"Trusted Devices" not asking for ADP iCloud access from web

Access iCloud Data on the Web is enabled in my iClud account settings. I have my Apple Watch on. My iPad is right here. I login from Windows Chrome to iCloud.com. I go through all the 2FA to get in. (On that same Apple Watch. But I hear the login attempt notification bink in on the iPad as well.) I click on iCloud Photos. It says "Getting Access…". Instantly it says "Your device hasn’t given access". BUT IT NEVER ASKED ON EITHER DEVICE! Of course, "Try again" never works. Are the Watch and iPad somehow not "Trusted Devices"? Why were the Watch and iPad good enough, moments earlier, to do the 2FA thing to get into icloud.com in the first place but useless for getting past ADP and into iCloud Photos on the web?

I've seen this before. Some rare occasions--who knows what's different--it works. Most of the time, this is how it goes. And I just give up. This is one reason my Photos are not in Apple Photos/iCloud. if iCloud web photos didn't have all this friction and if there was an Apple Photos app for Windows, maybe. Sigh.