Tank groaned at the sarcasm-laden tone. “It’s not what I meant.”
Clover’s shoulders sagged. “I know. I didn’t mean to snap.”
Tank massaged his eyeballs. “It’s just… You’ve been through this too, and I hate to see you mother them when they don’t give anything back. They’re both adult men, for fuck’s sake.”
“I just worry Pyro isn’t in a state where he’s able to help himself. I’ve never seen him drink so much, and then he throws drugs into the mix… Who else will care for him? We’re all he has, even if he’s an ungrateful shit right now.”
Boar had always been the one to keep an eye on Pyro, and it must have been the only thing keeping him acting normal, because Tank had never seen Pyro this unhinged. Sure, he’d gotten drunk on occasion, and Tank had heard stories of times when Boar would lock Pyro in a room to make him quit drugs cold turkey, but he had not actually witnessed any of that shit until now.
He’d been furious after Pyro had set his home on fire, but as tragic as that had been, Tank blamed grief and shock. But instead of sobering up to keep a clear head, Pyro had descended into addictive substances right away, as if muting his sorrow was more important than finding Boar. In a moment of hungover self-reflection, Pyro had promised to pay Tank back for the house, but then had gone off to buy drugs, so that wouldn’t be happening any time soon. They were friends, but Tank’s patience for this kind of behavior was running thin, especially that Pyro’s actions affected them all, most of all poor Clover, who kept accepting all the shit Pyro threw his way.
It was disturbing to watch, and he had no answers. The least he could do was offer support and keep an eye on Pyro, to intervene if necessary.
“Here we go, Daddy. An omelette to start the day.” Clover smiled, hiding any trouble behind pretty blue eyes. Tank couldn’t even bring himself to pull on that thread, because he didn’t want to start the day by wrecking breakfast.
“Smells delicious,” Tank said, his gaze drawn to the pitcher of coffee Clover must have made earlier. Hoping caffeine could improve his mood, Tank poured himself a cup and smiled when Clover started cutting the food into bite-sized pieces instead of just handing Tank a knife and fork.
Maybe he didn’t have the right to police Clover’s attitude toward Pyro and Drake. Maybe taking care of them helped Clover feel normal. If that was the case, Tank needed to show him all the appreciation he craved, since he wasn’t getting any from those selfish pricks.
Clover slipped into Tank’s lap. Smelling so fresh, smiling at Tank in the sunshine, Clover was the one person who brightened Tank’s day. “I’m pretty sure I’ve perfected the recipe. See how fluffy it turned out.” Clover got a piece of omelette on the fork and brought it to Tank’s lips.
The cooked eggs melted in Tank’s mouth, exploding with flavors of bacon and the vegetables added to the dish. Perfectly seasoned too.
And as much as Tank appreciated Clover’s cooking, he hadn’t missed that the boy had only started doing more of it following Boar’s disappearance.
“Lovely. Thank you for doing this. You know you can count on me too, right? Whatever happens, we will stick together,” Tank said, rubbing Clover’s back before accepting another bite.
"Yes. One day you will cook for me, and the eggs will actually be salted.” Clover kissed Tank’s cheek with a grin. Of course. Clover had to mock the one time Tank had made him breakfast in bed and had tried to keep sodium to a minimum. Converting Clover to a healthier diet worked just fine, but the attempt to make him ditch salt? Complete failure. Oh well, nobody was perfect.
“I’ll consider it on your birthday,” Tank teased between one bite and another. He had not realized how hungry he was until there was food in his mouth, but it was the normalcy of sitting like this with Clover that fed his soul.
“What? No! Daddyyy!” Clover whined, more playful with each bite he fed Tank. “For my birthday, I want to eat candy all day and do under a thousand steps.”
Tank rolled his eyes. “We’d have to replace the steps with a different kind of exercise then,” he said, and squeezed Clover’s thigh.
“I could come up with a few ideas…” Clover bit his lip, making Tank melt.
Unlike Drake, Tank chose not to punish himself with a lack of pleasure, because that wouldn’t bring Boar back. If anything, keeping both his body and mind happy would benefit them all, once a new lead appeared.
“I bet. You always come up with the best ideas,” Tank said, washing down the omelette with coffee.
Clover leaned in to kiss Tank’s ear as his hand found its way to Tank’s dick. “I’m really hungry right now, Daddy.”