Cruel Yet Agreeable Punishment (Closed with michime)

[Regifortis]

"Yeah, and maybe letting me get to know those two on my own terms...Huh?" Wait...THAT was the reason Will believed him? WEIRD. But hey, at least he didn't need to rehash the interrogation room story. Dodged that bullet. "N-Never mind, thanks for taking me seriously...Wait, no, hold on, you believe in myths like that? Why would you..." Steve just got an awful chilling sensation. "You haven't...seen anyone else with my problem, have you?"

The whole part about Steve's attitude and the time period could wait. Now he had to know if this old man was doing more than just playing knick-knack on his thumb.

[michime]

"No I haven't seen anyone else with your problem and yes I believe myths like that. A lot of cultures have the same myth, makes sense to believe it. Hell, Vikings believed Loki gave birth to a horse!" Will answered with a point to a cabinet. "Get out some bowls. This is almost ready."

[Regifortis]

Steve wanted to shoot that down...but he felt how hungry he was and looked to his stomach. For all he knew, Loki did give birth to a horse. For all he knew, Loki was an actual god and not just Marvel Comics intellectual property. Nothing really made sense in this universe that he supposedly lived in his whole life.

"Uh, yeah, sure. It smells great!" It did, but he didn't really take the time to notice what it was. He didn't care. He was having an open conversation with someone about his problem and not being called a freak: that knocked down so many walls that he swore he could feel the shockwave of the force it took to knock them down. Will said all that so casually, it was mystifying. What an odd day.

...The more he thought about it, the more Steve realized that there wasn't anyone else with whom he'd rather weather through a storm than ol' William Alderman. Sure enough, there was more to him than Steve initially thought. He just wished John and Murray had considered that very thing about him...but the whole situation was very forced; maybe it couldn't be helped. And the fact remained that they did THAT, so Steve just considered that chapter of his life closed and put the bowls next to the pot.

[michime]

After a good meal of chili and various sides, the two men sat down to watch a movie. They were in the middle of Independence Day when the power went out.

"Wait a minute, the generator will kick on," Will stated as they sat in the dark. "We can pick up where we left off."

[Regifortis]

"Sure thing..." Steve felt awkward sitting next to Will with nothing to distract them. He had already made himself clear, and so had Will, but he felt an odd tension between them. Or maybe that was all in his head...

Something a little off-kilter occurred to him. He wasn't too sure about asking it, but the worst thing that Will could say was 'no'. "...I never really thought about it until today, but you remember how you told me how to get on John and Murray's good side? That was a little weird. I probably wouldn't have talked to them at all if you hadn't said anything. Even if I did, I wouldn't feign any interest in them but just tell them that I wasn't in a good place to be chummy. And now you know that I wasn't. All I really planned to do once I moved in was to just keep to myself." He let his hands rest on his full stomach. He thought about how small this building was. "I guess since you only needed one tenant that you wanted someone who could be friends with everyone. But you got me instead..."

Steve coughed as the generator kicked on. "Pardon me for asking, but...if I wasn't expected to just 'be a pal' to those two, do you think me living here could have worked out? I'm not trying to pressure you into changing your mind, believe me. I know where you stand, this is all hypothetical. But it really seems to me that the whole 'test week' thing really tried to force things to be what they couldn't be all around. Even then, I could have handled it all better, but...well. That's what I think, anyway."

[michime]

"I wanted you to get on their good sides because it's not a good idea to keep to yourself if you have a problem. I'm not dumb; I know a desperate man when I see one. A man should have people that will keep him exposed to the world. John's love of baseball would have gotten you to games." He paused for a moment then placed his hand over Steve's. "Yes I wanted everyone to get along. There's four people. We need to be able to at least think they could live together and not try and steal from each other. There's nothing wrong with having secrets but your whole life can't be one big one. It doesn't work that way."

[Regifortis]

Steve felt odd at Will covering his hand. He was glad that the old guy was being reasonable, but that came out of nowhere...he looked straight at him and realized he was actually pretty good-looking. Especially for his age.

"I get that. It was just this secret in particular that crippled me," Steve replied, patting his belly. "it's not something you can just explain away, even though you've been great about it. As for getting out in the world...I dunno, I've always been bad about that. I've been a loner for pretty much forever. And now being sociable feels next to impossible sometimes. I can't tell who might figure it out and made a media circus out of me...I've lost a lot of sleep over it." He didn't ask Will to remove the hand, although he couldn't quite figure out how he felt about it yet. "I wouldn't be a normal tenant no matter how you sliced it. But I think now I could at least be agreeable. I would keep the right to refusing any company or invitations; I don't need a reason for not doing something 'just for fun' other than 'I don't want to do it.' And the same goes to everyone else."

"That's why I came here, by the way." Steve tried to keep the situation from getting too tense; it was hard enough to be humble without an attractive older man being suggestive. "If I didn't want to be here, I wouldn't be here now. Not at all like last week. And I'm sorry, but baseball is just boring to me. I've never been a sports fan, and I don't think that'll change anytime soon. But those vet stories were more interesting in hindsight...yeah. I just wish THAT didn't happen, but the rest of it wasn't as bad as I felt it was."

[michime]

"If you want, you can stay here the night," Will offered as he slowly moved his fingers over Steve's hand. "Not in the building, in my apartment. John and Murray don't come in here so it'll be fine."

He took a deep breath then slowly let it out. "Why don't you stay here? Like rent the room and stay for a while. I'm sure you're going to need help."

[Regifortis]

Steve felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. Implication had been upgraded to insinuation, and the suggestive touch had been upgraded to a caress. Will...Will was a handsome man. The adjacent door he saw first thing in the morning unnerved him, but right now it didn't even occur to him.

"...That would be very kind of you." Steve forced himself to speak; not in spite of disgust but in spite of the unfocused anticipation that thrummed through him. "I would like to have a place to stay through a few more storms. And..." Steve looked at Will's fingers over his and gulped. "Sure, it's the least I could--I mean...sure. I'd like some company tonight, myself."

[michime]

Will smiled before he gently patted Steve's shoulder. "You need your sleep," he whispered as he let go of the cop's hand then grabbed the blanket off the back of the couch. "It's been a really long day."

Will stood up slowly.

[Regifortis]

...Oh. "Y-Yeah, I'm bushed." Steve was just crashing on the couch, then. That was fine. Sure. He could just sleep on the bed in the old room and leave the adjacent door open. But this was okay. "Good night, Will."

...Did he read too much into the situation? He did, didn't he? Goddammit! The one time he managed to find a guy he liked that wasn't completely in the bag a club, and it was with an oblivious silver daddy that had a poor concept of body language...? Or was he droppings hints for later; who even knew anymore?!

"Sleep well." Steve wasn't sure he would. He'd have to get this chub in his pants sorted out. Hold on...thinking of Murray unzipping. Yep. That did it. He was good to go.

[michime]

Will walked into Steve's apartment a few weeks later with some fresh baked bread, cheddar cheese, roast beef, mayo and pickles, in a basket. The adjoined door stayed open mostly so Will could come and go and bring Steve food.

"You sure you're not having twins?" He asked because Steve was huge. The cop looked like he swallowed a couple of bowling balls.

[Regifortis]

"Well, I can't exactly go to a doctor's office to check, now can I?" But Steve was concerned rather than annoyed. Looking over the large and round and heavy weight pulling him down to Earth, he couldn't say if he was having twins or...God forbid, even more than that. His eyes were drawn to the basket, and he seemed to forget his train of thought. It turned out pickles didn't make him nauseated this time around, and not a day went by that he didn't indulge in the baffling combination of mayo with pickles. All thanks to Will generously making sure his salary didn't keep him from being able to eat. "But whatever's in here, they're sure as hell well-fed!"

As for his salary...he was worried that he would have to quit being a detective, soon. Not much chasing or shoot-outs were demanded of a crime solver, but it was still a lot of footwork. And he got tired more easily...He hoped he could hold out for a few more months and not have to beg Will to overlook him not being able to pay rent.

He also noticed that he hadn't seen hide nor hair of John or Murray. He wondered about that, but not enough to actually do anything about it. The less he saw of those two, the better.

[michime]

Will moved into Steve's kitchen and went about making some several sandwiches for the pregnant man. "Are you sure everything is okay in there? There's a long list of complications that women face when they get pregnant. How do you know everything is okay with you body?"

He slathered the bread in mayo, added pickles to both sides then filled the bread with cheese and meat. By the time he was finished, Will made four sandwiches for Steve. "And what will happen at work? Someone had to notice that." He waved at Steve's big belly.

[Regifortis]

"Yep, they sure did." Very assertively, in fact. "I blamed it on donuts like a normal cop, and other than that, I wouldn't know what to do. They still call me 'Blimp', but that's better than 'Freak of Nature', so I'll take it."

He stopped ruminating to dig in on the sandwiches and what was in the basket. "You're a godsend with all this food, seriously. I don't know what I'd do without you!" He didn't say anything about the 'complications'. Not only did he have no frame of reference outside of what happened the first time, but he'd have to go on instinct for the sake of avoiding exposure. If anything went wrong, then...Steve stopped that train of thought by shoving a pickle in his mouth.

[michime]

"At some point, you're going to have to either take a desk job or just quit all together," Will mentioned as he made himself a sandwich. "And you're not going to be able to blame donuts much longer."

[Regifortis]

"...Yeah." Steve munched on the last sandwich more slowly. "I know. I can try a desk job, but honestly? I'm not sure I'll be able to hold any job like this after a while." He gestured to the ball of flesh that made him struggle to find clothes that not only fit but took attention away from him. "You hear stories of online jobs, but I don't know code or web design or anything like that."

He rubbed his hands over his pregnant belly that seemed to do nothing but make his life difficult these days. One day, the prospect of not being able to bring in any income would be unavoidable. Good food and a kind old man couldn't keep him safe forever...

[michime]

"There's more to do web design and coding for work from home jobs," Will offered as he ate his own sandwich, "you could do something like dog walking or house sitting.  Plenty of people need someone to do household chores for them."  

"What are you thinking about?"  

[Regifortis]

 "Huh? Oh, just letting my mind wander..." Steve had to wonder about just how big he was getting, too. Much bigger than last time. Did that mean anything, or was it all a product of chance in a world where logic and reason came and went as they pleased?

"I can't think of a job I could hold once I'm HUGE that would pay enough to keep me solvent," grumbled Steve sorrowfully. "Chores and house-sitting would be fine, but that's not exactly a career, you know?"

He looked at Will sitting down next to him and enjoying his lunch. For an old man, he worked hard to prepare all that food. And it felt like all Steve could do was worry himself about his job prospects. What a shitty turnout...he really liked the guy; he shouldn't have to put up with pointless bellyaching.

"...Huh." Well, it couldn't hurt to ask. "This might be wishful thinking, but I don't suppose you could use someone to help with chores and whatnot?" After a while, he added: "E-Even if it's not a good solution, I would...I wouldn't mind just helping out anyway. I don't know what you'd need, but I can follow basic instructions."

[michime]

Will looked down at down at Steve's belly and the way the young man held the distended belly.  There was something about the way the cop glared down that made Will believe Steve blamed all his problems on whatever was inside.   "You could become one of those internet streamer people I hear about on the news.  Those people make a lot of money." 

He shook his head.  "I'm not going to let a pregnant person to work around the building.  Too much bending over, picking up stuff."