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The thing is, it all started as a joke.
They’d been chilling in Terry, Josh, and Leo's backyard one perfect summer evening, a slight breeze coming in off the water taking off the worst of the heat. Ten or so of them, a group of college friends, sharing barbecued hamburgers and watermelon and IPAs. Leo had relaxed into his camp chair, his long legs stretched out in front of him, his flip flops kicked off. They had one year left before they had to start worrying about jobs and real life shit, and Leo felt the calmest he had in a long, long time.
He’d felt something land on the skin of his arm and went to slap it off, but Mary had stopped him, drawing his attention to the little ladybug that was crawling through the blond curls there.
“My momo always says that if a ladybug lands on you, that means you’re getting married next.”
Leo had laughed, but he hadn’t batted the little bug away. Their neighbors had an aphid problem and had recently released a bunch of ladybugs into their garden.
After another few seconds, the lady bug had taken flight, and both Mary and Leo had watched it buzz a few feet to land on a blissfully unaware Mav’s cheek. Mav’s boyfriend Jared had leaned over and brushed the lady bug off gently, but Leo and Mary had exchanged a look.
“You know what that means,” Mary had teased, poking him in the side with one of her bony elbows. “You and Mav are going to fall in lo-ove.”
“Shut up!” Leo had hissed, but Mav and Jared were already looking at them, so then he’d had to explain it all away as a joke so that Mav would get no clue as to his bone-deep crush on him.
The whole circle of friends had picked it up and ran with it, though, because apparently Leo was an easy target with his pale skin that reddened easily.
“When’s your husband coming, Leo? He’s bringing the keg.”
“Where’s your better half?”
“Hey, can you give this to Mav for me when you see him at home?”
Boyfriend Jared had come and gone, along with a few other boyfriends for the both of them, but the joke had stayed, even after graduation and the friend group had gone to separate towns - Mav end up in Portland and Leo in Seattle.
The thing was, Mav had never once protested, treating the joke with grace and humor. It could be a bit of a litmus test for their partners: you have to be cool with the joke or you’re out on your ass. And over time, Leo’s crush on Mav lessened to a dull annoyance at the back of his mind, only reawakened by the stupid dreams his brain would serve him up every once and awhile of Mav taking him apart piece by piece, slowly, methodically, until Leo would wake up achingly hard and cold at the sudden departure of the love and warmth dream Mav had given him. And living in separate cities, Leo barely hears the joke anymore anyway, except when a group of them manage to get together. He hasn’t actually seen Mav in probably two years.
So it’s a surprise to see Mav’s name pop up on his phone one afternoon on his post-work run. Leo taps his watch to send the call to his ears, then slows to a walk so his panting won’t be horrible.
“Hey, Mav, what’s up? Everything okay?” Leo wipes sweat off his brow, the millennial worry at actually being called leaping up inside him.
“So…not really, but I can’t really get into that right now. I’m, uh…here.”
“Here? Where?” More alarm flares up in Leo’s stomach.
“At the train station. I can, um, I can catch a bus to get closer to your place but I didn’t remember which neighborhood you’re in, and I’m not-” He cuts himself off, a quick intake of breath that sounds like a gasp holding back a sob.
Leo’s already turning around to head back to his parking garage. “Mav, are you safe? Can you wait like twenty minutes? I can be there in twenty minutes.”
“I don’t want to put you through the trouble…”
“Hey, don’t say that, I’m always available to come pick up my husband.” The joke is lame, but justified when Leo hears Mav’s little laugh through the phone.
“I’ll, um, I’ll be waiting here.”
“Be right there.”
He doesn’t even take the time to change out of the running gear, just heading downtown as quickly as he can, taking any side street available to cut through as much traffic as possible. It’s still more like forty minutes, the winter sun dipping below the horizon on his way downtown turning the air cold, and Leo feels awful for making Mav wait in it. Still, there are no texts from Mav demanding to know where he is, so Leo’s heart clenches in relief when he sees Mav sitting on one of the benches outside the train station, no visible luggage, his head in his hands.
“Mav! Hey, I’m parked in an iffy place so we should-” Leo cuts off when Mav flinches at the shout, then looks up at Leo with a spectacularly black eye. “Oh my god, what happened?”
“The trash doesn’t like to take itself out,” Mav murmurs, pushing up to his feet with a wince. “Or maybe I’m the trash, and I took myself out.”
It’s hard to read between his words, but Leo frowns, opening up his arms to let Mav come to him for a gentle hug. “You’re never trash, Mav. I’m not sure what this is about, but you’re not.”
Mav leans into him, then just as abruptly steps away from his arms, his eyes shuttering up again. “Thanks for coming. You, uh, said we need to get going?”
“Yeah, sure, I’m in the five minute parking. Do you have anything?”
“Just what’s on me.”
“You hungry?”
Mav shakes his head, stepping in beside him as they start to walk to the car in silence. Leo can’t help himself, though, when they’re getting buckled into their seats. “Did you report it to the police?”
“The police are useless, especially in Portland,” Mav scoffs, and Leo concedes the point, but-
“Still, if it’s a hate crime-”
“It was my boyfriend. Former boyfriend. They’re not going to care.”
Leo lets it drop as he maneuvers out of the parking space and back into the Seattle traffic. “I’m glad you came to me,” he finally says. “I’m glad you felt comfortable coming to me.”
Mav glances his way, then reaches his hand over to grip Leo’s on the steering wheel. Leo drops his hand, tangling their fingers together instead and squeezing Mav gently.
“What’re husbands for?” Mav offers, a small, sad smile gracing his lips.
“Exactly.” Leo lets himself put aside any of the logistics that are running through his brain and focuses instead on Mav and this moment. It may not be what he was expecting when he woke up this morning, but he’s glad he can be here for Mav now.