garam accepted the shot without drinking it right away, his fingers curling loosely around the small glass before he reached for his phone instead. for a moment he simply stared at the screen, his thumb hovering over the delivery app as though even deciding what to eat required more energy than he had left. eventually he opened it anyway, scrolling through the familiar list of nearby restaurants until a local chinese place caught his eye. he barely hesitated. it was close, dependable, and warm. that was enough tonight. besides, he'd always preferred ordering from the smaller asian restaurants whenever he could. "you said i get to pick," he murmured, more to fill the silence than anything else. "we'll go with chinese." he didn't wait for much of an answer before adding a handful of familiar dishes to the cart. fried rice, orange chicken, beef and broccoli, chow mein, and a couple appetizers. enough that they wouldn't have to think about tomorrow's meal either. his attention never stayed on his phone for very long. every few seconds, almost without realizing he was doing it, his eyes drifted back toward angel. the movement was subtle, quick enough that it might've looked absentminded to anyone else, but garam noticed every little thing. whether angel's breathing had started to even out again. whether his hands had stopped shaking. whether he was still looking at the floor or somewhere far away. whether his expression changed, even for a second. he never asked if angel was okay. there wasn't a version of tonight where the answer would've been yes, and making him say it aloud felt cruel somehow. instead, he settled for watching, quietly making sure nothing had changed while his attention was elsewhere. once the order was placed, garam found himself staring at the estimated delivery time for a second longer than he needed to. thirty-seven minutes. it was strangely comforting. thirty-seven minutes was something he could understand. something that would happen whether the rest of the world made sense or not. garam set his phone back down on the coffee table, his gaze lingering on the delivery estimate for another second. "thirty-six minutes," he murmured, more to himself than anyone else. he hesitated, only briefly, before bringing the shot to his mouth and then tipped it back in one smooth swallow. the tequila burned going down, and for once he didn't mind it. "i'm going to get so fat from this," he muttered with the faintest ghost of a smile, glancing toward angel. "takeout two nights in a row, so many carbs. you better still love me when my belly gets chubby." he set the empty shot glass down beside his phone before leaning back against the couch with a quiet sigh. one hand absently drifted to his bare stomach, rubbing slow circles over it as though he could already feel the mountain of rice and noodles making itself at home.