#morlax

yup, they’re my new OTP

actually so obsessed w them

headcanon: Dr. Morlo has trouble sleeping and Max snores in his sleep (so Max sleeps on the couch (a real divorced couple))

also i headcanon that Max left that mark from his backstory on himself, maybe in the form of a tattoo or it remained in the form of a scar(?)

bonus⬇️

Oh stars I love the potential for them being friends in the 40s that eventually just went ass sideways and imploded on both of them. Them reconnecting when Morlo is in his 80s and finding friendship again after the whole world changed on both of them in many ways just hits me hard.

Because the world they were both friends and enemies in is no more, society is utterly changed, motivations change as well and Morlo just doesn't have the true pettiness anymore to banter with Max like he did when he was in his 30s.

They are divorced and they were never even married but reconnect and give it a shot again and it was what both of them needed.

based on this post

like.. they need to kiss

i’m like so embarrassed right now bcs i never imagined that i would draw old man yaoi but i literally had to do it

National Comics #9

9. What is the most embarrassing thing they have done in front of each other?

Max: let himself get feelings for Morlo.

Morlo: let himself get tricked by Max who isn't that clever of a man.

17. When they find a time machine, where do they go?

cw: WWII, human torture, homophobia mention

Dr. Sebastian Augustus Morlo Parker is a closeted gay man of questionable national origin with a birth date somewhere in 1920s.

During WWII, he was a government employed scientist that was hired to try to make a "truth serum" that they could implement on prisoners of war and suspected spies in interrogation or even in casual conversation. They were most interested in trying to develop a serum that could be administered covertly unknown to the target.

He met Max Mercury when he was Quicksilver and they formed somewhat of a friendship, Max admires scientists and Morlo was not allowed to talk about his work so it just riled up Max's curiosity through the roof. Morlo was a puzzle to Max, and Max was also a puzzle to Morlo. Morlo was also not afraid to punch out bullies either so he got a lot of gold stars from Max very quickly.

Morlo often just went by "Bastian" during this time by acquaintances and Max affectionately called him "Bastian you bastard" in greeting or exasperation.

Max borrowed Morlo's genius from time to time to analyze various chemicals in his own cases to confirm YES this is in fact cocaine, or to even go over a crime scene for things he might have missed. Max is smart, but he is not a scientist nor did he have the lab facilities Morlo had nor the government clearance.

That government clearance was very valuable to Max so he was using Morlo just a little bit because of it, but they did have some genuine fondness for each other despite some mutual exploitation of abilities.

Eventually, Max finds out what Morlo's secret work was. The methods to create this "truth serum" resulted in the test subjects (all of which being people who were destitute, transient or immigrants) having permanent disabilities and neurological damage. While no one died, the use of the serum at all stages resulted in excruciating pain to where Morlo noted that what he had made was more akin to a torture serum than a truth serum and he doubted one could ever be made. He was never successful making anything close to this serum (or was he?)

Anyway Max was pretty cranky over this so he did what anyone would do.

He burned down his entire lab and all the notes, samples, and everything Morlo had worked on over the last few years. Including numerous more important projects to Morlo that had nothing to do with this "Truth Serum" like his eternal youth serum.

Morlo's bosses (the government) were PISSED, blamed him for it entirely, stripped him of his clearance, threatened to throw him in an asylum because they knew he was gay, then kicked him out totally discredited so it would be unlikely he would ever be hired by anyone ever again as a reputable biochemist effectively leaving him unemployable in his field of passion.

Then he found out MAX was behind it all and that was Dr. Sebastian Augustus Morlo Parker's villain origin story where he then spent about 6 years until 1949 trying to kill Max.

For as much as I love them and know they were pounding each other against walls and tables in their youth I don't have many headcanons for their early years!

Max was definitely more wild and impulse in the 40s in his relative youth, and he's implied that he hasn't always been on one side of the law, so I can definitely see him and Dr. Morlo in the late 30s/early 40s hooking up to combat Nazis. Perhaps in unethical ways but given the time and the atrocities it is something I can see Max being willing to do.

Then the war ended and Max stopped, and Morlo... didn't. Maybe Dr. Morlo had some of his research stolen and was going to extremes to get it back, maybe he was promised payment for his services and never got it so he went to using his brilliance to take back what was his/obtain money etc etc etc be a super villain blah blah blah and

Max wanted nothing to do with that and naturally the romance ended and they became enemies.

So their relationship would have been something like friends to lovers to enemies then 50ish years later back to being friends.