Trooper Station, Friday

[pocketpretzels]

Having finished signing off on the last of the paperwork regarding the not-an-arson warehouse fire, Watts waved down one of the Troopers.

"Ralph!"

"I'm not Ralph," he responded. "I'm Hugo."

Watts squinted suspiciously at him. Yeah, the guys were all more or less identical, but he'd gotten pretty good at telling who was who thanks to various subtle differences in both armour and facial expression (during the rare times they didn't have helmets on). He was sure this was Ralph.

"Fine, then," Watts said. "Bring Ralph in here."

"Sure, boss." Two minutes later he returned with who Watts was almost certain was actually Calvin.

... You know what? Good enough.

"Run this over to Town Hall and have them file it," he told Ralph-but-actually-probably-Calvin.

Comments

[hasaknightjob]

It was Steven's turn for lunch, so he popped by at the usual time. Which, as it turned out, was just as Llewellyn was finishing handing over the paperwork.

"Hello, Calvin," Steven said, making room for the Trooper to get by him. Did Steven know for certain this was Calvin? Was he guessing? Who could say.

The more important thing was the person Steven was there to see. Who was Llewellyn. Who got a smile that was very much not the sort that Steven would share at any Troopers or anyone else who wasn't Llewellyn.

"Hello, you."

The greeting was pretty exclusive as well.

[pocketpretzels]

"Hello, you," Watts said, mirroring both greeting and smile with his own (which were also exclusives). "Shut the door behind you?" Since probably-Calvin had left it open on his way out.

[hasaknightjob]

"Of course," Steven said, doing just that. He had to nudge the door closed with his foot since he was carrying bags, but that wasn't anything unusual for a Friday. "Something wrong?"

[pocketpretzels]

“Not at all,” Watts said, standing up and moving towards Steven. “I only did not wish to wait a moment longer than strictly necessary to do this,” and he was pulling Steven in for a kiss.

[hasaknightjob]

Steven was more than all right with that. He wrapped his arms around Llewellyn, bags and all, and kissed back. There may have been a contented sound at being able to have this kiss after how long since they'd seen one another.

[pocketpretzels]

And you know what? Watts was just going to take that contented sound as encouragement to deepen the kiss. Because indeed it had been far too long.

[hasaknightjob]

Oh good. Because Steven had very much intended it that way. Llewellyn should, in fact, feel quite encouraged. Steven certainly tried to communicate that through his enthusiastic returning of said kiss, even if this did require a bit of balancing to make sure the bags didn't take a tumble.

[pocketpretzels]

There would be no tumbling, thank you.

“Missed you,” Watts murmured when he finally broke the kiss, leaning his forehead against Steven’s.

[hasaknightjob]

"Missed you too," Steven said. He smiled at Llewellyn. "I like this way of making up for it though."

[pocketpretzels]

“Exclusive to you,” Watts said with a soft smile.

[hasaknightjob]

"Bloody well better be," Steven said. He gave a light nip to Llewellyn's lips to drive the point home. "Here, let's get these down so I can hug you proper."

[pocketpretzels]

“Can’t say no to that,” Watts said, obligingly stepping out of Steven’s path so he could set the bags down on his desk.

[hasaknightjob]

Steven put the bags on the desk, then turned to hug Llewellyn as promised. It was a tight hug, but only to catch up since they're seen each other yesterday. "There. That's better."

[pocketpretzels]

Watts didn’t say anything as he hugged back, just let out a happy sigh as he leaned in and rested his head on Steven’s shoulder.

[hasaknightjob]

Steven smiled at the reaction. He gave a brief, tighter squeeze in response. "Good to hit the highlight of the week, yeah?"

[pocketpretzels]

“The countdown to next time begins every time we part at the end of these dates,” Watts confirmed. No, it didn’t matter that they usually saw each other a few times a week regularly; lunches occupied a special place in their routine and his heart.

[hasaknightjob]

Lunches were sacred, everyone knew that. "Shall we eat then? Also I've brought you some presents, sort of? Two are about dessert."

[pocketpretzels]

Watts nodded, pulling away- though not before one last quick kiss- and moving to sit down in his seat.

“Presents?” he asked curiously, gesturing for Steven to sit in his usual spot.

[hasaknightjob]

"Sort of?" Steven said, to help manage expectations. "Things I thought you might like. Which - I guess that's what all presents are but I mean they're only little things. Nothing fancy."

[pocketpretzels]

In his experience, things I thought you might like wasn’t always true, which contributed to his apprehension about surprises in general. But Steven had a flawless track record so far, small gifts or not.

“I don’t need fancy,” Watts pointed out.

[hasaknightjob]

"Part of it is dessert," Steven said. "Should I get the proper lunch out first and then you can decide which you'd like to see from there?"

[pocketpretzels]

“I would prefer to see it all at once,” Watts informed him. “So, lunch. And then the rest of it before we eat.”

[hasaknightjob]

"Easy enough," Steven said. He unpacked the main dishes of lunch, shakshuka, sabich, and cholent. He then reached into the bag and said, "Now dessert - one I made, one I bought. And the bought's more of a snack? Any preference on which I show first? Or bring them both out together?"

[pocketpretzels]

“Oh, you made something?” now Watts’s mood shifted from curious to delighted. “I need to see that first, please.”

[hasaknightjob]

Steven smiled, shyly pleased at that reaction. He reached into the bag and pulled out a fruit salad which was different from the one he'd made last time. "Here. I think I'm starting to get the hang of how to do the citrus."

At least the oranges and grapefruits had fewer mangled sections that hand been conscripted into being part of Steven's breakfast because they were not suitable for sharing.