Title: Tuesday Night
Author: Harper Kingsley
Setting: Kanon-verse
Genre: superhero, mm
CHAPTER SEVEN
After asking Queen Midnight to babysit Henry for the day, they went to see the apartment. Tony was wearing clothes borrowed from Seth and had spent the night sleeping in one of the spare rooms. He was happy to get out of the Demi Lair and hoped his room would be cleared soon, otherwise he would start feeling as if he were taking advantage of Seth.
From the outside The Archon Complex was a grouping of four bland box buildings that covered a city block and was surrounded by a tall fence. Mounted along the top of the buildings the lethal defenses were hard to recognize. They were ready to take out any interloper not in possession of one of the special RF keyfobs. They were some of the most well-defended buildings in the city. The home of hundreds of superheroes that needed someplace to relax when they were off the clock.
Tony craned his neck to take everything in as he followed Seth passed the unnervingly lethal security checkpoint into the lobby of Building Two.
The Archon was beautiful on the inside. As a kid he’d lived in a tiny walk up apartment with an air conditioner that only worked half the time and a carpet that insisted on smelling faintly of the previous occupants. Once he’d registered to be a superhero he’d moved into dorm housing at the Training Center. This was the kind of place that he’d only dreamed of.
“This place seems like it’s way outside my price range,” he whispered.
Seth slanted him a smile. “Dude, eight hundred a month is in your price range. Just don’t tell anyone else living here what we’re paying.”
Tony thought that he was supposed to feel intimidated, but really he never wanted to leave. It was amazing.
He followed Seth in a wandering tour of the building and it became even more impressive. There was a a fully-stocked gym in the basement with a tunnel that led into Building Three where there was an Olympic-sized swimming pool. There was a massive laundry room with twenty washers and twenty dryers as well as uniformed laundry service personnel below Building One. And there was a store below Building Four that carried the essentials like soap and toothpaste as well as oven-ready freezer meals, fresh fruits, vegetables, and meat. There were even racks of everyday clothing along with packages of underwear and socks.
“We don’t ever have to go outside again,” Tony said. They were standing in front of the window overlooking the pool where people were splashing around and laughing. He was pleased to see that there were two small children playing in the shallow end near the stairs. Both of them wore bright plastic arm floaties as they slapped at a beach ball. It was nice to think that Henry would have some friends.
Seth laughed. “Come on, let’s go check out the apartment. You don’t want to make up your mind about staying until you see where we’re living. It might be terrible.”
Tony gave him a look, but followed him anyway. “Seriously, this place is amazing.”
“Sure.” They passed a brightly colored door that Seth nodded toward. “That’s the 24-hour daycare. Once we enroll Henry, they’ll accept him at any time of day or night. They have some of the best protection in the city. A lot of off-duty heroes even take shifts acting as security.”
Tony glanced back at the primary blue colored door as they waited for the elevator. “We’ll have to check them out.”
“Later,” Seth said when the doors opened. He pushed the button for the fourth floor. “Let’s go see where we’re going to be living.”
Stepping out of the elevator, there was a long hallway of security doors with gold number plates attached. There weren’t any peepholes, but Tony recognized the small black disks above the frames as pinhole cameras. They were likely attached to state of the art monitoring systems inside.
“This is us.” Seth unlocked the door with 447 etched on the number plate. He pushed it open with an expansive hand wave. “Ta da!”
Tony stepped inside and was amazed. “You didn’t tell me it was fully furnished.”
The apartment was open and inviting with plush couches and chairs and gleaming black wood tables and cabinets. The hardwood floor was protected by handwoven rugs. There were potted flowers and brightly green plants arranged here and there invitingly. One glance at the kitchen showed shiny new appliances and real granite counter-tops.
“It shouldn’t be,” Seth said. “Looks like Nana is interfering again.” He sighed. “We can have this all hauled out of here if you want.”
Tony gave him a disbelieving look. “Are you kidding? I thought we were going to have to hit up a bunch of furniture stores and spend a small fortune. This place is great.”
Seth smiled, relieved. “Oh good. I thought I was going to have to yell at my grandmother and I don’t think it would have gone well for me.”
Tony didn’t know if he believed him, but wandered down the hallway to peer into each bedroom. He could feel Seth following after him.
There were king-sized beds with thick comforters and fat pillows. The furniture choices were masculine and bespoke of strength, but it wasn’t overpowering.
“We could live here,” he said. “This place is more than doable.”
“That’s the plan,” Seth said.
There were three bedrooms and they laid claim to the two largest ones. The room closest to Tony’s was designated Henry’s and it was the only one that needed new furniture. Seth’s grandmother hadn’t known there was going to be a baby.
“There’s a storage shed for each apartment downstairs in the basement,” Seth said. “We can move the bed down there.”
“Cool.” Tony smiled. “So all we have to get him is a real crib. He’s already getting too big for the bassinet.”
“He’s going to be big like you. He might be ready for the king-sized bed in a couple of years.”
“I don’t think they make cartoon sheets in that size,” Tony said.
Seth laughed. “You’d be surprised. Come on, let’s get this bed out of here, then we can get something to eat before we go buy a crib. We could be moved in by tonight.
Tony looked around and smiled. “Our own place.” It felt good.
He should have felt guilty about keeping Tony so close, possibly manipulating things to his own advantage, but he didn’t. He was happy to have Tony in his life and he’d even come to love having baby Henry around.
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Tony was still on parental leave, but they’d been looking for someone to act as a babysitter. It was hard because Tony was very particular about who he wanted near Henry. It had reached the point that Seth had had to leave the apartment a few times to find some peace and quiet.
His suggestion that Henry could be trusted to The Archon daycare had been met with such a scathing look that Seth had retreated to his bedroom to play video games alone.
He put on some music and turned the sound up loud, not wanting to be disturbed. It was a tactic he’d used since he was a kid desperately escaping the overwhelming presence of his jet-setting father.
The man hadn’t been around much, but he liked to make his presence felt when he did bother to show up. Seth had learned to tiptoe around before he’d learned how to tie his own shoes. By the time he was twelve, Seth had come to believe he didn’t care one way or another about his father, right up until the man died. Then there were regrets and recriminations and no one to be their target.
Seth hated introspection and feeling sorry for himself, so he concentrated on the game. He didn’t want to think.
After two hours there was a knock on the door. “What?”
Tony opened the door and stuck his head in. He wore a red sauce splattered white apron and a contrite expression. “Sorry I’ve been such an asshole. I made spaghetti. Come eat?”
Seth looked at him for a long moment, then sighed. He paused the game and tossed the controller aside. “Fine. I could use something to eat.”
Tony smiled. “Yeah. You’re getting too skinny. We wouldn’t want your fans to worry that you’re getting sick. They’ll start imagining you’re dying or something.”
Seeing as Seth didn’t much care about his fans, he shrugged. “They can think whatever they want.” He stood with a stretch, trying to loosen the tension in his shoulders. When he looked back at Tony, he almost thought Tony was blushing, but it was impossible to tell.
He followed Tony out and was surprised to see that Tony had cleaned the whole apartment. It hadn’t been messy, but they were both prone to putting things down and leaving them for weeks at a time.
Seth appreciated the gesture for what it was: an apology.
“So there’s spaghetti?”
“My ‘World Famous Teen Steel Approved Spaghetti,'” Tony corrected. “With real meatballs.”
Sweet potatoes are not potatoes. They are a tropical plant and a member of the morning glory family. (Potatoes, along with tomatoes, are members of the nightshade family.)
“Who would have thought you were such a gourmet,” Seth teased.
He pulled up a stool at the breakfast bar and poured himself a glass of Bolt Cola from the 2-liter Tony had arranged. He used the clear plastic tongs to add three ice cubes from the bowl Tony had left nearby.
“Fancy.”
Tony rolled his eyes at him with a good natured smile and thunked a wide bowl in front of him. “Eat.”
Seth looked at the bowl. There were almost too many noodles along with golf ball-sized meatballs. Freshly grated Parmesan cheese was sprinkled across the top of the spaghetti. There was a chunk of golden-brown garlic bread on one side and a fork and spoon jutting out the other.
“Thanks.” Seth used the spoon to twirl a neat bite of spaghetti on his fork and took a bite. “It’s good.”
“Don’t sound so surprised,” Tony said, but he looked pleased. He took off the apron and left it bunched up on the counter near the sink. He grabbed a bowl of his own and came around the counter to sit next to Seth. Their knees brushed.
They ate in companionable silence. The spaghetti was good, though the garlic bread was a bit too crunchy and seemed more garlic than bread. Seth ate every bite, and afterward he helped load the dishwasher.
“You’re right, you know,” Tony said.
Seth closed the door to the dishwasher and punched the buttons to start it. “About what?”
Tony leaned against the counter, holding his elbows with his hands. “Henry. You’re right that I’m going to have to be able to trust someone to care for him when I can’t. I’m just… I’m having a hard time letting go.”
“It’s not supposed to be easy,” Seth said. “If it was, there wouldn’t be so many goofy comedies about it. But you’ve got a job, man, one that you really love and that you need to keep to be able to pay for everything Henry needs.” He huffed a laugh. “I guess you could retire from crime fighting, but I can’t see you working at Java Johns. You’d end up throwing a rude customer through a window or something.”
“I could open my own restaurant,” Tony said. “Spaghetti’s not the only thing I can make. I can also do sandwiches.”
“I can see it now, ‘Tony’s Spaghetti and Sandwich Emporium.’ Also includes bad coffee and store bought donuts.”
Tony turned and grabbed the apron off the counter, throwing it at Seth. “My coffee is not bad!”
“Please. There’s a reason why you’re not allowed to touch the coffee maker at the Demi Lair. That stuff you call coffee is more like grounds and a little water. That’s why we have a bean to coffee machine here.”
Tony took the apron Seth held out and sighed. “There go my dreams of being a restaurateur. Seriously, I don’t know what to do. Henry is so small and he depends on me for everything and I’m me and I don’t even know what to do.”
“Obviously you’re not ready to put him in daycare,” Seth said. “It’s not a crime. But maybe we can get a nanny or something.”
“Do you think I’ll be able to handle it without freaking out?”
“Probably not,” Seth said. “But if we find the right person maybe you’ll get past your overprotective mama bear routine.”
Tony laughed, but it sounded more like tears. He looked like he desperately needed a hug, so Seth gave him one.
Wrapping his arms around Tony, who was prickly and stiff at first but gradually relaxed into the embrace, Seth couldn’t help wishing for more and hated himself a little. Until Tony’s arms wrapped around him and pulled him closer and he felt the sad wet trickle of tears against his neck.
Tony’s sobs were choked to near silence and his body shook with the force of his emotion. His grip on Seth would have been painfully tight for a normal human, but Seth was stronger than that.
Seth stroked the back of Tony’s head, not sure why Tony seemed so despairing, so helpless, but he was glad to be there for him.
“It’s all right. I’ve got you. Let it out.”
They were two man-boy superheroes clutching each other tight in an apartment kitchen. The overhead lights offered a soft golden glow. Tony’s sobs racked his whole body and Seth held him close, silently promising that everything would be all right.
They’d figure it out. Together.
/CHAPTER
See you next week, space cowboy…
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