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asphaltcowgrrlTitle: Not So Hot Water
Fandom: White Pine original fiction
Pairing: Ethan McDowell/Travis Murphy
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 591
Summary: Ethan discovers there’s no hot water while trying to get ready for work.
Author’s Notes: Written for the weekend challenge at 1_million_words. The prompt I was given for the weekend of January 10th was: you have no hot water. Also, this is pretty lame, sorry.
“What the hell,” Ethan said, jumping back as the icy water hit his bare skin. “Why isn’t it getting hot?”
“You okay, E,” Travis asked from the other side of the shower curtain.
“No hot water,” he said, shutting the water off as quickly as he was able. “You take a bath or something and not tell me?”
Travis peeled the curtain back and handed his husband a towel. “No, I swear. Didn’t run the dishwasher either. Wonder what’s up?”
“No offense, Murph, because you know I love you and I adore this cabin of yours,” Ethan said, stepping out of the shower and shivering, “but I’m pretty sure your water heater is old as hell.”
“Gee thanks,” Travis teased. “I love you, too.”
“Aw, come on, I didn’t mean anything by that,” Ethan sighed.
“I know you didn’t,” Travis said, “but I have to give you shit about it anyway. It’s our thing.”
Ethan laughed. “Yeah, it is, isn’t it?” He shook his head. “I have to be to work in an hour and I need a shower.”
A grin spread across Travis’ face at Ethan’s subtle reminder of why he needed a shower so badly. “I can call my parents,” he said. “You can use their shower.”
“Why don’t you go check the pilot light first, make sure it isn’t something simple before we drag your poor parents into this mess.”
“I guess I can do that,” Travis said. “You have any idea how to light a water heater?”
“The instructions are on the front of the damn thing, Travis,” Ethan said, chuckling. “Good thing you’re pretty because you’re pretty damn helpless sometimes.”
Travis gave a curtsey.
“Let me get dressed again and I’ll go look. You can come with me and learn something.”
“I know lots of things,” Travis said, handing Ethan a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. “Just not anything practical.”
“That becomes more and more apparent every day,” Ethan teased. “But it sure does give us some interesting conversation topics. Okay, come on, let’s go look.”
“Huh, so that’s all it was,” Travis said, watching the blue light of the gas element flickering. “I guess we should count ourselves lucky.”
“Yeah,” Ethan said. “Your parents don’t have to deal with us in the middle of the night now. But in the morning, you ought to call a plumber and see if you can get someone out here to look at it and make sure it’s working properly, just in case.”
Travis nodded, heeding Ethan’s unspoken warning that losing hot water in the middle of a Utah winter was not a good thing. “I’ll call Bobby, he can look at it and, if it needs fixing or replacing, his brother in Minden Lake can handle it.”
Ethan held the door to the house open so Travis could go inside. “I never thought any good would come out of living in a town as small as White Pine, but you guys really do look out after each other, don’t you?”
“We try,” Travis said.
He knew that to be true. Seven years ago, Travis had gone above and beyond the call of duty when Ethan’s car had chosen the worst moment possible to stop working. A massive snowstorm was headed for White Pine and he had no way to get back home. Travis didn’t hesitate to offer Ethan a place to spend the night, some dinner, and more than a couple overly potent Irish Coffees. The rest was history. Happy, happy history. Wonky water heater or not.
Fandom: White Pine original fiction
Pairing: Ethan McDowell/Travis Murphy
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 591
Summary: Ethan discovers there’s no hot water while trying to get ready for work.
Author’s Notes: Written for the weekend challenge at 1_million_words. The prompt I was given for the weekend of January 10th was: you have no hot water. Also, this is pretty lame, sorry.
“What the hell,” Ethan said, jumping back as the icy water hit his bare skin. “Why isn’t it getting hot?”
“You okay, E,” Travis asked from the other side of the shower curtain.
“No hot water,” he said, shutting the water off as quickly as he was able. “You take a bath or something and not tell me?”
Travis peeled the curtain back and handed his husband a towel. “No, I swear. Didn’t run the dishwasher either. Wonder what’s up?”
“No offense, Murph, because you know I love you and I adore this cabin of yours,” Ethan said, stepping out of the shower and shivering, “but I’m pretty sure your water heater is old as hell.”
“Gee thanks,” Travis teased. “I love you, too.”
“Aw, come on, I didn’t mean anything by that,” Ethan sighed.
“I know you didn’t,” Travis said, “but I have to give you shit about it anyway. It’s our thing.”
Ethan laughed. “Yeah, it is, isn’t it?” He shook his head. “I have to be to work in an hour and I need a shower.”
A grin spread across Travis’ face at Ethan’s subtle reminder of why he needed a shower so badly. “I can call my parents,” he said. “You can use their shower.”
“Why don’t you go check the pilot light first, make sure it isn’t something simple before we drag your poor parents into this mess.”
“I guess I can do that,” Travis said. “You have any idea how to light a water heater?”
“The instructions are on the front of the damn thing, Travis,” Ethan said, chuckling. “Good thing you’re pretty because you’re pretty damn helpless sometimes.”
Travis gave a curtsey.
“Let me get dressed again and I’ll go look. You can come with me and learn something.”
“I know lots of things,” Travis said, handing Ethan a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. “Just not anything practical.”
“That becomes more and more apparent every day,” Ethan teased. “But it sure does give us some interesting conversation topics. Okay, come on, let’s go look.”
“Huh, so that’s all it was,” Travis said, watching the blue light of the gas element flickering. “I guess we should count ourselves lucky.”
“Yeah,” Ethan said. “Your parents don’t have to deal with us in the middle of the night now. But in the morning, you ought to call a plumber and see if you can get someone out here to look at it and make sure it’s working properly, just in case.”
Travis nodded, heeding Ethan’s unspoken warning that losing hot water in the middle of a Utah winter was not a good thing. “I’ll call Bobby, he can look at it and, if it needs fixing or replacing, his brother in Minden Lake can handle it.”
Ethan held the door to the house open so Travis could go inside. “I never thought any good would come out of living in a town as small as White Pine, but you guys really do look out after each other, don’t you?”
“We try,” Travis said.
He knew that to be true. Seven years ago, Travis had gone above and beyond the call of duty when Ethan’s car had chosen the worst moment possible to stop working. A massive snowstorm was headed for White Pine and he had no way to get back home. Travis didn’t hesitate to offer Ethan a place to spend the night, some dinner, and more than a couple overly potent Irish Coffees. The rest was history. Happy, happy history. Wonky water heater or not.
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Date: 2020-01-31 01:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-01-31 05:58 pm (UTC)