Moving from friendship in partner territory: If your friend displays these traits, it means they want more.
Does wealth equal happiness? Darius Holt to answer this age-old question and many more in upcoming live interview!
After their first visit together to Marlowe's apartment, Maya invited herself over for the next couple days with the excuse of finishing the presentation ready to go. But she did not need it. She and Marlowe got along so well that it was impossible to tell they had met only three days ago. The two of them had already bonded like besties, and they often threw around phrases Sario had no context for in the middle of work. Maya would be adding information to the opinion slide and then randomly ask Marlowe his opinion on some sort of thing that had Marlowe turning around at his desk and answering her with a small smile on his face.
Sario was sick of it. He felt like the third wheel, and he hated the feeling so much that he would have thrown a fit if he was not 20 years old and in literal college. Finally, he muttered, "Can you two just stop? I'm trying to work over here."
Maya glanced at him with a smile that said she would be even more annoying.
But Marlowe sobered instantaneously and nodded, pushing his chair back around with one foot. He went back to whatever he had been hacking and did not respond to any more of Maya's questions other than with simple answers that discontinued the attempted conversation. It was weirdly…respectful.
And, of course, Sario's brain interpreted it as hot. Because what else would his traitor brain do to him precisely when he needed to focus? After that, he and Maya worked peacefully as they finalized their presentation, adding last minute information and going over who was taking which slide. Sario was so focused on the task at hand in order to drive out disrespectful thoughts that he almost did not notice when Marlowe stiffened. But his peripheral vision caught it and sent him on high alert. He half-stood. "Hey, Marlowe? You okay?"
No response. Marlowe just sat frozen in his chair, staring at the screen as if he was hypnotized.
Sario exchanged glances with Maya and then cautiously made his way over to Marlowe's side. Before touching Marlowe or attempting to communicate again, he read the article pulled up.
It was a standard political announcement saying that Diego Paolo had been elected as senator for their state. How was that triggering?
Sario carefully laid his hands on Marlowe's shoulders. "Hey," he said again softly. "Can you look at me?"
Marlowe shuddered and lifted his eyes to Sario's face.
"What's going on?" Sario wanted to run when he saw tears building in Marlowe's eyes. What in the ever-loving fuck was happening?
Marlowe was shivering like he was freezing, his wide, wet eyes locked on Sario's face like it was the only thing keeping him alive.
Sario glanced at Maya, who caught the meaning in his look and quickly packed up her stuff and left. Then he turned his attention back to Marlowe. He turned the chair away from the monitor and crouched down in front of the hacker. "Can you tell me what's going on?"
Marlowe's hands clenched in his lap, and it seemed like he was not going to answer for the longest time. Then he said very, very quietly, "Paolo…I-I know him. H-he hurt me…in the past, b-but he's n-never stopped looking for ways t-to do it all again."
Sario felt his heart shrivel up in horror. Hearing Marlowe stutter, seeing him like this, made Sario want to hire an assassin to murder the newly-elected Senator Paolo, even if it was highly illegal and very likely to end with him in federal prison. "You're scared he can actually get to you now that he's got more power and money."
Marlowe nodded frantically, his fingers turning white from the pressure he was exerting on his dark sweatpants. "He'll find me." Those three words were said in the closest thing to a whimper Sario had ever heard out of Marlowe's mouth. Then his hands were in his light brown hair, yanking at the roots like the pain was the only thing keeping him sane. His eyes had a crazed look in them. "Again! It's all going to happen again!"
Sario did the only thing he could think of to stop Marlowe's panic spiral. He hugged him. Hard. It was what Noah had told him to do if he was ever with someone in emotional distress, so he did it without even a second thought.
Marlowe's breath stopped for a couple seconds, and then he was hugging Sario back so tightly that Sario was sure his ribs were about to crack. His fingers dug into Sario's back, and Sario could feel the fingernails through the fabric of his shirt and sweatshirt. Hot wetness hit Sario's shoulder, and he realized, a bit belatedly, that Marlowe was crying. Hard.
Sario murmured little phrases he hoped were comforting, but he had never comforted anyone other than Maya before, so he had no idea if he was saying anything remotely comforting.
But, after several minutes, Marlowe did calm. He pushed back off Sario, scrubbing at his eyes with his hoodie sleeve. He looked absolutely ashamed of himself.
Sario rested a hand on Marlowe's knee. "What can I do to help? You know my family's influential and powerful. We can help you."
"Not legally," Marlowe whispered, drawing his hands back into the oversized blue sleeves of his hoodie. "I'm not legally your brother's employee. I'm not technically connected to your family at all. Helping me would draw Paolo's attention rather than forcing it away." He suddenly sat up straight as if struck by a bolt of lightning. His eyes focused on Sario again, hard and intense. "Unless we drew his attention but at the same time made me untouchable."
Sario raised an eyebrow. "And how would we go about doing that?"
Marlowe swallowed hard. "You marry me."
There was a long silence in which Marlowe flushed and Sario contemplated dying.
Then Marlowe started talking really quickly, like he had to get all his reasoning out immediately. "I mean, then I'd be legally part of your family and it wouldn't be strange if you helped me with Paolo if he tried to make a move. It wouldn't be anything serious, just a contract marriage that we pretend is real out in public for like a year or so or until we can get Paolo out of power."
Sario squeezed Marlowe's knee to stop the torrent of words. "Okay, okay. I understand." He took a deep breath, wondering why he suddenly felt dizzy. "Lemme call Darius, okay? He needs to know what's going on, too."
After a moment Marlowe nodded, his eyes staying fixed on Sario as he pulled out his phone and called his brother.
Darius picked up after the second ring. "Sario? What's up?"
"Can you come to Marlowe's place? There's something pretty serious going on."
Darius paused, and then there was the sound of his office chair rolling back. "Got it. I'm coming. Be there in about fifteen, okay?"
"Okay." Sario hung up and slid the phone back into his pocket. "Let's sit on the couch, okay?" he said, guiding Marlowe out of the desk chair and over to the couch. Once they were there, Marlowe tipped his head back and stared at the ceiling in silence for all fifteen minutes before Darius arrived.
Sario got up to let Darius in and then returned to his seat on the couch beside Marlowe.
Darius grabbed Marlowe's desk chair and sat down opposite the two of them, unbuttoning his navy suit jacket. "Okay, what's going on?"
Sario waited to see if Marlowe would talk.
Marlowe lowered his head, took one look at Darius, and just crumpled into the sobbing mess he had been earlier.
Darius' eyebrows shot up, and he seemed at a loss for what to do.
Sario shushed Marlowe, patting his shoulder and hair and doing everything he could so the one person he had been sure had only one emotion – anger – would stop crying. "It's okay," he whispered. "Darius is here to help. It'll all be fine."
After a few more sniffles, Marlowe pulled himself together. "Sorry," he said in a hoarse voice. "It's just…I'm just overwhelmed."
Darius nodded, looking relieved that he did not have to deal with the super emotional Marlowe. "Okay…so what's going on?"
Marlowe did not mince words. "I need to marry into your family."
Darius' jaw dropped. "Um, what?" He sounded like he had just gotten hit in the face with a brick.
"I need protection, and your family is my only option."
Darius ran a hand over his face. "Hold on, let me get this straight. You" – he pointed at Marlowe – "want to marry him" – he pointed at Sario – "who you've expressed nothing but hatred for because why exactly?"
Marlowe crunched himself into a ball on the cushion. "Because it's the only way," he whispered.
Seeing that his brother was still very lost, Sario explained as concisely as possible. He expected Darius to be surprised, but he did not expect Darius to get angry for Marlowe.
Darius' eyes narrowed the moment Paolo's name left Sario's lips, and he began to seem strangely on board with Marlowe's plan.
When Marlowe whipped out the pleading puppy eyes from god knew where, Sario knew it was over. It was not bad. He liked Marlowe, liked him a lot. Did he like Marlowe enough to marry him? Well…maybe.
Darius sighed. "Yeah, okay." For some reason, he felt very much like a judge giving the death penalty. "Let me text one of my lawyers and have him draft a contract." Darius was agreeing? Oh, shit. Darius pulled out his phone. "Contract arrangement…" he muttered under his breath as he typed. "Sario Gabriel Holt…" He glanced up at Marlowe. "What's your full legal name?"
Marlowe stared down into his lap. "Augustine Lucas Marlowe."
Sario turned his head so quickly he heard it pop. "Your first name is Augustine?"
Marlowe curled up even tighter. "My family's fucking Catholic."
"Oh. Sorry." Why had Marlowe's reply made Sario feel so horrible? Was he already that invested?
Darius glanced in between them. "You know what? With the way you two are interacting, I think you can totally sell this fake couple stuff."
"Joy," Sario grumbled. "I always wanted to be an actor."
Darius raised his eyebrows. "Really?"
"No!" Sario snapped, feeling his patience fray. "It's sarcasm!"
Darius rolled his eyes and returned his attention to his phone. "You're impossible." Silence reigned for a few minutes until Darius printed the contract and brought it and a pen over to the couch. "Read it over and mark anything you want changed."
Sario did, half-watching Marlowe as he did the same. After a few corrections, the finalized contract sat in front of them.
Marlowe was the first one to grab the pen and sign his name at the bottom of the third page.
Sario accepted the pen from him and signed carefully, making sure his shaking hand did not affect his signature.
Darius signed as the witness, snapped a picture, and sent it back to the lawyer to notarize and file. He grabbed the contract. "I'll take this to make some copies." There was an awkward pause. "You're lucky Mamá likes planning weddings, Sario, cause this is going to be one hell of a headache."
Sario nodded, feeling oddly empty. "I'll tell her."
"Don't bother. I already texted her." Darius stood up. "Alright, you two. I'll see you both tomorrow, since that's probably when Mamá will want to meet this new fiancé-slash-husband of yours. Dad, too. Better get a ring, make it look official." Without another word, he left the apartment, leaving Sario and Marlowe to sit in the gravity of the decision they had just made.