Nothing Comes of the Songs People Sing, However Sorry They Are

by MitchieSawyer

Summary:

Post-Echo/Post-Moon Knight: Sometimes you can just find out too many things all at once. You have an ancient ancestral power. Your sort-of-one-time boyfriend ditched you for London because there’s another guy who technically owns his body who might be in love with the other guy who lives in the body with your sort-of-one-time boyfriend and, oh right, they also have a not-quite-ex-wife on top of the god you already knew was calling some of the shots.

Maya Lopez should have stayed in Oklahoma.

Or

The possibility of Jake having a life outside the System before Cairo raises all kinds of questions for Marc, Steven, Layla, and every combination therein.

Notes:

This was initially conceived as a fun piece of fluff, but me being me, it became a deep dive into the resulting-existential crises in a post-Cairo Moon Knight world with bonus Maya Lopez!

Everyone is trying their best here, but everyone is also ultimately saying some not great stuff to one another. I may call this out a little more in subsequent parts, but I do want to emphasize that I don't think anyone is being unreasonable given the circumstance they're in.

ASL is identified with italics. For characters who are only semi-fluent, the character format will switch back and forth between what is only vocalized vs what is signed.

Chapter 1: Chapter 1

She couldn’t stay in Tamaha.

She also couldn’t stay in New York.

Maya wasn’t sure what had really made Kingpin pack up and leave, or what the true nature of that power she had tapped into was, but she doubted she’d be welcome with a red carpet if she stepped back into his territory. Even if he was going to leave her be, she had enemies on the other side of the game, too. Daredevil would no doubt be all too happy to go at it, and, well, she’d always held her own against him, but she’d always had backup, too.

As alone as she had felt since her father died and as much peace as she had made with her family in Oklahoma, she felt as though she had less of a home and less of a purpose than ever before.

She’d asked Henry for one last favor before she left town, knowing he could track contacts well enough even those farther flung than Fisk’s immediate circle. 

Maya had gotten used to people not coming back. 

A part of her hadn’t wanted to go looking for Jake. People who didn’t come back usually fell into two groups - people who didn’t want to come back and people who were dead. 

She wasn’t totally prepared for either outcome when it came to Jake. Our bullshit has sent us to different parts of the world was a much more comfortable place to be.

Still a semi-reputable contact of Henry’s had Jake pinned in London, living in a flat and working in a bookshop - details that didn’t jive with the person Maya had known in New York.

Jake hadn’t been like Maya, though. 

Maya was somewhere between an assassin and an enforcer for Fisk. She collected on payments. She shut down the competition. She made sure problems went away. Making problems go away meant she snapped a lot of necks - literally. She and Jake had that in common. He was probably supposed to be snapping her neck and vice versa.

But game recognized game or some bullshit like that, and, for a while, they had a sort of uneasy truce as they passed one another late in the night.

Somehow her jamming the blade from her shoe into his thigh and him managing to get a shot off that skimmed her arm turned into foreplay. 

“Why the hell are you following us?” 

Maya didn’t catch the words. She had let herself get distracted, missed the subtle tells that Jake was about to turn around. She expected a lecture (or maybe a hug), but the second his eyes were on her, he was rushing towards her and slamming her up against the brick wall behind them. 

Maybe he had meant it the last time they saw one another and he ended it on no uncertain terms.

She tried to force hands away from her shoulder. She was pinned, which also meant communicating with anything beyond trying to kick him in the balls was going to be a challenge. She twisted in his grasp. She flinched as his eyes rolled back in his head. 

“Marc, now, stop that’s not…” 

Maya didn’t catch the rest. It was partly her own confusion - who the fuck was Marc?- but it was also the change in voice. The shape of his mouth was wrong, the way he formed words was different. British, she thought. The o’s were weird. Her brow furrowed and she tried to get out of his grasp again. This time it worked easily. She shoved him away. 

Jake? She used the name sign she had given to him a long time ago now - a letter ‘J’ crossed with the sign for traveling, a gift she’d given him after learning about Khonshu.

“Oh, oh, you…I see…I don’t…” The man in front of her - who was or wasn’t Jake, apparently - turned his head away. 

Maya walked over to him now, thinking she had the upper hand at least. She grabbed him by the chin to make him look at her. His eyes rolled into the back of his head again. She could feel the air between them, the way the person in front of her seemed to need a moment to catch his breath. His expression softened, a gentle hand coming to caress her cheek. 

“Maya, baby…the fuck…how are you here?” 

How am I here? What the fuck is going on?

Jake sighed, “Where to even start.” 

He took a step back, enough space to sign to her. He didn’t know much ASL. In truth, they communicated with a mix of ASL and mime that wouldn’t pass as sign language in any part of the world, but it had worked for them. In a world where Jake got a real life, he might have learned more. 

Are you okay? He signed. 

Maya laughed, Where to even start.

Jake Lockley didn’t do relationships.

Not with women. 

Not with men. 

Not with Marc or Steven or Layla or anyone else that crossed his path. 

He’d been pretty clear on that fact back in New York, but somewhere along the way it just became bluster. Maya was warm and soft in bed beside him, angry and hostile out in the field. The whole fucking thing was a turn on. He also knew she was in trouble even if she didn’t say it. 

He had wanted to take care of her.

He’d wanted to take her with him when he bolted. 

Too bad he was never fucking alone where he got to make that choice.

“The fuck, Jake?” 

Marc was glaring at Jake from the chrome hood over the stove. He’d brought Maya back to the flat because where else were they going to go? Jake sighed. He glanced back into the main part of the flat. Maya was looking around, but she wouldn’t be able to see his mouth if he was facing the stove. 

“What? Only Stevie was ‘sposed to have a life?” His eyes flicked up to meet Marc’s even as he was trying to look busy. 

“She works for Kingpin,” Marc countered. “She might have been in your life, but it’s not like I wasn’t there in New York just because I didn’t know about you or what you and her were getting up to, I knew who the players were. She’s trouble.” 

“More trouble than you?” Jake grit his teeth. “Just…we’ll talk. Just let me have some time. If you can keep Steven there with you tonight I’ll join you and we’ll talk.” 

“What are you gonna tell her? She saw all three of us.” 

“I’ll tell her the truth. She knows most of it. Just not the you part.” 

“What’s that mean?” 

“You told Layla ‘bout Khonshu. I told her. You lied about your mental health and so did I. It’s…just gimme a few hours. Por favor?” His eyes met Marc’s again and Marc could tell he meant it. None of them were great at handling, well, anything without dissociating. This whole thing could backfire. 

Marc gave a stiff nod.

“We’ll try not to scare her if you tap out.”

He smirked, “Yeah, you’re gonna scare Maya, sure.” 

Maya didn’t let herself think that she really knew Jake Lockley. He hadn’t really known her. It was the lives they led. Everyone was always at arms distance even when wrapped up together in bed. Hell, maybe especially when wrapped up together in bed. 

Still his apartment was…surprising. 

There were stacks of books everywhere and a large fish tank that had just three goldfish in it. She stopped next to the bed. She reached down to touch the ring of sand around it, checking to see that it was just sand. Maybe that was a Khonshu thing, she thought, brushing it off her hands. She picked up the ankle restraint turning to look at Jake who had only just turned around. She gestured to it. 

“Oh, um… sleep walking ,” He managed the right sign for sleep and the wrong sign for walking, but it was close enough that Maya nodded, albeit skeptically. 

Suddenly, they were standing in front of each other again, neither wanting to be the first to explain anything, neither wanting to face the time that had passed between them or any of the shit they’d done.

“Are you okay ?” Jake signed where he could, careful to keep his mouth where she could see it the rest of the time. They were usually lucky that neither of them were talkers. 

Maya gave a sort of shrug. 

“Is that more of a yes or more of a no ?” 

Yes.

“Are you alone?” 

Yes.

“Is it going to stay that way?”

She shrugged again. The look on her face made it clear to Jake that she wasn’t just being difficult. She probably didn’t know. 

“ Okay .” 

They both knew they needed a more detailed conversation, but Maya wasn’t being stoic just because of the language barrier between them. It was a lot for both of them. 

I have things to tell you. Things you’ll understand.

He didn’t catch every word she signed, but it was enough. He nodded, reaching over to tuck the piece of hair that framed her face behind her ear. 

“Cariño…”

Maya smiled. She didn’t know Spanish, but her father had. Henry did, though he didn’t speak it around her much. Maya could recognize the language from the shape of Jake’s mouth as he formed each consonant. Spanish looked different from English. The vowels were more consistent, the pronunciation more rhythmic. It made her think of Jake. 

His hand fell to her arm, tugging her close into a hug. He let his fingers run down her spine - a way of letting her know this would all be okay without having to say a word. Maya closed her eyes, learning close to Jake. She was still mad at him for bailing. She was still confused about what the hell was going on, but she had missed this. 

Jake pressed his forehead to Maya’s. His hand moved lower to her hip and then under her shirt. His thumb brushed over a scar he didn’t recognize. He frowned, but took a moment to kiss her, knowing that when they broke apart, they would have to deal with, well, everything.  

“What happened there?” Jake asked when there was distance between them again.

Bullet.

“Yeah, was looking for more information than that,” Jake rolled his eyes, but he reached for Maya’s hands. “There’s a rumor someone shot Kingpin.” 

Someone did , Maya pointed to herself for emphasis.

“Mierda,” He scrubbed a hand over his face. 

The alley…what was that?

“Marc and Steven,” Jake spelled their names carefully after he said them. Luckily, fingerspelling was the one thing he was really good at.

I don’t understand.

“Well…once upon a time M-A-R-C was a kid and some bad shit happened and then… he needed help. I helped him. ” 

Jake was kind of glad he’d never had to do the explaining before. His limited knowledge of ASL and his limited knowledge on how to actually talk about this shit left him at loss. How the fuck did you tell someone you cared about that you weren’t real? 

Maya took it all in as he explained it - the texting apps on their phones helping in the places where the language barrier proved too great. 

But you’re here with me now? You were there with me then? 

Jake nodded.

Okay. She paused. Can I stay for a while? 

Jake glanced over at the fish tank. There was no one there. He hoped he could avoid them for as long as possible. He was probably supposed to ask permission, but when did either of them ever actually ask Jake what he wanted. Maya was accepting him, for the moment. He wasn’t going to risk that. 

Yes, as long as you want .

It was harder to avoid Steven and Marc especially while sleeping. Jake used to be able to lock them out easily. He used to be able to hide himself away and places they didn’t know, but Cairo had changed everything.

They were both waiting, eager for answers, and Jake had stupidly let himself get comfortable in bed with Maya when he was hoping to function on caffeine for at least twenty-four hours to give himself a reprieve despite his promise to Marc. 

Marc looked ready to kick off. 

No surprise there, Jake thought. 

They wanted answers and Jake didn’t have a lot of choice on giving them.

“I was doing recon and shit. Khonshu wanted me to keep my ear to the ground on some things,” Jake shrugged. It hadn’t seemed like a big deal. “Maya was working for…” 

“Kingpin. She was working for Kingpin,” Marc repeated what he had said before. 

“It’s a long story. She’s not a bad person anymore ‘an we were being guns for hire for Bushman,” Jake countered. “We got close. She’s getting out of that life…I think. She just…I’m gonna keep her safe. I ain’t asking permission for that.”

Steven was quiet through most of what Jake said. That wasn’t unusual for Steven. It was far more Marc’s way of handling things to yell and huff and look annoyed. 

“When was the last time you saw her?” 

“No se,” Jake looked down at his lap. “Before Chicago, before the Shiva.” 

“Did you tell her goodbye? Was she expecting you to come back?” 

“Told her…it was something about not having the time or inclination to babysit her while she fucks up her life,” Jake took a shakey breath. “Told her to lose my number.” 

“Why?” Steven scrunched up his nose. 

“Cos she’s trouble,” Marc supplied. “She’s mixed up with bad people and Jake knows better than to bring that home.”

“Fuck you, Spector,” Jake growled. “All the danger you fucking bring. I take care of shit unlike some of us.” 

“Stop!” Steven held up his hands. “We’re not here to fight, and I will bloody well leave if you keep it up, which will be very uncomfortable for Maya, too. So let’s just take a nice deep breath.”

Steven looked at both Jake and Marc. He was fairly sure they were both holding their breath rather than take a deep breath just for the sake of being obstinate, but at least they weren’t shouting. 

“Why, Jake?” Steven pressed.

Jake’s eyes searched out Marc’s. 

“You remember how Khonshu used to look at Layla? We both knew he was looking for our replacement in other places,” Maybe it was wanting someone stronger, angrier, more committed, less broken, differently broken, who fucking knew? “He looked at Maya like that, too. You and me got the same instincts, hermano. So I cut and run to keep her safe, same as you with Layla.” 

“We’re not the same.”

“Fuck you.”

“Well, we had ten seconds of productive conversation. Well done, us,” Steven rolled his eyes. “Jake, we’ll hang back for now,” Steven could feel Marc glaring at him, but he ignored it. “I reckon we have some things to discuss, too. Just…please be careful. She does sound like she may be mixed up in trouble and I…I don’t know if I’m ready for more trouble.”

Jake did feel guilty about that. He knew Steven had been through it, more so than him and Marc. He nodded. 

“Sí,” He nodded. “I’ll talk to her. I won’t let trouble come here.”

“Thank you.” 

Jake was gone moments later, awake in the real world no doubt. The world around Marc and Steven shifted, a replica of the room Marc had grown up in, a place where he had been terribly unhappy while Steven had been oblivious. That was probably a metaphor for their whole ordeal, Steven thought.

“I have some questions.”

“For me?” Marc scoffed, arms folded annoyed.

“Yes, for you, you bloody muppet,” Steven frowned. There was some real anger behind his words and some real hurt. “When were we in New York?”

Oh, right…

Marc deflated. He had been too pissed off with Jake to actually realize that had also come out. They had been treating life before now as just three boxes - Chicago, Cairo, and London. Just once, Marc found himself wanting Jake’s secret to be the bigger problem, not Marc’s.

“I thought we lived in London with Layla at least since the wedding, since the military,” Steven sat down cross-legged on the bed. He looked small, scared in a way even though the conversation wasn’t frightening. It was more gaps, more things he’d been left out of. 

“We did. It was the Blip,” He explained. Steven knew about things that happened in the world even when he hadn’t fully lived through them like the Blip. “Khonshu wanted us in New York. No one really knew what the next move was, not even the gods. He wanted us near the Avengers and anyone else that might be looking into it.” 

“And you didn’t know about Jake?”

“No,” Marc said firmly, coming to sit on the bed with Steven. “I told you I didn’t. I thought in the Duat the other sarcophagus just had some traumatic shit in it. I’m not convinced it didn’t,” He added at a grumble.

“Okay, it’s just…there were a lot of lies.” 

Marc sighed, “I know.” 

“I know rationally that I didn’t…live…a whole lot,” Steven fidgeted with his hands, focusing on them rather than Marc. “That most of my memories are false, but…there just keeps being more.” 

Marc was quiet for a moment. He reached over for Steven’s hand. That happened more now - little touches, closeness that was starting to border on intimacy.

“I didn’t realize how much time I was missing either,” He admitted. “Just assumed Jake came out to fight and that was that. You deserve to live as much as possible. I mean it.”

“Then so does he,” Steven met Marc’s eyes.

“Yeah, I like admitting it less when it’s him.”

That made Steven chuckle. He let go of Marc’s hand, flopping into a hug that could easily be brotherly affection if he and Marc didn’t end up holding on just a little too tight and a little too long. 

It was hard to sleep well in a new place. Maya had noticed that there were about a dozen locks on the door, but she didn’t think that Jake was all that worried about it. He’d only locked one. She knew they could both hold their own in a fight, but noise wasn’t something that would wake Maya if trouble found them. In her own place, everything was connected to lights. She wasn’t going to sleep through trouble. 

She looked at Jake in the dark. 

He was out cold. She reached over to caress his cheek. He barely moved. She doubted trouble was going to wake him up either. She pressed a kiss to his bare shoulder. 

It was nice in its own way. 

If you ignored the weird sand and the ankle restraint and the nagging feeling some bounty hunter was going to catch up with her, it was almost peaceful.

A sliver of light from the hallway broke the spell. 

It was instinct for Maya to jump into action. A blade was safer than a gun in an apartment building. Maya might not be able to hear a shot being fired, but the neighbors would. Last thing they needed were cops. She was on her feet, knife in hand before the assailant made it fully inside the flat.

Layla had gotten in a few hours ago. 

She’d been calling Marc since the last hour of her flight. She didn’t always expect an immediate answer, but they were going on five hours. He’d have at least texted her back by now. The last time he’d stopped answering her, he’d run off to keep his secrets and to put himself in danger. 

It scared her.

There had been Steven then Jake. Who else could there be that they just hadn’t found yet?

It didn’t matter that she had a packet of divorce papers in her carry on that she was also planning to give to Marc.

Technically, she’d had those in her carry on for over nine months, but she didn’t want to think about that. A part of her was reconsidering those papers all the way around.

Getting pounced on by someone as soon as she stepped into Steven’s flat seemed to confirm that there was trouble. 

Chapter 2: Chapter 2

Notes:

Just a small warning that I alluded to last chapter - Layla is struggling with a lot of lies and a lot of information. She's going to say and do some stuff that isn't great, but Marc has done the same to her (and then some)

By the time the chaos of the fight pulled Jake fully awake after getting lost deep in their shared headspace, Layla had her armor out and Maya had her pinned to the floor with a blade to her throat.

¡Por el amor de dios! Jake sighed as he threw the sheet back from the bed.

“Layla! Put your hands up!”

“What?” Layla’s voice was an exasperated gasp.

“Please. She’ll stop fighting you once she knows you’re not trying to kill you.”

“She’s trying to kill *me*!”

Maya followed Layla’s eyes over her shoulder to where Jake was now standing. Apparently, that worked, too.

Get off her .

She was breaking in. Maya rolled her eyes knowing Jake didn’t know that sign and mimed a more charades-level version. Breaking. In.

Jake turned on the light, “She’s not breaking in , cariño” He shook his head, doing his best to repeat her signs with an emphasized not in the middle of the sentence.

Layla stopped actively fighting against Maya, but was still baffled by the situation. 

“Cariño? I was not breaking in,” Layla recognized sign language for what it was. She spoke deliberately at Maya assuming she could read lips “I have a damn key. He’s my husband.” 

Lip reading was an art, not a science. In the dim light, with an unfamiliar person, it was hard to pick up every word, but Maya got the last word.

Husband.

Her head snapped up to look at Jake. 

Husband?

“Surprise, you’re both wrong,” Jake grumbled, scrubbing a hand over his face. “I’m not her husband. I’m not Marc,” He added for Layla. “She’s with me, and she’s…”

“Insane,” Layla snapped, even as Maya put her knife away and got off of her, standing up with arms folded, glaring at Jake. 

“Skittish, and I’d watch the i-word around me and the boys,” He clenched his fists. He looked over at Maya. Yet again, he didn’t know how to start.

Maya just shook her head. She made a beeline for the door, grabbing her jacket on the way.

“Fuck…” Jake thought it best to let Maya go blow off some steam. She still had her phone. He still had her number. A part of him wanted to run after her, a part of him worried that he would never see her again. “Thanks a lot.” 

“I’ve been calling,” Layla countered. “No one was answering.” 

“Don’t answer Marc’s fucking phone when he’s off playing house in our brain with Steven,” Jake snapped. Layla bristled at that. 

“We were supposed to have lunch tomorrow.” 

“Yeah? I’m sure he would have showed up,” Jake looked for his own phone. “We don’t get in each other’s way. ‘S why he was giving me some space tonight.” 

“To do what exactly?” Layla wasn’t sure she really wanted the answer. 

“Maya’s an old friend. We were…catching up.” 

“In bed.”

“Yeah, none of your business what or where it was,” Jake shook his head, turning his attention to his phone. 

Come back. She’s Marc’s wife, not mine. Didn’t know she was coming. It’s complicated. I’m sorry I didn’t wake up.

Jake wanted to chase after Maya, but he also felt a headache coming on. He was the better man in a fight relative to Marc and Steven - at least in his own mind - but it didn’t mean he was any less impacted by their shared illness. He doubted Marc would be running after Maya if he showed up right now. 

He watched as the three dots appeared on his phone screen, suggesting she was replying. They seemed to linger for a long time before disappearing and returning again. 

That was never a good sign.

Can’t stay there when I don’t know who’s coming in and out. I’ll get a hotel. Tell you when I know where I am.

“Mierda,” Jake growled to himself. He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Fuck it,” He added, quickly typing. 

I’m gonna let Marc clean up his mess. I’ll text you. I’m sorry. I guess or whatever the fuck I’m supposed to say.

It wasn’t that Jake wasn’t sorry. He just wasn’t even sure if sorry was the right thing to be feeling.

He took a deep breath and let himself fall back into the headspace, letting Marc take the driver’s seat, not bothering to warn him because, frankly, Jake was pissed and it was always easiest to be pissed at Marc.

Jake always felt like an intruder even in their own mind. Marc and Steven had a bond that Jake didn’t think he could ever be a part of. Maybe that was okay. If they were brothers - and Jake did think of the two idiots as his brothers - it tracked that they wouldn’t have the same relationship. 

Still, it was hard to always be on the outside looking in, always be the one expected to have less or to be satisfied with what he got. Wendy used to say shit like that a lot about him. How ungrateful he was. How selfish.

“Sorry, I broke up date night.”

Steven was in Marc’s room, in Marc’s bed. It was all very innocent. Jake didn’t think it had veered anywhere past innocent, but that didn’t mean he was oblivious to how Steven was curled up in bed, pouting at the empty place that Marc had previously been. 

“Do you always have to be so rude after a switch, mate?” Steven rolled his eyes and sat up. “You know I don’t like being alone.”

Alone for Steven reminded him too much of the Duat. Whatever else may or may not have existed between him and Marc, whatever else Steven might have wanted, the alone bit was the biggest reason he rarely went far from Marc’s side - here or elsewhere. 

“Hey, I know. I’m the one that was trying to get Dylan to go out with you, case you forgot, hermano,” Jake smirked, but walked over to the bed, hoping Steven would at least take his company as a weak substitute for Marc. 

“That was for me, was it?” Steven worried his bottom lip for a moment, debating if he should add the next bit he was thinking. “Wasn’t for you?” 

Jake pretended to gasp, “No, purely selfless. Didn’t want you to be alone.” 

Steven fought the urge to grin. 

“She’s pretty.” 

“Who? Dylan?”

“Maya, you donut,” Steven threw one of the pillows at him, which Jake caught easily. 

“Yeah,” Jake knew she was pretty. Jake knew all the good things Maya was despite the blood on her hands. He thought she might know the same about him. That would make her the only person who saw the good despite everything. “Think that ship is in the process of sailing.” 

“Wot? Why?” 

“A few too many people in the mix,” He sighed. “Layla showed up in the middle of the night. Scared the shit out of Maya and then called me her husband.” 

“Oh…” Steven was quiet. “Layla’s back. That’s good.”

“Try it with a little less enthusiasm,” Jake raised an eyebrow. 

Steven liked Layla just fine. He liked her very much. As far as family went, he’d love to have Layla as a member of the family. 

But he knew Marc wanted other things. 

“I need to sleep for like a year,” Jake sighed. “You can go listen if you want all the dirt.” 

Steven hesitated.

He shouldn’t…

Layla had always liked adventure, but she knew that it came at a price. She had seen it with her father, even if his work had often been more aboveboard than her own. There weren’t a lot of roots one could put down when you lived her sort of life. Marc had seemed like the perfect partner. Someone who didn’t want to put down roots anymore than she did.

Layla had always thought they were running somewhere together. Now she was finding more and more that Marc had been running away from things that she hadn’t been allowed to know about. 

It was hard to see where it was ever a partnership. 

It was hard to see why she hadn’t served him the divorce papers yet even when the hurt kept compounding. 

“So she’s your girlfriend?”

“Jake’s girlfriend, maybe, I dunno,” Marc ran a hand into his hair tugging on it a little. He was too tired for this and frankly, he had no fucking clue what he was doing. “Don’t know that they use a lot of labels.” 

“But you had an affair with her while we were in New York?”

“No,” Marc’s frustration was edging on anger. “ I wasn’t doing anything. I never met her before she came to London, before yesterday. Knew her by reputation only in New York. It was Jake. Just Jake.”

“In your body,” Layla can’t quite get over that part. “In our bed?” 

“I don’t know,” Marc admitted. “I don’t even know what Jake knew about you.”

“Because you kept them shut out right along with me.” 

“You think it’s easy? You think I have so much control over it? I didn’t want to fuck our marriage up,” Marc meant that even as he knew he was also hoping she would bite the bullet and hand him divorce papers, put them both out of their misery. “Let’s not act like you didn’t kiss Steven.”

“That’s not the same.” 

“No? Cos he’s not me. Neither is Jake. If you’re gonna blame me for shit that Jake did while he was fronting, what you do with them is fair game,” Marc stopped himself there. If he didn’t calm down, Steven was going to find himself thrown into this fight and that wouldn’t be fair. He also knew it was a pretty shitty stance to take. “It’s done. Do we really need to argue about it? If you blame me, it’ll all be solved with the same thing, right? We end it. We stop doing this.” 

“You’re a fucking coward.” 

“Yep.” 

Layla started for the door, gripping the door knob with more force than was probably necessary. She turned around ready to keep the fight going. She and Marc had been good at that. Shouting at each other wasn’t exactly their love language, but it was a good way of having it out and moving past whatever they were mad about.

But Marc was looking at the fish tank, stoically. Suddenly Layla wondered: were they even alone now?

“When we left Cairo, I knew there were three of you,” She said softly. “I don’t think I realized what it meant that there were three of you.” 

She’d imagined some fairy tale where she had her husband back. Steven and Jake were along for the ride in her head, but content to let Marc have his life, have a family. They were in the background, family certainly but ones that didn’t get a say in Marc’s life. 

She’d never actually imagined what it would be like for there to be three people with three lives where she counted for only a fraction of it.

“I don’t blame you. It is what it is. I shoulda told you the truth. I can’t change it. I can’t tell Jake or Steven, they don’t get lives too.”

“A doctor…”

“No,” Marc’s voice was tight. “I’m willing to try to talk to you more about this, about everything, but…no. A doctor, a hospital, a cure, integration whatever the fuck they call it, it’s not on the table.”

“Why not?” 

“I won’t lose them,” Marc’s eyes flicked to the fish tank. Now, Layla knew they weren’t alone. 

“Right.” She turned back to the door heading out into the hallway. 

Steven was staring back at Marc from their shared reflection in the glass. 

“You wanna yell at me too?”

Steven shook his head, “I’m sorry.” 

“Why? Do you also have a secret girlfriend who might be mixed up with bad people who might try to murder Layla?”

“No, but not for lack of trying,” Steven smirked and it was enough to get a small laugh out of Marc. “I was really angry at first ‘bout you blowing up my life. A-and I would have liked it very much if our meeting could have involved fewer monsters.” 

“Me too, buddy, trust me,” Marc scrubbed a hand over his face. 

“But I don’t think Jake or I have ever really considered how our existence might be blowing up your life, mate. So I’m sorry that we’re a complication.” 

“You’re not,” Marc shook his head. “You’re the reason I’m not dead. Literally. Layla will come around to that…or she won’t. I don’t think us staying married is a good idea anyway.”

Steven was quiet, “What do we do if Jake wants to pick up with Maya? Leave and go with her?”

“He doesn’t get to just do that. We’ll figure it out together.” 

“Alright,” Steven believed him. “It’s just…we shouldn’t all end up alone. That doesn’t seem better or fair.” 

Marc wanted to tell him that they weren’t alone, that they had each other, but he realized that might not be enough for Steven or Jake even if it felt more and more like it might be for Marc.

Especially him and Steven.

“Layla mentioned doctors…” 

“And I said it’s not going to happen,” Marc shook his head. “She can’t just chuck us in a hospital like…”

“Like?” 

“...Dad. It was a long time ago. Where do you think our fun trip through the Duat came from?” 

“But…” 

“He saw me talking to myself one too many times. Once I was there I just…stopped. Kept you quiet. Apparently Jake behaved if he even existed then. We went home. I won’t ever let a fucking hospital split us up.” 

Steven was quiet a moment. 

“Do you ever wish they would? You could have your life back.” 

“No,” The answer came after a pause that was a little longer than Steven might have liked, but he still smiled, worries set mostly to rest. “I won’t lose you,” He repeated.

“We talked to each other? Back then?”

“Yeah,” Marc whispered. 

“Why’d we stop?” 

“So they wouldn’t hurt you,” It had been an endless loop of trying to protect Steven. Protecting Steven had always meant giving him up in Marc’s world. 

Maybe they were never supposed to co-exist.

It was a somewhat strange realization to recognize that after-Cairo, Marc was somehow the unofficial leader of their little System. He was expected to pick up a lot of pieces, to fill in the gaps, to atone for how he’d lied by omission and cut people out. Steven would probably point out that based on research and science it made sense. Marc would like to point out that anyone electing him to be the rational, useful member of a team was out of their damn mind. 

Still it put a certain amount of responsibility on his shoulders, responsibility that he was trying really hard to meet with some level of grace (or at least mild competence). 

Jake had tapped out last night and he wasn’t where Marc was able to easily reach. He knew at least through Steven that Jake was alright. Steven was suspecting a bit of a broken heart.

Under normal circumstances, Steven would be giving Marc what for for using his own fingerprints and own face to open Jake’s phone, but desperate times called for desperate measures, and it saved both an angry conversation about just whose face it was and an angry conversation about just whose face it was.

Maya seemed willing to meet up, somewhere public. Marc thought that was probably a good sign even if he was wary of why Jake was keeping quiet.

“Hey, um, I’m M-A-R-C, ” Marc had looked up some sign language videos on YouTube. He’d managed to pick up at least that much. He wasn’t sure how that boded for the conversation. 

Maya typed into her phone.

Jake told me about you. It’s the 21st Century. Text-to-speech is our friend. Maya could get by well enough without using tech most of the time, but now didn’t seem like the best time to risk a miscommunication. You’re the one with the wife.

Marc nodded, “That’s me. Should I…I could type?”

She shook her head. She wasn’t going to be that reliant on him. Maya wanted to watch his face. Body language was useful.

“I wasn’t expecting her to come back. Jake didn’t know or he would have warned you…or her…or everyone,” Marc sighed. 

Maya nodded, Fair enough.

That was easy, Marc thought, but then he supposed Maya and Jake were surely more casual than Marc and Layla were. 

Where’s Jake?

“Sometimes when we get overwhelmed we sort of…tap out for a while.” 

I kind of like doing that, too. I usually just leave the state or whatever. This is a different level.

Marc managed to laugh at that. She was funny. Hell, she talked like Jake. No wonder he liked her.

“I hear you’re the one responsible for the massive scar on my thigh I don’t remember getting.” 

Jake’s the one responsible. He’s the one with the slow reflexes , Maya looked pleased with herself. 

“I’m very much going to need every story you have about Jake’s slow reflexes to use against him,” He laughed. 

I’m no stranger to disabilities. Is this…what I think it is? Maya asked a little more seriously. 

“Yeah, DID. And, um, Jake definitely knew he was part of a System when he met you from what he’s told me, but I…I didn’t know about him. I don’t know what he knew about Layla or any of that,” Marc shook his head. “I don’t think he was lying to you.”

Maya nodded. Truth was she didn’t think he was lying to her either. She just wasn’t entirely sure what to make of the truth, either.

How did it happen? There’s a cause, right?

“My mom…When I was a kid something bad happened and then she started hurting me, real bad,” Marc swallowed hard. He never liked this conversation. “I couldn’t tell anyone and I was scared…so scared that my mind made up other people to protect me. Jake and Steven. Steven’s the British guy.”

He seemed nicer than you two. Maya smirked. It eased some of the tension.

“He is. And Jake was the one fighting the battles I couldn’t handle. I didn’t even know about that until recently. Whatever happened, he was probably honest with you about everything that mattered, with everything he knew, and now you know the rest.” 

It’s a lot of people to have in one hook-up . 

“Yeah. It was a lot of people to have in a marriage, but we’re figuring it out,” Well, the System was figuring it out. He and Layla…that was its own mess. “You can count on Jake if you wanna count on someone.” 

I can’t count on anyone.

“Me either. So you can really believe me when I say you can count on Jake. If you want something with him, if wants something…me, him and Steven will figure out how that looks on our end,” Marc thought he could make the same offer to Layla. It made him wonder why he wasn’t.

Marc felt like they’d put one fire out. Truth be told, he also felt better having talked to Maya for himself. He still had his doubts about her connections to Kingpin, but trouble didn’t seem to be the priority for her being here now.

“You mean all that back there?” 

Marc glanced in the shop window to his left. He reached in his pocket and pulled out an AirPod, sticking it in his ear. 

“Yeah, I meant it.”

“You’ve gone soft, Spector.” 

“You’re supposed to say thank you, Marc, that was very considerate of you.” 

“Nah,” Jake shook his head. “I’ll tell Steven. He can do the thanking for me.” 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” 

“Don’t play coy. Doesn’t suit you.”

Chapter 3: Chapter 3

Notes:

I decided to break the last chapter up because it got very long. Nothing plot-wise changed. I just realized I hadn't planned well.

Just reiterating my previous warning: Layla is struggling with the impact of DID on her marriage. She's a human being. Occasionally that may mean she's being a bit tough even with our soft beloved Steven.

Jake had a way of getting in Marc’s brain. Sure, technically it was also Jake’s brain, but that wasn’t what Marc meant. Jake was the one that had always been there watching, judging. Well, Marc assumed there was judgment. All the little jabs about Steven and him. It was easy to brush it off as some sort of big brother bullshit. Jake had a habit of calling them girls, mocking how close they were. Marc was smart enough to recognize it was meant to be endearing, if a bit sexist and dated and obnoxious. 

But he’d thought that was all it was.

Jokes about Marc and Steven braiding each other’s hair, about Steven needing cuddles, about Marc crying like a girl over some dumb shit. 

All of a sudden, it felt like there was some added winking and nudging about it. It was weirdly supportive, Marc thought, but it still implied something Marc wasn’t sure he liked.

Or at least something Marc wasn’t going to cop to. 

Layla suggesting he get help to get rid of Steven hadn’t helped. He understood fully that he was asking a lot of Layla, that asking her to function in some kind of polycule where there were technically two to three bodies but somewhere between four and five people depending on if they were counting Maya wasn’t wholly fair. 

Like Layla had said, she’d known there were three of him. She hadn’t realized what that meant. 

Still Marc felt unsure what to do with all of this information and all of these relationships. His go to move in a moment like this was to disassociate. But he couldn’t exactly do that now without it compounding his problems. 

He needed some help and the tiny support system he’d managed to build for himself was the one place he couldn’t turn.

Instead, he’d gone off to the library, hoping the trip wouldn’t wake Steven up just by virtue of being one of his happy places. He hadn’t wanted to use Steven’s laptop and have to deal with search history bullshit. He felt like a dumb, horny teenager trying to find porn without getting caught by his parents. 

Only his parents in this case was just Steven (and a little bit Jake). 

And the porn was some very questionable Google Searches: can alters fall in love with each other? Can one alter ruin another alter’s life if they make a move? Can an alter consent to a relationship with the original host alter? 

“You should Google if you two can have sex next.” 

Marc jumped at the sound of a voice from inside his own head. He was probably lucky that most people using public computers were sketchy at best. He closed the window and took his airpods out of his pocket, popping them in as he headed for the door. 

“This is your fucking fault.” 

“Mierda,” Jake scoffed. “You made him.” 

“Don’t say shit like that.” 

“It’s true.” 

Was it? How fucked was Marc if that was true? It was why he had been looking up stuff about consent. He wouldn’t abuse Steven. He wouldn’t turn into that person. 

“I don’t wanna feel this way about him. I don’t feel this way about you. I mostly want to punch you in the face.” 

“Mutual,” Jake laughed. “I’m your big brother. It would be weird if you wanted to fuck me.”

“If you’re my big brother, isn’t he my little brother?” 

“I really drove the car through most of our military-mandated therapy, didn’t I?” Jake sighed. “I’m a protector, right? I protect you from threats. I hit our darling mother back. I stab guys that needed stabbing. I got all the shit. Thanks for that.” 

Marc rolled his eyes, glancing at his reflection in a nearby window as they walked past it. 

“So what’s Steven then?” 

“Caretaker,” Jake offered. “He’s all nurturing and kind and cares about things. If there were more of us, he’d probably be a real mother hen.” 

“Worse than he is now?” Marc managed a weak joke and Jake laughed. 

“Yeah, I mean, I’m kinda glad it’s just the three of us. I don’t think I coulda tolerated more. You’re bad enough,” Jake smirked. “Steven takes care of you. That don’t mean he’s your brother.”

“Isn’t it worse, though? Okay, it’s not me lusting after a Randall replacement I made up, but…Some part of him is hardwired to care about people, to care about me. Can he really have a choice in liking me back if I…”

“Here’s a fucking novel idea, hermano. Why don’t you have this conversation with him instead of me?”

Steven had woken up alone in the flat around five o’clock in the afternoon. It didn’t look like any sort of disaster had happened, but apparently Jake and Marc had decided to take a break from the rest of the world because here Steven was, fronting all on his lonesome.

He couldn’t shake the feeling that Marc was mad at him or avoiding him or avoiding him because he was mad at him. There was a general theme of people being mad at Steven playing through his head.

That was probably from trauma.

He really didn’t want to think about that.

There were three phones sitting on the bedside table. It was easy enough to recognize Jake’s. He still insisted on keeping a burner phone in the form of an ancient flip phone even though he was using the phone all the time. Marc and Steven both had smartphones. They looked almost indistinguishable. Steven liked seeing them side by side. It made him feel safer. 

It was probably silly. 

He was going to be glad that no one else was listening right now.

Marc’s phone kept buzzing to the point that Steven finally went to see who it was. 

Layla.

Not really a surprise. 

Can I come over?

Sure.

Steven hadn’t thought much of it, if he were being honest. He knew Layla wasn’t terribly pleased about him and Jake at the moment, but he also hadn’t wholly accepted that it was a major catastrophe. In truth, Steven had blind spots when it came to certain feelings and emotions. If he ever did seek actual therapy, the role Wendy Spector and her abuse Marc played on Steven being such a people pleaser and so keen to be friendly would have made far more sense. 

If he had expected Layla to be pleased to see him instead of Marc, it hadn’t quite gone that way. 

“Jake said you don’t answer each other’s phones.” 

“Well, I suppose Jake doesn’t. I don’t make it a habit. I mean I was the one who called you before Cairo,” Steven frowned. “I didn’t think much of it. You wanted to come over. It’s my flat.” 

“Is it?” 

Steven bristled, “Yeah, it’s mine. It was mine first. My name’s on it.”

“Your name…” Layla scrubbed a hand over her face. “Right, because even before Cairo, Marc was making sure you had ID.” 

“I know how you feel about us. I heard the bit about doctors. Is that why you didn't want to see me? Just Marc?” 

“You were listening?” It wasn’t really an accusation. Layla had actually started to wonder where her private conversations with Marc started and ended. She wondered about Maya. Was she able to compartmentalize all of this? Layla couldn’t help but wonder if she stayed, if they tried again that it might lead to Steven being there when they were having sex, when they were talking about something she didn’t want him to know. Or Marc being with Maya, however inadvertently.

“Should I not be listening when someone is suggesting Marc should see a doctor to get rid of me?” Steven countered, folding his arms. He didn’t like this. He didn’t want to have this conversation, but a part of him was upset, a part of him was scared, and a part of him was jealous. None of that made for even Steven Grant biting his tongue.

“I didn’t mean that.” 

“Sure, you did. So you can be angry that I answered Marc’s phone all you like, but it’s hardly the worst thing that’s happened.” 

“That’s not fair.” 

“No, it isn’t,” Steven could feel the edges of a headache. He wasn’t going to stay up front for long. He wanted Marc (or maybe Marc was forcing his way front).

“I’m just not sure that any of this is healthy for any of us.” 

“Then maybe you should leave,” Steven was overcome with guilt as soon as the words left his mouth. The accompanying anxiety was enough to send him back, a part of him wanting to find Marc, a part of him just wanting to hide. 

“Maybe I will…” Layla hesitated though when she saw Steven’s eyes roll back, knowing he was about to be gone. Maybe if she talked to Marc, it would help.

If Steven had been hoping to run to Marc (or just run away), it was Jake who ended up thrust to the front. He hadn’t been too far away, but he hadn’t quite been listening either. Still, he could feel enough of Steven’s anxiety lingering in the body to know it hadn’t gone great between them.

“You should go,” Jake suggested.

“Can I just talk to Marc?” 

“I don’t have him on speed dial,” Jake shrugged. That was mostly true. He knew how to force his way back and force the others front well enough, but he didn’t really think Marc waking up in the middle of this was going to end well for everyone. 

“Fine, just…don’t have Steven answer his texts,” Layla shook her head and went for the door.

Jake sighed. 

Confrontation. Steven was terrible at confrontation.

“Do, um, do you need like some sort of brotherly mental hug or something?” Jake could feel Steven lingering at the front of their mind, co-fronting for all intents and purposes. He didn’t think Steven especially wanted to be out. He had a feeling Steven just didn’t want to go see Marc. 

Jake was much better at bullying Marc into doing what was best for him than he was at helping Steven be okay no matter how much he wanted Steven to be okay. 

“I miss Layla being our friend.” 

“She was never our friend,” Jake countered. He could feel Steven’s hurt at that suggestion. He sighed. “She’s a nice person. I’m not looking to say otherwise. But she didn’t know jack shit about you and me. She was Marc’s.” 

“That’s worse, innit?” Steven sighed. 

“Why?” 

Steven started to say something, but stopped himself. Jake let him have control of the body. He sort of looked like he was in need of some serious pacing at a minimum. Jake planned to count to ten and see if he got an answer out of Steven, but he only got to five. 

“Because you and Marc have been close and cuddly when you’re not out in the world? Because you want Marc more than you want Layla around? Because you…” 

“Please stop,” Steven practically whispered the request, stopping in front of the fish tank. “Just please.” 

“You know the feeling’s mutual, right? Marc feels the same way. He’s just a fucking idiot when it comes to saying things especially to you.” 

“He yelled at me all the time back in Cairo.” 

“Sure, yelling at you in a crisis is easy. You’re not always that useful in those moments,” Jake smirked back at Steven who didn’t look amused. “You are the most perfect thing in Marc Spector’s eyes.”

“‘M not bloody well perfect, though. Plus he made me up so it’s probably just…”

“For fuck’s sake, you two need to have a goddamn conversation with each other,” Jake took control of the body back from Steven, but also did his best to bring Marc up to the front of their mind. “Let’s have a little family meeting, huh?” 

Jake wasn’t sure who exactly bought the triptych mirror. Marc? Steven? He knew he hadn’t lifted a finger in furnishing this place so it was either Marc or Steven’s subconscious. Whoever it was, it was coming in handy for the moment. 

“What the fuck is this?” Marc knew the three of them could communicate at the same time, could all theoretically drive the car together, but they never had. They tended to pair off. 

“An intervention, hermano,” Jake smirked. “Steven had a fight with Layla.”

“It wasn’t a fight.” 

“It was a fight,” Jake insisted. 

“Disagreement,” Steven mumbled. “There might have been some things said about who should or shouldn’t leave. I’m really sorry. I feel terrible. I’ll tell her I’m sorry as soon as I’m back at the wheel..”

“Should you be sorry?” Marc loved Layla. Layla was worlds better than he had ever deserved in his sorry life. But the situation was fucked up. “You two didn’t mess things up. I did. Jake’s surprise girlfriend didn’t help.” 

“Jake’s surprise girlfriend is Jake’s business,” Jake countered. “And that’s one of the fucking reasons we’re talking right now. If this is gonna work, if we’re not just gonna try to lock the other two out, we all get lives, si?”

“I already told Layla that part,” Marc rolled his eyes. 

“Yeah, but this is the part where you two want each other to be a much bigger part of your lives and you’re pretending otherwise as some fucked up version or foreplay or whatever so here we go: Marc, Steven likes you. Steven, Marc likes you. Everything with Layla is worse because you both know that and she also knows it.” 

Jake was right. Marc really hated it when Jake was right.

“And just to be clear, I mean like in the sense that you two wanna make out and fuck and all that other stuff and that’s why Layla is being the way she is about it,” Sure, sharing your husband’s body with other people with wants and needs was a problem, but the bigger problem was your husband wanting the other person in his head a whole hell of a lot. “Maybe if we stop pretending otherwise, shit can get better.” 

“Oh…”

For a moment, Marc braced himself, not sure if Steven’s oh meant oh god, I definitely don’t like Marc like that or something else. Marc was pretty sure he was less awkward in middle school. 

“Steven, you don’t…”

“I know,” He nodded. He shook his head. “You’re not just playing matchmaker so you can be with Maya? You mean all of this?”

Jake scoffed, “If I wanna be with Maya, I’m gonna be with Maya. You idiots can be miserable if you wanna be miserable.” 

“Do you wanna be with Maya?” Steven thought Jake was surely doing a lot for Steven and Marc not to have plans of his own.

“Yeah, not sure that’s a good enough reason.” 

“So you can be miserable, too?” 

“It’s not that fucking simple.”

“Why not?”

Fucking hell, Steven could be annoying. Jake regretted opening this door even if he thought it was necessary for their System to function.  

“Jus’...I might not have mentioned my side gig to you and Marc.”

“Driving a cab?” Marc frowned.

“Something like that,” Jake muttered. “Khonshu.” 

Steven hadn’t seen it coming if he were being honest. He had thought he had won against Khonshu. It seemed a silly thing to think. Who was he anyway? 

“What?” Marc’s voice had a deadly calm edge to it that pulled Steven out of his thoughts. It wasn’t explosive - Marc wasn’t always explosive - but it was angry. 

“Steven only asked for him to let you two go. You didn’t know about me. I wasn’t part of the deal.” 

“So…you tell us,” Steven argued. “And we renegotiate.”

“He doesn’t want to,” Marc scowled. “If he did, he would have told us. You’re just slipping out every night with our body, lying to us.” 

“I’m not going out every night. Now that Harrow’s dealt with, it hasn’t…I don’t even know if I’m technically his avatar, but he let’s me use the suit,” Jake realized he wasn’t sounding as confident as he could have. “It’s just some minor…”

“Vigilantism?” Steven was frowning, too. It wasn’t the same angry scowl as Marc, but it was enough hurt to make Jake feel guilty. 

“It is what it is,” Jake cleared his throat. “And it’s not the point right now. There’s nothing we can do about it either.”

“Maybe not, but you’ve been having a big talk about us talking to each other, trusting each other. It’s all bullshit. You don’t trust us for shit.” 

Marc’s image vanished from the mirror, his presence from the forefront of their mind. 

“He’s not wrong. You should have told us.”

“Yeah, there’s a lot that going around.” 

Steven disappeared next. 

Running after Marc. Jake figured that was pretty damn normal.

“You had a fight with Layla,” Marc was the first one to speak when he and Steven were face to face in their headspace. Someone probably had to and, well, he was trying to be a good guy for a change. 

“I’m sorry. I know you’re…” 

“What?” Marc prompted Steven when it seemed like he wasn’t going to finish the sentence. “Why are you sorry?” 

“Cos you’ve been trying to save your marriage, and I’m the reason she wants out.” 

Marc sighed. They really did have to talk. Marc hated talking. 

“We were heading for a divorce before she even knew about you,” Marc ran a hand through his hair. “And it wasn’t ‘cos I was keeping you a secret or anything like that before you get the wrong idea. It was me. Just me.” 

“You were both ready to try after Cairo,” Steven had been there for that. He knew that was true. 

“She’s not comfortable with the situation. I don’t blame her,” Marc added. “But that’s not on you or even Jake. I don’t get to be the one that has a wife while you two sit on the sidelines. Jake’s making it pretty clear he’s planning to date Maya or whatever we’re gonna call it. I can’t tell him no or stop him and Layla isn’t cool with that.” 

“But if it were just you and Layla…” 

“If it were just me and Layla, yeah, I’d wanna try,” Marc reached for Steven’s hand. “But that’s not for the reasons you think.” 

“No?” Steven looked down at their hands.

“Because the person I wanna be with wouldn’t be here if it were just me and Layla,” Marc squeezed his hand. “I just didn’t think I was allowed to wanna be with you.” 

Steven was quiet for a moment that lasted long enough that Marc was only about thirty seconds away from forcing his way to the front to have it out with Jake for being wrong. Instead his arms were suddenly full of Steven who had practically launched himself at Marc and into the tightest possible hug. 

“I’m really scared about all of this,” Marc admitted. 

“Why?” Steven kept a hold of Marc. They needed to talk. They needed to address concerns, but he had decided that didn’t mean he couldn’t stay this close to Marc while they did just in case he got any bright ideas about disappearing or anything.

“I was a pretty shitty boyfriend to Layla which turned into being a pretty shitty husband,” Marc closed his eyes. “And I’m worried you’ll say yes to things you don’t really want because of me being me.”

“I’ve said no to you plenty.” 

“I know,” Marc leaned out of the hug. “I just need to make sure I say it: if you don’t want anything or you wanna, I dunno, break up? We can. We’ll put a wall back up between us or whatever. Okay?”

“Okay,” Steven nodded. “But I really don’t want that.”

“I know. I won’t do it without some kind of…agreement,” Marc realized he might be lying. Marc had a habit of running away. That might well include Steven. He didn’t think Jake would let him get away with it.

“I can go along with that,” Steven nodded. “We probably need some sort of agreement with Jake, too. I mean, him and Maya and the body bit.” 

“Yeah,” Marc reached to caress Steven’s cheek, feeling like he had permission to touch more than he had before, more than just stolen moments. “Are you alright with that? The truth. Not just what you want Jake to hear.” 

“I don’t want to be with her. So long as Jake is the one fronting and she knows that you and I might not want to be there if he taps out then…he should get to be happy and I don’t think you and I meet the bill for him, mate.” 

“Probably not,” Marc hesitated a moment longer before leaning close and kissing Steven’s lips. He wanted to do that very badly and still worried the moment would pass. “And Khonshu?” 

“Shoulda known he’d fuck us over,” Steven sighed. “I’d rather he was far away. I don’t…I don’t wanna die,” He admitted. “I don’t like the scary, danger bit. But he can bring us back. He wants Jake. Reckon I’ll just stay asleep when the crime fighting happens.”

“I’ll stay with you. Jake won’t let anything happen to you, either. Honestly? Khonshu doesn’t like breaking in new people. He’ll protect Jake.”

“Yeah…” Steven paused. “Could you just kiss me again? Maybe for a while? And we can forget about the pigeon?” 

“Can definitely do that.”

Chapter 4: Chapter 4

Jake was apparently good at putting out fires. 

Who knew?

It looked like Marc and Steven were actually going to get their shit together.

Marc had helped Jake with Maya even if Jake hadn’t gone to face her yet. Seemed like this was the least he could do for him in turn. 

The hotel she was staying at was pretty nice. 

Jake probably shouldn’t have been all that surprised. He’d spent enough time with her back in the States to know that Fisk had given her a decent taste of the high life. That didn’t mean this was anything too fancy, but it wasn’t sleeping in a storage unit either.

He leaned against the doorframe after Maya opened it. 

“Gonna invite me in?” 

Thinking about it , Maya smirked. 

“I didn’t plan on you finding all this shit out like this.”

You didn’t plan on me finding out all of this shit at all.

“Maybe not,” Jake nodded.

Maya stepped aside and let him into the room. She had wanted him to come. She wanted to talk to Jake. That was why she came all the way here in the first place.

“Maybe we should do the whole text-to-speech thing. This feels like a moment where we shouldn’t be missing words or relying on charades,” They got by well enough without and Jake did plan to learn more sign if Maya was going to stay around, but there was a lot to discuss right now and not as much time.

I can do better . Do you trust me?

“Yeah…” Jake had to admit someone saying that was a good way to make him very much not trust them, but he tried not to step away from her. He wanted to trust her. When the hell had that ever happened before?

Maya’s hands glowed as she held them together. She reached up to press them to his forehead and a moment later they were somewhere else entirely.

“...the Hell…” Jake frowned looking around, eyes falling on Maya where she sat across from him on the floor. “Someone’s been holding out on me.” 

New development.

“I can understand you. You can understand me?” 

Maya nodded, It’s some kind of mind-meld bullshit.

“Pretty fancy bullshit.” 

She shrugged. 

“Whatever this is, Khonshu can’t know.” 

Thought he was gone , Maya realized they hadn’t talked about that, not directly, but she’d picked up details from the others that made her think he was out of that line of work. 

“It’s complicated. I’m, um…sub-contracting?” Jake honestly wasn’t even sure if he was Khonshu’s avatar now, but he was good at doing what Khonshu needed and it protected Marc and Steven. 

Maya didn’t know if she liked that explanation all that much. 

Where are we? When she’d done this with Kingpin, she’d gone to find him in a place of trauma - his childhood bedroom. This didn’t look like a room at all. 

“Closet.”

She frowned, Why are we in a closet? 

Jake was quiet for a moment before he pushed the door open, revealing Marc’s bedroom. He climbed to his feet and motioned for Maya to follow him.

The room was messy, but not overly so. The walls were lined with posters and sports memorabilia. It reminded Maya of her own bedroom in a lot of ways albeit bigger and a bit nicer. She had a feeling Marc’s family had been better off than her and her dad in New York.

Jake reached for Maya’s hand and led her into the hallway and over to another room. She frowned. It was the same as the other room - same furniture, same bedspread - but nothing was out of place and the walls were bare save for a few of ancient Egypt. 

I don’t understand.

“This is Steven’s room. The other one was Marc’s. I don’t…have a room.” 

Why not?

Jake just sort of shrugged. He didn’t really know. He didn’t really have the words for it. He just didn’t think of himself that way. He didn’t think of himself…like a person. Despite everything about how he was with Marc and Steven, they were real and he wasn’t. 

Sure, he’d spent most of the last week trying to convince Marc they were all their own people, but that didn’t mean he really believed it for himself.

“Before recently, I didn’t really get to be part of their bullshit. I was off on my own. That’s how I met you,” Jake shook his head. “Marc didn’t even know about me.” 

He knows about you now.

That was true. Jake thought he’d actually helped him, too, especially with Steven. 

I have to tell you something.

“Something besides you having awesome powers now?”

Fisk offered me the chance to be the Queenpin. My own little empire, my own territory.

“You turned him down?” It surprised Jake. He thought he knew Maya pretty well. This wasn’t something he expected her to walk away from. She nodded. “That mean trouble?”

Not sure he’s gonna make it international trouble, but…yeah, maybe. He’s pissed. He walked away from a fight, but I can’t imagine he’s done with me.

The past was rarely done with people. Maya knew that all too well now. 

“I can’t go to war for you, cariño, even if I want to. This body ain’t just mine,” He sighed. “I’d need Khonshu’s permission at that. I can’t risk getting my sorry ass killed when that puts them at risk.” 

I’m not asking for that. I wanna stay. Til things blow over. I wanna stay with you.

“I want you to stay,” Jake nodded, tugging her closer. 

They weren’t easy words for either of them.

“And Marc and Steven are okay guys to be around. I’m pretty sure Steven’s making some kind of fancy, color-coded calendar or chart for how we all go about sharing one body.” 

That sounds complicated.

But she was smiling. It was funnier than it was concerning. 

“Really complicated, but I’ll talk to Marc. We’ll be okay. You should stay.”

Marc was torn between thinking he had to actively discuss whatever happened between Layla and Steven with Layla or thinking he should leave it alone. Steven seemed to think it was his disagreement with a friend, and Marc ought to stay out of it. 

But Marc also thought that the boyfriend part of it all probably meant otherwise when it involved a soon to be ex-wife. 

It all turned out to be moot when Layla was the one to call him first to suggest they get together and that Marc sign the divorce papers. 

That was that, wasn’t it? 

“It says we’ll split everything, but I figure we don’t really have all that much,” Layla thought she was a bit sad about that. It would be a much bigger issue to divide property and joint bank accounts. That didn’t change the feeling that they had never really been a real married couple.

If anyone asked Layla she would say that marriage was an outdated institution.

Still in her mind, it felt a little like a failure. 

“If there is something you want, you can have it.” 

“You’re gonna give me one of your storage units,” Layla smirked. “A safety deposit box somewhere with a map to a hidden treasure.” 

“Please, you’d love that,” Marc laughed, but took the packet of papers from her. 

Layla watched him as he began to flip through pages, scanning them for pertinent information.

“Do you love him?” 

“What?” Marc frowned looking up from the papers to Layla. 

“Do you love Steven or is he just the path of least resistance?”

Marc was quiet for a long moment. He nodded. 

“Yeah, I love him,” Marc sighed. “Probably shouldn’t. He can do much better just like you. It’s probably eight different kinds of fucked up to be in love with each other, but I promise, it’s not easy.” 

Did that make it better? Layla wasn’t sure. 

“Maybe one day, we can all be friends,” Marc suggested softly, flipping through the packet of papers to sign flipping through to initial and sign in all the appropriate places. “I think Steven could use a friend who knows about what we are, who knows all of my faults.” 

“It’s not his fault. I probably was a bit less generous the last time we talked,” Layla confirmed. “Jake’s running around with Khonshu. I’m still Taweret’s avatar. I can’t imagine I’ll be that far and Steven can call me if he needs someone.” 

Marc didn’t really think that Steven would. Steven was going to feel guilty for a good long while. 

“Thanks,” It was an easier answer and Marc thought that was for the best. He handed the papers back to her. “I’m sorry, for all of it.”

“I know you are.” 

Layla just wasn’t entirely sure that was enough or what part she wanted him to be more sorry for.

Marc was tired. It was probably normal for someone dealing with stress, but usually when Marc felt like this, he just let himself fall back and hide in their headspace. 

He couldn’t do that, however, and actually deal with shit. 

He wanted to deal with shit. He wanted to be a better person for Steven than he’d been for Layla.

He’d probably have to unpack that eventually.

He’d probably owe Layla another apology or five.

“Can we talk?” Marc knew a lot had gone down. He thought he might owe Jake a thank-you, but they weren’t to that point. 

“Talk, sure. You yelling at me for holding up our bargain with Khonshu? No thanks,” Jake folded his arms. 

“Yeah, yeah, I’m done fighting about him and his bullshit, but I do wanna talk about it,” Marc sighed. “Steven’s scared. He said to me in so many words that he doesn’t want to die, that he’s scared of all the danger and fighting and killing.” 

“I don’t plan on dying.” 

“I know,” Marc nodded. “I also know you’re looking to hide Maya and whatever her whole deal is from Khonshu. I get that more than anything. So I’m just saying…we’re on the same side as far as keeping the people we care about safe. So keep me in the loop and…please don’t do anything that would hurt Steven. I promise not to get mixed up in any bullshit that could fuck up Maya’s life.”

“What could you get mixed up in?”

“If she was with the Kingpin that doesn’t just go away.” 

“Is that a threat?” Jake’s eyes narrowed. 

“No,” Marc assured him. “But it means I’m giving you my word that I won’t throw her under the bus if heat catches up to us so long as you have Steven’s back. Can we work together?”

Jake mulled it over before nodding. 

“Yeah, we’re seeing eye to eye.” 

“Good, I’d hate to have to have more serious conversations instead of you just bitching about me and Steven being soft idiots.” 

“Yeah, well, I pretty much told Maya she could move in so we’re gonna need a bigger place.” 

“Good luck convincing Steven to get rid of this place.” 

“That’s where you come in. Now that you’re all loved up and I’m responsible for that, you get to convince him.” 

Marc rolled his eyes, “How ‘bout I just take you to one of the storage units you don’t know about and we get her her own place with a bunch of money?”

“See? We’re helping each other out already.” 

Steven had his doubts about moving to another place, about bringing another person into their home. They were just learning to function together. Marc didn’t disagree with that, but he hoped having two rooms might be a start. He also had a suspicion that Maya wasn’t the type to stay in the house all the time.

Still, Steven was able to throw himself into planning things. He was good at packing and moving and putting puzzle pieces together. 

Maya didn’t have a whole lot to bring to Jake’s place. She had decided to keep it straight in her mind that it was Jake’s place. Jake and Marc and Steven’s place, she reminded herself. 

Not her place.

She was nowhere near ready to have a place especially if things still went down with Fisk.

She let herself in with a key Jake had given her. She had a backpack and a duffle bag with the clothes she’d brought with her. Someone was going through boxes and putting books on a shelf. It could have been Jake, but Maya figured it wasn’t. 

She knocked against the doorframe to announce herself. 

The guy stood up, jumping a bit at the sound.

“Oh, um, hiya,” Steven waved a little feebly at Maya. “Um, Steven… S-T-E-V-E-N… with a vee,” He was going to need to learn a lot more sign if Maya was staying. Jake was casually hoping whatever Steven learned might seep into his own memories. “I’m the one that’s good at organizing things so…If you…I can get Jake…I…” 

It took Maya a moment to piece together what Steven was saying. The accent made reading his lips a little harder. He was also rambling quite a bit. She decided to focus just on the bits she could pick up. 

Yeah, Jake told me you were making a chart or something. A body schedule. 

Steven scrunched up his nose, “Oh, that sounds…I mean, yes, I had thought about it, but also might be weird deciding you can just see your boyfriend on Tuesdays. Though I guess Marc and I don’t really need to front. It’s certainly…” 

Maya was going to have to get used to being around someone who was a talker. It had nothing to do with the language barrier. She just usually stuck to far more laconic people. She couldn’t help but smile. 

Steven must have driven Jake up a wall at some point.

Maybe he still did.

Maybe that was a good part of the reason he wanted her to stay.

She could live with that.