2minsforslashing | OIL AND WATER

Title: Oil and Water
Authors:

geekintehpink
Fandom: NHL > Boston Bruins
Characters: Glen Murray/Marc Savard
Word Count: 1,232
Rating: PG13

You and I are like oil and water
We've been trying to mix it up.
We've been dancing on a volcano.
And we've been crying over blackened souls.
Babe, this wouldn’t be the first time.
It will not be the last time.
There is no parasol that could shelter this weather.

I wasn't sure what was going on with him, but he was in a bad place. And it was scaring me. I stood with him in the elevator, on the way to the gym, and he just wouldn't smile. I reached out a hand and put it on his, and when he looked back at me, with those beautiful brown eyes showing more than just a little sadness and concern, I worried. I hated that people were doing this to him. Bringing him to the point that he had no idea what he was doing anymore. Generally speaking, Glen was a smart person, a smart player. But the way he was being treated around Boston, around the hockey community in general, really, was beginning to make him doubt it all. To the point that he couldn't even block it out when we were alone. Some fan had sought him out on Causeway Street, just to jeer him. And he was lucky I was with him and told the guy where to go and how to get there, or else he'd likely be even more broken than he already was.

Glen didn't need people to bash him. He was already big enough on the self-deprecation, and if anyone saw him, they would know. He was his own worst critic. I had to remind him daily that I was with him because I loved him, that I didn't care if he thought he was a 'failure.' That I loved him as he was, and that I didn't care if he didn't score a goal all season and got sent to...anywhere. He was still the only man I ever wanted, and I would wait for the rest of the season to be with him if I needed to. And he'd still give me the 'I don't know if I deserve you' schpiel. The man made my heart ache. But I would take it, because I loved him, and he needed me to. God knows Glen wasn't a needy man. It took me months to convince him that it was okay to ask me for things. Or, even things in return for things he'd done for me. The relationship was one-sided a lot of the time, and while most people would relish it, I didn't.

But he just hated to take. Because, I now knew, he'd always been reprimanded in the past for asking for things from any other lover he'd had. Joe Thornton didn't surprise me in that respect. He seemed like the 'I'm Joe Thornton, respect me' type of personality. But when it came to Brad Isbister, to say I was surprised when I found out would have been a drastic understatement. The guy seemed to have fallen head over heels for Glen when I saw them play together. And it kind of hurt to think that the impression that I got of them was wrong, and Glen had spent the entire time, since Joe left him, in lonely misery, really. That kinda made him sound pathetic. Like he needed someone else to survive, which he didn't, I was sure. Glen was his own man, and a stubborn one at that. But he had really been torn up when the whole debacle with Joe went down and would have probably fallen head over heels for the first person to give him the time of day.

He'd told me all about the ordeals he'd been through. Travis to Sammy to Izzy to realizing that he might have to be alone, with no one to love the next season. To hearing that I was coming and hating me (though I had been all but enamoured by him from the very first time I saw him), to going out to lunch after practice and suddenly realizing that maybe there was something in the air between us. To making love in his car on the way home. Sure, he didn't need to tell me those things, but it was nice to be reminded that I was loved by someone who was just as afraid of being left as I was. Loved. God, I was loved. Glen said it, and in his ridiculously tell-all eyes, I could see that he meant it. And it was like no feeling I'd ever had before. Being loved by someone was like this roller coaster ride of highs and lows (though after what we'd just been through it was mostly highs of late) and it was amazing.

I was in the ridiculous stereotype that love was a roller coaster and I wouldn't change anything about the relationship we had. Sure, Glen was moody and a little paranoid. But I was neurotic and cocky. And I had heard that I was obnoxiously happy all the time. Whatever I lacked, Glen had, and vice versa. We balanced one another like opposite ends of a scale and it felt great to be involved in something like that. An if I ever felt a need for motivation, all I had to do was think of Glen, think of the fact that I needed to be a better person for him, to help him. Not that he needed me. God knows that he was amazing on his own and all I did was thwart his 'potential' or whatever. Which was another reason I needed to be better. To deserve him. Because, as I was, I didn't. At least I realized that, though. At least I didn't try to let myself think that I could ever fully deserve a man like Glen Murray in my life.

But, God, I needed him. That was one thing I'd probably never improve on, as long as I had him in my life, was my selfishness. Because I wasn't willing to let him get away. God knows I needed him. I needed him to improve on everything but my selfishness, because as much as I needed to, I didn't want to. Not with someone like him with me. I realized that we had been silent through the entire elevator ride and into the gym, and I looked at him for a second, stopping him before he got into the room. “Hey, Glen?” I looked at him, smiling as the look of surprise crossed his face. He smiled expectantly, and I continued speaking. “You know I love you, right?”

“I know, Marc...” he smiled, though it was a halfhearted gesture, as he still wasn't feeling entirely himself. “I love you, too,” he continued, before starting into the room.

But I grabbed his arm before he could get too far away and turned him toward me. “And you know I always will, right?” I asked him, nodding securely. “No matter what happens?”

His face fell shocked again, and I watched as his smile grew a bit more. “Thank you, Marc. I mean, I've heard it before. And it hasn't been the truth. But somehow, with you, it's easier to believe...” he said, putting a hand on my cheek as we stood in the shadowy, empty entryway to the gym.

“That's good...” I took a step toward him, then rocked up onto my toes, pressing a soft kiss to his lips. “Since I mean every word of it...” I promised him. And God knows I wasn't lying.

Because, to me, no one had ever been like Glen Murray; and no one would.

I've been smiling with anchors on my shoulders
And I’ve been dying to let them go.
Babe, this wouldn’t be the first time.
It will not be the last time.
There is no parasol that could shelter this weather.
We've been lying to each other.
Let's just call it what it is..

lyrics by Incubus