Trooper Station, Friday

[pocketpretzels]

There was... a lot of chocolate at the Trooper Station today.

Not leftover Valentine's chocolate that had been picked up on sale- well, okay, yes, there was some of that.

But Ralph's entire desk had apparently been turned into one made of chocolate. Which had the end result of some of the Troopers breaking off chunks to munch on throughout the day, much to Ralph's annoyance.

Thankfully Watts's desk in his office remained made of wood?

Comments

[hasaknightjob]

Sometime very distinctly in the morning there was a delivery for Llewellyn.

The note said: For my now and always beau. I loaf you. Steven.

Yes, it said "loaf." This was what happened when the person on the other end of the phone didn't understand you meant the emoji.

[pocketpretzels]

Well of course Watts was going to take out his mobile telephone and snap a new photograph of the roses.

i 🍞 u to

[hasaknightjob]

Steven smiled when he got the picture.

good surprise?

[pocketpretzels]

very gif. they’re lovely. you are locely

[hasaknightjob]

Brilliant. Right. Back to cooking. See you at lunch. 🍞 you

[pocketpretzels]

🍞 u. se you soon.

[hasaknightjob]

Come lunchtime, there was a Steven. He appeared at Llewellyn's office door carefully holding the insulated bag with both hands. "Hello, you. Is there room on your desk for me to put this down?"

[pocketpretzels]

Watts glanced at said desk, which- aside from the bouquet of flowers, was also covered in paper and file folders.

Well, that was easy enough. Careful not to disturb the flowers, he used one arm to sweep all the paper and folders to the floor.

“Yes, of course,” he answered Steven. “Go right ahead.”

[hasaknightjob]

Steven was used to Llewellyn's ways and he was currently carrying precious cargo, so he had no problem with the efficiency with which Llewellyn dealt with the problem. Steven gingerly put the insulated bag down on the desk, taking care to be sure it was level, then stepped back with a smile.

"There! Now we can do a proper greeting. Hello, you."

[pocketpretzels]

“Hello, you,” Watts replied, going over to close the door and then take care of the aforementioned greeting. And while his efforts in that department certainly could never be said to lack enthusiasm, this one in particular had a little extra oomph behind it.

[hasaknightjob]

Steven had no problem with ooomph. He kissed back, wrapping his arms around Llewellyn's shoulders and in no rush to stop.

[pocketpretzels]

“Thank you for the flowers,” Watts told him, between kisses. “They’re lovely.”

Which he’d said, yes, but that was over text.

[hasaknightjob]

Steven smiled at him. "They do look nice don't they? I thought traditional to start. Nice red ones, for romance."

[pocketpretzels]

“A good instinct,” Watts said, smiling fondly at him.

[hasaknightjob]

"There'll be more in the future," Steven promised him. "Now that I know you want them."

[pocketpretzels]

“Thank you, darling,” Watts said. “I look forward to that. And to seeing what you’ve made for lunch today.”

[hasaknightjob]

"I went a little special," Steven said. "I hope you like it. Here, have a seat. This needs careful handling. Hope it didn't get hurt on the way over."

[pocketpretzels]

“Well, now I am very intrigued indeed,” Watts said, sitting down as directed (albeit not before making sure Steven’s chair was ready for him).

[hasaknightjob]

Steven caught that gallant gesture and smiled at Llewellyn for being so thoughtful.

Then he reached into the bag and very carefully pulled out a mushroom pot pie. Unlike the recipe, Steven had forgone puff pastry to make his own crust. The crust... looked homemade, to be certain.

In addition to not looking smooth and professionally done, there were holes and decorations of a sort on it. One could be forgiven for not knowing what the holes and decorations were at first, but then Steven nervously pointed to them and said, "Those are hearts, you see? I cut them out and used them on the top." At which point yes, one might be able to see how traditional heart shapes had been the point of origin even if they had not fully survived the baking process.

"I know Valentine's was Wednesday but I thought, well, something nice? To go with your flowers?"

[pocketpretzels]

Look, Watts understood very well how hard it was to get things looking aesthetically pleasing when working with things like crusts. So the homemade aspect of it, complete with little decorations, absolutely made it even more charming.

“How very thoughtful of you, darling,” Watts declared, clearly pleased.

[hasaknightjob]

"Yeah?" Steven looked hopeful now that it seemed Llewellyn liked it. "I followed the lessons you gave me about crust making. Had my notes with me the entire time and all."

[pocketpretzels]

“I can tell you took great care with it,” Watts said.

Which was true, for all the homemade-ness of the dish, nothing about it seemed sloppy.

[hasaknightjob]

"Was working on it all morning since you left," Steven admitted. He set about serving up the pie, carefully cutting the pieces so that the portion he served to Llewellyn had a crust with the most hearts on it.

[pocketpretzels]

“I can’t wait to try it,” Watts said. And thus he did not, scooping up a forkful.

“S’nice!” he reported, not actually waiting to finish chewing to do so.

[hasaknightjob]

"Yeah?" Steven finally took his seat, pulling his own plate closer. "Crust all right? I was able to test the filling but not that."

The crust was perhaps a little drier than one might like but it wasn't horrible.