abrightboy | No One's Born Broken

Malcolm smiled. "I'm going to let you order, because we're on your turf," he teased. He gestured out at the city scape. "Don't miss the whole sunset." He looked at Willa, bouncing her. "Red sky at night, sailor's delight," he cooed at her.

Leaning over, Raylan pressed a kiss into Malcolm's hair and stood up, collecting his boots and Malcolm's shoes on the way and dropping them inside the terrace door. It only took him a minute or two to do what he'd said he was going to before he was padding, now barefoot, sans tie and shirt open and untucked, back out to join Malcolm and Willa.

"I hope you're okay with Mexican food. They don't really have soup, but they've got chips and I ordered some red beans on the side. It's basically thick soup." He sat down as he spoke, snatching Winona's beer for himself as he did so and reached over to boop Willa's nose, letting her grab and tug his finger afterwards.

"I'll give it a try," Malcolm said gamely.

He chuckled as the baby grabbed at Raylan's finger, bouncing her a little bit. Then it occurred to him that Raylan probably hadn't seen her in a little while. He looked at him. "Do you want her back?" he asked. "Sorry, I got... carried away," he admitted with a soft smile, tickling her chin.

Raylan lifted his eyebrows at the question, lips curling at the edges as he tucked his beer between his legs again while Willa smiled broadly and turned her head away. Yes, she'd be ticklish.

"Yes, but only because it's my turn to get carried away," he said, grunting theatrically as he took her weight and shifted down a little to sit her on his stomach, one hand holding her at the back as he ran his fingers, scissor style up her belly. "I wish I could be here for all of it. The first time she rolled over, the first time she sat up on her own. I wanna make sure that I'm there for the ones that she'll remember. Kindergarten Graduation.. Softball."

He shifted his head to look over at Malcolm.

"You sure dealing with all this is worth it? Ex wife and all? I know she's cute," he said, eyes bobbing over to Willa. "But you haven't heard her cry yet. So maybe don't answer now," he said with a chuckle.

Edited 2020-07-14 14:32 (UTC)

Malcolm picked up his glass and turned to sit facing Raylan and Willa, one leg pulled up onto the couch, gaze drifting from Raylan's face to Willa's as Raylan spoke.

"Of course it's worth it. Who wouldn't want this? The only thing I'm worried about with the ex-wife is having it taken away. I can't believe someone would invite me to be part of a child's life."

He lifted his gaze from Willa to Raylan. "It means a lot to me. Really. I won't take it lightly."

"I don't know anything that you do take lightly," he replied with a curl of his lips before looking down at Willa. "We'll get through Winona together. Really, I think it'll be okay, once she gets used to the idea. And honestly? I think Gil would agree with my choice on lettin' you handle Willa. Your mental scars don't define you."

Raylan looked back over as he ended the sentiment. "We'll handle those together too."

Malcolm looked at him tenderly for a long moment, then got up on his knees on the couch so he could lean over without dislodging Willa and press a kiss to his mouth, his free hand resting just inside Raylan's collar, the other one holding his glass to the side of his shoulder.

"I love you so much," he murmured, pressing his forehead to Raylan's temple. "So much."

There was no stopping the way his face softened or the way his smile curled as he looked over at the movement and met the kiss. Raylan's free hand came up around Malcolm's shoulder, holding him against him for the moment with a tight grip. He wouldn't be able to articulate just how those words really made him feel, a hot swelling his chest that made him feel like he was capable of anything. Of protecting the two people around him with everything.

Their reverie was broken by a knock on the door, drawing a sharp inhale of surprise, sounding more like he'd been woken up than startled, and Raylan hummed. "I love you too. That's probably dinner. It's already paid for, but would you get it? Let me get this beautiful girl and myself inside and at the table?" The last was really directed at Willa as Raylan begrudgingly lifted himself forward and turned her, tucking her into his arm so he could grab his beer.

"What'da think, Willa? Ready to down a taco or two? Doesn't even have to be Tuesday," he said, talking aimlessly at her as he made his way in, beer in hand.

Raylan got as far as 'it's already...' when Malcolm was practically jumping to his feet already, nodding at the question as it came, slipping past them towards the door, setting his scotch on the table as he passed.

He returned with the paper bags of food containers, setting them down to start fishing items out of them.

"What does she eat at this point?" Malcolm asked of Willa, not mentioning the cupboard full of baby food in the kitchen that he'd secured just in case.

God he loved Malcolm. Even the way he jumped up to help, to be a part of it all, to not just be a bystander looking in. In Raylan's opinion it was a very good look on him. They hadn't gotten to do a lot of real domestics beyond that week Raylan had stayed up north, and something about being in a place that was going to be theirs made everything tonight better.

He could see them here, however temporarily. He could see them here, happy.

"Baby foods, though she still gets a bottle in the morning. Winona's tryin' to ween her off all the way, says it'll be another couple of weeks," he replied as he slid and got Willa into her highchair. "She gave me enough to cover the visit, I think." He glanced over at the diaper bag that he then went to fetch after Willa was secured.

"I didn't think about it before now, at least not this way, but you wanna talk about helpin'.. Feeding this ravenous beast and yourself at the same time is a pain in the ass. Well, feeding us at the same time." Three bites of soup took no time at all. "Uh.. Green beans.. Boston Cream pie?" He made a face and set those two down. "Sweet potatoes, that ain't bad.."

After a second, Raylan looked up. "Oh, shit, uh, you'll have to open the food to see what it is."

Red beans and rice in one tin plate with a cardboard paper lid, while the other had a chippy, cheesy mess with chunks of chicken, onion and bell pepper sticking out of it. Everything came with a bags of tortilla chips and salsa too, but Raylan didn't care for those as much and they'd likely end up thrown out.

"Um..." Malcolm looked over almost sheepishly as he pulled the lid off the beans and rice. "If you want more options, check the cupboard beside the fridge," he advised. "With the caveat that I may have gotten carried away, but I don't know her well enough to guess what she likes at this point," he explained, opening the mess of chicken and cheese with a skeptical look at it. "Though I might join her in a pureed vegetable of some sort..."

Raylan's brow pinched a little as he caught up, looking over at the kitchen and ambling over there to start pulling open cabinets. There was no mistaking Willa's area in them and Raylan couldn't help but laugh a little.

"Wow. Looks like you cleared the store out. Different levels and everything." But the numbers on the jars matched some of these and he picked through them with interest. "I might join you both," he continued as he came back with two jars he thought more suitable. Turkey with gravy and a jar of peas. "Always wondered what this stuff tastes like.."

He looked over at Malcolm as he sat down and fished out Willa's spoon and bib. "Did you have fun today? I won't ask how much anything cost but." He would ask that.

"I didn't know what the numbers meant. Do you think they'll keep long enough for her to eat them?" he asked, scooping a small portion of beans and rice onto his plate. "I can't say I have a ton of experience with solid food, but I can't see it tasting much different for being mushed up."

He looked over at the last question and smiled.

"I did. It was totally different than furnishing my own place, thinking about you and what would work for the way we live together." He huffed a laugh at himself. "Not that we've spent a lot of time living together, but we've talked about it!"

"Somethin' having to do with chunks, I'd bet," he theorized, turning over the food jar and looking around. "I thought these things kept forever like canned goods. It's got an expiration date of two years from now though so-" Raylan looked up. "I think we're okay. Anythin' she doesn't eat, you might," he said with a gentle tease as he velro'd the bib around Willa and popped the cap on the peas.

"We'll get to the living part. Sooner rather than later, I hope. I suppose I oughta thank you for not goin' overboard on leather." It was only a tease, Malcolm only had the one leather couch.

"I didn't even consider leather, I'll have you know. Since you don't like the way it sticks to your bum, which is an item I hope to see there," he teased back.

He scooped up a small forkful of beans and rice. "There was no backside I expected to see on my couch in New York when I bought it. You've changed my whole outlook on couches," he informed Raylan before taking a careful, experimental bite from his fork.

Raylan grinned and bounced his eyebrows at that as he picked up Willa's spoon and dipped into the peas. "Here to help," he declared before taking a bite himself and pulling a face.

"You'd love it. Tastes like nothing. Well, not nothing." Just not anything he deemed good. Another bite was scooped out and Raylan started trying to feed his daughter, eyes mostly busy with her though he glanced over at Malcolm's experimental bite.

"And what about your outlook on red beans and rice?"

"I don't eat food for the love of it. Except maybe lemon jello." Of which there was none in the cupboards because, in his quest to stock the apartment with Normal Groceries, he did not take his own preferences into account. "But this," he noted, poking his fork at the red beans and rice on his plate, "is actually very palatable." A beat as he scooped another small forkful up. He looked at Raylan. "That's my version of raving about it."

"Hey, I'll take it," he said with a laugh. He already knew Malcolm ate only because it was a physical demand and took no pleasure in it, but that didn't stop Raylan's sarcastic streak. "Any bite past the first is a victory. Much like you, little girl," he said, airplaning the spoon towards her as she opened her mouth and just leaned forwards.

"I'll eat for the love of it enough for all of us."

"There's no way she won't grow up to love food, between eating her father's fried chicken and her father's barbeque," Malcolm pointed out, eating the next bite of red beans. "And I might let her in on the glory of lemon jello."

"I hope not. Put her roots to shame," he said, with the same cooing voice as he let her take hold of the spoon so he could drag his tin of food over to him. The sacrifices, oh the sacrifices. Popping the plastic fork out of it's wrapper and pulling the lid off, Raylan tried to stab himself a bite and promptly broke his fork.

"Did you happen to buy silverware to go with the plates and cups?"

"Of course I got silverware. And linen napkins. And napkin rings. And I prewrapped it all," he said as he got up and headed over to the kitchen, pulling a bundle out of a drawer and bringing it over to Raylan. "I needed something to do while they built the bedroom. They told me to get out from under their feet."

"Of course," Raylan echoed fondly, already too late to have stopped Malcolm from getting up in the first place. "Jesus, prewrapped and ringed and everything?" He couldn't help but chuckle as he tugged it free and unrolled it, picking the plastic out of his meal to place it on the side as Willa took to learning what happens when you bring a spoon bearing fist down onto a highchair top.

"Well no one can say you weren't productive. I take it you asked some questions?" He loved it. "How long did getting all this in take anyway? You looked.. very comfortable when we got in." In the best possible way though, of course.

"Did I? I was extremely nervous by then. Though I have severe anxiety," he conceded, "so maybe I always look like that."

He picked up his own (plastic) fork and scooped up another little bite's worth of the beans and rice.

"It took them about four hours to install everything. They wanted to do it tomorrow, but I persuaded them."

"In the space, I mean. Sitting there on the barstool like you're ready to sell it or something." Something Business-y, though suits like Malcolm's always brought that to mind. He was trying not to talk about Winona, even if they wouldn't really be able to help it.

"Mmhmm," he hummed behind a full mouth. Persuaded. Once it was clear, he continued. "I look forward to testing it out with you." It came with a devilish look from under his eyebrows before he turned his attention back to Willa who had somehow kept a spit pocket of peas and decided that the spoon and then her face in general, needed to have some of.

Malcolm looked over at the stool then took a bite of his beans and rice trying to suppress a smile.

"So I succeeded at pretending to be casual," he teased as he swallowed. He looked at Willa. "Does that mean she likes it or no?"

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