A/N: Welcome friends, fans of the Simpsons, newcomers and the curious minds who always thought to themselves: What would happen if Marge fell in love with Artie Ziff? This idea has been on my mind for a while, it just took my creative juices longer to want to jump up and flow out. It finally happened about a month ago and I was more than eager to start, even though there were several chapters left of Amazon Dot D'oh, but I prevailed. From what I have mapped out, this will be a long story, possibly about twenty-five to thirty chapters, maybe a little less if I condense things down because I have two stories to tell, Marge's and Homer's, and both lead very different lives. Also this may be my last fanfic since I do graduate in December and soon I will be finding a job that might take me far, I am not sure on that quite yet so if the updates take much longer than usual you will know why. With that being said I hope I do not disappoint with what I am about to tell, so sit back and relax as I begin the tale that starts on that one fateful night back in 1974.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Simpsons.
The evening sky was the clearest it had been for many nights, the perfect night for a prom. The stars were shining like diamonds revealing the constellations and part of the Milky Way. The moon was full and bright, illuminating the hills and trees, no need for a flashlight even outside the city. You could not ask for a better night, a night for romance, a night for togetherness, and a night to share compassion to the one you wanted to pour out your heart and soul to.
High up above on a ridge overlooking the city that many called Inspiration Point, cars were lined up from those who had gone to the prom and were now spending quality time with the one they invited. For some it was just a regular date, but a special night in a special outfit to be together while the night was still young. For others, it was their first date and they knew they had to make this first date be a memory they would never want to forget.
Artie Ziff was one of these people who was hoping he would do everything right for the young lady he brought to the prom. He had picked her up from her house, danced with her and shared the title of prom king and queen with her. Now he was hoping that this was not the last time they would be together, and as he sat quietly in the car with Marge Bouvier staring out into the clear evening sky, he began to wonder if Marge was willing to accept his new proposal. He had never had a girlfriend before, so he really had no idea how to actually ask, so he was very nervous hoping if he did get rejected that it wouldn't be too harsh.
"Artie, is something troubling you?" Marge asked after many tense moments of silence where the only sounds that could be heard were the squeaking sounds made by the cars next to them.
Artie turned to Marge who was sitting quietly in the passenger seat, her hair just touching the roof of the car while her bright eyes stared back at him with curiosity. She was still wearing the tiara from being crowned queen of the prom, and to Artie she looked beautiful enough to be royalty. He knew that's why he liked her, she was beautiful and dazzling and he knew she picked the right person to go out to the prom with, not that buffoon Homer Simpson.
Artie didn't have many friends, rarely were they willing to spend much time with him, but he could not help it, he was a brainiac for a reason, he wanted to succeed and become a rich businessman and he wanted someone by his side to help his succeed. He knew Marge could be the one for that, he had known her for eight years now, always admiring her from afar with her beauty and her caring and passionate attitude. But now he wanted to step up and claim her, after that dance, he wanted to be closer to her, to fall in love with her, to be her knight in shining armor.
"…Well I was just thinking," he began as he nervously adjusted his glassed and rubbed the back of his neck pausing for a long moment.
"Yes?" Marge asked.
"I was thinking that tonight was a great night with you, I really enjoyed it," he replied.
"Oh definitely, you are a surprisingly good dancer," Marge said with a smile.
"Just because I spend most of my time with my nose in a book does not mean I miss out on other things. But there was something else I wanted to say," said Artie as he stared down at Marge's delicate hands.
"Oh and what is that?" Marge asked.
"Well…" Artie began before letting out a nervous cough. "I enjoyed it so much that I was thinking maybe…uh…well you see…oh Artie you're way over your head on this one." Artie then turned away from Marge letting out a depressed sigh while staring out at the city below.
"Artie, are you asking that we should see each other more often?" asked Marge.
Artie turned back to Marge, looking her in the eyes with a gleam of hope and wonder. Marge only stared back wondering if she found the right guy for her. He had been the gentleman of the evening, picking her up for the prom, buying the meal, and taking her out here to stare at the beautiful night sky with the moon shining bright. She knew he had a bit of arrogance about him, but she knew it was only because he was good at his academics and that would most likely fade over time once he left high school and moved on to something else more challenging. He wasn't the handsomest person she had ever come across, but did that really matter?
"Well that was my proposal…but you probably don't want to hang out with a guy who spends all his life staring at books," Artie replied as he twiddled his fingers between his knees, he seemed a bit embarrassed now. Marge only stared back with a heartwarming smile.
"Artie," Marge called out.
Artie looked up with a curious face, unsure if he was ready to take what Marge was about to say or not. Women were hard to figure out; he had experienced it many times in the past and had often wondered how women perceived men, another one of those great scientific mysteries that would never be solved.
"I think we've known each other long enough to say we should be together more often. I know you've always admired me, always complimented me, and helped me when I needed it. I guess we never really realized how much we cared about each other…until now."
Artie's face went from a frown to a smile in only a few seconds. Marge had actually accepted his proposal! From that moment he was no longer single but with someone he had admired for many years now. He could not believe it, and could not stop smiling as he pulled out his hand, an invitation for them both to show intimacy between them. Marge quickly took his hand and stared back at him, their eyes locked in a tender moment.
Things were working out, just as Artie had hoped. He continued to stare into Marge's eyes wondering when the right time would be for him to reach out and give her a tender kiss. Artie knew he couldn't hesitate and finally went for it, he moved forward, and Marge quickly knew what he was doing and followed suit. Seconds later, both had their arms around each other in a loving embrace, the first feeling of great passion between them. As they embraced, Artie had the idea of moving toward second base. For a moment he began to move his hand down toward Marge's shoulder strap so he could loosen it a little and move downward, but as he did so, his conscience got the better of him. He quickly realized that it was too soon and that he should probably wait it out, he did not want to anger Marge and end the relationship too soon. He quickly put his hands back behind her, continuing with what he had started.
Marge never even noticed.
A few miles from where Artie and Marge were sharing their first night together, a lone figure was making his way home after a disastrous evening. Each step he took was slow and dragging because what he had hoped for tonight was not coming true. The bellbottomed dress pants and the shoes that he wore were now caked in mud from walking into puddles, he sort of squeaked when he walked. His dress shirt was also splattered in mud from passing motorists who did not give a damn about the lonely figure walking home. He was probably just a stupid bum with nowhere to go so why show passion for him.
Tears were still falling down his face as he walked home, and he could barely see what was up ahead of him because his eyes were so watered. It was such an upsetting thing to see the woman of his dreams leaving in another car that belonged to someone who he believed did not deserve her. He knew the man would not love her as much as he did and he wished there was some way that Marge could change her mind, but you could not fix free will, it was up to the other person to fall in love, and in time Homer Simpson would have to understand that.
His heart was broken now though and every step he took felt like it had been years without seeing Marge, he just wanted to lay down in a ditch and slowly die. But he had to press on, one day things would look up to him. It wouldn't happen at this moment but someday soon, maybe it was only for tonight, maybe Marge would forget all about Artie Ziff by Monday and things would be right again. Homer could only hope that was the case, for now though, all he wanted was to be in his room listening to the songs that Marge loved and wishing that she was there with him. He just wanted to talk to her, tell her how much he loved her, how much she meant to him, and how much he wanted to be part of her life. Apparently that was too much to ask for though, apparently he was not worthy for such a beautiful young lady as her. Even after he tried to pick her up in a limo, bought dinner for her and even bought her a beautiful flower to put on her dress. What more could she want? What did Artie have that he didn't? What was it that Marge saw in him? He wasn't as handsome as him, that was for damn sure so why did Marge choose him?
His mind continued to race, stopping only when another car passed too close and sprayed mud all over him yet again. He was glad tonight was a clear night though, it would have been worse if it was raining. But that still did not make him any happier, he was just simply miserable.
Finally the road took him to a familiar place that he had wanted to be for the past half an hour. The beginning of his neighborhood. Slowly he made his way up the block, passing by houses that were already dark for the evening. Some were still lit as people were still up watching their favorite programs or spending the evening with the ones they loved. How he wished that were true for him, tonight would have been perfect and so joyful. Why could he not get what he wanted?
It wasn't long before he reached his home; the lights were still on in the living room so his father was most likely still up watching some cheesy movie or a late night game. Homer knew his father would not give him any support so it was no use telling him anything. He really needed some sympathy right now but that was impossible. Barney was probably out with a girl he found or sound asleep somewhere after streaking past everyone in the gym. But of course Barney was not a very good sympathizer either, Homer just had to suck it up.
Homer finally entered the house and sure enough he found his father Abe sitting on the living room sofa watching an old movie never taking his eyes off the screen. Homer closed the door and then stood a few feet away from his father who took no notice of him until Homer let out a short cough. Abe slowly took his eyes off the television and stared back at Homer.
"Eh home already I see, without a girl too. Somehow I knew you would screw up," he said before taking a swig of his beer and turning back to the movie he was watching.
Homer stood there for a moment staring at his father, a screw up, that's all he ever was to his father. It was heartbreaking and it made him wish his father was more sentimental. Finally after waiting long enough for some sympathy, Homer let out a big sigh and walked out of the living room toward his own room.
He opened the door to find that his room was a mess, but he really didn't care, no one else was with him so why bother to clean it up. It was late and he could do it tomorrow when he had nothing else to do. He made his way over to his record player and sorted through the songs that he owned. Finally he came across his favorite album by Queen and put it on the record player. As the song slowly began to play, Homer made his way over to his bed and sat down thinking about what went wrong between him and Marge. It was just something that he could not get out of his mind and he was really beating himself up about it. What made it worse too was that the first song to play on his record was Somebody to Love and it seemed to be speaking to him.
But he did not turn it off; instead he began to take off his sodden bellbottoms and threw them on the pile of dirty laundry in the corner. He would have to clean them later, he was in no mood to do so now. A moment later, he took off his shirt and also threw it in the pile leaving him in just his underwear as he continued to sit on his bed looking down at the floor while listening to the lyrics of the song.
Everyday I try and I try and I try
but everybody wants to put me down
They say I'm going crazy
They say I got a lot of water in my brain
Got no common sense
I got nobody left to believe.
As Homer listened to these lyrics he got up and made his way over to his dresser to look for his boxers, but he did not proceed to open the drawer. Instead he looked at himself in the mirror that was above the dresser. His eyes were now puffy from crying, and his face was so forlorn from having to watch everything dance past him. What made it worse too was that the song seemed to be speaking to him. It was true, everyone put him down, they called him an idiot and that he really did have no common sense. Who could he believe now? No one was there to talk to him. He could only stare back at his sad reflection and feel sorry for himself. His reflection could not help him and neither could his broken hearted soul. He didn't know what to do and he knew that it was going to be a long weekend.
Finally, once the song was over and the album had already played halfway through another song, Homer opened his drawer and pulled out his old boxers. He quickly put them on before making his way to his bed where once again he sat there staring at the floor until he finally lay down on his back and stared up at the ceiling.
As he did so, he thought about what to do. He had only known Marge for over a month now, yet he seemed to know her forever. But could he go back to where he was before he met her? Maybe he could, he just had to figure out how he could do it. He would have to avoid her as much as possible, but how did he miss seeing her in the first place? She was so beautiful; you could not miss that long blue hair flowing through the hallways or those beautiful bright eyes that seemed to look deeply in your soul. There must have been something that he did to miss her. He knew he had to get her out of his mind and he began to rummage through it looking for something else to think about.
But of course the night had been exhausting; he had gone to the prom, stuck around with the limo driver for a few hours and then walked a few miles home. It was an exhausting thing he had done and after many moments of rummaging through his thoughts, his mind went blank. He had fallen asleep, he would now be sent into a world of dreams that would bring happiness and love, a place where hopefully sadness would not follow.
A/N: Well there's the first chapter for you, hope you all enjoyed that. Had a little trouble with the first half since I had no idea what was a good way to ask if someone should go steady with someone else. Yeah I need to get out more. Also I promise to try my hardest to keep Homer from being too emo. I guess that's all I need to say for now, please review; I want to know what you guys think.