Chapter Text
Steve and Garrett traced familiar steps. “Found my first diamonds there,” Steve said cheerfully. The track went deep. Torches lit up their steps. Garrett walked slightly behind him. He swung around a pickaxe as he walked, around in a looping pattern.
Steve had long since grown used to mining in a square environment. But he forgot that it wasn’t exactly normal. Every time Garrett hummed or studied something, or asked what something was, Steve answered as if it was second nature. He knew every part of this world. Every brick, every item.
Or, almost every item. When Henry had made that canon, Steve had kept a straight face but had hardly believed it. Steve took pride in what this world had. And if he’d had any clue about something like that – well. He’d have pride in that too.
“It’s so weird how coal is shaped like that,” Garrett said.
Steve grinned over his shoulder, and after a short pause, Garrett grinned right back at him. It was a lot more relaxing after there were no more secrets. No matter how brief or apparently inconsequential the secrets were.
“We don’t have a long way to go, do we?’
“Just a bit more.”
The tunnel didn't let up for a while. They had at least three strategically placed crafting tables to pass.
Garrett hummed. “Remember when I was threatening you for your diamonds?”
“Yes,” He said. “It was just over a month ago.”
“Remember what I told you?”
Steve did. He’d talked about how the real life was struggling, and Steve had thought it, back then, silly. But now he could see the reality of it. Growing up, he’d been taught by teachers and elders that money was meant to be insignificant. But at the same time, even then, he’d been filling that piggy-bank.
The world had changed in his absence. It had become a lot bleaker and crueller.
“I do,” Steve said, after a pause.
“We don’t have to get them if you don’t want to. My shop has taken off.”
Steve turned around when he noticed Garrett wasn’t walking after him.
Garrett leaned against the coal blocks; arms crossed casually as if he was discussing the weather. “I know you said what you did back then for Henry, mostly,” Garrett continued, “but are you really sure you want to take your diamonds back home?”
Home, he called it. Steve didn’t know what to say.
“I don’t want to pay rent forever,” he said.
“Then stay with me. The offer was always open.”
“I didn’t want to sleep on your floor,” Steve said laughingly.
Garrett snorted. “Who said I was going to make you sleep on the floor?”
“You only have one bed.”
“Yeah? We shared the last one just fine, didn’t we?”
Steve swallowed.
The tunnel was long and dark. There was a faint draft from the entrance. The walls, too, were dark – but Garrett’s eyes were darker. And darker, still, up close. It was pure want that had Steve grabbing him by the pink collar and yanking him down to meet his lips.
He should’ve felt worried that nearly two days later Steve could taste the peanut butter in his mouth. But after that first taste, he couldn’t find himself concentrating on it. Garrett pulled him close into himself, wanting, too.
It was like they were fighting, but every punch was pleasure. Garrett pushed Steve up against the coal blocks. Steve grabbed every part of him he could reach. Garrett’s lips were chapped, and their teeth kept knocking, but Steve had never felt so fulfilled in his life.
Every time he’d held himself back – every time Garrett smiled, or touched him, or told a joke – this had been what he was missing. “How long?” Steve asked, after his lips grew so exhausted they ached.
Garrett barricaded him in against the wall. His hot breath played with the loose grey hairs around his forehead.
“Since you latched onto me that first time on the elytra. Never seen a man move like that before.” Steve laughed. Garrett leaned in to kiss him again, and Steve’s thoughts wiped entirely.
When Garrett’s lips, too, developed an ache – the price of being old – they settled comfortably next to each other in the tunnel.
“We’ll keep the diamonds here, for now,” Steve said. “For if we ever need them.”
“Then you’ll live with me?”
“Yeah.”
Garrett sidled closer and swung an arm around Steve’s shoulders. “I’ll be honest,” he announced. “I never planned to let you near those diamonds. I just wanted to spend time with you.”
Steve laughed so hard he almost cried. Garrett didn’t stop squeezing him until he told him why; and when he did, Garrett laughed too.
The words, ‘welcome back from your romantic getaway’ were written on a piece of printer-paper plastered to the door of the game store.
Steve snorted. “They’ve got a second sense.”
Garrett shrugged and reached for the key in his pocket. They walked in together.
“Kids are like that. They call me dad too.”
A pause.
"What?"