"You haven't even tasted my shepherd's pie yet," Joel teases when Spencer thanks him, but he wraps an arm around his waist, pulling him close and pressing his face against the curve of Spencer's throat, because he knows exactly what Spencer is saying. So much of their time together is spent trying to figure out the right way to thank him in return, to find some way to make him really understand how amazing he is and how much Joel appreciates all the things Spencer does for him, but he's never sure if he accomplishes that or if just his words will be enough to really explain it. Somehow he doesn't think so. He's not sure there are words that are big enough to encompass everything he feels for Spencer and for someone who's had such an incredible love of books his whole life, that's just not acceptable. He'll find them one day, he'll keep looking until the right words are there and maybe even then they won't be enough.
He pulls back a little, digging his keys out of his pocket with one hand, the other lifting to brush a bit of Spencer's hair back from his forehead. He almost wants to say that he doesn't do anything special, but that isn't true. The things he does for Spencer aren't the sorts of things he does for just anyone. There are very few people in town who've benefited from his potions and Spencer is the only person who has learned that he's a witch so abruptly and so completely without thought. Telling Lara and Cosette had taken time, telling Raleigh had come after a long internal struggle, but revealing himself to Spencer had been on a whim and he's long since written it off, telling himself that he had to, that Spencer might have died otherwise, but he knows that isn't entirely true. He could have been more subtle, could have made it look like the debris had been deflected some other way or had simply slowed down enough that it wouldn't have been dangerous, but instead he chose to do the one thing that would make it obvious what he was. Because even from that moment, he thinks some part of him had known.
"For as long as you'll let me, I'll do everything," he says, pausing just before he unlocks the front door of the store. The smile he gives Spencer is small, perhaps a little nervous, and he doesn't want to think that there might one day come a day when Spencer no loner wants him around. It's not that he doubts Spencer, just that he's never entirely sure if he's doing any of this right, if he's being a good boyfriend, if he's properly expressing how much Spencer means to him. For the most part he thinks they're doing a fairly good job, but he never wants to stop trying. He never wants to take any of this for granted.
Flipping the switch that turns on the light in the stairwell, he reaches for Spencer's hand to tug him inside, then locks the door behind them before he presses Spencer against it gently. "You deserve it," he says, leaning in to kiss him. "You deserve every good thing I'm capable of."
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He pulls back a little, digging his keys out of his pocket with one hand, the other lifting to brush a bit of Spencer's hair back from his forehead. He almost wants to say that he doesn't do anything special, but that isn't true. The things he does for Spencer aren't the sorts of things he does for just anyone. There are very few people in town who've benefited from his potions and Spencer is the only person who has learned that he's a witch so abruptly and so completely without thought. Telling Lara and Cosette had taken time, telling Raleigh had come after a long internal struggle, but revealing himself to Spencer had been on a whim and he's long since written it off, telling himself that he had to, that Spencer might have died otherwise, but he knows that isn't entirely true. He could have been more subtle, could have made it look like the debris had been deflected some other way or had simply slowed down enough that it wouldn't have been dangerous, but instead he chose to do the one thing that would make it obvious what he was. Because even from that moment, he thinks some part of him had known.
"For as long as you'll let me, I'll do everything," he says, pausing just before he unlocks the front door of the store. The smile he gives Spencer is small, perhaps a little nervous, and he doesn't want to think that there might one day come a day when Spencer no loner wants him around. It's not that he doubts Spencer, just that he's never entirely sure if he's doing any of this right, if he's being a good boyfriend, if he's properly expressing how much Spencer means to him. For the most part he thinks they're doing a fairly good job, but he never wants to stop trying. He never wants to take any of this for granted.
Flipping the switch that turns on the light in the stairwell, he reaches for Spencer's hand to tug him inside, then locks the door behind them before he presses Spencer against it gently. "You deserve it," he says, leaning in to kiss him. "You deserve every good thing I'm capable of."