Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Hey, Barold, have you got the bat broom?”

“They’re back?” Barry stands, trying not to groan as he levers himself up from his usual pre-opening leaning spot at the well worn counter. Not that Lup would tease him, well, much, but he’s always been self conscious about how creaky he feels next to her. Maybe he needs to get her to make good on the pilates threats.

“Who says they ever left?”

Barry groans. “Do you want to do it, or should I?”

“I’ll do it, I know you hate bothering them.”

“They’re not hurting anyone! They just, uh, you know, hang out, mind their business.”

“Causing the customers to come and complain to me about it…” Lup raises her eyebrows expectantly.

Barry hands over the broom with the small black plastic wings taped just above the brush part. He can empathise.

“Tell them I’m…”

“...Sorry, natch, cha’girl wouldn’t dream of forgetting Barold. The bats won't get you in the uprising.”

“If you apologise for yourself they might let you live too!” Barry shouts as she leaves.

Lup salutes him in the doorway, her laughter drifting back to him on the summer breeze. He's thankful for it, laugh and breeze, amusing Lup always feels like an achievement, and the air has been stale in the shop the last few days.

He really does hope the bats let her live. Things have been so much better since the summer staff returned.

–

“They took it pretty well.” Lup knocks the latch free and flips up the flap of the counter top with the handle of the broom. It’s painfully cool. Barry just knows in his bones that he’d get splinters trying. “I think I even heard one click out “we don’t blame Barry for this even a little bit” as it left.”

Barry shakes his head but can’t help grinning. “That’s uh, reassuring. Anyway, are you all ready? It’s 10, so I’d better open the gates.” Barry slips out from behind the counter, but waits on Lup’s answer. He can delay if the team needs a few more minutes.

“We’re good to go, Magnus is with the sandpit, cha’girl’s on stories and objects with Taako back up, and he and Ren are in the Cafe.”

“Great, Merle’s in the greenhouse, I bumped into him earlier.”

–

“Welcome one and all to Neverwinter Castle….” Barry taps the button that opens the gate and plays the creaking sound effect (there was no way it actually creaked, his regular maintenance schedule made sure of that) and taps the microphone button again. “... where we bring the past to you.”

No matter how many times he says it, there’s still a small bubble of pride. When he saw the announcement that they were selling off the site there was no way he could let it pass him by. He’d spent so many summers working here and seen so many opportunities, it had been his chance. Sure, John hadn’t been able to make it work, but that was because all he wanted out of it was profit. He’d told Barry early on that it was silly to pour any of himself into the job, that it was inevitable that eventually the money would dry up, people would stop coming, and capitalism would grind on. Barry nodded, ignored him, and resented him as the other staff dimmed throughout each summer, light sucked out of them by the time they left. Well, until the twins came. Things got better when the twins came.

Barry presses the button to open the portcullis at the front of the castle when he sees the first guests approaching on the monitor, sticking to the flagstone path, thankfully. Magnus’ sturdy fencing had really helped, Barry scribbles down a quick note to thank him again. “By visiting us today you’re helping us preserve the past and educate our future. Thank you, you’re making a difference.”

Barry moves back from the microphone and leaves his office. It’s up to them now. He’d learned from experience that the intro talk wouldn’t work if it was too long. On his first test run the speech had been full of puns, references, and fun facts. He’d heard Lup yelling ‘neeeerrrrd’ through the open window. This new version suited people better, they could pick up maps and check out the information boards and stands inside.

Barry was on shop duty this morning, so he cleaned the counter one more time, partly plated up the testers (no sense in letting them go stale, the first visitors would take a while to get round here), and grabbed the toy guillotine and a carrot from the fridge. He may as well make the entertainment display a way of preparing the crudites to test the harissa dip. It wasn’t period authentic, but it was delicious, locally made, and sold well which is all he could really ask for.

The shop was based in an outbuilding, off the gardens at the rear of the castle. The window gave him a great view of the cherry trees, undulating topiaries (he didn’t ask about the shape and hoped Merle wouldn’t tell him), and his favourite of all, Lup’s shows. She won't be gearing up for another hour yet, but he’s already looking forward to it. She definitely had the strigil and the tersorium for the artefact guessing game today and the reactions of delight and horror at the gross-ness were always fun to hear.

–

“...and what do you think this was for?” Lup held up the curved piece of metal, it dangled casually from her hand.

“It’s a primitive pickaxe, probably Neverwintian in origin, I’d date it to...”

Barry rolled his eyes and tuned the man out. He hated it when they got parents like this - the know it alls who thought it was important to be loudly correct in front of the children at the activity for under 15s. The regularity of their wrong-ness did not escape him.

“That’s not correct, Sir, and that’s not how pickaxes are shaped.”

Barry waits to see if Lup will stop Angus, he’s one of their frequent fliers, his Grandfather bought the summer pass each year and Angus certainly got his money’s worth. Barry is pleased when she doesn’t quiet him.

Angus continues, emboldened by Lup’s lack of action. “In fact, Sir, you didn’t actually have to answer, because this is an activity for young children like myself, but I’m not going to answer because I know what it is, I’ve been here before.”

“Thank you Angus, it’s good of you not to spoil it for our fantastic guessers.” Lup doesn’t even bother to try and comfort whoever it was that fell foul of Angus. They’ll survive the ego bruising no doubt, hopefully it’ll make them think a bit more in future. “So, what do you think everybody?”

A few guesses are shouted out. They’re incorrect, but at least they’re from children.

“That’s a really good thought, but it’s not quite right. How about I do a demonstration? I start here, and pull.”

“It helps you put your jumper on!” An excitable child yells.

“Ooooh, that’s a guess I haven’t heard before!” Lup manages to sound delighted about this fact. “And it might a little bit, we’ll see what you think once we find out, but this is a strigil. Will you all say it with me?”

The children say the word.

“What was that? I couldn’t hear you.”

Barry rolls his eyes as the yelling resonates around the shop. He swears she does it because she knows how bad the echo is.

“That’s it! You’ve got it. This was what people from all over Faerun used to take a sort-of-bath. To use it they’d apply oil, and then use this to scrape off the dirt and sweat.”

“Ew, gross!” mixes with “Cool!”

Barry stands up a bit straighter as he hears the tell tale footsteps of guests approaching on the path. He tries to put on his best customer service face even though he could use a quieter day today, he has plans to make.

–

“Davenport! Nice to see you.” Barry smiles as he enters the shop.

“I was hoping I’d run into you!” Davenport smiles brightly back. “It’s good to be back! I always love what Merle does with the gardens.”

Barry had initially been terrified of the short, dapper man when he’d suggested they met to discuss Barry’s proposal that Starbright Tours included Neverwinter Castle on their rotation. It faded fast once he realised that Davenport was just as serious about quality educational content as him. Davenport’s enthusiasm for Barry’s well-researched proposal had gone a long way to endearing the man to him.

“No Kravitz today?” Barry asks, it’s always nice to run into the tour guide. Barry had offered Kravitz some initial materials when Davenport put them in touch, but the costuming, accents, and enthusiasm Kravitz brought to the tours were all his own. During the test tour he shadowed Barry had immediately understood why Davenport had hired Kravitz.

“Of course Kravitz is here today, I don’t suppose you can guess where he is.”

Barry laughed. “Cafe?”

“However did you know?” Davenport shakes his head and turns his attention to the selection of naval history books.

“I wonder when those two will get it together?” Barry asks absently.

“I could ask you the same question, Dr Bluejeans.” Davenport didn’t make eye contact, all of his attention focused on the book he’d plucked from the display.

It made it easy for Barry to ignore it. But he’d been ignoring it too long. This year things would be different. He’d promised himself that.

Neverwinter Castle: End of Season, 2024

“Hey, Bear.” Lup hopped up onto the counter, leaning her elbow on the ancient till and resting her head on her hand.

“Uh, yeah?”

She looked at Barry a little quizzically, doing some kind of calculation in her head, then grinned, seemingly settled on a course of action. “You know I’d say yes, right?”

“What?”

“If you asked me out. I’d say yes. Maybe you’ll do it next summer? Cha’girl’s looking forward to finding out.”

Barry’s brain had never been this quiet before. The thousands of thoughts flitting in every direction at all times dropped out of the metaphorical sky and gave him the silence they’d always promised meditation could bring. He hated it. “Uh… I… Er…”

“Like I said, next summer. I’ll send you postcards like usual.”

She does. He gets one at least every week, emails too. She doesn’t mention it again. He doesn’t either, he doesn’t know how to. Telling Lup he’s in love with her, that he’s been in love with her for longer than even he’s known, that he thinks she might be the point on which his world turns? That’s one of those moments that marks a change. Just like the day John accepted his offer for the castle. Just like the day he got the last phone call from his Mother. This was important, he knew that, and he owed it to himself and to Lup to make sure this was good, to make sure it was right.

But this was the summer, he was sure of it.

Chapter Text

“Hello everybody! I’m Lup, and today I’m here to ask: are you reaaaaddddyyyyyyyy?” Lup thinks back to the summer they ran the backyard wrestling ring and channels her very best announcer voice.

There’s a lukewarm response from most of the assembled kids.

“I’m not sure you mean it, I said, are you ready?”

Angus, sweet Angus, replies with a formal “Yes Dr Tacco.”

“Then it’s time…” Lup pauses dramatically, “...to bone heist!”

There’s confused mumbling from parents.

“I thought this was the archaeology demonstration?” Asks one tentatively.

“And what is archaeology, if not us trying to steal things from the earth without it getting angry about it?” Half the kids here don’t want to be here, and using the proper terminology and being dull about it isn’t going to make things any more thrilling for them.

There’s some amused smiles, some excited whispers from the kids.

“And today, we’re heisting bones!” Lup throws in some jazz hands, why not? It’s her first bone pit of the season, and being back here feels like being home. She’s allowed to celebrate.

Angus sticks his hand straight up in the air.

“Question from the audience, shoot Ango!” Lup points to him to make sure he knows he has the floor.

“Is archaeology stealing?”

Biiiiiiig question for 11am. “Well you’re certainly taking a thing from the place it was, so it is for the purposes of our sandpits today, but in life outside these castle walls it’s a different story. Sometimes people are discovering their own cultures, or finding people who were lost in conflict, and sometimes it’s probably stealing. I can send you over some papers about the ethics and we can discuss them another time?”

Angus looks delighted at the prospect of papers to read, she’s deeply fond of the little nerd. If Taako was here he’d remind her she’s the one with the papers to send which makes her a double nerd, he’s not, so she lives safe in the certainty of how awesome she is.

“Okay everybody, archaeologists assemble!” Lup waves her arm in a semi-circle near her feet and Angus practically sprints over - the perfect guiding light to bring the others in.

She notices a few parents hanging tentatively back but casting longing glances. “We have space for some grown up archaeologists today too.” She waves her arm again, hoping to lure a few of them in. Why not have a play? Why not have fun? Why else were they put upon Faerun? Two step forward.

“It’s really important that we observe proper safety processes when we do our dig today, so I’m going to need everyone to put on a heist hat…” Lup knocks cheerfully on her own, then indicates the boxes of hard hats varied in sizes that will hopefully fit everyone’s head. “... and a heist-vis.” She strikes a fabulous pose to show off hers to its full extent, then points at the boxes of hi-vis vests next to them. “Can you all get decked out in your workwear for me please? Then we’ll do our site induction.”

There’s a scramble as everyone finds suitable gear, Lup, parents, and guardians helping to slip overexcited arms into their corresponding holes and fit hats to heads.

“Thank you everyone, you’ve done a great job, and in record time to!” Every group gets ready in record time, they can’t prove it’s a lie if she doesn’t say exactly what the record is. “So now I need you to peg on your listening ears.” Lup pegs her ears on. “So that we can get hunting.”

She waits patiently while everyone else pegs theirs on too, it’s gratifying to see some of the shy adults joining in too.

“Now, the reason we’re here today is to try and solve an archaeological mystery.”

“Ooooooh!” Angus says in the audience. He’s been enough times that he knows Taako’s lines too. Maybe he’s planning to ask Barry for a job again this year, child labour laws are no match for the persistence of Angus McDonald.

Lup smiles gratefully at him. “Nearly 1,000 years ago, Neverwinter Castle was very different. This garden here? It didn’t actually exist like it does now. Can you see the back wall of the castle?” Lup points and waits for nodding. “Well the defensive wall was about half way between here and there, if you look really carefully when you’re walking that way, you’ll be able to see the difference in the stones on the ground.”

Angus nods along enthusiastically.

“But that means that this section of the garden used to be outside the walls. With the things you’ve seen as you’ve walked around the castle, what do you think that means will have happened on the ground we’re standing on now?”

“Markets!” Shouts one kid.

Lup nods “yep! Plenty of those, good one.”

“Protests!”

Lup nods again. “Absolutely! The final protest happened once the walls had been changed, but there were some earlier ones before that, the Sterlings certainly weren’t a popular family! Anything else?” She looks around the crowd, waiting for them to pop, sometimes they just needed a little extra time to put their ideas forward.

“Fights!”

“Yes, good one, and that’s what we’re looking at the aftermath of today. Legend has it that there was a big battle here 927 years ago, and we’re on the hunt to find out more. Archaeology gives you lots of puzzle pieces to help build up a picture of the past. We use the artefacts we find, things we know about history, and lots of other clues and techniques to find out more about what happened before we got here. We’ve set up some special sandpits today for you to dig in, and we’ll do that soon, but first I just have to remind you that the things we’ll be looking at are very delicate. That means it’s really important that we’re careful, we can’t just go in with a digger. Why do you think that is?”

“It might smash things.” Shouts a concerned looking girl.

“That’s right. It could smash things, or move things around, and it’s important for us to know where we found everything and what it was with. Archaeology is best when we have as much context as possible! So, before I hand out your tools, does anyone have any questions?”

There’s a round of head shaking, but Lup gives it a few beats, just to be safe. No hands are raised, so it’s time to plough on.

“Today you’re going to have every archaeologist’s best friend, a trowel.” Lup unclips the top of her leather holster and brandishes her beloved trowel for all to see. “And also a brush.” She swizzles hers like a wand. “Why do you think we use this combination of things?”

There’s a lot of cross talk, but they’re all on the right lines.

“Yep, that’s it, you’ve got it. We use the trowel to look through the ground, although we do dig the first bit with a shovel most of the time, we switch to trowels for control. If you use a scraping motion you can keep things really controlled and know what you’re doing and what came from where. Then we have our brush, that helps us see what we’re doing, and also shows us the tiny details.”

Lup grabs her plastic spoon from her pocket. “This is another one of my favourite archaeology tools, it’s not for eating my dinner while I’m on digs, but it’s great for doing really delicate work. Plastic is softer than my trowel, so I’m less likely to damage things with it.”

“Now, if you all follow me this way.” Lup guides them over to the sandpits. “I’m going to get you all to pick a spot around the sandpits, we’ll stand roughly evenly spaced. Do you see how the string marks out sections? Everyone is going to have their own.” This was the best way to stop one overzealous contributor taking over the exercise. “And you’re going to very carefully start to move the sand with your trowel. I want you to see if there’s anything left over from the big fight that happened here.”

There’s a general scramble as everyone tries to decide which spot is best.

“Okay, you can pick up your trowels and start digging carefully, I’ll be here if you need anything. Remember that my name is Lup and you can ask for me if you need help.”

She circulates as they dig, some much more carefully than others (which is exactly why they use the fake sandpits.)

“I’ve found a bone!” Shouts one of the kids, half excited, half disgusted.

Some of the others crowd round to look, some of them start digging faster.

“Wow! What kind of bone do you think it is?” Lup asks.

The kid looks at the bone and frowns. “A clavicle.”

Lup tries not to smile too much at the precise anatomical knowledge. “I think so too.” She nods encouragingly instead. “What do you think you should do now?”

The kid thinks, face scrunched up in concentration. “See if there’s more stuff?”

Lup nods solemnly. “See if there’s more stuff.”
Soon there’s more excitement, more discoveries, kids dusting away sand with brushes, and the revelation of not one, not two, but three skeletons, some of the bones spread into each section of the pit (miraculous, the way that happened.) Lup circulates, answers questions, helps with technique, guides them towards the spots where the ‘buried treasure’ (chocolate coins) are, and chats with the grown ups when the kids need some space to explore on their own.

By the end of the class the kids are smiling as their photographs are taken with the bones. They do look adorable in their safety gear.

“Hey Lup.” Says a voice behind her.

“Hello, can I help?” She turns to find one of the parents.

“I just wanted to say what a great job you did today. Lissa loved it.”

“Thanks, always fun to get to foster the archaeologists of tomorrow. It’s a numbers game, eventually one will get famous and thank me in all their speeches.”

He laughs. “I just had one more question, can I take you out to dinner some time?”

He’s handsome, he seems nice enough, they’d had a laugh when she was circulating the group, Lup would have given him a shot 5 years ago. “Cha’girl’s flattered and all, but I’m spoken for.” It’s barely a lie, she’s not spoken for necessarily, Barry hasn’t gotten round to using his words yet, but they both know where they stand.

“And it’s serious?” He asks, persistent enough that Lup’s glad she didn’t just say ‘no’, sometimes the boyfriend card is more effective at dissuading prospective suitors.

“Super serious.” Lup nods firmly, it’s not a lie, not really, not as far as she’s concerned anyway. Barry might have some thoughts on it. She hopes they’re all positive: thumbs up, quick nod, 10/10 would agree with you again let’s date.

“Can’t blame me for trying, he’s a lucky guy.” He nods, then goes to help Lissa out of their heist-vis. Lup doesn’t watch them leave.

She’s just finishing her final kit count when she hears rustling.

“Who’s your boyfriend?” Magnus shouts as he pushes his way out of a nearby bush. There’s more cracking of twigs than Merle would be happy to hear.

“Fuck.” Lup startles, then quickly looks around to make sure none of the kids were close enough to hear her swear. “Magnus, my dude, we’ve talked about this.” She wonders how long he’d been in there.

“You know what we haven’t talked about?” Magnus tilts his head her way and gives her big puppy dog eyes. “Your super serious boyfriend.”

Lup sighs, exasperated. She cannot deal with Magnus teasing right now. She wants to go and decompress for an hour before she has to start prepping for story time.

“Yeah, super duper serious.” She rolls her eyes at Magnus and turns to grab a box of hard hats to return to the shed. She sees Barry walking away, fast. He must be too busy to chat today.

–

Barry tries to stem the tide of the panic washing over him. This was fine. This was okay. This was going to be fine. Lup didn’t owe him anything. He’d waited too long and he only had himself to blame. He just needed to get back to the office and lock himself in and by the time he opened the door again everything would be fine.

Chapter Text

Barry locks the rickety door behind him, pauses half way to his little desk, and retraces his steps to grab a block of cheese from the small fridge. If he is going to have to have a crisis he can at least have the forbidden snack while he does it, No one was here to tell him not to. He closes the door again.

Shit…

No one was here.

Hand back on the handle, he cracks open the door and dives towards the shop front to flip the sign to ‘closed’, just in time to greet the first of the group from the coach load that Davenport had delivered today. Of course they’re here now, customers can always smell blood in the water.

“Uh… hi everyone… and er welcome to the Neverwinter Castle shop.” If he starts crying they’d probably leave, but they also won’t spend anything and as much as excessive profit wasn’t his goal, he did need to be able to pay everyone. Most of his employees were his friends at this point, and he was debating exactly how to legally employ Angus. “Good news! You’re just in time for the cheese tasting demonstration.” Fuck it, he was still going to have his danger snack, they could all tell their friends how great the castle was and not about how the guy in the shop sobbed incoherently at them and made them leave.

It doesn’t take him long to set up the tasting session, there’s always an emergency pack of the fancy crackers behind the counter desk, and the cheese axes always go down a treat. Setting up lets him demo them beautifully. He must reorder them actually, it sounds like he’ll be selling a few sets today judging by the approving murmurs when he shows them to the crowd. They’re Magnus and Julia’s, woodwork and metalwork combined into perfectly balanced, medieval style, cheese sized miniatures - the sets have photos of the items in the castle collection that they’re modelled on.

“This cheddar is my favourite, it’s made from a traditional recipe and aged in the caves under Goldcliff - they rappel down to access them.” Barry uses the Bearded Axe replica to chop off a chunk. He takes a satisfying bite and relishes the mineral crunch of the crystals, they just can’t recreate it in the dairy free stuff. “Would anyone like to try some?”

Several hands go up, and then he’s off. The cheese patter is easy, a well rehearsed dance, they all know why they’re here. He hands out samples, offers chutneys, chilli jam, shows off the variety of local produce they carry, and wouldn’t it be nice to pair some of the drinks they stock too? He’s happy to make some recommendations, in fact, one of his favourites is on sale. He doesn’t mention that everything here is one of his favourites, that’s the criteria for making it onto the stock rotation.

The shop fills up as more of the tourists arrive, they all seem to be in the market for gifts to bring back home and Barry’s grateful for the business, circulating and offering advice when asked.

“Do you have anything for children?”

“Of course we do.” Barry takes them over to the children’s corner. It’s a combination of science sets, fossils, Gory Stories series, and anything else he thought would be relevant and of interest to the young people who come through. He always hated how general museum shops could be - they could get a bouncy ball anywhere, there had to be a reason it was related to the castle if it was being sold here.

The exhilaration from the rush carries him right along the crest of it, no time to dwell, he has to wrangle the old till and hope that today isn’t the day the drawer decides it’s never coming out again. He really should replace it, but it has been here longer than he has. Plus, Lup named it Bert and… and Lup isn’t something he can think about right now. Barry compartmentalises like a pro, shoves the feelings down, and taps the final set of cheese axes on their satisfyingly clacky till button.

“My son’s going to love these!”

“I’m sure he will.” Barry says automatically as he wraps their presentation box and slots them into a branded bag. He cannot wait to slam the door behind him. He’s closing up as soon as they leave, no more castle today everyone, don’t you have homes to get to? 2pm is almost 5pm if you squint and Barry’s metaphorical eyes are narrowed.

Barry hands over the package and tries not to chase her to the door.

“Thank you for coming to Neverwinter Castle.” He lets the smile drop from his lips as soon as she turns her back, flips the sign to closed, twists the lock, hits the lights, and breathes a sigh of relief. No more people.

Maybe he doesn’t even need to go to the office, maybe he can just flop here on the floor and let the carpet eat him…

The tap at the door startles him out of his internal debate.

“Sorry, we’re closed.” Barry says automatically.

“Closed? Closed! even for Taako? Taako from TV? Your smash hit break out star? Cafe genius? Friend to specific horses”

“Uh, bud, I think you’re underselling how many horses you’re enemy to.”

Taako makes a disgruntled noise and precisely no effort to correct Barry.

“Is everything okay with the cafe?” Barry asks, he’s not sure he has it in him to deal with anything else right now, but for Taako he’ll try.

“Natch, post lunchtime slowdown, but Lup sent me to check on you. She said it looked like a shambling hoard of tourists were hungry for locally grown cheese and heading this way.”

Of course. Lup. Inescapably wonderful Lup wanted to make sure he was okay.

“So, cha’boy’s guessing they’ve left, unless this is some kind of hostage situation?”

“They’ve gone. You know Davenport wouldn’t let me get away with that.” Barry’s fairly sure that man would drive the coach through the castle walls if he needed to. No one gets left behind on one of Davenport’s tours.

“So you’re good?” Taako’s using his ‘pretending not to be concerned but clearly concerned’ voice.

“Uh huh.” Barry replies convincingly.

“That’s a big no then… Wanna talk about it?”

Barry pauses.

“Ah, so you do, but you don’t want to say it?”

Taako knows him too well. But how is Barry supposed to talk to him about this?

“Uh huh, I see, so it’s about Lup then?”

Barry agonises over what to say. He could be honest, Taako always has space for honesty, and he’ll tell Barry straight that it’s his own fault for waiting. Barry knows that though, and he’s not entirely sure he’s willing to hear that out of someone else’s mouth right now.

“I thought you talked last year though? Lup seemed to think your metaphorical ducks were in a row. Does cha’boy need to give you the self-confidence lecture again? Taako doesn’t need line of sight for an impassioned speech, it’ll work through the wall.”

Barry laughs, Taako always knows how to make him laugh… He just needs some time to sort through his feelings and then maybe, probably… maybe he’ll be brave enough to try and work out how to vocalise what he’s feeling.

“Not ready yet, huh? Well, you know where Taako is when you need him. Sayonara, Bluejeans.”

Barry waits longer than he should to turn and finally, finally, lock his office door and slump down at his desk. He’s allowed 15 minutes of wallowing before he has to start looking at the events calendar.

Chapter Text

Lup has barely seen Barry for the last week and she hates it. He's been ensconced in the shop, ostensibly planning for the joust, but there's definitely something else going on. All of his texts have been perfectly polite, just like they used to be before she cracked his shell and the good-good Barry nonsense started flowing out. They haven't hung out at work or afterwards. She should be over at his right now, not at home. It's weird and she hates it.

She has tried to ask about what’s going on, tried to invite him to do things, but even when she dangled a discussion about a research paper on living history attractions he didn't bite, just said he didn't want to take up too much of her time. She wanted him to take up more of her time if anything.

“I broke Barold.” Lup nudges Taako's shin with her foot. “Do you know what's going on with him?”

Taako squinches his face in a ‘yes but I'm not telling you way.’

“Don't pull attorney client privilege, we've got twin immunity!”

“Twin immunity isn't real, the Burnsides case deemed it and we can't undo a Highchurch ruling. Plus, cha’boy has no idea what's going on in Barold’s head. He's all up in the joust business and can't be shaken out of it. All we've talked about is the catering.”

Lup tips her head back in frustration. “I don't know what went wrong.”

“Have you considered that maybe you could have just asked him out yourself and ended the years long volley of emotions tennis that you've forced us all to watch?” Taako gives her a look which dares her to tell him he's wrong.

“Tennis doesn't work.” Lup says, because she's not going to address anything else before he fixes his metaphors.

“Doesn't Taako know it? It's a game in a game in a game and they need to decide on which one they're playing instead of torturing us all with never ending pla-thunks.”

And he's off. But at least The Tennis Rant(™) will distract him from prodding her about her always impeccable life choices. It wasn't that she didn't want to ask Barry out, it wasn't anything to do with patriarchal nonsense about roles and stereotypes, she just didn't want to pressure him into anything he didn't want and wasn't ready for. If it came from him she'd know he was happy and ready and willing. That's all. It was a good decision, the right decision. Telling him before the winter season meant he had time to reflect. She just didn't consider that his reflection might lead to, well, this.

She wanted to respect Barry, she did. But she couldn't deal with not knowing why things had shifted so dramatically and maybe he was just stressed about the joust.

–

Two more days without Barry and she knew she had to do something.

–

“Hey Bear, I brought coffee sustenance.” She brandishes the slightly grease stained bag from the run down roadside hut that makes the best bacon bap she's ever had.

Barry's face peeks past his office door. He scrumples his brow like he's running calculations.

“I got you proper butter.” She shakes the bag slightly, hoping the delicious smell combined with the lure of dairy might waft his way and pry him out or get her past the office door.

“Uh…” he pauses.

Lup inches slightly closer, careful not to spook him. It’s reminiscent of the old days. When she and Taako first rocked up Barry had been skittish, wary of their friendly teasing, scared because they were loud and unapologetic (because they’d spent too much of their lives trying to hide who they were.) It hadn’t lasted long before she cracked him and he was joking with the rest of them. She hates the feeling of being back at square one.

He doesn’t shut the door, which she takes as a win and an invitation.

“Thought you might need these to fuel you up for another day of joust prep.” Lup offers a coffee.

Barry’s smile changes from polite to fond as he takes the cup from her. “Thanks Lup.”

“So, tell cha’girl what’s going on? How are the ticket sales? Have Magnus and Julia been practicing? I’ve seen them round a lot lately.”

Barry snorts. “He keeps insisting they can practice without the horses…”

“...Please tell me you have…” Lup interrupts.

“Yes, I have video. I’ll send them right now.”

Lup flops down into the spare chair and kicks her feet up onto the footstool, grabbing her phone in anticipation. “Thanks Bear.”

“This is incredible.” She rewinds to watch Magnus stumble over his sabaton again… and a third time. She’s going to loop this for Taako.

“He did suggest hobby horses to get the authentic feel.” Barry deadpans, but Lup sees the smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

Barry takes a swig from the coffee and holds out the bag to her, letting her take first pick of the sandwiches, always thoughtful, always kind.

Lup takes hers, and waits until Barry has his in hand so she can toast him with it. “To bread.”

“To bacon.” Barry adds.

“To the delicious things we’re tastin’.” They say in unison.

“So how’s Marlena? Did the rhubarb trick work?” It had looked to be flourishing last time he video called from his Mum’s house. Lup always loves the seasonal garden tours she gets from them.

“Yep, she got a bumper crop. It was a pain to have to leave it, but it definitely paid off. In fact, I’ve got some in the freezer, we could, uh, try and recreate that cake you made? I mean… er. Nevermind.” Barry looks panicked, he’s flushed red, it’s not adorable like it used to be, she’s just worried.

“What’s going on, Bear?” It’s out before she can think properly, but fuck it, she needs to be direct, he’ll keep dodging her otherwise. “I make a baller rhubarb cake and you know it, I’ve been to your house before loads, I basically live there part time. What’s going on?”

“I… uh… I should get back to…”

“Barold Jorts Bluejeans!”

“That’s not my…” Barry protests.

“What’s going on?” She asks again, hopes he’ll answer her. If he doesn’t this time she’ll leave it, it’s not fair to push too hard. She settles back in her chair, takes a swig of coffee, gives him time to formulate his thoughts.

“I… thought…” Barry pauses. Glances at her nervously. She smiles, lopsided and encouraging. “... I thought you might want to spend less time with me because you’d be busy with your, er, boyfriend.”

Lup is glad she’d swallowed the mouthful of coffee already. “My fucking what now?”

“Your boyfriend.” He repeats more confident. “I, uh, I heard you and Magnus talking, and I understand, I’m sorry for pulling away, I just need to uh…”

“Barry, what the fuck?”

“What?” He looks so perplexed. Idiot.

“You’re a researcher, you’re an academic. You, Dr Bluejeans, have two PhDs.”

Barry has the audacity to look confused by her incredibly logical line of reasoning.

“How many data points do you have for your conclusion?” Lup stands up, she’s prepared to go and grab the whiteboard to illustrate this point if she needs to.

Barry’s eyes widen in alarm. “I…”

“What’s the quality of the evidence?” She’s off now, pacing, she’s unstoppable, he will analyse the data points or else.

“Lup…”

“And how about the weighting of the sources?” In fact, she’s not going to write on the whiteboard, he can do it.

Lup hands him the pen.

“Draw me an evidence table.”

Barry takes the pen automatically. She’d feel bad if she didn’t think that he needed this. A physical representation of his wrongness wouldn’t hurt. Because if Lup had a boyfriend it was Barry Bluejeans, he’d been that for at least two years, longer as far as Taako was concerned. It was about time he realised it.

“So your hypothesis is that I have a boyfriend, correct?”

Barry nods, not quite making eye contact. “I, look, I didn’t mean to upset you, I didn’t think… I should have… it’s my fault.”

“Barry, show me what you know.” Lup doesn’t even begin to examine what he’s just said. They can figure that out later.

“Uh… Okay… I heard you talking to Magnus.” Barry scribbles on the board. “And you said you had a serious boyfriend.” He scribbles more and turns round.

“Uh huh. And that context of that conversation was?” Lup waits for an answer.

“Er…” Barry hesitates. “I don’t know.”

“Cool. Cool cool cool. So, weak data point?”

Barry nods.

“And just for the sake of thinking about it… who’s the most likely candidate to be the person I was in the relationship with?”

“Uh…”

“If you asked… say… your Mum who she thought I was dating? What would she say?”

“Mum doesn’t count.”

“Sure, sure. How about Paloma at the coffee shop?”

“Well…”

“How about Taako?”

“Taako’s biased.”

“Why?”

“Because he knows how I feel.”

“And so do I, and you know how I feel right back.”

Barry hesitates. “But you said…”

“Magnus was teasing me. A guy asked me out, I said I was in a serious relationship because as far as I’m concerned, I am.”

“With…?” Barry asks, quietly.

“What does the evidence say, Bear?”

He glances at the board one more time, looks back again. Takes a deep breath. “Me?” He says softly, a question more than anything.

“Who?” Lup says, because she wants him to know it, wants him to mean it.

“Me.” Barry says more firmly.

“I think maybe it’s time we stopped dancing around that fact.” Lup can’t see the point in delaying this any more, not if it left room for anything like this to get in the way.

“You’re sure?” Barry’s voice is lower than usual.

“You’re not?” Lup throws back, because she’s going down swinging today apparently. She figures she’s allowed to be at least a little bit peeved about this. It robbed her of Barry time and that’s precious enough as it is.

“I have never been more sure of anything in my life.” Barry says without even the slightest hesitation.

“Well then.” Lup shrugs.

“Well then.” Barry mirrors right back.

There’s a moment, a long, fragile moment, when she’s not entirely sure what to do. It’s too much pressure, years of it… they don’t have to handle all of it now.

“Shall we look at the joust spreadsheet? Taako’s been telling me about the pies.”

Barry lets the confused look wash over his face quickly and replaces it with a fond smile of understanding. “Yeah, that’d be nice.”

Lup scooches her chair closer to his as he wakes the computer up, leans her head on his shoulder to watch him talk through the plans, feels at home as he wraps his arm around her shoulders and pulls her closer.

Chapter Text

“I’m sorry.” Barry says again. It’s compulsive, but he is sorry, he means it every time.

Lup prods him in the arm. “Stop stalling.” She borrowed his tshirt as soon as they arrived. Not that he thinks of it as his any more, he can’t remember the last time he wore it.

“I’m not stalling, I’m trying to apologi…”

Lup makes a loud static-y noise to drown him out. “C’mon! It’s documentary night and you cancelled on me last week so you owe me.” She grabs their steaming coffee mugs and heads towards the lounge, shuffling slightly in the slippers she keeps here.

Barry does absolutely owe her. “Okay, uh, yeah, I’ll just grab the snacks.” He supposes at some point he has to stop being sorry and be better instead, so it may as well be now. He can yell at the screen instead of himself for being an idiot. There’s no point in missing out on any more Lup time than he already has.

“It’s starting!” Lup shouts, he can see her curled up on the sofa. He loves how at home she looks here. It felt emptier without her the last few weeks, at least when she was gone for winter they called and messaged enough that it still felt like she was nearby.

Barry grabs the various bags from his snack cupboard, making sure to prioritise Lup’s favourites tonight.

“There’s aliens in Peru!” Lup shouts. “They have definitive proof!”

Barry rushes back to the sofa as fast as possible. “No.”

Lup points at the TV as the voiceover begins. “Tonight evidence from a dig site confirm definitively that there are aliens among us.”

Barry groans as he lays out the snacks. “I don’t know why I agree to do this.”

“You love it.” Lup nudges him gently with her foot.

“I do.” Barry says. She doesn’t need to know he means time with her, not the show.

“C’mon then.” She pats the seat next to her.

Barry folds into his usual spot and lets his head fall onto Lup’s shoulder as she wraps her arm round him.

He’s going to figure out how to ask her properly soon. He has to. He promised himself this was the year… but right now he had a TV show to yell at.

“It’s been 20 minutes and they haven’t shown us anything.”

“What about that pyramid? That was sure indicative of… something.” Lup says. He doesn’t have to look away from the horrible hack job on the TV to know she’s smirking, her tone alone enough to indicate that she knows exactly what he’s about to say.

He says it anyway, just so she laughs. “It wasn’t even in Peru, they’re not even lying well. They could literally have just filmed in Caral.”

“Babe, there was no way they were signing enough paperwork to do that.” He feels Lup shake with a laugh under him.

“I er, can’t argue with that. I bet none of them have even picked up a shovel.”

Lup points at the TV which rudely cuts to a scene of one of them, shovel in hand, doing precisely no archaeology with it. “Ooh, what did you bet? Because cha’girl just won whatever it was.”

Barry shook his head. “Nuh huh, no way. You know the Highchurch ruling on bets without both sides being clear in advance.”

Lup rolls her eyes hard. “Fine.”

Barry grins up at her, at first he’d worried when they’d started sitting like this, he wasn’t exactly a small man, he’d worried about leaning too heavily on her, but being this close to her? Wrapped in her scent, the citrus and smoke of her? It was too good to not believe her when she said she was fine.

Lup catches his eye and grins back. Barry savours it, he loves her smile, but there’s so much to love about Lup. Her intelligence, her kindness and tenacity, her tooth gap, freckles, wild hair. She’s gorgeous inside, outside, every which way. He feels Lup’s breath against his cheek and realises they’re closer together than he thought. On instinct, he glances at Lup’s lips, inadvertent, unavoidable. He’d like to kiss her again, it’s been too long since last time, friends can kiss each other, but he’d like to be more than friends, he’d like to kiss her now.

The TV plays a loud sting and they both jerk their heads back round as one to see the skeleton of the ‘alien.’

“That’s just hydrocephalus!” Barry sits up to yell at the screen better.

“Fuck me.” Lup mutters. “I thought they’d try harder than that. They’re really phoning it in and this is just… gross?”

“Urgh.” Barry reaches for the remote.

Lup’s ahead of him and clicks the TV off. “I don’t think I can handle any more of that. I was expecting a chunk of ‘not of this earth’ spaceship metal or something.” She throws up some air quotes “these materials aren’t recognised by any human scientist.”

Barry laughs gratefully. “Thanks. You can just tell they weren’t being respectful with the bones. Though I’m really going to have to step up my game next week to find a better one. Haunted Dig Sites of Faerun: this time it’s personal.”

“I mean… I’d watch it.” Lup shrugs.

“I’m sure I can get it funded and filmed in time. Plus, they’re clearly struggling to fill the slot if they aired this.” Barry reaches for his mug and drains the last of his coffee.

He eyes his clock in the process, Lup will have to leave now if she wants to catch the bus home… he hopes she doesn’t.

Lup tracks his line of vision and raises her eyebrows. “Don’t suppose you’ve got room for a guest tonight?” She asks.

There’s always room for Lup.

–

Barry wakes up tangled in Lup, it’s his favourite way to start the day. It’s been a long time since they gave up the pretence of one of them taking the sofa, it just makes sense that they both get to be comfortable. She’s sprawled across him, face buried in his chest, but, as much as he’d love to, there’s no time to luxuriate in it, they have to get to work.

He nudges her gently, is gratified when she worms closer, nuzzling her face against him.

“Hey, Lup.” He rubs her shoulder. “We’ve got to head to work soon.”

“Mrugh.” She replies.

“Mmhm, murgh indeed.” Barry nods sagely.

It’s enough to get her to crack open an unimpressed eye to glare at him.

“Rude.”

“Hey now, you said it, not me.”

Lup laughs softly, then flips herself up out of bed. He appreciates the ease of it, the lack of awkwardness, the lack of embarrassment. When she first started staying over the mornings had always been tricky to navigate, probably because he was a blushing mess more than anything. Lup had definitely been good for his confidence.

“C’mon Bluejeans, we’re going to be late!” She reaches out a hand to help him up too.

“Hey, I was the one that woke you up!”

“Sure, sure.” Lup says, smiling.

Barry laughs as he grabs his clothes.

The morning routine is well practiced. It’s Lup’s turn to shower first while Barry preps the coffee machine. She’ll brew up and decant into their travel mugs while he gets ready. He absentmindedly grabs one of the bananas he keeps on hand for her too.

–

Once everyone has arrived, grabbed their drinks, the consolation snacks to apologise for the early morning, and settled into their chairs Barry stands.

“Uh, thank you all for coming to JoustFest planning, I know we’re a bit earlier than usual, so I, er, well, I appreciate you all.” Barry plonks himself back into his chair as fast as humanly possible.

“Julia, can you give us an update on where you’re up to?” Barry turns to Julia, she and Magnus are wearing matching wild rags today, which probably means they’ve been outside even more than usual. He’s going to take that as a good sign, although he hopes the prep hasn’t been too overwhelming.

“Jupdate.” Taako interrupts quickly.

Barry sighs for the performance of resistance, Taako will enjoy his win more that way. “Sorry Julia, can I have the jupdate?”

She nods. “Absolutely, armour repairs sorted, lances balanced, and we have a full compliment of riders. Everyone’s looking forward to it, including me.”

“I still really think it’s my year.” Magnus says.

“Uh huh.” Julia doesn’t look concerned about losing her four year winning streak.

“Thank you both. Is there anything you need from us?” Barry asks. He knows they’re old hat at this now, they certainly know what they’re doing, but he doesn’t want them to feel abandoned to the task.

Julia ponders a moment, runs a thoughtful hand though her freshly buzzed hair, and replies. “Mostly just cheering. Oh, but Taako, if you could save us some of the pies?”

“Natch.” Taako waves a hand dismissively. “They’ll go fast, but Taako’ll keep some by for you.”

They both smile gratefully.

“How’re sales going?” Lup asks, turning to Barry.

“Well, we’re at, uh…” He double checks his notes. “...93% capacity and we’re still a few weeks out.” Barry is proud, word of mouth carried them a long way from the build up over the last few events, but the team plan for advertising had definitely boosted sales.

“Want me to do a push on the socials?” Ren asks. “I have that video of Magnus tri…”

“Nope.” Magnus vetoes.

“Fine. Maybe we could get another one of practice. I can do some slow motion stuff, get you taking off your helmet and shaking out your hair, Magnus. Maybe Julia doing some smithing?” Ren suggests.

Barry makes some notes.

“Are you suggesting we thirst trap our sweet innocent Burnsides?” Lup asks.

Barry snorts as Taako mutters “grossarooni.”

“Advertising is about what the people like, and it’s what the people like.” Ren shrugs.

“What can we say? We appeal to the history perverts.” Julia flexes an impressive bicep.

“And, to be fair, history perverts are probably our target demographic.” Barry says, keeping his voice as even as possible.

Taako glares at him. “Don’t encourage them, Barold.”

“I’ve seen the post about the new scones.” Barry raises an eyebrow.

“Exactly, Taako knows we appreciate bakery perverts too.”

The meeting descends into chaos from there. Barry’s not sure he’d have it any other way.

Chapter Text

“You ready?” Lup joins Barry on the balcony. Her high breeches fall just below the knee, her shoes are suitably ridiculous, and her collar is wide enough that she isn’t convinced she can safely hug Barry for luck unless she approaches from a specific angle.

“I like your mantle.” Barry gives her outfit an approving once over. She’s pretty confident it’s the outfit anyway, the shape of her is barely visible in the hugeness of the layers, the massive ceremonial key, and the chains. Although it is Barry, so who could say.

“You don’t look bad yourself, my lord.” Lup gives a small bow befitting of her chamberlain-ly status.

“Thanks Lup.” He pulls at the neckline. “I hate this cloak, it’s so itchy. Taako threatened to fireball me if I wore my jeans, and I’m not sure that he would be able to, but I don’t want to run the risk of finding out.”

“Wise.” Lup nods. She appreciates how well Barry and Taako get on, the twins were a package deal and Barry had accepted extra postage costs years ago. There was no escape from them.

“So what’s the plot this year? The handsome lord running off with his favourite knight again?”

“No.” Barry says too quickly.

“Why not? It’s a classic for a reason.” Lup prods. Surely he hadn’t gotten sick of Julia carrying him off into the sunset.

“...And what if the lord of the castle was more concerned with his chamberlain?” Barry met her eyes, his smile twitches briefly, enough to reveal his nerves.

“Is it because I already have a key to your bedroom?” Lup asks, bouncing her eyebrows.

“No… Lup… Uh…” Barry groans. “I was trying to segue… er… You know, I’ve been trying to ask you… to ask right, but I think maybe, well. I need to, er, ask wrong.”

Oh shit, okay, it’s happening? It’s happening. Fucking finally! She works hard not to punch the air or do some kind of victorious raptor screech. One conversation, they both know where they stand, and it’d better be next to each other at some kind of alter.

“So… you just need to really shit the bed on it?” Lup asks, trying to keep her tone as casual as possible.

“Uh huh. Awful, terrible job, embarrassed to tell our friends about it levels.” Barry's smiling now, more confident, more comfortable.

“Hmm, well that sounds like it might require some forward planning.” Lup raises an eyebrow.

“Nope! Just something off the cuff. Something, like, would the chamberlin like to use his key to bring my bedchambers into disrepute?” Barry looks so pleased with himself that Lup can't help laughing.

“Yeah, okay, after this is over if either of us have any energy left I'll come and unlock all your doors, babe.”

“No wait, I can keep going. I'd like to appoint you as my favourite.” Barry awkwardly shoots some finger guns her way. It should look out of place in his lordly garb, but he looks so cheerful that she couldn't find it in her to think it was anything other than perfect.

Lup's composure breaks and she barks out a laugh. “Barold, is this you declaring your intention to acknowledge that we're dating?”

“Yep. I'd love to gild your key.” He grins happily.

“Atrocious. Are they all themed around our roles today?” Lup hates how much she is going to relish telling this story.

Barry considers the question for a moment. “I… uh… I have some worse ones. They're not themed.”

“Go on.” Lup has no idea what to expect at this point. She loves it.

“I… uh… wait.” Barry shuffles backwards. He's already grimacing, this has to be bad. Barry crooks a finger at her and waits expectantly.

Lup raises an eyebrow, but steps forward nonetheless.

“I…” Barry wheezes out an uncomfortable laugh. “I made you come with one finger, just think about what I could do with all five.” He grimaces his way through the end of the line, then laughs, no doubt surprised and delighted with the ridiculousness.

He’s not the only one, Lup's gone too. She’s laughing so hard she knows her eyes are streaming and there’s nothing she can do to stop it right now. She slumps into Barry, laughing too much to hold herself up. He catches her, just like she knew he would.

“I think that's… the worst thing I've… ever said.” Barry chokes out between laughs. He sounds positively delighted. “But I said it to the best person.”

“Yeah?” Lup pulls herself together enough to look up and see Barry smiling down.

“My favourite person. The person I’d like to spend the rest of my life with, I think.” Barry reaches out a tentative hand, giving her plenty of time to move away if she wants to. She stays put and lets him cup her face, presses her cheek into his palm, and hopes.

“I love you Lup. Not friendswise, well, not just friendswise.” Barry looks less stressed than he has in months, it’s frankly miraculous - the joy of ticking off the joust and a love confession in one day, she supposes. It’s clearly good for him. “I wanted to ask you to be my girlfriend, but that doesn’t feel right, it’s uh, well, it’s more than that.”

“I guess we’d just best skip to wife then? Lik ” Lup shrugs casually.

Then Barry’s laughing and leaning forward to kiss her, but she’s surging up to meet him because she’s waited too long not to. They’d kissed before, sure, but not as anything more than friends. But now? Drs Bluejeans-Tacco.

“I think my Mum would be angry if we suddenly got married without her, especially if we roped Davenport in to do it and you were still dressed like that.”

“Taako might possibly have some thoughts. Just a few. Nothing dramatic. Also, what exactly is wrong with cha’girl’s outfit, she’s absolutely rocking the weird shoes.”

“We could be engaged to be engaged?” Barry suggests.

“Need to go ring shopping?”

“Well, do you just have one around ‘in case of emergency?” Barry looks intrigued by the prospect she might.

“What kind of emergenc…?” Lup begins to ask.

Barry points at them. “This one, mostly.”

“Oh, did you think this was a possibility?” Lup asks.

“Uh… fair point. Did it work though?”

“I do.” Lup says. It doesn’t track, but Barry will get it. Hopefully that means they can kiss again.

“I double do.” Barry grins again, and Lup has no idea what his face does next because she’s too busy kissing him.

–

“So you think you’re half engaged?” Taako asked.

“Yep.”

“But you didn’t actually discuss that bit too much because you had…” Taako pulls a face as he throws up some air quotes “...other business to attend to.”

“Yep.”

“Gross.” Taako tries his best to pull a face, but she can see the pride shining through.

“Thank you.”

Chapter Text

They always close the day after the joust and Barry doesn’t know if he’s ever been more pleased about that fact. He doesn’t want to have to do anything else today but revel in the fact he and Lup are now… well. They’ll figure that out. But they’re something different than yesterday and that’s a win as far as he’s concerned.

He looks down at Lup, sprawled in her usual spot across him, and smiles. He doesn’t have to move, and he doesn’t have to feel guilty about not wanting to. He strokes a hand across her back instead, careful to avoid waking her. He just wants to soak in it a little, marinade in their relationship, the same and different all at once.

Barry feels his eyelids growing heavy and must drift back off to sleep, safe, warm, and with nothing immediate to worry about (he could probably find something if he tried…). When he opens his eyes again his clock has moved on an hour. He should probably detangle himself and go and make their coffee.

The normal coffee doesn’t seem like it’s really enough today. Barry sets the machine running and slips on his beaten up back door shoes. Lup deserves something special. He grabs the secateurs from the shed, unlatching the door carefully as not to bother Spider Jim.

“Bear?” Lup asks blearily as he returns to their room.

“I’m here.” He loves that she trusts him to see her like this in the mornings, they’re well beyond the initial self-consciousness she felt about how long it took her to boot up in the mornings. He still resents anyone that had taken advantage of it.

“I brought coffee, but there’s no rush.”

Lup points at the cuttings, not needing to ask the question.

“I got some bits of your favourites, thought we could try and be Frankenplant?”

Lup sits up quickly. “Plantenstein?”

“Pleantenplant is a bad compromise.” Barry says as he hands over the tray. He’s pleased to earn a snort from Lup.

“Can I?” Barry indicates the bed.

“You’d better.”

–

“Can we tell my Mum?” Barry asks later. They’re mid way through treating plants with rooting hormone.

“Natch.” Lup nods. “How d’ya wanna do it, Bluejeans?”

“In person.” He answers before he’s even really thought about it.

“That sounds good. It’s about time cha’girl got to see that garden in person again.” Lup pats his arm with her gloved one. “The only thing is, I’m not sure my boss will give me the time off… he’s real mean.”

“Want me to have a word on him?” Barry asks. “I can probably talk some sense into him.”

–

“I think we should get a ring before we go.” Barry says while they’re working out if they can get some twigs to take on the stable root stock of the invasive pear tree he cut back.

“Rings.” Lup says quickly. “I’m not leaving you out, we can both have some neat new jewellery.” She’s covered in dirt, wearing his tshirt and an old pair of his jeans, and she’s perfect.

–

“Do you… uh… what if you lived here?” Barry probably should have asked this first, but he supposes it doesn’t really matter.

“I basically do.” Lup replies.

“But… properly? Not that you have to, but I er, well, I like having you here. But I know that you’ll miss Taako…”

“Babe? He’s been asking me when I’m going for the last 3 months. We’ve been on a month to month lease for the last year.”

“Oh.”

“Don’t you dare say you’re sorry.”

Barry doesn’t. He kisses her instead.