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Magicians Don't Need Superheros Pt48

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“Come in.” Mare’s voice said from behind the door Marvin knocked on. He had been shown where Mare's personal office was, and he agreed to talk to him to have Mad keep his word but also to work on his own little agenda. Mad had said Marvin needed to talk to Mare, but he never said what he had to talk about.

Marvin loved a loophole.

“Oh.” Mare’s surprised sound told Marvin he had been expecting someone else. Likely someone he lived with. Either he had forgotten Marvin was there or didn’t think he’d be coming to visit him like this.

“Mad sent me,” Marvin said as he stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. “Nice setup.” He commented, looking around the space. Mare seemed to have a mash-up in interests in magic and music.

There was a wall-sized shelf of ingredients Marvin could easily recognize as parts for potions, having seen some of those same plants in his books and the books he’d borrowed. Potions were more useful when it came to giving magical aid to those who had no abilities with it since it was much easier and often stronger to actually cast the spells oneself. Aside from the ingredients, there was also a collection of different kinds of instruments. A few guitars, a harmonica, a trumpet, a small drum set, and some other things Marvin didn’t know the names of.

“Did Mad need something?” Mare asked from the desk that was lifted up to the perfect height for him to stand and use the space comfortably. Marvin was tempted to look into getting a standing desk for himself now. It would probably be nice for his back not to always be hunched over while reading.

“He’s technically blackmailing me.” Marvin shrugged.

“Technically?” Mare sat his pencil down and turned toward Marvin, leaning back against the desk.

“One of those, do what he wants, and he’ll keep his mouth shut until given permission otherwise,” Marvin explained, heading over to the shelf of ingredients.

“I can see why it’s technically blackmail now.” Mare hummed. “So, what’s your part of the agreement?”

“To talk with you.”

“Talk to me about what?”

“Didn’t specify. Just said I had to talk to you today.”

“Loophole.”

“Yep.” Marvin popped the p.

“You’re lucky it’s not my brother you’re pulling that shit with, or he’d give you hell. Mad’s gonna pout, but he'll give you credit for paying attention and using your brain to avoid what I’m pretty sure is what he actually wants you to do.” Mare walked over to where Marvin was and picked up one of the jars, handing it to him. “This is poisoned oak root. Literally, an oak tree’s root that’s soaked in a viper’s venom. It adds a stiffening effect to the potion if it’s based in chaos magic, meaning it’s perfect for anything based in paralyzation.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Marvin asked, holding up the jar to look at the root from a different angle.

“Because you won’t have to lie about getting help with chaos magic. Mad told me that JJ’s been wanting you to talk to me about it as well, so there is some help. Now, what do you actually want to talk to me about? You’re not the kind to walk into something without some sort of plan in mind, regardless of how thought out it is.”

“I should give you more credit.” Marvin hummed, putting the jar back.

“You really should.” Mare agreed. “So. What do you want?” He added as he picked up his glass of water and took a drink.

“How come you haven’t made out with Mad yet?” The beyond-blunt question got Mare to choke and cover his face with his arm as he coughed.

“Fucking hell, Marvin.” Mare got out between his attempts to breathe.

“Well? Why haven’t you?” Marvin kept prodding as he went over to stand next to Mare.

“I’m not talking about this.” Mare scoffed, grabbing some tissues from the box on his desk and drying himself off the best he could.

“Listen, I told you I got my shit figured out, and having said shit figured out has made it a lot more annoying when others refuse to figure out their shit.”

“Can we stop calling it shit?”

“Alright, fine, I’ll be even more blunt. Making out with Jackie solved many of my problems on that front, and I think you doing the same with Mad will help you.” Marvin placed one hand on his hip and the other on the desk, getting nice and comfortable.

“Your denial is not the same thing as…” Mare just grunted and turned away.

“As what? If you’re not in denial, then what’s stopping you? Mad said he can read affection from you, but it’s confused affection. What are you confused about? You either like him or you don’t.” Marvin could see how each question was getting Mare to look more and more irritated, but it was hard to tell who he was irritated with.

“It’s complicated.” Mare sighed, rubbing his forehead. “And before you open your mouth again, let me explain because I know damn well you’re not going to leave me alone until I do, and I am already tired.”

“Okay.” Marvin grabbed the desk chair that wasn’t being used, sat down, crossed his legs, and made a motion with his hand of ‘zipping his lips’.

“That seal won’t last long.” Mare tucked his hands into his pocket and slowly began walking around the room. “Remember when you messed up playing with chaos magic? The black fingers? How I came and checked on you and made sure you weren’t going to lose any emotions?” A glance over his shoulder showed Marvin nodding in confirmation. “Already lasting longer than I thought.” He muttered to himself, going to one of his guitars. “Well, I know from personal experience about what distorted chaos magic can do. How it can take everything away.” Mare took the guitar off the wall and laid it gently across the table. “After Blank arrived and started seeing me as a parental figure, I got…worried.” He stepped over to the small cabinet next to the table and opened the doors, pulling out a few bottles and a rag.

“Worried about what?” Marvin broke his silence when Mare didn’t say anything for a good moment as he went back to the table and started cleaning and polishing his guitar.

“The world’s a dangerous, messed up place sometimes.” Mare didn’t look away from his instrument. “For more reasons than we probably know. I had and still have plenty of faith in Phantom taking care of himself, yet I can’t help myself from being sure he’s fine, and when Blank moved in, seeing him as a literal child, I was scared I wasn’t strong enough to keep both of them safe.” Mare’s movements started getting faster. More frantic. “So I started training. And training and training and training and practicing things I knew was beyond my current abilities, but wanted to get better and stronger and as soon as possible because I never knew when a day would come when I would need to protect my family.” He suddenly stopped and sighed, letting his hands rest flat on the table. “And it came back to bite me in the ass. I thought I was fine since I didn’t feel any effects, but I kept pushing and pushing, and then one day I woke up and was numb.” Mare grimaced at the memory. “You never realize how many things you can feel in a moment until it’s all gone. Pain doesn’t even process the same. No fear, no sorrow. I burnt my hand and just stared at it as my skin turned red, and it wasn’t until Phantom was freaking out and putting my hand under cold water that I realized something was wrong, and even then, I felt nothing, just numbly allowing myself to be moved and taken care of.”

“What does all of that have to do with not being with Mad?” Marvin asked while Mare put his guitar back on the wall and picked a different one to put on the table.

“When that happened, it was a few months after Mad arrived.” Mare was now cleaning and polishing the new guitar.

“So that means this happened less than a year ago.”

“Yes. It hasn’t been that long.”

“So, how did you come back? Did Phantom fix you like you fixed me?”

“No. I was too far gone for Phantom to help. He also heals the outside better than the inside: cuts, bruises, broken bones, stuff like that. Mad had asked Phantom to speed up the healing of Jackie’s arm, but he said Jackie would have to heal on his own and ‘learn his lesson’. He also knows Jackie heals very fast naturally and wouldn’t be struggling for long, plus Edward and Henrik wanted to make notes and blah, blah, blah.” Mare plucked at the strings and made a face before twisting the knobs at the top.

“So if Phantom didn’t do it…did Mad?” Marvin was now sideways in the chair, elbow up on the back of it.

“He did. He sat me down and brought me back with powers he’s still learning how to use to this day. He was able to untangle the distorted chaos magic just enough to find my emotions and bring them back out. I can’t remember most of the process itself. My memory blanks right after Mad started working. All I know is that after Mad was done, Phantom said his eyes turned black, and he threw up. I do remember him being a zombie himself the next day. Thankfully, it was more from exhaustion, and he didn’t damage his own emotions.”

“Okay, but again, what does that have to do with-”

“What if I’m wrong?” Mare cut off the repeated question. “What if these emotions I’m having are a result of that? A forged connection that will fade with time as I fully heal. I can’t risk hurting Mad because I still haven’t figured out if my emotions are fully my own or still damaged from the distorted chaos magic and relying on what Mad had done. Is it real affection or just being pulled to the source? It hasn’t been that long, but I can’t…I can’t hurt him, Marvin.”

“You’re gaslighting yourself.”

“Now is not the time for jokes.”

“I’m serious.” Marvin stood up and walked to Mare. “You are literally gaslighting yourself. You have convinced yourself that your reality isn’t real, that your emotions are lies, and talked yourself into countless circles of denying yourself something that could make you happy, and you know it would make Mad happy as well.”

“I’m not doing any of that. I just don’t-don’t look at me like that. You look like Phantom when he’s about to say, ‘I told you so’.” Mare waved a hand in front of Marvin’s face.

“Well, I won’t be using that phrase.” Marvin lowered Mare’s hand. “Trust me on this. You don’t have to go out there and kiss him right now, but at least think about it. Really think about it. Is it distorted chaos magic, or are you just scared? You’ve known Mad longer than I’ve known Jackie, and the first time I met him, I pushed him off a roof, and now I have plans to go home and use him as a pillow for a nap. I’m pretty sure it’s going to be even better for you two.”

“It’s more complicated than that.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Complicated this and complicated that. Just think about it, okay? Just sit and think. Be honest with yourself. Be honest with Mad.” Marvin paused when his phone buzzed, seeing a text from Jackie asking if he wanted to go watch a movie tonight. “I’m going to head out. I have to see you at least one more time to get JJ off my back, and maybe we’ll be planning a double date or something gross and cheesy like that.”

“Marvin.” Mare sighed.

“You know I’m right,” Were Marvin’s final words before leaving the office and then the house.

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