Briggan woke to find that Mastace had already gotten up and ready for the day. He continued to lay there, smiling for reasons unknown to him. In any case, it felt good to smile. He found it liberating, and he'd been doing it much more often now that Mastace and he had said their vows and moved out of the old Harou family residence and into a home of their own. He was happy.
After a while of stewing in his contemplations, Briggan followed Mastace and headed out of the bedroom.
"Dear, the curtains are open." Mastace called from the kitchen.
"Would you be so kind as to shut them for me?" Briggan asked, playfully picking at his husband's mild annoyance as he chuckled. Mastace sighed, and left the kitchen to close all the curtains in the living room and dining room. Briggan stepped out and pulled Mastace closer to his warm and undressed form. "Hey there, sweetie."
"How is there any earthly way that I put up with you? I don't understand." Mastace poked back in jest.
"I think I have an answer for you."
"Oh? And what is your theory, Mr. Commando?"
"You love me," Briggan replied.
Mastace said nothing a moment, studying Briggan's deep ocean eyes before speaking."That I do, pumpkin." he said, giving his beloved a quick peck before going back to the kitchen.
"What's that you're making?"
"Breakfast." Mastace said simply, as if he were a child that had only recently discovered sarcastic humor.
"Hardy har har. Seriously, what's for breakfast?"
"I'd thought I'd make you something special."
"Yeah, what's that?"
"You're just gonna have to wait until it's done and on the table. Now, go get a shower. And please, for the love of God, please put some clothes on. I wanna go out and do something with you in town today while I'm off."
"You go in tonight? Really?"
"Yeah, and I won't be home til real late. Picking up Kim's slack again."
"You gotta be fucking kidding. Does she ever show up and do her job?"
"Everyone at the plant asks the same thing every day."
"Why doesn't Jimmy just fire her? I'm sure there's plenty of other people that would love her position and get much more done without having to spread her load amongst everyone else in her department."
"Some discrimination legality bullshit. I don't really understand the nitty-gritty of it, but it all boils down to the fact that it might cause another series of riots like the ones over police brutality when everyone was going ape-shit back in 2020. You remember how bad that was."
"So, Human Resources has their hands tied, huh?"
"Afraid so."
Briggan stood in silence for several moments, letting it all sink in. "Alright, I'm going to get showered and dressed."
"Thank you, sweetheart." Mastace walked out of the kitchen again and gave Briggan a much deeper kiss, which Briggan fell into and held until they both were out of breath.
"Damn, hon. For someone who's almost forty years old, you sure know how to kiss like you're still seventeen." Briggan chuckled.
"Well, if you find what works..."