IC contact for wethelost

[devoutish]

Solomons & Melborn
1108 Sweet Cream Street

[Feel free to use this space for letter/package deliveries as well as visits/knocks on the front door!]

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[bywolves]

[ Royce opens his mouth - and just barely stops himself from saying what was going to come out. He flushes slightly instead, and grabs for the bottle to drink from it. ]

[devoutish]

[Alfie hmmmms again, nudging his chin into his shoulder.]

You're definitely a bit drunk, yeah.

[bywolves]

Shh. [ Royce grumbles, chewing at the lip of the bottom absently. ] It's been a while since I've had this much this fast.

[devoutish]

Do you wanna stop?

[He asks, taking another sip for himself.]

[bywolves]

No. [ Grabby hands. ] Kind of want to regret it in the morning.

[devoutish]

I'm sorry.

[He curls a lock of Royce's hair around his finger, then tucks it behind his ear.]

I had the idea of trying to make this a fun evening for you.

[But he's starting to get the feeling that it's not going to turn out that way.]

[bywolves]

[ A pause. ]

I - am I ruining it? [ He asks hesitantly, dropping the hand reaching for the bottle. He thought the evening was going okay. ]

[devoutish]

You are not.

[He kisses Royce on the cheek.]

Not at all.

[Really, he knows that big, demonstrative displays of happiness aren't really Royce's thing - he'd just gotten caught up in the idea of it, remembering raucous evenings with everybody back home.]

[bywolves]

[ The kiss on the cheek is nice, but Royce still has an uncertain look on his face. He has no idea what Alfie had been imagining - he's going over everything that's happened, trying to figure out if he said anything particularly melancholy. ]

I meant - I meant that as a joke. Regretting it in the morning. [ His voice is still hesitant. ]

[devoutish]

All right.

[He sends over some reassurance as he reaches for the bottle, nudging it back into Royce's hands.]

Any evening spent with you is a perfect one to me, eh?

[bywolves]

[ He takes the bottle, looking down at it. He's trying not to let it get to him, because he knows that'll just make things worse. ]

Yeah. Okay. [ All it takes is one thing to get under his skin, and he's annoyed with himself for feeling uncertain. ] Are you sure?

[devoutish]

If I can't sing a song to prove it to you, can I do a dance?

[bywolves]

[ He wrinkles his nose. ]

No. [ A pause. He plays with the bottle a little. ] Were you expecting something from me that I didn't pick up on?

[devoutish]

Royce.

[He takes him gently by the shoulders, turning him to face himself.]

I hope that you can have a good time tonight, that's all. That's not even an expectation, it's just a hope.

[bywolves]

[ He startles slightly at his name, but it gets him to stop spiraling. He meets Alfie's gaze, facing him as well. ]

I have been having a good time. That's why what you said confused me.

[devoutish]

[He lightly taps their foreheads together, just once.]

Then the idea I had is working, and there's nothing for either of us to worry about.

[bywolves]

[ He's still feeling anxious about it - Alfie will feel the little tendrils of it coming off Royce - but he's figuring that answer is going to have to do. He pulls back a bit, trying his best to make it natural and not stilted, and then takes a sip of the wine before placing it back in Alfie's lap.

He grabs for the movie at the end of the bed and stands up. Lady mrowls? in his direction and Bear lifts his head, watching. ]

[devoutish]

No, no, no, come here-- come here.

[He makes little grabby motions for Royce.]

Come back.

[bywolves]

We were going to watch this. [ Royce says, pausing. But he sits back down on the bed, at least. Doesn't crawl back into Alfie's lap, but he sits. ]

[devoutish]

We don't need to. I wanna be with you instead, without distractions and all.

[bywolves]

[ He purses his lips. There's a lot of bitter words trying to escape - he knows better. That's not the way to fix this. A long time ago, he would've just said something rude and left, but Alfie doesn't deserve that and Royce doesn't want to fight.

So instead, he sighs and drops the movie on the bed again, scooting over to sit next to Alfie. He doesn't curl up against his side this time; instead, he sits facing Alfie, legs folded, knees pressed up against Alfie's thigh. Lady crawls into his lap and sprawls out, purring. ]

[devoutish]

[Alfie sighs heavily, flopping back and closing his eyes.]

If a single comment can send you off into a spiral like this, I wish a single comment could also bring you back from it.

[bywolves]

[ He shifts, uncomfortably. ]

I'm trying not to let it bother me. [ It's hard for him to flip the switch - it always takes him a while to get back to being happy and comfortable again, and he wonders if that's just something wrong with him. ]

[devoutish]

Yeah, I know. Will you come back and sit over here with me?

[bywolves]

I am sitting with you. [ A little bit of an indignant tone comes out in that. ] My legs are touching you. I'm practically sitting on you.