🤎 multiple kisses / kisses all over / kiss after kiss
Whump for the dinosaur
~
Nick sprints into the sorry excuse for a medical room, barely even noticing when he stubs his toe in the doorway.
“Lucha,” he gasps, catching the familiar green mask before seeing the rest of him. “Oh, my god, are you okay?”
Luchasaurus sits up, bewildered. “Nick?!”
“I flew out as soon as I got the text,” Nick says. “Are you okay?”
Lucha blinks. “How – how did you get here so fast?”
“Don’t worry about it,” Nick says. Lucha doesn’t need to know that Nick bribed a TSA agent or two. He leans down and carefully kisses Lucha’s forehead. “How’s it feel? What did they do to you?”
“Just standard chair bullshit,” Lucha grumbles. “It feels – bad, though.” There’s unfamiliar fear in the back of Lucha’s eyes. Nick kisses his cheek. “They’ve checked me out three or four times in the past three hours to monitor the swelling. It’s not looking great.”
Nick leans down and kisses the top of Lucha’s shoulder, carefully as he can. “Better?”
Lucha smiles. It’s enough to make a little bit of the anxiety melt from Nick’s shoulders. It had been there for ages, all through the flight. “Better,” he says. He taps his lips. “My, um. My lips hurt, too.”
Nick grins, putting the worry away for one moment. “I think I can fix that.” And he leans in and kisses Luchasaurus.
“Slippers,” Nick says, frowning. “Man, why’s it always have to be the fancy glass ones.”
“Yearly tradition.” Lucha carefully steps around the mess, the fuzzy socks hardly doing the work of protecting his feet. “One nice ornament has to be sacrificed. It’s a tradition going back to the middle ages.”
Nick’s almost positive that Lucha is kidding, but he’s never sure. “Careful. I don’t want you to get gangrene.”
“That would be festive, though, with the green.” Lucha throws him an unfair smile. “Though I’d think I’d be more likely to get a basic bacterial infection. Easy to mitigate.”
“I’d rather not have to mitigate it.”
With careful steps and the knowledge that one bad move could wreck storylines for a good six weeks, the two of them manage to sweep up all the mess. All that’s left is the little glittery dinosaur that was inside the snow globe ornament in the first place. It’s missing the tip of its tail, but Nick can’t bring himself to throw it away.
“You know,” Luchasaurus says, “now that it’s not in a snow globe, it’s not as Christmassy.”
Nick places it on the windowsill, right by their desks. “I like it here.”
Damn it December day 17: Jury duty, but make it holiday
(I truly do not know what I was on when I came up with this bizarre prompt)
~
“This is the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen.” Matt holds up the paper. “Look at this! Jury duty! Two days after Christmas!”
“That is, like, the most normal thing you’ve ever held up in my face.” Nick frowns at him. “Wait, does that say Matthew Buck?”
“Huh?” Matt grabs it and takes a peek. He’d read through the dates in a fury. He hadn’t taken the chance to actually read his name. “Oh. That says Matthew Buck.”
“I think they may have, like,” Nick squints. “Yeah, see?” He points. “This isn’t your social security number.”
“Oh! You’re right – wait, how do you know my social.”
“Don’t ask,” Nick say, and Matt would press if Nick hadn’t been right. “Anyway, I think they messed you up with some other dude.”
Twenty minutes and a phone call later, Matt’s off the phone with the office that schedules.
“Good news and bad news,” Matt says. “Good news, we were right. That jury summons was for some guy who lives in an apartment in the county. Bad news, they figured out I haven’t had jury duty in 20 years.”
“Lovely,” Nick says. “Now you can celebrate the day after Christmas without getting dressed.”
consider: the most effective way Adam has found to shut Nick up whenever he starts getting super self-denigrating or running himself down is to smooch him until he stops talking.
Up in Arms
~
The third time is the point when Adam gives up.
"It just looks so flashy," Nick says. "It was a bad idea. God. Why did I do that?"
Adam sets his book down. "Nick?"
"Yeah?"
"I cordially invite you to shut the fuck up about your arms in that video."
Nick sighs. "You don't get it. You're not coming back from being an asshole. I look so vain in that clip."
"It was funny," Adam says. He stands. "That's what people want on BTE. Funny." He makes a point of staring. "And hot. You - the arms were unfairly sexy."
Nick starts pacing again, like he didn't hear a word Adam said. "It was too much, especially with us finally bringing -"
Nick does not get a chance to continue his sentence. Adam makes sure of it. He gets Nick by the jaw, pulls him in, and kisses him with the sole attention of making him feel and think of nothing but this. Nick moans, pressing his body up against Adam, arms around his waist.
Adam slides his hands down Nick's body and hauls him up, encouraging Nick to wrap his legs around Adam's waist. His arms, his big, strong arms, are around Adam's neck.
"Now this," Adam says, walking Nick into the bedroom, "is what you get for having those incredible arms."
And Adam makes sure Nick can't talk at all (besides his name and pleas for more) for the rest of the night.
Nick is sick and tired with dealing with nobody listening to him. He's an EVP, damnit, and Claudio is going to offer him the chance to be in charge in a different sort of way.
~
Thank you to Sarah for the line, "Now I must do all the work." 3/3 of your birthday gift, darling! Set right before All In 2025. @sarahcakes613
~
“You’ve been particularly impertinent today,” Claudio says.
Nick jumps about a foot. Claudio is lucky he didn’t drop the papers in his hands. He just finished putting these cue pages in order. “What the hell?” he hisses.
“Multiple people have spoken to me about you snapping at them today.” Claudio’s far too close to them. They’re at work. Nick is trying to focus. “I’m trying to do my job. It is not my fault other people are bad at doing theirs.”
Claudio raises an eyebrow. “Becoming domineering, I see. Perhaps you need an attitude adjustment.”
“Perhaps you need an attitude adjustment,” Nick mutters under his breath. The complete silence from Claudio in response has him regretting the words. He looks up, slowly. “What?”
Claudio sighs. “Nothing. I’m disappointed, is all.”
Nick bites his words back. “Well,” he says, clipped as he can, “if you’re done, I don’t have time to waste with an upset employee without an appointment.” So he doesn’t have to see Claudio’s face, he walks away in the opposite direction with all of his paperwork still in his hands and doesn’t look back.
~
When he’s able to sneak into the small house Claudio got for an Airbnb during All In week, Claudio is waiting there for him with a cup of coffee in his hand, legs crossed. Nick feels both like a kid in trouble and like a cheating husband coming home.
Nick drops his backpack onto the floor beside a chair. He’s not talking first. He’s sick of talking.
He stands in silence for longer than he expected, Claudio casually sipping his coffee without breaking eye contact for even a second. Nick clears his throat.
The soft light coming in from the front porch bulb slides across Claudio’s face as he sets down his coffee and leans forward. “Would you care to explain your attitude from earlier?”
Nick sighs. It sounds more like a haughty huff. “No,” he says. “Because I don’t need to explain myself to anyone.”
Claudio studies him. Nick has the urge to run into the bathroom and stay there until Claudio leaves, with the one problem being he can’t remember which door it is. “Nicholas,” he says gently, “are you alright?”
Nick has a lot of fury built up inside himself, a lot of anger and exhaustion that needs a direction to turn in. But, instead, he slumps. “I’m just – it’s been a really rough couple of days.” Claudio raises an eyebrow, and Nick should know by now that there’s nobody who can wait him out like Claudio effing Castagnoli. “Nobody’s listening to me, even though it’s not even like we’re going to lose tomorrow night. I’m still an EVP. And they still have to listen to me. They don’t get to argue about that, but they do.” He stops. “It’s really effing annoying.”
Claudio studies him for a few moments, long enough for Nick to feel a little uncomfortable under the gaze. “Nicholas,” he says softly, “are you looking to be in charge tonight?”
“Maybe?” Nick says. He feels itchy, like his skin is too small for him. “Maybe I don’t want what we usually do.” He watches Claudio’s eyebrow rise.
“Are you suggesting you may want to top tonight, Nicholas?” There’s a little laughter in his voice, but not in a mean way. Maybe Nick wants to be the mean one tonight. Or not mean, maybe. Maybe he just wants to be in control for real.
“Yeah,” he decides, nodding. “Yeah, I want to top.”
~
Twenty minutes and a moment of brief panic where Nick worries he left the lube at home, he’s slowly settling himself inside of Claudio.
“There you are, Nicholas,” Claudio says, his eyes closed. He has a little smile on his face. There wasn’t ever a moment where his calm poise was shattered, even when Nick dropped the lube on his chest and got it everywhere. It feels weird how stable the guy is. Nick hasn’t decided if he likes it or not.
Nick moves and tries to think of what Claudio usually says or does. In this moment, he knows how to fuck, of course, and it feels good, but he can’t remember anything Claudio says that gets him going. He can’t even remember what he was so mad about earlier.
He moves almost automatically, trying to search his brain for how to do this.
“You do not see to be as into this as you usually are, little bird,” Claudio says. “Is this not of your interest?”
Nick feels his cheeks flame red as he stills. “I – I’m into it.”
Claudio raises an eyebrow. “I truly cannot believe that, Nicholas.”
Nick sighs. “I think I need you to be mean.”
“Mean,” Claudio repeats.
“I – okay, this may sound stupid, and I’ll own it, but it’s really weird to be…” He trails off. He hasn’t even moved any fun ways for ages, it feels like. “It’s weird that you’re not being mean to me and yelling at me or whatever. I thought I wanted to be the mean one. Or something. But I think – I think I just need someone to listen to me.” He exhales, ready to be mocked, or ignored, or something.
“You’re asking for me to be mean,” Claudio says. “Am I summarizing correctly?”
Nick nods.
“Well then,” he says, and Nick’s immediately back to full mast as he sees Claudio’s eyes harden, “I should be in no way surprised.”
“Surprised about what?” Nick breathes.
Claudio flips them and straddles Nick’s hips, sinking down onto Nick’s cock roughly. “Now I must do all the work.”
He starts riding Nick with single minded intent, clenching around Nick’s cock with a gaze so dark Nick almost gets locked into it.
“Can’t even fuck without needing help,” Claudio says, almost more to himself than to Nick. It’s almost like Nick’s not here, like he’s just a toy to be used. Nick whimpers. “What now?”
“Nothing,” Nick gasps, canting his hips up to meet Claudio, “just – oh my god.”
Claudio scoffs and braces his hands on Nick’s chest. His weight is either pressing hard on Nick’s chest or hips, and it’s blindingly good. Nick wants to live in this moment. He wants to be here forever.
But perfect doesn’t last and neither does he, and he comes with a flash of white across his vision so hard he thinks he may now be welded to Claudio. He’s felt this way before, but not from this direction. Not from this exact angle.
“Not even waiting for me to be done before you are,” Claudio scoffs. “This is why you cannot be a top, Nicholas. No patience. No respect for others.”
It’s almost too much, the zing of overstimulation crashing into him as Claudio rides him. He’s desperately trying to stay hard, but he’s not 22 anymore. Claudio groans as he twists his hips one final time. Nick whimpers.
“I – too much,” Nick gasps. “I – it’s almost – I don’t know if I can –”
“Yes, you can,” Claudio snaps, and he grinds down one last time before painting Nick’s chest. Nick makes a choked out noise as Claudio slides off of him and lays next to him.
There’s silence. A lot of silence. There’s a part of Nick echoing the same frustration at the lack of control from earlier. It’s drowned out by the calm he feels by how quickly and effectively Claudio was able to figure out he was having trouble and was able to fix it.
He shouldn’t feel this comfortable with him.
He shouldn’t be so tempted to curl into Claudio.
He shouldn’t allow it when Claudio wraps his arms around his shoulders and pulls him in.
“Nicholas,” Claudio murmurs, hands running through his hair, “there is nothing you need to do when it comes to me. I’m always here, to be whatever you need.”
He doesn’t know when he’s crying or how or why, but his face is buried into Claudio’s chest and his breathing is rattly and he is comforted by the smell of Claudio’s skin and it’s the only thing he can hold onto.
“You’re safe,” Claudio murmurs, and Nick needs to know why he cares so much, why he’s being so kind, how this could possibly matter as much to him as it does to Nick. “I will go nowhere.”
Damn it December day 8: Fake tree vs. real tree argument
~
“Absolutely not.”
“It’s not even your house!”
“It’s the principle of the thing!”
“Spell principle, and maybe I’ll agree.”
“P-r-i-n-c-i-p-a-l.”
“…Okay, fine, but you still don’t get to choose the tree for my house!”
Adam peeks over the top of the book he’s halfway through. “Actually, Nick, that’s the wrong principle. You’re looking for the one with an -le at the end.”
“Hah!” Matt says, pointing at Nick. “See? You’re wrong, I’m right.”
Adam tries to go back to his book, but then Nick stomps over and pulls it out of his hands. “Please tell your dumbass boyfriend that a fake tree, especially here in this beautiful little rental, is an atrocity.”
Adam resists the urge to tell him to spell atrocity, mainly because it’ll set Matt off. “I’m not getting involved,” he says, as blandly as he can. “Actually, I will. I think it’s dumb to waste money on a tree that we’re not going to be able to take in our luggage.”
“Adam agrees with me,” Nick says. “Thank you. Real tree it is.”
“This is not what I said – ” But Adam stops his sentence there. Matt and Nick are going at each other again and, frankly, Adam finds this almost more entertaining than his book.
Nick leaves the bathroom to see what quite possibly might be a miracle. Adam is stretched out on the bed, curls spread out across the pillows, sheet draped at an artful angle across his hips. He’s almost glowing, lashes fanning across his skin, and Nick stares.
“I can feel your eyes on me,” Adam mutters. Thankfully, he doesn’t wake up or move beyond his mouth.
“Don’t move,” Nick says, hands out in front of him as he backs up to grab his phone. “I want to take a picture.”
He can see by the furrow in Adam’s brow that he’s baffled but, kindly enough, he doesn’t move. “Uh, why?”
“You – okay, you’ll see it when I show you.” Nick picks up his phone and takes as many shots from different angles as he can. “Okay, I think we’re good.”
“Can I move now?”
“You can move,” Nick confirms.
Adam sits up and stares at him. “Want to explain this or something?”
“Of course.” Nick sits down on the bed next to Adam. “See?”
“See what?” Adam says, frowning. He scrolls through the photos until he gets to the picture of them and the rest of the Elite at the most recent show. “All I see are shots of me looking weird in bed.”
Nick blinks. “Wait, what?”
“It’s just me,” Adam says. “Look how weird my stomach is here.” He zooms in on a space were the blanket rests against his skin. “You know?”
Nick shakes his head, and runs his fingers over that space on Adam’s skin. Adam twitches, like he’s trying to pull away from it. “I don’t,” he murmurs. “All I know is that you look like some sort of Greek god in these pictures.”
Adam tilts his head to the side. “Kinda just look like some dude in his thirties about to start snoring.”
“Look how good your hair looks here,” Nick says, pulling up the next picture. “It’s all golden curls and fanned out like some sort of romance novel. And like – okay, not to be horny or anything, but we just had sex and the way the blanket is all draped over you like that has me having very un-Christian thoughts.”
Finally, a tiny little smile starts to blossom in Adam’s eyes. “Really?” he asks.
“Do you not get that you’re really hot?” Nick asks. “How do you not – these photos would straight up destroy the internet.”
“Only because people would know you took them and would be all weird about us being together.”
Nick hits him with a pillow. “No. Well, okay, maybe that, too. But mostly because you look incredible here and I think, if people saw it, people would lose their effing minds.”
Adam presses his lips together and stares for a few moments. Nick doesn’t move. After long enough that Nick’s knee is getting sore from the weird position, Adam reaches out and takes the phone. Slowly, he goes through each shot, as if he’s studying his own body from a third person perspective.
He looks up at Nick. “You really think they’re good photos?”
“Adam.” Nick leans up to Adam’s side. “I know they’re great photos.”
Adam turns his head and catches Nick’s lips in a kiss, pulling him close. “We’re way too old to go again,” he murmurs against Nick’s mouth, “but if I could, I would.”
Nick feels bad getting back into bed, because he has to move the blanket and Lucha shivers every time.
“Sorry,” he whispers, sliding into bed. “Should have joined you in the shower.”
Like always, Lucha does his little shiver and draws Nick in, holding him tightly to his chest. “Love your shampoo,” he mumbles.
“I really don’t mean to wake you up,” Nick murmurs. He draws Lucha’s arms around him more. “I know you really like your nap after we do leg day.”
Lucha chuckles and Nick feels his lips on the back of his neck. “I like spending time with you after our leg days, and after all the times we work out together.” Lucha yawns. “The nap is a bonus.”
“Stop being charming,” Nick mumbles, but he’s yawning too, and his eyes are doing a terrible job of staying open. “It’s making me cozy.”
“Good,” Lucha whispers. “I like it when we’re cozy.”
