Who: Jonathon Black & Quentin Coldwater What: Comfort & cuddles for Quentin struggling with Teddy being gone Where: Their home When: Backdated to after the future kids left Warnings: None Status: Completed Gdoc
It had been a long week, and it was only Wednesday. Orientation was just as dull as he expected it to be, but it did give him something to focus on during the day. Then he’d go home but now that they had the Physical Cottage in Madison he had something from home, and that was comforting. He’d opted to stick with his old room, even if it wasn’t the biggest room in the cottage. It was closer to the kitchen and well, that meant those midnight cravings for a PB&J were easily handled. But even the comfort of familiar spaces didn’t help as much as he needed. The only thing that helped was knowing that he wasn’t going through this alone.
Once he arrived home, Quentin checked the clock and sighed. It would still be at least an hour and a half until Jonathon was home. It did give him a chance to cook something instead of ordering takeout for them again. But as soon as he opened the fridge and saw the jar of marinara sauce his heart broke all over again he shut it and then walked to his bedroom. He undressed and climbed into his bed to curl up around the pillow wrapped in the blanket that Teddy had used while he was with them. After a few minutes, he dug out his phone and sent Jonathon a text to ask the man to pick up something for dinner.
The text came through earlier and Jonathon decided he'd stop and pick up some tacos and nachos and cheese. Walking in the front door he didn't see or hear anyone. He sat the food in the kitchen then headed for Quentin's room. The door was shut, so he knocked. "Quentin, are you in there?" It had been a rough week for the magician whose son was now gone. It pained him to see his boyfriend so sad, down and hurt. He wished there was more he could do. He had held the man while he cried and was always there with cuddles and hugs.
After a few minutes of waiting for a reply Jonathon knocked once more. "I'm coming in." He opened the door to see Quentin curled up with the blanket Teddy had used. Sighing softly he moved over to the bed, toed off his shoes then slid in behind Quentin, like the big spoon, and put his arm around him.
Quentin curled back up after sending the text and stared at the wall for a bit. He knew he should get up and do something. In theory that would be better for him, but he just couldn’t make himself do it. He didn’t have anything that he absolutely needed to be doing at the moment so why not just lay there and wait for things to get better again? Someone could point out that it’s never really worked before, but maybe this time would be different. It was a solid theory and he was ready to test it. Again.
By the time Jonathon arrived at the cottage, Quentin had dozed off. He didn’t wake up at the gentle knocking but he did begin to stir when the door opened. He turned to see who it was and nodded in acknowledgement. He could definitely use some cuddles and he snuggled back into the embrace. He didn’t say anything for a few minutes, and when he did speak it was very quiet. “I’m sorry I’m like this.” And honestly, he was sorry that anyone ever had to deal with him when he got into one of these moods. But he was so very grateful for the people who stuck around and just let him know he wasn’t going through it alone. After a few more minutes he shifted around so he was facing him. “What’d you bring for dinner?” He wasn’t exactly hungry, but he knew he had to at least try to eat.
"You don't need to keep apologizing," Jonathon said softly. There was no need. He understood and knew enough to know Teddy leaving would affect Quentin, but even beyond that, having your child there and then gone would affect anyone. "You're allowed to be however you want to be and you don't need to apologize for that." He nuzzled against Quentin and gave him a gentle hug. "There's no judgment here. I only want to help you through this and support you in whatever way you need me." Jonathon still didn't understand why Eliot (or any of Quentin's other friends) weren't there to offer support and comfort. He didn't mention this to him because he knew it would only upset and cause more grief and that was the last thing he wanted to do.
He smiled when Quentin turned to face him. He looked tired. So much had been going on lately. He leaned in, pressing a sweet kiss to his lips then caressed his cheek. "I got tacos and nachos with cheese. Do you want me to get them or put them away for later?"
He smiled a little when Jonathon told him he didn’t need to apologize. He had known the man would say that, but he still felt the need to apologize. It was one of those things that on some level, he knew he didn’t need to do it. He knew that people (at least the people who counted) understood that he was going to be withdrawn when he was in one of his melancholic moods, or having a full-blown depressive episode. And those people knew that he still needed them to be around, even if he couldn’t ask for it. He just nodded and shifted his hand to find Jonathon’s and laced their fingers together.
Somehow, that smile helped soothe Quentin even more and he leaned into that little kiss. When he heard what they were having for dinner he even laughed a little bit. Sure it was a soft, still kind of sad laugh, but it was still a laugh and that was a step in the right direction wasn’t it? “Finally getting our taco night, huh?” He shifted to snuggle into his arms a bit more. “I don’t want you to move ... .but it’s tacos!” He thought about it another few moments then pulled back and looked up at him. “We should probably eat in the other room. I don’t want to make a mess in the bed with it.”
Jonathon brought Quentin's hand to his mouth and kissed it. It was good to see him laugh even if only a little. He worried. He knew Quentin struggled with his mental health, but they had yet to fully discuss it and now was definitely not the time. "Well, I think someone thought if taco night never happened we wouldn't date. Little did he know I have my ways." He grinned and winked, teasing the other man.
It wasn't like Jonathon wanted to move either. He was comfortable and holding Quentin. "It is tacos and they're tasty." He met his gaze when he looked at him again. "You're right, we should." He groaned a little then shifted to sit up, pulling the other with him. "Do you want to eat at the table? Or I could get us trays and we can sit on the couch and watch a movie or something." It didn't matter to him as long as Quentin was comfortable.
Tacos were tasty but they would also leave quite the mess on the bed if they weren’t careful, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to be that stressed about eating. He shifted to sit up and scooted over to the edge of the bed. “I think watching a movie while we eat would be nice. Will you pick something and get us all set up in there? I’ll get the food and meet you out there.” He tried to look cute when he asked, but he was pretty sure he just wound up looking like an idiot. A lovable idiot, but still, and idiot. “I need to put pants on at least before I go out there.”
He leaned over for a quick kiss. And then one more before he finally got up and walked over to his dresser to pull out some sweats. He thought it would be nice if he had one of Jonathon’s shirts to wear, but he didn’t know how to ask for that. Sure, it was a simple sentence, but well…he wasn’t feeling that brave so he just dug around until he found his oldest, biggest and softest shirt to pull on. Once he was decent he walked out to the kitchen to grab their food and walked over to meet Jonathon in the den with their tacos. “OK, these smell AH-mazing.”
“I can do that.” He smiled into the kisses and for the first time noticed Quentin was only wearing boxers. That came and went. Now wasn’t the time for such thoughts to go any further. “I’ll see you out there. Oh, grab me a bottled water please.” What movie to choose? He knew what he liked, but that didn’t mean Quentin would like it. He grabbed the remote and began going through the movies. He finally settled on a movie and hoped the other would be okay with it. If not he was absolutely okay with choosing something else.
Jonathon took one of the trays and a plate. “They do smell pretty good. He took out the taco first and put a few on each of their plates then took out the nachos and sat it in the corner of his tray so they could both reach it. Once settled he started the movie. “I hope you like ‘The Princess Bride,’ if not I can pick something else.
Quentin made a pit stop in the kitchen to get their water. He considered having a beer, but there weren’t any in the fridge. That would have to go on the shopping list. When someone got around to writing one. The main drawback he’d found to being back in the Physical cottage was it was very easy to fall into the habit of letting someone else take care of those little practical things like shopping lists. He’d do it later, or try to remember to do it later.
He walked into the den and set everything down on the coffee table to make it easier to divvy everything up. He smiled and placed a water bottle on each tray before he sat back onto the couch and shifted so he was as snuggled as one could be while still balancing a tray of food. Proper snuggles would have to wait until they finished eating. “Are you kidding? Princess Bride is a classic! And it’s got everything. Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles…” And there was a tiny stab that he wouldn’t get to introduce Teddy to it, but it was tempered by the knowledge that he’d remembered the story well enough to tell it to the boy, on days when he was too sick to get out of bed but not quite sick enough to want to stay there. “It’s one of my favorites actually.”
"It is a classic, but there are people that don't like it. I can't figure out why though." He smiled and started the movie. He was glad he'd picked a movie that Quentin liked and hoped it would help him feel a little better and maybe even laugh some. It seemed like he hadn't seen him laugh or smile in a long time. Not that there had been much to laugh or smile about lately.
"It's one of my favorites too." He started in on his tacos and soon was lost in the movie. He did glance over at Quentin now and then to check on him. When he finished eating he set his tray on the coffee table and relaxed more into the couch. He reached for Quentin's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze then reached for the blanket over the back of the couch and pulled it over him. "I'll share when you're finished eating," he smiled, looking forward to snuggling.
When Quentin finished and had put his tray on the table, they cuddled up together under the blanket, warm, cozy and safe.