#larcus

OOC:

Arawn:What is the most terrifying thing you've ever done?

Kiss my best friend, not knowing if it would ruin our friendship, since it nearly ruined everything when I drunkenly did it before. No matter how much blood, death, carnage I have seen and created, putting my heart out there and kissing her not out of lust, but because it felt like the most natural step in the world, was the most terrifying thing I have ever done. It worked out but at the time, it was risking someone who has been my anchor for nearly 2 decades as my friend and taking that step to become more. 

lyra-prince

Lyra hadn’t been feeling too well, and Marcus had decided to handle everything in the office today, so that she could sleep in.  He was better at this Assistant thing than he liked to let on, and the least he could do was give her a morning off from it all, when she’d been up coughing until late. He knew that she was getting to the point when she was uncomfortably pregnant from time to time, so after leaving her some breakfast for when she woke up, he headed to her office. She only had two classes today, and the rest was just getting caught up. Both classes were taking tests anyway, and he could hand those out, at least.

He had managed to get her to leave him alone for several hours, when he had gotten bored in her office. It was far more interesting, when she was here for him to make inappropriate comments to.  Noticing the shelves looked too small, he decided that he would try to extend them. But that involved taking everything off of them, which involved messing up the system he sucked at, anyway.

But two hours later, he was still sat in the floor, reorganizing it and all and had managed to alphabetize everything she owned.  He may have gone a little too far with the organizing, having even organized her quills by size, alphabetizing all the books, along with every paper that she had, and made sure all her numerology charts were alphabetized too.

When he finished, nothing was out of place, when she had gotten annoyed with him the night before for him making a huge mess. He’d managed to keep her gone until around lunch, and he’d never seen things this organized. 

He then decided to run to the kitchens and grab a sandwich, so he had something on his stomach, and he’d work on sorting through all her papers to mark when he got back. Walking back in, he spotted her at her desk, still looking around, looking confused but she didn’t seem mad. He watched a small smile appear on her face.

“Have you lost your damn mind?” 

He then went over to her and pressed a kiss to her lips. “I was bored. I was in here by myself for far too long, so I organized everything. It’s far better when you’re here for me to remind about what happened on that sofa.” 

She smiled at him and brushed her hair off her face. “Thank you. It looks great. It’s a bit obsessive, but it’s great. I’m lucky to have you.”

Getting drunk had seemed like a good idea, at the time. It really had. But, they were both far too drunk and Marcus couldn’t remember seeing Lyra this drunk, probably ever. She was always the mellow one. But, they had survived their first couple months working at Hogwarts, and after a particularly rough week, they had wound up with a bottle of firewhiskey in his Quarters. He was still getting used to this whole teaching Defence thing. She was at least great at being an Assistant.

Ever since Juliette, they had been growing closer, by day and spent most nights, sleeping in the same bed, but hadn’t crossed that line. It was a hard line to cross, when they had been best friends, as long as they had been. Somewhere close to finishing the whole bottle, he had gotten a lot more flirty and they were curled up one sofa. He knew that he needed to get up, because if he didn’t, he was going to try to kiss her and they were still in that phase of trying to pretend they were just friends. It was working less and less, but they at least tried it, from time to time.

She had gotten up to get them both tea, and he had wound up following her and he found himself looking into her eyes, when she had gone to grab the milk from it and he had noticed her bite down on her lip, and he took a deep breath. “You know how you said that we have no sexual tension? That’s getting harder to think, at the moment. But I’ll behave. I’ll never kiss you, unless you tell me to kiss you. Tea huh?” 

Her eyes met his and he knew that he was drunk, they both were. They both were far too drunk, and her hand was on his chest. “Kiss me.” 

He didn’t know what he was doing and feared that he was dreaming, but he decided to throw caution to the wind, and be selfish and just do it. Pressing her to the closest wall, he took a deep breath, swallowing as he did so, before he leaned down and pressed his lips to hers, melting into the kiss. She felt like home, and he knew he shouldn’t do this drunk.

Marcus had gotten sent on a dangerous Auror mission. It was a dangerous one and to make it worse, he was allowed to have no contact with home, no contact with his wife, his boys, his baby girl, any of them. It had damn near killed him and to make it worse, it had been nearly a month. He had gone way undercover, to try to infiltrate what the Department called one of the biggest sting operations against Voldemort’s followers ever. 

But to sniff some of them out, the idea had come to make it seem like he and the other Aurors had been killed. That was the only way that they could not be suspected as coming after them. Everything in Marcus hated this idea and all he could truly hope was that Lyra, the one person who knew him better than anyone would know in her heart that she would feel that he wasn’t dead.

It had taken 2 more months for it to be over and he was weary, he was lost and he just wanted to get home to his life, to his soulmate, to his angel, and to their family. When word came that they could finally go home, he breathed a sigh of relief, running his hand through his hair that had grown, along with the beard that had grown over time. He had hated this idea, making his family think he was dead, his brothers and his sister, his wife, his children, his parents, even people who hated him. 

But now he could finally go home. He just needed to hope that some part of her had known not to give up on him. Their connection was deep and he had to hope beyond hope. He thought about apparating, but he knew that it could scare her, given the situation. Instead, he went to the door, tired and broken, leaning against it, when it opened and he saw her in front of him and bit down on his lip. She looked tired and broken, and it made him sad. 

Before he knew it, her wand was trained on him, even though he saw her hand shake in what was likely exhaustion.  “Where was the first place we ever kissed?”

He was almost proud of her. She was doing what he taught her. “We tell people it was outside the Great Hall, when the Arithmancy Professor was murdered, when I kissed your hand and we knew that we had found it. You ran later, but I said in an owl you were beautiful a couple days later, and I gave you cheesy pickup lines, and said I’d come see your new office. You were scared to let me in, but we kissed, and I got your pregnant on that sofa. That’s basically what we tell everyone. But the truth is, we had that drunken kiss last year in my quarters, that we both barely remember, but know that it happened. It was the best moment and one that led to me fucking it all up. I remember every damn kiss that we’ve ever shared, every moment, and it’s what made me not give up.” 

He then saw the tears well up in her eyes and she pulled him inside and she looked up at him. “I thought you were dead.” 

He then pulled her into his arms completely. “No, you didn’t. You knew that I wasn’t, knew that I would come home to you, that you would know if I was dead. You didn’t think I was dead and you’re tired of people saying that I was dead.”

She then cried into his shoulder and he cried a little bit back, too. “I never believed you were dead. Don’t leave me again.”

If anyone were to ask Marcus if he is closer to Roy or Lyra, he would likely tell you to fuck off. He doesn’t see his friendships with them as comparable. He has the friendship with them as a unit, the three of them their own trifecta, that they never let anyone inside, although Juliette was included more than anyone else that has come into their lives. But it’s always been the three of them. 

But there’s also the individual friendships and Marcus sees them as completely separate and impossible to compare.

With Roy, it’s a brotherhood, almost. The two have known each other most of their lives, and have always been attached at the hip. Marcus is closer to Roy, than his own brother and they have finished each other’s sentences for years.  They never remotely fought until after they left Hogwarts, and Marcus knows a lot of that was on him. He made the decision when he and Juliette moved away and Marcus fell into bad habits, to shut Roy out to keep himself from disappointing Roy with who he had become. It had taken over a decade but after losing Juliette the first time, Marcus had shown up on Roy’s doorstep, expecting a punch in the face or to be told to go away and he was met with sarcasm and a hug. He’s learning to let Roy into the parts of his life that are harder. Their biggest obstacle was the Lyra thing. Marcus disapproved of the two doing anything romantically, because it would mess up their dynamic and then when Lyra got her heart broken, Marcus got very upset with him. It was also unbeknwownst to Roy, because Lyra and Marcus had come very close to being together, but Marcus’ bad decisions had put a stop to it. But their friendship is heading in the right direction and Marcus still genuinely sees Roy as his brother. 

With Lyra, she has been many different things in his life. She is his best friend. Roy is his best friend too, but Marcus and Lyra click like no one ever has, and finish each other’s sentences and know what the other is thinking. There is no one that believes in the other one more and they have always been a huge source of comfort and strength for each other. When Marcus went down a dark road, Lyra was the one who pulled him back, more than once, with minimal judgment.  Their relationship has evolved but that friendship has grown into something more. They don’t compromise that friendship for their relationship. They are best friends, before they are lovers, before they are engaged, and above all. She is his his greatest strength, and he is her greatest comfort. They work well romantically, because they work perfectly as best friends.

Marcus McKinnon is the Protector

Marcus has always been the responsible one in his family. He’s the oldest, and has always taken that oldest sibling role. While Marlene has always been the baby of the family and a bit more reckless, if that’s the right word, and Matthew was always the kind one, Marcus was the typical oldest child. He cared about how safe his siblings were, and has always been the mature one. A lot of it is he’s 4 1/2 years older than Matthew and 12 years older than Marlene. He has always been the protector and he protects them both to a fault. Matthew doesn’t see that side of Marcus a lot, but that’s because Marcus doesn’t say it aloud. He’s hugely introverted most of the time, so he doesn’t speak his feelings well. With Marlene, he’s more vocal because she’s his baby sister and he feels the need to keep her safe, as well as pointing out the mistakes she makes, in hopes that she’ll learn for them.

While he come off harsh and a bit of an arse, it’s all about keeping them safe. He’s always been a bit closer to Marlene, but that’s because Marcus and Marlene are quite a bit alike, in some ways. He knows as the oldest child, it is his job to keep them safe and like 99% of the people in his life, when he stopped being the big brother they could look up to, he cut contact more or less, for a significant amount of time. It’s just how he is.

This continues into fatherhood. Marcus became a father for the first time at the age of 25, and the second he saw his oldest son, Marcus Jr, nothing else mattered to him. He was starting to sink deeper into a dark world, but that look in his child’s eyes, told him that he needed to protect him even more than he had his other two siblings. With Will, it was a little more complex. Will came at a time when Marcus had sunk deep into a world of violence and he loves his son dearly, but he bonded less with him at the beginning by his own doing, but tries to change that now. He bonded with his unborn children the moment he found out Lyra was pregnant.

This also extends to both of the women who he fell in love with. Marcus fell in love with Juliette, at the age of 14, and no matter the problems they went through, she was still someone who he would have protected with everything. She was his family, close to his only family, when he pulled away from his own for so many years and it is why he carries the burden so tightly, of her death. He failed to protect her. His protective instinct for Lyra is something that is one of the most powerful forces in his life. He protected her for years as his best friend, the person he wanted to keep the darkness of the world away from and over nearly 20 years, that powerful, all encompassing need to protect her and powerful friendship, has transcended into being more connected to her than anyone, to the point that he needs her to breathe. His goal is to protect her from the world, the war, the harshness of life and he would do anything to protect her. They are not married yet, but she is his family, and she has been his family since she was 6 years old. 

It even extends to Roy, who is basically Marcus’ brother. Marcus’ need to protect Roy meant shutting him out for nearly a decade of his life. He can’t handle Roy knowing so much of what he has done in his life, because Roy’s approval means everything to Marcus. He sees it as he protected him from everything, even if it hurt him everyday being apart from him.