"So Marvin's gonna be staying with us for a while right?" Austin asked his dad as he helped put him in bed. "Yeah buddy, he's gonna be with us for a while, and me and your mom want you to treat just like you would treat your sister alright" Joel instructed his son, his tone serious, completely different from the jovial tone he had during dinner.
"Awesome, he's so cool," Austin said, he was already thinking about the fun he would have with Marvin, Austin's excitement made Joel look at his son with a smile. "Goodnight Austin" Joel kissed his son's forehead and left his room.
In Brooklyn's room, a similar conversation was going on between Brooklyn and Olivia. "So how long is he going to live with us?" Brooklyn asked her mother, a hint of annoyance could be heard in her voice.
"For now, he's going to be here for a decent amount of time and I want you to treat him like he's a member of this family" Olivia instructed her daughter, she knew that Brooklyn was not happy with the decision that she and Joel made but she was not going to go back on it.
"Why do we have to, it's not fair, I have to go to school with him too. It's freshman year, and now I gotta be his babysitter, MOMMM people are gonna make fun of me" Brooklyn complained to her mother. Olivia could only look on with a sad smile, she understood her daughter's frustrations, she was a growing teenager and to her popularity was currently everything.
"Brooke, I understand, but he needs a place and a family and we have decided to be the ones that provide that for him. So I'm going to need you to be a big girl and help him, please Brooke" Olivia said to her daughter, she was trying to get Brooklyn to sympathize with Marvin's current situation.
Brooklyn looked at her mom, the puppy dog eyes she had were making her relent, "Fineeee, just let me go to bed" Brooklyn said. Olivia chuckled at her daughter's actions, "Thank you, Brooke, love you" Olivia kissed her daughter's forehead and headed out of her room.
Stepping into the hallway, Olivia met up with Joel, they exchanged a look of worry and exhaustion between themselves, "Tonight wasn't so bad" Joel said as they began to make their way downstairs.
"Depends on your definition of bad, he probably thinks we're some pretentious rich people," Olivia said, worry was clearly evident in her voice, she wanted Marvin to feel welcome in her household and be comfortable.
Joel gave his wife a side hug, he could understand her worry after all he also wanted Marvin to feel comfortable but above all he wanted his wife to not be stressed. "It's alright, it wasn't that bad of a first impression, and tomorrow is gonna be a new day to make a better one, so don't worry," Joel said, trying to make sure his wife's worry was placated.
"I know Joe, I just want things to go right, you know," Olivia said, they had made their way to their bedroom now and Joel was still hugging her. "You know this is why you are such a great man," Olivia said.
"Oh I thought it was my money and riches that made me good," Joel said with a chuckle, Olivia smiled at his joke, she knew he was trying to get her mind off tonight and onto something else.
"Please, the little money you have is not impressing anybody" Olivia joked as well, the couple continued with their jokes as the night went on, helping one another relax and forget about the night.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Hey Marvin, how you doing baby" A white woman was ruffling Marvin's hair as he lay down in bed, her brown hair shielded her face from view. She didn't show any dangerous intent to Marvin, she was just affectionately brushing his hair.
'Who?' Marvin woke up due to the voice he heard, he saw the the woman that was brushing his hair. A smile was present on her face as she looked at Marvin's eyes. "Who are you? Marvin asked
"No Marvin, no questions, let's just enjoy our time" The woman refused Marvin's question just simply brushing his hair. Surprisingly Marvin didn't feel uncomfortable with the woman's presence, it was actually the opposite, he felt at peace with her brushing his hair.
*BANG* A loud bang was heard on the door, jerking Marvin's head up. "Ah time's up, see you later Marvin," The woman said as she got up and began heading to the door. *BANG* The door was opened and in came Marvin's father, his eyes blood red.
"Fuck me," Marvin said out loud as he understood what would be happening next, the lady walked past Marvin's dad, but she paused before she completely left the room. "You look good Marvin," The woman said, her voice a bit shaky as she left the room.
As soon as she left the room, Marvin's dad ran and lunged at him while he was on the bed. Marvin tried to fight back but his arms seemed to be falling into the bed, and his legs were seemingly stuck. His father was beating him up, and the walls in the room were starting to enclose as well.
Marvin could do nothing, the walls were getting closer and closer, and the punches from his father were getting harder and harder. *BOOM* All of a sudden a booming sound was heard, Marvin was becoming more and more disoriented, his father was now choking him and a knife was now in Marvin's hands.
Marvin knew how the story was going to play out, his hand placed a knife in his father's stomach, *BOOM!!* the sound was getting louder and louder. Marvin's father began choking him even harder, and Marvin's consciousness was slipping, "I HATE, I HATE YOU," Marvin's father said with venom, as he choked his son harder and harder.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*Knock* Marvin woke up, someone was knocking on his door. Marvin was disoriented, he had a headache and whoever was repeatedly knocking didn't help.
"Yo Marvin, Marvin" Austin entered Marvin's room, he was in a blue shirt and black shorts, 'For Pete's sake' Marvin thought to himself as he saw the excited Austin in front of him.
"Dude wake up, I gotta show you something," Austin said, bubbling with excitement, despite it being six in the morning, Austin's energy seemed to be at full capacity. 'Fuck me, this can't happen every day' Marvin thought to himself, he wouldn't be able to deal with an excited seventh grader being his alarm clock every day.
"Dude Come on" Austin came over to Marvin and began dragging him out of bed, Marvin didn't resist Austin's pulling and allowed himself to be pulled. He was led to the garage where there were three cars, a Mercedes G-wagon, a Corvette Zo6, and a Toyota Camry.
"Check this out" Austin led Marvin to the side of the garage, where two go-karts could be seen. "Dad got them last week for my birthday, aren't they cool," Austin said as he took a seat in one of the Karts.
'Ain't no way he woke me up for karts' Marvin was annoyed, sure the karts looked cool with the flames on their sides, but Marvin was woken up early and he was still thinking about the dream Austin had woken him from.
"We should take them out today," Austin said, seemingly lost in his own world. Marvin said nothing, simply letting the boy have his fun imagining himself racing the karts. "HEY, WHO'S IN THERE" A loud voice was heard approaching the garage.
Austin was instantly snapped out of his imaginary world, his father was heading towards them. "Shit Dad woke up" Austin was panicked but Marvin still remained calm, his face remaining expressionless. 'It's only day on' Marvin thought to himself, it was just his first day in this house and he was already going to get in trouble.
"Austin? What the heck are you doing?" Joel opened the garage door and saw Marvin and Austin standing around the go-karts he just bought. "Hey Dad," Austin said cheekily, he had a wry smile.
"Dude it's six in the morning, get back to bed," Joel said, annoyance in his voice, he had thought someone had broken into his house only to just find out it was simply his son and Marvin. Austin wasted no time following his dad's orders, quickly rushing out of the garage and heading back to his bedroom, abandoning Marvin.
'Motherfucker' Marvin thought as he saw Austin completely abandon him with Joel. "He force you to come down here with him?" Joel asked Marvin, but he already knew the answer, he knew how impulsive his son could be. Marvin nodded yes at Joel's words, causing him to sigh.
"I'm sorry about him" Joel apologized, allowing Marvin to head back into the house, "You want something to eat, we're already awake anyway" Joel offered some food for Marvin, he was using it as a way to apologize and as a chance to know Marvin better.
Marvin didn't see any negative to accepting Joel's offer, 'Good food's never bad' Marvin thought, heading to the kitchen with Joel. "Anything you wanna eat, waffles, pancakes, eggs, bacon?" Joel listed out breakfast options for Marvin.
"Waffles" Marvin said, his voice deeper and more gruff since he had just woken up. He wanted waffles due to an ad he had seen while in juvie, 'They made that shit seem good'.
"Alright waffles it is, Austin's gonna be happy with your decision," Joel said as he began to bring out the ingredients to make homemade waffles. "You mind helping me pour whisk some eggs?" Joel asked, pointing to the carton of eggs he brought out of the fridge.
Marvin agreed, disagree would just make him look like an asshole to Joel, and that would create unnecessary problems. He opened up the carton but then he stumbled upon a problem 'How many eggs?'
Joel saw Marvin pause at the egg carton and quickly realized what happened, "eight eggs" he said. The both of them then began making waffles in complete silence, the silence was killing Joel but he understood that Marvin would talk to him when he was ready.
"Why are you doing this?" Surprisingly Marvin was the one who broke the silence, Joel was surprised but he quickly took his opportunity to engage Marvin in conversation. "What do you mean?" Joel asked.
Marvin didn't respond to his question, he simply looked at Joel with his expressionless face. "You don't gotta look at me like that" Joel chucked at Marvin's face, "We want you here 'cause we want to help someone out, but we're not pitying you, we just think that you deserve an actual chance at life," Joel said.
Marvin listened as Joel talked, but he wasn't completely convinced by Joel's words, 'Why not just donate to a charity, why take on a troubled kid' Marvin thought to himself. "We could've donated to a charity but Liv thought that this would have a larger impact on an individual" Joel answered Marvin's thoughts, like he could read his mind.
"I hope he didn't force you to come and make you cook with him" Olivia's voice was heard, she headed to both Marvin and Joel, in a gray fuzzy bathrobe.
(A/N: Hey, I've seen the responses for Marvin's position and I appreciate the comments. Sorry if you guys are bored with the pace right now, but please stick with it, football's gonna be starting soon and we'll be getting some action. Thank you for the powerstones as well. Like usual, comment your thoughts about the chapter, and have a nice day or night.)