To the Smelly Boy Apartment It Is! (Story 2 of Sev & M)

Chapter 10

Marcus's thoughts were preoccupied the rest of his shift. He dropped and broke two plates and was trying to keep his annoyance to a minimum but it was building quickly. He had seen Severine and Evanora's reactions when that man had come in and he knew he wasn't imagining the look of hatred he had received from him this time.

When he had taken Nora out with him on break she had told him about the man calling her sweetie and the uneasy feeling she had about it. When he had looked surprised she explained she had told Severine about it last night and had assumed he had told him. When she realized that Severine hadn't told him she had almost had a panic attack thinking Severine would be mad at her for telling him. He had assured her it would be fine, but could tell she was still slightly worried about it. He sighed heavily and almost dropped a third plate which he had to refrain from throwing in the sink out of anger. After what felt like an eternity Severine came into the kitchen to tell him it was time to go.

They waited for Evanora to finish her last table so they could walk her to her car. They said a quick goodbye, she told them to have fun on their date tomorrow. He told her to text one of them when she got home. They walked back to the apartment in silence. He could feel the tension coming from Severine. He knew he would have been dreading telling him what he had been hiding, thinking Marcus would be mad at him. He also felt an odd sensation like someone was glaring at him but when he casually looked over his shoulder he didn't see anything.

Once inside the apartment they settled in the living room. After a couple of moments of silence he sighed, "So are you going to tell me or do I have to ask?"

He saw Severine stiffen at his tone and felt guilty. After another moment Severine started talking. He told him about the first night Nora and he had seen the man, Issac, about Nora's uneasy feelings about him, about his own feelings. He finished the recounting rather quickly and was apologizing profusely telling him he hadn't wanted to worry him unnecessarily and that he had wanted to figure out what was going on first and he didn't want him to be mad at him even though he knew he had messed up.

He stood up from the chair and went over to Severine on the couch, he knelt down in front of him and grabbed both his hands.

"First, I am not mad at you. I was annoyed you didn't tell me but that was because I could tell something was wrong with the two of you but didn't know what, so I was worried. Second, you should realize by now I can tell when something is wrong with you, so even if you don't say anything because you don't want me to worry, I'm going to worry anyway. It's better to tell me so we can work it out together," he told him in a quiet voice.

Severine nodded, it looked like he was trying not to cry. This was the closest they had ever come to having a fight.

"I'm truly not mad at you, Baby. Okay?" he said again soothingly and rubbing his thumb on the backs of his hand.

Severine nodded again and mumbled okay back. He sighed internally, he knew it would be a couple of hours before Severine believed he really wasn't mad.

"So the big question is what now?" he asked.

They sat in silence contemplating what to do about it. Besides the man's name they didn't know anything else. Who sent him, why he was interested in them, what his end goal was. He tried to remember his training from the agency but only bits and pieces were coming back to him. He knew they should let him keep thinking he was keeping tabs on them even though they would be keeping tabs on him now too. And since he clearly had something planned for Nora as well they would need to protect her.

"We have to protect Nora," Severine said, echoing his own thoughts.

He smiled, "I was just thinking that. Maybe we should go out with her tomorrow night?"

He silently hoped Severine would disagree. He was honestly looking forward to their date. Nora was important but their date night was too, even if that did seem selfish.

"No, I don't think that would be a good idea. She knew we weren't going to make it because we were going on a date. And she wants us to go on the date. She'll feel bad if we skip. Maybe we should have her stay here more often?" he suggested.

"I think that's a good idea. Especially on the nights she closes," he replied, "maybe we should talk to the owner and see about getting our shifts changed so that one of us is always at the Cafe with her as well."

"Yeah, that's a good idea too. I think we might need to tell her about our pasts sooner than we planned. What if he was sent by the agency?" he asked.

"I agree but let's not do it right away. Once we have proof he's from the agency or has something to do with our past then we can. She's creeped out by the situation enough as it is," he said.

Severine nodded his agreement. They talked a little while longer then decided to go to bed. They were both off tomorrow and were excited despite this new development for their date.