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Sirius feels like he’s going to vomit.
“You’re going to burn a hole in our living room,” Remus hums, not looking up from his book.
Sirius stops in his pacing, making his way to go sit with his boyfriend, leveling him with a look, “Can you blame me for being anxious?”
Remus pauses fully in his reading and looks up at Sirius, reaching up and cupping his cheek, “Normally it’s the partner that’s supposed to be anxious about meeting the family, not the other way around.”
“But what if they don’t like us and then they make Regulus choose between the two of us? There are high chances that Regulus would choose his partner over me.”
“We both know that’s not true,” Remus rolls his eyes, though his words and tone are genuine, “You two may not get along all the time, but you have a good relationship and I doubt Regulus would want you out of his life ever again. Besides, does he really seem like the type of person to let himself fall victim to ultimatums? He would rather drop that person from his life at the mere thought they would give him one than choose them.” Sirius doesn’t respond, but he doesn’t calm down much at the reassurance either.
Regulus gave them next to no warning, as is typical for him. They had all just settled down for dinner and started eating when he hummed and told them that he was bringing his partner to meet them this weekend. That he would update their grocery list for anything they may need and prep his bathroom for them. Then he continued eating and didn’t answer any other question.
It was only later, when Remus pushed for times of their arrival and plans for the weekend, that he gave them any more answers at all.
So now here is Sirius, anxious and about vomit over meeting his little brother’s partner. A partner that he didn’t even know existed in the first place.
Merlin knows the last partner that met Sirius and Remus was quick to break up with Regulus -- though he argues that the guy was a dick anyway and they broke up for different reasons, Sirius is sure that he had a part to play in it. He didn’t want to fuck up another relationship that made his brother happy enough to introduce to him and Remus. Not again.
So yeah, maybe he’s a bit more anxious than most people would be when meeting their family’s significant other.
Regulus comes out a few moments later, prompting Remus to dog-ear his book -- the heathen that he is -- and put it down on the coffee table. A couple moments later, there’s six sharp knocks on their door, but Regulus doesn’t open it immediately, just waits a couple seconds. Then there are two more knocks, assured in the motion, and that’s when Regulus goes to open it.
Sirius can’t see the person that his little brother greets immediately, he can only see them when Regulus guides them into the house and towards the living room after having them slip their shoes off.
The person that walks into the living room with Regulus is… they’re odd, not the person that Sirius would assume his brother would be attracted to. They’re starkly different from Regulus’ last boyfriend, a man that was covered head to toe in ripped clothes, tattoos, piercings, and ratty hair.
Though their hair is still somewhat ratty and their clothes have definitely been torn in the past.
Regulus hums and gestures half-heartedly to his partner, “This is James, my partner. James, that’s my brother Sirius, and his boyfriend Remus.”
James is wearing ratty clothes, smudged with darker spots on it. A deep red pair of soft-looking overalls with various patches sewn onto it in messy stitches and at random angles, some of the patches having different symbols painted on in various colours of paint. They cover a faded dark green shirt with sunflowers painted onto it in random places. Their shoes, red converse, are unbelievably dirty. Their neck and bare wrists are adorned by several necklaces and bracelets. The necklaces are mostly silver or black ropes with silver charms of symbols and items that Sirius can’t identify. The bracelets are mostly one colour of bead but there are a couple rope ones as well. Rings adorn their fingers as well. Their hair is mussed and falling all over in chaotic curls and their golden glasses sit low on their nose, a golden bar sticking out of the slit in their left eyebrow.
James smiles at them, their honey-brown eyes slightly gazed over and distant even as they take in the appearance of the two of them. They slowly make their way into the living room, a cane at their side being held by a hand with a wrist brace that makes a gentle, familiar tapping sound on top of every step, out-stretching a hand that holds a pot with the smallest start of a plant, “Here, a gift for you guys.”
Remus is quick to stand up, taking his own cane into his hand and grabbing it from them, “Thank you, can I ask what it is?”
James nods, letting him take it from them easily and watching as he moves to set it on the coffee table, “It’s basil, which usually brings wealth, luck, and protection to a home. Take care of it and it will take care of you back.”
Remus nods, “I have to admit that none of us are that good at taking care of plants, so we’ll have to talk about care later.”
They nod back, “I’m more than happy to talk about plants with you, Remus.” Then they turn their faded gaze onto Sirius fully, “Nice to meet you finally.”
Sirius manages to find his voice after only a second, nodding, “Finally?”
“Regulus has a tendency of telling stories about you.”
“Only good things, I hope.” He jokes, unsure of what to say next when they shrug but don’t say anything further. So he clears his throat, “It’s nice to meet you as well, James. I, admittedly, haven’t known about you for very long but I wish I could return the sentiment.” James shrugs once again like they’re not too affected by the idea that Regulus doesn’t talk about them.
Regulus hums after a couple seconds, “James, what is touch today?”
James turns on him, thinking for a minute before shrugging, “It’s alright today, maybe not too much.” Regulus nods and takes their free hand, bringing them to the couch chair that he’s claimed as his own. James sits on the armrest of it, moving so the handle of their cane rests against their thigh.
Regulus looks down at it, then to their wrist brace, “Bad day again?”
They nod, “I think it’s the weather. It’s not too bad, I did my own wrist in and I don’t need my cane, but I’d rather have it.” Regulus nods,
“The weather is just out to get us,” Remus smiles, gesturing to his cane.
James smiles at him, nodding, “The world is interesting during winter, it goes very quiet but still speaks openly. However, I don’t appreciate the pain it causes.”
“I’ve never been fond of winter, it just got worse when I started needing my cane.”
They watch him for a while before humming, “Do you get pain all year ‘round?” When Remus nods, they continue on, “When it’s not cold, try walking around barefoot. There’s a psychological placebo effect that’s been found when people with chronic pain walk around barefoot and focus on their connection with the Earth, it can reduce their pain. It’s not actually scientific so you’ll still have to use your cane, but I’ve found that it’s nice when I do it.”
“Do you really?”
Regulus nods, answering for them, “They’ve walked to our dates barefoot before. It also helps with inflammation, which helps reduce the pain.” James nods like they forgot that point.
Remus hums, “I’ll have to try it, I’m not a big fan of walking barefoot, but I’ll give it a go when I go and smoke or something.”
“It’s called grounding if you want to look into it more.” James hums, tilting their head a bit. They take a moment to look around the flat, “I like your place, it’s very… warm.” They turn to Regulus, “It has a lot to say.”
“Oh?”
They nod, “It tells me about healing, growing up… love. There’s a lot of warmth here.”
Regulus watches them for a while, something unreadable in his eyes as he gazes at them. Then he reaches forward and grasps their hand in his own, “I should really take you to the manor at some point and hear what it says to you.”
James furrows their brows, watching him, “I don’t think I want to know what the manor has to say, your energy was… it spoke enough about that home when we met.”
“You and your big heart are ridiculous.” Then Regulus turns to his brother and Remus, “What did we want to do? Or eat?”
Remus hums, “I figured that I would make my Autumn soup, warm and relatively easy. It shouldn’t take too long so we have some extra time.” He turns his gaze onto James, “What do you usually like to do?”
“Read sometimes -- more listen to Reg read -- and garden, I usually crochet or sew, sometimes I’ll paint.”
“You cook and bake a lot.” Regulus passively supplies.
James nods, “Cooking and baking, yeah.”
“Board games?”
“Sometimes. I’m pretty good at board games.”
Remus nods, considering, “I don’t think we have many games that aren’t competitive, but we have a puzzle that Regulus and I have been working on. We can grab some wine and talk while solving it just to give us something to do?” The rest of the group seems to agree and Remus nods, telling them that they're going to start on the soup and instructing Regulus to grab where they had put their puzzle board away a couple days ago when they got bored of solving it and it being in the way.
Sirius remains seated and just watches James. James doesn’t seem to mind his gaze, still looking around the room. Their eyes land on the bookshelf and seem to read over the spine of each of them. After a while, they move to watch the balcony that they have, seemingly seeing something that Sirius himself isn’t able to see. Then they watch Regulus and Sirius watches as their face softens.
It doesn’t relax, their roving eyes have been looking around without tension in their shoulders and they’re leaning back into the plush backrest of the couch chair. They don’t relax, because they were already relaxed, instead it just… softens. Their eyes seem a bit less hazed over when they watch him, a small smile on their face as they watch him go through the motions of setting up their fold out table and putting their puzzle board on it, starting to prep it for the actual puzzle. It almost seems like their eyes linger on him as though they can’t tear their gaze away from him, like they’re drawn to him like a moth to flame.
Regulus -- the very person that flips off or threatens anyone that looks at him too long or what he deems to be ‘wrong’ -- doesn’t seem to mind the gaze. He doesn’t bristle or seem to be bothered by the weight of the gaze on him. Instead, he smiles softly in his actions.
Sirius is conflicted.
Remus calls him into the kitchen a moment later, and that’s when Sirius finally finds himself able to achieve motion, standing up and joining his boyfriend in the kitchen. Regulus shoots him a look, they both know that Remus doesn’t like Sirius in the kitchen when he’s cooking -- he can’t cook for the life of him and tends to try and distract Remus, the person that can cook the most out of the three of them and therefore cooks the most often -- but he waves it off.
Remus gives Sirius a look when he finally enters the kitchen, “You’re acting weird.”
Sirius shrugs with one shoulder, “Just- I’m a bit disoriented by James and I don’t know how exactly to react to them.”
“Well,” he sighs, going to add the carrots he’s just finished chopping into the broth he’s started on the stovetop, “Get your shit together or your brother is going to notice that you’re acting off and that’s going to cause it’s own issues, if he hasn’t noticed already.”
Sirius nods, “You’re right.”
“I know that I am, my star.” Remus smiles at him softly. Then, a couple seconds later, “I like James. I think they’re interesting, definitely someone who’s going to give Regulus a run for his money. They remind me of Pandora.”
Sirius can see it, but he doesn’t quite agree. While Pandora is usually a little less present than most when they speak, they’re still there and don’t say weird, cryptic things like James has. Though Pandora does have a tendency of telling them about visions or dreams that they’ve had that entails their friends. If James starts doing that, Sirius might freak out.
Remus tells him to take a deep breath before sending him back out into the living room where James and Regulus are now settled in chairs at the table with the puzzle, picking up pieces and looking around while talking quietly between themselves. Sirius goes to join them at the table, grabbing another chair for himself and staring down at the daunting, quarter finished puzzle that Remus and Regulus recently started, reminding himself just how much he doesn’t like puzzles and why.
But he pushes on because it gives him something to do while talking to Regulus’ partner so he pushes on and grabs a random piece, staring at it for a while.
Remus comes out when he has the soup simmering and prepped and joins them at the table, immediately finding a piece and putting it in its place. He looks up at James afterwards, “What do you do?”
“I’m a social worker in training.” They smile, “Shadowing and floating around to a couple of the organizations around here that I might end up staying at when I actually get my degree.”
“Oh, what are you enjoying the most?”
“The crisis center, the foster care facility, and the homeless shelter.”
Regulus hums, “You’ve also considered spending more time with that one company that you’ve been volunteering with.”
They nod, seemingly having forgotten the place they’ve literally been volunteering at, “Oh, yeah. I don’t know if I’ll stick with it other than volunteering, but I’ve been helping out with a sexual and domestic abuse nonprofit.”
“What do they do?”
“They’re mostly a private helpline that people can call and know that we don’t report anywhere. We also help them navigate medical and legal situations, but I’m not able to do any of that really since I’m just a volunteer. We also go to events with essential items, pads, tampons, pregnancy tests, the likes, and give those out for free and spread awareness about domestic and sexual abuse.”
“That’s nice, how did you get involved with them?” Surprisingly enough, for how talkative they’ve been about the company, they just shrug and don’t give an actual answer.
Remus seems to take the dismissal and secret keeping in stride and moves on, “How did you and Reggie meet?” James turns to look at Regulus, watching him and seemingly pushing him to answer for them should he choose to.
Regulus sighs, “I don’t like talking about it, but they were one of the people that I reached out to at the company they volunteer at to get me out of my relationship with you know who.”
Sirius gapes at his younger brother, “Reggie… I didn’t realise he was that bad.”
“He wasn’t,” he shakes his head, “but he wasn’t great either. It never got to the point of abuse or anything, but I wasn’t happy and didn’t know how to get help or get out of it, so I called because Pandora thought it could help, and James was the person that helped me out the most, they got me the connections that I need.” He turns to look at James, smiling softly at them, only in return since they’ve been watching him the entire time with a fond, lovesick -- albeit distant because they seemingly can’t look at anyone in a way that isn’t distant in some way -- gaze while he talks.
“I’m glad you had someone to help you, Regulus.” Remus smiles, then lets out a little celebratory noise when he gets another piece in its place. Regulus just hums.
The four of them are quiet for a while before Remus picks up asking about James and their life, where they’re from, what their family is like, their friends, and he talks to them about their hobby. James answers the questions happily, and Regulus chimes in to add on his own answers or remind James of something they forgot. Sirius tries, he really does, to ask questions and add to the conversation, but he doesn’t like when James turns that hollowed look onto him and he can’t find words for what to ask them.
They all settle down for dinner with James continuously commenting and complimenting Remus’ soup, answering more questions, and asking some of their own of the family. They’re nice enough, funny and bright -- Sirius concedes at some point throughout dinner -- but it doesn’t take from the unnerve and unease that Sirius feels whenever they would turn their gaze on him.
Despite James being nice -- or perhaps because of it -- Sirius doesn’t see how they work with his brother. Regulus is fiery and aggressive, James is calm and kind. They’re complete opposites and Regulus seems to somber around James, his tone not as sharp and his words not as spit-fiery. He’s almost soft with James and Sirius isn’t sure whether to be concerned about James doing something that dampens his brother’s natural personality or happy because he’s clearly found someone that makes him happy enough to strip some of the edge from his presence.
He gets his answer towards the end of dinner when Regulus and James get into a squabble -- at first Sirius is concerned because their tones are darker and sharp once more, but he eventually figures that it’s just most playful than angry.
“Would you hand me another roll, Lu?” James asks kindly, looking fondly at Regulus and gesturing to the plate of rolls that Remus prepared earlier.
“I told you not to call me that.”
“I know that you like it, you’re just too egotistical to acknowledge it.”
Regulus scoffs, “Oh, you’re one to talk.”
“What ever do you mean?” Regulus doesn’t warrant them with a response, instead leveling them with a flat glare. James rolls their eyes, “Don’t be like that.”
“You don’t hear me calling you stupid nicknames.”
“You don’t like pet names, you think they’re stupid.”
Regulus grins at them, sharp, “It’s because pet names are ridiculous and unnecessary. Which is why your whole instance of using them is ridiculous and unnecessary.” Despite the little spat, Regulus reaches towards the platter of rolls and hands one to James, then slides the butter dish towards them.
“Oh shove off.” James sighs, working towards prepping their roll. Sirius is concerned only for a moment before he notices that James is grinning at Regulus and there’s mirth shining in Regulus’ eyes so he figures that it’s okay and they’re only being confrontational for fun. It does bring Sirius a bit of comfort knowing that James has an iron tipped tongue behind that smile so they can match Regulus’ fire.
The day ends not long after dinner finishes and they’ve cleaned up -- James insisted on helping Remus clean up despite his protestations at them being a guest in the home -- when Regulus complains that he’s tired and done interacting with people and turns down the hallway, hooking his finger into one of the straps of James’ overalls and pulls them along with him. They turn to Sirius and Remus, giving them an apologetic smile and small wave before fully turning their attention to their boyfriend as they move to be in stride with him.
Used to Regulus retreating into his room at this time of night, Remus and SIrius settled themselves in their typical manner, a show they’re barely paying attention to on the TV that they’re only using for background noise while Sirius sketches away at a a new idea and Remus settles with his book that he’s been working through, pressed into each other’s sides.
Sirius listens aptly to the gentle noises of Regulus and James shuffling around and prepping for bed, or at least a time to relax. They talk quietly and navigate around the space quiet enough that Sirius isn’t able to hear what they’re saying. Nonetheless, he waits until there’s no longer the quiet echo of activity down the hallway before he finally speaks, keeping his voice low, “I don’t think I like James that much.”
Remus hums, not seemingly shocked by the information. He doesn’t say anything until he finishes with his paragraph and presses his thumbnail into the next line, finally looking up at Sirius, “Why not?”
“They’re not- I don’t know, they don't seem like a bad person but they’re… weird and unnerving.”
It takes a second for his boyfriend to respond, but when he does, it’s with a bored look, “I’m a werewolf, you can’t really talk about bringing in ‘weird’ partners.” He shakes his head, “Just give yourself some time to get used to them, Regulus hated me when you first brought me to meet him.”
Sirius sighs, “Reggie didn’t hate you. You two were bang on from the beginning, you had all of your book talks and stuff.”
Remus huffs a laugh, “That’s not true. I may have placated him with my ‘book talk’ but he was downright aggressive to me for months after we met. He refused to be alone in the same room with me for so long.”
“He was just worried that you would hurt me.”
“What about James is weird to you?”
Sirius sighs and tries to work through how he wants to explain what he’s feeling, “They just came in here wearing tatty, dirty clothes. Their eyes are so… distant and glossed over and it felt like they weren’t really present when they talked. They also just kept saying weird, vague things and having to be reminded of things by Regulus.
“What are you implying?”
“I’m not implying anything, they’re just… odd.”
“Really? It sounds to me like you’re stereotyping them, like you think they’re on drugs or something.”
“That’s not what I’m saying, they just seemed odd.”
Remus sighs, and it sounds like he’s starting to get frustrated with his boyfriend, “I was similar when you introduced me, I dress similarly to them and was not doing well when I met Regulus. You have no reason to be skeptical about them.” Sirius goes to speak, but he holds his hand up and shakes his head, “No, Sirius. James is clearly nice and a good person, and they clearly make Regulus happy, so it doesn’t really matter that they’re weird. We both know that him introducing them to us was just a courtesy. Regulus is happy with them and he wouldn’t let someone bad into his lift again, especially not if they’re the person that helped him out in the first place.”
“I know,” Sirius nods quietly.
The two of them are quiet for a while before a voice speaks up from behind them, “Excuse me?” When they turn around, it’s to see James standing in the end of the hallway, gazing gently at them. They look more present than at any point earlier in the day. They’ve changed into a threadbare t-shirt and pair of loose pants. Other than a couple bracelets and the rings and studs within their piercings, all of their jewelry is gone. After a couple seconds, they hum, “Where do you keep the tea that Regulus likes?”
Remus hums, “In the cabinet opposite the sink, I’m sure you can see the kettle and it shouldn't be too long to boil since we just recently made tea. Mugs are in the cabinet to the left of the one above the sink.” James nods a thanks and heads into the kitchen. There’s the familiar sounds of cabinets opening and the slight clink of preparing a mug of tea before coming back out of the kitchen.
Remus calls their name, catching their attention before they can start down the hallway. They turn and look at him gently, “What’s up?”
“Can you tell me about the plant you gave us, the basil right?” Remus asks, gesturing for them to come sit on the couch chair they settled in with Regulus earlier. James comes to sit with them, putting the mug onto one of the mug warmers they have settled on the coffee table.
They curl up on the chair after they’ve put the mug and glass of water they were holding down, telling them about the properties of taking care of basil, how much sun and water it needs, how often it should be trimmed, and ways of using it. When they notice Remus’ slightly overwhelmed look, they let out a huff of a laugh and tell him that they’ll write all of the instructions down on a piece of paper and put it with the plant still settled on the coffee table where Remus put it earlier. Then they hum, “Lovely as this is, I’m tired so I’m going to tuck in for the night.” They bid the two boyfriends farewell, unfurl and stand up, grab the drinks, and disappear down into the hallway without another word.
Remus and Sirius go back to their activities and don’t talk about James for the rest of the night.
…
The next morning, James and Remus are already awake and out in the kitchen when Sirius forces himself out of bed and into society -- not that his boyfriend, brother, and brother’s partners are very much considered ‘society’. They’re standing side by side in the kitchen, with James working at a bowl with a whisk in hand while Remus flips food in a skillet on the stovetop. Neither of them are talking, but they have respective mugs nearby and they seem happy with their little space of peace.
Remus glances up when he hears someone walking into the kitchen and pushes a mug of coffee towards Sirius when he sees who it is. Sirius takes it from him happily, going to kiss the back of Remus’ shoulder. He pulls away a bit after, going to sit on one of the stools at the island, watching the two of them work. He focuses on James, standing not far away from where he’s sitting. Today they’re wearing a pair of black pants with all sorts of colourful patches on them and a patchwork t-shirt with exposed seams. Their hair is just as messy as the previous day but there are a couple less pieces of jewelry adorning their body, though their hair has a couple new charms and silver cuffs in them. Sirius breathes, “James, how long have you been awake?”
James hums, not taking their eyes off their task as they throw a little pepper into the eggs they’re mixing, “I woke up at like six this morning to go on a run.”
“At six?”
They nod, “I like being awake that early, there’s a different kind of environment when it seems like you’re the only one awake out there.” They shrug with one shoulder, “And it’s usually pretty foggy that early in the morning and the fog is comforting, she reminds me that I’m safe in her arms.”
“See, I usually think the fog is menacing and scary.” Sirius attempts to joke.
“Oftentimes people do.” They nod, gazing gently at him with their distant, glossed over gaze, “I think it’s beautiful, especially when out further in nature and with other plants.”
“Can I ask you a question, James?” Remus hums from where he’s now moved to put the pancake he was making onto the plate with the other ones. James nods their acceptance while they move to the other pan Remus set out a couple seconds ago to pour the eggs they’ve been working on into the pan, grabbing a rubber spatula from the utensil cup nearby and starting to work on the eggs.
When Remus is back standing next to them, he hums, “You talk a lot about nature and homes speaking to you, can I ask what that means?”
James nods, “I’m a witch, specifically one that focuses on nature, so plants, water, fire, the world around me. I’ve spent years working with nature and Mother nature to get into contact with it, and it’s made it so the world around me, for lack of better words, ‘speaks to me’.” They shrug, and when they turn around to grab something, Sirius sees that their eyes are no longer as fogged up, “It’s hard to explain, because but it’s like things talk to my intuition when I’m around them, specifically nature or things I’m comfortable with.”
“Is that why you’re so forgetful?”
They nod, “Part of it. I have ADHD and that can make me forgetful already, but I oftentimes have a lot going on in my head. Things speaking to me, my own thoughts, stuff like that.” They shrug, “It also makes it hard for me to focus on people, which is why I’m usually doing things with my hands, I don’t mean to be rude.”
Sirius nods, and watches them for a while as they go back to cooking the eggs. Then what they said earlier registers, “Wait, did you say that you were a witch?”
James nods, turning to give Sirius a gentle smile before looking back at what they’re doing, “Yeah, I’m a pagan witch.”
“So you like make potions and do spells and stuff?” Sirius furrows his brows.
“It’s a common practice for pagan witches, yeah. I mean, we don’t have magic like in storybooks you know. I don’t really do spells or potions in conventional ways. I use a lot of my magic and symbolism and the like with my cooking and cleaning as ways to protect the house. My plants are part of that, my food is part of that. Otherwise, I don’t force Regulus to participate in anything because I’m sure you’re thinking it.”
“And he knows about it?”
“Of course he does,” they laugh softly, “I don’t really hide it.”
“And he doesn’t mind.”
“Not at all, why would he?”
Sirius shakes his head, “I’m not saying that he would, just asking.” James hums but doesn’t otherwise respond. The two working at breakfast finish up by the time that Regulus surfaces and James walks up to him, pulling him towards their body and pressing a sweet kiss to his forehead. Regulus smiles gently at them before planting his hand on their chin and pushing their face away from him. James grins brightly at the action and offers him a plate for him to serve up. Regulus does so, settling down with a mug of tea they hand him next, joining where Sirius is already sitting at the table. James and Remus serve themselves up afterwards and settle down at the table with them.
Breakfast feels much better for Sirius. James is still distant and saying odd things, but he thinks he understands them a bit better now and that makes it more tolerable. And Regulus and James are soft in the morning, which is an added bonus.
After breakfast, Sirius and James go to clean up -- Remus insists against them cleaning up again after they already made breakfast with him, but Regulus rolls his eyes and explains that they love cleaning up and always insist on it. Neither of them talk after they get into a comfortable rhythm and James bids the three of them goodbye after they disappear into Regulus’ room to change and get ready for the day, stating that they have to get to work. Regulus walks them to the door and pulls them down by their collar to press a kiss to their lips, then he shoves their face away when they give him a dopey grin, “Get the fuck outta my house, Potter.” So James winks at him, turns, and heads out of the house.
When Regulus comes back to the living room where Sirius has settled, he hums while scrolling on his phone, “What did you think of them?”
Sirius takes a minute to respond, “They’re… interesting. But they seem nice.”
Regulus nods, “Interesting is what catches my eye. They bring something fun to me.” And with that, he turns off his phone, slides it into his pocket as he stands up, and strolls out of the living room and into his own.