toblameforit | God help them both

The way Tony responds to his touch makes his pulse quicken a little. Keeping to the plan of letting Tony set the pace is getting more difficult.

"I don't think he needs to know about that," he says. "It's not important unless I act on it, which I have no intention of doing."

"No," says Tony, "no I really think he does."

He takes a long drink, conscious as he does that Obie is probably looking.

"And everything else too," he adds. "Right down to there's an alternate universe where you hired a buncha vampires to turn Sherry, and I hope I don't have to tell you how terrifyingly stupid an idea that is, I have nightmares about it and it didn't even happen in my world."

Well. It wasn't an idea he was seriously considering anyway.

(He does watch - Tony's lips on the glass and his throat working as he swallows - with an idle lack of discretion he has never been able to indulge at home.)

His attention is grabbed by that last, though, eyes moving back up to meet Tony's and eyebrows arching incredulously.

He probably doesn't even need to ask what he's thinking: Are all his doubles idiots?

He grins a little. "I know, right? That was definitely a genius-level fuckup."

"No, no, I think it's a great idea to have a vampire created with reason to target me. How could that possibly go wrong?"

He makes a note to specify that when he makes his call: No new vampires. Dead means dead.

Tony looks very wry.

"I think the idea was he'd go after me first. Which, uh—apparently not. Anybody who'd send vampires after Sherry just isn't paying attention, anyway, he took out like half a dozen of them by himself at the beginning of summer."

. . . Obadiah's expression doesn't change.

"Really," he says. "That's very impressive."

He laughs. "Yeah, no shit," he says, eyeing the rest of his drink. He decides against finishing it in one go and takes another sip instead. "Fucking badass," he concludes.

He may need to start looking for another angle on this.

That's potentially doable. He has information now he didn't have before. He just has to find the right holes to slot it into.

"What was he doing messing with that many vampires, anyway?" he asks, casual. He moves his hand from Tony's neck, laying it against Tony's side instead, and sips his own drink.

Tony decides abruptly that he is not even going to mention Cal's name.

"His best friend's dad went missing. Turned out it was vampires." He shrugs. "Kind of a shitty scene all round."

"That's a shame," Obadiah murmurs politely. He's still a little distracted.

However:

"He's a bit more of a loner in my world, far as I can tell. I don't think he has any friends at all, never mind a best one."

He grins a little.

"That's way politer than the other you was about it."

"I think we've established that he didn't have much going for him."

Focus. Think later. That's what Milliways is for.

He's not leaving until he's damn sure he has a clear and solid plan in place.

"You're still kind of an asshole about Sherry," Tony points out. "But less of one. Which is good."

He smiles.

"Maybe I'm learning."

Tony beams. He approves of this theory!

Jesus, that smile gets him every time. It makes Tony look exactly like Howard.

Still smiling himself, Obadiah reaches up to touch Tony's cheek, his thumb this time drawing a much closer path to Tony's mouth.

His smile softens.

The drink in his hand tips precariously; he doesn't notice.

Obadiah isn't paying it any attention himself. He's busy with Tony, with the feel of him right under his fingertips.

He's definitely not thinking much anymore about the new plans he'll have to make, either.

If Tony knew about that, he might count it as a win.

Then again, if Tony knew about that, he would probably not be the next thing to purring under Obadiah's hand.

(Tipping... tipping...)

Obadiah is a patient man, but his supply of patience is not infinite.

And in the instances where passivity pays off, it only does so up to a point. Letting Tony set the pace is getting him nowhere. Letting Tony dictate the pace will do nearly as well, and give Obadiah a little more room to maneuver.

He'll have to see to it that Tony has ample reason to want things to continue once they're really gotten underway, but he was going to do that anyway.

His fingers slide down under Tony's chin, and he leans in and - finally - kisses Tony.

It's not really a big surprise. It does feel a little weird, weirder than when Tony is the one who starts the kissing, but nowhere near weird enough to make him pull away. No, he kisses back happily enough.

Until, about five seconds in, he loses his grip entirely and the glass tumbles, whiskey and all, into Obadiah's lap.

Obadiah starts in surprise when the glass hits his leg. There was still more than enough left in it for him to feel the liquid spread, and for the sweetly sharp scent of whiskey to suddenly be everywhere.

He can't decide whether to be amused or annoyed; the soft huffing sound he makes against Tony's mouth might indicate that he's settled on both.

Tony, by contrast, giggles.

"Oh, man," he says, "I'm sorry. Me and your laundry just don't get along, do we."

Obadiah chuckles, with a tinge of exasperation to it.

"No, that's fine," he says. "I was wondering what Milliways charges for dry-cleaning anyway."

He doesn't, at the moment, care too much about any damage done or the way the wet cloth will start to chafe if left. He still leans back from Tony to have a look, taking the opportunity to put his own drink aside.

"Damn."

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