MHA #15, then #MHA 14, Saturday Morning

[pocketpretzels]

Last night had been pleasant, if excessively glittery. Following the dance, Watts and Steven had checked in to the hotel and-

... Promptly fallen asleep. What?

Now it was morning, though, and the first hints of consciousness were beginning to filter through Watts's mind.

"Mrrph," he rolled over, instinctively reaching for where Steven ought to be. Except there was nobody there. Still mostly asleep, Watts started to dismiss that as oh, well, clearly Steven woke up first and is over by the desk making terrible hotel coffee-

"Steven woke up first"? Yeah, no. Steven was even less of a morning person than Watts himself was. Something was definitely wrong. Starting with the fact that this wasn't a hotel room at all, but his old apartment. Now fully awake- and concerned- Watts got dressed and started to look around in an effort to figure out just what the hell had gone on here.

His first stop was his mobile phone on the nightstand, which looked... older? He squinted at it, and then sighed and grabbed his glasses (which unlike his actual current phone had survived the transition) and squinted at it again: 2022-07-30, read the date.

"Twenty years," he muttered. "Criminy." That would place them at- what, a few months after they'd both arrived in Fandom? Maybe a month after they'd started dating? The lack of decoration in his apartment more or less confirmed the timing. Though he still wanted to know where the hell Steven had ended up, if not with him.

First stop? Across the hall, to Steven and Marc's apartment. Muscle memory had him fishing out his keyring even though they'd not lived in Fandom for years, but of course the key wasn't on the ring: they wouldn't be exchanging those for some time yet. So, knocking it was.

[ooc: for thems that live there! that watts headed over to visit is fine for broadcast, details of conversation NFB please.]

Comments

[hasaknightjob]

There seemed to be a resonance with those words beyond the sentiment. He tried to see if Watts was wearing a wedding ring. "You and Steven...?"

[pocketpretzels]

Watts held up his left hand so Marc could see that indeed there was a simple gold band on his ring finger.

"The legality of it is, of course..." he wiggled his other hand in a 'so-so' motion. Given that Marc was the one on all the non-forged paperwork and Watts himself came from another reality and time entirely, and all. "But the important part is that we stood before God and our friends and made that commitment, yes."

[hasaknightjob]

Something inside Marc relaxed at that. Sure this might be some weird multiverse thing and not a vision of Steven's actual future. But it was still a Steven. Having the life he deserved. There wasn't much that made Marc happy, but that was really fucking high on the list.

"Mazel tov," he told Watts, and meant it. He smirked. "I can guess which god it wasn't."

Wait. If Layla was still around - and Marc was purposefully not dwelling on the implications of that - that could only mean one thing.

"The hippo insisted on helping with the decorations, didn't she?"

[pocketpretzels]

"Did she ever," Watts said with a shake of his head. Of course it had all been relayed via Layla but Taweret had had no shortage of Opinions.

[hasaknightjob]

"Better you than me," Marc said. As though Layla wasn't guaranteed an invite to any wedding of Steven's regardless of her relationship status with Marc. And again: purposefully sailing right past the implications of what that status was. Also ignoring how much they weren't implications so much as Watts flat out saying them.

Marc brushed off the last crumbs of his breakfast into the sink. "Living room? May as well sit while you keep telling me about the ghosts of Hanukkah future."

[pocketpretzels]

“All right,” Watts agreed, rinsing out his own bowl once Marc was finished at the sink. There were of course things he couldn’t- and wouldn’t- mention but no sense bringing that up unless forced to.

[hasaknightjob]

Much as in their - for Watts first, for Marc only - meeting, Marc took the side chair and left the couch for Watts. Casually, he asked, "So he likes that mustache?"

[pocketpretzels]

Not the sort of question he expected; and certainly not going to break the timeline to answer.

“He’s no complaints.”

[hasaknightjob]

"Not the same thing as a yes," Marc told him. Helpfully. Because future Steven or not, Marc was pretty sure about this one.

[pocketpretzels]

Goddamnit, Marc, you were going to give him a complex here. Because now he was just going to reach up and touch said moustache and frown thoughtfully.

[hasaknightjob]

Friends told each other the truth, right? Not that Marc knew a lot about friends. Or truth telling.

Meanwhile there were the other details to parse out. Not that Marc was losing sleep over anything necessarily, but if it affected Steven it was at least worth knowing the possibilities. "Hotel. You don't live here."

[pocketpretzels]

"Not for a number of years, no," Watts confirmed. "There was an- opportunity- in London, some time ago. To do a lot of good. So, we made the mutual decision to return there. Well," he amended. "The two of you returned. And I accompanied you." Yeah, Marc could've probably figured that one out, but pedant's gonna pedant.

[hasaknightjob]

The wording did give Marc the mental image of Watts following Steven like an eager puppy, but that'd pretty much been the start of Watts and Steven's relationship so it wasn't necessarily a bad thing. "Konshu?"

Watts hadn't dismissed the mention of him still being around earlier so Marc could guess the answer, but it was Konshu so didn't hurt to check.

[pocketpretzels]

The expression on Watts’s face probably answered that well enough.

“Still around. Still irritating.” Even without having to interact with him directly! That was talent.

[hasaknightjob]

"At least he's not bothering anybody else," Marc said. That was part of the deal, after all. Why he and Steven took it up again. Not just taking care of Ammit, but to keep the avatar job so Konshu didn't find someone else to do his bidding. Someone who wouldn't mind being as vicious and cruel as Konshu wanted them to be.

It was exhausting to think of decades more of that. But maybe there was a bright side. "He must be so fucking sick of Steven."

Said with pride in Steven, of course.

[pocketpretzels]

Why Konshu had been so willing to re-sign the two of them was one of those verboten topics, of course, but Steven annoying Konshu? A constant and thus fair game.

“The old bird hasn’t got nerves as I understand it, yet Steven’s done a remarkable job of getting on every single one of them regardless.” Also proud, yes.

[hasaknightjob]

And didn't it work out so well that the verboten topic himself was the very thing making sure neither Marc nor Steven even knew to ask about him?

For Marc's part he was happy to move on from talking about Konshu. It wasn't a sure thing but sometimes if you mentioned him enough he showed up to remind you why you shouldn't.

But that left the hippo adjacent topic in the room and Marc wasn't going to ask about Layla. It was bullshit to think she would be with him and happy, no matter what this version of Watts tried to claim. Entertaining the idea was nothing but an exercise in delusion, which normally defined Marc's whole life but some things were too painful.

At which point Marc noticed a flicker of movement in the reflection on the television. Marc bit down a sigh, because of course Steven woke up for this. Him and his fucking empathy.

"It's fine," Marc told him. Steven wasn't fully there enough for replies but that didn't matter for him being able to hear. "We're good."

[pocketpretzels]

Watts followed Marc’s gaze over to the television, where he saw- well, he saw Marc’s reflection, but he knew from experience Marc would be seeing something different.

And then Marc spoke aloud and confirmed as much, and some of the tightness in Watts’s chest eased, his posture relaxed slightly.

[hasaknightjob]

Marc caught Watts's reaction but he kept his focus on Steven.

"Liz says two days," Marc told him. He knew Steven would trust Liz as a source. "Everything will be back to normal on Monday. Well, normal for this place."

Steven looked uncertainly between Marc and Watts. You're all right.

"We're fine," Marc told him. Though he left it open for Watts to answer for himself if he wanted. If this guy had spent as much time around Steven as all that, this kind of conversation couldn't be weird.

[pocketpretzels]

"Right as can be, considering," Watts agreed. No, he hadn't heard the question, but Marc's answer was clue enough as to what it was.

[hasaknightjob]

Well, that answered how much this version of Watts was used to their situation. Marc was, of course, ignoring how much it reminded him of how Layla had picked up the trick of filling in the blanks, and talking to both of them even if only one was in charge of the body at the time.

"We've got it," Marc said. Then, no offense to this Watts but this was the way things worked around here, "I've got it. I'll let you know if there's anything to worry about. Take a breather."

Steven looked uncertain. Which hey, Steven was smart enough to know that Marc might tell him if there was something to worry about only after it was no longer a worry. But still. It was enough to get Steven to nod and the reflection to go back to Marc again.

Marc rubbed the bridge of his nose. When this was all over he was getting a fucking drink.