MHA #14, Thursday Evening

[pocketpretzels]

Following lunch with Steven, Watts had puttered around town for a bit, before heading back to the apartment building. His own apartment was only a brief stop, however, as he collected a little four-legged friend before heading across the hall to Steven's.

Putting the cake away in the fridge, he noticed the remains of both the pie and the whiskey he'd shared with Marc last night, and made sure the pie was covered both so it didn't dry out and so little sneak-thief felines didn't try and sneak a bite.

That taken care of, he headed back to the living room, picked out a book from the shelf to read and curled up on the couch, Raphael on his lap as he waited for Steven to get home.

Comments

[hasaknightjob]

"He takes excellent care of us then," Steven said. He skritched around Raphael's ears again. "Like now. Making sure we're both warm and comfortable. Such an attentive little lad, isn't he?"

The last part was said in a bit of a coo.

[pocketpretzels]

Why do you think Watts had left him in your company last week, Steven?

"Very much so," Watts agreed, offering a few pats of his own. "And yes, very deserving of some birthday treats in short order." Especially since Steven and Watts's dinner was due to arrive any minute now.

[hasaknightjob]

"Everyone gets to celebrate," Steven said. "It's only fair."

Which reminded Steven, "You did brilliantly last night by the way."

[pocketpretzels]

"Last n- oh. Oh!" Watts realised what Steven meant. "Really?" It had seemed to go well, but Watts hadn't wanted to bring it up, out of respect for Marc's privacy. Not that Steven didn't already know of what Watts had been planning, of course, but as far as details...

[hasaknightjob]

"He didn't tell me much," Steven said. And even if Marc had it would've violated the spirit of the thing to share. "But he wasn't hurt. I know that at least. So you handled that perfectly, I'd say."

[pocketpretzels]

"Good," Watts said with a nod and a little smile. "I'm glad. Even if I had to do a little misleading in order to set things up."

[hasaknightjob]

"I think that's all right," Steven said. "All in a good cause, yeah? Whole point was to keep his mind off it."

[pocketpretzels]

"Don't know that it'll work again next time around," Watts admitted. "Though I'm willing to try."

[hasaknightjob]

Steven looked up at Llewellyn with deep affection. "I love you."

[pocketpretzels]

"I love you too," Watts replied fondly. "And two," he added, after a moment. Because the whole reason he'd gone to see Marc yesterday had been out of care for him as well.

[hasaknightjob]

Steven settled back down against Llewellyn. "I was beside myself trying to figure out what to do. Literally in some ways, I suppose."

Because, as always, if you couldn't make those jokes when you were the one sharing a body with somebody, when could you?

"And there you were with a clever idea. See? Wonderful. Thoughtful as well."

[pocketpretzels]

"We're a team, you and I," Watts reminded him. "He and I, too, I'd like to think."

[hasaknightjob]

"Of course he doesn't do teams," Steven said. But this was the joking tone of someone who was, quite literally, someone Marc could not live without.

[pocketpretzels]

"Right, of course," Watts said, in the tone of someone who Marc had referred to as a friend despite protesting often that he didn't do friends either.

(No, he was never, ever, ever letting that go.)

[hasaknightjob]

"I liked the part about you being there for him again next time," Steven said, in case Llewellyn had been wondering about the sudden declaration of love a moment ago. "Can't tell you want it means to me. Well, other than it's part of why I love you."

[pocketpretzels]

"I'll gladly be there for him in whatever capacity I can," Watts promised Steven. Marc didn't need protecting in the physical sense any more than Steven did, of course, but that wasn't the only way someone could be hurt.

[hasaknightjob]

Steven certainly knew that more than anyone.

"It's that," Steven said, because it very much was that, "and the part where you'll be here next year. I like that idea very much."

[pocketpretzels]

"Of course," Watts said. "Have to make you another birthday cake, don't I?"

[hasaknightjob]

"And maybe a third and a fourth sometime?" Steven asked.

He'd come a very long way from the days when he didn't even dare think he and Llewellyn would last three months, let alone years.

[pocketpretzels]

"I would like nothing more," Watts told him.