For Joan

[theodorelasso]

Continued from here.

(warnings: sexytimes. also, panic attacks, brutal violence, attempted murder, discussion of suicide and actual murder... )

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[formersurgeon]

"I don't think I watched you manage all that much," she says, leaning her head against his shoulder. "A little during the investigation. And a little on TV. I'd love to see more." She reaches for his hand. "You should get back to it."

[theodorelasso]

"You're right," he says seriously, sitting there for a second.

"...I'll go turn on the PlayStation." He gives her a quick smooch on the forehead, then lets go of her and gets to his feet, going to get the controllers. And obviously very pleased with his stupid joke.

[formersurgeon]

She chuckles, shaking her head. He's so corny, and she loves it.

"I don't think I've played a video game that wasn't made sometime in the 90s," she remarks as he goes to turn everything on.

[theodorelasso]

He does miss the team, and be absolutely wants to go back to it soon, and he very much appreciates her support and concern. But sometimes you just need to be a little silly.

"Really? There's been a lot of good ones," he says, bringing two controllers over to the bed in case she wants to try. Though if she's not used to modern controllers at all, it might take some adjustment, especially if her fine motor control isn't currently optimal. "I haven't actually had time to play this properly yet though, I was mostly just setting it up earlier."

[formersurgeon]

"My brother and I used to play," she says, accepting the controller. Sher turns it over in her hands, examining it. "Then one time there was a clue hidden in an old video game you could only find by winning the game."

[theodorelasso]

"Wow, you do end up doing a lot of different stuff during investigations, don't you?" he notes with a smile. "I've played less than I'd like, and probably more than I should," he says with a chuckle, then starts up the game, looking over the options.

[formersurgeon]

"You never know what might come in handy," she says. She looks up at the TV and watches him going through the menus. "I guarantee you at some point we'll encounter something related to college football, or Kansas City barbecue, and you'll be the key to cracking the case."

[theodorelasso]

"I'll look forward to saving the day," he answers cheerfully.

He picks career mode, and.. "You can play as the manager?" he says with surprised delight. He clicks through, and ends up in a character customisation meny. "You can design your manager? I can play as me?!" He's obviously excited. If the coach thing falls through, he could probably make a career as a let's-player, with his level of enthusiasm.

[formersurgeon]

Joan chuckles, loving seeing him like this. She sits back, the controller in her hands but without her fingers in the right positions to play, and watches him interact with the game, finding it far more enjoyable than watching the TV.

[theodorelasso]

Ted fiddles with the character customization, trying to make himself, and frequently asking Joan for her opinion, with questions like 'does my nose look like this or this?'. Eventually they do end up with a pretty good similarity.

Then there's assembling the team, and Ted chatters with her through all of it, and then all through the first match too. He's pretty bad at it, but it's fun. Then he goes to figure out how to do versus matches, so they can actually play against each other.

[formersurgeon]

She loves how he's including her, even as he's playing. She's known plenty of people who would get wrapped up in the game and not even pay attention to anyone around them, but that's not Ted. Of course it's not. Ted is as always open and welcoming and seems to want more than anything to share the experience.

As he looks into setting it up to play against each other, Joan looks at the controller and tries to figure out how it works. "I'm going to really suck at this," she says. "I have no idea how this even works." She leaves unspoken her concern about being physically capable.

[theodorelasso]

He is playing to entertain her as well. If he was just playing for his own sake, he'd do it while she was asleep or working.

"That's alright, I'm pretty terrible too," he says with a chuckle.

He starts a match, but rather than just trying to compete, he starts talking her through the different buttons (at least as much as he's picked up so far), and letting them both just run around vaguely, trying things out and practicing without any concerns regarding the score, both of them making a few goals in the process. ...He's basically coaching her in virtual soccer.

[formersurgeon]

And it's amazing. She loves it when she gets to be the recipient of his coaching talents. He's so good at it. She knows he gets a lot of hate, people thinking he's crap because Richmond struggles. But she knows firsthand that he's phenomenal. He just has an uphill battle at Richmond, and one that he's always taken on with enthusiasm, dedication, and kindness.

She loves him so much.

Slowly she starts to get better, and it occurs to her that this is good therapy for her fine motor skills.

[theodorelasso]

"Alright, wanna do one where we actually try to beat each other?" he suggests, once they both actually start to somewhat consistently do what they mean to do.

[formersurgeon]

"Let's do it!" she says, giving him a sideways grin. Joan loves good-natured competition, even if she's fairly sure she's going to get her butt kicked.

[theodorelasso]

Ted grins back happily, and starts up the match. There may be a little bit of an ass-kicking, but it's definitely not one-sided. He's not amazing either. And he's giving her compliments every time she manages to stop him or take the ball, and he's absolutely delighted when she gets a goal against him.

[formersurgeon]

She's having an absolute blast, grinning from ear to ear, laughing at their mutual fumbling, and complimenting him right back for all his good plays. When the game is over she puts down the controller and practically pounces on him, kissing him enthusiastically.

[theodorelasso]

The pounce catches him by surprise, and he still has the controller in his hand when his arms automatically go around her as he kisses her back with a sound of happy surprise.

He smiles into the kiss, fumbling a little to put the controller down safely while still kissing Joan, then wrap his arms around her. Eventually he has to come up for air. "Didn't know beating your girlfriend at a sports video game could have such a positive reception," he comments, laughing.

[formersurgeon]

She laughs as well and kisses him again. "Didn't know being beat at a sports video game could make me feel so loved," she answers, grinning and nuzzling her nose against his. She kisses him again, touching his cheek, then carding her fingers through his hair, the desire to be physically affectionate particularly strong at that moment.

[theodorelasso]

"Well, you are very loved," he says softly, soaking in the affection and returning it happily, holding her, putting his hand on the back of her neck as he kisses her back.

[formersurgeon]

"You too," she murmurs, pulling back enough to look at his face, into his eyes, stroking his cheek with her thumb. Her heart is so full of love for this man.

[theodorelasso]

He can see it in her face, and it makes him feel so good. It's been a rough few weeks, and yet she can still make him feel so important and valued and loved just by looking at him like that. And Ted in turn also looks completely smitten.

He turns his head and kisses her palm, leaning into her hand for a moment and closes his eyes, taking a deep breath and just basking in the feeling of her affection.

[formersurgeon]

The weeks have been difficult, at times devastating, and Joan has sometimes been terrified, for him and for herself. And yet through all the horrors she has never stopped loving Ted with every ounce of her being. And she has absolute faith that through it all he has never stopped loving her, either.

She sighs happily and leans forward, closing her eyes, resting her head against his, basking along with him.

[theodorelasso]

He cuddles up with her, getting comfortable and just snuggling, giving her a few little kisses, affectionate stroking her back or her arm or her hair, wherever's within easy to reach. He just wants to tell her he loves her and how happy she makes him, but it'll probably get redundant.

There's also a part of him who worries he'll smother Joan with exactly that kind of behaviour, like what seemed to happen with Michelle after a while. So he tries to hold off on doing it too much.

Eventually they seem to get so comfortable that he's in danger of dozing off, and he has to pull back and sit up a little, considering getting himself some coffee or something.

[formersurgeon]

He's telling her he loves her with every kiss, every touch. Being in his arms feels so good and so right. it makes sense how there might be some situations where this is too much, but right here and now it is perfect.

She's starting to drift by the time he pulls back, and she looks up at him.

"Hey," she says with a soft smile. "You okay?"