#mabel x theo fanfiction

[crescentcampbell]

The Roommate

Summary: Theo Dimas has sins to atone for. Maybe letting Mabel move in can help him do that just a little.

Theo Dimas wasn’t sure what prompted him to ask Mabel to move in. Mabel was part of his past. Zoe’s death, the thing that had haunted his nightmares for so long. He’d avoided her. When she moved into The Arconia again, he used to wake up in the middle of the night, sweating. When was she going to tell the truth? When would she ruin his whole life? Then, the truth was found out, and in a weird way…his life wasn’t ruined.

Because when Mabel came, his dad went away. The minute Teddy Dimas was gone, it was like Theo could breathe again. His secrets were no longer hidden. Which was why, when he found Mabel crying outside of The Arconia, he couldn’t help but stop and ask her what was going on. Mabel had freed him from his darkness. The least he could do was help her in whatever way he could.

In a shuddering breath, she told him, “I can’t find an apartment. It’s too expensive, and the only way I could afford to stay is if I sell out to Cinda Canning…I don’t know how I’m going to tell Oliver and Charles.”

Theo made a face. You can’t do that, he signed to her.

Mabel nodded and wiped her tears away. “I know I can’t. But how else can I afford to live in the city? I’ll have to go back home…”

He owed Mabel Mora everything. The least he could let her do was stay at his place, rent free, and maybe atone for his sins a little. If such a thing was possible for someone like him. Stay with me.

Mabel squinted at his hands, as if she wasn’t sure she had understood him. “Theo…. I can’t stay with you. Wouldn’t that be too weird?”

Theo shook his head. Only if you make it weird, he signed, I’ll even help you pack your stuff.

Mabel laughed. “You don’t have to do that.”

He insisted.

It took them one day to move her in, and less time to help her pack. It was the easiest choice Theo had ever made in his life.

[phantomstatistician]

Fandom: Only Murders in the Building

Sample Size: 104 stories

Source: AO3

[caffeine-in-an-iv]

The scream I scrumpt when Mabel said she was crashing with Theo

(Friendly reminder that Theo lives in a studio and there is only one bed👀)

[anxiouspotatorants]

Since there is exactly one (1) Mabel x Theo fic on AO3 as of the creation of this post, I just want to throw out some fic ideas for others to take freely (and hell, maybe I’ll make something out of these myself too):

Childhood interactions: you can do a lot here, like Mabel making a mystery about Theo or Theo finding Mabel’s sketchbook when she loses it or just cute little meetups that they’ll look back on as adults

Hardy Boys: I mean you could do angsty Theo wishing he could join the pack? Mabel doing another mystery about Theo and the others teasing her about it? AU where Theo is actually a Hardy Boy and a cute slowburn romance?

New Years party: unknown New Years party where they give each other a quick New Years peck that they both think about years later. This is free real estate people, there is so much you can do with these two and New Years parties

Coffee shop AU but instead Mabel has a studio right over Theo’s funeral home

Arthur Conan Doyle-style detective AU: Mabel is part of a detective agency in the late 1800s and is investigating the murder of her childhood friend all the while getting suspiciously close to a certain undertaker

Soulmate AU: You can do so much here. Soulmate tattoos with Theo’s being one in Mabel’s artstyle. Quote AU where Mabel has no idea Theo is her soulmate for ages because his first words to her are in sign language and Theo has no idea because Mabel is a mumbler. The black-and-white to colour thingy but neither knows because they spotted each other during a black out or alarm that set them in the same room as every other tenant at the Arconia, so they both treat the soulmate search like an investigation

Heist AU: Theo is a master jewel thief following in his father’s footsteps and Mabel is a museum guide with a detective streak who happens to be on duty for a touring collection that just arrived

[crescentcampbell]

Just a Little Cheesy

Summary: Mabel moves in with Theo and enjoys perks like grilled cheese sandwiches and kissing in the kitchen.

A/N: I'm not sure what I think about this, but now I've gotten obsessed with Mabel and Theo being roommates and I can't let it go.

Everyone seemed to be happy. Oliver was happy with Loretta. Charles was happy with his show. And Mabel…

Mabel didn’t know what she was anymore. It was strange to think that she was happiest whenever her life was dealing with death and chaos and murder. After all, that was what kept the podcast going, wasn’t it?

It touched every part of her life. Every time she dated someone, there was always the chance they were the killer…and that, Mabel realized, was growing wearisome. She wanted someone she could trust. But it was hard when she was in the business of distrusting people.

But then…Theo happened. Like most things Theo did, when he offered to let her move in, it was so softly asked even in his gestures that she almost wouldn’t have noticed it. She didn’t want to impose or make Theo think of all of the bad things they’d gone through. “Are you sure you can handle it?” she asked him.

Theo only smiled. “Move in day is tomorrow,” he signed to her.

She was aware of every move she made because of the silence her first week at his apartment. The slamming of a door, the creaking of floorboards…

But there was something comforting about it. She was aware she was alive. Something that had been very hard to do since her teen years, since losing Zoe, Oscar, and Tim all in different ways. Before Oliver and Charles, it had felt like she’d been invisible almost.

Or maybe even dead herself.

Or at least half-way there.

Most people, Mabel suspected, would have been unnerved by the silence. But the silence comforted Mabel. It meant she was safe. Protected. Something she hadn’t been in a very, very long time.

Mabel had someone waiting for her to come home. And that was a novelty. Mabel had thought that maybe because of all of the death surrounding her, she was destined to be alone. But Charles and Oliver had proved that theory wrong.

But Oliver had moved on with Loretta. And Charles was busy with the show. They were still working on the podcast, but it wasn’t like how it had been before. They had their own things. And Mabel…

What did Mabel have, exactly?

The podcast, yes, but there was still something missing that she couldn’t quite put her finger on.

One night, when she was up late editing, she looked up at the sound of a plate being put in front of her. Theo smiled at her, and signed, “You haven’t eaten all day.”

Mabel smiled at him. “Thanks. You didn’t have to…”

He waved it off, and went to go to the living room. Usually, he watched it just with the sound off, and the captions on. But the sound was on, and Mabel had taken that as an invitation to come join him.

She realized there was a crick in her neck. Her body was sore from sitting in the chair. She stretched, then glanced at the meal Theo had made for her. A simple, grilled cheese sandwich with a soda. Mabel shut down her computer then took the meal over to the couch where Theo was sitting.

They settled in, and watched an old re-run of Cold Case. Mabel ate the grilled cheese sandwich and coke, and maybe because it had been made by someone with love, but something about that meal was the best one she had had in a long time.

“Good?” Theo signed when she finished.

“Very good,” she signed back with a smile, “Thanks.”

He blushed a little, and Mabel found herself using his shoulder as a pillow. She didn’t even make it through the whole episode before she fell asleep. When was the last time she had fallen asleep on someone’s shoulder? She didn’t know. What she did know was, that Theo Dimas made the best grilled cheese she had had in a long time, he let her move in without hesitation, and didn’t find it at all weird that her hobbies were murder and her two best friends were two old men.

In the morning, Mabel woke up, with the intention of telling Theo…well, she didn’t know what she was going to tell Theo. But Theo wasn’t on the couch when she woke up. Instead, Mabel found a pillow under her head, and a blanket wrapped around her. Smiling to herself, she got up from the couch and went to look for him.

He was in the kitchen, cooking pancakes and eggs. There was already a cup of fresh coffee waiting for her next to his. She smiled, and came up behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist and resting her head on his shoulder.

He jumped a little, but smiled when he turned to see her. He put the stove on low then turned around to look at her. “Sleep okay?” he signed.

Mabel nodded. “Yeah.” She studied him for a moment. When she had known him as a teenager, she’d been too wrapped up in Tim, while having a crush on Oscar at the same time, to give Theo a second glance. Their interactions had been minimal at best. The Arconia was a world of money and privilege that knew insiders from outsiders. Mabel had always felt a little bit like an outsider, even with her friends.

Theo, who had lived there, had sensed that about her, she thought. She remembered as a kid she’d sit out front reading and sometimes, he would be out there too. They wouldn’t say anything, but they’d sit in a comfortable, unacknowledged silence. Sometimes, she would smile at him in the elevator. She should have included him more. If only the others hadn’t been so afraid of Mr. Dimas, maybe they would have…

“Something wrong?” Theo signed when she didn’t say anything for a moment.

Mabel shook her head. “I should have noticed you sooner.”

He smiled softly at her. “Are you noticing me now?” he responded with his hands.

“Yeah, I definitely am,” Mabel told him. She reached up and ran hand through his hair. Theo grabbed hold of her wrist, and locked eyes with her. This was it, Mabel thought, this is what I’ve been waiting for.

He kissed her then, and Mabel kissed him back. Like they were in some, cheesy, roommates-to-lovers-romcom. And Mabel didn’t mind that one bit for a change. With Theo, she could handle cheesy.