let's talk about how Marty and Del would chill and relax on the rocky shoreline of the Ozark lake and just cuddle and admire the nature's beauty
in a perfect world, after he finalises the deal with the snells and del and the byrdes come home instead of running, marty and wendy finally fucking talk. and god they love each other, they really do, but wendy doesn’t love him like that any more, and marty loves her enough to accept that and try to be the best husband he can be–but as her best friend, and not her lover
and it takes a while. it takes a long fucking while. wendy is the love of his life, after all. but at least work helps, and getting the casino up helps, and del
del never apologises for killing bruce. he doesn’t apologise for the threats and how much he scared marty throughout the whole fiasco with the eight million dollars. marty joined the cartel knowing what he was in for and he stayed throughout those years remembering that, and he knows del was just doing his job, even if he couldn’t help but hate him for what he was doing to them at the time
but when things are going good he and del are doing good. the woes of a business relationship, but at least they’re good enough for del to treat him to late night drinks again when he passes by the ozarks, for marty to come out about wendy, for del to say something like, “ah. that explains why you’ve been working harder than usual.”
and like… shit, the alcohol burns, but it makes marty warm like holding wendy’s hands or kissing her used to
del doesn’t drink nearly as much as him because he realises he’s got to be the sober man in all of this. marty is drunk and feeling hot and so del takes him outside, where marty stumbles along enough that del has to hold him up so he doesn’t fall
they’re sitting on the shore and it’d be romantic if it were sunrise, but the sky is dark and they’re not really going for romance to begin with. marty is just seated and del’s arm is around him, and it’s odd because del was ready to kill him months ago, but now del is holding him, keeping him, like nothing between them changed at all
it occurs to him that del has always believed in him. from the beginning del thought he was special–right in that small room at liddell & byrde. and even when things went south del gave him a chance to live because he believed in him, even when he called marty’s plan bullshit before it even begun
maybe it’s fucking weird to be comfortable with a man who could’ve killed him holding him steady like this. but this man has defied orders to kill marty not once (with marty on his knees crying), but twice (with marty tied up, his toe bleeding). so marty actually leans into him and starts to mumble, his knee knocking against del’s, and he lets himself relax. del’s jacket smells old as fuck
del won’t let him fall asleep here, but every time he tells marty perhaps they should go inside, marty asks for five more minutes. the water is calm and he is calm. and his heart hurts because wendy doesn’t love him any more, but wendy isn’t the only person in marty’s court. has never been the only one, even when bruce was killed
marty doesn’t love del. but he’s glad he’s here.
on this shore. at this time. with his odd-smelling jacket
holding him because marty’s someone worth holding up
