The Morpho Mobile may have looked a little worse for wear, but at least it seemed to be running pretty smoothly. He'd been a little worried about taking it out right away, but fortunately everything seemed to be holding well. Henchman 21-of-1 was glad their new friend was a man of many talents.

Once satisfied he wouldn't end up stranded on the side of the road, his mind was freed to worry about other things, instead. For instance: what was up with the Monarch and Dr. the Monarch's Wife? The prior made it sound like a severe reaction to a pretty minor offense, and the latter wasn't answering his calls. Normally he'd assume she was just busy, but here, it had him more worried than he probably had any right to be.

The Monarch smiled and waved when 21 pulled up, but after brief pleasantries- greeting, thanking him for coming- he was oddly quiet. No comment on the car, no asking if 21 had found anything else in the Morpho Cave, no angry rant about anything...

It made him uncomfortable.

The long wait at the next traffic light made the silence that much more potent, and the henchman had to break it. "So uh…" Not that he knew where to go with that, really. He'd gotten a very brief rundown of events on the phone, so it didn't seem like there was much more to tell about the evening. Nor had his own night been particularly interesting past getting the car working, which felt redundant to discuss. "Have you seen the new Walking Dead yet?" When in doubt, geek out. "I broke down and bought the season pass."

"...Huh?" The Monarch looked to him a moment, noticeably still processing the words. "...Oh," he said at last. "Not yet, but that's cool." He returned to gazing out the window, seemingly a thousand miles away.

The next few attempts returned similar results, until at last, 21 sighed. "Dude, are you okay?"

The Monarch hesitated. "... I don't know." So that was a no, then? "I really don't know what I should be feeling right now. Did I screw up worse than I thought? Is she overreacting? Am I missing something? I'm not sure if I should be angry or confused or…"

"Ah…" 21 wished he could help, but didn't see much he could do here. "You tried calling? Or texting?"

"After I got off the phone with you, but she's ignoring me." A bit of his usual fire returned as that nerve was struck. "She accused me of ignoring her, but you know I would never-"

21 cringed slightly, and waggled his hand in an iffy way.

"I'd never!" the Monarch insisted.

"Not this intentionally," 21 mumbled in complacent agreement.

The Monarch crossed his arms and sulked, but the silence that accompanied that did not last nearly so long as the earlier ones. "I just can't believe she thinks I'd lie about something like this!"

He shouldn't. He should keep his mouth shut. This could only make things- "You mean like you've been lying about being okay with her promotion, or the recon work we did on Venture, or the Morpho Cave-" worse… God dammit Gary.

The Monarch's anger visibly swelled; he shifted and squared up in his seat; a hand rose in protest and his mouth opened. ...And then he deflated. For a moment he looked to take back the defensive after all, but again it was given up. Instead he flopped back against the seat. "...God I suck. … I really don't deserve her, do I?"

...That was a topic which 21 had more than enough experience avoiding. Rather than a yes or no, he quickly found himself fishing in an extremely well-stocked pool of indirect responses. "She loves you, though. I'm sure she just needs some time to cool down and you two can talk things out."

The Monarch crossed his arms again and let out an uncomfortable whine. 21 was pretty sure he'd do it, regardless, but he could imagine how much he wasn't looking forward to it. …That, or he'd just… avoid the whole thing and hope it went away. Honestly they were probably equally likely.

21 sighed. "Look, we're almost home. Just see if she's willing to talk yet, all right? What's the worst that could happen?"

The Monarch stood forlorn, locked out of his own room, tears in his eyes as he desperately pleaded. "Honey… Sweetie, please, just…"

But she wasn't answering. Not anymore, at least. Given the previous ten or fifteen minutes before she'd locked herself in there, though, 21 wouldn't be surprised if her voice was giving out.

The henchman waited in the next room, lest he be caught in the fray. When his boss staggered back to him at last, 21 quietly asked, "What… did you do…?"

"I wish I knew," the Monarch whimpered back. "The last thing I remember is looking through suits, then waking up outside!"

Whatever it was, 21 had never imagined things would be this bad. He'd seen them fight plenty of times. ...Technically, he'd caused several of their worse fights, not least of which was the whole Flight of the Monarch incident. But even then, even considering that fight had broken them up for a time, he had never seen Mrs. Monarch this intensely angry before. Hell hath no fury indeed.

He very nearly said something to that effect, but caught his open mouth just before words could leave it. Right, that was only going to make things worse, not better.

"...Well," 21 started instead. "I'm sure she'll calm down by morning." He could hope. In the meantime, he could do his best to keep the Monarch's mind off it. He'd suggest playing in their new clubhouse he meant 'secret lair', but with her home and no one to keep watch, that was probably ill-advised. As it was, they had to park the Morpho Mobile via the secret entrance, then go back outside and walk around to come in the front door to avoid questions. So with that off the table... "We could grab some drinks and catch up on a few shows?" .. 'catch up', 'marathon intensely'... same difference really.

The Monarch gave something between a whine and a groan, but then sighed his concession. "I guess I've got nothing better to do."

Was the Monarch always this much of a lightweight? Not… literally weight but-... Well that kind of played a part, too, didn't it? Whatever. Did he always get drunk this easily or had he just drunk way more than 21 had noticed?

And perhaps a better question: was he always this affectionate when drunk? "Really, I meanit. Youare my best… my best friend. I realry.. I reallylove you, man."

For all the drama and gratuitous blood on-screen, it was all 21 could do to keep from laughing. "Dude, could you be any more of a cliché right now?"

The Monarch answered with an exaggerated pout. "I meeeaaan it though," he whined.

21 smirked and shook his head. "Dude. You sound like someone who's never been drunk is badly writing a drunk scene using only other badly written drunk scenes for reference. That's how cliché you sound."

"Why don't you beliiiieeeeve meeeee."

The henchman rolled his eyes, but the Monarch wrapped both arms around one of 21's and lay his head on his shoulder. A quick flash of panic raced through the henchman, but he managed to calm himself quickly enough. It just.. took him by surprise, that was all. And at least the Monarch wasn't dwelling on the fight. 21 could certainly put up with a little clinginess if it was helping, though.

"You're alvays there for me," the Monarch whimpered softly. "You listen t'me when no un else does…"

21 felt his face heat a little at this, but again he dismissed it. "That's my job, isn't it?"

He didn't know how to categorize the response sound except knowing it signified protest. "I don't wanna keep pertending yer jussa hentsman," he whined, his grip tightening. "You're too good fer tha- you're too gud at everthing."

"...-B-boss, I think you've had a bit too much uh-"

"I had jus' the right amout uh!" That comeback didn't quite work but okay thanks for proving the point.

"Not that this isn't super flattering but-"

"Twenty-one." The Monarch's tone caught him off-guard and his gaze, previously averted, was called straight back to find it met the Monarch's. He supposed he shouldn't be surprised by the look of adoration in the Monarch's eyes at this point, but he was surprised at how much it caused his heart to race.

"When you le… I always knew you'd come home…"

I didn't, 21 thought in reply.

"Buh please dun… don't ever leave me again."

21 said nothing- had nothing. No promises, but no protest, either. He didn't know what to say, or what to do right-

The Monarch decided for him, and before he quite knew what was happening 21 realized the Monarch's lips were pressed against his own. In the next moment, he was standing three feet away, staring bewildered at a dejected Monarch. "D-Dude you are drunk. This- You can't do this, okay? You- I-..."

He wasn't sure if he'd ever seen the Monarch look quite so small or fragile. "...I'm sorry…"

21 bit the inside of his mouth a moment as he thought. "I mean I- it's not-..." He was best words. #1 5ever. "It would be different if…" If he were sober? Would it? ….maybe? Why was this happening? Hadn't he sworn not to get caught up in shit like exactly this? ….Technically those promises to himself had been in regards to the other Monarch but dammit no this still counted, no fucking technicalities. And still involved her, and-

...why him? Why.

" 'sokay," the Monarch mumbled, but he was avoiding eye contact now. He pulled a blanket from the back of the couch and cocooned himself withi- God dammit Gary was just going to avoid thinking on the pun value there for now.

Hesitantly, 21 took his seat once more, and the Monarch scooted to the far side of the couch to give him more space.

What was even happening in the show now? 21 had entirely lost track. He'd have to rewind it…

He managed to find their spot, but had trouble getting back into it. It didn't seem the Monarch was really watching anymore either…

Gary sighed. This had been a bad idea. ...And this was probably a worse one, but he felt bad, so…

"...H-hey uh…" The Monarch looked to him as he spoke. "You could come back over here if you want…"

Dark eyes lit. "Are you sure?" He was already moving as he asked but..

"Yeah, I uh… I wouldn't mind.. maybe.. cuddlingforabit…" Oh he hated himself already.

And yet, as the Monarch's head found its way to his chest and the blanket was wrapped around him, Gary couldn't help but hug him a little tighter than necessary, nor could he get the thought out of his mind that it would be nice if this were more of a regular thing.

For now, though… "One sec." He shifted himself into more of a lying position and wrapped his arms around the Monarch once more. That was better. He'd just… lie here until the Monarch passed out, then he'd slip off to his own room. It was almost a shame he'd be the only one to remember this tomorrow, but it was probably better that way.

Was this even the same episode or had it moved on to the next one..? He couldn't seem to focus enough to figure it out…

The next morning, consciousness found Gary with his eyes still closed. That was okay, it gave him a moment to relish his nice warm- oh dear Lord he was still on the couch with the Monarch, shit.

Okay don't panic, he'd just have to be a lot more careful so as not to wake him. Slowly, he opened his eyes to assess- the Monarch's open eyes looking up at him "SHIT."

21 literally fell off the couch in his scramble, half dragging the Monarch with him. The latter lazily pushed himself back up on the couch while the prior clammered to find his feet. "It's not what it looks like," he hurriedly tried to explain as he did. "I- You were- I was just trying to-" Words. What were they? Gary sure didn't seem to know.

The Monarch moved to sit upright, but his face remained pretty flat, and he said nothing yet.

Gary was certain he was about to start literally sweating. He bit his lip and tried to find words, but only a few awkward noises managed to come out.

Finally, the Monarch took his feet and stretched. "Man, coffee sounds amazing right now." … "Hey, wha'd'you want for breakfast? I'm thinking of trying out the waffle iron."

… Um. "...Yeah. Sure." That could have gone worse. He supposed he shouldn't complain.

The Monarch began heading toward the kitchen, but stopped in front of him. "Oh, and 21?" Shit. Had he relaxed too soon?

"Y-yeah boss?"

The Monarch leaned in and kissed his cheek. "I'm not drunk now." He smirked, then resumed his journey to procure breakfast.

Gary just stood there for a moment, baffled. Slowly, his hand rose to touch his blushing cheek.