A Star for Baby (boyxboy)

Corona Borealis

"Baby, you haven't eaten today."

"Because I'd just puke it up if I tried."

"You have to eat something love. Even just a piece of plain toast."

"No."

"Baby."

"Fine, fine," Baby groaned. "I'll have a piece of toast, bossy idiot."

"Thank you," Oliver said. "Was that really that hard?"

"No," Baby grumbled. "But you're still annoying."

"Since day one, love."

Baby smiled at him, a true, genuine smile.

"Keep it that way," Baby said. "Now help me up, the couch sounds infinitely better than the bathroom floor right now."

So Oliver lifted Baby by his armpits and, despite numerous protests, princess carried him to the living room couch. He made sure Baby was tucked under blankets before making his way to the kitchen to pop a couple slices of bread in the toaster.

"Do you want butter or jam?"

"Just the toast Oliver."

"Just the toast? You mongrel."

"Everything tastes like ashes, babe. I wouldn't notice if there was jam on the bread or not," Baby said.

"So you're saying I could put jam on the toast."

"You are fucking unbelievable."

Oliver laughed, and put jam on the toast anyway.

They ate together on the couch, cuddled close. Baby had been rested his head on Oliver's shoulder until Oliver tucked him all the way into his side. Much better, in Oliver's opinion.

"We're late on the rent for this month," Baby whispered. "Dolores phoned yesterday."

"Shit," Oliver hissed. "I forgot. I put my whole paycheck towards Monday's copay."

"I'm sorry," Baby mumbled into Oliver's chest. "This was supposed to by my month. We had this huge gig planned out at the Keisher. It would have covered everything."

"Hey, don't you dare apologize," Oliver told him. "This isn't your fault."

"Grace and Red are so mad at me," Baby confessed. "I wish I could just play."

"Baby you can barely stand on your own. You can't host an outdoor concert."

Baby was silent for a beat too long, and that's when Oliver realized he'd started crying. The tears ran silently down his face, soaking Oliver's shirt. Shit, he'd fucked up. Shit, shit shit.

"Fuck Baby, I'm sorry," Oliver bit his lip.

"No you're right," Baby sniffed. "I can't play right now. I just... it hurts. I hate it."

"I can't even imagine how terrible this must be," Oliver said. "I'm so sorry Baby."

"It's okay Oliver," Baby said. "I'll be okay."

"You will be, but that doesn't make this suck any less."

Baby didn't respond, probably because he knew Oliver was right. He cuddled closer, and Oliver pulled him halfway onto his lap. They stayed silent like that for a while, words heavy and unspoken between them. Oliver clicked on the small TV and turned the volume nearly all the way down, just so that there was some noise rolling in the background. He was just starting to think that Baby had dozed off when he softly spoke.