#tmmm spoilers | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

wonderlandleighleigh · 1 year

Text

She turns to Dinah when Susie is distracted in her office one day and bites her lip, opening her mouth to make a request, but doesn’t get a chance. The other woman hands her a little slip of paper with a phone number and address on it.

Midge frowns, perplexed. “What is-“

“You got hypothermia because you went to see his show,” Dinah shrugs, grinning at her understandingly. “I figured you’d want his contact information.”

Midge smiles gratefully and slips it into her purse.

*****

She thought she’d be too busy to think about him, but when it’s quiet and everyone else is asleep, she wonders how he is. If he’s enjoying the warm weather. How things are going with his daughter. If he’s happy.

She wants him to be happy.

Midge just wishes…

Sometimes Midge wishes for a lot of things.

But she keeps moving forward. She starts landing more jokes on the show. Ethan is still having sleep issues, but she knows if she’s patient and attentive things will get better. Esther is getting more grown every day and she worries she’s not doing enough for her little girl, but she does try.

She dozes off in front of the television one night, and when she blinks awake, it’s to find the sun coming up and the morning news on.

Except Walter Cronkite only does the evening news, but here he is anyway with some sort of special report.

Midge narrows her eyes at all comes into focus.

“…Found dead at his California home of an apparent heroin overdose…”

Her stomach lurches hard as she shakily gets to her feet.

“…Survived by his mother a one daughter-“

“No,” Midge mutters as the screen flips to –

She had no idea they’d be willing to show real dead bodies on TV, but there he is. She knows exactly who it is, having seen him bared before her, warm and beautiful, very recently.

She means to crumble back onto the couch but misses and hits the floor instead, and suddenly she’s yelping awake, sitting up quickly.

It’s still dark out.

The television is still on its test screen.

Midge fell off the couch.

She scrambles to her feet, rushing for her purse and Dinah’s little slip of paper, and soon she finds herself back on the living room floor, behind the couch with the phone in her lap, shakily dialing his number.

“One AM here,” she mutters, looking at the clock above her. “Eleven there…so he’s either out or-“

His voice is confused when it picks up. “Hello?”

“You need to come back,” she blurts out.

“Midge?”

“You need to come back, you can’t stay in LA,” she babbles. “It’s- bad for you. All that sun is bad for you.”

“Wait-“

“You can move your daughter here,” she keeps going quickly. “There are tons of great apartments and schools, and we can plan playdates and-“

“We don’t do that,” he reminds her gently.

There’s a warmth in his voice that brings tears to her eyes.

“We could,” she tells him. “We should. We should do that. Ethan is weird, and he could use another friend, and Esther could use a little girl who’s a little older and probably the coolest kid on the planet who listens to free jazz and smokes candy cigarettes.”

“Kit’s pretty hip,” Lenny admits, getting sidetracked. “Midge-“

“See! Her name is Kit! That’s a cool name! She doesn’t belong in California, she’s an East Coast kid.”

“Are you ever going to tell me what has you so terrified that you called me up in the middle of the night to demand that I relocate again?”

She freezes, unable to tell him. Partially because she’s starting to realize just how insane she sounds and partially because it’s cruel to tell him.

“Midge.” His voice is so gentle.

“I had a really terrible dream,” she says, trying to steady her voice. “And I just-I want you to be happy, but I miss you like crazy even though I’ve been trying to ignore it, and I thought I was doing a good job but then I had this awful nightmare tonight and I just-“ She loses steam finally, blowing out a breath. “Sound like a lunatic.”

“A little,” Lenny admits. “Though I admit it’s kind of a turn-on.”

“Lenny.”

“If I said I was sorry for that joke, I’d be lying,” he tells her. “Midge, I…”

She waits.

She waits for him to shut all of this down. To assure her that all is well. That he’s fine. That he has to stay in LA. That they don’t do these kinds of things. She feels herself tense up, taking a breath and closing her eyes.

“I miss you, you know.” It comes out quiet. “There’s a lot going on with the legal troubles…with a lot of things. I wish…I wish I could be…”

“You could.”.

“You have too much faith in me.”

“Just enough.”

“How did you get this number anyways?”

“I’m a very good stalker,” she says.

Lenny sighs softly. “I’m back in New York in two weeks. Let’s get a drink. We’ll talk.”

“You promise?” she asks quietly.

He means it when he says “I promise.”

“Okay,” she says after a moment. “Did you have a gig tonight?”

“Yes, and I even managed to stay out of jail,” he says. “It went pretty well, all things considered.”

“I’m actually kind of surprised you’re home.”

“I had to relieve the babysitter,” Lenny explains. “I’ve known prostitutes with cheaper rates. There’s something in that. Something about childcare being a worse gig than sex work.”

“With sex work you leave sticky for the right reasons,” she giggles, and it makes him laugh, too.

“Please tell me you’re using that,” he says, and she can hear him smiling through the phone.

“Bet your cute little ass I’m using that,” Midge tells him. She sighs. “I’m sorry, Lenny. I shouldn’t have- I just-“

“It’s nice to be missed,” he admits. “And if I’m being truthful, I really do hate it here.” His voice goes quiet again. “I miss the snow.”

They both sit with that for a moment, letting to quiet wash over them. Three thousand miles away, and one sentence makes her feel more connected to him than ever, even though she knows she should be giving him shit for letting her nearly freeze to death after yelling at her.

“Two weeks?” she asks finally.

“Two weeks,” he promises.

*****

It turns out that while they both intend to keep that promise of meeting in two weeks, it’s harder than he thought it would be to catch her. Between her day job at the show, and her night gigs and her kids, and his lawyer meetings and his gigs it winds up being almost impossible.

When he steps into the Button Club (previously warned hat it’s her ex’s club, and the man has no idea that Lenny and Midge…well…were ever Lenny and Midge), he lets his eyes rake across the crowd of people.

And realizes he’s just in time for Midge’s set.

He manages to slip into a small table in the back and orders himself a scotch and water from one of the waitresses before sitting back and watching Midge do her thing.

God, she’s so fucking good.

She runs with the sex work childcare joke, too.

“You know why it’s more expensive?” she asks. “Because in childcare you leave sticky for all the wrong reasons. There’s jam. There’s gum. There’s play-doh. What’s a little sweat and jizz compared to that?”

Lenny laughs hard, giving a clap that catches no one's attention except the owner.

Ah, shit.

"Mr. Bruce. It's an honor to have you at my club," Joel Maisel tells him.

Lenny glances at him and then nods to Midge."I'm here for her."

"Midge is good," Joel agrees. "Is there anything I can get you?"

Lenny could just let it go.

He could.

He won't.

"Yeah, a martini, up with olives for when she wraps up."

Jo stands there frozen. "You uh…you know her drink."

"Three years of camaraderie and closeness I fucking should by now," Lenny comments, before turning back to watch her set.

To Midge’s credit, she hasn't let seeing her ex and whatever Lenny is to her throw her off her game, and he's relieved when Joel walks off.

Lenny grins at her mischievously.

*****

She heads for his table, sits and takes a sip of her martini. "Did you torture my ex?"

Lenny considers. "Maybe the tiniest by knowing you cocktail preference."

"Lenny."

He grins and leans in. "Hi Midge. Great set."

"And I didn't even have to go on a date with you this time to get the compliment," she teases. She sighs. "Thank you for meeting me. I know the setting isn't ideal."

"I did promise. And scheduling was tight, but we made it work," he says. He gazes at her for a moment and impulsively reaches for her hand. "Anymore bad dreams?"

She lets her guard down a little, letting the warmth of his long fingers envelope hers as she nods. "Same thing, over and over."

"Ready to tell me what it is?" He asks.

"No," Midge admits honestly. "But we worked so hard to meet in person so I kind of have to."

And she does. About waking up in front of the television to a news broadcast about his death. The graphic photo she keeps dreaming about. How she wakes up before she really knows what's happening other than "Lenny died alone."

His thumb is circling her palm by the time she finishes. Her eyes are glassy. She hates that a silly dream makes her cry but she can't help it.

Lenny takes a deep breath. "I don't have the best proclivities, as you're aware," he admits. "But I'm going to do my damndest to keep that from becoming reality."

She opens her mouth to offer help but stops when he holds his free hand up.

"I know you want to help, Midge, and I love you for it but-"

He stops as they both adjust to the weight of those words.

"You-"

"I-"

"Refills?" Joel's voice asks from over them, and Lenny moves to let go of her hand, but she tightens her grip.

"Wait," she blurts out, staring into Lenny's wide, shocked eyes. "You love me?"

"He what?!" Joel snaps.

Lenny swallows. "Midge, here? Now?"

"You tell me, you said it," she snaps.

"I don't expect you to feel the same," he tells her quietly. "I just-"

"Of course she doesn't," Joel blurts out nervously.

She can barely hear Joel's panicked voice as she gazes at the man in front of her. She lets go of his hand to stroke his jaw. "Lenny, don't be stupid. You know I do."

"You do?" He asks, a little baffled.

"You do?" Joel asks in shock.

Midge can’t help grinning warmly at Lenny. “A little hard not to at this point, don’t you think?”

“You scraped me off of a sidewalk, watched me have an utter meltdown, and then do the pee-pee dance in front of your building,” he points out dryly.

“The pee-pee dance?” Joel ponders, confused.

“So attractive,” Midge jokes.

“You nearly lost a toe because I yelled at you instead of sleeping with you the night of my Carniegie gig,” he adds.

“I would not have slept with you after you yelled at me,” she argues.

“I’m sorry?” Joel asks, really panicked now.

“You also watched my entire suitcase fall open and dump its contents onto the carpet at JFK and then watched as I stood there and didn’t clean it up,” Lenny goes on.

“Endearing,” Midge shrugs.

“I am standing right here!” Joel snaps loudly, finally getting their attention.

“Right!” Lenny cries, turning to him, looking more than a little annoyed. “Drinks! She’s have another martini up with olives, and I will have a double scotch and soda.”

“That’s not-”

Midge takes a deep breath and looks up at her ex-husband. “Joel. We’re trying to have a conversation. Can you please-”

“No!” he cries. “No, I won’t please! I want to talk to you in private. Now.”

“No,” Midge says simply.

Joel stares at her.

“I’m in the middle of a conversation,” she reminds him. “It’s an important one. And it has nothing to do with you. So you can either go get our drinks, or we can leave.”

He stands there, weighing those options, and Lenny glances down at his watch.

“You get fifteen more seconds to decide,” he announces without looking up.

Joel gives a groan before storming away, leaving them to their conversation as the other patrons of the club turn back to their drinks and conversations.

Midge closes her eyes and takes a slow breath, letting it out.

“So that’s the ex?” Lenny asks, hiding a grin behind his hand.

“That’s him,” she confirms. “I don’t know how much you would love me if you had to deal with him all the time.”

His voice comes out soft again. “It would be worth it.”

She finds herself re-taking his hand, playing with his fingers. “What do we do?”

“Well,” Lenny drawls out. “I hate LA. It turns out the lawyers here are, actually, better, you keep having nightmares about my untimely death and it turns out we’re in love with each other. And while I very much should not drag you into all of my horrible garbage…”

She watches him carefully, knowing that there’s hope written all over her face where there shouldn’t be. That this could all blow up spectacularly, she can’t can’t help herself.

He leans in, his eyes avoiding hers in favor of looking at their hands. “I want this with you.”

His words have her tugging him in closer, letting go of his hand again to cup his jaw, pulling him into a tender kiss.

****

Susie Myerson tries really fucking hard not to get involved in her clients’ personal lives.

Because they’re actual friends, Midge makes it fucking hard to stay out of it, though.

So does her shitty ex-husband.

“I don’t need to be here,” she snaps as she steps into the Button Club. “The whole point of her gigging at this place is to try out new material, and give me a couple of nights where no one needs me to hold her fucking hand!”

Joel looks livid and pale, and he points aggressively toward the main room of the club.

“What?” Susie snaps. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

He points harder.

Susie rolls her eyes and wanders over to the entryway, letting her eyes scan the crowd, and eventually she lands on-

“Oh,” she says simply, watching as Midge pulls away from Lenny Bruce her hands still cupping his face in the most tender gesture Susie has ever seen in her entire fucking life.

She’s had the misfortune of seeing Midge with a number of men. That Benjamin guy. Nice, but stiff. Joel. An asshole.

She’s never seen her alone with Lenny, though, and it’s-

Fuck. It’s love.

“You gotta stop it,” Joel demands.

Susie snorts out a deep, dark laugh. “For so many reasons, go fuck yourself.”

“Susie-”

“First and foremost, Midge’s lovelife is none of my business,” Susie stops him. “Is this ideal? No. Do I think it will probably blow up in her fucking face? Yeah.”

“So stop it!”

“Second of all: That’s not just some fling,” Susie goes on. “That’s not just grabbing a quickie in an alleyway after a gig.”

“Thanks for that mental image,” Joel complains, squeezing his eyes shut, looking pained.

“Look at his face,” Susie goes on. “Look at hers. That’s real. And I may be a heartless asshole sometimes, but even I know not to stand in the way of that shit.”

“Susie,” Joel says warningly.

“And third of all,” Susie says as she grins slowly. “It’s gonna be way too much fun to watch you lose your wind over this. It already is.”

Joel glowers at her harshly, and, without a word, storms back behind the bar, slamming the office door behind him.

Susie rolls her eyes and slips back to the bar to get a drink.

*****

“The kissing is nice but it doesn’t solve our problems,” Lenny points out gently as he allows himself the indulgence of brushing his fingers through the ends of her hair.

“What’s the lease like?” Midge asks.

“Month-to-month,” he admits sheepishly.

She laughs. “Lenny.”

“I may be a man with a lease, but I never said I was any good at it,” he admits.

Midge takes a breath, and he knows she’s talking about how long he should stay at the house in LA, and what they can do to plan his move back to the east coast and she’s dropping the name of some lawyer her father knows, but he’s missed her so much all he can do is gaze at her face; commit her eyes to memory; let himself be soothed by that lilting intensity in her voice.

“Are you paying attention to anything I’m saying?” she asks finally.

“I’ve changed my mind,” he tells her. “I think the kissing would solve our problems.”

She laughs, and it’s the best sound ever.

Sadly, they’re interrupted again by the scrape of a chair coming up to the table, and Susie taking a seat with her drink, which she sets down with a loud thunk. “Okay.”

Midge looks deeply confused. “Wasn’t tonight a Midge-less night for you?” she asks. “You didn’t even want to hear my name tonight.”

“Joel called, said there was an emergency, and then alerted me to…whatever the fuck this is,” she explains, gesturing towards the two of them.

Lenny sighs and pulls away from Midge, sitting back against the wall.

“Tell me what’s going on,” Susie says.

Midge hesitates, and glances at Lenny, before both of them wind up launching into a years-long tale of irresponsible flirting, ridiculous weather-related shenanigans, and their current predicament.

“Right,” Susie nods after they’re done. “So you’re in love.”

Again, Midge hesitates.

“It’s a new development,” Lenny admits, even though it really fucking isn’t.

“Sure,” Susie waves a hand. “Look, I could care less, but the press is gonna eat this up hard, so we’ve gotta strategize your story here, and while I typically don’t condone telling the truth, I think it’s our best bet. It makes both of you look like sweet, adorable disgusting lovebird angels.”

Lenny opens his mouth to protest, but the short woman lifts up a hand.

"You wanna keep fucking my client, you're gonna do what I say."

He shuts his mouth.

"Good," Susie nods. "I'm leaving. Don't fucking get arrested."

*****

Joel steps out of his office as Susie heads for the exit. "So? You get rid of him? Put a stop to it?"

Susie grins then. A strange, satisfied grin. "He'll see you at the next family dinner."

With that, she leaves, and Joel feels bile gather at the back of his throat.

*****

They sit and talk for another hour, and in the back of Midge’s head, she knows that they should have left after Susie did; that sitting here for another hour is likely driving Joel up a wall, and leaving will be much harder the longer they stay.

But Midge is selfish sometimes, and she just doesn’t want to break whatever spell Lenny is under that has him talking about real things, as his real self.

Because what if he chickens out?

What if she chickens?

What if it all just crumbles?

What if her terrible dream becomes real anyways?

Lenny leans in then, narrowing his eyes at her. “I can see the wheels turning, you know.”

She grins sheepishly and shakes her head. “It’s fine. Everything is fine. Really.”

His eyebrow lifts skeptically. “Having second thoughts?” he asks.

“No. I’m afraid you might be.”

“Oh, I’m terrified,” he admits. “But I want this much too much to run now.”

“What if it doesn’t work?” Midge asks softly.

Lenny sighs softly, thinking it through. “Then…we’re gonna break up, and we’ll probably hate each other for a while, and you’ll talk shit about my dick on stage, and I’ll sleep with a woman who’s far, far too young to make myself feel better, and then maybe one day when we’re old, we’ll look back on it at some sort of comedy special where they wheel out the geriatric set and we’ll laugh about it.”

“Even if we don’t break up, can I talk shit about your dick on stage?” she asks hopefully.

He chuckles and sips his drink. “You have blanket permission to tell audiences whatever you would like about my shvantz in your act.”

She beams. “You really do love me.”

"You wanna head out? See if we can sneak past guard at the door?" Lenny offers.

Midge finishes her drink and gets to her feet. "I'm going to have to face him sooner or later."

Lenny nods, getting to his own feet and helping her into her coat before they wander towards the exit.

Midge makes eye contact with Joel as he downs his umpteenth drink behind the bar, and shifts from Lenny to at least say goodnight.

"His place or yours?" Joel asks bitterly.

"Probably coffee in the village," Midge tells him truthfully. "Go home, Joel. Sleep it off."

"You coulda told me," he snaps. "Shoulda told me."

"I didn't want to," Midge tells him honestly.

"Why?"

She pauses, gazing at him for a long moment. "Because there are so few things in my life I don't have to share. That are just mine. This was just for me. Goodnight, Joel."

She wanders back over to Lenny, taking his hand and heading for the door.

#fic #au #tmmm #tmmm spoilers #Midge x Lenny

110 notes · View notes