Weep Little Lion Man... [Riley, Danny]

[Dr. Griffin Jones]

... You're not as brave as you were at the start.

Griff had gotten to know Riley as a wonderful, loyal friend. Together the pair of them had planned out the garden Griff wanted, and sat together sipping cups of tea and chatting about pretty much anything that tickled their fancy. So, when Danny - another of Griff's new friends that he was delighted to know - called to say something was up with Riley, the little welsh man instantly snapped into action.

First, he called Riley and spoke with him. Then he organised a weekend with dinner, movies and tea. Because as already cited, Griff believes tea is the best way to fix anything, including a broken heart.

The guests were due at 6pm, and the meta had carefully prepared a lovely meal of Cawl - a lovely Welsh Stew with lamb and leeks, and hot bread to dip in. There was even a starter of cockles (something that took Griff back to childhood holidays at the seaside) and a delicious rich fruit cake for dessert with lemon icecream to refresh the pallate. Griff may never rival Riley's ability to cook, but he certainly knew how to make comfort food for a broken heart.

Indeed, he'd even made sure there was some wine, a good selection of DVDs and Gladys had a bath ready for the visitation. As Griff had remembered that Riley was allergic to chocolate, he instead made sure there was ovaltine in the cupboard, and a big box of handmade macarons from the local patisserie.

He'd made a real effort, and even as Gladys stood on the windowsill waiting for the first guest, Griff was just making sure both of the spare rooms were comfortable and cosy. "Are they here yet, Gladys?" He called from upstairs.

Gladys didn't reply. She was too busy eating the curtains.

[Riley Adams]

After the emotionally draining day he had yesterday, Riley couldn't even think about going over to Griff's, even though he really wanted to. He was so looking forward to meeting up with Danny and Griff, not even knowing at first that they had met earlier. And as the time grew closer to when he was expected over at the Welsh man's home, Riley grew even more tired.

But he couldn't for the life of him cancel on either of his friends. They were possibly the sweetest people he knew to date. And they were having this dinner for him. He needed to be a gracious guest and he was going to enjoy it, dammit!

So, dressed in a nicer than usual checkered dark blue shirt, untucked with jeans and clean work boots, he drove up to Griff's house, intent on enjoying a night with his new friends.

Killing the engine, Riley took a few calming breaths before getting out of his pickup and walking to the front door, already seeing Gladys inside, chewing on the curtains. He cracked a smile as he knocked on the door. This was going to be a good night.

"Griff, it's Riley." He called out, ringing the doorbell for good measure.

[Danny Silverman]

Danny was worried about Riley. He didn’t think that was unreasonable. He’d grown to like the landscaper the more he’d gotten to know him. What wasn’t there to like about Riley? The man was sweet, gentle, liked to cook, and was a very good friend and a wonderful boss. So it only made sense that when Riley was upset about breaking up with his boyfriend, Danny wanted to be right there with him, giving him support as Riley had done for him. He hadn’t known how to do it at first. He thought about taking Riley to a bar and getting drunk—after all, it seemed to have cheered up Josh that one night—or maybe taking him to dinner, or maybe having him over to his apartment to sculpt and throw paint at canvases (which was Danny’s form of stress relief, and an activity he hoped his landlord didn’t find out about). But when he’d been talking to Griff about it, Griff had come up with a better idea.

A weekend together with food, tea, and movies. It sounded wonderful. And he could only hope that together, he and Griff could help Riley be happier. If anyone could, he thought, Griff could. He was so wonderful and charming that Danny thought there wasn’t anyone he couldn’t cheer up.

Well, except Josh, if his suspicion was right. But he didn’t know what to do about that yet. He’d have to keep thinking about how to solve that problem. He didn’t like that some of his friends weren’t getting along, and was determined to solve it. But later, once Riley’s broken heart was on the mend.

He arrived soon after Riley did, and slipped out of the car to come join him on the front seat.

“Hey Riley,” he greeted with a faint smile, looking up at him. “Did you already ring the doorbell? It’s very nice to see you!” He looked all right. Just…tired.

[Dr. Griffin Jones]

If it weren't for the fact that the doorbell was obnoxiously loud and Gladys had begun bleeting, I think Griff would have spent the rest of the night fussing around and making sure everything was perfect - entirely forgetting the important bit; the guests. Letting out a shout, after checking that he wasn't coming down with a cold (he'd sneezed twice in a row, a clear sign of impending doom) he practically flew down the stairs, lifted Gladys up into his arms and opened the door.

"Well fancy you both arriving at the same time." Griff said cheerily, nodding his head then stepping back. "Come in, make yourselves comfortable." He added, closing the door behind his two guests then setting the tiny goat down. Gladys took this as an opportunity to greet both men with a furiously wiggling tail and a set of short bleats, before rearing up on her hooves to chew at the bottom of Riley's shirt. I'm pretty sure that's her way of greeting everyone.

"Gladys, behave yourself." The welsh man chuckled, before gesturing the pair down into the basement - Griff's private comfort den. He'd made the room look more comfortable than usual, a mean feat, and had set up the table by the sofa so they could eat in comfort and talk in the soothing ambiance of the room, instead of sitting in the formal dining room. "I uh... hope everything's to you gent's liking. The spare rooms are all freshly changed and there's towels on the bed and..." He breathed, looking a little sheepish before opening his arms for a hug.

"It's great to see you both." He finally said, giving both men a light squeeze. "We can eat whenever you're ready, and I've got plenty of films for us to watch." He grinned nervously. Mostly out of panic that one of them would die of food poisoning from his food, or have an allergic reaction to something in the room. Or maybe Gladys would eat something important of theirs. Breathe Griff. Breathe.

[Riley Adams]

Turning around, Riley's face lit up to find Danny there. "Hey Danny." He raised a hand in a small wave and nodded in response to the other man's question. "Yeah I already did. It's good to see you too. Thanks for coming." He gave the man another smile before turning back around to find Griff at the door, all smiles.

What were the odds that Riley found two of the sweetest guys in Pilot Ridge and managed to befriend both of them at the same time they had befriended each other? Griff with all his big open grins and love of his goat and Danny with all his general adorableness and patience. As much as he loved Josh and Cobalt [and he really did love them], he was starting to really like these two equally so.

Gladys was just a bonus.

Riley stepped into the house and smiled at how warm it felt. Like a home should. He went in with Danny and down into the den behind Griff and Riley instantly felt at ease. "Everything's perfect, Griff. Thank you." He gladly went into the hug the man offered and smiled at Danny. "You too. For coming and calling Griff about this." He hugged the other man and sat down with a smile. The night was shaping up to be a good one.

"Maybe we can watch a movie first. I don't want you to have to run around just yet." Riley smiled up at Griff, tugging the two down to sit.

[Danny Silverman]

Danny smiled up at Riley—and it WAS up, because the man was still very tall. “Of course! Happy to.” He turned as Griff opened the door, then stepped in after Riley, looking around the house curiously and smiling a little as Gladys hopped up on Riley to eat his shirt. However, that didn’t last too long, which was good. He didn’t think that Riley minded his clothes being eaten as much as Josh had seemed to, but…it was still better to make sure, right?

“Glad to see you too, Griff!” Danny’s smile toward the doctor turned a little reassuring in an attempt to make him more comfortable. He was sure everything was going to go well. Why worry about it? “But a movie sounds great!” He was a little hungry, but there were probably snacks, right? He hugged Griff, then Riley, smiling up at the taller man.

“Happy to!” he said cheerfully, pushing up the glasses that had slipped down his nose, and in the process of doing so, realizing that he was holding a bag still. “Oh, Griff!” He spun to the other man as they entered the basement and offered it to him before Riley could tug him down to sit. “I brought desserts! They’re not as good as anything you two can make…” Cooking wasn’t his strong suit, and he wasn’t afraid to admit it, although he was a little embarrassed by his store-bought treats, “but they’re not bad! Maybe we can snack while we’re watching the movie? What movies do you have, by the way?”

So long as it wasn’t one he had worked on—and the odds were very slim of that, as he hadn’t exactly been THAT popular of a builder for the sets—then he’d be good. He’d been told he had too much commentary for movies he knew. Oops.

[Dr. Griffin Jones]

Griff happily settled next to Riley, then opened his mouth in surprise when Danny offered him the bag. "Thank you!" He said honestly, taking the desserts and agreeing when the man suggested that they eat the desserts as a snack during the first movie. "Sounds perfect." He added, as Gladys climbed up onto the sofa and rested her head on Riley's shoulder, bleating at him before quietly setting to work nibbling on his stubble affectionately.

Sitting forward, Griff moved over to the DVD pile. "Well, we've got the Pirates of the Carribbean movies, Dawsons Creek series." He paused and blushed a little. "Don't ask. And there's various chickflicks, Marley and Me, Miss Congeniality, Two Weeks Notice, The Curious Tale of Benjamin Button. Enough animal movies to last a nuclear winter..." He looked up, and over at the two men hopefully. "Anything tickle your fancy?"

Running his hands through his hair, he beamed over at the two men on the sofa, especially now Gladys couldn't choose between Riley's scruff and Danny's, her goat head twitching back and forth as both men received a special goaty lovebite. "I also have some tortilla chips and dip, if you'd like, but ah... I don't want to spoil your appetites, I did cook rather a lot." The small man blushed, adding a shrug to try and show it was no big deal.

"Anyway, this is the den. There are blankets over the back of the sofa if you feel particularly snuggly and I have the kettle on so I'll quickly pop back into the kitchen to make the tea then I'll be right back." Leaping out of the leather seat, Griff hurried up the stairs to the kitchen and began pouring out three cups of tea - thankfully having a good enough memory to remember how each man took it. When he returned, he had also brought down little spoons for the desserts and set them down on the table.

"There we are." The doctor scratched his chin then settled down. "Hope everything's right."

[Riley Adams]

Were Riley to realise how hard it really was for his friends to look at him, the landscaper would have tried and found a way to either make himself shorter or his friends taller. It was ridiculous but the man would have tried to find a way. Especially with Danny and Griff who were roughly the same height and the top of their heads came just about his nose.

Looking down at what was tugging his shirt, Riley bent down and ruffled at Gladys' coat. "Hi, baby." He bopped his nose against the goat's and stood back up.

Riley perked up at the mention of dessert and waved off Danny's remark. "Don't be silly." He gave the man an open smile and settled in with Griff leaning against him.

"Well, this is a weekend stay, I'm sure we can have the leftovers another night." Riley reassured the younger man with a quick rub of his arm. "And I've never watched The Curious Tale, though I've been meaning to check that out. I've seen the books. What about you Danny?" The biological manipulator asked of the other younger man.

Griff disappeared and Riley looked over the movie choices, giving some to Danny for him to choose. When he came back, Riley leaned back on the couch after setting the movies back on the table to receive the mug of tea. "Mmm...smells good. Thank you." Riley took a sip and gave Griff a warm smile.

He very much intended to be flanked by the two smaller men on the couch. He swore he felt warmer just by being near them.

[Danny Silverman]

Danny promptly settled down on the sofa next to Riley. Griff was seated on the other side, and Danny was pretty happy with the arrangements. He was a little hungry, so he did start to reach for the snacks until Gladys came to eat his scruff. He yelped a little at that, then laughed and gently pushed the goat away, rubbing her affectionately. She was too adorable to be angry at, and besides—he didn’t really mind.

“Benjamin Button sounds great. I’ve never seen it either,” he chirped. “But I like all the movies you have, Griff! You have good taste.” And most of them he hadn’t seen, and that was a definite good thing. When Griff came back with the tea, his smile widened, and he sat up a little straighter.

“Thanks!” It smelled wonderful, and he took a long drink from it before settling back against the couch once again. “It’s great, Griff. Thank you. You make the best tea.” This weekend was so far looking pretty good. He liked it.

“Don’t worry about it, Griff!” he exclaimed, once the man had finally settled down. He knew everything was going well, and so wasn’t as worried as Griffin was, but then, Danny also was an optimist who didn’t think about things going wrong on a normal basis. “It’s wonderful, and I’m sure your food is great too. Shall we watch the movie?” And then maybe they could talk once everyone was sufficiently relaxed.

[Dr. Griffin Jones]

"Please make yourselves comfy." Griff chuckled, taking a swig of tea before moving over to the DVD player to pop Benjamin Button in. Grabbing the remote, he snuggled up beside Riley and pulled Gladys away from Danny's scruff, despite her insistence to nibble on it as much as she could. Determined to eat facial hair, she settled down to nibble at Griff's beard instead, and he stroked her back, feeling a lot more relaxed now the movie was starting to play.

"I'm glad you two like the drinks." He admitted humbly, moving over to grab one of the desserts and open it, before going through the DVD main menu to get the movie up and running. Moving to turn the lights down so they were pleasantly dim, Griff let Gladys lie in his lap and settled down. He just hoped he could fix Riley's broken heart a little with an evening of cuddles and good food.

As the trio began to watch the movie, Griff imagined what it would be like to age backwards. "It'd be horrible... to start off old and go backwards." He thought out loud, frowning a little. "You'd need your parents when it was all too late." A sobering thought. The doctor was privately glad he had a box of tissues handy for sobbing into - too many episodes of american soaps with sad sad stories in them. "Ah, what am I saying, I sound all depressing." He chuckled, shaking his head, before going silent once more.

It was a lovely setting now, with the movie's start now on the TV screen and Danny and Riley on the sofa with him. Gladys seemed to agree, her chin resting on Riley's shoulder, subtly trying to get to nibble his hair.

[Riley Adams]

Glad that both of the other men were happy with his choice, Riley beamed, thinking he would probably forget about everything else sooner than he thought possible. Of course he couldn't possibly forget completely but for now, he had two such adorable men trying their hardest to cheer him up, what could possibly be better than this? And he had a goat who loved him! Well, his facial hair anyway.

Riley nodded in agreement to Danny's remark about Griff's taste in movies. "Admittedly, I haven't seen Dawson's Creek. Maybe we can watch that later or tomorrow even." The landscaper suggested with a small grin.

"It's lovely, Griff." Riley leaned in against Griff as the general practitioner spoke about their drinks. He decided dessert could wait. He found that he never could eat while watching something new on TV. Every movie he'd went to watch, he never bought popcorn or even water. It reminded him of the times when Michael used to tease him silly for doing so. Those were good times.

Griff basically read Riley's mind with that commentary. "Oh Griff, no you aren't. It makes sense. I wouldn't wish it upon anybody." He shook his head, only just realising Gladys was still trying to eat his hair. Riley grinned and let her. One arm moved to drape over the back of the couch, the eldest man in the group relaxed and watched the movie in silence.

[OOC: Skip on to dinner, y'all?]

[Danny Silverman]

“I like that plan,” Danny agreed to the idea of watching Dawson’s Creek. “I never got the chance to see it either! And you seem to like it, Griff, so I think we should see it tomorrow. It’s a plan.” And he nodded as if it was all settled and leaned against Riley a little. Sorry, Riley. You sat next to Danny on the couch. Cuddling is a must. He just does it automatically.

It was funny, but he had a different opinion than Griff and Riley on that. Maybe it was because he had lived most of his life without parents. “I think everyone always need parents, even when you don’t think you do,” was what he said, a little quietly. He was happy he still had his. “But it is very sad, yeah.”

Griff wasn’t the only one using the tissues throughout the movie, although Danny tried to be quiet about his little sniffles. However, by the end, he had completely given up and was still dabbing his eyes, his glasses all knocked askew, as the credits ran. At least, he told himself sternly, he hadn’t clung to Riley and cried as he would have when he was younger. Besides, there was no shame in it. It was a very sad film.

“That was wonderful,” he said after a moment, once he’d regained control of himself and had rearranged his glasses and tidied his hair again. He smiled at them. “Thanks for the suggestion, Riley!” And he was, he realized, suddenly starving. Desserts weren’t enough, it seemed. “Um, can we eat now?” he added, in a bit of a shy voice. “I’m kind of hungry. I’ll help set up, though!”

((Skipped.^^*))

[Dr. Griffin Jones]

Okay, so Griff had sobbed quite a lot through the film, and his hands were full with tissues. He'd tried to blow his nose quietly when his sinuses had begun to drip, but in general he looked somewhat red around the nose and eyes. Oh well, at least it hadn't been Marley and Me, he supposed. If they'd watched that, he would have howled and that would have been really embarrassing.

Sitting up and popping the tissues in the waste bin next to the sofa, Griff sat up. "Well, now I've cleared my eyes out, I'm hungry too." He said, trying to lighten the mood. "And don't be silly Danny, you're the guest, I wont have any of it." His voice was a little firmer, but not nasty sounding as he lifted out of the seat. "I'll bring everything down here." He explained, before disappearing upstairs to bring down the starter of cockles.

After a few minutes of rustling and banging upstairs, Griff returned with a steaming pot of creamy cockles. Setting it down on the table, he ladled it out into bowls. "It's kind of like a clam chowder but with cockles." He explained, blushing a little bit. He didn't want his guests thinking he was ripping off something very clearly american with something else. Gladys perked from her position - now on Riley's lap, and sniffed the air, bleating.

"Not for you Gladys." He chuckled warmly, setting the table. "I wasn't sure whether we wanted a bottle of wine or not with dinner. If you want something then please let me know, I'm the host after all." The doctor smiled, happy to be in the company of such wonderful people.

[Riley Adams]

With both the men leaning against him, Riley felt snug and comfortable. Riley liked being in close proximity with people. It just felt right for him. And here were two very affectionate people so eager to sidle up with him. He was very happy indeed.

The movie was indeed the saddest thing he had seen. By the end of it, Riley's eyes were red and his nose ached from all the sniffling he did. It seemed like he wasn't the only one effected by it as the other two men had also gone through half of the tissue box by the time the credits rolled.

Danny's thanks was met with a wave of a hand. "It was really a selfish suggestion on my part. I just wanted to see it because I haven't. But yes, it was brilliant." He smiled through tearful eyes.

The suggestion for dinner was met with a nod. "Yes please. Oh but Griff...you can't possibly-" Griff was already up the stairs when Riley called him out and once again he was left alone with Danny. "Griff is such a gracious host, isn't he?" Riley smiled warmly, wiping his eyes a little. "I feel a little bad that we're not helping." He chuckled nervously.

Griff came back just a few seconds later with a pot of cockle chowder, if what he said was anything to go by. Riley sat up straight, careful not to jostle Gladys too much. "No alcohol for me, thank you Griff. I'm good with my tea. But if you two want to drink, don't let me stop you." He smiled reassuringly. He gratefully took the bowl and spooned it into his mouth slowly. "Oh my goodness, Griff this is delicious." He took a few more spoonfuls and smiled. "Really."

[Danny Silverman]

The fact that both of the other men were crying too made Danny relax, and smile through his rather teary face. He’d always been a little embarrassed by the fact that he cried so easily at movies. After all, other people didn’t do it. Why was he the exception? But when seeing that Riley and Griff looked just as sad as he was…well, it did a good job cheering the other man up. In fact, he felt that it was wonderful he got to spend time with such great and sweet men.

“He is,” Danny agreed, smiling at Riley. He fetched a tissue and offered it to him, then sank down next to him. “Me too. Maybe we can wash the dishes or something! Or maybe we’ll be able to help later in the weekend.” He liked that plan. Or, really, he liked both plans. Anything to help Griff, who was such a great host, would make him happy.

Danny sat up a little straighter, delighted by the smell of the food, even though he didn’t know what “cockles” were. It looked good. “I’m good with the tea too,” he chirped. He really was trying to avoid alcohol lately. He took a bowl with a nod of thanks and tried it, then blinked and grinned up at the man.

“It’s wonderful! But if I may…” He was blushing a little, and pushed up his glasses. “What are cockles? I’ve never had anything like this before.”