[Nightlight]

[seeagreatergood]

So things got awkward and Auggie moved his stuff back out of the Stark household into Milliways.

And he's been totally fine with it. Honestly. It's been kind of a relief not to have to keep such a close eye on himself the last three or four days. Milliways is kind of anxiety-inducing, but less anxiety inducing than living in a house with those two young men.

Of course, he misses the easy camaraderie. But it's not like this is the first time he valued safety over friendship.

Comments

[seeagreatergood]

"Okay."

He takes a breath. This isn't easy. It needs to be done, but it's not fun.

"I'm sorry. I was an asshole. I'm still having trouble figuring out which parts were the most dickish, so I'm just going to apologize for the whole conversation."

[if_inconvenient]

"Well. Thank you," he says. "You are forgiven."

[seeagreatergood]

He raises his eyebrows.

". . . Thanks."

[if_inconvenient]

"But sometime when you are feeling less awful about it I would like to hear an accounting of all the things you think you did wrong, so that we know where we stand."

[seeagreatergood]

"Yeah, cataloging that is not going to make me feel less awful more quickly."

[if_inconvenient]

"Hence why I would rather wait, yes."

[seeagreatergood]

"Right. Okay."

He rubs his forehead.

"I'll tell you what I told Tony now, though. I'm not sorry for worrying about you. I am sorry for implying you can't take care of yourselves."

[if_inconvenient]

"That is all right, then. You understand the important part."

[seeagreatergood]

"Okay. Good."

He doesn't like feeling like an idiot for only understanding the important part, and maybe it shows a little in the tension in his shoulders, but he firmly puts that thought aside. Not helpful. He's putting Sherlock at his ease at the moment and if that means getting his ego bruised, he'll just have to deal.

[if_inconvenient]

Softly: "Is that the end of it?"

[seeagreatergood]

"No."

He lifts his head, his eyeline fixed on some point on the back of the couch.

"I need to know exactly what you want from me and why you want it."

[if_inconvenient]

He sighs.

"I want to be your friend. I would also like you to take me seriously if possible. It seems to me that, given we are both interested, having sex would be a natural consequence of believing I am competent to make my own decisions, but if you would rather leave that part alone I am quite content to. I would like... I would like, I think, to have the sort of friendship where I can hug you and kiss your cheek and tell you I love you. Is that sufficiently exact?"

[seeagreatergood]

Auggie blinks, then looks down at the floor, half-laughing.

"Yeah. That . . . yeah, that's plenty exact."

[if_inconvenient]

"Good."

[toblameforit]

Speaking of love and kisses, Tony ruffles Sherry's hair and leans down to kiss his forehead.

[seeagreatergood]

"So. Why?"

He thinks about adding honestly, but he's pretty sure it would just piss Sherlock off again if he implied for a second that Sherlock was being less than candid.

[if_inconvenient]

Good call, Auggie. Good call.

Sherlock contemplates this question for a second or two.



"There are things in the world that you want because they will get you something else and things that you want because you want them. This is one of the latter."

[seeagreatergood]

He blows out a breath.

"Thanks."

Exactly what he wanted to hear.

He's going to try not to second-guess it.

[if_inconvenient]

He squirms into a different position on the couch, folding his arms across Tony's lap and resting his head on them, which temporarily dislodges Tony's hand from his hair but gives him a much better view of Auggie.

"Are we all right, then?" he asks softly.

[seeagreatergood]

"You tell me. I'm the one groveling."

[if_inconvenient]

"In that case, yes. Yes we are."

[seeagreatergood]

"Okay." He half-smiles in their direction. "Good."

He sips his drink. "And for the record, I do take you seriously. If I didn't I wouldn't fight with you."

[if_inconvenient]

The soft huff of laughter—

[toblameforit]

—is shared equally between the two of them.

[seeagreatergood]

"What?"