marlon x reader - “baby?”
warnings: secret relationship soft-launch energy, accidental pet name on live stream, secondhand embarrassment, nervous laughing and visible flustering, chat going feral with spamming and clipping, irl stream setting!
—
the internet has already been suspicious for weeks.
every stream was just:
“just announce it.”
“we’re not stupid.”
“hard launch when?”
so tonight is supposed to be safe. harmless. you, marlon, and rocket getting ice cream on stream. normal friend content. nothing confirmable.
rocket walks backward with the camera. “chat behave. this is a wholesome stream.”
“they don’t know how,” you say.
marlon just smiles, hands in his hoodie pocket, trying to act natural. there’s a careful distance between you both. not too close. not too far. deliberate.
inside the ice cream shop, you step up to the counter. “okay wait… why does birthday cake look kinda good?”
“birthday cake? that’s not a bad shout,” marlon says, grinning at you instead of the camera for half a second too long.
the worker asks what you want.
you hesitate. “hmmm, i don’t know.”
you glance at him without thinking.
and he suddenly forgets he’s live or just is stupid.
“get whatever you want, baby.”
it slips out soft. automatic. natural.
the kind of tone he uses when it’s just you two.
he freezes. just for half a second.
like his brain finally catches up with his mouth.
rocket lets out a quiet, shocked laugh behind the camera.
chat absolutely detonates.
BABY????
HELLO???
NO WAY
CLIP IT
marlon blinks once.
then he forces a smile.
“anyway,” he says quickly, clapping his hands together once like he’s resetting the universe. “chat what flavor are we thinking?”
he’s convincing himself they didn’t hear it.
maybe the music in the shop covered it.
maybe the mic cut.
maybe—
you don’t react.
not even slightly.
you just nod like nothing happened. “okay. cookies and cream.”
you turn immediately to the toppings. “oh wait, do you have brownie pieces?”
rocket is still quietly laughing to himself, trying to angle the camera toward the menu instead of marlon’s face.
marlon is smiling too much.
too stiff.
he pays, grabs his ice cream, and walks outside like everything is fine.
it is not fine.
you sit at one of the metal tables. space between you. intentional.
“rate it,” you say casually, taking a bite.
“uh, yeah. it’s good. like an eight.”
normal voice. normal tone.
he pulls out his phone.
big mistake.
the second he opens chat, his expression changes.
it’s just:
BABY???
WE HEARD THAT
BRO HARD LAUNCHED
?????
and then the jokes start.
“ur the tuffest marlon.”
“rocket officiating the wedding.”
“mf acting like we didn’t hear him say baby.”
he lets out a nervous laugh.
low at first.
just under his breath.
“they’re so stupid,” he mutters.
the chats just keep coming in.
it gets worse.
“marlon actually a dumbass sob”
“that was NOT friendly.”
“ain’t no way.”
his laugh gets louder.
not confident — just overwhelmed.
the kind of laugh you do when you don’t know what else to do.
rocket is fully grinning behind the camera now. “chat is wild tonight.”
“they’re actually dumb,” marlon says, still laughing. “y’all just hear things.”
everyone heard it.
rocket heard it.
you definitely heard it.
chat absolutely heard it.
and probably clipped it already.
but you keep your eyes on your ice cream like you’re in your own world.
“this is actually good,” you say casually. “you should’ve gotten this flavor.”
you don’t look at him, you don’t acknowledge the word, you don’t even tease.
because the second you react, it confirms it.
and you know that.
so you just keep talking.
about flavors. about how cold it is. about where to go next.
marlon slowly locks his phone and shoves it back into his pocket, still smiling in disbelief.
“anyway,” he says, trying to reset again. “after this we might go to the arcade or something.”
“arcade sounds fun,” you reply easily.
chat is still spamming.
still joking.
still very aware there’s something going on between you and marlon.
but since neither of you address it, there’s nothing concrete to clip besides a single word and a nervous laugh.
and marlon keeps telling himself maybe they’ll forget about it.
chat wont.
—
sorry the request said to include reactions but i honestly dont know how that would go.