes shine like buried gold and sometimes when she turns around really quickly her hair will smack him in the face and he swears he recognises the sort of floral scent of her shampoo-
and i think steven comments on thoughts like that that slip through, chuckling and pointing out nice things marc could say when marc’s tongue feels a lil too thick to come up with words or when she asks him easy questions like ‘left or right’ or if she’d been listening to a word she’s said. (’Nod and repeat the last thing she said, mate-’) (he’d been thinking about the way she’d put her hand on his shoulder to stand up earlier-) (if he took his shirt off and saw the mark of her handprint seared into his skin is it weird he thinks he might be grateful?-) (Marc. Focus.)
i think if at any point the suggestion of splitting up happens marc is quick to find cause to work together, even if it’s kind of a reach or a stretch bc once he’s around her again it’s like. how could he have lived without?
this got a bit longer than i meant but TLDR: i think marc spent the whole time just as starry-eyed for Layla as he was on the boat and i dont think he could bear to split up with her- and i think steven was constantly slapping his hand over his eyes bc how is it he feels more well-equipped to flirt with Marc’s wife than marc is..