Author's Note: It's like "Fangirl" when Cath is legit like "I'm writing everything but..." because I have been writing everything but TLWA. But anyway I love Marcus Flint with my life.
Glass Shards
(4:12 pm) this is some codependent shit marcus
(4:12 pm) i dont get why it wont work tho
(4:12 pm) like wasnt this the plan
(4:15 pm) bro
(4:18 pm) the plan wasnt to buy a fucking bar man
(4:18 pm) the plan never involved a fucking bar
(4:18 pm) where the fuck did you even get the money for a fucking bar
(4:19 pm) it wasnt anything illegal blaise i promise
(4:20 pm) ahahaha blaze it
(4:21 pm) marcus where the fuck did you get the money from
(4:22 pm) marcus where the fuck are my beanie babies
(4:23 pm) marcus you're fucking dead to me
(4:23 pm) marcus i swear
three missed calls from 'blaise zaboomafoo'
xxx
Marcus was sitting in the middle of his stupid pub, grinning his stupid grin, and Blaise was going to kill him. He knew that Blaise was going to kill him- Theo too, really- but he didn't care, because he had just made the investment of his life. It took all of Blaise's stuffed animal collection, but it was worth it. Here was the reward, one beautiful cesspool that hadn't been touched by his father.
It was a piece of shit. Two of the urinals were backed up, there were blood splatters on the floor, and the whole place reeked of beer. Nearly half of the counter was broken off and would need to be replaced, but he could see himself standing in the middle of the floor and jumping up and down like he knew how to dance, holding onto a pretty girl like his life depended on it.
He deserves it, really, because he works his ass off in a goddamn wreck of a joint, cracking his knuckles together as some sort of bodyguard for Malfoy's father, and he hates it, he really does. He just wants to be able to own something, some part of himself. His father had gotten him the job, and Lucius really wasn't all that bad, but he was a pain in the ass sometimes and Marcus just wanted to have something. Anything.
He didn't even own the apartment. He just happened to live with Blaise, because Blaise had an open room and he needed someone to live in it. Blaise paid for most things, or at least he tried to, and Marcus just had to clean it up every week and try not to burn the whole place down. He could have lived with Goyle, but the man was living off of a futon and two beers a day and Marcus wasn't down with it.
This bar, though. The bar was his. The bar was his everything and he was getting the opportunity to show that he could do something, he could own something. Well, with shareholders, because that was what he needed.
xxx
(7:30 pm) i have forgiven you enough to say that i want half of the shares of this place
(7:31 pm) what the fuck are you naming our bar man
(7:32 pm) theo wants in too
(7:32 pm) ok
(7:33 pm) i dont have a name yet
(7:33 pm) i dont want it to sound like a stripper joint before you try it
(7:34 pm) you don't sound so excited about theo joining and he's offended
(7:35 pm) and i wasn't gonna name it something stripper-esque
(7:36 pm) where is the faith, marcus
(7:36 pm) where
(7:37 pm) you named your goldfishes svetlana and artemis
(7:38 pm) that sounds a little stripper-like
(7:39 pm) you wanted to name your house the lodge and then magic city
(7:40 pm) so there
(7:41 pm) snake hole
(7:42 pm) the dungeon
(7:43 pm) wait that one does sound like a strip club
(7:44 pm) im gonna ask theo
xxx
They end up calling it the Snake Pit, and Marcus doesn't know whether he wants to laugh or he wants to cry. It was Theo's call; Theo has the money to make the renovations, so he got to have the final say on the name, even if Marcus was the one who bought the bar.
It takes them one month to get it up and running, and they aren't sure their liquor license is good, and they know that their food is only okay, but they have people coming in because they got Draco to endorse it, and their official opening night is there and Marcus is terrified.
Blaise got him to dress up, and it took a few hours because Marcus didn't know how to tie his tie, he had never had to tie a tie. He ended up taking it off a few moments later, because really he hated wearing anything that was fancy. He just needed to get himself his leather jacket and he was all set. He had tried to explain it to Blaise like six times, but Blaise liked getting dressed up and he liked trying to flirt and if that was what he was going to do, more power to him.
Besides, Marcus knows that it won't do anything, because Blaise is flirting with the same redhead that he likes to pretend they don't know that he's banging. And Marcus knows for a fact that they started going out last year, and that she hates the suit too, because he talked to her and has known her since she was ten.
He grabs his leather jacket and rips the tie off, and then he starts downstairs to try to find something to drink. Theo is tending bar, talking to a pretty little blonde that looks like a fairy, and when he tries to interrupt and grab a beer his friend just throws it at him and waves him off. He catches it before it spills all over his precious jacket and before he could shout something out Draco is next to him and introducing him to someone that he hadn't thought he would see again.
He's all brown hair and muscles, toned and strong as he stands awkwardly behind blonde and lanky Draco, and Marcus has to tear his eyes to look at his friend. "Hey."
He isn't a man of many words, and Draco knows it, so he simply grins his shiny grin and nods. "Hey, Marcus. I like the look of the place. Have you met Wood?"
And he has, and it's the reason that he swore of men and it's the reason that he can't say anything when Oliver simply smiles like they haven't met before at all, and Marcus feels his heart pulsing as he tries to come up with something to say. This is Oliver, this is the one that he had had angry sex with and the one who had run away because he was embarrassed, even after Marcus had made breakfast.
Marcus doesn't make breakfast.
Oliver knows he doesn't make breakfast, because Marcus had apologized and said that he wouldn't mention it. Because Marcus had made them eggs and then said that they could start over, that he didn't want to hurt him. Because Oliver and Marcus had gotten off on the wrong foot like seventeen different times since they were fifteen and he had tried to make everything better.
They stare at each other, and Marcus frowns and turns around, downing his beer.
And that's when everything goes to shit.
xxx
(10:34 pm) where are you
(10:34 pm) are you with Weasley
(10:53 pm) yeah why
(10:54 pm) ginny says hi
(10:55 pm) oliver is here
(10:56 pm) ive told him to fuck off twice and ive already punched him but he wont leave me alone
(10:56 pm) can i get a restraining order
(10:57 pm) punching ppl is not how we say 'ily' marcus
xxx
"What the fuck do you want?" he asks, his voice low and growly as he turns to glare at Oliver. But the man doesn't care, he doesn't even flinch, and he even cracks a smile at the familiar hatred, and Marcus can't drag his eyes away from his lips and his crooked grin. "Stop stalking me, Wood."
Oliver just laughs, taking a swig of his own beer, arching a brow. "Not stalking you. It's a small bar, Flint. Any reason you're projecting?"
"I'm not… What? This fucking bar isn't small, it's fucking cozy." And he bristles, like a dog. This is his bar, this is his actual child. He's cleaned it up and he's dressed it up and here comes Wood, insulting it like it's nothing. Marcus hates him, he really does. He can't remember what he found attractive. "Why are you even here?"
"Malfoy invited me. Why do you keep trying to fight me?"
Marcus frowns. "This isn't twenty fucking questions, Wood. Are you already drunk?"
"Eh, a bit," he says, like that explains it. He waves his arms in that sort of gesture, the 'so-so' thing that he does when Marcus asks if he's ticking him off. "Actually, I'm pretty wasted right now. Told Draco I needed to apologize to you, he made me come, you know. Why are you mad at me?"
"You left."
"You wanted me to leave. You wanted to start over! You made breakfast, Marcus," Oliver insists, and Marcus feels like his head is about to explode.
"I just didn't want… You… You remind me of when I was sixteen."
Oliver arches a brow again, and he actually puts down his beer. Marcus should've known he was drunk, because golden boy Oliver Wood hates drinking beer. "We've known each other since then, yeah. Soccer camp. Your dad was our coach—Oh, is that it?"
"Of course that's it. Damnit, Wood, you of all people should've know. But you left, you left and you walked away and you decided that you had enough."
"Geez, Flint," he says, and Marcus feels his world whirl because there it was, they were talking like normal, everything was fine. "I'm sorry I forgot about your damn daddy issues."