Chapter Text
Marius forgets to eat.
It isn’t deliberate. He doesn't mean to skip any meals at all. In fact, he has a very nice meal plan that his chefs follow daily. If he wants to look that good and sometimes use himself as a body double in his paintings, he’s gotta follow his workout regimen and have three meals a day. And he follows it.
He just forgets sometimes.
He gets busy. And honestly, he blames the board of directors more than he blames himself. They keep him over time. He ‘has to set an example for the employees’ and always be at peak performance. He has to be busy all the time or else he’s not being productive.
Marius has 8 am classes he would rather miss but can’t. Those are his business classes and he needs every leg up he can get. If he forgets to get breakfast in the morning… well, those 45 extra minutes of sleep work in his favor anyway.
So, Marius sometimes just… forgets that he has to eat. The protein and granola bars in his bag (that end up there because of Vincent, which he’s eternally grateful for) are his best friends when he forgets to eat. Some light yet filling snacks so that he doesn’t have to deal with the hunger pain until dinner. (Dinner is mandatory. His father makes sure of it because he’s eating while video-calling Marius wherever he is.)
Marius forgets to eat, and it seems he finished his reserve of protein bars. Guess he has to wait it out again.
And a particular pair of blue eyes squint ever so slightly at him.
—
Marius seems off is the first thing Artem thinks as he enters the NXX office. He’s normally bright and bubbly with a side of sarcasm.
Right now, though? He seems irritable. He almost wants to throw a snickers bar at him. Even Luke is shying away from Marius, and Luke is a government agent. The social conventions might allow him to shy away regardless…
He shakes his head slightly. No, this isn’t your run-of-the-mill bad day. This is a bad day on top of something else. Marius has been drinking from his (clunky) water bottle a lot throughout the meeting. He can hear the ice in the water bottle clatter within it, and he can also see Marius chewing through some of the ice.
Ah, there it is. He’s mimicking the motion of eating with the ice.
He’s… Hangry. Is that the right term? He’d have to look it up after the meeting, but it seems fitting that Marius would be a hangry person. He wears his more… prominent emotions on his sleeve, but he does hide behind a mask. (Not like him, who doesn’t hide yet still gets called a robot.)
“We should call it a day and reconvene tomorrow,” Artem said, looking around the table.
Vyn meets his eyes, somehow letting his approval show through his gaze. So he noticed it too… “Excellent idea, Artem. This will give us time to mull over the course of action. It should also give us time to clear our heads of any pressing matters that are a hindrance to the case. I will see you all tomorrow.”
“What? But we’re right there. We can finish it all today so that tomorrow we can push for a court order,” Luke said, and Marius nodded along with him.
Vyn glared at Luke, “Being hasty will come to, ah, ‘bite us’ in the end. It is preferable to wait. This person is powerful and if we don’t think our actions through we could place ourselves in danger. I think we all would agree to be safe, for Rosa’s sake. We debrief them tomorrow after all.”
A beat passed.
“Fine,” Luke sighed, “We’ll wait.”
“Splendid. Meeting adjourned.”
Luke was the first one done picking up their stuff and was out the door moments later, not bothering to say goodbye. Vyn passed by Artem and clapped him on the shoulder. Artem turned to look at him with an eyebrow raised and found Vyn already gazing at his eyes. Good catch , he seemed to imply, take care of him .
Artem gave him a nod, I will.
Vyn gave him a nod in return and walked out of the office, leaving Artem and Marius behind.
“Marius, are you alright?”
—
Marius hated this case.
The person in question was a PAX Pharmaceuticals benefactor who, in the past, had ties with Herrison. He was certain that PAX had run through the proper procedures when it came to Herrison-Pax movements, but guess that was wrong. The people who were supposed to perform the background checks didn’t do their job, and honestly? It could have been Marius’ fault.
Maybe if he wasn’t so young or if he were good enough , his mere presence alone would have pushed his employees to actually do their jobs. This person only became a benefactor while Marius had been CEO. This was his fault and his fault alone and—
“Marius, are you alright?”
Marius turned to look at Artem, who had his topcoat over his arm and looked ready to leave. He still had to place all the files in order and then catalog them in the system, and after that, he had to go back to PAX to work on… something. The directors just wanted him there.
“I’m alright. Scared of the mountain of paperwork this’ll cause though. Might have to use your firm again for all the legal backlash.”
“It seems that will be the case. Why don’t we discuss the terms of the contract over Lunch?”
Lunch? Why not in his office?
“What,” Marius grinned, “You trying to wine and dine me, Mr. Wing?”
Seeing Artem’s ears turn red while flustered was always a fun sight to see. Small victories.
“No,” Artem cleared his throat, “I just assumed you didn’t have lunch yet.”
“Don’t worry about it. The contract should be the same as last time, right?” Marius stretched backwards on the chair, “Besides, I still have to sort through all of this. I’ll eat later.”
Artem shot him a look, somewhere between pity and worry, and it remind him so much of Giann that he wanted to punch his face. He didn’t need his pity, he could do this on his own. He had to .
“You won’t be able to concentrate on an empty stomach. Come on, my treat.”
Marius scowled, “I’m fine, Artem. I’ll eat when I’m done.”
“Did you have breakfast?”
“Artem, I’m going to ask you to drop it. I’m fine.”
He turned away from Artem and started typing on the table. He closed one of the folders and opened the next, only for his chair to be pulled away from the table with a startling screech and was tilted on its two hind legs.
“Wha— HEY! What gives?!”
“We stopped the meeting for you.” Artem says, blue calculating eyes meeting lavender, “You’re not in the right headspace to deal with all of this. You’re hungry and stressed. You can take care of one of those things right now.”
Marius scoffed, “Okay tough guy, who says I need your help? I can take care of myself.”
“If we’re having this conversation, clearly that statement is false,” Artem said, scowling. He pushed the chair forward so that all legs were on the ground, “Leave everything as is. I’ll wait for you in the car.”
“Hey now, I have my own car! I don’t need to go with you anywhere!”
“I know, but I’m not giving you a choice. Let’s go.”
Marius sighed and picked up his bag, leaving the files and his water bottle behind. “Fine, I give. Where are we going?”
Artem just smiled.
—
“You know, I’m all for the minimalist movement but that couch? Not it.”
Artem chuckled and tossed his topcoat and jacket on the arm of the couch, “I didn’t choose it, my mother did. She gave me this apartment as a gift when I graduated. If I had my way I would have chosen something different.”
“Then why don’t you?”
Artem shrugged, rolling his sleeves upwards, “I haven’t had the time, and I don’t have many people over so it’s not a huge issue. Anyway, how does pasta for lunch sound?”
“I’m not opposed.”
Artem motioned for Marius to follow him, picking up an apron in the process, “Any preference?”
They both walked into the kitchen, Artem making a beeline for the cupboards and taking out the flour while Marius walked over to the table and took a seat.
“How about the Artem special?”
Artem made his way towards the fridge, opening it and taking out eggs, spinach, butter, lemons, and… shrimp? Interesting. He then turned to look at Marius, a look of apprehension in his eyes passed briefly before they seemed to make up their mind.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
“...Enjoying the view? It’s not often the plebs get to see Artem Wing’s forearms.”
Artem blushed, “N-No. You’re going to help.”
“Say what now?”
Artem smirked, which somehow reminded him more of Giann, “You heard me. Come on, help me rinse the spinach while I start on the dough.”
“Bossy much?” Marius asked, making his way towards the sink. “You’re the one who said he was going to treat me.”
“Yes, but that was before you decided to be a brat.”
“Oi!”
Artem chuckled and started cracking eggs into the well of flour he had created while Marius rinsed out the spinach.
“Knives are to your left along with the cutting board. I need two cups of that.”
“Aye aye, chef.”
Artem snorted as he started to incorporate the eggs with the flour, making it a cohesive dough.
“How did you even start cooking anyway?”
Artem sighed, “I was 12 when I first started. Neil noticed I was having a bad day and decided to teach me how to make pasta from scratch. I thought it was stupid, but it helped. It took my mind off of what was bothering me for a bit.”
“So Neil taught you how to cook?”
“Yes and no.” Artem began to knead the dough in earnest, “He taught me the basics. Enough to get me by while letting me experiment with ingredients. I had a lot of trial and error, you know? The first time I tried on my own I burnt the water, and I still don’t know how I did that.”
“You had recipe fuck ups?” Marius put the knife down and looked at Artem. “I assumed you had cooking down to a T the first time you tried.”
“No one is good at everything the first time, Marius.” Artem stopped kneading the dough and looked at him, “No one. What counts is that that you tried your best.”
Marius crossed his arms, “I feel like you’re trying to tell me something.”
Artem smiled and reached for a dishtowel, whipping his hand, “You’re sharp. What I’m trying to tell you is that you’re too hard on yourself. You’re CEO at 21. At 21 I was studying for exams, not running a company. You’re doing your best and that’s enough. You’ll mess up, but that’s why you learn from your mistakes.”
Marius deadpanned, “You say this as if you don’t have a perfect winning streak in cases.”
“Near perfect. I fumbled my first case but I learned from it. No one expects you to be perfect on the first go-around of things. You are NOT Giann. You’re Marius, so stop being so hard on yourself.”
He didn’t know when his eyes began to water, but he was determined not to cry in front of Artem. Marius wiped at his eyes, “You sound like you know from experience.”
“I do.”
Marius paused.
“My mother is the famed Lawyer An. I was to live up to her legacy as soon as I entered the field. But I am not my mother, the same way you are not your brother. That’s what I was upset about the day Neil taught me how to make pasta. No one would look over the label that was ‘Mrs. An’s child’ and it… frustrated me. Neil taught me that I was my own person. The same way you are your own.”
“Neil sounds like a great guy.”
Artem nodded, turning back to the dough, “He’s great. He’s way better at the whole ‘Motivational Speech’ than I am though.”
“You’re better at this than Giann ever was, that’s for sure.”
“How bad was he?”
Marius chuckled, picking up the knife again, “He went all ‘Be who you want to be’ when all I wanted was some help on my math homework.”
“How…?”
“Beats me, I got the lecture anyway.”
They fell into a comfortable silence, the only sounds were of chopping and kneading. Marius felt some of the tension on his shoulders lift as he grabbed a measuring cup from the cupboard. Cooking was… strangely therapeutic. He could see why Artem liked it so much.
—
Artem had no idea what he was doing. On the one hand, he was trying to channel his inner Neil (sans jokes, thank you very much.) while on the other he wanted to keep asking if he said the right thing.
Neil often told him that he was too blunt, or that his delivery wasn’t the right one. With the way Marius seemed to relax, though, it seemed like he appreciated it.
Maybe he really wasn’t that bad after all.
—
Marius wanted to fall asleep. After that big of a lunch, he could feel an imminent food coma coming in. He was having trouble keeping his head off the table while Artem washed the dishes. Artem turned to look at him before turning back to the sink, “Sleepy?”
Marius rubbed his eyes, “I’m not going to fall asleep on your stupid couch, Artem.”
“You could borrow my bed. I’ll be in my study if you need me.”
God, a nap sounded so good… and he hadn’t had one in ages… But he had work to do…
Artem seemed to notice his internal debate, the bastard, “Just take a nap, it won’t hurt you.”
“I have shit to do, though.”
“We all do, but you’re having a bad day and you’re not going to get anything done like that.”
Marius sighed. He should be feeling like he was being coddled and treated like a child, but for some reason, Artem just seemed to have his best interest at heart. He had thought about Artem using this opportunity to discuss a much more lucrative contract during lunch, but he didn’t even mention a contract. They just ate in comfortable silence and Artem had put the leftover Lemon Garlic Parmesan Shrimp Pasta into a container and shoved it into Marius’ hands.
Like he genuinely wanted to help him.
“Alright, your mattress better not be stupidly firm.”
Artem smirked, “You’d be surprised. The bedroom is upstairs to your left.”
Marius stood up from the table, making his way out of the kitchen when he stopped, turning around to look at Artem.
“Hey, Artem?”
“Yeah?”
“Thank you. I mean it.”
Artem looked up from the sink, “You’re welcome.”
Marius nodded and made his way upstairs. Maybe he had people in his corner after all.