Falsettos one shots

Psychiatrist after psychiatrist. It was all the rage of the time, paying someone to listen to you explain your problems in detail, pretending they knew how to fix everything when they clearly didn’t. You didn’t even need to pay someone for you to know exactly what they would suggest; meditation, manifestation, other bullshit like that unless you had real issues.

Marvin had been seeing them since he was a child, his parents forcing him to after their staff complained about the child numerous times, complaining about how ghastly he was, how he was too boisterous, rude and generally despicable. Marvin’s first Psychiatrist diagnosed Marvin with ‘giddy seizures’ at his parents request, giving him a right to have his aggressive episodes in school. He found out that his parents had paid the man off years later, that was when he was in his teens.

That was also when he met his wife. Well at the time, she was obviously not his wife, but he found her, unlike most of the girls he had been with, nice, easy to to talk to. They met at a bus stop, not exactly a meet cute, but proved to be a nice story to tell other couples when they needed to prove to them that they were in a happy relationship. In fact, Marvin met her on his way home from the first time he had ever had sex. Dingy motel room that his sweetheart at the time had almost forced him him into as he felt sick, touching her breasts under her shirt as they kissed, blaming it on the nerves.

The thing was, most people did not know that it was their first time, the girls gossiping about him at five o clock after school , waiting at their own stops for the busses that came every half an hour. His sweetheart was one of those girls, and Marvin would sometimes wait with her outside of the school, him offering round a cigarette as the girls would swoon, the Sweetheart describing the size of his ‘manhood’ , as they would put it, too embarrassed to use ‘grownup terms’ , probably suggesting that they weren’t ready to have sex.

But they did, and Marvin had already forgot it by the time he got to the bus stop, not forgot, exactly, rewritten as many a psychiatrist would say. He waited alone for a couple of minutes, thinking over what had happened. A fourteen-year-old boy, sitting alone, head on his lap, watching the world slip away from him.

“are you alright?” Trina had always been kind, optimistic, too positive for her own good.

That was the start of their relationship, staying together for several years before Trina got pregnant. Sixteen, too young, so they got married, Marvin finding a job working for Trina’s father as soon as he got out of high school. He rose through the ranks, starting his own company and becoming successful, with donations from his parents under an anonymous donor. Jason came along, and he decided to go back to therapy, but got fed up of more men explaining how he needed to lead his life, telling him he wasn’t straight when he most definitely was.

That was how he ended up where he was right now. Sitting on a brown leather couch in a waiting room, nose stuck in a newspaper to stop his anxiety rising. He hated the first session with a new psychiatrist, they would ask about his childhood, start at the beginning. He would have to describe the first psychiatrist he saw, the giddy seizures, how his parents would lie, losing his virginity, and finally meeting his wife. He had done it so many times now, he had basically got it scripted.

Marvin put down the newspaper on top of the stack, shaking his leg up and down as he looked around at his new surroundings. A magazine on the pile next to him caught his eye, a holiday to Uruguay, a shirtless lifeguard running out of the ocean, staring at Marvin with an intense look in his eyes. Marvin quickly turned it over, instead staring at the high ceilings, wood painted white with large windows made from perplex rather than glass. It felt sterile, like a hospital, and smelt of peaches, sweet and deceiving. He continually checked his watch, nervous to get it over with, and finally he saw the door opening across the room, a man exiting as he quickly whispered something in his secretary’s ear, causing him to giggle softly, before checking through the file he was handed. He nodded graciously as the secretary started speaking and quickly, he turned around, going straight back to the room he came from.

The secretary cleared his throat and Marvin looked up from his hand’s in his lap. “Dr Brown will see you now.”

Marvin got up, walking to the door the man had just come out of, knocking gently as he stood by it.

A muffled “come in” forced its way through the closed door.

Even though Marvin had chosen who he deemed to be the most attractive doctor out of the selection, he was still taken aback slightly as he saw Dr Brown, a bright, smiling, happy go lucky ray of sunshine that, for a change, did not make Marvin want to kill himself! The man seemed to have an innocence about him, a naivety that Marvin had never seen a psychiatrist exude.

Dr Brown looked Marvin up and down, the bright smile still on his face until he caught the look of confusion on Marvin’s and suddenly, he was leaping around the room, face flushed.

“it’s a bit warm in here, isn’t it!?” he exclaimed as began to fan himself, opening the large window behind his desk and slamming the photograph that sat there, face down on it. He slowed to a holt, regaining his composure, and pushed his 80s style glasses up onto the bridge of his nose awkwardly, putting his hand out, “Hi there, I’m Doctor Whizzer Brown, but you can call me whatever you want.” He said, smiling brightly before his face flushed again, “sorry, I didn’t mean that in a weird way- oh you probably didn’t think it was weird… umm… okay, why don’t you take a seat Mr Feldman.” He sounded flustered, and looked it, leaving Marvin questioning a lot about his character.

“okay- “Dr Brown continued, sitting opposite Marvin as he twitched nervously “-before we start, can I ask you why you chose me as your Psychiatrist, it states very clearly on the website that I mainly treat children.”

“you were the most attractive.” Marvin shrugged watching Whizzer turn an even darker red, “although you probably get told that a lot.”

“actually, no…” Whizzer stuttered, “I… um… thank you-“ suddenly he snapped out of his mood so fast you could almost see the hearts in his eyes burst as he realised he needed to do his job, “- but that is curious, most men choose people less attractive than them to boost their ego, not saying I’m more attractive than you-“ he hastened to add, the bright smile appearing once again, “- also, looking through your record, you’ve had about… two, six- “

“eighteen.” Marvin quickly interrupted

“yes, eighteen different psychiatrists, and they are all male. You definitely have daddy issues; I can tell you that.”

“right, so the straight guy has daddy issues.” Marvin replied sarcastically.

“oh no, it’s more common than you think. it isn’t just a kink in real life, it’s the feeling of letting your child down all the time or being more aggressive than the average male. Don’t worry about it, approximately forty percent of the population have it. Hell, even I do!”

Marvin cocked his head to the side, “how does yours affect you?”

Whizzer rolled his eyes, “well mine is a bad example because it is the kink form, but yours could range from needing to be in control all of the time right up to needing a lot of assurance in a relationship.”

“you like being called ‘daddy’ in bed?” Marvin scoffed

“god no.” Whizzer replied, leaving a confused look on Marvin’s face. “anyway, tell me about- “

“my childhood? Well I grew up in…”

“no, I was going to say when you realised you were gay.”

“I’m not gay.”

“okay. when did you realise that you aren’t in love with your wife?”

“I am.”

“okay. When did you realise that…”

“-I’m sorry,” Marvin interrupted, “but where are you getting all of these guesses from?”

Whizzer smiled as he put down the notepad in his hands, “Well you just confirmed everything I have asked you. My secretary told me that you turned over the Uruguay magazine, is that true?”

“well, yes but- “
“I display that purposefully to check my client’s sexuality and, or whether they feel like they are cheating on their significant other if they’re looking at it.”

“that proves nothing.”
“on the contrary- “Whizzer paused, “-everything I have done and asked has revealed to me more than enough for me to know almost everything about you.”

Marvin scoffed, chuckling slightly, “that isn’t true.” He smiled, shaking his head.

“really? - “whizzer cocked his eyebrow, a smirk on his face, “-because when I hid the photo from you, you obviously pitied me after doing the same thing with maybe, other sexual partners?” Whizzer got up, picking the photo back up, a picture of him with obviously his siblings, all smiling, the same face six times over.

“that’s not true.”

“okay but look at your wedding ring right now.”

“what about it?” Marvin asked as he looked down at the ring he was pulling on and off of his finger.

“the inside is shiny and clean in comparison to the outside, you take it off often.”

“how do you know it’s not for work?”

Whizzer smiled, “because you just confirmed it. You are cheating on your wife; you obviously are not in love with her and I can’t help you unless you start being honest!”

“I- “
“and you’ve been flirting with me since the beginning of our session.”

Suddenly Marvin realised that Whizzer wasn’t naïve or innocent, he was smart, incredibly smart. Able to weasel out information from anyone, and very tiny at first, but noticeable butterflies that he pushed down out of the way started to float up to his stomach and press on his organs.

“I- “
“mind if I smoke?”
“I- um- “a tiny crinkle forced itself onto Marvin’s forehead as he blinked slightly, “-I don’t mind.”

“okay, well I don’t actually want to smoke, I want to know what memory you have associated with it.”

“umm, really?”
“yes, many people have memories associated with it, they tell a lot about character.” Whizzer sat back down again, notepad back in hand. Marvin just stared for a second.

“My girlfriend from high school.” Whizzer nodded, urging him on as he began to write on the paper, “I used to wait for her to catch the bus, the ‘five o clock ladies’ that’s what they were known as.” He paused, trying to remember it correctly. “I used to have a cigarette and hand it around as they gossiped, most of the time about me and my sweetheart. She would make up these lies about us, saying I promised I would marry her, that we had fucked. None of it was true.”

“how old were you?”

“fourteen.” Whizzer nodded as he waited for Marvin to speak. Marvin just broke as everything Whizzer said finally caught up with him. “I am gay.” He said tearfully, “I just, I… this is the first time I’ve admitted it.”

Whizzer smiled, “thank you, Marvin for sharing that with me. You’re already making progress!” he exclaimed, taking off his glasses and cleaning them on his suit jacket. He replaced them back on the bridge of his nose. “Let’s talk about your Wife, what’s her name?”

Marvin wiped his eyes, “Trina.”

“that’s a lovely name,” Whizzer said gently, “how long have you been married for?”

“Jesus, about- “he did the maths in his head as he sat there, “about twenty-four years”

Whizzer jotted it down, “do you have any other family?”

“I have a son, and… and close friends, that’s all.”

He nodded his head, “how old is your son?”

Marvin smiled as he thought of Jason, a proud, excited smile that he finally got a chance to talk about his son, “he’s twenty-three, a professional chess player!”

“so, you got married, because you were expecting him? You must have been what… sixteen, seventeen?”

Marvin nodded regretfully. “we met when I was fourteen, we got pregnant at sixteen. She tried to hide it from her family, but once they found out, her father made us get married, so we went down to the town hall, signed the papers. “

“your marriage was never based on love; it can be easy to understand why you are resorting to… using other methods to satisfying yourself.” He put down the notepad, standing up again, “but cheating on your wife is inexcusable. Who are you sleeping with?” Whizzer began to pace around the room as he listened.

“Women.” Marvin said as though it was obvious.

“okay. Do they have a resemblance to your wife?”

Marvin thought about it, “I guess.”

“describe them to me.” Whizzer stated, and Marvin watched him pace.

“they usually have sharp cheekbones and jaw lines, brown hair, kind eyes…” he trailed off as he realised that he was just describing Whizzer.

He took a seat next to Marvin on the couch, “have you ever noticed yourself finding more masculine women attractive?” Marvin nodded; mouth shut. “you need to discuss your feelings with your wife. I can almost guarantee that she knows you are cheating on her.”

“I just, I don’t want to go through that.”

“Mr Feldman, you are not only making yourself unhappy, but also your wife. It will be hard in the beginning, there will be tears shed and a lot of arguments, but in the long run you will be so much happier because of it.” Marvin nodded. Whizzer checked the clock on his phone, “okay, we have a little time left, is there anything else you would like to discuss before next week?”

“I’m sorry, doctor Brown, but I don’t think I’ll be continuing with you as my Psychiatrist. As you said, you mainly work with children.”

Whizzer smiled, a slightly cold but accepting smile, “are you sure that is your reason Mr Feldman?”

“I want to take you out sometime Dr Brown.”

“you do?” Whizzer flushed bright red, a cute smile crossing over his face before he closed his eyes, nodding slightly, “no.”

A hurt look hit Marvin as he shrunk slightly, “oh, okay.”

“no, I mean, legally I can’t.” he winked as he opened the door of his office, “come back in two years and I’ll think about it.”
-

Whizzer stood on the sidewalk, checking his watch and scoffing at the time, “he was supposed to be here.” Whizzer muttered to himself. He put down his briefcase and sat on the stoop, creasing his suit trousers, but he didn’t care, “this is why you need to stop depending on people Whizzer.”

He picked up his Phone, calling the number, “we’re over.” Was all he said, hanging up quickly and putting it back down. It rang on the stoop, and without meaning to, Whizzer picked it up.

“look, I’ve had a bit too much to drink. I can’t pick you up.”

Whizzer rolled his eyes, “it’s four goddamn pm. We are over.”

“fuck you.”

“ohhhh, ‘cause that really hurts!” he fake wined, “The sex wasn’t even good, Goodbye motherfucker!”

He put the phone down, angry, looking down at his hands to stop himself from bursting into tears, when he suddenly heard a car pull up. A low sportscar, but he kept looking to his hands, swallowing hard.

“hey there doctor.”

Recognising the voice, Whizzer looked up, “Mr… Mr Feldman?” he leapt to his feet, trying to distract from how unprofessional he looked, “what are you doing here? It’s after work hours, and I haven’t seen you for, what? A year? Do you want me to book you an appointment?”

“no actually.” Marvin got out of the car, a single rose in his hand that he had bought for whizzer, a deep blush taking over his face that matched the red of the flower. “exactly two years ago today we had our appointment, and you said…”

“come back in two years and I’ll think about it.” He stood up, accepting the flower, taking a deep sniff.

“well, can I take you out tonight?”

Whizzer smiled brightly the same way he did when they first met and nodded. Marvin quickly swooped Whizzer into a deep kiss, whizzer dropping the rose in his surprise, before his hands moved to Marvin’s face, kissing him back as he finally felt satisfied, drawing the hearts on the back of Marvin’s neck.