Midnight Manor Private Residence, Saturday Afternoon

[hasaknightjob]

After Steven and Llewellyn's usual trip over to the mainland they came home for an easy Saturday afternoon. Llewellyn went to the library to practice his piano. Steven, for his part, set up dinner in the slow cooker.

Once that was done and the house began to be filled with delicious smells, Steven set himself up in the living room. He curled up on the couch with a book, happily losing track of the time. Raphael kept him company by sitting on the back of the couch and watching the fish swimming in their tank.

On the whole, Steven had no complaints. Other than the lack of his beau, of course, but that could be fixed later when Llewellyn was free.

[for the beau when he is free]

Comments

[hasaknightjob]

"Each one could be a different color," Steven said. "Patterns on the wrapping paper, that sort of thing. I rather like that."

[pocketpretzels]

"Now," Watts said, "in accepting a gift without opening it, does that mean they are accepting a compliment without knowing what it is?"

[hasaknightjob]

"I think so?" Steven said, feeling it out as he went. "So then it's a happy surprise for later, if they do save it for later. Of course they could open it right then, just as you do with gifts."

[pocketpretzels]

"Or," Watts said slowly, "perhaps it is the sort of thing that can be opened again and again?" he asked. "I like the idea of saving it for later, but it does seem a bit odd to accept it without knowing what it is." He knew people did that all the time with real gifts, but since this was supposed to be a metaphor for saying something nice about someone...

[hasaknightjob]

"I see what you mean," Steven said. He thought about it. "Perhaps the paper is also a clue? Different colors mean different things? Like blue is a job well done, green is thoughtfulness?"

[pocketpretzels]

"Ah, yes," Watts said around a mouthful of salad. "So the idea, but not the specifics. I could see that."

[hasaknightjob]

"Sort of in the same way one knows if it's a present for a birthday or anniversary," Steven said. "Does that work?"

[pocketpretzels]

"I think so," Watts nodded.

[hasaknightjob]

"And then what if," Steven said, his spoon halfway to his mouth as an idea occurred to him, "what if two little presents were sat on a shelf? Because they were given but the people they were given to thought it was more polite not to open them? They'd be sad, wouldn't they? Being worried about not being appreciated?

"But then they start to talk to each other and realize they've things in common. Start to become friends."

[pocketpretzels]

"Oh, that's cute," Watts said. "They were given to different people, then?" he checked.

[hasaknightjob]

"I think so?" Steven said, still feeling it out. "Different wrapping paper for certain. One is plaid and the other... stars, maybe."

[pocketpretzels]

"Plaid and stars, hm?" Watts echoed, meeting Steven's gaze for just a moment.

[hasaknightjob]

"A nice blue sky," Steven said. "Er, dark blue, obviously."

[pocketpretzels]

"Obviously," Watts said, putting aside his now-finished stew. "Any significance to those particular designs?" he asked.

[hasaknightjob]

"Not certain yet," Steven admitted. He swiped his last piece of bread around his dish to sop up the remaining bits of gravy. "But they became close. Talk all the time. Appreciate each other. Oh! Maybe that's part of it. Even they don't know what they are. Because they don't find out until they're opened, you see."

[pocketpretzels]

"But they find things to appreciate about the other regardless?"

[hasaknightjob]

"Precisely," Steven said. He put his now empty bowl aside as he warmed up to the telling of it. "And then they decide that they don't need to wait for who they thought they were for, they can open each other. Which as you've said is something that can happen again an again. It's not a final sort of thing. But this would be the first time. Significant."

[pocketpretzels]

"I like where this is going," Watts said, shifting closer to Steven now that food was out of the way.

[hasaknightjob]

Steven shifted his own position, motioning that Llewellyn could come cuddle up in his arms again if he wanted. "So they do. One day they get brave enough to open up, and inside each of them is a heart. Er - a sort of cartoon heart. Not anatomically correct. And they're both so happy about this they exchange those hearts, each one keeping them safe inside their package until they open up to each other and exchange hearts again."

[pocketpretzels]

You know what? He did want. And thus he did so.

"Keeping each other's hearts safe. I do like that." Hmmm, wonder why.

[hasaknightjob]

Steven wrapped his arms around Llewellyn's shoulders to cuddle him close. "And caring for one another even when others didn't know how to properly appreciate them. They just had to find one another, is all."

[pocketpretzels]

"Find that they fit together nicely," Watts added. "The way those hearts they keep exchanging fit and all."

[hasaknightjob]

"Sit perfectly next to one another on the shelf," Steven said, hugging Llewellyn for emphasis. "No space between them if they don't want it."

[pocketpretzels]

"Sounds like a good life," Watts said. "A happy life."

[hasaknightjob]

"And goes to show sometimes it's not that there's anything wrong with you," Steven said, "it's that you haven't found the right person to appreciate you yet."