(spencer) cooking lessons plus good deeds

[callmeemily]

The list of things that Joel does for both of them is pretty long. It's ridiculously long, in fact, and that's why Raleigh stops by the store on the way home, and she gets a bag of groceries that are pretty much going to be dinner, even though Joel's got to stay late at the store and that usually means pizza.

She's talked to Spencer about it, before - it was sort of his idea, but after she puts the bag down on the kitchen counter, she moves back to the living room where he's on the couch. "Hey, Joel's out late and I got groceries - you still up for helping me?" She knows that the answer's yes, of course, but she's still going to ask. She felt like it was time to do something for Joel, something that both she and Spencer could do - and this at least seemed worthwhile.

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[callmeemily]

Raleigh laughs, and rolls her eyes. "Well, I mean, it's not like dirt'll kill you." She knows that sounds a little more southern than she usually does, that she's got a little more accent, but she's happy, both because they're doing something for Joel, and because she just likes spending time with Spencer.

"There's like four things in them," she says with a laugh, and she's got a griddle on the stove as she makes the burgers by hand - big ones, but she just puts them on a plate for now rather than starting them cooking already. "Minced garlic, oregano, parmasean cheese, and olive oil. And salt, so I guess five things." She rolls her eyes when he extolls the virtues of string cheese and ready-made cookie dough, but she's smiling at him.

"I don't knock string cheese. I like string cheese." She looks over her shoulder when he asks if she's worked on the bakery today, and she gets this smile on her face, this smile she gets whenever she talks about it or really thinks about it. "Yeah, I was there all morning - obviously I managed to grab a shower," she said with a laugh, although she's ending her days way less covered in grime, now. The place was no longer quite so... alarmingly filthy, which was good. Really, really good.

But then? Then he said that Joel looks really good in a tank top, and Raleigh's face just kind of twists as she laughs. "Ahhh! Ahhh, don't say that! Don't say that! You're my brothers, you're both my brothers, that just weird." She waves her hand at him, and she can't not laugh. "I know you guys are- I mean, I know, but that is not a thing that I think about. If you want to come hang out and paint some stuff or wash some things, feel free, just- just..." She's not dumb, she knows some of just how much Spencer and Joel get up to things (and she's thankful for her headphones), but she just can't even wrap her brain around that.

"I love you," she says after a second, shaking her head ruefully. "Now, scootch for a second, I need to wash my hands, they're all gross and hamburgery."

[doublethepain]

"Well, I'm glad you've been able to work on the place. Maybe Joel and I can stop by during lunch tomorrow and give you some extra help with it. I'd love to do more, but I suspect I might start to push my boss's buttons if I take any more time off."

It wasn't all that long ago that hearing Raleigh say that, hearing her tell him she loves him, would have given him pause. It would have made his cheeks flush, might have even made him drop the potato in the sink, but as it is now, he only smiles to himself and answers with a soft hum. He hasn't said it back to her, not once, and he's felt guilty about that at first; but there's only one person the words come easily for, and Spencer just hasn't yet figured out how to extend his comfort zone when it comes to that particular phrase to include people who aren't Joel. Raleigh never seems to take it personally, though, and it's a testament to how well she's come to know him. She doesn't push, doesn't look affronted when he can't say it back, and it's something he'll always appreciate.

He does move for her, scrubber in one dripping hand and potato in the other, but he can't help but smirk over how utterly horrified she'd been by his mention of how good Joel looks, and it's not just in a tank top, it's at all times. "To be fair," he says, eyes widening innocently as he bats his lashes at her, "he looks much better out of a tank top. Those cardigans never did fool me."

It's the closest he'll ever get to discussing their sex life because what they do in their bedroom--or in the store, or in the ocean, or laid out over the table in Joel's apartment--is only ever going to be for them. Still, he has to admit that it's amusing to watch Raleigh squirm. It's what Dane used to do to him, and Raleigh sees Spencer as a brother so really, he's just carrying on a brotherly duty.

[callmeemily]

"Don't do anything that'll get you into trouble," she says without even hesitating, moving to scrub her hands in the sink with water so hot it hurt and soap. She doesn't even think about what she said, anymore - it's a statement of fact, that he's ridiculous and she loves him for it, and it's fond and not meant to be reciprocal, because-

Because she thinks she knows, really, not that she's ever thought about it. She's always loved easily; friends and family, she's the sort of person who gives her heart without reservation, even though it's hurt her a time or two. It's always worth the giving, even if sometimes it doesn't work out. So it doesn't bother her, she doesn't even wait to hear it in response or look at him - she just told him to budge over and got to work on her hands.

"Spencer Waters, you horrible man." She splashes water at him with a laugh as he talks about how Joel looks out of his tank top, and she's making a face. 'Stop, stop, seriously, I don't want to think of either of you like that! You're awful, you're so awful. See if I ever, ever make you a cookie again, so help me god." She sticks out her tongue at him, and then moves to the other counter, expertly peeling, and then starting to mince the garlic. "You are horrible, and I hope you know that." She's smiling, she can't stop smiling even as she chops the oregano, shaking her head.

[doublethepain]

"Well, I never do things that will get me in trouble on purpose," he counters, moving back in front of the sink once she's finished washing her hands. It's absolutely true, though he's well aware that it must seem like it isn't. The thing is, trouble always seems to find him, regardless of who he's with or what he does or how carefully he treads. He thinks of his family, of Mark, of the island, of Eli, and he doesn't think he'd done anything particularly deserving of any of that; but he doesn't want to spare a moment to think further on it because they're having a good time, the mood is light, and he refuses to destroy that so he just shrugs. "You know, if karma is real, an abundance of good should be heading my way quite soon. If you're nice to me, I'll share."

It's becoming slowly easier for him to act more playful around people who aren't his boyfriend, and it's still a strange sort of feeling to let this loose--even though it's not even that loose--rather than let himself get caught up with one thought or another that keeps that expression of craving distance that he's surely outworn by now on his face.

"I'm deeply attracted to the man I love, is that really so horrible?" he asks with a mock affronted tone, though his grin is more than enough evidence of how he really feels. He huffs when she splashes him but wipes the water off his forehead with his sleeve--well, actually it's Joel's sleeve because he's wearing one of his boyfriend's cardigans tonight, a habit he'd picked up the very day Joel had called Spencer his boyfriend--and continues his work on the potato. "You calling me horrible is a decidedly not nice thing to do, by the way, you have lost karma points for that."

[callmeemily]

Raleigh rolls her eyes as she scrubs her hands. "I know that, I just- you know how I am." She means it, too; she knows that Spencer and Joel both mostly understand her weird ideosynchracies, the way she just... checks, to make sure that people are doing things because they want too, that she doesn't ever expect anything. She doesn't expect Spencer to help, especially if it makes things difficult with his job, but if he's offering... she'll take it.

She just has to say something, so she's sure he knows. It's how she ticks.

"We're both in for a big dose of karma, I think" she says with a shake of her head, "Although, I think I might have cashed mine out with the store." She can't stop the way her lips quirk up into a smile, because she gets this silly look on her face even when she just thinks about it; doing this was absolutely the right thing. Opening a store of her own, having her own place... it was the right thing, and she didn't even know what got that look on her face.

She wrinkles her nose when he asks if it's that horrible. "Of course it's not that horrible, it's just- I mean, you can feel however you want, and you... should, but telling me about it, that's the horrible part," she says with a laugh. "I am an innocent bystander," she says with a shake of her head. "You're only a little bit horrible. Like.... a quarter of a percent. The rest is pretty great, if you ask me." She looks at him over her shoulder, flashing a smile."