Different Dimension

Martin never thought his life would come to this. He thought he could keep his shit together, that he’d be able to keep his cool without having a monumental breakdown. But today he was on the brink of losing his usual cool indifference and he needed to make it stop. At least in public anyway. So he decided to go to the one place he wouldn’t be judged – at least, not too much.

“Marty? What do you want?”

Paul. He went to Paul. To be precise, he went to Paul’s dorm, which was slightly risky given that he was so close to Zack like this, but he didn’t know where else to go.

“Aren’t you usually with Zack on Friday afternoons?” Paul frowned, leaning against his door frame.

Martin nodded, running a hand over his head. Here goes nothing.

“Yeah, normally. But his ex is visiting today,” Martin mumbled.

And there it is, the reason for his freak out. Martin thought he could handle how close Zack was to his ex-boyfriend, his best friend, especially after that late-night phone call earlier in the week that had earned Martin a thanks-for-understanding blowjob the next morning, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t tell Zack this either because he did trust his boyfriend…Martin just needed somewhere to mope for the day out of Zack’s sight to process it all.

Speaking of Zack, Martin quickly glanced over his shoulder to see if Zack had popped up at all.

He hadn’t.

“Woah…what?” Paul choked.

“Just let me in, yeah?” Martin sighed.

Paul stepped aside wordlessly, allowing Martin to head straight to his bed, flopping down onto his back.

“Talk to me,” Paul said, sitting down in his desk chair.

“You know how Zack met his ex because Zack was being bullied, right?” Martin started.

“Yeah?”

“And you know how this guy became Zack’s best friend and helped him grow into the person he is today, right?” Martin added.

“Yeah?”

“And you know that they’re still super close now, platonically right?” Martin said.

“Get to the point, Martin,”

Martin huffed, dropping his forearms over his eyes. He could be a little dramatic if he wanted to.

“Earlier in the week Zack got a call at stupid o’clock in the morning, from Matt. He didn’t want to take it initially, but I told him to, in case it was an emergency. It turned out that Matt’s boyfriend had brutally broken up with him out of the blue and Matt was heartbroken. Zack said he’d never heard Matt cry like that, so I don’t regret my decision to tell him to talk to Matt,”

“So why’s he here now?” Paul asked.

Martin sighed, pulling his arms away from his face.

“I may have told Zack that he could go to Matt if he needed him, but Zack said he didn’t think it would be necessary, just that he’d probably be needed to rant to. Zack texted me this morning to say that Matt really wasn’t coping well so he was coming down to visit. I didn’t ask when Matt would be leaving, but he’ll probably stay all weekend,”

And it would test Martin’s patience the entire time. The things he did for Zack.

“You’re okay with this?” Paul asked carefully.

Martin glared at his friend.

“Do I really have a choice?” he shot back.

“Well, yeah, you do. It’s completely normal for a boyfriend not to be happy with his partner’s ex being around,” Paul said, folding his arms over his chest.

Damn it Paul.

“Yeah, well, we had that argument for a while over it, remember? And I trust Zack. He says that nothing goes on between him and Matt anymore and that Matt is pretty much his only friend back home. I can’t change that,” Martin rambled, “So I’ve got to just trust him, right?”

That was all he could do. Zack said that he loves Martin, so Martin had to believe in that.

“Have you met him?”

“No, I couldn’t do that to myself just yet. It doesn’t help that our nicknames are Marty and Matty,” Martin muttered.

Great going, Zack.

“That’s fucking weird. You’re a saint,” Paul mused.

“I try,” Martin shrugged, “I love him more than I’ve ever loved anyone, so I guess this is just something I have to get used to,”

Zack was worth it, right?”

“Zack really is a good influence on you,” Paul grinned, teasing, “Who are you and what have you done with the Martin Johnson I know?”

Asshole.

“Yeah, yeah, shut up. Just let me mope here in silence and don’t tell Zack about it,” Martin grumbled.

Paul just laughed.

“And if Zack knocks on the door to ask where you are?”

“You haven’t seen me today,”

“Martin…”

“I just want one day to process all this crap. You can give me that, can’t you?” Martin asked, pouting.

“Ah quit with the puppy dog eyes, you look ridiculous. Yeah, I’ll cover for you today. But you’ll need to meet Matt at some point, just to prove to yourself how much better you are for Zack. And how much better you are in general,” Paul shrugged.

Martin couldn’t help but smile. Paul always knew what to say.

“Thanks. I knew you were my best friend for a reason,”

“Yeah, yeah, you get on with your moping, I have homework to do,” Paul chuckled.

Martin nodded, flopping his arms back over his face. He just needed this one day to compose himself, and then he could face Zack’s ex. Zack was his everything, and he needed to be the bigger man here. Or, y’know, just the most mature. He could support Zack through this like Zack was supporting Matt. Because losing Zack was unimaginable.