leonard mccoy (adoctordamnit) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2013-06-17 12:06:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, john watson, leonard mccoy |
Good, good. I know where to go to borrow sugar now, then.
Who: John Watson and Leonard McCoy
When: Recently, after this post
Where: Break Room, Irvine General
What: Bumping into
Rating/Warnings: None/Low
Status: Complete
McCoy was nursing a cup of coffee in the break room at the hospital. If he took his breaks in his office, he would just continue working through them. So it was a good idea for him to get out of his confined space for a few minutes and let his mind wander. He was thinking about how his daughter would be here in just a couple of days, and how he still had things to prepare. Then he saw his fellow come into the room.
“Congratulations on your condo purchase. I hear it’s a good time to buy.”
“Hello to you, too,” Watson smiled wide though, grabbing a refill on his coffee before settling himself down at the table McCoy was sitting at. “And thank you. Exciting times, really. And just in time, isn’t it? For your daughter to be in town?”
“Just in time. She’s coming this week.” McCoy was counting the minutes, actually. “I’ve already told her about her job in orchestrating your move, so... she’s pretty excited about it all, to tell you the truth.” He leaned back a bit in his chair. “I suppose you’re ready to have your own space.”
John only gave an indulgent smile over that. He had little real need to have a teenager orchestrate his move, considering he had very little in the way of actual furniture, and not much more in the way of items. Still, he wouldn’t refuse help.
“I am. I do like my flat mates, of course, but I think I’m a bit old for sharing these days. The idea of bringing a woman home and hiding her away in my room is questionable at best.”
It wasn’t as if McCoy was serious about Joanna orchestrating. He was joking. Perhaps it didn’t come across appropriately. In any case, she wasn’t even a teenager yet. She was only eleven. Let’s not put the cart in front of the horse here.
“Oh?” That caught McCoy’s interest. “Bringing a woman home? You sly dog you. Have one in mind?” He asked, then felt like a nosey, clucking hen.
Watson covered his eyes over that one, leaning into the table more than he should have. “I do, if you must know.” But it was more complicated than all that, and he was sure his posture probably said that.
“Well! That’s excellent news.” McCoy had actually sort of assumed that Watson was either asexual or swung the way that wasn’t interested in bringing women home. He didn’t judge, though he did assume things. “And she’s interested in coming home with you? Hence the sudden need for a dwelling not shared with two other men?”
“I don’t know,” Watson said, sounding a bit plaintive. “Maybe? She texts me in the bathtub.” He settled his head on the table, looking just confused and sad. He’d really been holding this in for a while now, and now that he had the chance to talk about it, it was really, really coming out. “She amazing. I’m in love. But she’s going through a fresh divorce.”
McCoy raised both eyebrows at that. “...the bath tub? Are we talking... naughty picture texting or the other kind?” Of course, he would absolutely be an ear for his friend and colleague, but he needed to know the details, of course. ...though, now that he thought about it, it sounded like a pervy question. He cleared his throat.
“Well, going through a divorce isn’t the end of the world.” He added, quickly.
“Well, of course it isn’t the end of the world. But it’s got to be-- you know. Kind of hard. Hard enough where a guy probably shouldn’t hit on her a a few weeks after a separation.” He paused, as if thinking on it. “And not -- you know. Pictures. But. It was kind of. Not completely innocent.” It was guy talk, kind of. Not really pervy dude talk. He didn’t think McCoy was being weird about it.
“I should wait, right? I mean. I’d be awful not to wait.”
"Well, it'd be pretty terrible if you waited and some other guy came along and swept her off her feet right from under your nose." McCoy said, scratching his chin, thoughtfully. "And if she's sending you non-innocent bath tub text messages... I think that's a signal. I'm sure it's probably confusing for her, too. Divorce isn't easy. And not knowing how or when to move on is tough."
“I feel like a jerk every time I try to flirt,” John admitted, sitting up a little and pressing his hand to his forehead. “I mean. I don’t know. She’s young. And -- perfect.” He shook his head. “What to do? I don’t want some younger, better looking bloke to just -- you know. But at the same time...”
“Maybe you should talk to her about it.” McCoy said, giving a gentle shrug. “Not about you specifically, but... well, I’d bet she could use an ear. Someone to talk to about the confusing feelings. And... wait.” There wasn’t much of a pause, McCoy’s expression went slightly confused, slightly incredulous. “How young, exactly?”
“I have. I mean, I am -- we talk about whatever she likes, you know?” Amy did keep things kind of close to the vest on that one, but she knew he was there to talk. She had come to him first, after all.
“And-- what? Er. Younger than us, that’s for sure. Early twenties?”
"You could bring it up, you know." McCoy suggested. "Just in a general sense. And see how she reacts?" Then again, McCoy wasn't the best when it came to romantic relationship advice. Too many failed relationships made him a bit awkward and unsure. "Ah, so you really are robbing the cradle. Wait, she's in her early twenties and already divorcing?"
He supposed he could bring it up. But how did one really bring up fancying someone in a general sense anyway? Oh, hey, just so you know, I rather fancy you. Is that okay? I mean, just in a general way. Don’t feel awkward or anything about it. I’ll just be over here... fancying you.
“It’s not robbing the cradle when they’re legal,” Watson went back to sitting up right, holding his coffee between two hands. “We all make mistakes,” he said in Amy’s defense. “It’s easy to rush into things.” He didn’t feel the need to point out the examples he could get just from employees of his hospital alone.
McCoy was really more talking about whether or not Amy was ready to start dating again. That might be a good general place to start. If McCoy knew all the things that Watson and Amy had been doing though, he would have suggested that the two were pretty much dating already. Only, without the kissing.
"You're old enough to be her father," McCoy said. "That's cradle robbing." He was mostly teasing. Mostly. "Anyway, I'm sure she's a lovely girl. And if you're really that crazy about her, you should go for it. You're not getting any younger." Like McCoy was one to talk, really.
They kind of were. Which was why it was confusing. For Watson, anyway. Amy might have been a bit more oblivious than all that. Sometimes it was hard to tell.
“Only if I had a kid when I was like seventeen,” Watson made a face at that, because okay, really, he was quite a bit older when he put it like that. But then he shrugged and gave a little sigh. “I’m working on it. I’m getting a place. And -- you know. I’ll tell her. Eventually.”
Seventeen year age gap. That was fairly big. McCoy simply nodded. He'd heard of kids having babies younger than seventeen. Not his own daughter, never, but others. Still, the girl could do a whole lot worse than John Watson. Watson was a good man with a good job. He was a good friend, too. McCoy thought he was a good catch--then again his frame of reference only included himself and Jim, and out of the three of them, Watson was the only type he'd ever want his daughter dating.
"Test the waters first. Ask her what she thinks about dating again. Or you could subtly mention that you're going out with someone else. See if she gets jealous." Terrible, terrible advice.
John might be both flattered and weirded out if he knew exactly how McCoy put all of this into terms for himself. As such, he didn’t, and instead made an exasperated little face. “Really? That’s terrible advice. Why would someone be so cruel?”
“Depends on how desperate you get.” McCoy said with a little shrug. Hey, he didn’t ever say he was good at dispensing relationship advice. “So, where’s the new place, anyway?”
True enough, probably Watson should have taken into account that McCoy was both divorced and not in a relationship that he knew of, either. He waved the thought away, and told him the general address of the place in Irvine.
McCoy’s eyes went slightly wide with surprise, and he broke into a smile. “Really? That’s just... half a block from my place.”
John blinked at that, and then gave a wry little smile. “Is that so? Really? What a bloody small world. Good, good. I know where to go to borrow sugar now, then.”
"Yeah, or eggs, or whatever else it is that people borrow." McCoy said, looking rather amused. "Welcome to the neighborhood, then!"
Watson smiled, a little bemused. "Not quite there yet. But thank you."