What is Normal? (Falsettos High School AU)

Paintings

- "I only wanted to see my face in yours."

A.N.// happy birthday to Andrew Rannells👏

     "Dinner's ready!" called Whizzer's father from downstairs. Marvin slowly made his was to the kitchen and sat down next to a young girl. She might've been twelve or thirteen.
     "Hey." She smiled at him. "You're Marvin, right? I heard your staying with us."
     "Uh, yeah. You must be Ilah."
     "Yup. How long are you staying?"
     "As long as he needs." answered Mr.Brown from the stove. "Now I hope you all worked up an appetite, because we've got a lot of food here." He made plates for everyone, filled with pasta and meatballs.
     "I can't stay very long, Dad." said Whizzer, shoving the food quickly into his mouth. "Cameron's picking me up soon. We're seeing a movie and then I'll be back." Marvin looked up at him, trying to catch his eye, but he was ignored.
     "What movie are you seeing?" asked Ilah.
     "He said it was a surprise." Whizzer winked and grabbed his phone. "Gotta run. I'll see you three later. Love you!" He ran for the door, and Marvin tried to get a good look at him through the window. Cameron was blonde, and looked like he was in decent shape, but he couldn't see much. He sat awkwardly with Whizzer's family for a few minutes, wishing he were going to the movies with him.
     "So you got kicked out?" Ilah asked, startling him a bit.
     "Uh, yeah."
     "Did you know your family was homophobic?"
     "I did, actually."
     "And you came out anyway?"
     "Ilah." her dad interrupted, but Marvin shook his head.
     "It's fine. I ended up coming out because my grandfather got everyone into this huge fight, and he was calling all gay people gross, so I asked him if he thought I was gross. Then my dad kicked me out, because he couldn't accept that." Marvin looked over to Whizzer's father. "Thank you again, Mr.Brown. For letting me stay."
     "It's no problem buddy. We've got a guest room you can sleep in."
"So what do you do for fun?" asked Ilah.
"I play in the marching band at my school, but that's about it. Uh, I heard you play softball."
"Oh yeah! It's really great. I also take art classes, and I won second place in a state competition." she beamed. She reminded Marvin of Whizzer, how excited they both got when they were passionate. It made him smile.
"That's really impressive."
"I have some paintings if you want to see. Oh." She looked over at her dad. "If we can be excused."
"Go ahead. She really is talented, Marvin." He followed her upstairs into her room where he found an entire wall with her paintings. She was really amazing.
"Guess you and your brother both have artistic passions." he said absentmindedly.
"Yeah, I guess. Speaking of my brother, I have one of him." Ilah pointed to a large canvas on the wall. The painting was incredibly realistic, and part of Marvin wanted to take it.
"That's a really great picture, Ilah. I can really see you going places with this." She looked up at him, smiling.
"Thank you. I'm glad you like it." The two talked for hours until they decided to go to bed. Marvin was glad he'd have a break from school for a little while. Unfortunately, it was difficult for him to fall asleep. He couldn't help but think about Whizzer, and about Cameron. What does he have that I don't? he thought. He can't be that great. You love Whizzer, too. And he'll see that again. Eventually. He didn't fall asleep until around 1:00 am, and once he finally woke up, he still felt tired. Marvin heard Ilah and Mr.Brown talking downstairs, but he couldn't hear Whizzer, which wasn't surprising. He knew Whizzer wasn't an early riser, but he noticed something else about their voices. They seemed panicked. Scared, even. Groggily, he slumped down the stairs, looking like a mess. Both Whizzer's sister and father turned towards him.
"Thank God, your awake." said Ilah. "Have you heard from Whizzer?"
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"He didn't come home. We don't know where he is and he won't answer his texts."
Marvin was wide awake now. "He didn't come home? I thought he was with Cameron. Did he just spend the night?"
"He would've told us. And he said he'd be home after. This has never happened before." He felt like he was going to vomit. Was he okay? Was he hurt? Why wouldn't he answer anyone?
"Do you know where Cameron lives?"
"No! I've been texting him since I found out he wasn't here, but he's not responding. I'm really worried."
"I'll check my phone. Maybe he sent me something last night." He ran back upstairs and checked his messages, and found three from Whizzer.

Whizzer: Can you pick me up? Cameron says he can't drive me back.

Whizzer: Please come get me.

The last text was a link to what was most likely Cameron's address. Marvin grabbed his phone and sprinted back down.
"He texted me last night to pick him up. I don't know why he wouldn't text you two, but he sent me an address. We can go get him there."
"Oh thank God." said Whizzer's dad, relieved. "Is he okay?"
"I.." Marvin thought for a moment. "I'm not sure. But I know where to find him." As they rushed into the car, he realized that the more he thought about his situation, the less sense it made. Why would he text me and not his father? Why wouldn't he try calling me? If he's still there, why didn't he just tell us he was spending the night? Marvin shook his head. I just hope he's alright.

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