dinner at john and bobby's

[offthebeatenpath]

Em had been surprised when John first mentioned the possibility of her coming to dinner sometime, and when he called to actually invite her she was even less sure how she felt. But Jag had gone back to the circus for awhile - after assuring Jake, Ollie, and Em he'd be back sometime, who knew when - and that made it easier for her to say yes.

A bottle of wine would've been an obvious host gift, but she didn't know this John and Bobby well enough to know if they drank wine at all, or if they did, what they preferred. So she took a chance that neither of them were vegan... or diabetic, made up a batch of bourbon marshmallows and homemade graham crackers, and boxed them up with some chocolate bars for a s'mores kit. It was either that or some flambé-able ice cream topping, but those did better made immediately before lighting and serving, so she went with the s'mores.

As she headed up the walk, Em worked her way through the first few Askani meditation patterns to settle her nerves and put her feelings in some kind of order. It seemed to help, some, and after a slow breath, she pushed her hair behind her shoulders and out of her face, then rang the bell.

Comments

[cold_blueeyes]

Since John had been prepping and cooking food, Bobby had taken on the task of tidying the house. They did a pretty good job of keeping it clean, so there wasn't a lot to do, but he'd run a vacuum over the rugs, dusted a bit, made sure that jackets and shoes were hung up and put away, that sort of thing. That meant that he was closer to the door when the bell went off, and he was the one that answered. "Hey, glad you could make it," he greeted her with a bright smile as he pulled open the door. "Come on in."

[offthebeatenpath]

"Thanks for inviting me," Em said, reminding herself to smile and meet his eyes before taking in what she could see of the home.

She pulled the white box from her messenger bag and offered it to Bobby. "For you and John. It's not much, but... I wanted to do something for you, since you're, you know, having me over and everything." She'd tried remembering the last time someone had invited her over for dinner, just because, and all she could come up with was the Johnsons. And she'd been Pyro's plus one then.

[cold_blueeyes]

"Thanks!" Bobby took the box and stepped back to allow her to step in the door, curious about what was in the box but wanting to wait until John was there to see as well. "John's out back cooking, but do you want a quick tour of the place?"

[offthebeatenpath]

"Sure, if it's not a bother." Not being an imposition guided a lot of Em's decisions, but it wasn't a surprise she was curious about Bobby and John. So whatever they wanted to share of their lives was of interest. Awkward, for how different tonight felt already compared to what she was used to with Pyro and Bobby at Muir.

[cold_blueeyes]

"No bother at all," Bobby promised, hoping to set her a little more at ease, since things felt a little awkward.

He gestured to the doorway to the right. "That's John's study. I don't really go in there much." It was really the only room in the house that remained wholly John's, and Bobby was okay with that.

He moved forward to where the entry intersected a hallway. "Down there is the laundry, which is pretty boring," he added with a grin before turning left and heading into the doorway on the left wall, into an L-shaped room with tables, chairs, and bookshelves, as well as an inviting window seat, though the frosted windows made the view outside blurry at best. "And this is the...parlor? Library? I don't know. We both do a lot of reading and studying in here, so whatever that makes it. Study number two?" he cracked with a little shrug and a smile.

[offthebeatenpath]

Em was trying to wrap her head around the idea of John having a study, let alone possibly two, when Bobby showed her into the second. "Much nicer than the laundry." It was the kind of room she missed from her time at the castle, but that hadn't been a priority when she and Pyro had been looking for a flat, and wasn't an option at the squat. "I can see why you'd spend a lot of time in here."

[cold_blueeyes]

"Yeah, it's a good place to focus," Bobby agreed, letting her look around for a moment or two more before heading for the door again. He led her down the hall into the large, open space that was the dining room and lounge combined. "Dining room, TV room, and the kitchen's over there. I'll leave that for John to show you around, since that's his domain," he added with a grin. "And up there are the bedrooms and bathrooms," he finished, gesturing toward the staircase.

[offthebeatenpath]

The bedrooms weren't something Em needed, or wanted, to be thinking about, but the kitchen being John's domain was still a strange enough idea for her the rest was inconsequential.

"This is so weird," she said, half to herself, before she realized how it might sound. "Not the house. It's lovely. Just... cognitive dissonance isn't really the right word, but I don't know what would be. I try not to expect people or things to be like the world I'm from, but the differences still throw me sometimes."

[cold_blueeyes]

Bobby had been about to lead her out back where John could be seen from here, tending the grill, but her comment distracted him. He was curious about the version of himself she had known in her world, really, and since she'd brought it up..."What kind of differences?" he asked, tilting his head as he regarded her, eager for her answer.

[offthebeatenpath]

"I don't know," she began, shrugging, really meaning she wasn't sure what or how much to say. "Superficial things, like you not having a scar. Or bigger ones, like John cooking. The Pyro I knew was more a sandwiches, frozen dinners, scrounge for leftovers kind of guy."

[cold_blueeyes]

Bobby wanted to know more, so much more, but he wasn't going to press her for information she wasn't comfortable giving. She was a guest, after all. So instead he focused on what she did offer. "I had a scar? Where? How did I get it?" And if she didn't want to talk about, well, he would let it drop, but honestly, he was dying to know more about his other self. "And yeah, that's me here. If it weren't for John cooking, we'd be eating a lot of pizza," he said with a sheepish grin.

[offthebeatenpath]

"Boiler explosion," Em said, her fingers tracing the path of Bobby's scar on her own cheek and down to her neck. The scars covered more than that, she knew, but she hadn't seen the rest. "He saved a bunch of kids at a rez school, but couldn't freeze things completely before it blew up. He took the rest of the blast."

She'd heard the story a couple of times of Bobby ordering pizza for Dani and Dare, and the memory brought a soft smile to her lips. "Yeah, Bobby usually left the cooking to other people too."

[cold_blueeyes]

"...Oh, wow," Bobby said quietly. That was...kind of intense, but if he had to get a scar, saving kids was a damn worthy way to do it, he supposed. He rubbed absently at his cheek, as if Em talking about it could some how make it manifest or something.

When she smiled, his own smile returned. "It's safest. I stick to dessert." And they both knew what kind of dessert Bobby made. "Speaking of cooking, shall we head out and see how dinner's coming?" and finally open the box that Em had gifted them with, once they joined John.

[prodigalflame]

"Hey. Glad you could make it," John said over his shoulder, tending the BBQ. He'd heard the scrap of the sliding door as they entered from the living room out into the courtyard/open area/garden/what the hell ever. The 'courtyard' was largely made up of square pavers spread out in a chessboard pattern, with stones filling the gap between each paver that wasn't quite half a foot wide, lined by the house on two sides, and by a rather wild series of roses on the other two sides, and the fence after that. John wasn't really great at the pruning: some of the domestic stuff was far more work than he was prepared for.

John was wearing his usual jeans-and-t-shirt, with whatever slogan on it covered by the apron he was wearing. Fire he could control, but not spitting oil and fat, even if he was untouched by the heat. He'd even considered wearing the 'Fuck the Cook' one, but that had gotten him such a Look from Bobby that John had silently put it back on the cupboard. There were some sliced vegetables (potato, sweet potato, asparagus) on the hotplate, tomato grilling along side a variety of meats, as well as some skewers with chicken and bell peppers and onion: John liked to cook and cook well. And he didn't have to do more than look at the damn thing to keep the fire exactly where he wanted it.

"...What have you got there, sweetheart?" he asked, eyeing the box in Bobby's hands. "I assume that Em here was far too polite." Oh, it was so suburban gay agenda material it wasn't funny.

[offthebeatenpath]

"It's nothing special," Em said, knowing they'd see as much once they opened it. "But I wanted to do a little something, since you were nice enough to invite me."

She was more interested in what John was making anyway. It looked, smelled, and even sounded like it would be good, and John looked completely at ease cooking. It was easy, she thought, to tell the difference between people who cooked because they liked to eat, or simply because they needed to whether they liked it or not, and those who enjoyed the act of cooking itself. Unlike Pyro, John apparently joined her in the latter group. "That all looks like it's going to be delicious."

[cold_blueeyes]

"I didn't want to open it until you could see too," Bobby remarked, opening the box and grinning when he saw the contents inside, instantly recognizing them for what they were. "Dessert, cool," he said as he tilted the box to show John. One that would allow John to show off, no less. Em had done a good job picking the right thing to bring, in his mind.

[prodigalflame]

John peered in the box, nodding more to himself in appreciation (as subtle as it was) of the offering. "That was a very good choice, thank you," he told Em, not just being polite. Certainly something he could take great pleasure in making. Or melting, as the case may be.

"And I should hope it does smell delicious," John continued, turning the attention back to his barbeque, turning a few skewers with the tongs. "This one here-" and that was clearly Bobby, from his look, "can't get enough of my cooking. But it's really not any trouble inviting you. You're...one of us," he observed, dryly. And between John's pyromania and Bobby's capacity to make ice-cream, it wasn't like they could be themselves with most folks. Even if Em might have a few odd advantages in knowing them better than they knew her.

[offthebeatenpath]

"They're even better with bacon," she told them. "It complements the bourbon in the marshmallows. I figured a s'mores kit was easier to make ahead of time than some flambéable ice cream topping." Because of course she'd think about their powers when deciding what to bring.

"I'm still getting used to us being such a small group. And I was more often the one cooking for others than being cooked for. When I was living in the castle, I used to cook way more than I'd eat, because there was always someone foraging for leftovers." Best not to think about cooking specifically for Pyro, either in the castle or once they moved out.

"I didn't do much grilling, though." Em grinned, mostly at Bobby. "Leave the fire to the experts, right?"

[cold_blueeyes]

"Ooh, bacon. Do we have any bacon, baby?" Bobby asked John, grinning. That sounded amazing. And he definitely could see Em's point about the s'mores kit being an easier path when it came to make-ahead treats. Besides, they had ice cream for dessert plenty. John would probably be glad for the change.

"I mean, there are still a lot of us around," he said with a half-shrug. "We're just harder to find now."

At Em's comment about grilling he chuckled and nodded. "I always do." Whether it was grilling, cooking on the gas stove, or getting a fire going in the fireplace during the winter, he most assuredly left the fire-related duties to John.

[prodigalflame]

"Yes, honey, we have bacon," John said, with a shake of his head, rolling his eyes a little at Em as if to say Can you believe this guy?. "It's in the freezer - would you like to get it out?" If Bobby wanted bacon, Bobby could get the bacon, and John would cook it later as part of dessert.

Although he did appreciate the idea of not having ice cream for once.

At Bobby's 'We're just harder to find now', John stilled for just a second, and concentrated very carefully on tending the barbecue. It wasn't his deal to be all secret-secret, even if some boyfriends seemed to shrug it off and enjoy themselves all the more. "I think I told you, if you want, I can always put you in touch with some people," he said, deliberately neutral, because they were John's contacts and not Bobby's, because Bobby had run away. But Em should have options at least. "If you want." It was always important to have choices, especially when you thought you didn't have any.

All too aware of just how 'married couple' they came off, he shot Em just a bit of a wry smile. Whatever she might have expected, this probably wasn't it. "Although I understand we're probably a bit overwhelming so I guess anything else might be a little too much." Westchester might drive her into a coma or something, with all the differences.

[offthebeatenpath]

Em didn't notice John's eyeroll. She was too busy trying to wrap her brain around the easy sweetheart, baby, and honey peppering their interactions. Bobby and Pyro each had a habit of using nicknames for each other and other people - in Pyro's case, usually those who didn't have or like mutant names - but nothing like these endearments. She shook her head, putting that aside, and trying to take John and Bobby as themselves, not the people she'd known and loved at home.

"I spent two years in a village that had been turned into a mutant sanctuary, with new refugees coming in all the time. It's not really about how many mutants I know or am in contact with. It's... the way of life that's so different. If that makes sense."

[cold_blueeyes]

Bobby nodded at John's reply, choosing to ignore the eyeroll. He was used to such nonverbal commentary from John by now, after all. He started toward the kitchen to get the bacon, not pausing at Em's reply as he ducked back inside. Conversations about the secret life they now led seldom went well when both he and John were involved, so he would leave them to talk this one out. He maybe took a little extra time getting that bacon out of the freezer, in fact.

Maybe.

[prodigalflame]

"The way of life is a shock," John admitted, brow furrowed for a second before he felt himself forced to clarify: "I mean, it's a shock to me. Everything was...on the up, you know? I was studying Mutant Studies: there were mutant pride groups on campus. We were starting to be just another minority group, worthy of acceptance, and then everything changed. Still," he concluded, a little more thinly, perhaps, "it's definitely better than the need for a mutant sanctuary and refugees. You were coping okay?" he wondered, glancing at Em briefly as he posed the question, before just focusing on turning the meat.

"Oh, just a moment," he excused himself, and padded back to the external bay door, sliding it open. "Hey, can you get me a beer, sweetheart?" he called out to Bobby, somewhere inside. "Thanks!"

[offthebeatenpath]

Em waited until John was back at the grill to answer. "My cousin and I got out of the States before things got really bad there." Before they knew they were mutants, actually. "We were doing okay until the Brotherhood tried to take us to Genosha. That's when Excalibur rescued us and took us to the village where we could be safe..er." And there was a good chance most of that meant nothing to him. "Excalibur's mostly former X-Men, but with the approval of the British government. They had to go public after saving London and Edinburgh and a few other places."

[prodigalflame]

If Bobby had gotten out of the conversation while the going was good, John suddenly felt the desire to join him. The Brotherhood was something he really didn't want to think about, because it lead to Alcatraz and everything after. And as for everything else: the States getting 'really bad'? Genosha? Mutants working for the government? London and Edinburgh under threat?

Gathering his scattered thoughts, John chewed on his lower lip before saying: "I don't know what to say to any of that. It sounds so utterly different," he admitted, quietly, and looked uncertain as to how to properly respond. "There was only ever about four members of the Brotherhood," he murmured, not looking at her. "Not much of a long-term threat." Erik's plans had never depended on the supremacy of numbers. "And the X-Men were a small bunch, too. The only former one I've ever met is - well," he smiled a little at Em, but it was a tired, worried thing, "the one I'm dating. I'm glad you got out okay. I'm sorry you had to leave everyone you cared about behind."

[offthebeatenpath]

"I went and dumped a whole lot on you at once, and I don't know. In some ways that makes it sound a lot worse than it was," and Em was still doing a bad job explaining. "Day to day, for me, things were pretty good. I got to live my life - which just happened to include letting the right people know if I foresaw trouble coming, and training for how to defend myself when it did. But now, even if I meet mutants I knew before, they aren't the people I knew. I'd probably be a lot worse off if I hadn't known people who'd gone through the same kind of thing."

[prodigalflame]

"You did dump a whole lot on me at once," John agreed, but not unkindly. What she'd said still left him more than a bit confused. This was a regular occurrence? The multiple reality thing? And in what she'd said about meeting mutants she knew before...well, that was John and Bobby right there, wasn't it.

"...Bobby and I probably confuse the hell out of you, just by being who we are. If there's anything you want to know about the backstory-" because of course John saw things in terms of stories and narratives and histories and dramas "-you can ask me. I mean, if it helps you to put some distance between what you knew and what is, now." He wasn't able to rake over everything just for the sake of it, but it wasn't like he had that much to hide from someone who knew about half of it already.

[offthebeatenpath]

If Em really wanted to know more of John and Bobby's backstories, she would probably ask the tarot. Sort of an invasion of privacy, and it would probably lack context at least in places, but she felt more comfortable with that than asking them directly. But she wasn't going to tell John that.

"I was telling Bobby, while he gave me the tour, it was kind of like a cognitive dissonance, even though I know you're different people. Distance between what I'm used to and who you are here, isn't really a problem most of the time. But if you ever feel like I'm making wrong assumptions, let me know, okay? I try not to, but sometimes I may not even realize I'm doing it. With how my precog works, I'm more prone to drawing parallels and predicting patterns than most people."

[prodigalflame]

"I don't think I've ever lacked bluntness, so I'll definitely let you know. Still, I'm just glad someone's making any assumptions about me. It's weird - really, really weird - to be plain and simple John with a plain and simple backstory." And while most people would probably be glad they didn't have the whole 'ex-terrorist killer thing' hanging over their heads, John was decidedly not most people. He was John, sure, and not Pyro, these days: but what he had done defined him, and he didn't like letting it go so easily.

"How do your powers work exactly?" He wondered, changing the subject with a raise of his eyebrow: "Like - it's related to tarot, right? Can you use other symbols, too, or just one deck...?" Sure, there was genuinely friendly curiosity there - and a little probing for weaknesses, too.

[offthebeatenpath]

"For the precog?" she asked, not sure how much he knew about her abilities. "I can get visions from any deck. Even playing cards." Which made poker interesting, but very few people would play with her more than once. For some reason. "Although I do have some prejudice against 'oracle' decks. I'm something of a traditionalist. And occasionally I'll pick something up from a non-tarot image, but I'm not entirely sure how or why that happens. But there's always an image of some kind that triggers it, whether it's a tarot card or something else."

[prodigalflame]

John was pretty sure Bobby had told him about her abilities, and that was a) second hand information from b) someone who wasn't exactly tactically minded. (Sorry, sweetheart.) So in many ways Em was still a bit of an enigma to him, and John had never been one for puzzles.

Gaze flicking across to the sliding door, John frowned briefly. It shouldn't take too long to get the bacon out and rummage around for a beer: Bobby was probably lurking and deliberately avoiding the conversation, which, fine, John had explicitly given him a reason to stay out for longer by asking for a beer, but the trouble was John wasn't entirely sure what the boundaries were in terms of the 'grown-up conversations' his boyfriend wanted to ardently to not be a part of. Maybe asking Em about her powers was enough to make Bobby stay away, in a certain context.

"Thanks," John nodded: he'd never really met any precogs before so it was beyond interesting, interested in both how things worked and what she could do. "So....it's just a feeling, right? Even with the image? I mean, the stereotypical image of the tarot reader is the cryptic read, it's never enough information to be entirely clear." He spoke like an expert in the tales, mostly because he was part-way to being one. "Which is very useful, I didn't mean to disregard that."

[offthebeatenpath]

Pyro believed what Em could do was fucking amazing. His words, she rarely saw herself that way, but she reminded herself of it now. And even though she was often frustrated by how much she didn't see, Nathan and Alex and the rest of Excalibur who'd weighed in had said how much she helped them. And she knew her own gifts had some advantages compared to Nina's - just not in the middle of a fight.

"The cards are vague and mysterious?" she quoted slyly. It was about the only thing she remembered about the Simpsons.

Then, without the sharpness some people would use, "The stereotypical tarot reader is adept at cold reading - beginning with the traditional tarot interpretations and vague or universal messages and developing from there based on the querent's microexpressions and other input. And I've known fortune tellers who are incredibly skilled at it. I'm a mutant." Who'd also been taught cold reading, and she wasn't sure how she felt about what she could see from John.

"I wonder if Bobby's fallen into the freezer," she said, thinking maybe it was time to change topics, and he had been gone longer than needed to get bacon and a beer.

[cold_blueeyes]

Okay, that was definitely Bobby's cue to stop lurking and rejoin the conversation, especially since the topic had moved onto more comfortable ground by his measurements. He ducked back outside with the package of bacon and three literally frosty beers, tossing the frozen meat onto the table to start thawing as he passed out the beers to everyone. "Sorry, had trouble finding it," he said with a chipper smile for Em, deliberately avoiding looking at John. He knew John knew what he'd been doing, and he'd probably get shit for it later.

[prodigalflame]

John saw that avoidance, and reached out to brush his lips against Bobby's cheek even as he grabbed a beer with the other hand. If he was more affectionate than normal, it was because he felt Bobby needed it.

"Thanks."

Taking a breath, he forced a tired grin for Em, and went back to tending the BBQ. "This should be done soon." Nodding to Bobby, he continued: "Em was just explaining what she could do. It does sound pretty amazing," he acknowledged, realising he probably hadn't been properly effusive. He wasn't one for praise much, these days.

[offthebeatenpath]

Knowing how Pyro felt about her - even when she didn't see herself the same way - meant she could avoid taking John's forced if not false praise to heart. "I'm just a fortune teller," she said, where she hadn't before. "Nothing cool or hot about me." A shy smile flashed briefly before she lifted her beer for a sip.

[prodigalflame]

"And I'm just good at barbecue," John told her, Em's words having woken up an old, still nagging wound that ever quite closed. "You can do things, Em, you can do things great and incredible. And you're not reliant on a lighter." His praise might have been more for himself than Em, but it was still heartfelt. If he thought someone could be awesome, then they were. And if he thought someone sucked, well, he didn't give a damn.

Pausing, he checked the meat by pressing on it with the tongs: it was around medium-rare, which was how he liked it. "Maybe Frosty here would like to get our fortunes told," he said, leaving the decision up to Bobby, and reached for a dish to start piling the meat in, and then a separate one for the grilled vegetables. "I'd say yes, but I can't actually decide things for the both of us, can I sweetheart?" He passed one of the dishes to Bobby, a well-oiled cooking routine.

[cold_blueeyes]

Bobby resisted an eyeroll as John brought up the lighter thing. He really needed to get over that. Not being able to create the flames he could control in no way diminished how amazing what he could do was. He gave John a gentle thump on the arm with the back of his hand before taking the dish from him, a silent and gentle chide not to be an idiot about that.

"No, you can't," Bobby replied with a pleasant smile. He looked over at Em and shrugged a shoulder. "Maybe we should just focus on dinner, since it's ready." Because he hadn't heard her offer a reading, and he wasn't going to assume she was even willing. And if she was, he wasn't so sure he wanted to know what she would see.

[offthebeatenpath]

"Dinner, yes." Focusing on dinner sounded like a much better idea to Em, and she laughed only a little awkwardly. "I make a point of not doing couple-y readings for people I know. Privacy's important, and there are some things I don't need to see. Besides, you'll probably enjoy it more experiencing your life together than waiting for what I see to happen." She would've said the same to any friends, but considering it was John and Bobby, she had more reason for not turning to the tarot.

[prodigalflame]

"Then please step inside," John suggested as he slid the outside door open, turning from the topic of his future to something way more pleasant: his present. And while he shot Bobby a brief Look, he didn't comment on the thwap. Gracious was practically his middle name, fucker.

"Bobby here has kindly set the table for Chez Allerdrake," and there was a carafe of tap water on the table, and a bottle of wine in the refrigerator just in case. Shaking his head, he stepped through the door himself, to place his dish on a trivet on the table. "I really never thought I'd be one of those people," he muttered. Cutesy names were not really his thing. "But Bobby has brought out the 'annoyingly cutesy tool' side of me." He gestured at the spread on the table: not just what he'd been grilling, but a fresh garden salad, some bread rolls and butter just in case, and mustards and ketchup and sauces of all kinds.

"Help yourself, Em." John was busy pouring out glasses of water for each of them, and giving Bobby a quick peck on the cheek as he came inside.

[cold_blueeyes]

Bobby was grateful for Em's answer, as they moved inside. "Wow, that one is so not on me," he protested at John, grinning. "You make fun of my puns and then come up with that?" He set down the dish John had entrusted him with before pulling out a chair for Em, ever the gentleman.

[offthebeatenpath]

Em couldn't decide if it was stranger hearing John use the phrase 'annoyingly cutesy tool' in reference to himself (and why) or having Bobby pull out her chair.

No. She could. It wasn't the first time this Bobby had done that for her, and even the Bobby she'd known might do it playfully with someone. Probably not Em, but maybe Sabine, who let him get away with a lot of the traditional or chivalric white boy stuff Dani would've punched him for trying. So not as strange as the things John was saying.

She grinned as she took her seat. "Shakespeare made puns," she said, using one of her world's Bobby's favorite arguments.

[prodigalflame]

John's lips thinned a little at Em's words, and the grin. "You're encouraging him," he grumbled, shaking his head a little, hair falling in front of his face so his own slight grin was somewhat hidden. "Practically ganging up against me, the two of you."

[cold_blueeyes]

"Yeah, Shakespeare made puns," Bobby repeated softly, grinning. He gave John's shoulder an affectionate squeeze before grabbing hold of his chair and pulling it out, although this time it was dramatically, playfully, with a sweep of his hand in invitation and an amused gleam in his eye as he looked at John. "And Em, you're welcome to join us for dinner whenever you want. Any defender of puns is a friend of mine."

[offthebeatenpath]

"Who do you think I learned that argument from?" A bit of familiar when through the looking glass was something to cling to. "Some things never change. You knew he was punny when you hooked up with him."

[prodigalflame]

"I knew," John said slowly, looking Bobby up and down as if questioning his sanity, then glancing at the chair, "he was punny way before I hooked up with him." Hell, he'd known it first day John had been at the school. "I knew a lot of things," he reflected, before sitting down in that chair, and pulling himself closer to the table.

"And you're right, Em: there are some things about Frosty here that will never change, thank God." That included the puns. Gesturing to the food on the table, he shook his head, keen to encourage some appreciation of his culinary talents. "But c'mon, eat already."

[cold_blueeyes]

"I feel like I'm letting everyone down by not having the perfect pun for the moment, after all of that," Bobby admitted with a sigh, moving to take his seat once John sat down instead of smacking him. He started passing dishes around the table, helping himself to the food as he flashed a fond grin at John. "The food looks great, as always, Zippo."