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The house is silent apart from quiet sniffles. Jake sits on the floor of the living room next to Sacha, one arm wrapped around his shoulders. Sacha’s head is hanging low and Jake can see his bottom lip wobble a little bit. Seeing his boyfriend in tears when he comes home was not what he expected but here they are.
“I’m so sorry, Jake,” Sacha sniffles, rubbing the tears away that keep spilling over despite Sacha’s attempts to keep it under control.
“It’s okay, mate. It’s not your fault,” Jake tries to consolidate him but to little avail.
“It is! I promised to take care of him while you’re away and then he died on my watch.”
Jake rubs Sacha’s upper arm, holding him even closer. And while it’s kinda cute how worked up Sacha is about it and Jake does have pity on him, he also can’t help to think that it’s a little bit funny. Just a tiny bit.
“Don’t you think he would be alright if we just repot him?”
“No, look.” Sacha reaches out for the plant lying in front of them in a mess of pot pieces and soil, picking up a piece that seems to be separated from the roots.
“The stem got snapped off when it fell. We can’t just reattach it like nothing happened.”
Jake fights the grin wanting to take over his face. He presses a kiss to Sacha’s temple and takes the remnants of the plant out of his hands carefully.
“How about I call my mom and ask if she knows a trick on how to fix it? She has a way with plants, I’m sure we can figure something out. Is that alright with you?”
Sacha nods, sniffling once more and while he still looks sad, Jake thinks they’re over the worst of it.
“I’ll tidy up the mess,” Sacha says, getting up from the floor to get the dustpan from the kitchen. Jake watches after him with a soft smile before reassessing the damage once more. It wasn’t easy to get the story out of Sacha how he managed to drop the plant that was usually standing on one of the shelves. It had been a gift from his mom when he moved in, to “give the room some character and clean air”. Her words, not Jake’s. What he got out of Sacha was something about how he wanted to water the plant but couldn’t reach it. So when he took it down and turned to take it to the watering can, Billy ran right in front of him, making Sacha stumble in an attempt to not trip on him. As a result, the potted plant fell and broke down.
Jake gets up when Sacha comes back into the living room, catching his boyfriend by the waist before he gets to work. Sacha looks up at him, the tears stopped by now even though his eyes still shine a bit.
“No more crying, okay?” Jake says gently, leaning in to press a kiss to Sacha’s forehead, then his cheeks, the tip of his nose and ending with a kiss to his lips. It makes Sacha smile again and really, that’s all Jake wants.
“I’m still sorry.”
“I know but it’s just a plant, mate. Accidents like that happen. But it’s still cute that you were so worried about it.” And Jake doesn’t hold back the grin this time, resulting in Sacha rolling his eyes with a groan before he slaps him with the dustpan.
“It was a gift after all! Of course I’m not happy about breaking it,” he says before he pulls free of Jake’s hold, squatting down to sweep up the soil and pot shards.
Jake just ruffles his hair before he takes out his phone. He snaps a quick picture of the secluded plant and sends it to his mom before he calls her. It’s better to work with the visuals instead of him trying to explain what exactly happened. He’s sure there’s going to be a way to keep the plant alive, and even if not it’s not the end of the world. Jake rather has a broken plant than no Billy or Sacha.