Midnight Manor Private Residence, Saturday Evening

[pocketpretzels]

After their usual jaunt over to the mainland, Watts had headed to the kitchen to do a bit of baking, and then to the library for some piano practice.

And as he'd told Steven the other day at lunch, he was close to mastering the piece he was currently working on. Maddeningly close, in fact. So absorbed was he in getting to the point where he could play it through without a stumble that he did not notice as the hour ticked over past that where he usually stopped for the evening so he and Steven could have dinner together. Instead, he kept playing, and playing, single-minded in his determination to finally master the piece.

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[hasaknightjob]

Steven tried not to interrupt Llewellyn while he was practicing. However dinner time came near and food was important.

Steven tried to give Llewellyn more time by taking care of ordering. They'd touched base on dinner earlier, so when Steven pulled up the app to request a delivery of Thai food he knew what to get.

But the order had gone through, the delivery had arrived, and there was no Llewellyn.

There was nothing to do but knock and then, knowing how absorbed in his work Llewellyn could be, go ahead and open the door to the library and peek inside.

[pocketpretzels]

Inside, Steven would find Watts, predictably, still sitting at the piano, fingers dancing over the keys, playing one of those pieces that Steven might not be able to name but may well have heard at some point or another. Until at some point there was an obvious fumble, a wrong key hit.

Without more than a second's pause, Watts started again, playing the piece from the beginning.

[hasaknightjob]

Steven winced on Llewellyn's behalf at the fumble. Particularly since he could, in fact, recognize the piece enough to know it'd been a fumble even if Llewellyn hadn't started over.

Normally Steven wouldn't interrupt but, well, food.

"Llew?" Steven said, coming into the room. "Time for dinner."

[pocketpretzels]

It wasn't that Watts was deliberately ignoring Steven when he didn't respond, it's that he genuinely did not hear him, focused as he was on the piano keyboard and the notes he was meant to be playing.

[hasaknightjob]

Steven expected as much. They'd been through this before. At this point Steven mostly started talking when he came into the room in the hopes it would seep into Llewellyn's subconscious and keep him from being too startled when he finally did register that Steven was there.

Steven came closer, so that now he'd been in Llewellyn's peripheral view. "Llew? Dinner."

[pocketpretzels]

Watts kept playing, past the point where he'd fumbled earlier, nearly to the end. He reached the final trill, and- once again, his fingers slipped, hitting a C instead of a D.

With only the faintest audible sigh, Watts stopped and began again.

[hasaknightjob]

Steven reached out to touch Llewellyn's shoulder before he could get too far in the repeat. "Love?"

[pocketpretzels]

There were days where even that was not quite enough to bring Watts out of the near-fugue he could get in to when focused, but today, thankfully, was not one of those days.

"Steven?" Watts frowned up at him. "When did you get here?"

[hasaknightjob]

"A few moments ago," Steven assured him. He rubbed Llewellyn's shoulder. "That sounded lovely."

Yes, there was food. But sometimes there needed to be a period of adjustment from playing to being back in the present moment.

[pocketpretzels]

"I haven't quite got it down," Watts said. "If I could just-" his hands twitched, as if he were about to lay them on the keyboard again, but he held himself back.

[hasaknightjob]

Steven began rubbing Llewellyn's back in comfort. "It sounded like Mozart? Do I have it right? That's complicated either way."

[pocketpretzels]

Watts nodded in affirmation. "Sonata number sixteen," he said, leaning back in to Steven's touch.

[hasaknightjob]

"Mozart's hard, isn't it?" Steven said. "Feels like he'd be difficult. You're doing brilliantly so far then, you ask me."

[pocketpretzels]

"This one was labeled as intermediate," Watts said. "I thought I would give it a try."

Had it been something of a jump, difficulty-wise, from the last piece he'd worked on? Absolutely. Possibly a bit too big of a jump. But Llewellyn Watts was nothing if not stubborn, and so he'd stuck it out.

[hasaknightjob]

Steven stood behind Llewellyn so he could wrap his arms around Llewellyn's shoulders and give him a hug. "I'm proud of you. Look how far you've come already!"

[pocketpretzels]

Watts relaxed into the hug, accepting the praise even as he still felt frustrated by his inability to master the piece.

"Thank you, darling."

[hasaknightjob]

"Dinner's here," Steven said. "Feel up for taking a break?"

[pocketpretzels]

"Dinner's here?" Watts echoed, fumbling for his pocketwatch. "Oh," his heart sank as he noticed it was past their usual dinner hour. "You haven't been waiting long?" he asked, apologetically.

[hasaknightjob]

"I gave you extra time before I ordered," Steven said. "But it is here now, yeah. Should probably eat before it goes cold?"

[pocketpretzels]

"I, yes. Absolutely," Watts affirmed. "Apologies. For making you wait." Yes, Steven had said the food hadn't been waiting long, but also that he'd waited a little before ordering.

[hasaknightjob]

Steven stood up straighter so he could rub Llewellyn's shoulders instead of hugging them. "Where would you like to eat?"

[pocketpretzels]

Watts groaned as Steven's actions began to relieve some of the tension he typically carried there. "Here, if that's all right? Or we could put a picture on in the living room?"

[hasaknightjob]

"Here's fine," Steven said. He kissed the top of Llewellyn's head. "Would you like to get comfortable while I get it?"

[pocketpretzels]

"If you don't need my help?" Watts checked.

[hasaknightjob]

Steven considered. "Probably best for you to pick the wine if you'd like wine with it?"