Chapter Text
Mendel adjusted the picture frame on the wall, slightly perturbed at the way it never really looked straight. He glanced anxiously at the door at the end of the hallway. Whizzer had been sleeping in their spare room for five nights now.
It was no issue, really. He didn’t eat their food, wasn’t loud at night, hell, if Mendel hadn’t seen his bike parked outside every morning as he left for work he wouldn’t know Whizzer was there.
But that was the problem. Whizzer seemingly hadn’t left the spare room in five days. It wasn’t healthy. And Mendel, for all the (mostly warranted) anger he held for Marvin’s affair partner, could not in good consciousness allow him to rot in his own sorrows. Years of psychiatric work could not dull his empathy for people in his orbit.
The short man slinked down the hall, knocking loudly and cringing slightly as the echo resonated through the hallway. He paused, waiting as he listened to shuffled footsteps in the room. The door swung open, revealing Whizzer still dressed in the clothes he had arrived in. Heavy bags sat below his eyes, and his face looked thin. He seemed so far displaced from his typical grandiose persona that Mendel was slightly caught off guard.
”Hey, man!” Mendel quipped, watching as Whizzer tried to avoid his gaze. “I was just checking in. Everything hotsy-totsy?”
Whizzer huffed out a bitter laugh, adjusting the jacket around his arms, tugging the sleeves downward. “I wouldn’t say that, but I’m still kicking.” Whizzer subtly peeked around Mendel, searching the hallway for any sign of Trina or Jason. “Sorry, are you here to ask me to leave? I can get going whenever. I was meaning to, I just…” He trailed off, waving his hand towards the room, “The bed is warm.”
Mendel smiled. Whizzer’s uncharacteristic discomfort was, as horrible as it was to admit, somewhat of an ego boost. “Nah, nothing like that. It’s just,” Mendel laughed awkwardly, shifting his weight between his feet, “you haven’t really left the room at all. You haven’t talked to me, you haven’t talked to Trina. Hell, I’m pretty sure Jason doesn’t even know you’re here. We’re just… worried.” Mendel chose his words carefully, treading around the questions he was itching to ask.
Whizzer’s face flickered with a pained expression before he schooled it back to his apathetic smile. “Always the psychiatrist, huh?” Mendel laughed and nodded. Whizzer sighed, tugging on his shirt. “I’m alright, I think. I’m just tired.”
Mendel raised an eyebrow, prodding for more information. Whizzer averted his gaze. Sighing, Mendel inched slightly closer to Whizzer.
“Do you feel like talking about it? I’ve got a fancy piece of paper saying I’m a pretty good listener.”
Whizzer smiled genuinely, the creases near his eyes tightening in the act. “I don’t know, there isn’t much to say. Marvin and I are done, that’s for certain, and I just need to figure out what I’m doing now.”
Mendel’s jaw fell as his thoughts caught up. “Wait, you two are done-done? Moses, we thought you were just fighting. Wow, that’s— I’m sorry, man.”
Whizzer let a burst of laughter slip. “Don’t be sorry. I finally got the push I needed to get out. God, I don’t know how we ever got so bad.” Mendel noticed tears bubbling up in Whizzer’s eyes as the man spun around, sitting on the bed and burying his head in his hands. Mendel trailed after him, situating himself at the other end of the bed.
Whizzer huffed out a sardonic laugh. “Is it crazy to say I really thought he could love me?”
Mendel shrugged. “Maybe. But love makes people do crazy things. You cannot blame yourself for his behavior, only accept your own shortcomings and try to become a better you.”
”I don’t blame myself.” Mendel held his ground as Whizzer snapped before shrinking back. “Sorry. It’s just— he expected me to do everything for him. Make dinner. Clean. Screw every damn day before he left for work.” Mendel choked on a laugh and coughed loudly. Whizzer paused, raising a hand and hovering it over Mendel’s back, not quite making contact but staying close enough to slap him on the back if necessary. He continued only after Mendel began breathing normally and gave him a thumbs up. “I’m sure he only divorced Trina to be with me. But I never asked for that.”
”He acted like he was a saint for tolerating me. But his expectations were sky-high. I never wanted to play house with him. With Jason. With you and Trina. I never wanted to love him.”
Mendel nodded slowly, gears turning in his mind. “Do you love him?”
Whizzer squirmed. “No. Maybe? I don’t know. It depends on the day.” Whizzer rubbed at his temples in aguish as Mendel sat quietly. Sometimes it paid to play the silent observer, to let your conversation fall into a lull, to break for thought. Whizzer looked up. “I really want somebody to love me. I have for a long time. But maybe I just don’t know how to be loved. ‘Cuz if that’s love? Get it away from me.”
Mendel raised his hand, taking notice but decidedly not commenting on the way Whizzer flinched slightly. He turned his palm towards Whizzer, slowly sliding it onto his shoulder and squeezing. It was a grounding technique, one he didn’t use in sessions for its innate need for physical proximity, but this was far from a clinical experience. Whizzer tensed as though he wasn’t sure if he was allowed to accept the support. Carefully he eased his muscles, slouching slightly into Mendel’s touch like a timid dog accepting a treat.
The taller man looked up and gave Mendel an appreciative look. “I don’t know, maybe I’m being overly critical of Marvin. I was playing the system just as much as he was. I just thought I’d wind up leaving after the feelings got real. Never thought he’d be the one to kick me to the curb.”
Mendel opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off by a banging on the front door. He smiled apologetically at Whizzer. “Probably just somebody selling vacuums or a Girl Scout. I’ll be right back.”
Whizzer nodded and Mendel stood, his cracking back displaying his aging. He walked calmly to the door, swinging it open without really looking.
”I’m sorry, but we aren’t interested in—“ Mendel was abruptly shoved back, somebody pushing past him into the living room. “What the hell, man?” Mendel stumbled, his eyes catching on a familiar frame clothed in red. Marvin.
“Trina! Hello! Goodness, it’s been so long, hasn’t it?” Marvin yelled. Trina’s face contorted in confusion and fear. “Well gee, Trina, thank you for being so damn considerate and sending both Whizzer and I your wedding invitations!” Shit. That was the issue. Mendel dashed forward, sitting between where Trina sat and where Marvin stood. His gaze flickered over to Jason, who suddenly looked so, so small.
“I mean, how romantic! All these disgusting roses stamped on, signed sincerely Mr and Mrs. Weisenbachfeld— Gee, I can picture it now! ‘Oh Trina, I’m so infatuated with the way you brush your hair,’” He mocked, his voice nasal and pitched up, “‘let me love you forever and ever until we die’— Grow up. Trina, you’re insane. You’re dead to me if you do this.” Marvin was fuming, every nerve alight. Trina looked close to tears, but she held her head high.
“Marvin. Breathe. We’re both adults, and we chose to love each other. Mendel will hold me and take care of me and love me.” Mendel reached over and squeezed Trina’s hand. His gaze flickered down the hall, where Whizzer stood with the guest room ajar, his eyes locked on Marvin. The look on his face— fear, and some sort of a deep sorrow— looked unnatural there. It was slightly unnerving.
Marvin scoffed, throwing his hands down at his sides.
“I love you, Trina. We were married for eleven years. Don’t act like I don’t know you, you’re smarter than this. Rushing into a marriage is the stupidest thing you’ve ever done.” Marvin was pulling at the hairs on his arms mindlessly. Mendel noticed, in the way he always did, but couldn’t be bothered to end the self-destructive behavior. Marvin inched closer to Trina.
“And my ex-psychiatrist? Seriously? You don’t even love him! You just want to ruin my reputation. Look at him, he’s probably psychoanalyzing me right now.” Marvin sneered. Mendel jumped up, putting himself between his bride-to-be and her ex-husband. Marvin shoved him off to the side, stepping closer to Trina, who remained silent.
”And you send two invitations— why? Just another way to mock me? Do you take pleasure in making me look like an idiot out here?”
Trina sat unmoving in her own world, almost absent from the situation entirely. She looked towards her son, to Mendel, down the hallway, and finally back to Marvin. Marvin, who was seething, who had seemingly entirely lost his grip on reality.
“What, you’re just going to pretend I was nothing to you? How can you deny what we had?”
”Marvin! We had nothing!” Trina finally snapped, throwing her hands down at her sides as she stood, “Nothing except our fights and our own game of pretend. I’m sorry that you feel pain because I’m moving on, but don’t play the fool here. Don’t act as though you would have just come back to me.”
”Maybe I would have! Trina, Whizzer left me. Whizzer never even loved me. He just played me to boost his own ego.” Both Mendel and Trina chanced a glance down the hallway, where Whizzer was slowly creeping closer. His eyes were red, his cheeks tear-stained.
Mendel breathed heavily. “Marvin, that’s untrue, and unfair to Whizzer. We both know that. God, I’m disappointed if this is all that came out of our sessions. Just an angry, sad man. Whizzer did love you, you know that just as well as I do.”
Marvin let loose a pained noise, a stifled sob or a whine. ”Then why the hell did he leave?”
”Marvin, look around.”
Whizzer’s voice came from the hall, seemingly disembodied with how the shadows still enveloped him. Marvin’s gaze shot up, searching for a face in the darkness. Briefly the tension in his face relented to shock, his lips mouthing Whizzer’s name like a prayer. Whizzer stepped slightly closer, but appeared to be keenly aware of the importance of keeping both an emotional distance and a physical one.
“Everyone here wanted to know you. They all wanted to love you. You pushed them away. You have so much passion for live, and instead of allowing yourself to feel it you bury it away and let your temper take hold. It’s sad, Marvin.” Whizzer’s words were sharp and cruel, yet his tone was soft and sad, a perfect contrast.
Marvin stepped back, his chest heaving in rapid, uneven breaths. He was suddenly a cornered animal, backed into a position where he could either shut down or fight out. Mendel hoped for one, but knowing Marvin, he would not surrender peacefully.
“Is he right, Whiz? Did you love me?”
Marvin’s voice was hushed and shaking. Whizzer looked his way, caught off guard. He gave Mendel a pleading face. Marvin’s eyes followed the interaction and his face fell.
“God. I am so dumb.”
Marvin deflated as he stepped back, making his way to the door. For a moment Mendel was stunned, unsure in the likelihood of Marvin simply backing down and not liking the odds.
Marvin’s fist went through their wall like a wrecking ball. He spun around, crazed eyes jumping around the room until they landed on Trina. Mendel stepped back on instinct, his hand placed gently on Jason’s shoulder. Jason nuzzled into his side, forcing Mendel’s attention away from his wife and towards his step-son.
He would have sworn his back was only turned for a second. For a glimmer of a moment.
But apparently that was enough.
Marvin’s hand made contact with Trina’s face.