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[amicably_absent]

The room had been neatened, but for the sake of the sanctity of the suite and bedroom, they were working in the lab.

And if there has ever been anything more frightening than a headcase in a leather apron, gloves, welding mask and wielding a cutting torch, it's not in the nearby vicinity. He has an assistant nearby, making sure he doesn't hurt himself, but he cutting through pieces of steel and nearly done with this part.

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[spoonfulofwit.livejournal.com]

Jeb finds his way there after bartering for a quick break with one of the other guards, who agreed to stand in for him. He has an important matter to discuss with Ambrose...and Glitch too, and he really doesn't think it can wait any longer.

So he knocks on the door, ever so slightly disturbed by the peculiar sound coming from inside.

[amicably-absent.livejournal.com]

The assistant scurries to answer the door, letting him in. "Master Ambrose. Master Ambrose!"

Ambrose turns, looking to the door and turning off the torch, pushing up the mask to the top of his head. "Oh. I wasn't expecting company. Come in, please. Don't touch the metal, it's hot."

[spoonfulofwit.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, uh, sure. Hot." Jeb steps inside, unable to stop staring at the display. Master Ambrose in this getup, holding ...one of those torch things, and the wall...

"So... You redecorating or something?"

[amicably-absent.livejournal.com]

"I'm working on the preliminary metal tests for stress and load bearing to refine the superstructure of the building into the foci for the Sun Seeder, but the moratanium balance has to be correct or the metal will warp."

He sets the torch aside and pulls off the gloves. "But I doubt you came here to ask about the progress of the new West Tower."

[spoonfulofwit.livejournal.com]

"Okay." Metal test, not building a wall in the middle of the lab. Check.

He shuffles inside, shifting his focus from the glowing hot metal to the man he wanted to see. And promptly he has no idea what to say.

"Well... It's, you see, there's something I wanted to talk about...with you."

[amicably-absent.livejournal.com]

And suddenly, Ambrose seems to be aware of the fact that he's here, with Jeb, and there's a few flickers that suggest something's going on in that zipped up head from the way he turns, pauses, expressions flickering and whispering to himself before turning back to Jeb.

"O-okay." He shoos the assistant out with a flick of his hand. "If it's about the other night, he said it was all right."

[spoonfulofwit.livejournal.com]

Completely unintentionally, Jeb still manages a pretty good mirroring of the confused flickers of emotion that just passed over Ambrose's face.

It ends up in a meek little frown line, smack dab between his eyebrows. "What other night?"

It would appear some things really do stay between his father and his father's partner, and perhaps that is for the best. If by 'for the best' we mean allowing Jeb to focus on his dilemma at hand, then it must be just right. Because that's what he does, even if his momentum seems to have scurried off someplace else.

"See, there's this...a friend of mine, he's, well..." He shrugs, reaching up to brush hair from his face and hook it behind his ear. It falls right back. "It's none of my business, but it's just-- I'm worried, is all."

[amicably-absent.livejournal.com]

"Oh." Ambrose backpedals frantically over the conversation. "Never mind, no other night, nothing to worry about." He waves his gloved hands.

But Jeb presses on, so Ambrose shifts his focus back, trying to think on the words, hear them clearly. "Worried? What about?"

[spoonfulofwit.livejournal.com]

"Well... There's another guy involved, and they're, um, you know." He shrugs his shoulders tellingly. "You know, getting close."

[amicably-absent.livejournal.com]

"So... a friend of yours is getting close to another man, becoming emotionally involved? Physically involved?" Ambrose managed to not smile, it would be rude. "And what do you want to talk to me about about this?"

[spoonfulofwit.livejournal.com]

Jeb has the decency to blush at all three questions. He realizes it's a silly way to go about this, but how in the Zone would he come here and tell Ambrose he thinks he should move in with his father?

He doesn't.

"Kinda. Both, I guess. I don't know. But, thing is, they're both heaps busy, and I know for a fact one of them's more stubborn than an oxe... I don't really know what to tell them. You can't tell them to just get on with it, right? But...I really think they could do with spending more time together."

[amicably-absent.livejournal.com]

"Jebediah..." Ambrose pauses and suddenly smiles. "I remember your name. How about that... Anyway," he shakes his head. "Jebediah, is this about... Raw, perchance? And yourself...?

[spoonfulofwit.livejournal.com]

He can feel it the moment his face starts stretching into a big, giant, colossal exclamation mark, and he doesn't like one second of it.

His eyebrows crawl steadily up his forehead, which wrinkles impressively for his young age, his eyes widen and his jaw goes slack.

If he was blushing before, it's nothing compared to now.

[amicably-absent.livejournal.com]

Ambrose blinks. "You... didn't realise I knew, did you... Oh dear, I've really..." He turns and paces away, looking panicked and then turns back with a bright, open smile. "Hi!"

[spoonfulofwit.livejournal.com]

"Hi."

It's a nice, small word. Just big enough to get out under the onslaught of capital letters swimming about in his head.

"Ambrose?"

[amicably-absent.livejournal.com]

"Ambrose?" He looks around, turning in a circle and looking himself over. "Oh! Metal stress testing! No, not Ambrose," he grins. "Ambrose seems to have bailed out on us..."

[spoonfulofwit.livejournal.com]

He hides his face with both hands and groans behind them in frustrated defeat. "How come I always mess things up with you guys!?"

[amicably-absent.livejournal.com]

"We mess things up between ourselves, what makes you think you should be so special as to not mess things up," Glitch huffs.

[spoonfulofwit.livejournal.com]

He sighs, dropping his hands away from his face and gives Glitch a tired look. "I don't know? I really don't know how Dad keeps you guys so... zen."

That's a little something he picked up from one of the princesses. He's just as impressed as she was, when she used said expression in a very similar fashion.

"We were sort of talking, me and Ambrose... About relationships."

[amicably-absent.livejournal.com]

"Ha! You didn't see me and Ambrose throwing stuff and hitting each other the other night!" Glitch pulls down the welding mask and picks up the welder again, reigniting it.

"What relationships?" He starts welding two pieces back together.

[spoonfulofwit.livejournal.com]

...

...

Jeb blinks, shakes his head, and tells himself he didn't hear what he thinks he just heard. In any case, he might as well ditch his original setup and forget about ever asking Glitch or Ambrose what Wyatt needs to do to get them living together. And besides, he shouldn't be meddling in his father's business.

And besides, now that the cat's out of the bag, he might as well go with it. "Ummm, well... He seems to think me an' Raw... But we're not, not technically, and..." He sighs at the first sign of another blush coming on.

"I think he likes me."

[amicably-absent.livejournal.com]

"Of course he likes you," Glitch replied with a bright smile. "You can see it in the way he watches you. That little head tilt thing, you know," he mimics the way he tilts his head, the draw away but pushing forwards. "He's just shy. But he likes you."

He finishes the join and sets aside the welder again. "You didn't come here to ask us about Raw, did you? Something about... more time together?"

[spoonfulofwit.livejournal.com]

"That's the thing, though." He musters new resolve and stands up straighter, even if he hasn't recovered quite yet from being so very left-fielded.

"How would you tell someone you want to spend more time with them without sounding like a..." He can't find the word, but then it pops right into his head. "Like a lack-lustre fool?"

[amicably-absent.livejournal.com]

"You say, 'Wyatt,' because if I was doing this, I'd be talking to him, you say 'Wyatt, I miss you every moment you're not there, because my heart beats only for the promise of being with you again.' But that might be a bit intense. So instead maybe ask them on a picnic, do something together and then casually drop in that you really like spending time with them and want to do it more often."

He pulls off his gloves and mask, dropping them in a pile and walking over to Jeb. "How intense is the relationship already?"

[spoonfulofwit.livejournal.com]

Glitch says intense, Jeb says schmoopy and sickly sweet and somehow just right, coming from the former Advisor to the Queen. He smiles at the notion, but it drops away the moment Glitch starts walking closer.

"I'm not sure... I mean, I wouldn't..." He ducks his head. "We're friends. Just, close friends. Close friends that sometimes look at each other like they're not. Like there's more."