[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/JoQbD1e.png[/img][hr][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/sAprCqf.gif?1[/img][img]https://i.imgur.com/RBU3add.gif[/img]
[color=slategray][sub]A [@Silent Observer] & [@Smarty0114] Collab
Featuring: [color=997fdb][b]Marshall “I think I might have a boyfriend” Radley[/b][/color] & [color=eadcee][b]Martelle “Only put out if it’s a yes” Radley[/b][/color]
Setting: Wednesday morning before school at the Radley residence[/sub][/color]
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[indent][indent]There wasn’t much that Marshall could remember about how he got home last night, which would explain why he was currently sleeping on top of his comforter, still wearing the same clothes that he had worn to the party. Day drinking from before noon onward into the night, and then polishing it off with casual drug use might have been the recipe for a good time, but it lead to a bad morning. A very bad morning. Marshall flinched when his phone started chiming his alarm at the usual time to wake up for school — when it wasn’t a late start day.

With a groan, Marsh reached out to the pillow at his right and slapped around to silence the evil device. He then rolled onto his back with his phone in hand, and groaned again. It felt like there was a whole pile of sandbags placed directly on his head, mercilessly pinning him down against the mattress. [color=997fdb][b]“I’m dying… dying…”[/b][/color]  Marsh said quietly to himself, his throat was desert dry but he didn’t feel like he had the strength to get up for a glass of water, so this was probably the end for Marshall Radley. Rest in peace.

Marshall was usually a rather chipper morning person, but today was an exception. He vaguely remembered that it was a late start day at school, so he didn’t feel too guilty when he rolled over and proceeded to check his phone in bed. With a yawn, he opened Snapchat, which had a surprisingly high number of notifications. The majority of them were from Kit, so he opened them first. The first snap was a normal looking selfie of Kit, and then they progressively travelled through a journey of her getting her hair cut to chin length by her mother, at least Marshall assumed it was her mother, and then she proceeded to dye it purple with a dark blue streak. A few of the videos had music, and Kit loudly singing along to said music, which made Marshall wince. Ugh, loud noises were too much, but he still replied to his friend in his usual cheerful manner.

[quote]To: [color=7fc19e][b]KitKat[/b][/color]
[color=997fdb][b]OMG!
It looks so great, sweetie!
I love it!!! 😍😍😍
Purple is my fave
also...
I’m never accepting candy from you again
I think I may not be able to leave my bed, like, ever[/b][/color][/quote]

After sending the response, Marshall collapsed his throbbing head back against the pillow and sighed. In a moment of weakness, he wiggled his still-clothed body underneath the blankets and let his eyelids flutter closed. Just… five more minutes. That’s all he needed, five more minutes, and he’d feel as right as rain.

Unlike her brother, Marty had been up for ages. She was a morning person at heart, and during the week she liked to wake up a little early to go for a run, and make herself a decent breakfast. On this particular morning, she was coming back from her run around the neighborhood to find a package at the door, wrapped up in colorful paper, with the phrase, “Happy Birthday” littered across. Slowing her pace to a walk as she came up the driveway, Marty bent over and picked up the package, intrigued. [color=eadcee][i]Must be for Marsh…[/i][/color]

Marty took the package inside, bounded up the stairs and threw Marshall’s door open. [color=eadcee][b]“Marshy! Someone lef—Oh. You look like shit,”[/b][/color] Marty said, looking over at her brother as if he was in a hospital bed hooked up to a million monitors, and not just a hungover boy in uncomfortable clothes. [color=eadcee][b]“I take it the party went well?”[/b][/color] she inquired, her way of asking for every detail, without seeming like she cared. Nonchalance was an art form that Marty had mastered years ago.

He had startled awake again when the door to his bedroom swung open and his sister bounded in. Without speaking, he had snuggled further into his blankets as if to say that nothing could get him to get out of this bed. Nothing in the world. At her statement, he offered a weak response. [color=997fdb][b]“Thanks, sis. I feel like I look like shit, too.”[/b][/color] Marsh peeped one eye open to squint at her. Did the party go well? He hadn’t really thought much about the party. He… he couldn’t remember much about it, to be honest. Slowly, flashes of the night came into view. Dancing with Trixie… ending up in the ocean… Jamie kissing him…

[color=997fdb][b]“OH MY GOD!”[/b][/color] Marshall sat straight up out of bed, causing his head to pound and swim with dizziness. Despite the uncomfortable hangover symptoms, Marsh wore a stupid grin as he hugged a light gray throw pillow close to his chest. He looked at Marty, both eyes fully open now. [color=997fdb][b]“I think I might have a boyfriend now, Marty!”[/b][/color]

Marty let out a hearty laugh at that one. Wow, he really didn’t remember much. [color=eadcee][b]“I know, I think everyone at school has seen you two eating each other’s faces already,”[/b][/color] Marty said, pulling her phone out and opening up Snapchat, to find a video on one of her friends stories of Marshall and Jamie going at it by the stairs, captioned, “Finally 🙄”. She brought the phone over to Marshall, and let him watch, smirking. 

[color=997fdb][b]“WHAT?!”[/b][/color] Marshall exclaimed with wide, but still sleepy, eyes. [color=997fdb][b]“Show me!”[/b][/color] He said and held out his hand expectantly for the phone. Marshall let the video loop three times, his smile growing increasingly wide each time. So it really happened then, he could see the physical evidence right there in front of him. It wasn’t just a dream. [color=997fdb][b]“Who took this? I wanna save it.”[/b][/color] Marsh retrieved his own phone and tried to find if he had that person in his own Snapchat friends list.

[color=eadcee][b]“Jamie’s an upgrade from good ol’ Toby, I’ll give you that one. He was a weirdo,”[/b][/color] Marty said, recalling Marshall’s last boyfriend. [color=eadcee][b]“He figured the AJ stuff out right? Cause last I heard, they were the ones making out in front of the entire school,”[/b][/color] Marty said. She didn’t mean to burst her brother’s bubble, honestly. She just didn’t want him getting hurt, and sometimes that meant making him look through a different colored lens.

His smile fell away immediately. One minute he was grinning stupidly at a phone screen, not even registering what his sister was saying, and the next he was feeling a familiar pain in his chest. Sadness. Anger. He felt both as he recalled the AJ situation that had lead to his lapse in judgement and day drinking yesterday. [color=997fdb][b]“Uhm… I don’t know. I hope so… I don’t know.”[/b][/color] He stammered, looking suddenly and particularly melancholic.

Oof. This was not the lens she’d wanted. Marty winced at her brother’s sudden change in emotion, before launching into reassuring sister mode. [color=eadcee][b]“Look, clearly you’re the one, based on that kiss. I mean, I don’t even make out with Evan like that!”[/b][/color] Marty said, doing her best to patch the hole she’d just blasted in her brother’s confidence.  [color=eadcee][b]“Hey look, someone left this for you,”[/b][/color] Marty said, handing him the present she’d found on the doorstep, a flimsy effort to change the topic.

Marshall nodded at her words, hugging the pillow tighter to his chest. Yeah, she was right. That kiss was more than just a kiss. It meant something. And they’d talked too, they had nice talks. He remembered that now. There’d be plenty of time to clear things up later today, about AJ and the kiss and what their… status was. No need to panic yet, probably. [color=997fdb][b]“Hmm?”[/b][/color] Marshall was pulled from his thoughts as his attention was directed to the package. [color=997fdb][b]“A birthday gift, already?”[/b][/color] He asked in confusion, which was quickly replaced with excitement. Marsh adored receiving presents. 

[color=997fdb][b]“Who’s it from?”[/b][/color] He asked, but before waiting for a response, he started to open it. The wrapping was nice, it almost seemed like it was professionally done. Maybe it was. Once all of the wrapping paper was torn away, he popped open the tape sealing the box shut. Nestled inside was a leatherbound photo album. Curiously, he took it out and opened to the first page. 

Marshall Radley’s heart fell through the floorboards in that moment.

It was from Owen. Because his sister was right there, Marshall tried his hardest not to burst into tears. Through the pages, he traveled through the photographic journey that was his and Owen’s nearly five year long friendship thus far. Marshall stayed eerily silent as he flipped through the laminated pages, until he reached one that didn’t have any pictures, and the following ones were blank. There was a simple note stuck to the page that said “For the next 5 years” along with a pair of tickets taped beside it. The tickets were for an upcoming performance of [i]Phantom of the Opera[/i] in San Francisco.

Marsh stood up quickly, dropping the album down on the bed as if it had just burned him. [color=997fdb][b]“I’m… I’ve gotta shower. I’ll come downstairs in a bit.”[/b][/color] He said quickly, his voice cracking with emotion, before he headed into the bathroom connected to his bedroom.

Marty, somewhat confused, picked up the photo album and flipped through the pages, a look of realization dawning on her face. Now Marsh’s reaction made a bit more sense. Marty didn’t love how Marsh had handled the whole Owen thing, but after Damian’s party she hadn’t been thrilled with Owen either. Fucking with her brother was a capital crime in her world. That said, this was a damn good apology. She shut the book and put it back on Marsh’s bed, before heading out, back to her own room, knowing full well that this wasn’t something she could fix. Marshall would have to do that himself.

A great thing about showers is, the water hides your tears. Marshall was upset. He didn’t cry for a long time, but he did cry. When he really thought long and hard about it, he found what hurt the most about the whole situation. He felt guilty. He needed to fix things with Owen. He had started to realize his guilt yesterday morning when Owen gave him the box of tea, and now he was full blown swimming in a full ocean of guilt. He would make things right with Owen, today, at school.

Marshall stepped out of the shower, feeling refreshed and confident in his plan for the day. He wasn’t going to wallow in this, he’d push through the hangover and the guilt and focus on the good things. Because now there were some very good things to focus on, some blue-eyed, blond-haired good things. Smiling once again, he got dressed for the day — choosing a dark purple cashmere sweater paired with a white, purple, and light gray plaid scarf and some dark wash jeans. He packed the photo album into a bag to bring to school with him and then headed downstairs to see his sister again. [color=997fdb][b]“How was your night?”[/b][/color] He asked, as if the previous scene in his bedroom didn’t just occur.

Marty looked up from her laptop, where she was working away at her zine, a bowl of Lucky Charms next to her, and shrugged. [color=eadcee][b]“Hardly as eventful as yours. Me and Evan watched a movie at his house. Same old, same old,”[/b][/color] Marty said, glad to see her brother seemed a bit happier than he had earlier. [color=eadcee][b]“Hey, where’s your car? It’s not in the driveway,”[/b][/color] Marty asked, her eyes back on her computer.

Marsh smiled as his sister described the ‘same old, same old’ night she had. It sounded like a lovely night to him. When she inquired about the car, he looked out the front bay window for confirmation. [color=997fdb][b]“What?”[/b][/color] Marsh asked rhetorically and then looked back at Marty. [color=997fdb][b]“Oh, yeah, I guess I kinda left it at school when I… played hooky with Trixie. Shh, don’t don’t tell mom.”[/b][/color] He whispered and put his finger to his lips with a smirk. [color=997fdb][b]“Well… dang, this sucks.”[/b][/color]

The elder Radley smiled, and shook her head. [color=eadcee][b]“You could always ask [i]Jaaaaaaamie[/i] for a ride,”[/b][/color] Marty teased. [color=eadcee][b]“I’d say you could ride with me and Evan, but I wouldn’t subject you to that,”[/b][/color] Marty said, smirking as she clicked and dragged. [color=eadcee][b]“Plus, asking for a ride is like peak flirting. It’s how you test their loyalty y’know? Will he pick you up in your moment of need? Only put out if it’s a yes,”[/b][/color] Marty said, laughing at her own words of wisdom.

Marshall laughed as well and rolled his eyes dramatically. [color=997fdb][b]“Such sagely advice, sister dearest.”[/b][/color] Despite the apparent sarcasm in his words, he considered the advice. It wasn’t bad, it was actually really good. Marshall retrieved his phone from his pocket and hammered out a quick text to Jamie to ask for a ride. He poured a bowl of cereal for himself and sat down across from Marty. Just as he spooned a mouthful of cereal, his phone buzzed with a response. Marshall quickly snatched it up and the corners of his mouth turned up. He pulled the spoon out of his mouth and held it up triumphantly and swallowed before speaking. [color=997fdb][b]“Well, it’s a yes.”[/b][/color][/indent][/indent]