[Spencer]

[just_another]

He's not really sure what possessed him.

Maybe it's that things have been relatively quiet recently, maybe it's that he and Spencer have lived in relative peace for nearly two years now. Maybe it's simply a celebration of their children both growing up, each of them exhibiting new and interesting traits as time goes on. It had been a bit of a surprise to discover Dane was half-siren -- I thought you knew! Erin had exclaimed when asked -- and Joel is just waiting for the day when Rose's powers reveal themselves, but even that hasn't really changed anything.

They have friends who are sirens, after all, friends who will be able to teach both their children how to control their powers. For now, Joel and Spencer just have to make sure they're very firm with Dane when he starts to demand something.

So maybe it's just that he's happy and wants to take up some kind of new hobby, but after the pool table is moved into a room near the back of the house, Joel realizes he doesn't actually know how to play pool. That's not a big deal, really, he knows everyone has to learn at some point, but he imagines most people don't buy themselves a pool table before learning.

It had been second hard, refinished, not as expensive as some of the others he's seen and he's glad of that, but as he looks at it, at the brightly coloured balls sitting in the square triangle -- the rack? -- he realizes he doesn't know a damn thing about this and Spencer is going to realize it, too, the first time he sees Joel play.

This is going to be embarrassing, he thinks, especially if Spencer turns out to be some sort of billiards master.

Comments

[doublethepain]

He watches in silence from the doorway for a minute, leaning against the frame with his arms crossed over his chest. Rose is napping upstairs, Spencer had put her down just a few minutes ago before wandering downstairs with Dane, Huxley trailing behind them. He'd lost their son in the hallway, some toy or another having caught his attention, though Dane is still within Spencer's line of sight from here.

It's just one moment, a brief one that lets Spencer consider how so much of their lives have changed since they'd met. Between two kids, who are both apparently going to grow up to be half-siren, the pets, and the store, their lives are nothing short of chaotic; and yet, there's still a strange sense of peace that's settled over them because they just don't seem to have the time to invite anything else in. They see their friends, they take the kids to work with them, they come home, they live. Maybe the family life doesn't sound like much to those who are more thrill-seeking but to Spencer, it's everything.

So it's amusing when Joel tells him he's bringing home a pool table. Spencer hadn't quite known how to respond, had just narrowed his eyes and tried not to laugh before acknowledging it and moving on. He isn't even sure Joel knows how to play pool, certainly hasn't seem him do it before, but Spencer figures maybe he's picked up on it when going out with Coop. Now that he's watching Joel stand at the table and occasionally reach out to poke at this or that, it's suddenly very clear that his husband has absolutely no idea what he's doing.

"You're going to teach me, right?" he asks, his tone innocent, even if there is a hint of teasing. "I mean, I know I haven't asked much about it, but you must be pretty skilled at pool if you thought buying a whole table for the house would be a good idea."