Finding Sleep

Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Author's Note: New day and the bandits are preparing for a big heist. What could those two possibly get into?

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Soft sheets were the first thing Harry registered as he slowly woke up from his dream and into reality. He was curled into soft warm sheets and he could hear Marv's light snoring. He blearily opened his eyes to see that he was staring over Marv's shoulder and seeing the bed sheets behind him. The two of them were lying up against one another; both facing the other. Marv's arm was wrapped around his waist loosely and almost protectively underneath the sheets. Memories of the previous night and day slowly came back to him and he couldn't help but smile a little.

It really had been an enjoyable night. The two of them had not had such a night as that for a long time. Harry took in a deep breath, shifting his legs a bit. He looked up at Marv who was hogging most of the pillow they were currently sharing.

"Marv…." He said softly. Marv's nose winkled at the sound of his name, but otherwise stayed asleep. "Marvin….Wake up…."

Marv moved slowly, his limbs feeling like lead after being out of use for so many hours. "Harry…?" he mumbled, his eyelids slowly moving to reveal sleepy chocolate brown eyes.

"No, it's Santa Clause" joked Harry with a smile.

Marv turned his face into the pillow. "Liar."

"Don't you go callin' me a liar. I already know I am one. You don't have to remind me" Harry retorted, his voice light and slightly jovial.

"You're a liar, Harry. One of the biggest liars I've ever met!" baited Marv, continuing on with the joke. His face was still hidden in the pillow as he un-wrapped his arm from Harry's waist, bringing his arm out from under the covers and moving his hand so that it found Harry's face. Harry just allowed this to happen, wondering what he was doing. When Marv's hand found his nose, he gently flicked it.

With mock anger, Harry grinned down at Marv; now sitting up on his elbows. "You're asking for it now, pal." He sat up more on the bed, the covers moving down to his waist. With trained hands, Harry knew exactly what to do. This was far from the first time Harry had prepared to torture Marv in such a way. It had been a long time since Harry had done this to the man who was the love of his life and it felt good to feel so light hearted about it.

Marv gave a howl of laughter and surprise when Harry's fingers made contact with his sides. That was one hell of a wakeup call. Before, he had been half asleep, but now, as he struggled underneath Harry's stealthy hands he was fully awake. This was one of the last things he had expected Harry to do to him. Sure, it was not the first time he had done it; but it had been over a year ago since Harry had last tickled him. It had been before their time in jail.

Marv continued to laugh as he pushed himself up and tried to get away from Harry as quickly as possible. His long legs kicked at the covers as he tried getting away. "Call ME a liar!" laughed Harry. "Say 'uncle'!"

"UNCLE!" screeched Marv between breaths of laughter. Harry had learned very early on in their relationship just how very ticklish Marv was and had often used it as a friendly way of taunting the taller man. The night Harry had discovered this interesting piece of trivia about his partner in crime he had teased him endlessly about it. Marv had sort of hoped Harry had forgotten this little detail.

Harry took his hands away and allowed Marv to catch his breath. He watched as Marv rolled over onto his back and placed a hand on his forehead. "Whew! I was not expecting that, Harry! Not fair! You haven't done that to me in ages!"

Harry nodded from where he was sitting, watching with amusement as Marv recovered. "What can I say? That's what you get for callin' me a liar. You shoulda known better. You also should know I never play fair."

Marv laughed at this, knowing just how true it was. He sat up, rubbing his eyes. "I didn't think adults tickled each other."

Harry shrugged. "I've done that to you before. Besides, Marv, you're one to talk. Adults don't play with a rubber ducky in the bathtub either; yet you still do."

"Do not!" retorted Marv heatedly. He changed the subject. "What time is it?"

Harry ran a hand over what little hair he had on his balding head and glanced at the bedside table. "Time for us to get up" he said once he saw the time.

"And time for us to get some breakfast, I hope?" inquired Marv as he sat up.

"That's what room service is for, Marv" reminded Harry as he grabbed the phone next to the lamp that was still knocked over from when Marv hit it with his foot the night before. He leaned over and pressed the numbers for room service and waited for an answer. As he waited he watched Marv stretch his arms out over his head and yawn largely.

He heard a voice on the other end greet him. "Hi. This is room 526. We would like some breakfast sent up." He paused, listening to what the person on the other end had to say. "Well….bring us up a little bit of everything, please. Enough for two people. Thank you." He promptly set the phone back on the table and looked just in time to see Marv standing up.

He was used to seeing Marv naked and therefore thought nothing of it as Marv walked into the bathroom. "How did you sleep, Marv?" he called to him.

"I slept great, Harry! Last night was incredible!" replied Marv happily and even though Harry couldn't see his face, he knew Marv was smilingly goofily. He could just picture the big grin on his lover's face as his eyes shone bright. The shorter man's thoughts were interrupted when he heard Marv cry out, "Hey! Bath robes!"

Harry shook his head. "You didn't see those yesterday?"

"No!" he heard Marv say indignantly.

"You gotta learn to be more observant then, Marv!"

"Yeah…yeah…." He could hear Marv faintly grumble from the bathroom.

Minutes later Harry could hear the shower turning on and he saw the bathroom door shut. Marv had the right idea; Harry did feel like having another shower. He glanced around the hotel bedroom they were staying in and noted that once again their clothes were strewn about the floor meaning he would once again have to gather them all up. At least he didn't have to wash them again.

A half hour later they both found themselves showered and refreshed. They were resting on the bed next to each other, flipping through the channels on the television when there was a knock on the door. Marv was propped up against the pillows while Harry lay beside him. "That must be room service" stated Harry as he got up from where he had been laying his head on Marv's chest. Marv followed after him.

Harry was about to open the door when he heard a yelp of pain from Marv and a thud a second later. He turned around to see Marv had hit his leg on the small oval table that sat near the middle of the room. "Damn thing!" he heard Marv curse. Marv set the table back up and rubbed at his leg with a frown on his face.

Harry turned back to the door and opened it. They had expected to see Cedric, since he seemed to be the one who was taking care of their floor; instead they both saw an older man with graying black hair. He was a little taller than Harry and was slightly overweight. "Hello, sirs. I have your breakfast."

He spoke the truth as both bandits could see a silver tray in his hands loaded with food. Harry moved his arms as though he was going to take the tray from him but the man took a step forward. Harry saw that he was going to bring it in himself. The man set the food on one of the tables. "One moment, sirs." He left the room and went out into the hallway, the door being left open. Harry and Marv hovered over the tray of food. Marv was gazing down at it hungrily yet Harry decided not to comment while the man was still around. A moment later the man came back with another identical tray. "Here you are, then, sirs. Do enjoy." He gave a curt bow and left the room, shutting the door behind him.

Marv licked his lips. "Wow! Nice service!"

"It's the Plaza, Marv. What else do you expect?"

Marv shrugged; not intending to answer, instead just stare down at the magnificent mounds of food on both trays. The trays were covered in all kinds of breakfast foods; pancakes, sausages, eggs, bacon, cereal, and hash browns. Also on the trays were an assortment of fruit, milk, and orange juice and a silver container which they could only assume contained the syrup for the pancakes.

"Wow….Where does one start, eh?" commented Harry with an impressed look.

Marv started picking at some of the pieces of bacon. He grabbed a piece and popped into his mouth. Harry waited for his opinion. Marv swallowed it with a loud gulp and nodded. "Tasty!" Without another word, the two bandits brought the two trays over to a small table along the wall, sat down and started eating. Plates had been offered and they each took one and piled on the food from their own tray.

"So, Marv, what should we do today?" asked Harry as he tried to make conversation as they ate. He poured himself some syrup on the two pancakes he was preparing to eat.

"Besides stay here and enjoy this great food?" chuckled Marv as he ate some of the sausage.

"Yeah."

Marv thought over the question for a moment while he chewed on some sausage. After swallowing it he said with excitement in his eyes, "We could go to the Central Park Zoo! I've always wanted to go there!"

Harry sighed and raised an eyebrow at him. "How old are you, Marv? Seriously. We're in New York City. That's the first place you think of?"

Marv blinked at him, not understanding what was so wrong with his idea. "What? You know how much I love giraffes." Harry closed his eyes and shook his head as Marv added more quietly, "They're tall….like I am…."

"Anywhere else you have in mind, Marvin?" Harry said this loudly to break Marv out of his thoughts about the zoo.

Marv shrugged as he moved on to eating some eggs. "I don't know. There are lots of things we could do. Oooh, let's go to the Empire State Building!" Marv paused. "That's in this city, right?" Harry could see even more excitement in Marv's eyes and he hated to be a downer on Marv's good mood. He was always bringing Marv down and shooting down his ideas; though most of the time, that was probably for the best. Harry knew exactly what Marv wanted to do if they went to the Empire State Building and refused to go clear up to the top. He hated heights.

A pang of guilt washed over him as he said, "No, Marv. We're not doing that either." He felt his heart break a little as he watched Marv's smile deflate into a confused frown. Marv had been sure Harry would like that idea. Both of them silently continued eating. Neither of them said a word for several minutes until Harry heard Marv put his fork down and looked up just in time to see him leaning over the small table. Marv kissed him on the forehead and as he was sitting down, his hand knocked over the orange juice. It spilt everywhere.

"Oh! I'm sorry!" squeaked Marv as he set the glass right.

"Nice goin', Marv!" hissed Harry, his irritation level soaring high once again. "You couldn't have just stayed on your side of the damn table!"

"I wanted to give you a kiss—"

"Give me a kiss later, ya moron! When you don't have orange juice you can spill everywhere! You know how clumsy you are!" hissed Harry though he immediately regretted his words as he watched Marv flinch slightly. More silence fell between them.

Marv stared down at the food in front of him, no longer in the mood to eat. The food just sat there in front of him, taunting him as it sat there deliciously, but he no longer had an appetite. He had done it once again; he had pissed off Harry. It seemed that was the only thing he was good at doing, save for robbing houses, but even then he was a little too loud and made a mess of things. Harry's words from the night before came back to him and at the time he had believed Harry when he said he would be more careful and would try to be more affectionate and suddenly those words had a lot less meaning to them.

Harry on the other hand felt terrible as he looked down at his lap. He didn't bother cleaning up the orange juice. It had spilt on the tray and wasn't going anywhere. He hadn't meant to say those things to Marv. It could have happened to anyone. Marv had only wished to give him a kiss on the forehead; such an innocent act of love. And he had shot him down once again. He knew he had to do something to make up for it. "Hey, Marv…"

"What?" replied Marv in a low dejected voice.

"I'm sorry for snappin' at ya. And….And I promise I'll take ya to the zoo today."

Marv gave him a look of surprise. "Really?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah."

"Thanks, Harry!" This time, instead of leaning over the table, he stood up and took the few steps over to him. Harry looked at him with enquiring look and after a moment of Marv standing there looking down at him, Harry finally caught on to what he wanted. He pushed himself and the chair away from the table and turned to face Marv, who promptly sat down in Harry's lap and wrapped an arm around him. The taller man leaned down and kissed Harry on the lips. It was a long, passionate kiss; one that Harry had not been expecting, but was far from complaining. When they finally broke apart, Harry grinned. "Perhaps I need to make promises to the zoo more often!" Marv laughed at this. "Now get off my lap! You weigh a ton!"

"I do not!" retorted Marv.

"Yeah, you do, Marv" groaned Harry as he placed his hands on Marv's back and started pushing him off.

"Not! Not! Not!" cried Marv as he finally stood after one final shove from Harry. "You didn't complain last night when I was on top of ya!" He turned to smirk down at Harry.

"Well, of course not. Your hands were distracting me" ribbed the shorter bandit.

Marv smiled down at Harry, a mischievous smile covering his features as he raised his hands to show to Harry. "You mean these hands?" Harry raised his eyebrows at his question and gave him a knowing look.

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Forty-five minutes later the two men walked out the door to their hotel room and to the elevators. It had taken Harry a good portion of that time to calm a rather excited Marv down. This was certainly a new experience for the both of them. Normally he was not this affectionate with Marv, nor did he ever used to allow such things to take place so suddenly. But he knew Marv was loving every moment of it and if he was honest with himself, so was he. It felt good to be so open and carefree for a change.

Harry adjusted the wool hat on his head and tightened the scarf around his neck. It was bitter cold outside and he knew they would probably be spending most of the day out in it. He made sure to remind Marv to put his gloves on, though this was immediately followed by Marv insisting he buy him more white masking tape just like he said he would the day prior. It seemed Marv had not yet forgotten his sticky hand stealing scheme.

After walking out of the elevators Harry and Marv once again saw the concierge, Cedric, and the prim-looking woman speaking amongst themselves. The three of them glanced their way and immediately broke apart.

"Ah, good say, sirs!" greeted the concierge as he placed his hands behind his back respectively. Marv gave a happy wave while Harry just frowned at him. He did not the fact that they had stopped talking the moment they had been seen. Harry's recent paranoia came back with a vengeance.

Harry had half a mind to just flat out ask what was wrong but he held his tongue. When trouble came knocking it would be all too soon and he didn't wish to be the cause of it.

As they walked past Harry tried listening to what the three were saying; noting that they had come back together in a group to speak once more. "I believe it is credit card fraud…" the concierge was saying.

Harry felt his body tense up. He grabbed Marv by the arm and made him stop walking. Marv looked at his friend with a concerned frown. "What's the matter?"

Out of the corner of his mouth, Harry quietly said, "They're talking about credit card fraud!"

Marv tensed as well and glanced back at the three staff members. He gulped and looked back down at Harry. "We don't know it's us they're talking about" he reasoned.

Harry's frown deepened. "How many other people in this joint do you think are committing credit card fraud?"

Marv shrugged. "I dunno."

"Let's just get outta here" Harry contended and walked out the door. Marv was quick to follow him through the gold spinning doors. Outside the doors a long white limousine was parked and the driver was standing there waiting with a box of pizza. "Wow! A limo!" marveled the taller bandit.

Cedric walked out from behind them and took the pizza from the driver. Harry took one look at Cedric and started walking faster down the sidewalk. "Come on, let's go!" he hissed.

The two of them started walking along the streets of New York and soon became lost in the throng of pedestrians. Harry was still walking quickly and Marv was finding it difficult to keep up with him through the crowd. "Harry! Slow down!" Harry ignored him and continued walking, a frown set on his face; pushing anyone out of his path. "Harry! Just calm down! You don't even know it was us that they were talking about!"

This made Harry stop. "And how do you know it WASN'T us they were talking about?"

Marv threw his arms up in the air with a skeptical look on his face. "Harry, don't you think they would have stopped us if they thought we were committing credit card fraud? Do you really think they would have let us walk out like that? Come on, Harry! Stop making me be the smart one here!"

Harry looked up at Marv, his words sinking in. Marv did hold a very strong argument. He hadn't thought of it that way. The three of them would not have let them just walk out scot free like that. "You have a point there…." Marv smiled, pleased that he was getting through to him. After a moment Harry continued. "Sorry, Marv. I'm just…..on edge…"

Marv shrugged it off. "It's okay…." The two of them began walking again, this time side by side and walking at the same pace. "So, what do we do now?"

"We need to get to business Marv. We gotta start plannin' our big heist. I'll start looking in the newspaper" answered Harry with an air of determination. They walked across a traffic filled street and into the park area.

"Harry!" called Marv. Just as they were about to cross the street, Marv pulled on his arm in the other direction.

"What?" he demanded. He saw Marv pointing somewhere as the taller man started dragging him along.

"Masking tape!" Upon hearing those two innocent words, Harry Lyme knew exactly what Marv Merchants was plotting. Before Harry could even utter out two words Marv had gone into the hardware store and found his way to the aisle that contained white masking tape. With an impatient sigh, Harry watched as Marv went down the aisle and picked out some tape that he was going to wrap around his hand once more.

The store itself was small. One of those stores that Harry guessed was owned by a small family. Though for such a small store it held a good variety of merchandise. Harry crossed his arms with a huff and looked around as Marv chose what tape he wanted. His dark eyes quickly landed on the back of the store where he could see a small, slightly closed off section. There was a man standing behind a glass counter that was filled with bullets and other kinds of ammo. His eyes traveled up the wall behind the man and he could see a variety of guns hanging on the wall. The wheels in Harry's mind began turning as Marv gave out a triumphant cry. "Okay, Harry! I found the tape I want!"

Harry tore his eyes away from the guns and looked at the tape Marv had chosen. "Alright, ya happy now? Let's get the hell outta here!"

Harry quickly paid for the tape and the two of them walked out of the store minutes later. As Marv was busy wrapping his hand back up in masking tape Harry's thoughts lingered on the guns he had seen. He refused to mess up this time with their heist. He refused to go back to jail. He had been miserable in jail. Sure, he had been fortunate enough to be with Marv when he was in there before, but that didn't mean he would be that lucky again. If the two of them were to be placed back in jail, seeing as how they had escaped together this time, they probably would not be placed together again. Harry hated jail to begin with yet he would hate it even more if he knew Marv would not be with him. He didn't even want to think about how Marv would handle jail without him. Marv probably wouldn't last long in jail without him. The first few nights of their sentence had been the most brutal on Marv and Harry had patiently sat through Marv's anxieties which he knew would come back with a vengeance if they got sent back there. Nights of sitting in the dark cold cell with Marv was not something Harry liked to think about.

Therefore, Harry figured something would have to be done to help prevent this. While he planned on making this heist plan foolproof and without flaw, that still didn't mean something couldn't go wrong. He refused to go back to jail and he refused to put Marv through that again; even if it meant going to extreme measures.

Harry was brought out of his thoughts as the sound of happy children rang in his ears. They were walking towards the skating rink in Central Park. Everyone seemed so happy and carefree and it made Harry frown with displeasure. He spied a newsstand not too far away. "Hey, Marv. I'm gonna go grab a newspaper and see if I can't find anything we can use in it for our heist. While I do that you can—"

"Ice skate!" exclaimed Marv happily. Harry blinked at him before turning his gaze at the skating rink. "Harry, let's go ice skating!"

Harry made a face. "No way you're getting' me out there on that ice. You can make a fool out of yourself, but leave me out of it. I'm gonna grab and read a newspaper. I'll be over there." He pointed the concrete wall around the ice rink next to a tree and park bench. Marv nodded. Harry had not even been aware that Marv even knew how to ice skate, but then Harry thought wryly; maybe he doesn't.

"Alright, Harry!" The taller man walked off towards the ice while Harry went and grabbed a newspaper.

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Harry glanced through the paper, reading article after article, though there wasn't a whole lot in the paper that he was interested in. The cooing of pigeons could be heard and it slowly started to grate on the man's nerves as he began reading another article. Little did he know that the pigeons were slowly inching their way closer and closer to him as he stood there leaning against the concrete.

With an aggravated huff, Harry turned the next page. He had been hoping there was going to something a little more interesting in the paper. Although, he had seen an article in the police log about how he and Marv had escaped prison back in Chicago. Thankfully though, the article said nothing about any sightings of them being in New York; so he figured they were safe for the time being.

He turned the page once more and his eyes widened at what he saw. He smirked at the advertisement that filled the entire page of the paper. Perhaps their luck was still running strong afterwards. He glanced up just in time to see Marv do a spin on the ice. Marv had been happily ice skating for the last half hour; looking like a complete moron in Harry's opinion, though he was pleased to know Marv was enjoying himself. After he had snapped at him earlier that morning, he was glad Marv was still in high spirits. It seemed like Marv was always in a good mood and Harry couldn't understand how that was possible. So far he had kept his promise about being more open and affectionate with him. He just hoped he would be able to keep that promise. As he glanced up one more time he saw Marv raise one leg up in the air with arms spread wide. He shook his head.

The cooing of the pigeons grew louder and it was then that Harry realized just how close they were to him. He made a face. "Go on! Get out of here! Go ON! Get out of here!" he snarled at the pigeon. He took the paper and started whacking them with it. "Beat it! Beat it! Beat it! Get out of here!" He glanced up at Marv again. Playtime was over. It was time for them to get serious. "Hey! Marv! Get over here, I gotta talk to ya!"

Marv, who was happily skating in the middle of the ice rink, heard the familiar voice call out to him and he immediately stopped. Marv loved hearing Harry's voice. He always felt a sense of security whenever he heard it; as though he knew everything was going to be okay with Harry nearby. He turned to the sound of his lover's voice and smiled fondly over at him. With a goofy grin on his face he began skating his way over to Harry.

For someone who had never ice skated once in his life, Marv considered himself to be pretty good. As he skated, other skaters whirled past him. Someone with a plaid scarf skated by and Marv skillfully took his sticky hand and snatched it without the person even blinking. He smiled down at the scarf as he wrapped it around his neck. It would be a great scarf for Harry to wear, he figured.

Harry, from where he was standing on the side, rolled his eyes as he watched Marv's antics. He had to admit, Marv wasn't too bad of an ice skater. There was just one thing about ice skating he had yet to master: stopping.

"Oh, woah!" hollered Marv as he tried stopping. Instead he went tumbling down and Harry watched with idle interest as Marv collided with the concrete wall with a thump. Harry glanced down to see if he was alright, but could tell Marv was just fine for he was up and standing an instant later. Harry found it slightly disturbing that Marv was actually chuckling to himself.

. "Would you like a scarf?" he offered Harry, showing him the scarf around his neck.

"You wanna forget about the scarf, Marv? We gotta talk. We don't got the equipment to pull off anything big. You know, your banks, your jewelry stores. We don't want goods. We need cash. And we need it now." Harry glanced down at the paper, his previous thoughts coming back to him as he waited for Marv to answer.

"How about uh….hotels? Tourists carry lots of cash.." suggested Marv before snatching a kid's knitted gloves. Harry flinched slightly as one of the knitted gloves hit the newspaper while Marv flung it around his neck. He really wished Marv would stop doing that. He was going to get them into trouble if he wasn't careful.

Harry pressed on without comment about the gloves. "There's no guarantees. I got a better idea. Stores ain't gonna deposit cash on Christmas Eve. The only stores that are gonna have cash on hand are stores that carry moderately priced goods."

"Right….Right" mumbled Marv, proving that he was following along. He reached over and snatched a woman's orange ear muffs and placed them on his head.

"Ergo" continued Harry as though nothing had happened. "What stores are gonna make the most cash on Christmas Eve that nobody is gonna think to rob?"

"Candy stores?" suggested Marv happily as he adjusted the earmuffs on his head.

Harry gave him a deadpan glare. "Nine year olds rob candy stores, Marv. THIS is what I had in mind." He snickered as he flipped the newspaper around so that Marv could see the advertisement he had been looking at earlier. It was an advertisement for Duncan's Toy Chest.

Marv's face immediately lit up. "That's brilliant, Harry! Brilliant!"

"Yep, there's nobody dumb enough to knock off a toy store on Christmas Eve" jeered Harry with one last satisfied glance at the advertisement.

"Oh yes there is" countered Marv. Harry glanced back up to see Marv give him his infamous grin, his mouth open slightly, and point to the both of them, implying that they were stupid enough to rob a toy store of Christmas Eve. Harry nodded, knowing this was true. They were dumb enough; it would work out. The best part was: nobody would suspect it. Harry snickered some more as he looked over the advertisement.

He folded up the newspaper and grinned up at Marv. "Come on; let's go check the place out! We'll have to plan carefully. Figure out the best way to rob the place."

Before Harry could react though he flinched, for something was being wrapped around his neck. He looked down to see that it was the plaid scarf that Marv had stolen. He glared at Marv. "What are ya givin' this to me for?" he demanded.

Marv opened his mouth to answer when he slipped on the ice and went tumbling down and out of sight. Harry fiddled with the scarf around his neck after placing the newspaper under his arm. He looked over the concrete wall just in time to watch Marv stand back up. The curly haired man grunted and said, "I got that for you, Harry. Ow!" He rubbed at his elbow.

"I already got a scarf!" Harry pointed out.

Marv shrugged. "In this cold weather it wouldn't hurt to have another."

Harry gave a quiet sigh. He knew what Marv was doing and it was sweet of him. Yet Harry didn't need to be taken care of. If anything, it was the other way around. "Why don't you keep it for yourself, Marv?"

Marv frowned. "No, no. It's for you." He reached over and wrapped the scarf tighter around Harry's neck before the shorter man could argue.

"I don't want it!" argued Harry as he started taking off the scarf. But his words fell on deaf ears as Marv was pulling off the earmuffs he had stolen and placed them on his head.

"Here, I got ya these too" he offered them to Harry.

Harry swatted his hand away. "I already have a hat, Marv!"

Marv, sensing that Harry was getting upset, timidly brought out the knitted gloves he'd gotten. "Mittens?" He said quietly. There was a hopeful note in his voice.

Harry rolled his eyes with a snarl. "Would ya forget the scarf and gloves already, Marv! We've got work to do!" He slapped the gloves out of Marv's hands. Marv stood there frozen in his spot, a nervous look on his face as he watched the gloves fall with a silent plop onto the ice at his feet.

He debated what to say next. He looked down at his hands and fiddled tensely. He had once again upset Harry and once again he was unsure how. He had only been trying to do something nice for him. Yet it seemed every time he tried to do something right, something went wrong. He knew Harry didn't like accepting help from others, but he had been sure he would accept a little bit of help from him; Marv Merchants, his partner in crime; his best friend; his lover. It seemed he had guessed wrong.

Marv licked his chapped lips and said, "Sorry, Harry. Just thought I'd help keep ya warm. I'd hate for you to come down with something."

Harry's expression softened slightly yet he said nothing more on the matter. "Come on. Get off that ice before ya kill yourself. And leave the stuff ya stole! We won't be needin' 'em after tonight."

Marv did as he was told and unwound the scarf from Harry's neck and left the earmuffs, gloves, and scarf on the concrete wall and carefully made his way off the ice to follow Harry.

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Author's Note: Yes, some of the dialogue came straight from the movie. But I figured that would be the best way to work with the scene. It's such a memorable scene, not to mention important on what these two will be doing throughout the rest of the story. So, I admit, some dialogue does not belong to me. So, nobody come chasing after me angrily. I admit it. But everything else is my idea (except the characters of course). Enjoy! -EricaX