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Mouse was irritated.

He was irritated when he heard Fezco's car pull up to his fucking house at 2 a.m. on Tuesday after a night at the strip club being Mariah's bouncer.

He was irritated when he heard Mariah whispering as she unlocked the front door and walked into the house, and he was even more irritated when he cracked his eyes open to watch Mariah grab Fezco's hand and pull him down the hallway of his fucking house to her room.

He didn't say anything, just watched from where he laid on the sofa in the living room as they snuck pass him to her room. And listened to Fezco lightly groan as Mariah gave him head before going to bed when he put his ear to her bedroom door.

And then at 5 a.m., back on the couch, Mouse's eyes shot open although he wasn't asleep, hearing Mariah's bedroom door open, followed by two pairs of footsteps walking towards him.

He assumed Mariah was walking Fezco out, but then noticed him carrying the bags she always took with her to his place whenever she planned on staying a few days, growing even more irritated.

Mouse grimaced as he watched them exit his house and walk out to Fezco's car, sitting up from where he laid on the sofa and peeking out through the window to watch Fezco opening the passenger door for his girl before placing her things in the backseat.

Mariah was unofficially running off to her bitch ass boyfriend like Mouse had challenged her to, and he didn't fucking like that.

But that was okay, because here Mouse was, smirking up at the ceiling as he listened to Fezco drive off while he conjured up his lil plan.

Fezco wouldn't be here to run to anymore very soon.

—$—

"Is it hot in here or is just you?" Fezco mumbled as he looped his belt through his jeans, standing behind his girl as she sat in front of the mirror in his room.

Mariah glanced up at him from where she pulled her hair back in a ponytail, playfully rolling her eyes at her corny ass boyfriend before laughing.

It was a little after noon, and they had both just showered after waking up late and staying in bed all morning to cuddle.

"It's just you," She corrected him, eyeing his bare upper half and smiling before getting up to grab two different stripper outfits from her bag. "Help me pick for tonight, blue or white?"

Fezco glanced between the two outfits, squinting his eyes as he decided on the rhinestoned blue two piece. "I really like that lil blue number."

"Okay," Mariah smiled, putting the white outfit back in her spend the night bag as she took a good look at the blue one. "Other than the money and meeting you, my outfits are the only thing I like about stripping."

Fezco grinned at that, glancing at his girl as she packed her stripper bag for later, getting it out of the way so she wouldn't be rushing when it was time to leave.

"Word," Fezco agreed with her whole sentence, agreeing especially with the meeting him part and the outfits.

Cause fuck, his girl always looked good at work. It was no surprise her regulars had one sided beef him, they all wanted her pretty ass to themselves. But he was the only one lucky enough to have that privilege.

"Lucky as fuck," Fezco mumbled to himself, watching his girlfriend check herself out in his mirror one last time.

"What?" Mariah asked, not having heard him cand clearly as she moved out of his way so he could finish getting dressed.

Fezco just smiled at her, "Nothin' ma. You so fuckin pretty."

Grabbing her hand and pulling her back to him, Fezco wrapped his big arms around her and leaned down, ghosting her lips with his for a second before he connected their lips in a kiss.

Mariah giggled into the kiss, practically melting in his arms as she placed her hands on his bare chest before pulling away and pressing a quick kiss to the kiss already on his chest.

Fezco smiled, his heart starting to pound as she backed away.

"Get dressed whore," She told him, poking his chest before going back to packing her bag.

"Get dressed who?" Fezco asked, raising an eyebrow and laughing in surprise as he grabbed his shirt off the bed.

"Daddy," Mariah smiled at him over her shoulder.

"Nah, nah das not what you said," He narrowed his eyes at her before laughing and pulling his shirt over his head.

"I don't know what you're talking about then," Mariah shrugged her shoulders, still smiling undet Fezco's squinted eyes.

"Mhm," He hummed, shaking his head at her before he sighed and laid down on his bed, grabbing her hand and pulling her down with him.

"You're really going back to sleep? We literally just woke up," Mariah laughed, getting comfortable on top of him anyway, resting her chin on his chest to look at him.

"Nah, I jus wanna cuddle or whatever the fuck you call it," Fezco shyly mumbled, running his fingers on the exposed skin of her back.

Mariah laughed again, because they literally had just been cuddling after they woke up, but she could never pass up the chance to cuddle with her man.

"Jus fo a few minutes, I gotta go give my grandma and sponge bath," He told her.

"Okayyy but we can cuddle as long as you want after," Mariah assured him and smiled.

Fezco grinned at that, feeling her reach up and give his cheek a kiss.

"Ima have to take you up on that offer," He said, reaching for his phone on the bedside table besides his bed after hearing it buzz.

"What bitches are hitting your line?" Mariah joked, softly scratching his beard with her nails

"Jus a couple from the club," He joked back as Mariah's eyebrows shot up, making him laugh. "C'mon, y'know ion got no other girls in my phone. Jus my lil lovebug."

Mariah blushed as he called her by her contact name and gave her forehead a kiss, reading over the text that came in.

iMessage–Mouse
Re up today.

"Fuck," Fezco mumbled to himself, texting back a quick aight.

"What? Your side bitch wants to come over but she can't cause I'm here?"

"Shut up mane," Fezco poked Mariah's side with his fingers. "Ima...yo brother in law coming over for a re up, ima need yo pretty ass to stay inna room when he get here, aight?"

"...okay," Mariah complied.

"I really don't want you round all that shit, and Mouse–ion even want you round Mouse either if I'm bein honest," Fezco explained.

"Okay," Mariah nodded. "But like...I live in his house, babe."

"Say the words and you can live in mine," Fezco said lowly before nudging her side, silently telling her to get up so he could. "Ima go give my grandma a sponge bath befo this motherfucker come through."

"You need help?" Mariah offered, watching him get up while she stayed seated on his bed, his first few words repeating themselves over and over again in her mind.

"I'm good ma, thank you," Fezco gave her forehead a kiss before leaving his room, leaving Mariah smiling to herself.

Say the words and you can live in mine

Was that him saying he wants her to live with him? To move in with him?

She spent minutes thinking about it, about how he meant what he said, and thinking about whether or not he'd bring it up again, and actually give her the chance to accept his indirect offer and get the fuck out Isabella and Mouse's place.

It isn't smart to move in with your boyfriend right away, which is why she never moved in with Danny even after the year they almost spent together, but she couldn't help but daydream all the time about living with Fezco, and she couldn't help but act and live like she already did when she spent days with him.

She and Fezco hadn't had a single argument, and that's probably because they're still in the honeymoon phase of their relationship, but Mariah was pretty much convinced that they'd forever be in the honeymoon phase. Fezco was literally the sweetest man in the world, he was perfect.

Mariah was deep into thought, smiling to herself like a fool that she didn't hear Ashtray calling out for her a few times until he screamed out of irritation.

"Yo, shut the fuck up! Don't be yelling at her like that!" Fezco yelled back at his little brother from where he sponge bathed his grandma.

"Then get her some fuckin hearing aids!" Ashtray scoffed as Mariah got up off the bed and walked out to the kitchen, where Ashtray was yelling from.

"Sorry, I was daydreaming," Mariah laughed as she joined him in the kitchen.

"Who?"

"...what?"

"Asked," Ashtray rolled his eyes.

Mariah rolled her eyes back, playfully shoving him. "What do you want Asstray?"

He glared at the nickname but put it aside, holding up a box of dino nuggets. "How do you make these?"

"Put them in the oven. Isn't that what Fezco does?" Mariah asked, remembering that she had watched her man making them a dino nugget dinner a while ago.

"I don't know," Ashtray shrugged, smiling as Mariah took the box from him.

"Just get out, I'll make them," She told him, which is what he wished to hear.

"Thanks, you're the best Mar Mar," Ashtray said before disappearing back into his room, the happy mood Mariah and the dino nuggets put him in disappearing instantly when he took a look at the security cameras monitor and saw Rue banging on the door. "Not this fuckin junkie."

He sighed, opening the door and letting her in, earning a head pat as she walked through the door.

"Hey Rue."

"I'm not Rue, I'm Morgan fuckin Freeman," Rue scoffed. "Where's Fez, I need a favor."

Ashtray just shook his head, closing the door as Rue walked into the kitchen with Mariah, who soon directed her to Fezco's grandma's room.

"Fucking junkie," Ashtray mumbled to himself as he sat in his gaming chair.

"Yo, Fez," Rue stood at the door of grandma's room.

"Sup Rue," He nodded at her.

Rue got straight to the point, clearing her throat, "So you know how in every 90s thriller, right, Morgan Freeman plays like, the same semi psychic black cop–I know that's kind of racist, but the point is; in every movie, he's always calmly putting the fucking pieces of the case together, while everybody else around him is fucking freaking out, saying..."

Mariah appeared at the door behind Rue after putting Ashtray's dino nuggets in the oven, making eye contact with Fezco and exchanging some looks before they both smiled.

Rue was really fucking strange.

"You don't know what the fuck you're talking about, Morgan. You're...you're a fucking bad husband. You should fucking retire," Rue continued rambling. "But no. Morgan is fucking hyper focused, because he can see beyond the little details. He's looking for the big fuckin picture."

Mariah watched as Fezco intently listened to whatever the fuck Rue was ranting about, still keeping his focus on washing his grandma ever so gently.

He took such good care of his grandma, of the ones he loved. Mariah knew she was lucky as fuck to have him, a man who loved and cared deeply.

"Because all of this shit? It's connected, Fez. And it is way bigger than any of us can even fucking see," Rue pointed at her eyes. "The point is, that's me. Right now, that is fucking me. I can see everything so fucking clearly. I know what happened, I know why it happened, and I know what the fuck I'm gonna do about it."

Fezco glanced up at Rue, confused as fuck because he didn't have a single fucking clue as to what she was talking about but nodded anyway.

"Word."

"Word," Rue repeated before glancing at his grandma. "She can't hear me, right?"

"She can't see you either," Mariah confirmed, making Fezco smile to himself.

Rue nodded, "Okay, good, cause this is like, some real top secret shit."

"Trust me, Rue, she not gonna gossip," Fezco assured the girl, exchanging funny looks with Mariah.

"Okay. Do you still have that gun?" Rue asked out of nowhere.

Mariah's cheeks warmed up at the mention of a gun, eyes darting to find Fezco's, only to find that his cheeks were burning up now too.

They both gave each other a smirk at the same time before Fezco looked up at Rue, "What gun?"

"The one from the couch," Rue answered, pointing towards the living room.

Fezco huffed, shooting a teasing smile towards his girlfriend. "I mean, I got a couple guns."

"Bye," Mariah laughed at his teasing, walking back to the kitchen, making Rue look between the two with a confused expression.

"Why do you have so many guns?" She questioned Fezco once Mariah was gone.

"My grandma," He shrugged.

Rue raised her eyebrows, looking at the woman in the bed before nodding, "That's cool."

"What you worried about my guns for?" Fezco asked her.

Rue took a moment to word together what she wanted to say to Fezco, putting her hands together when she was ready.

"Okay well, I was thinking...that maybe you could use one to scare Nate Jacobs," Rue suggested, which was not at all what Fezco expected to hear.

He paused, staring up at Rue with a uneasy look on his face. "You serious?"

Rue stammered, "Uh, I mean, I'm not not serious."

Fezco squinted his eyes at Rue in disbelief, "Rue, that must be the dumbest shit you've said all fucking day," He told her, pointing the sponge at her as he spoke.

"You don't have to fucking point it at him!" Rue jumped to defend herself. "You could just...you could like...you could flash it."

Fezco watched Rue raising her shirt to show him a demonstration of what she meant, shaking his head at her with a sigh.

"You really have lost your fuckin mind, Rue," He muttered.

Rue sighed, "Fuck, it's a bad fucking idea, okay? I just was fucking spit balling here. I mean, he fucked with me, he fucked with Jules–he fucked with Mariah! And I want fucking revenge."

Fezco furrowed his eyebrows up at Rue at the mention of his girlfriend's name, "What?"

But before Rue could respond, Fezco felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, sighing dreadfully at the text he read off the screen once he pulled his phone out.

"Fuck. Mouse is here," Fezco mumbled.

"The guy with the..." Rue trailed off, motioning towards her face, referring to Mouse's ugly ass face tattoos as Fezco dropped the sponge in the bucket of water beside him as he got up.

"Ma, come here!" Fezco called out for his girlfriend before turning to Rue. "All right so, stay in here, be quiet–"

"Fez, I can't...I can't stay in here. Like, I'm really–"

"Yes the fuck you can," Fezco cut her off.

"I'm not good with awkward silences!" Rue protested in a loud whisper.

Fezco ran a hand over his face in frustration, "Listen, I'm fuckin serious right now. You just need to sit your manic ass down, stay in here with my girl and be quiet for five fuckin minutes, Rue. I'm not fuckin playin with you. We gon talk about that Nate fucking wit Mariah shit soon as I'm done, so sit down and shut the fuck up!"

Rue plopped down in an empty chair in the room in slight defeat, watching as Fezco exited the room, leaving the door opened just a crack.

"So, you not his bitch, huh?"

Mariah froze at the sound of Mouse's voice behind her as she checked on Ashtray's dino nuggets, not knowing he was here already. Fuck.

"You can't hear or somethin? What you cookin up?" Mouse smirked as she turned to glance at him.

"Yo ma, go in the room," Fezco spoke as he walked into the kitchen, eyeing Mouse for a second.

"Nah, she can stay," Mouse said with a creepy ass smile.

Fezco stared at him for a few moments, annoyed and irritated as fuck before he turned to his girlfriend.

"Go in the room," He pleaded.

"He sending you to the room like a fuckin dog," Mouse scoffed. "Convenient since you're his bitch, right?"

Fezco looked at Mouse once again, Mouse laughing at the glare he was unknowingly staring at him with.

"Is something wrong?" Mouse asked him. "You gonna fuckin do somethin?"

"Go in the room Mariah."

"Nah, stay the fuck out here," Mouse basically commanded. "Who you gonna listen to?"

Mariah ignored his question, giving Fezco a quick kiss and pushing passed Mouse to go in the room like Fezco had told her to, and she didn't exactly know why, but she walked into his room with watery eyes.

Mouse scoffed, exchanging looks with Custer as they followed Fezco into the living room while Ashtray walked into the kitchen from his room with a cereal box in his hand, peeking at his dino nuggets in the oven before he looked over at the three in the living room.

After Mouse supplied Fezco with his usual supply of drugs, he exchanged looks with Custer again, leaning back all comfortably on the sofa.

"Yo, I'm gonna need you to start moving some weight," Mouse told Fezco.

Fezco looked up at him from where he stared at the product on the coffee table, "Yo, I'm just trying to keep it lowkey over here, man."

"And I'm trying to make fuckin money," Mouse shot back.

"Even if wanted all this shit bruh, I don't got the money for all this, man," Fezco tried to reason.

Mouse smiled, "That's why you in luck. I'm gonna front it to you. Ten percent on the vig, and I'll collect in a month."

Fezco stammered, his heart dropping as he watched Rue sneaking out of his grandma's room and eventually out the house before he looked at Mouse again.

"I'm not tryna do all that shit, man," Fezco told him, running a hand over his buzzed head.

"I ain't asking, bruh. Step yo shit up," Mouse spat before rising from his seat and grabbing the money Fezco owed him, nodding his head at Custer so they could leave. "Tell Mari to come home, I miss her."

That rubbed Fezco entirely the wrong way, Mouse was such a fucking creep.

Fezco dropped his hand from his head to his face, sighing and looking over at Ashtray, who was glaring out the window watching Mouse and Custer leave.

Fezco shot up in his seat, making his way straight towards his room the second he remembered that Rue had left, without telling him more about what she said about Nate fucking with Mariah.

"Why the fuck didn't you tell me," Fezco said the second he was inside his room, closing the door behind him and looking at Mariah as she folded some clean laundry that he was too lazy to fold.

She glanced up at him, looking confused, "Tell you what?"

"Rue told me somethin bout you and Nate Jacobs, fuck was she talkin about?" Fezco asked her.

Mariah's heart dropped, opening her mouth to lie and tell him Rue's trippen or something but no words came out.

"What?" Fezco asked her. "What happened?"

"Don't be mad."

"I'm tryin not to be but you making it real fucking hard," Fezco sighed. "What happened and why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I–because I know you'd do something," Mariah explained.

"Course ima do somethin when there's someone fucking wit my girl, you don't be callin me fuckin Superman for no fuckin reason," Fezco told her, growing frustrated. "What happened?"

"It doesn't matter anymore, I–"

"Nah, it does. What happened?"

Mariah, also frustrated now, sighed, "I saw him choke his girlfriend at the carnival and he made me tell the cops that Danny did it because Danny fucked his girlfriend and he knows he used to hit me and shit."

"And you told the cops Danny did it?" Fezco squinted at her. "Why the fuck you–"

"Cause if I didn't then he was gonna tell the cops my boyfriend's a drug dealer," Mariah blurted out.

"You serious?" Fezco asked her, leaning against the door of his room.

"And if I did help him, Danny was gonna send the video of us around, but I wasn't about to let the fucking slenderman kid rat you out like that," Mariah added.

"You serious?" Fezco repeated.

"Yes I'm se–"

"And you didn't tell me nothing?" Fezco asked her.

"What was I supposed to say?"

"Iono, maybe sum like; yo babe, some kid out here threatening me and shit. I'll grab the glock I fucked you wit and put a bullet through his fuckin forehead," Fezco declared with zero emotion.

He shook his head at her before opening the door to his room and walking out, unintentionally slamming it closed behind him.

Ashtray scoffed from where he ate his dino nuggets in the kitchen, watching Fezco walk into the living room and grab all their new product. "Don't be slamming doors in my fuckin house!"

it will no longer be sunshine and rainbows as much as it hurts me 💔