"I'm home!"
Marilyn received no response, even after he gently kicked the door closed behind Dante and toed off his shoes in the entryway. A bit strange, but with the other alpha at his tail, Marilyn decided to shrug it off. His father is a grown man, he can do his own things. Instead he led the other up the stairs and into his bedroom like before, tossing his bag in the corner.
"We should be able to, like, actually get somewhere this time since everyone's busy," he commented idly to his silent companion as he grabbed his designated house hoodie and a pair of pajama pants that had been tossed to the floor, preparing to change. He'd just pulled his shift over his head and started on his pants when he remembered that he wasn't with his usual company. That he should probably warn Dante before he just started stripping in the middle of the room.
"Are you cool if I change in here, or would you prefer if I went to the bathroom or something?"
"S'your house. Feel free."
Marilyn turned to look at the other alpha, about to ask if he was sure he didn't mind, but the words died in his throat. Dante was already looking at him. Watching him with an expression Marilyn couldn't identify, leaning back in the desk chair he had pushed beside the bed once again, sketchbook already out and on his lap. Marilyn didn't know if Dante just wasn't looking before or if he himself was oblivious; now that he was aware, he could practically feel the others gaze on him like a physical sensation. The feeling of being observed so closely, inspected, made Marilyn want to squirm. Instead, he gave the alpha his back and resumed changing, fumbling slightly with the button of his jeans.
As he kicked off aforementioned jeans and tugging on the sleep pants, he couldn't help but idly thank the gods that he'd worn regular boxers today as opposed to his-
Well. Anyway.
Once changed, he unceremoniously threw himself onto his bed, wiggling up to pop himself against the pillows lining the headboard. His switch was among them this time, thankfully, and he pulled it onto his lap, powering it up with one hand while he used the other to navigate to spotify and put on a random playlist of lofi beats to fill the silence. Then he put his phone beside his legs, face down, and settled back further into the pillows as Minecraft began to load.
"Good?" Dante asked, sketchbook at the ready, balanced on his knee.
"Yeah I'm good, do your thing."
+++
On second thought, Marilyn was not good. Minecraft is all good and fun, sure, but Marilyn has the attention span of a goldfish- it was never going to be enough to keep his occupied for the whole afternoon. He looked through the rest of the games in his library, but none of those caught his interest either. With a small sigh, he pushed the switch aside and traded it for his phone. The first thing he did was check the time. A mere 30 minutes had passed, though to him it'd felt like much longer. His phone games and the meager amount of social media apps he had downloaded were enough to capture his attention for 15 more minutes, but Marilyn quickly found himself growing bored again.
He knew of one thing that could keep his attention for hours on end, of course. Everyone had something, their one hobby that made time pass in the blink of an eye. However, that was absolutely not an option at present. The story - for Marilyn is an avid reader - had just gotten to the long awaited spicy scene. And Marilyn was very familiar with that particular author's work; to put it simply, he didn't want to make popping awkward boners around Dante turn into a habit, so the story would have to stay on hold in Marilyn had a moment of privacy.
"Hey," he said suddenly, as his idle screen tapping had led him to his notes app. "Do you wanna do more of those questions? We only did the very first one last time, and I'm bored as fuck right now."
The only response he got was a shrug, but it was enough for him. "Okay, I answered first the last time so now its your turn. Would you like to be famous? In what way?"
Dante's response came quicker that Marilyn thought it would, considering. "Yes. But also no, kind of."
Marilyn snorted. "Wow, really eloquent. In what way? Elaborate a bit, Shakespeare."
Dante shot him an unamused look, but seemed to actually think about his answer for a moment, his pencil even coming to a stop.
"I want my work, my labor of love to be famous, but not me as a person. Or even my name. Its probably a hundred thousand people in the world over that can identify a picture of the Brooklyn Bridge, but they can't tell you the architect or engineer who designed it. Practically eveybody, at least in the U.S., and probably in other parts of the world too, would recognize a photo of the faces carved into Mount Rushmore, but only how many of them could name the sculptor, the man who made the clay model and the crew of 400 unknown people who risked their lives hanging from the side of the mountain while chiseling away the stone. Who built the Taj Mahal? Who designed the first rocket in the U.S. to go into space? Who invented film? Who built the six Mayan temples of Tikal? Would it matter if you knew? Is it the person or the work that matters? That's the kind of famous I wanna be."
To say Marilyn was a bit shocked by that would be a bit of an understatement. That's the most words he'd heard Dante speak in a row so far, and it was so unexpected. During this silly little question game. Imagine that.
Dante smirked as Marilyn stunned silence stretched on for a few more beats, returning to his work. "How's that for Shakespeare. Your turn."
"How the fuck am I supposed to follow that?" Marilyn complained jokingly as he finally found his words. "I was just gonna say no because being famous sounds like to much work and I wanna live my life however I want. But now that feels lame."
"I basically said the same thing, just in a cooler way than you."
Marilyn rolled his eyes and sucked his teeth dramatically to show annoyance, but his wide grin dampened the effect. "Whatever man. Next question. Before making a phone call, do you ever rehearse what you're going to say? Why?"
It was Marilyn's turn to answer first, and he did so without needing to think. "Yeah, sometimes. Like if its something important I'll practice what I gotta say so I don't fuck it up."
"Can't relate."
Marilyn rolled his eyes again, though he was still smiling. "Yeah yeah, I can tell you've got a way with words. Let's move on then."
"Don't be jealous, maybe I'll teach you how to spit one day."
Marilyn needed to find an alternative to rolling his eyes if he and Dante were to hang out more; at this rate, they'd fall out of the sockets. At the very least, he was definitely entertained now. They spent the next hour that way, questions and answers intersperse with jokes and lighthearted teasing. Marilyn was quite surprised with how easily the conversation flowed, since Dante never seemed to be the talkative type. Marilyn found himself wondering if Dante was just that much of an introvert, that he preferred talking one on one as opposed to in a crowd or a group. He had to quickly derail that train of thought, however, as his traitorous mind began to think about how much he wouldn't mind spending one on one time with the other alpha.
Marilyn was just about to read the next question, the last of the first section in fact, when he heard the faint sound of the front door opening and closing, followed by muffled voices wandering through the downstairs. "You need to keep going or do you wanna chill for now? I can go see if whoever just came in brought some food and we can watch something or whatever?" Marilyn asked Dante, lowering his phone. He watched the other boy look down at his work, assessing, before shaking his head.
"Actually, I should probably be heading out before it gets dark." Dante replied as he stood, taking his own phone out of his pocket.
"You need me to take you home or something? Or back to the school to get your car?" Marilyn asked as he scooted to the edge of the bed, preparing to stand as well. Dante shook his head though, texting with one hand as he flipped his book closed and clumsily shoved it back into his backpack without looking.
"Nah, I actually have a friend who stays down the road who's on the way to pick me up right now."
Marilyn ignored the small twinge of disappointment he felt at the opportunity loss, and nodded. "Alright, well, let me walk you out." He pushed himself off the bed and waited until Dante had everything gathered, leading the other alpha out of his bedroom and down the stairs, calling out as he reached the bottom, "Yooooooooo?" After a few seconds, his mom's voice called back a response from the direction of the kitchen. "Hold on, I'm on the phone."
Not wanting to bother him. Marilyn continued to the front door, watching Dante tug his shoes back on, and opening the door for him just as a black Honda slowed to a stop in front of the house.
"I'll be busy over the weekend, but let me know when you wanna come again," Marilyn said in lieu of any sort of goodbye, following Dante a half step out the door to lean against the frame, watching the other didn't even falter a step as he called back over his shoulder.
"Oh you'll know when I'm coming."
Marilyn turned on his heel quickly and kicked the door shut behind him, beelining back to his room.
Well. No boners around Dante challenge partially passed.
Word count: 1729
A/N: gee wilikers gang, this was a hard one! pls dont be mad at me for missing the feb update, its a very busy month for me at work. but i just quit my second job so im hoping i'll have more time to write on the weekends and thus, more updates for yall. HOPEFULLY. No guarantees.
once again, my apologies for any spelling errors, inconstistancies, ect. i write as it comes to me and dont have the balls to read back lest i delete everything ive ever made, ever. so i wanna like finish this before i go back an edit because ill probaby be less likely to delete a finished piece of work just because it made me cringe.
anyway anyway. more dante/marilyn moments bc i know thats what everyone wants. shits finally starting to pick up, only took 21 chapters to get there. i hope yall are enjoying it though, and i hope youl forgive me if this turns into a 50 chapter monstrosity.
ALSO! to clear up some things:
most if not all major characters in this book are polyamorous. maybe i didnt put it in the tags, but it will be very prevelant later. different polyam people have different rules for their relationships. Kris was aware that Angel is some elses s handler but not that he's Marilyn's handler. She does not care. That is not cheating. Angel didn't disclose his relationship with Kris to marilyn for personal reasons which will become apparent later (probably). Dante is still the *main* love interest, but marilyn might collect some others along the way. so, sorry i didnt mention it in my inital warning but if heavy polyamory themes bother you then you may be in the wrong place.
aaaa! ive gone on for too long!! lmk if you enjoyed this chap, leave a review, curse me out, whatever!! c u next time!