The Other Clock King
Finally, a sequel to Glitter and Displeased Scowls by @the-mighty-sorceress because I’m late to everything.and also Julian and Will are cute.
Will looked up as footsteps tracked into the room. He checked his watch, a second before noon. Fugate’s watch was running fast, again. Will would have to text him about it because there was no way those footsteps were him. A girl swung into the room and stopped, staring at Will with a stern glare.
“Guten Tag!” Will shouted over the music, then paused, “Oh, Verzeihung! Is my music too loud? I’ll turn it down.”
Will turned to turn down the music before he heard a very loud shout from the girl.
“ALEX GET YOUR ASS IN HERE I FOUND A VERSION OF DAD THAT DOESN’T SUCK!”
Will stopped and turned back to the girl, “Wie bitte?”
The girl was grinning, very wide, and then a boy joined her, very confused.
They were multiplying.
“Sorry about her,” the boy said, “We’re—”
“Melissa and Alexander,” Will turned off the radio and pulled off his goggles, “I know. Guten Tag.”
“What is this place?” Melissa asked.
“My workshop,” Will replied, “I make clocks. Well, make, repair, restore, the works. Alexander, do you have a watch?”
“Alex,” Alexander corrected but handed over a small watch. Will took the watch and inspected it for a moment.
“Three seconds fast,” Will reported, “three exactly. I keep telling your father these mass-produced watches get out of time too fast but no, he won’t listen. Give me a moment.”
Will popped off the back of the watch and used a small pin to fidget with the gears. When that was done, he put the cover back on and reset the watch time before handing it back, “Should be on time now.”
“Thank you,” Alexander took the watch back, a little stunned.
“Have you eaten?” Will asked.
“Not yet,” Alexander replied, “We eat at 12:30 exactly.”
“Ah,” Will nodded, “right, very on time. Here, I’ll throw something together,” Will swung into the shop, knocking on the counter, “close for lunch Todd.”
“Yep,” Todd hopped over the counter and turned to close the shop. Will skipped up the steps into the kitchen and threw open the door to look at what was in there.
“I’ve got roulade?” Will offered, looking over the fridge at the two, “It’s Sinti though, not traditional German.”
“I don’t know what a Sinti is,” Melissa admitted, then looked over on the couch, “what’s he doing here?”
Will looked over to the couch and noticed Zeke was still sitting on it, reading, “Oh, I forgot he was here. Zeke’s staying while his dad’s in jail.”
“How do you forget about an entire person?” Alexander asked. Will shrugged.
“He once lost his glasses on his face,” Zeke noted.
“That’s a bad example,” Todd pointed out, “I’ve done that.”
“Because you’re a paragon of memory,” Zeke nodded.
“I’m just gonna spend the whole week expecting to be stabbed,” Melissa muttered, sitting on one of the stools against the island.
“Why are you expecting that?” Will asked, “Todd and Zeke don’t stab people.”
“Their dads do,” Melissa pointed out, “and my dad—”
“Moment mal, your dad thinks I enable my boyfriend’s obsessions,” Will put a plate in the microwave and turned it on, “forgive me for saying it, but I couldn’t care less about what your Erbsenzähler of a father thinks.”
Melissa stared blankly at Will and Will smiled back at her.
“You have a boyfriend?” Alexander broke the silence.
“Ja,” Will nodded, “Jules, ich liebe ihn.”
“Great!” a voice joined the cacophony that hadn’t been there before, “Will, dolcezza, can we go to the aquarium?”
Will looked at the steps and sighed at the sight of his boyfriend, Julian Day, in all his glory.
And by glory, this, of course, meant Julian was standing at the door in pink shorts printed with sharks, a gray tank top that read “Hello Sharkness My Old Friend” on the front, framing a shark, and blue socks covered in very spherical sharks.
“What is he wearing?” Melissa asked.
“Sharks,” Julian replied, beaming proudly, then turned back to Will, “Will we need to go to the aquarium.”
“I’m babysitting Jules,” Will pointed out.
“You can bring the kids,” Julian added, “I need to go to the aquarium.”
“Jules, I can’t afford to take four kids—” Will began.
“I’ll pay,” Julian offered, “prego?”
Will sighed loudly, “Fine, we will go to the aquarium.”
“Yes!” Julian jumped in the air in delight.
“After lunch,” Will opened the freezer and threw a box of fish sticks at Julian, “they’re shark-shaped.”
“YES!” Julian held up the box like a child.
Will took the roulade out of the microwave and split it onto five plates, putting two in front of Melissa and Alexander, and two in front of the other two empty chairs.
“You don’t enable his obsessions?” Melissa raised an eyebrow.
“Nope,” Will cut into his own meal, “keep an eye on him when we get to the aquarium, make sure he doesn’t try to steal a shark.”
Melissa and Alexander looked between Will and Julian before Melissa piped up.
“Will he actually do that?”
“Yes,” Todd answered, sitting beside Alexander, “he can, and he will, quite happily, in fact.”
“See the calendar thing is just a hyper fixation,” Will noted as Julian happily set to putting the fish sticks in the microwave, “it’s the crime impulses you need to worry about.”
Will looked back at Julian, happily humming to himself.
“Schnecke,” he said softly.
“Yes,” Julian asked. Will leaned on Julian.
“You’re cute.”
Julian smiled and looked at Will from the corner of his eye, “I know.”
