Work Text:
Overreaction
To say that Samuel was surprised to find his twenty-four year old grandson sprawled on the couch in the middle of the afternoon would be rather inaccurate. Pallet was home between adventures after all, and finding Gary on the couch with a book or his laptop, or even just hanging out with Tracey, was commonplace. To find him on the couch with an empty wine bottle on the coffee table did, however, come as a surprise.
It wasn’t unprecedented, however. Not at all: this was the break-up routine, and Sam had helped Gary navigate enough of these situations to know the drill. Although it did usually happen at night. An afternoon wine binge was quite unusual.
It must have been bad this time, which was odd because Sam hadn't been aware that Gary was even seeing anyone. It was especially odd for him to have not said anything - Gary was private, but not secretive , and especially not with him. He had never kept a relationship a secret, as far as Sam knew.
Although he hadn’t expected this to be part of this afternoon’s work, Sam was absolutely not going to walk away and leave his grandson to stew in his misery. This situation called for some tea. He headed into the kitchen, passing by Gary and affectionately ruffling his hair as he went.
As he puttered about, setting the kettle to boil and pulling out two mugs, he heard heavy footsteps and the sound of one of the chairs being dragged out from the table. He looked up in time to see Gary sink into the seat and rest his head atop his folded arms on the table top. Good. That meant the alcohol was making him tired rather than sick. It would make Sam's job far easier.
He gave Gary a few minutes of peaceful quiet as he picked out some black tea for himself and a soothing chamomile for his grandson. The water came to a boil and he poured it over the tea bags, allowing them to steep as he rummaged through a cabinet for the tin of shortbread cookies he knew was in there. Sugar wasn’t the best thing after downing an entire bottle of red wine, but it would go well with the tea and Gary would need something in his stomach to soak up some of that alcohol. He found the tin and quickly found a plate to arrange a few on.
Samuel came to the table a moment later with two steaming cups of tea and a small plate of cookies in hand. He set one of the cups on the table in front of his grandson and sat opposite him with his own mug, leaving the plate in the center of the table. He forced a gentle smile and reached out to rest a hand on Gary’s arm. “Tell me, who broke your heart this time to have you drink so much?” he asked quietly, taking a deep sip of his tea.
Gary groaned, keeping his head down. "I don't want to talk about it,” he mumbled.
As he had expected. "I understand… but wants and needs are different things," Sam pointed out gently.
He had to admit he was a little surprised by just how clearly Gary was speaking with this much alcohol in his system. Clearly his tolerance was better than it was the last few times they were in this circumstance, but that was not exactly reassuring. His boy was still growing up too fast for his liking.
Gary was quiet for a moment before he raised his head and rested his chin in his hand, still not answering. This was more of a hesitation than Sam usually saw from him: alcohol tended to make him talkative, especially if he got to complain about something. This quiet was a bit disconcerting.
But Gary broke the silence soon enough. "I was seeing someone I… really liked and," Gary heaved a sigh and fiddled absently with the tea cup in front of him. He was quiet for another moment, looking everywhere but at Sam - though that didn’t stop him from noticing the glimmer of unshed tears. "I really fucked up."
Sam couldn't imagine when Gary had found the time to have been seeing someone, given how much time he was spending in Pallet lately. Something wasn't quite adding up. But those missing details weren't important just now - Gary’s minimal words had painted enough of a picture to know where to go.
It wasn’t the first time a relationship failed because of something Gary had done. He needed more patience than most people realized and communication was not his strong suit, especially not with personal matters. Fortunately Samuel knew just which reassurances to reach for: making mistakes didn't make him a bad person, it was okay to hurt, but he was still young and there were plenty of other people out there. He would find his love one day.
But this time the words fell flat and Gary shook his head, looking so thoroughly dejected that it almost broke Sam's heart.
It made him wonder. How long had this relationship been going on? It must have been serious for Gary to be this upset, but when had he had the time for a serious relationship? And what on Earth could Gary have done that would be this bad?
But before he could gather his thoughts enough to begin the lengthy process of dragging personal information and emotions out of his grandson, there was a gentle knock from just outside the room.
Samuel looked up to find his assistant standing in the doorway. Gary pointedly looked away - something that caught Sam's attention and added another level of confusion to the situation. Gary never shied away from Tracey. He was the only person Gary ever spoke to as freely as he did with Sam.
"May I interrupt?" Tracey asked, his voice smaller than usual.
That, too, was odd. What was going on with his boys today?
Hopefully everything was alright in the lab. It would be terrible timing if something was wrong. "Yes, what is it, Tracey?" Sam asked distractedly.
“I think I can help here.” To Sam’s surprise, Tracey walked to Gary and knelt next to him. “Hey…" he said softly, reaching out to rest a hand against Gary’s cheek. "I never said I didn’t want to do this. I just wanted it to be serious and to not be a secret."
For a brief moment, it felt as though Samuel's brain was malfunctioning. Was Tracey the one who had broken Gary’s heart this time around? He wasn’t aware that Tracey was attracted to other men. Although that would explain how Gary had found the time to see someone - being under the same roof would certainly make it easier.
"You said it would never work because I suck at communicating,” Gary replied, his voice so small and strained that it hurt to hear.
Ah. There had been a problem and Gary had overreacted and was now being too hard on himself, Sam realized. Now they were back in familiar territory. Fortunately Tracey knew how to handle this just as well as Sam did.
"No," Tracey said calmly, shaking his head and gently thumbing away a tear that had escaped. "I told you if we wanted this to work then you needed to work on your communication, and I said I would help you, remember? And you don’t suck at communicating, you just…”
"Suck at communicating?"
"No," Tracey said firmly. "If that were true then you wouldn't be able to do half of what you do.” His voice softened and Samuel could see the concern and affection in his eyes even from his spot at the opposite side of the table. “C’mon, Gary, I know you’re just scared of getting hurt, but if you let that control you then you'll never be happy.”
Samuel was very suddenly grateful for his assistant’s immense patience. He briefly wondered just how many broken-hearted binges could have been prevented if any of the other people Gary had dated had been this patient with him. He didn’t know how Gary and Tracey had gotten together, how long they had been together, or even what had led to them being in this situation, but seeing this display made him ardently hope that they would work this out. This was a relationship Sam had never anticipated, however it was clear that it was very much exactly the one his grandson needed. He needed someone patient who could understand him and remind him that it was okay to be vulnerable… just like Tracey always did.
"So we're not over?" Gary’s voice was still small and strained but Sam could hear the hope beneath it.
"That depends… Do you want me to be your boyfriend?"
“Yes.” The reply was so quick that Sam had to suppress a chuckle.
Tracey fixed Gary with a smile. “Then no, we’re not over. We never were.” Tracey pressed a kiss to Gary's cheek. He lingered close for a moment and wiped away a few more tears. "Get out of your head sometimes, Gary. You know we love you."
Samuel let out an audible sigh of relief, reminding his boys of his presence in the room. Tracey and Gary both jumped at the sound, having apparently been lost in their little bubble. “Well, now that we’ve gotten that settled, perhaps someone should head upstairs and get some rest,” he chided gently, casting a small smile Gary’s way.
Tracey was, as always, quick to help. He stood and held out a hand to Gary, helping him out of the seat and immediately steering him towards the hallway that led upstairs. “Yes, and then I’m going to hide any other alcohol so you don’t jump straight to getting hammered next time we have a disagreement.”
“I didn’t jump straight into getting hammered,” Gary whined, though he obediently followed Tracey.
“We’re not talking about that right now, Gary,” Tracey said firmly, his voice drifting from the hallway into the kitchen.
Sam couldn’t help a small chuckle as he shook his head and reached for his cup of tea. He knew Tracey would get Gary situated in bed to sleep off the alcohol and whatever drama had led to this afternoon’s troubles, just as he knew Gary would be just fine once this passed. Things would work out fine in the end, so long as his boy had the love and support he needed.