Starved for Love, Snippet, T-rated (WIP)
"How do you feel about a little hike?" Tommy asked, and Buck was so quick in voicing his excitement that he got some laughter in response. Part of him wanted to apologise, but Tommy just 'whooped' and said: "I'll pack some snacks."
When Buck turned to look at Sal, the expression on his face seemed to bloom into a smile. He didn’t think anything of it, especially when Sal stole a quick kiss in passing before announcing that he’d hunt down a backpack.
Barely half an hour later, they made their first steps along a trail that Tommy seemed to know by heart. The nature was beautiful.
All the trees here seemed old, the kind that made the air feel borrowed. Pines mostly, with a clean smell that was nothing like the city. Buck kept pulling in slow breaths of it without quite meaning to.
Below the ridge, the trail climbed along. Water was moving somewhere, a creek Buck couldn't see but could hear in the gaps between birdsong and the soft fall of their footsteps. Sunlight came down in long columns through the canopy. It felt like the whole place was set to a slower tempo; one that matched their pace and the mood between the three of them.
Buck saw Sal rub at his eyes when he thought no one was looking at him, and instantly, he felt guilty. Tommy's offer had been just that, an innocent offer. But Buck's enthusiasm had made it almost impossible for Sal to say 'no' to their little excursion.
„If you’d rather go back, "Buck offered, low enough so he was certain Tommy wouldn’t overhear. "We don’t have to do the full hike.
"You’re sweet," Sal told Buck, the shape of the word in his mouth a little like he'd wanted to use another one entirely. "But I promise you, I'm good. I would have told you otherwise."
„Hey," Tommy called. "You’re falling behind."
Sal's laugh, when it came, was bright enough to startle a bird out of the brush somewhere to their left. It was so good to hear him laugh like that, get the confirmation that his tiredness was the only thing lingering like a veil over his brightness.
"'Falling behind, ' he says," Sal repeated with an almost mocking edge, something catching at the corner of his mouth. "Hey, Evan." He tilted his head toward Tommy's retreating back, a question and a dare at once. "First one there?"
Sal traversed the uneven path smoothly, about four strides ahead of Buck only because of his head start. In no time at all, he'd passed Tommy and blown both of them a kiss before his steps finally slowed another few paces later. When he stopped, Sal turned the motion smoothly into a casual pause to look out through the trees, but Buck saw that the little stunt hadn't really done him any good.
Instead of saying anything outright, Buck fell into step beside him and reached over without comment, lifting the strap of Sal's pack off his shoulder. He was starting to grow a bit bolder in his assessment of both of his men in following through with the right actions.
"Evan—"
"I've got it."
"I don't need you to—"
"I know." Buck shouldered the pack alongside his own. "I've got it anyway."
Sal looked at him for a moment, something quiet moving through his expression. Then, lightly: "My hero."
To which Tommy laughed, and Buck muttered: "Yeah, yeah."
He could read that smile on Sal's lips well enough.
They made it to their destination only a little after that. The trees broke open without warning, and the view arrived all at once — a wide valley going gold and green in the afternoon light, the mountains layered behind it in shades of blue. A flat shelf of rock jutted out just enough to sit on, and below it, the slope fell away softly through scrub and scattered pines.
Buck stood at the edge of it for a moment and didn't say anything. There wasn't much to say.
"It's a good spot," Sal told Buck in a mock whisper. "Has seen a lot of nice evenings." Tommy exchanged a glance with Sal, a grin there. "Nothing quite like a romantic afternoon with my two favourite people."
Said so casually, so freely. Buck found he didn't feel the need to prod at the statement in his mind, to test its soundness. He could leave it be. Just for the moment.
Tommy spread out a blanket and motioned for them to sit. A little like out of a movie. Buck grinned even as Sal teased. He kissed Tommy’s temple as soon as they settled in a move that Buck knew well now and that told the truth of his emotions. Unspoken little things that seemed to bleed into the space between the three of them more and more, where before it had been mostly Sal and Tommy.
Tommy's usual care showed in the way he'd packed, too. There was dried fruit, some good cheese, crackers that didn't crumble immediately, a bar of chocolate that Sal reached for first and that Tommy surrendered without comment. Buck took note of the brand, tried to sear it into his memory when Sal made a rather indecent sound about it. Despite that, Sal shared with them, and Buck absolutely got the appeal.
Up here, Sal seemed to breathe a little easier, not just because they were resting. Buck could see him taking it all in, the same way Buck had been doing all along the trail. But he also saw the way; Sal's hands weren't quite cooperating. He fumbled the wrapper twice, and when he reached across Tommy for a cracker, he misjudged the distance a little, knocking it sideways.
He laughed at himself, unhurried, and made no effort to explain or correct. Buck found he liked that. Whatever Sal usually kept polished and in order, he'd set it down somewhere on the trail without noticing. Tommy watched him drop an apricot for the third time with an expression of patience and vague concern that he hid underneath. It didn't stay hidden for much longer.
"Tori," Tommy made a grabbing motion for Sal, pulling him in. "Come here."
Even as he laughed and huffed a little, Sal let himself be guided down, head in Tommy's lap. His eyes fluttered when Tommy ran fingers along his scalp in a way that Buck knew felt divine.
Tommy's voice, when he spoke next, was pitched low, meant just for the space between them. He asked about Buck's last shift, the kind of easy question that wanted a real answer, not a summary. Buck gave him one. The valley held the light a little longer than felt possible, and Buck watched it while he talked, and Tommy watched him, and it was comfortable. The particular comfort of being known at a slight angle, still new enough to be interesting.
Sal offered something once, a small correction, fond, and then didn't again. Eventually, Buck glanced down and found Sal's breathing had evened out, his face slack, one hand loosely curled against Tommy's knee. He seemed peaceful.
Buck let his voice temper off, kept looking down at Sal, whose face was relaxed with the sleep that had evaded him the whole night. He felt himself smile, and when he looked up, Tommy's eyes were on him with an expression that was equal parts wondrous and fond.
Tommy's thumb moved in a slow arc along Sal's hairline, and then stilled, and they both just looked at him for a moment. Then Tommy's eyes went back to Buck, and Buck glanced back, and neither of them reached for words to fill the silence that was settling comfortably over them. The moment was calm, cast in amber.
Buck leaned back on his palms and let it be quiet. He found, somewhat to his own surprise, that he didn't mind it at all.
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