Work Text:
Griffin sighed, looking around the loud, colorful party of Ericka and Dracula’s wedding laid infront of him. he currently stood leaned up against a wall near the -all you-can-eat-buffet, holding a glass of champagne. everyone danced with their special someone.
Besides griffin. No, he was alone tonight.
How embarrassing was it that him and Crystal broke up the day before the wedding? They had told no one, of course. As much as griffin liked attention, he didn’t want to spoil the counts special day.
And crystal hadn’t wanted to, either. She and Ericka had super close, lately. even being the wife’s bridesmaid!
He spotted her out of the corner of his eye, dancing her heart out to one of Johnny’s cheesy songs he was DJ-ing waay up front. He quickly diverted his gaze and shifted his stance, making sure she wouldn’t see him.
Because even though griffin hadn’t been the best boyfriend, Crystal had been an amazing girlfriend. So great he was a little jealous of how easy being great came to her.
She would probably put a pause on her dancing and celebrating, go ask him if he was doing alright, and it be awkward but she would make a dumb joke and it would both have them laughing-
On the night of their big breakup, Crystal admitted she had been a lesbian. Griffin had, admittedly been a little taken aback at this since, well, they’d been dating for at least three years now.
She told him she had just really found out herself, so she hadn’t been lying or hiding of from him. For long. which was a relief, he supposed.
He was happy for her, though. She looked like she was having a fun night. As crazy as it sounded, the two invisible people never actually zinged.
Insane, right? The only two invisible woman and man on earth and they just. Didn’t hit it off as much as they hoped.
And he guessed he knew deep down that they weren’t for each other, anyway. He had never felt that zing! Everyone else felt with their special someones, but he stayed anyway with her. Because he thought maybe one day he would wake up and he would feel it.
But that never happened. No matter how much anyone said that they were perfect for each other.
“Yo! Griffin!” He glanced up at the voice calling his name over the loud music, that he could feel getting closer.
Murray waved him down, squeezing between monsters short and tall, three eyes and no eyes.
“Hey, murr. Come here to keep me company? Or are you just here for the buffet?” Griffin joked, tilting his head to the food next to him.
Griffin always made sure to enunciate anything he was saying with a shake of his head. Or really exaggerating his facial expressions, No one could really tell what he was feeling otherwise.
The mummy rolled his disembodied green eyes, “Maybe I’m just here to get an autograph? Ooh, is that the invisible man? Sign my wrappings!” He mocked the many girls who would come up to Frank, begging for a selfie.
“I’d probably say, Grrr, fire baddd….” Griffin replied in his worst Frank impression.
Griffin snorted; Murray shook his head and laughed softly. “Ah, No, man. I came over here just to hang out. I’m getting pretty tired out, this weddings intense! You see Vlad do that crazy ass dance?”
The invisible man raised a surprised eyebrow at that. That sounded pretty unlike Murray. The guy pretty much lived off of parties, He never got tired at these things. Maybe they were getting old.
“Uh-huh…gotcha. And no, but Vlad usually pulls out that move.” He figured, nodding. He knew Vlad well enough to know that, even though they’d only met about..17 times? In a total of a loong time.
Griffin kind of assumed Vlad didn’t like him very much. With him being technically human. Hence him not ever staying long during their visits to his cave. Drac’s father looked like he was about to suck his blood dry everytime he did come over.
Murray, on the other hand, did not. They actually met Murray last, when Van Helsing began to swear to hunt down every monster on earth. The mummy only heard vague, terrifying campfire stories about the counts father.
Murray laughed even harder, “The old bats got moves!” He admitted, though it sounded a little forced. His energy, Griffin meant. It seemed bland and empty, just white noise to the both of them, compared to the normal conversations they would have.
Murray looked to the scene in front of them, leaning on the wall besides Griffin.
”So what’re you doin’ all the way back here? Not gonna dance with your presumably smoking hot invisible girlfriend? She’s probably missing your oh-so charming sarcasm.” He nudged him, still chuckling a little bit.
Griffin’s good mood immediately faded. He had forgotten all about Crystal. He stood silent for a moment, before Murray‘s face contorted into concern.
“Grif? Uh, you good? You look a little spacey, man. You’re not gonna throw up, are you? Please don’t throw up.” Murray’s face got a little more worried. He put a hand on an invisible shoulder, moving a little to be in Griffins eyesight.
“Uh. Yeah…we..” He trailed off. “We just broke up like, last night.” He decided to say. Why not? Besides it being terribly embarrassing, the weddings already halfway through, and he knew Murray wouldn’t make a big deal out of it to anyone else.
Murray’s eyes widened, “what?! For real? Oh, that’s rough, man. I’m sorry..” He gently patted him on the back comfortingly. It did help, a little.
”Yeah, it’s-it’s fine. We never really had anything, anyway.” He managed to mumble out. Even if it was true, it still hurt.
The mummies eyes narrowed in slight frustration. “Dude, even if it didn’t mean nothing, it’s still gonna feel awful. Don’t lie.” He said pointedly, Griffin huffed a sigh.
”It’s just-everyone thought we were meant for each other, y’know? We never found that zing. I just-“ He paused, glancing around for the words, “I guess thought we could work, somehow. Everyone else did.” Is what he finally landed on.
Murray seemed to realize what his words meant. “Oh.” He seemed a little shocked. Griffin expected that. Because how could the two not have? But he also sounded..what, relieved? Odd.
The invisible man rolled his eyes as he thought what Murray might say next, sipping his drink. He might tell him to go beg for her to take him back, or to stop sulking in a corner and go find someone to new flirt with. Or just dismiss him entirely, not believing him.
“I get it. But don’t let others control you, dude. Other peoples lives, don’t compare yourself to theirs. It’s okay that you guys didn’t, you know.” He finally replied, leaning back on the wall.
Griffins glasses widened in slight surprise. He didn’t expect that response.
“I think you guys were too similar, anyway. When you first introduced us to her I thought she was your sister, man.” The mummy added on, pushing forward with the conversation like a stubborn bull.
He nearly choked on his drink. “Wow. Seriously? How would that even be possible? I wasn’t born invisible-“ he began his tangent of how stupid that statement was, cutting himself off to reply to the mummy’s previous reply, “And-uh, thanks.”
He wasn’t great at talking these sort of things. Feelings. Murray just seemed to be a natural, always. Griffin didn’t think about it much, but the two monsters hung out a lot. More than he realized. “Don’t mention it.”
The two always were grouped into their own category inside their group: single. Griffin always had been to busy with his research and, as Frank would put it, “sciencey stuff”.
So when Wayne had to watch his many kids, or Dracula was busy with either Mavis or Martha (now, Ericka) and Frank with Eunice, who did Griffin turn to? Murray, and vice versa.
And Murray was always partying to much to really ever find something serious, like him and the mummette, who always seemed to be off and on. Currently, they were on.
Actually, speaking of, why wasn’t he with her? The two were inseparable, lately. They were finally getting serious. Come to think of it, Griffin hadn’t seen the lady all night.
“Hey, where’s your date, anyway? I don’t think I’ve seen her at all tonight. You and her are like, practically conjoined at the hip lately.” Griffin shifted the spotlight off of him, because he couldn’t take anymore of this heart to heart stuff.
Murray’s eyes widened as he stammered, eyes darting around. He eventually built up the courage to speak, deflating.
“Uh…We..also didn’t..work out. We ended it like, a couple hours before the wedding started.” He conceded, avoiding the invisible man’s gaze as he shrunk into himself.
“…Wow. That. Is quite the coincidence.” Was all griffin could say, looking back to the party in disbelief. How small were the chances of them both had been broken up with?
The odds of this were so small, that Griffin couldn’t believe it. It seemed straight out of a sitcom. And it tracked why she wasn’t here, too. She wasn’t as close with everyone as Crystal was.
“I’m- jeez, I’m sorry.” He mustered up to say, scratching his head full of Curley red hair. Murray only chuckled slightly.
“Man, don’t even worry about it.” It looked like he was going to say more, but when he didn’t, Griffin spoke up once more.
”Who broke up with who?”
“We..me? I guess?” He shrugged, seeming uncomfortable. Oops. Was that too personal of a question?
“Would you believe me if I said we also didn’t zing?” Murray smiled slightly, as if he knew what griffins reaction would be.
”Seriously??” The invisible man’s voice raised an octave. It seriously was indeed a coincidence, He bit back a crazed laugh so he didn’t seem insane.
“Hey, did I ever once say we did?” He laughed, then shrugged, “We both never felt anything with each other, We were just having fun. She never really wanted anything serious until..now. She knew, but she still wanted to.”
He sighed, “And..I couldn’t do it. We didn’t zing. I told her I just..couldn’t. She understood, though.”
The mummy looked like he had the life sucked out of him in that moment, like guilt was dragging him down, he sunk into himself. Griffin rarely saw him like this, He didn’t like it.
Usually it was the other way around, like a minute ago. With Murray being the one to be the life of a conversation, instantly bringing someone out of a sour mood. He didn’t remember the last time Murray needed a pep talk for something like this.
Maybe cracking a joke would help? Like the mummy did? Or..hm…“Ah. Um. Maybe you’re both in…de-Nile?” He tried, faking false levity in his voice.
Murray looked at him for a minute, layer of confusion on his face. Griffin sweated, “…That was bad. I couldn’t think of any Egypt jokes.” It didn’t even work in this situation.
Then he chuckled, and put a hand over his mouth, laughing lazily. Maybe it was because it was so unlike Griffin to do in that situation, or he was pitying him, or he just really needed a good laugh, the mummy laughed way to hard at a joke that (in Griffins opinion) wasn’t that funny.
But his laughter still was a success in Griffins book. He didn’t think that would’ve worked. He grinned. (Though the mummy couldn’t really see it..)
Murray wiped a tear from his eye, “Dude, that sucked. You should stick to your day job.” He said, looking to Griffin. (‘s glasses)
Griffin cocked an eyebrow, “What, workout instruction tapes? I don’t think that pays as well as whatever my job is.” He joked, as the both of them threw into a short laughing fit as an escape from their situations for a little bit.
When both of their laughter died down, the invisible man decided to speak again, maybe a little more serious, this time.
“Uh, anyway. It sounded like it was for the best, Murr. I mean, the breakup. You both wanted different things. Kind of. I wouldn’t want to hunker down with someone I didn’t zing with, either. Don’t feel guilty about it.”
When he finished speaking, he understood a little more why Crystal broke up with him.
The mummy was silent for a moment. Then smiled to him. That sounded like the right. thing to say, right? He always felt like something was missing, Like he was forgetting to add something. That was going to bug him all night.
Murray grabbed his hand. Almost as if he knew he was lost in his own thoughts, Griffins head snapped down to their hands.
“Thanks man.” He squeezed his invisible hand. If anyone could see his face right now, they would be able to tell it was bright red. Why was that?
“Ladies and gentlemen, please enjoy this next one, suggested by the happy bride and groom!” Johnny’s voice echoed throughout the party, a spotlight shining down to greet Ericka and Drac as they begun to dance to the slow paced music.
The light shimmered off of Ericka’s crystal white hair and dress, giving her a soft glow. The count’s black cape and suit was a perfect contrast to hers. He was proud of Drac.
They both looked great, Griffin thought. He watched them waltz slowly for a minute or two before someone tugged at his hand. Murray. Wait, had they ever let go of each other? Um.
”Hey, this songs my favorite! Wanna dance?” Murray said almost like he was joking, but Griffin saw the look in his eyes and immediately could tell he wasn’t.
He thought for a moment.
”Sure, why not?” He could’ve sworn he saw a purple shimmer in Murray’s green eyes for half of a second.