day something - making up
No actual argument precipitates this making up. I'm just wacky that way. Daycare verse! Sort of a companion to morning rituals.
***
making up (~1500)
***
A whirlwind two day trip to San Jose has Erik's sleep schedule tied in knots. He's been picking at a dozen different designs since the plane ride home, filled with ideas for everything on the periphery of his plate. Some of the conference presenters had been brilliant and he has no compunctions stealing their techniques. Even the less brilliant speakers were bad enough that he spent their presentations thinking of how he'd do their jobs better, which was its own sort of inspiration.
It's been a crazy week since his late Sunday night/early Monday morning return flight. He's been working strange hours, popping in and out of the office as needed, sleeping in the middle of the day and working all night. He's glad for the flexibility of his job and the fact that Coulson doesn't care where his ass is planted as long as the work comes in on time. He tries to be awake when Charles is home, and that's all that matters until he looks at his calendar and sees a Friday staff meeting. On site, the notes section reads. (That means you, Lehnsherr.)
Was he just thinking he was glad he works for Phil Coulson? He's definitely retracting that statement.
It's probably for the best, really. He needs to kick his sleep schedule back into place. He can't work from home forever and with the weekend coming, being awake when Charles is home is probably going to involve him getting out of bed before three. He intends to go to sleep at a normal time, maybe even Charles' normal time, but one thing leads to another and at ten-thirty, he's bent over his iPad, squinting at some notes when Charles comes in to say good night.
"I have to get up early for a field trip, so I'm going to sleep by the clock," he says after he kisses the top of Erik's head.
"Sounds good," Erik says. "I'll try not to wake you. I'll just be a minute." He taps to the next page and frowns at the continued notes. "Or two."
"Take your time," Charles says, and kisses him again. "Don't forget you have a meeting tomorrow."
"Got it," Erik murmurs and turns his head just slightly to steal a kiss before Charles slips out of the office and back towards the bedroom.
Time sort of...blurs after that. One moment Erik's thinking, Well, 11:30 isn't that bad... and the next moment it's 1:48 and he has to be sitting in a board room in seven hours. He groans to himself and goes to work saving his projects, putting his notes for the meeting in order, shutting down his equipment, and staggering towards the bedroom. He sets the alarm on his phone for the gruesome hour of seven am and then opens the door and tiptoes into the darkened room. His eyes don't adjust fast enough, so he trips over a shoe and has to rustle around the outlets behind the nightstand to try and plug in his phone charger before giving up and yanking out one of the other cords. Charles shifts minutely when Erik joins him in bed, but doesn't wake, even as Erik curls up behind him and finally drifts off to sleep.
***
The blaring, bone-shaking din of Erik's phone alarm wakes him abruptly at seven am. He jumps and smacks the nightstand blindly looking for it before he remembers that it's plugged in on the other side. He rolls into the rumpled spot left behind by Charles, long gone by now, and paws helplessly for his phone, silencing the alarm with bleary eyes.
He fucking hates mornings. And meetings. And...phones.
He squints at the alarm clock on the beside table, but the reading is unclear. It takes him a flustered morning moment to realize that's because there is no display on the clock. It's dark and blank. He wonders if they lost power, and then remembers rooting around to plug his phone in last night.
And then remembers that Charles had to wake up early this morning.
"Oh, shit," he murmurs.
He's frozen for a moment, leaning on his elbow on the bed and staring at the dark clock. He doesn't hear Charles anywhere in the apartment, which is good--he got up eventually. Probably in enough time. Hopefully.
Shit.
Erik is a terrible boyfriend. He's always known that, always joked about it, but he's actually feeling shame now, which he doesn't like at all. It's supposed to be a joke for when he forgets to pick up the kind of toothpaste Charles likes, not a well-deserved title after carelessly making Charles late for a field trip.
He lingers, his palm flat on the mattress where Charles was sleeping a few hours ago. He doesn't have time to wallow for long, though--he'll be late as well if he doesn't get up and start his morning.
He showers and heads into the kitchen to start the coffee so it will brew while he dresses. He stops in front of the coffeemaker.
There's no note.
There's a note every morning. There's been a note on that coffeemaker every single morning since Erik moved in with Charles. The only exceptions are the mornings when Erik is up before Charles leaves, but if he doesn't see Charles, he can count on a note.
There's no note.
It's fine. That's what he tells himself as he starts the coffee. It's fine, Charles was running late, it was Erik's fault, of course Charles was pissed at him, of course there's no note. It's not a big deal. He has a whole fucking drawer full of notes and they all say the same fucking thing and just because Charles didn't leave him a note doesn't mean that Charles doesn't want him to have a good day. It doesn't mean that Charles doesn't love him.
Erik hates feelings.
He dresses with his shoulders slumped and his mouth curled into a frown, ties his tie while staring into his own hangdog expression. He's stupid. He's really stupid. He doesn't deserve a note.
Doesn't he?
It's a ritual, Erik thinks as he pours his coffee into a travel mug. It's their stupid thing that they do every day and, so what if Erik unplugged the alarm clock? Shouldn't Charles wait until Erik has a chance to apologize before he passive-aggressively punishes him for an honest mistake? It wasn't like Erik meant to make Charles be late. He wouldn't do that. He knows how important the stupid daycare is to Charles, he knows that Charles is ridiculously punctual, he knows that Charles takes pride in being reliable. Erik would never purposely ruin any of that. Erik wants Charles to have all of the things he wants and it's not his fault that after jet leg and a week of a skewed sleep schedule, he made one tiny mistake.
He's cranky when he gathers his pile of meeting materials off the coffee table. He's surly by the time he reaches his office.
"I told you," Azazel says. "You should come in after long trips. Helps with the jet lag. Not that one can tell with you, Lehnsherr."
"No," Erik snaps. "I'm fine. I'm tired, and it's not my fault that I get a little sloppy when I'm tired, okay?"
Azazel blinks at him.
"Have you been cut off, Lehnsherr?" he asks.
"No!" Erik says. "And there's no reason I should be!" He smacks his briefcase on the table and pulls out his files. He shouldn't be shouting this at Azazel. He should be telling Charles. He should be telling Charles that it was a fucking mistake and he's sorry and this is really, totally out of proportion and--
He pulls out his cellphone and hits Charles' number, shoving the phone between his ear and his shoulder and flipping open his files.
And there, on top of his notes, is a post-it.
Have a good meeting! I know it will be a rough day. Call me if you need me. I love you.
Oh. Oh.
"Erik?" Charles asks from the phone. "Hello?"
Erik swallows and touches the edge of the note. He's fucking exhausted.
"Hi," he says quietly. He clears his throat. "Hey. Hi. I just wanted to--hi."
"Hi," Charles says. "How's your morning, love?"
Erik clears his throat again.
"Better," he says. "Thanks for the note. I love you too. Have fun today, okay?"
"I'm sure I will," Charles says. "Thanks for calling. Oh, and, just so you know, you unplugged the clock instead of the lamp when you plugged your phone in last night. It's not a big deal--I woke up early anyway--but I know how you get if you can't see what time it is if you wake up at night."
"Oh, I, um, hadn't noticed," Erik lies.
"I'll fix it when I get home," Charles says. "Anyway, I should go. Do you want to go out tonight?"
"Uh, yeah," Erik says. "Let's go to the sushi place." Charles has been craving sushi. He just mentioned it last night. Sushi for dinner tonight is the least Erik can do.
"Sounds great," Charles says. "Love you, talk to you later."
"Love you too," Erik says.
He keeps staring down at the post-it. Fuck, he needs to sleep. And probably kiss his boyfriend. A lot.
"I would comment on your behavior this morning, but I am terrifyingly used to your oddness by this point," Azazel says. "Are you prepared for our meeting?"
"Yeah," Erik says. "Yeah, I am now. Let's go."
*
the rest of the days:
1. Holding hands
2. Cuddling somewhere
3. Gaming/watching a movie
4. On a date
5. Kissing
6. Wearing each others’ clothes
7. Shopping
8. Hanging out with friends
9. Making out
10. Eating icecream
11. In a different clothing style
12. During their morning ritual(s)
13. Spooning
14. Doing something together
15. In formal wear
16. Dancing
17. Cooking/baking
18. In battle, side-by-side
19. Arguing
20. Making up afterwards
21. Getting married
22. On one of their birthdays
23. Doing something ridiculous
24. Doing something sweet
25. Doing something hot
***
making up (~1500)
***
A whirlwind two day trip to San Jose has Erik's sleep schedule tied in knots. He's been picking at a dozen different designs since the plane ride home, filled with ideas for everything on the periphery of his plate. Some of the conference presenters had been brilliant and he has no compunctions stealing their techniques. Even the less brilliant speakers were bad enough that he spent their presentations thinking of how he'd do their jobs better, which was its own sort of inspiration.
It's been a crazy week since his late Sunday night/early Monday morning return flight. He's been working strange hours, popping in and out of the office as needed, sleeping in the middle of the day and working all night. He's glad for the flexibility of his job and the fact that Coulson doesn't care where his ass is planted as long as the work comes in on time. He tries to be awake when Charles is home, and that's all that matters until he looks at his calendar and sees a Friday staff meeting. On site, the notes section reads. (That means you, Lehnsherr.)
Was he just thinking he was glad he works for Phil Coulson? He's definitely retracting that statement.
It's probably for the best, really. He needs to kick his sleep schedule back into place. He can't work from home forever and with the weekend coming, being awake when Charles is home is probably going to involve him getting out of bed before three. He intends to go to sleep at a normal time, maybe even Charles' normal time, but one thing leads to another and at ten-thirty, he's bent over his iPad, squinting at some notes when Charles comes in to say good night.
"I have to get up early for a field trip, so I'm going to sleep by the clock," he says after he kisses the top of Erik's head.
"Sounds good," Erik says. "I'll try not to wake you. I'll just be a minute." He taps to the next page and frowns at the continued notes. "Or two."
"Take your time," Charles says, and kisses him again. "Don't forget you have a meeting tomorrow."
"Got it," Erik murmurs and turns his head just slightly to steal a kiss before Charles slips out of the office and back towards the bedroom.
Time sort of...blurs after that. One moment Erik's thinking, Well, 11:30 isn't that bad... and the next moment it's 1:48 and he has to be sitting in a board room in seven hours. He groans to himself and goes to work saving his projects, putting his notes for the meeting in order, shutting down his equipment, and staggering towards the bedroom. He sets the alarm on his phone for the gruesome hour of seven am and then opens the door and tiptoes into the darkened room. His eyes don't adjust fast enough, so he trips over a shoe and has to rustle around the outlets behind the nightstand to try and plug in his phone charger before giving up and yanking out one of the other cords. Charles shifts minutely when Erik joins him in bed, but doesn't wake, even as Erik curls up behind him and finally drifts off to sleep.
***
The blaring, bone-shaking din of Erik's phone alarm wakes him abruptly at seven am. He jumps and smacks the nightstand blindly looking for it before he remembers that it's plugged in on the other side. He rolls into the rumpled spot left behind by Charles, long gone by now, and paws helplessly for his phone, silencing the alarm with bleary eyes.
He fucking hates mornings. And meetings. And...phones.
He squints at the alarm clock on the beside table, but the reading is unclear. It takes him a flustered morning moment to realize that's because there is no display on the clock. It's dark and blank. He wonders if they lost power, and then remembers rooting around to plug his phone in last night.
And then remembers that Charles had to wake up early this morning.
"Oh, shit," he murmurs.
He's frozen for a moment, leaning on his elbow on the bed and staring at the dark clock. He doesn't hear Charles anywhere in the apartment, which is good--he got up eventually. Probably in enough time. Hopefully.
Shit.
Erik is a terrible boyfriend. He's always known that, always joked about it, but he's actually feeling shame now, which he doesn't like at all. It's supposed to be a joke for when he forgets to pick up the kind of toothpaste Charles likes, not a well-deserved title after carelessly making Charles late for a field trip.
He lingers, his palm flat on the mattress where Charles was sleeping a few hours ago. He doesn't have time to wallow for long, though--he'll be late as well if he doesn't get up and start his morning.
He showers and heads into the kitchen to start the coffee so it will brew while he dresses. He stops in front of the coffeemaker.
There's no note.
There's a note every morning. There's been a note on that coffeemaker every single morning since Erik moved in with Charles. The only exceptions are the mornings when Erik is up before Charles leaves, but if he doesn't see Charles, he can count on a note.
There's no note.
It's fine. That's what he tells himself as he starts the coffee. It's fine, Charles was running late, it was Erik's fault, of course Charles was pissed at him, of course there's no note. It's not a big deal. He has a whole fucking drawer full of notes and they all say the same fucking thing and just because Charles didn't leave him a note doesn't mean that Charles doesn't want him to have a good day. It doesn't mean that Charles doesn't love him.
Erik hates feelings.
He dresses with his shoulders slumped and his mouth curled into a frown, ties his tie while staring into his own hangdog expression. He's stupid. He's really stupid. He doesn't deserve a note.
Doesn't he?
It's a ritual, Erik thinks as he pours his coffee into a travel mug. It's their stupid thing that they do every day and, so what if Erik unplugged the alarm clock? Shouldn't Charles wait until Erik has a chance to apologize before he passive-aggressively punishes him for an honest mistake? It wasn't like Erik meant to make Charles be late. He wouldn't do that. He knows how important the stupid daycare is to Charles, he knows that Charles is ridiculously punctual, he knows that Charles takes pride in being reliable. Erik would never purposely ruin any of that. Erik wants Charles to have all of the things he wants and it's not his fault that after jet leg and a week of a skewed sleep schedule, he made one tiny mistake.
He's cranky when he gathers his pile of meeting materials off the coffee table. He's surly by the time he reaches his office.
"I told you," Azazel says. "You should come in after long trips. Helps with the jet lag. Not that one can tell with you, Lehnsherr."
"No," Erik snaps. "I'm fine. I'm tired, and it's not my fault that I get a little sloppy when I'm tired, okay?"
Azazel blinks at him.
"Have you been cut off, Lehnsherr?" he asks.
"No!" Erik says. "And there's no reason I should be!" He smacks his briefcase on the table and pulls out his files. He shouldn't be shouting this at Azazel. He should be telling Charles. He should be telling Charles that it was a fucking mistake and he's sorry and this is really, totally out of proportion and--
He pulls out his cellphone and hits Charles' number, shoving the phone between his ear and his shoulder and flipping open his files.
And there, on top of his notes, is a post-it.
Have a good meeting! I know it will be a rough day. Call me if you need me. I love you.
Oh. Oh.
"Erik?" Charles asks from the phone. "Hello?"
Erik swallows and touches the edge of the note. He's fucking exhausted.
"Hi," he says quietly. He clears his throat. "Hey. Hi. I just wanted to--hi."
"Hi," Charles says. "How's your morning, love?"
Erik clears his throat again.
"Better," he says. "Thanks for the note. I love you too. Have fun today, okay?"
"I'm sure I will," Charles says. "Thanks for calling. Oh, and, just so you know, you unplugged the clock instead of the lamp when you plugged your phone in last night. It's not a big deal--I woke up early anyway--but I know how you get if you can't see what time it is if you wake up at night."
"Oh, I, um, hadn't noticed," Erik lies.
"I'll fix it when I get home," Charles says. "Anyway, I should go. Do you want to go out tonight?"
"Uh, yeah," Erik says. "Let's go to the sushi place." Charles has been craving sushi. He just mentioned it last night. Sushi for dinner tonight is the least Erik can do.
"Sounds great," Charles says. "Love you, talk to you later."
"Love you too," Erik says.
He keeps staring down at the post-it. Fuck, he needs to sleep. And probably kiss his boyfriend. A lot.
"I would comment on your behavior this morning, but I am terrifyingly used to your oddness by this point," Azazel says. "Are you prepared for our meeting?"
"Yeah," Erik says. "Yeah, I am now. Let's go."
*
the rest of the days:
1. Holding hands
2. Cuddling somewhere
3. Gaming/watching a movie
4. On a date
5. Kissing
6. Wearing each others’ clothes
7. Shopping
8. Hanging out with friends
9. Making out
10. Eating icecream
11. In a different clothing style
12. During their morning ritual(s)
13. Spooning
14. Doing something together
15. In formal wear
16. Dancing
17. Cooking/baking
18. In battle, side-by-side
19. Arguing
20. Making up afterwards
21. Getting married
22. On one of their birthdays
23. Doing something ridiculous
24. Doing something sweet
25. Doing something hot