Incorrigible

With Steve's recovery going smoothly, he had also started picking up a bit of work each day in order to take some of the load off of Noah's shoulders. Although Maria wasn't too happy about this, she also knew that Noah couldn't keep doing everything by himself and continue to be there for her bestie and their unborn baby. Besides, the doctor had given him permission for a few hours each day as long as he promised to stop if he felt his head hurting or became too fatigued, so what more could she say against that. With the permission in his pocket, Steve and Maria would go to the office every morning and would return around three in the afternoon.

While Maria used the short walks he got getting from place A to B as his mandatory exorcize, Steve took the opportunity to resume his favourite hobby, teasing Noah. Even on his first day he decided to come without giving Noah a heads up and burst through his office doors as he yelled out cheerfully, "Hello partner, did you miss me!?". This of course startled the highly focussed, fatigued and slightly sleep deprived Noah. Instantly also affecting his mood. As he gripped his pen tightly he replied, "You are lucky that you are in the middle of your recovery right now, otherwise I would have used this stapler on your forehead to show you how I feel about unannounced visits." But Steve, who had been on the receiving end of many of Noah's threats seemed unfazed by his words and replied, "Oeh, I love it when you talk dirty to me, but let's leave the play for later, I came here to work."

This seemed to have surprised Noah. He glanced over at Maria as if to seek confirmation of Steve's words from a more reliable source and said, "Work? Really?". After Maria nodded and Steve pretended that he was deeply offended that Noah didn't believe him for his word, Noah got up from behind his desk and took a seat on the sofa in his office, seating himself across from where Maria and Steve were sitting. He asked him about his recovery and how much work he would be able to do, which continued on into a conversation where they divided the tasks that currently all fell under Noah's supervision or responsibility.

Although the most apparent solution was for Steve to take back the things that were in his portfolio before the incident, but that wasn't feasible considering his hours, nor very practical considering some things could more easily be managed simultaneously. Having Steve take on those tasks, would be a more efficient way to spend his available work-time and a better way to unburden Noah. With their longstanding partnership, they didn't even need to mention this out loud and the division of tasks was done very organically, with them each easily seeing which task best belonged to whom.

After they had their talk and the tasks had been agreed upon, which was a very short and swift conversation, the three of them took a few minutes to catch up with each other regarding their personal lives. This was needed because while Laila had gone to visit the two of them several times, Noah hadn't been able to join her as often as he had wanted to. Just like he had spent more long evenings in the office than he planned to. But sometimes life gets in the way like that and you have to make the most of it in the moment.

After hearing how things were going and seeing how things had progressed between his friend and Laila's friend on the relationship front, carrying themselves like a couple so much more naturally, Noah felt reassured in more than one way. Steve and Maria then got up, feeling like they had taken up enough of Noah's time and that they should move over to Steve's office to get started on the work he had taken over from Noah, leaving Noah back alone with his thoughts. But not before saying, "So, since you are so busy, should I go have dinner with Laila or will you be doing that yourself after all these weeks of missing out?". These last words caused Noah to throw his pen at him, but Steve had closed the door before the pen could reach him.

After the door closed, Noah's facial expression immediately loosened up and he shook his head at his incorrigible friend. While Noah was happy to see that Steve had recovered enough in such a short amount of time to be able to help him out again, for however many hours that might be, he couldn't say that he had missed the teasing that came along with it. But he did feel that it was a price he was happy to pay for the load it was taking off of him. He had indeed seen very little of Laila over the past few weeks. Mostly speaking to her over the phone or before they went to bed. So the thought of them being able to spend more time together and share some meals again, made him far more happy than Steve's words had managed to cause anger.

On the other side of the door, Steve felt his heart racing and chuckled before saying, "What a scary man he is. If I hadn't closed that door in that very moment, that pen would have hit me. How is he able to throw with such accuracy from that distance in a split second." Maria shook her head. "And yet, you still continue to do it. Every. Single. Time. Why?" With a cheeky look in his eyes Steve said, "For the thrill of course. I haven't felt so alive in days. Nothing like a good death glare from Noah after the joy of teasing him. Gets the heart pumping, you know?". Maria chuckled before shaking her head again as she gave up trying to reason with Steve on this front, while also being able to relate to what he was saying as she too was an avid Noah teaser.