An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 27/?
Fandom: Red vs. Blue
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Agent Washington/Agent York, Agent North Dakota/Agent Washington/Agent York, Agent North Dakota/Agent Washington, AI Program Delta/The Meta | Agent Maine
Characters: Agent Washington, Agent North Dakota, Agent York (Red vs. Blue), Agent Connecticut, Agent South Dakota, Agent Texas, Agent Maine, AI Program Delta, AI Program Epsilon | Leonard Church, AI Program Sigma
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Romance, Developing Relationship, Polyamory, Past Domestic Violence, Past Relationship(s), Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Slow Burn, Friends to Lovers, Characters with PTSD, Canon Character Injuries, Epsilon has still messed up Washington pretty bad just in different ways
Series: Part 1 of Partings and Reunions
Summary:
Moving to a new place is difficult. Moving to a new place where you only know one person and you’re looking for a fresh start to chase the bitter taste of a bad relationship out of your mouth is even harder.
Sometimes, though, you get lucky. Pull the short straw or get the right roll of the dice or something and things start to shape up. Which is all a young man fleeing from Seattle could want. Right?
Alright my friends, Chapter 20 is now live. Remember that comments and sharing can be the lifeblood of any writer. Reblogging is also very useful in this day and age where link posts don’t always make it up into tags. Thanks.
Chapter Summary: The newest chapter is up, wherein Wash learns of North’s new relationship, York gets to deal with the tension between ladies in his life not to mention the secrets Wash has been holding. And Wash? Well, what can you do when the ghosts of your past come for you?
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Fandom: Red vs. Blue
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Agent Washington/Agent York, Agent North Dakota/Agent Washington/Agent York, Agent North Dakota/Agent Washington, AI Program Delta/The Meta | Agent Maine
Characters: Agent Washington, Agent North Dakota, Agent York (Red vs. Blue), Agent Connecticut, Agent South Dakota, Agent Texas, Agent Maine, AI Program Delta, AI Program Epsilon | Leonard Church, AI Program Sigma
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Romance, Developing Relationship, Polyamory, Past Domestic Violence, Past Relationship(s)
Series: Part 1 of Partings and Reunions
Summary:
Moving to a new place is difficult. Moving to a new place where you only know one person and you’re looking for a fresh start to chase the bitter taste of a bad relationship out of your mouth is even harder.
Sometimes, though, you get lucky. Pull the short straw or get the right roll of the dice or something and things start to shape up. Which is all a young man fleeing from Seattle could want. Right?
Alright my friends, Chapter 19 is now live. Remember that comments and sharing can be the lifeblood of any writer. Especially for me.
Chapter Summary: Alex and Sarge have a great night with paintball and takeout, while Shaun takes care of a sick David and they both learn more than expected about the other's past relationships.
I continue to be. Today was fun, what with the writing. I’m doing it while the husband plays Mass Effect: Andromeda. Loving that. Anyway, feel free to jump over to Ao3 to comment, send me a message here, or even use the new Tumblr messenger. Or, if you’re feeling really generous and supportive, check out my donation link.
[Story Index Here]
Relocation - Part Eighteen
Perhaps the reason the image stuck so powerfully in Shaun’s mind, even as he steps out into the brisk cold of the November morning and shivers into his scarf, was because of how perfect it was. A bone in his craw as it were. The lingering taste of a wine too good to forget, not that Shaun was very big into wine either. What a pretty image his dream had made as well, the perfection of David’s skin pressed bare against the gray of David’s sheets, the sweet and fading autumn tan touched by skin the shade of winter snows. Perhaps it the brush of wintery skin against the more spring to early summers of David’s body that got him. But there was no denying the beauty of his dream.
“You look like you’re about to drool,” Daniel mumbled, his own voice practically swallowed up by the scarf around his neck. It was an old thing, something Shaun was hoping to replace for him this Christmas, because Daniel would never accept a gift just for the sake of taking care of him.
“You can’t see my mouth,” Shaun countered as they turned in the direction of the cafe and their pending dose of caffeine. “So you don’t know that I’m drooling.”
“Which you just confirmed,” Daniel returned as he strode up closer. Today Nate wasn’t hovering at his shoulder, the big man’s day starting later due to some situation or other Alex’s twin had gotten up to.
Alex… The thought of the man brought the memory of the dream back with him. David spread out on his own bed, gorgeous and hungry, his eyes blown wide with his desire. Strong arms pressed against his shoulders, pinning him, holding him, expecting things from him. Strong pale arms that matched a strong pale torso and icy pale eyes and soft golden hair. The image of Alex leaning over David in that damn skimpy toga, lips working over the column of David’s neck just like Shaun liked to do, like he knew David lived for, and the noises it drew from his lover was just…
Thank god for the cold and multiple layers. Shaun buried his face in his gloved hands as if he was going to blow on them. Of course Daniel would know it was just an effort to hide himself. After the conversations he’d had with Nate--or more accurately that the big guy had forced on him--in the last two days since the moving mess, Shaun had definitely gotten one message. Leave poor Daniel with his lack of interest in sex as far out of Shaun’s desires as possible.
“Nothing going on here, D. Just an adult having adult thoughts in his own private adult mind. Nothing to share or say here. Don’t mind me.”
When you’ve known a person for a long time, you can can almost sense when they are rolling their eyes. Not only could Shaun feel that now, but he could even feel the resigned sigh that would have been mingled with it. He almost wanted to smile over that fact. At the same time he didn’t think he cared to tease Daniel for it, not really caring to drag Daniel into this newest… oddity to his social life. Being turned on by the idea of his SO sleeping with someone else wasn’t something he’d ever experienced before, and when that someone else was clearly his chief romantic rival…
Nothing about this was normal or acceptable.
“He just mulling things over on his own again?”
“When does he…”
The voice must have registered to Daniel a bit later than it did for Shaun. Because the second he heard the first syllable Shaun had stopped moving. Stopped thinking. Stopped breathing. That was all he could do when he heard that voice, all he had ever done.
Charlotte was a master of cutting him off at the pass, no doubt about it.
“Char?” Daniel’s voice came out as a gasp as Shaun slowly turned to look at the woman behind him.
Of course she would be here now, as his life was starting to settle into something he liked, that he felt accomplished with, something that he had achieved outside of her. Beyond her. After her. And of course just seeing her would leave a terrible ache in his chest, burning in him with a sort of want that he hadn’t thought was possible to feel again until he’d come to care about David. Just seeing her made him want to earn that smile, golden warm and perfectly shaped, framed as always by the curl of the end of her ponytail, the dyed red a splash of vivid color that matched her lipstick and stood out in the most wondrous way from the soft aqua of her coat. It was only a light coat, something that always left Shaun confused. A girl from Texas should not have the sort of tolerance for the cold that Shaun always lacked despite his background in the New England region.
“Hey Dee,” Charlotte greeted, her voice a sweet warmth as she reached out to embrace the man he had once shared with her as best friend. Not that Daniel was ever as close to Charlotte as he was to Shaun.
Maybe he was a bit possessive after all of this time, after everything she did. And didn’t do.
It was almost like he could feel the ghost of the ring box that used to wait in his pocket for the right moment that had never come.
“Charlotte, I thought you had gone back south,” Daniel greeted with joy, the hug clearly a welcome one. Just seeing them like that made Shaun feel betrayed. How could Daniel, HIS best friend, reach out to her like that after everything that happened? But really, how could he be that unfair to Daniel? Just because Charlotte had up and walked away didn’t mean Daniel had to lose that fondness for her he’d always had.
“Work takes me a lot of interesting places,” she shrugged when she pulled away from the smaller man, her gaze turning to regard Shaun at long last. Her eyes were still the same piercing green that made even Daniel’s look plain. Stupid biology. How many times had he gotten caught up in them and wished to have those eyes look at him and him alone? No, fuck that. Fuck all of this. He wasn’t going to take it. “Shaun?”
“I thought I got the city in the divorce,” he answered quite blandly. No offered hugs were going to be accepted by him. Not after…
“Yeah, I did have an agreement there, but there was a stipulation that I wouldn’t be constrained in the course of my work,” Charlotte returned, but there was a touch of amusement in her voice. Like all of this was some sort of game. As if seeing her didn’t make him want to reach out and pull her into his arms, hold her, kiss her, promise never to let her down again.
Strange how at this point he could almost believe it was him that let her down, rather than the other way round.
“Glad you got work,” Shaun replied. There was no way he had gotten enough caffeine into him to face this. To face anything that had to do with Charlotte Church. Better not to face her without his morning drink in his hands. Maybe he’d ask David to make it double strong.
David.
“Maybe we should try somewhere else for breakfast, Danny,” Shaun grumbled. He wanted to walk to Connie’s, but… Could he have his ex-girlfriend, almost fiancee, around the man he was now involved with? That seemed like a bad idea. Definitely a bad idea.
“Nonsense, Char would love the sorts of things Connie serves,” Daniel countered. The man offered an arm to the woman, one Charlotte gladly took.
“Oh, are you buying me breakfast, Daniel? Shaun pays you enough for that? I’m quite happy to see you’re doing well then,” she teased. Shaun wanted to be sick at the laughter in her voice. He used to live to drive such noises from her, to earn her smiles. He lived to love her. How dare she come back into his life?
“Of course. I would be glad to, seeing as Nate covers mine many mornings now,” he admitted, and Shaun just turned to walk ahead of them. Hearing her was bad enough. Seeing her like little had changed when the whole world was different, he couldn’t accept that. Wouldn’t put up with it. Except for the fact that the words made it too real.
“Nate? Who’s Nate?” Charlotte asked as Shaun shoved his fists into his pockets and tried, very hard, to make her voice sound like someone else’s. Maybe his sister’s. She would be a better person to just randomly waltz back into his life, even if he wasn’t too big on his siblings most of the time. Or his mother. No, better than that, Daniel’s mother. Yeah, if he could just imagine her…
“My boyfriend,” Daniel admitted behind him, his voice shy. He had never been shy over talking about Nate, not to anyone. Could this have to do with the fact that everyone else had been there to watch the relationship grow? Or was it because Daniel, just like Shaun, had always wanted to impress Charlotte, though for entirely different reasons?
“Really? Congratulations Daniel. I hope he’s good enough for you or I might have to beat him up,” she teased, her voice that sweet sort of reassuring she used when someone had done something that really pleased her. Her teacher voice, Shaun used to call it. Once Charlotte had wanted nothing more than to be an art teacher for kids in underprivileged areas. When that had changed he didn’t know, it just had. A lot had changed between them a lot of times, so he didn’t care to pinpoint when exactly they had started to fall apart. The one that had got away as it were. Not that anyone could hold Charlotte to do anything she didn’t want to do.
“You’d have a hard time,” Daniel said with clear pride in his voice. “Nate was a marine. He works with a gym now, training fighters and teaching self defense to women and children who need it.”
There was an appreciative hum granted to him by the woman, and Shaun wanted to turn around and lecture her about being so patronizing. But he didn’t need to stand up for Nate. Or want to. That man would see through her in ways that Shaun and Daniel never had. Or maybe he would be charmed just like everyone else.
He hoped, with a deep intensity, that David wouldn’t fall for it. Wouldn’t fall for her like people seemed to do. If he lost David to her then he didn’t know what he’d do. The only thing that could be worse than that would be to lose himself once again to the way his heart jumped over seeing her, hearing her, being near her. Thank god he wasn’t close enough to smell the light cinnamon scent of her perfume. Thank god he wasn’t the one touching her, reminded of how good it felt to be the center of her attention. He had someone else he wanted to captivate now, and the last thing he needed was the siren-song of Charlotte Church back in his head.
Shaun had finally been able to get free of the thoughts about her, the depression that came with wanting to be around her and being dropped, and now here she was. Back in the picture. Someone out there in the grand cosmos didn’t like him very much. He wanted to find them and give them a piece of his mind. And maybe a fist to the face. Could you punch the cosmos? Shaun wanted to be the first person to find out.
* * * * * *
His eyelids were heavy. A relatively useless observation, David knew, but that didn’t keep him from making it. The other observation that came up was the fact that his alarm had come and gone at least five times now and his arm felt heavier than it might have had it been encased in cement. And there, he supposed, was an observation he wasn’t expecting. A stupid sort of comparison that only came with a few very rare circumstances, and as David was certain he wasn’t drunk…
Despite the weight that his arm was, and the fact that his tongue felt like it had been licking the road in an attempt to wear a groove into asphalt, David finally fumbled for his phone. It took a few reaches, a minor battle with the charging cord, and a weak protesting groan when Siri came on despite his lack of desire for her, but in the end he was able to unlock the thing and get the right number cued up.
It rang three times before the answer came.
“If you’re calling to tell me you’re going to be late, David, I already know,” Connie answered.
“I’m alive, be happy,” David responded with a groan. “You’re going to need to survive without me, Bec. I have to take a sick day. I feel bad. Worse than bad. Super bad.”
“I can hear it in your voice, David,” she assured him. “And I can’t have you in here if you’re sick. So take care of yourself, make sure you get plenty of fluids and sleep, and I’ll see if I can spare someone to come and check up on you during they day.”
“I can handle myself,” he protested weakly.
“Yeah, because you were ever good at that when you were sick. I seem to remember checking in on you one time after you were out from school and your mom said you collapsed in the kitchen when you were going to make yourself soup. I don’t rightly trust your ability to take care of yourself and without me being there I intend to put someone I can trust in position to take care of you. So just… stay okay until I get you help.”
David would have scoffed but, well, that just wasn’t in his realm of possibility at this time. Nor were rude gestures. So he just grunted his agreement and hung up, tossing his phone aside. Which was, in and of itself, far more energy consuming than he would have expected. Yes, today was going to be one of those sorts of sick days that must left him weaker than a kitten. Oooh, kitten. And that, of course, only went to prove that he was not feeling well. Cats were definitely a good thing, but even he had to be composed.
Food. David needed that more than anything, which meant that he moved to push himself to his feet with a groan. All he had to do was take it easy. Slowly get to his feet and shuffle toward the kitchen and he would have access to warm food and maybe no coffee but definitely the orange juice he bought two days ago. Once his feet were firmly on the floor he was ready to put weight on them. They were good things, feet. They could be strong and hold you up when you weren’t up and…
“David? David, wake up.”
His eyelids were heavy. David groaned at the repeated thought and forced them open anyway. For a while his gaze lingered on the tight spiral of the fibers of his carpet. They were nice, those spirals, they were cosy and all gathered together. Friendly like. But they were rough on his cheek and David most definitely didn’t belong on the floor. Especially not imagining Alex’s very, VERY lovely voice.
“David? Geez,” the voice of Alex repeated, and then there was a hand on his shoulder making him real. Real enough for David to look up and frown at him. “How did you…?”
“Connie gave me the spare key,” Alex answered, concern in his voice. “I went in for breakfast a bit earlier than normal, sleep schedule sucks at the moment, and she said she needed someone to check in on you, make sure you hadn’t hurt yourself. I’m glad she sent me.”
“We only talked, like, five minutes ago,” David groaned as the larger man helped him to his feet. And then right back onto the bed he’d worked so hard to get out of.
“Try an hour,” Alex corrected. “When I stopped in she’d been off the phone with you for a while. She tried to talk me into being your nurse by threatening me with my sister. I offered to do it because I’ve got a slow day of reviewing images from my work and doing some initial review. Which I can do on the laptop I left behind in the living room when I came to look in on you. Good thing I did. Have you been sleeping there?”
“No,” David whined, but when his fingers came up to brush his own cheek he could feel the imprint the carpet had left on it. Maybe he had been out for a while. Damn. Connie was right about how much he could or couldn’t care for himself. Why did she have to be right?
Still, it was nice to have someone as strong and attractive as Alex bundling him up into his bed, even tucking the blankets in around his chin. If only Alex would be so kind as to lean down and press those lovely, pale lips against his forehead. Wouldn’t that be lovely?
“If you move from this place, I will pick you back up and carry you back in here. Okay, not if you need the bathroom, but until my replacement is here to take care of you, you’re my responsibility. Don’t make Connie mad at me. I haven’t been working out with my sister lately, so Connie could kick my butt if I Ieave you unattended.”
“Hungry,” David groaned, not caring too much about Alex mumbling at him.
“Yeah, yeah, I can do something about that. What do you want to eat?”
“Bacon and pancakes.”
“Oatmeal and fruit it is,” Alex chuckled. “And orange juice. You could use the calories and sugars. My Dad always said it was the best thing for getting the body healthy again.”
The comment didn’t quite make him happy, but David nodded in agreement anyway. “Can I have something warm too?”
“Don’t worry, there will be soup later,” Alex assured him. The man patted David’s head lightly, the gesture turning into fingers brushing hairs out of the area of his eyes. It was a touch that David couldn’t help but follow after when it was being taken away. “Damn, you’re just like a loving kitten sometimes, did you know that?”
No, but the comparison was one that pleased him in his current state. If only he had the breath to purr.
“Keep me company?”
Alex nodded his agreement as he went back to the door of the bedroom. “At least until your boyfriend gets here.”
Shaun. The name made David shrink down into his blankets. Stupid sick mind making him yearn toward Alex when he was in a relationship. Luckily no one would probably hold the addled behaviors of a sick person against them. Still, David resolved to try and remember to keep his distance.
“Shaun’s coming?” David asked when he could get his throat to work, which was just before Alex had closed the bedroom door. And, of course, it made Alex open it again and presented him with the fond expression on that lovely face, but one underlined with a touch of annoyance. Why would that be? Jealousy? Or just irritation that Alex had to be the one dedicating a day to a sick person rather than letting a boyfriend or close friend like Connie do it?
“Yeah, when he’s free… Saw him when I was at the cafe. Apparently someone out of his past showed up and she sort of has both Shaun and that Daniel guy very distracted this morning. I think Connie told him about you, but until he gets here, I’m the prime nurse. Sorry if that’s disappointing.”
In some ways it was. The idea that someone could just show up and make Shaun forget about him was frustrating and a bit more than merely upsetting. David could even feel himself pouting over the whole thing. Then again they’d been dating for barely any time at all. Could he really expect Shaun to drop everything to take care of him when there was someone else important to him around, when he had his own business to run?
Yes, a little traitor part of his mind said. Because Alex had done that, hadn’t he? Maybe not dropped everything, he’d brought his work along. And maybe he hadn’t done it just because David was sick if Connie was actually threatening him. None of that changed the fact that Alex was actually here, actually standing by and helping him when he was sick. Shaun, on the other hand, wasn’t.
Be fair to him, another part of his mind suggested. When it came right down to it he knew the differences between the two men, didn’t he? There were clearly more things in Alex that screamed he was a nurturer than there were in Shaun. Shaun was excitement and energy and laughter. Alex was a strong shoulder to lean against, the friend who would mother you if you were about to do something really stupid. The only person that might have been better than Alex right now would have been Connie, who was more than used to taking care of David when he was out of sorts. Or his mom.
Moms were good like that.
“Consider sleeping,” Alex suggested as he moved to close the door again.
“Wait,” David said, speaking up before he really thought about what he was going to say. Which was, of course, troublesome. Now here he was with Alex standing in his bedroom door, looking tall and handsome and strong and worried about him. How wonderful was that? Problem was that he wasn’t quite sure what he wanted to say. What he could say. What he should say.
“Keep the door open,” he decided at last. “I like… hearing people around me when I’m not feeling well. My mom would put me on the couch in the living room so she could watch over me, or did when she could spare the space.”
“Maybe later we’ll move you out there then,” Alex assured him. “But first we want to get food and liquids in you. Then you’re getting your temperature taken, because you felt beyond hot when I touched your forehead.”
Touched his forehead? Yes, David could remember it now. Cool fingers stroking hair out of the way. But why such a tender touch to take a brief temperature? No point in questioning, he supposed. No way his brain was going to get to the bottom of anything more complex than a glass of water. If one could say that brains got to the bottom of water glasses at least.
“Okay,” David agreed, pushing the rest of the thoughts aside. “I’m gonna just… close my eyes until you get back. Do you think that will be okay?”
“Of course,” Alex smiled, and it was warm and nice and David liked that smile. “Yeah. I think that would be a good plan, David. You need as much rest as you can get.”
“I need something to hug,” David mumbled. Before he could roll to reach for another pillow, something was landing on the bed next to him with a light whump. David frowned before he investigated, and what he found was that the thick winter coat Alex had been wearing, no doubt from being outside, had been tossed to him.
“Not a stuffed animal, but maybe it will help.”
Maybe it would. With that Alex walked away. And David, god helped him, buried his nose in the coat, wrapping it up in his arms. It was amazing at soothing him into sleep.
* * * * * *
Caring for a sick person was like running a series of sprints from Alex’s experience. Over the years he’d helped his sister through more than her fair share of colds, flus and other failings of health. The secret was that they spent a lot of time asleep if they knew what was good for them, and mostly he only had to act when they were awake, or just before and just after. When he’d gotten to David’s apartment that had been the plan, of course. Focus on his work and get through that, taking breaks to care for his friend. Make sure David ate, that he got doses of the horrible medication that was meant to deal with the symptoms like the coughing that manifested somewhere around noon. There was the need to make another meal for his lunch and sit with David through the whole thing, and they never did manage to get the man to the living room to lay down on his couch. Each time David tried to win his legs it failed, almost miserably.
It was cute, really, the way that David really needed him. Sparked things in Alex that he had almost forgotten about. Protecting people was just in his nature, and something his sister hadn’t needed since they were about ten. Alexa fought when he tried to take care of her and she was sick, but David just needed him. Crooned when a cool towel was used to mop his brow, whine and squirmed when there was medication given to him. Smiled weakly over the small meals that Alex made and coaxed him through, and even seemed to appreciate the way Alex spoke around him, talking out problems in his work, as he tidied up around David.
This was almost like being needed by someone he really wanted to be wanted by.
None of that meant he wasn’t annoyed that it was coming up on five in the evening. As sweet and needy as David was, Alex had plans for tonight that didn’t involve reviewing a picture of the professor he’d worked for during the last month. That, maybe, was why he was really annoyed. This wasn’t the art he wanted, this was what he had to do, not the images he had made for himself. Sometimes it was harder to motivate himself when he had things that were expected of him.
Frustrated Alex pushed the mouse away from him. He could move this back to his own apartment before he left, there was no way he was wearing what he had one now out for his evening with Sarge, he liked the sweater too much. Heading out right now to move things felt… inappropriate somehow, though. What if David needed him?
“You’re at his beck and call and he doesn’t even want you,” Alex reminded himself, the words under his breath. Sarge was right, he did need to give himself a break. He needed to get away from David some, stop letting himself get so wrapped up in the man and their friendship until he was really ready to accept the limitation that David put upon them. Strengthen his mind until it could get his heart to follow his lead.
That didn’t mean he wasn’t pissed to see Shaun letting David down, especially not over a red-haired woman that there was clear romantic tension with.
“His relationship is not your business,” Alex chided himself. Clearly he wasn’t distracted enough in here if he wasn’t going to be working. With that in mind Alex pushed to his feet at last and headed off into the kitchen. It was getting to be about time where he should look into getting David fed again. Besides, he always felt more comfortable in the houses of strangers if he was in the kitchen. He had to wonder what that said about him.
“And if I get into that, I’m going to be talking to myself even more than before,” Alex sighed. And the fact that he said it out loud definitely made his point for him, didn’t it?
The thought made him chuckle and Alex was more than glad to move to the sink and roll up his sleeves. There weren’t too many dishes generated by the repeated feeding of soup and other nutrient rich meals in small portions, but given all day and no cleaning, Alex was pleased to see it. Dishes gave him something to do and left him with little need to think. Sadly they only lasted a few minutes until everything was drying in the rack and he was slowly heating a new dose of soup on the stove.
Boredom and over thought was spared when Alex heard his phone go off. A stupid little ditty that was something like a cross between mariachi music and polka all at once. There was no particular reason he had chosen it, but it just felt right. Plus the very meaning that came with that sound did a lot to cheer him on its own.
“Hey, you’re supposed to be working,” he observed after he had fished the phone from his pocket to answer.
“It’s called a break, Blondie. Ever hear of one?”
The snark in Sarge’s voice was thick, and Alex had to appreciate it. Beyond his sister he didn’t know anyone who could put so much of it into so little words. Well, perhaps that Daniel guy David was friends with. They had spoken only briefly at the Halloween party and it had been abundantly clear to him in the two sentences that they had exchanged that the man was probably running on pure sass due to having to deal with Shaun frequently.
“No, never,” Alex returned easily, twisting to lean against the counter. He did make certain that his gaze stayed on the soup so it wouldn’t boil over. Or burn. Or anything else just because his attention was caught up elsewhere. Even like this he had to be so dreadfully responsible didn’t he? “Tell me about this thing called a break.”
“It’s when I break Grif’s head for annoying me. Or when I take a break from breaking Grif’s head for annoying me.”
Which Alex was coming to understand from the way the man would talk about it sometimes when they were chatting on the phone. Maybe sometime he would even be able to get to the bottom of just what it was about the laid back barista that drove Sarge up multiple walls at the same time.
“Well, if you’re sharing some of this, break time was it, with me then I am very honored sir. I just wish I was doing it in person.”
That earned him a huff. Clearly Sarge had an idea of what he wanted to say about that. If Alex stayed silent the man was definitely going to talk. So he carefully held the phone between his shoulder and ear, braced his hands against the counter, and hefted himself up to sit on the edge. Once he was up there he was content to let his feet swing in the air, the subdued noise of his heels hitting the cabinet door below him oddly comforting.
“Then you should be here. Or should have been here during any of my shift. What made you defect to Blue Shift?”
Defect. Sarge really thought about everything in a… novel sort of way.
“Can’t you all just get along and be a little bit purple?”
“Just because your apartment is garishly painted with your compliance with Blue Shift ideals doesn’t mean you’re blue to the core. You’re redeemable.”
Alex chuckled at the statement, shaking his head. Of course he didn’t make any sense, but it was quite amusing to just sit back and listen to it.
“I’m not abandoning you. Just dealing with the ongoing insomnia and all of that. I figure another few days and I’ll be back to my normal night loving self and you won’t have to worry about me starting to think that Tucker has a better sense of humor than you do.”
“He doesn’t,” Sarge noted quickly. “But he does seem to be a better dancer.”
That… was a story that Alex wanted to get to the bottom of someday, but not today. There were other things to focus on, like how the soup was starting to seriously bubble. Alex leaned forward to turn the heat down a bit. Maybe he wasn’t as ready to wake David for a meal as he had thought he would be.
“I think I might be about ten or so minutes late meeting up with you for tonight, can you forgive me?” Alex couldn’t keep the concern from his voice. There was every reason that the other man might be upset at him for it all. He would know why David wasn’t at work, he could easily figure why David’s neighbor who he recognized as having feelings for David, would be away today. Given their own arrangements it could be read as letting Sarge down.
“You’re a carer,” Sarge answered, and Alex thought he heard a shrug. Could you hear a shrug? “It’s okay. Besides, I figure it has something to do with how Scars McGee is still here, looking like he doesn’t know if he’s coming or going regarding the redhead that his brainiac friend is mooning over…”
“The way I read the situation, in my limited understanding, is that she’s an ex of his.”
“Ah, complications,” Sarge observed. “Shame. Seems like a pretty good lady to me. She practically had Leonard seething.”
That Alex hadn’t seen, and he wasn’t certain he wanted to get involved enough to know. Instead he brought it right back around to his point. “So it’s…”
“Fine,” Sarge insisted. “But make it no more than half an hour if you can avoid it. I’ll see what I can do on my end about Shaun lingering here. I’d be a bad date if I couldn’t deal with some of the problems when they’re looking me in the face, right?”
“Worst comes to worst, Connie will no doubt take off a bit early to come and relieve me. If I can, I’d rather she do that than just leave David here alone.”
“That worried about how sick he is?”
“That worried over how scary Connie is when she doesn’t get her way.”
There was silence from the other end of the line for a solid minute, well past the point where Alex checked his phone to make sure the call was still connected. He was about to ask if Sarge was still there when he heard a brief laugh.
“You’re right to be scared. That little lady, I’m sure she’s killed a man once just to see him die.”
“That’s a song,” Alex reminded Sarge, but truth be told he wasn’t sure he could say she wouldn’t. “But she is sort of scary.”
“For someone that tiny? Damn right. I have seen her when she’s cutting her cakes into small slices. You don’t get that good with a knife out of nowhere. Pretty sure she wants to be scary, and she knows she can be.”
Alex had to agree, and for a moment he thought about David. About the way he handled a knife in the kitchen, the scar across his shoulder, and he shuddered.
“I think I’d rather talk plans of attack for tonight. For while your break lasts. Is that okay?”
“A man after my own heart. Okay, so here’s how I see it playing out…”
* * * * * *
The door opens within moments of Shaun’s first knock, like someone was waiting for him to show. Would make sense, really, the way Sarge had chewed him out over the whole thing. Sitting around in a cafe while his boyfriend was sick in bed, fucking up Sarge’s day because Sarge had to come into work early? The fuss the older man had made stopped Charlotte in her tracks as she was speaking about a woman she had met recently in the local gardens. Daniel had been pleased to discover there was a rose garden in town, something neither of them had known, and Shaun had just been happy that she was sitting next to Danny and not himself. Without the winter coat on, with her so close, he could smell her perfume. Why did she even bother to wear perfume if she didn’t mean to draw attention to herself.
Curse her being so close.
The door whipped open and there was the last person Shaun was really ready to see, except for Charlotte. Alex stood there, taller than him by a comfortable margin, looking composed and cool. How dare he be composed and cool? What did this guy think he was about, being in his boyfriend’s apartment.
They’re friends, Shaun reminded himself as he looked at the blond.
“Hi, uh…”
“There is another can of chicken noodle soup on the counter in the kitchen. He likes it when you heat it up to the point where things bubble, and then let it cool for two minutes. There are two juices in the fridge. He can have orange juice at any time, but don’t give him apple after about eight or he won’t fall asleep as easily. Change the wet towel every hour, but wring it out as good as you can. And give him another dose of the medicine from the bottle beside the bed in an hour and a half.”
With that Alex was pushing past Shaun and heading down the hall toward his own apartment, as if Shaun wasn’t even there anymore. It left Shaun staring after him in annoyance. But there wasn’t time for that. Shaun just headed into the apartment, closing the door behind him. Part of him wanted to slam the damn thing, but instead he closed it softly, not wanting to wake David if by some chance the man was still asleep. Bad enough that he was getting here so late thanks to her. It would be worse if he upset what rest the man was getting.
A quick check of the kitchen found that everything Alex had said stood true, there was soup ready just in case David was hungry, there was juices in the fridge, and he was almost thankful that the other man had been there. Shaun knew he wasn’t well equipped for taking care of other people when they were sick. Over the years he had counted himself lucky to find that Daniel was rarely ill, and when he was, he tended to do most of what needed to happen to take care of himself. Shaun mostly just followed instructions.
He left all of that behind, more concerned to actually see his boyfriend than anything else. The bedroom door was opened just a crack, and Shaun was careful to slip off his shoes before continuing forward. Shaun was more than capable of padding quietly through any space, if he was properly equipped, which meant barefoot. Plus he’d learned enough of David’s apartment to know not to put his foot at a spot two feet in front of the left edge of the door, where the carpet had been placed over something that scratched just a little bit. Soon enough he was at the bedside of his boyfriend, lowering himself quietly so he could sit on the edge. David looked… quiet. Worn out. Like he couldn’t make it through things on his own.
Poor guy.
Shaun reached out, gently reaching for the washcloth on his forehead, more than ready to change it out for something fresh and cool, just like Alex had instructed him. The touch, though, roused David. Those beautiful eyes fluttered open and the way David went from confused to beaming at him was magical. Like he mattered. Somehow today he’d forgotten what that felt like. Shaun smiled right back at leaned forward, pressing his lips against David’s forehead.
“Hey dear,” Shaun greeted softly. “Sorry I’m late. Things got… complicated.”
“You’re here now,” David kept smiling. “It’s okay. Because you’re here now.”
Shaun chuckled, doubting that seriously. Just being somewhere didn’t make things magically better. But there was David, starting to sit up and reach for him. Something told him that letting David expend too much energy to the end of getting to his side was wrong. So instead Shaun moved further onto the bed to sit by his boyfriend, pulling David close so the man could lean against him.
“Tell me about it?” David asked, the words half-mumbled into Shaun’s chest. He smelled of sweat and fever, and Shaun didn’t care. That was the amazing thing. Charlotte had been a heady perfume out of his past, a longing that was immediately soothed by being by David, even if the man wasn’t at his best. Charlotte in her prime was nowhere near as good as David when his body was a furnace from the fever, when he had trouble keeping his head up.
“My ex-girlfriend is in town,” Shaun admitted after a moment of internal debate. How much was appropriate to talk about? How much wasn’t? “Once I thought I wanted to marry her. I really did. Had a ring and everything. Maybe kids, and I don’t much like kids, but she wanted them and… She broke my heart.”
“I know what you mean,” David whispered, the words barely audible at all. But the tension in his shoulders said enough. Someone in David’s past. Perhaps the one that made him run away from Shaun after their first night? Perhaps. But if David didn’t want to talk about it, Shaun wasn’t going to push right now.
“Well, she just waltzed right up behind Daniel and I on our way for morning coffee. Ambush of the past. It’s like she didn’t understand how much her very presence hurt. But maybe she never cared like I cared. So I can forgive her. Sort of.”
“Be better than her,” David suggested. “Be better because you’re worth being better.”
“Maybe I want to be better just for you,” Shaun countered, a teasing edge to his voice, but he knew the unspoken praise was worth it too. David was like a flower. He did his best when he was reassured of his value. So Shaun even reached up to toy with his boyfriend’s hair. He loved that so much.
“Charmer,” David accused.
“Guilty,” Shaun was happy to agree.
“Do you still want her?” David asked, and Shaun would have jerked away if the other man didn’t have so much of his weight against Shaun.
“What? Char?”
The answer was very much yes, and completely no. He might jump when she said, but he’d never ask how high. He’d always go his highest. But… for David he thought maybe he might exceed what he thought his limitations were.
“Yeah, who else would I be talking about, Alex?”
Snowy, pale hands pressing David’s sunny skin against these very sheets. Lips brushing over skin Shaun took pleasure in exploring all on his own. And god the sight of it had been amazing. Stupid dreams.
“I guess not,” Shaun said. “Even if he is a bit hot.”
There was a light and playful shove at that, but not all that much of one. Probably because he was sick. Maybe because what Shaun saw when he watched David watching Alex at the Halloween party wasn’t exactly… wrong. Talk about the weirdest sort of romantic complication there ever was. Both of them finding Alex attractive and completely fuckable. Chances were, though, that David had never fantasized about him. David was too good and pure for that. And he definitely never would have thought about Alex screwing Shaun. There were differences between them, and David was too good to have to deal with what Shaun was like.
“Stupid,” David sighed. “You know I know that. Be both know I know that. Honestly, provided you don’t act on things, who am I to judge about a little creative thinking? Put your energies toward me, but let your mind do what your mind needs.”
This man was amazing. How could he not love David? How could Charlotte even be the ghost of a whisper in his mind when this pure, sweet person existed.
“What do you think about getting a bit of food in you?” Shaun asked, squeezing his boyfriend lightly. “We’ll set you up in the living room and I’ll make a fool of myself being a nurse. From the briefing Alex gave me he seemed a bit more… qualified for this, but I’m definitely going to try for you.”
“I can ask nothing more,” David chuckled.
“You can always ask for competence. But I promise that I’m going to try for you, try really hard, to learn all this health stuff,” Shaun promised firmly. “And that starts with getting you somewhere a bit more lit up so we can cuddle and watch really terrible cartoons like I used to do when I was a kid. Or anything else. You get control of the remote.”
“Please promise none of your horrible romance movies,” David pleaded. “I’m already miserable.”
“Asshole,” Shaun laughed before pulling off of the bed. “I’m going to make you suffer for that someday. But for now, let me carry you to the living room. I’ll get you a glass of juice, set you up with the remote and some blankets, and I’ll shout really embarrassing stories about how I tried to romance one Charlotte Church and managed to make myself look like a buffoon while I make your dinner. Sound good?”
David only had to nod briefly before Shaun was smiling and moving to scoop the smaller man up. “Sounds good.”
Navigating the man through the doorway was a bit of a pain, especially after Shaun worked to scoop up the blankets with him, but once it was done and David was situated on the couch, Shaun felt rather proud of himself. He went back to fetch pillows twice, frowning briefly at the coat that had gotten tangled up with them for some reason. Too big to be David’s to the best of his knowledge, especially as he hadn’t seen it before, but in the end he tossed it onto a nearby chair, figuring David might just be a bit more of a clothes horse than Shaun had given him credit for. Once David was fully nested on the couch, and a small, plush kitten fetched down from a bookshelf that David had been pouting toward, Shaun made his way toward the kitchen.
“How did you meet Charlotte?” David asked, his voice cracking when he raised it to be heard by Shaun all the way in the kitchen.
Now there was a story for the ages.
“Would you believe me if I told you I was a huntsman hired by her evil stepmother to kill her and put her heart into a box, so that the stepmother might be the fairest in all the lands?”
“That is Snow White. Don’t make me try and get up to hunt you down. I’ll fall over and we’ll all feel bad.”
True enough. Shaun reached quickly into the fridge to fetch out the juice that Alex said would be inside. Not even a carton, but rather a pitcher. Who put juice into pitchers? Shaun shook the question out of his mind and reached for a glass in the cabinet.
“Same way I meet a lot of people who aren’t Daniel. Really bad flirting. Went out to a club one night with a group of friends, just after I hit twenty-one. None of them are still friends I will say that, she got them in the pseudo-divorce and many moved on with their lives far away from here in the time after. Anyway, I was young, stupid, and had more and far worse pickup lines than I have now. Worse than Tucker.”
“No!” David gasped, and Shaun could see feigned horror as he returned to the living room, apple juice in hand.
“Yeah,” Shaun assured him. “I made Tucker look smooth. But this one girl there, sitting at the bar with this weird little flowy half skirt and the reddest hair that you can find in a bottle of dye, actually laughed. It was the start of something epic. I was so shocked it worked that I almost fell over. Worse, I almost set myself on fire with the lighter I had been playing with.”
“Smooth indeed.”
His laughter was like a blessing, and Shaun wanted nothing more than to earn it. Yeah, maybe he was screwed here, just like he had been with her. But this time he knew it was going to turn out well.
On a similar vein... what's Connie's workshop setup like? We know (in Relocation) that at least part of it is portable, but most of the avid sewers I know are also fairly epic hoarders (never, EVER volunteer to help one move-- *notes that this parenthetical could also be a fairly decent prompt, re: Connie's move away from Seattle*), so I can imagine her having quite the setup if she's got space for it.
“So, if you’ve never had someone over before, why do you have a spare bedroom?”Connie heard the words muttered from around a corner and dropped all the makings for the margaritas she was going to make on the counter. The woman she had picked up at the bar two weeks ago and managed three honest to god dates with had been a risk to bring home, she knew it, but the intentions had been pretty clear she thought. They were going to come to Connie’s place, Connie was going to make drinks and dinner, and then Connie was going to be dessert. She had been no where near prepared for just how nosy the tall, intimidating woman could be. Already Alexa had been through her closet to see ‘where the skeletons were hidden’, scrounged through the whole fridge ‘in case there were disgusting things that would end the relationship’, and browsed the medicine cabinet in the bathroom. But to have her there was bad. Connie ran for all she was worth and threw herself around a corner, almost tackling the woman by accident. Some measure of restraint, something she hadn’t seen in Alexa yet, had kept Alexa just outside of the room, standing in the open doorway. Perhaps it was her gaze pondering over the forms and the sewing table. Taking in the small racks of fabrics and the rack of works in progress Connie hadn’t had time to finish these last few months. Worse, maybe she was looking at the little pile of failed stuffed animal attempts Connie kept turning out that were either lopsided or had eyes that weren’t even, or the one she had sewed the leg on wrong. “This is just the coolest fucking thing ever. Maybe I can convince you to model your stuff for me sometime.”Connie breathed a sigh of relief before reaching past the woman to haul the door shut. “Maybe another time.”
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[Story Index Here]
Relocation - Part Seventeen
“Hey, Connie, I'm heading out for the day,” David announced as Sarge came out of the locker room, fully dressed to take over David's duties. It was a relief to see his evening replacement show his face on time. Sarge hadn't bothered to show for the Halloween festivities two days before and he had been late for work yesterday afternoon. Tonight Shaun was busy helping Daniel and Nate move furniture in Daniel's apartment, which meant David was going to get a relaxing evening with a new book and perhaps even cook up something pleasant for himself that Shaun didn't enjoy.
“Have fun, David,” she called back from a table in the corner as David moved into the locker room for a change. The place was surprisingly slow for a Sunday afternoon, which was a relief for his desire to just get out of the place and relax. Still, just to avoid the chance that he would get asked for something on the way out by a customer, David stripped down to the tank top her wore under his uniform shirt and just tugged his loose knit hoodie on over it. All of that done he headed back in the cafe proper only to see a very familiar form entering the cafe.
Just seeing the tall, blond form of Alex striding confidently in through the door made David freeze. There was heat rising into his cheeks, and for the life of him, David didn't know what from. Was it the memory of how scandalously gorgeous Alex had been in his Halloween costume, evoking the Greek god David had mentally compared the man to when they first met? Or was his embarrassment over the memory of how Shaun had handled him at the end of the night, complete with an utterance of unexpected but needed words? How could he know? Did it even matter?
“Hey,” Alex greeted, and David put on a smile. He had asked Nate last night about how to handle all that was going on and the other man had just shrugged and suggested going with his guy. At the moment his gut said to give that smiling face a chance. They were friends after all.
“Hi,” David returned, his smile a touch more forced than Alex's seemed to be. “You're in early for you.”
“My body is still trying to adjust to the timezone. Normally it's not so bad but... well, what are you going to do beyond caffeinate?”
“Sleep?” David suggested with a laugh.
“Easily said,” Alex chuckled right back before gesturing toward the nearest table. Something in David said no, but his body moved anyway toward the booth, sitting across from the handsome man. “Far more difficult than I do. Anyway, I was looking for you, if you cared.”
“Of course I care,” David answered. Was there something about his body language that said he was distant? To counter that he sat forward a bit more, making sure he smiled. “What can I do for you, neighbor?”
“We're doing a welcome back dinner at my apartment tonight. Alexa, Connie and myself. They both felt like shit for ditching you last time and made sure I invited you this time,” Alex noted. “They both swear to show up this time if you do.”
“Strange that Connie didn't tell me earlier,” David mused with a frown.
“I think the ladies intended to just short of kidnap you for dinner,” Alex shrugged and the less than amused look on his face told David all he needed to know about the man's opinions on that approach. “I, on the other hand, want to invite you. Mostly because Connie is working late and I would like my friend the talented cook to help me make the dinner. And maybe I wanted to thank you for cooking for me as well by cooking some for you.”
“They... are making you cook your own welcome back dinner?” David asked, aghast at the very idea of it. The point of a celebration like that was that it was done for you.
“It's also my belated birthday dinner,” Alex smiled, like that made it any better. “One good way to ensure a great Halloween party when you're growing up is to be born on the holiday itself.”
David was left gaping at the man. Welcome back dinner and birthday party? And the man had to cook it all on his own? This could not be tolerated, not even remotely. As he straightened in the seat he could tell Alex had read his answers, without words. Still, David smiled, not caring too much if it was weird to be invited to a tiny little, private birthday party where everyone was either related or dating each other. Connie was practically a sister anyway.
“So, what are we cooking?” he asked, pulling out his phone. A quick text to Shaun made certain he would not be missed or harassed tonight. This was far more important.
And oh how beautiful the smile Alex graced him with was. Nope, he was not going to deal with that. Instead his attention turned toward his phone again; pulling up a number of recipes he kept on his phone for the sake of quick ingredient purchases.
“Let's see what I can add to your meal,” David smiled as he flipped through the options. “What are you planning on?”
“I'm intending on a dry-rubbed London Broil,” Alex provided. “Are you looking for something in particular?”
“Well, it will help to have good side dishes, right? I mean, I can't make you a cake, but I can wow your taste-buds in other ways. Let's see... have you ever had spiced ginger asparagus? Goes great with beef. And I can make a pilaf for the side, or rolls with herb and garlic butter.”
“Sounds lovely,” Alex smiled and when David looked up he felt warm all over again. This was the worst agreement ever for his heart, and Alex's excitement, so plain on his face, was too contagious for him to care for more than a second.
“We'll have to go shopping,” David announced, attaching all the ingredients he would need for his asparagus to a shopping app. “We've also got to talk about what bread is reasonable in our time frame. I have some ideas and tons of ingredients in my apartment to work with. There's an issue of oven space, but we do have two to work with now. Very convenient that you asked me. We'll have to look at cook temperatures too, and...”
A hand raised by Alex paused him in the middle of his planning. There was clearly a laugh struggling to escape with how his other hand was pressed in a fist to his lips. How dare he laugh? How dare he hold back on it? David almost wanted to reach across and prod the man in the ribs to force the laugh out. It was childish enough in his life to be that childish these days. Being relaxed enough for that was so different from his old life. That made this... refreshing.
“We can go shopping very soon,” Alex assured him. “We'll hit the apartment first to drop off one of our cars. But there is something else I need to do first, okay? Can you wait for me?”
“Sure,” David smiled right back. “If I get bored I'll drive back to the complex, change, and wait for you to pick me up. Sound good?”
“Actually, it almost sounds better to have you go and meet me there when you put it like that,” Alex mused, his fingers stroking his chin. “Who knows how long this will take. Be patient with me?”
“Always,” David agreed, and the pensive look it got him made him wonder just how Alex took the comment. How could he not? After all, the last time they had been alone together, cooking... something had happened, or almost had, right? He'd been too patient with the man then. Had it been a mistake, to not act then? No, he had needed time, which he hadn't received, and now here he was. Happy with Shaun. SO there was no need to read into anything, right? Right.
“See you soon, but don't take too long,” David decided as he pushed to his feet. Time to renew the space between them, maybe send Shaun another, sweet text to comfort himself in that relationship, and of course Nate to tell him to make certain his boyfriend behaved tonight while David wasn't there. Alex nodded his goodbye as David moved away. Of course he paused at the door, a realization hitting him along the way. “Oh, I am not running up those stairs back at the apartment, so I might take longer to get changed, okay?”
“Got it,” Alex agreed, his smile a brief thing. With that the man was moving away from David, his path taking him to the counter. David had to wonder why, if they had so many things to do in so little time, the man would hit the counter. Probably to pick some treat up for his sister, he realized. With that settled David pushed his way out of the cafe.
For the life of him, though, he couldn't help but peek back through the cafe window. Was Alex really going to take a while? What he found as he glanced back was surprising. Had he ever seen Alex interact with Sarge in the past? Of course not, given the differences between their schedules, and he supposed the man had to know Sarge some given he almost exclusively came in during the older man's shift, but he had never thought about it before. And he definitely wasn't certain how to take Alex all but leaning over the pastry display to talk to Sarge, because there was something strange to it. Something in his body language if David had to put a finger on it. The way Alex leaned forward, the slightly flustered look on Sarge's face, it was weird. Weird enough to keep David there watching as the pair spoke.
After a minute David was ready to move away, something that was stopped when he saw Alex reach out to touch Sarge's shoulder. With that the two men moved off to the side, almost out of sight. Weird. Very weird. Frowning, David moved at last to his car. That was something he would have to ask about later. Granted it probably wasn't his business, but friends were meant to be nosy and concerned for each other. So it wasn't too bad for him to take his phone back out and shoot Alex a quick text.
/Is there a particular reason you needed to talk to Sarge? I mean, the two of you seem pretty friendly./
Of course a response wasn't going to be coming soon, so David turned his attention to the process of getting settled into his car and the driving. Plus ignoring the strange discomfort in his gut. Instead he focused on the layout of his kitchen back at home. Did he have all the pots and pans he needed yet? He had gone out shopping with Daniel recently and acquired more, and given how much time they had to work with, it was going to have to do. Tonight he'd even be able to finally show off to Connie just how far he had come as a cook, so there was a perk right there.
Provided no one expected him to make a birthday cake from scratch on his lonesome and the women didn't abandon them again tonight everything should be nice. Granted he didn't think Connie would do that now that he was with Shaun, so that was a relief.
Shaun. He didn't even know how Alex thought about the course he had taken with the other man. Tonight would be as good a chance as any to figure that out he supposed.
He just had to hope the reaction was not going to be a bad one.
* * * * * *
Well, with the plans for tonight all but finished and David on his way, there was only one thing left for Alex to do. Which was deal with the situation he remembered from Friday night. Sarge in his apartment and... A lot to figure out, and they at least had some time in the clear. With the front door chiming as it closed, Alex's attention turned to his target. Well, thinking of it that way probably implied weird things, but he wasn't going to delve into that right now.
“Sarge?” he called out, moving toward the pastry case. The man in question was focused on the orange clad form of Grif, who was standing at the coffee machine.
“Damn idiot, you need to clean out old ground beans before you brew another pot. I tell you every damn...”
“Sarge,” Alex repeated a bit louder. He was certain the man would ignore him if allowed to. “Just a minute please?”
There was a sag to the man's shoulders that told Alex that he was finally going to acknowledge him. Alex followed the shift of his shoulders, the resignation in the motion, which was far more than he would have believed possible for such a proud man. Quite interesting, but he wished the man didn't seem so upset about him. AT last Sarge turned to face him, moving to meet Alex at the pastry counter. For a moment he was struck by the differences in their height, which made no sense. Why take note of it now when he should have nights ago?
“What do ya need?” Sarge asked, his voice gruff and almost dismissive.
As if Alex would go away so easily.
”I wanted to thank you again,” he answered. “I got home safely thanks to you, and I wanted to say how much I appreciated that. I needed a friend that night, and you were there when no one else was. Thank you.”
“I told you before that it was nothing. I helped. Sometimes I do that,” Sarge shrugged, trying to set the information aside, trying to make everything into nothing.
He wasn't getting away with that today. Alex reached across the counter to lay a hand on Sarge's shoulder. The place was quiet enough for a talk and he intended to have that talk. His touch drew Sarge's eyes to his head and that got his attention. After a long moment he nodded. A brief gesture towards Simmons freed Sarge and moved them toward the break room. Well, the locker room for the employees, as it were. But there they were, silent, waiting. How was he supposed to know how to start this conversation?
“I guess I should thank you for more than just the walk home. Should thank you for everything really. The... ear to listen. The points you made. The kiss.”
Who knew such a simple word could make such a strong and stubborn man go stiff. Fear maybe? Weird, Alex wouldn't have thought the man so easily rattled. If the situation were an y other he would be amused. As it was, well, he wanted to pierce through all of that. After all, this was a conversation, or was meant to be. How could he make the man understand that?
“Just forget it happened,” Sarge insisted, moving for the door. He was not getting away, though. Alex shifted so his body blocked Sarge from leaving. More than anything he needed just get the words out. Once that was done, he would be more than happy to go.
“I can't,” Alex answered bluntly. “You said that you can't do anything to give me a good break. But the thing is, you already have given me a break. And maybe you could give me another. A better one.”
“Huh?” Sarge asked, quite clearly caught off guard by the statement that didn't really state anything.
“I'm saying that if it works for you then maybe you might consider a repeat of the time we spent together on my birthday. Except with a movie or dinner or going paintballing or something.”
There was a brief twinkle of delight in Sarge's eyes at that final suggestion, but it didn't remove the tension from the man at all. Was he not being straight-forward enough? Would Sarge even be able to handle straight-forward?
“I don't quite understand what you're getting at, Blondie,” Sarge answered Alex's wondering with a good bit of disappointment on Alex's part.
“I'm saying a date, Sarge. Possibly more than one. And if it doesn't work then it doesn't work and we'll be friends.”
Was it really that hard to be understood? Alex didn't think so. Then again, it had been a long time since he dared to ask someone out, so maybe he was messing up somehow.
“I ain't looking to be your rebound from the emotional let down of losing out to the smooth-talker,” Sarge insisted immediately and firmly. “Plain and simple.”
Oh. Alex stood there in shock for a long moment. Was that was this was? If he had to be a judge of it, he knew he could hardly be a good one. So how was he supposed to answer the concern?
“That wasn't the intention, but I can understand the concern,” he let himself admit at last. “The only think I can offer you now is my word that this isn't meant to be that. That I'd try my best. Which I know isn't enough but...”
Alex was stopped by Sarge shaking his head and raising a hand.
“Trying from you has got to be worth more than from a lot of other people. So let me put it out straight from the word go. I ain't going to be doing nothing bed-like. I got no interest in any of that. I also don't do fancy restaurants. And if I call it off it is off with no argument, no protest, no pleading. You got it?”
Speechless, Alex merely nodded. Those were all things he could easily do. Ground rules were a comforting notion as well. Knowing form the start what was and wasn't expected worked for him. He could even applaud the idea of no burdens or expectations related to restaurants, seeing as he was bigger on cooking for himself anyway.
“And no telling my idiot shift,” Sarge continued. “Funnier to watch them try and figure it out on their own. Fifty says when Grif does his voice goes girly levels of high.”
“No bet,” Alex chuckled, finally finding his voice again. “But if he does, I'll pay for a round of paintball.”
“Almost makes me want to tell him now,” Sarge chuckled richly, and it left a bit of a smile on his lips as he produced an order pad from his apron. With a quick, barely legible scrawl and a loud rip of paper Alex had Sarge's number thrust at him, the name over it listed only as 'Sarge'.
“I've always wondered if that was your real name or what,” Alex admitted as he tucked the paper safely away into his pocket. “Don't suppose I get to know...”
“Nope,” Sarge answered without hesitation. “Gotta run that bit of information. Prove yourself worthy, all that honor stuff.”
“Sounds like fun,” Alex smiled. “I need to get going. Have to really restock the food stores at home now that I'm back and have had a chance to breathe.”
“Of course. Your sister strikes me as an order in and microwave sort of person, right?”
“In the worst way,” Alex immediately agreed. “Without Connie or me she'd be doomed.”
“I get that,” Sarge shrugged. “A bit like that myself. Anyway, I need to get back to work. Expect Grif broke something by now and is hiding it from Simmons. See you later.”
“Yeah,” Alex agreed with a small wave. With that the pair of them left the locker room, heading their separate ways. Alex allowed himself a glance toward the older man behind the counter. Seeing him going straight back to berating Grif was entertaining.
It wasn't until he was outside that he pulled out his cell to enter the number. Of course before that he found a text from David and smirked.
/Is there a particular reason you needed to talk to Sarge? I mean, the two of you seem pretty friendly./
There was no way David would begin to believe him, because Alex could barely believe it himself. No, he needed time to figure out how to present this to his friend. To his sister as well. At least he could buy time before saying it by using Sarge's request as a defensive measure. Sure David wasn't on Sarge's staff, but that didn't mean telling David wouldn't get back to Red Shift. So waiting would have to suffice.
/Wanted to pay him back a bit. He was at the bar I went to on Halloween. Bought me a few drinks./
That handled, he returned to punching Sarge's number in. After a brief thought he sent a brief hello to Sarge's phone so the man would have his number as well. Which meant the last thing he had to think about was going to pick up David at the apartment. His friend. He just needed to keep it framed properly in his head.
A quick meow from his pocket announced a new text from David, and Alex sighed as he fished the thing back out to check the message.
/You went drinking with Sarge? Why would you do that?/
Really? Then again Alex had to remember David barely knew the man. They didn't work at the same time. Their interaction was a brief overlap as Sarge came in and David left. So Alex had to keep that in mind for his reply.
/We both happened to be there. And don't text while driving./
Barely enough time passed for Alex to get to his car and unlock it before David's response demanded attention. Why had he left his sister talk him into such a pathetic, mewling sort of tone for David's messages anyway?
/Called voice to test. Fuck Siri. That was text. No! Don't send that!/
Alex let himself laugh heartily before climbing into his car. No way he was going to respond. He would rather show David the text in person.
Tonight, he thought as he started the car, was going to be the best.
* * * * * *
“Seriously, snickers?” David couldn't help but laugh at the improbability of it as Alex wielded the frosting knife with considerable skill, smoothing the chocolate butter cream to impressive levelness.
Seriously,” Alex agreed, a touch of pride in his voice. “Ones you are supposed to be opening now.”
The gentle chiding was hardly something that should have made David embarrassed. Nonetheless he could feel heat rising into his cheeks, especially over how easily he had left himself get distracted over Alex, especially his hands. It was the way they could be absolutely still while he worked, holding the knife motionless with one hand while the other turned the cake on its spinning stand. Shaun's hands always seemed to be moving, fidgeting, fiddling and exploring. Never in a bad way of course. Just very, very different.
“Sorry, sir,” David chuckled to try and cast off his nervous energy, returning his attention to the bowl of chocolates before him. Their cooking had reached an intermediate point, between the baking being finished and everything else prepped and ready for the word go. The word was waiting on Connie and Alexa to show up post work, because it would hardly do to eat without them.
“Please don't call me that,” Alex groaned. David looked up for half a moment, confused by the reaction. When Alex set the frosting knife aside David rushed his attention back to his task of unwrapping. They were in the not silence of crinkling foil for a bit, punctuated by clanks of chocolates into a shallow bowl. Finally Alex spoke, even as his long fingers fished a chocolate out from between David's hands.
“Things can get weird when I'm doing work for the University out of the states. This time was a weird one. The man I was sent out to work with had two students there with him. Clearly they craved his approval, some had two students there with him. So they either called him by his title, or by 'sir'. Having been deemed an authority figure and attached to him while there, I was also sir. Don't think I've ever been so uncomfortable in my life,” Alex admitted with a sigh.
“Then how about I just call you ma'am?” David teased, hoping to lighten the mood. Given the man was immediately grinning, clearly on the edge of the laugh, he had to think he succeeded.
“I might be able to handle that. But if you use it in front of Alexa I am going to be actively cross,” Alex warned him. “Not even kidding.”
“I would deserve no less,” David agreed. “So don't worry about it. We will go with Alex and you will know I'm saying ma'am. Easy. Now tell me more about Australia.”
“I'd rather not,” Alex answered as he selected another chocolate so he could work on the near paving of the top of the cake with chocolate cobbles. “Can I tell you about here instead?”
“Here?”
“It's spring there, and it's already surprisingly hot,” Alex sighed. “And the place I was using as my base had the firmest bed ever. Like a rock. When I fell into my bed the first night back I would have passed out in relief of the softness. Except, you know... it was noisy.”
David was still embarrassed by that. His face went scarlet at the reminder. “Promise it will never happen again. We are so sorry it...”
Alex raised a placating hand. Clearly he was over it, or wanted to seem that way. Either way David knew better than to push that. Maybe Alex got it, maybe he didn't. But moving on was moving on.
“The other great thing here? I get to be the one cooking,” Alex smiled, almost serenely, down at the cake. “No little kitchen there, in my hotel room. Instead I had a per diem allotment for meals. Sometimes people would invite me over and they would cook but never me. Now I ge to be back in my kitchen, master of all I survey. Except anything Alexa's name is on. She's way past picky. Love her, but the fridge took all this time to clean out to make room for actual ingredients. The only thing she cooks is no-bake cookies and we have no cocoa powder left.”
Clearly because they had brought a pair of tins of them at the store. “So, cooking was what you missed the most?”
“I didn't have the people that mattered most to me there,” Alex answered easily as he worked. “Oh, and the fall air. I love it. The crisp way it feels against you skin, the coolness that makes your cheeks sting with cold and pleasure as winter starts to sneak forward. And of course I get to bring my sweaters out.”
“The weather?” David asked with a chuckle and a shake of his head. “Out of everything that you didn't have access to, everything that wasn't there, everything that people like and say they wish they didn't leave behind, and you missed the weather?”
The smile Alex wore was positively wistful and David had to swallow down his pleasure at the look. How could a man be so very, very good? David smiled back and shook his head again. “Alright then, let's pretend you said something more uplifting and finish the cake, okay?”
The comment made the man nod in agreement and with a gesture he directed David's attention back to the candies. There were only a few more to be handled, and David tried to focus on his own hands rather than the strong line of Alex's back and the way the violet sweater the man wore hugged his chest tightly in all the right ways. David was jealous of that body. A small part of him that focused on Shaun at most times said that his boyfriend's more compact form was quite pleasing in its own way. He wanted to reach out and...
“We're home! I hope everyone is decent!”
Once, back when he was in high school, Connie had waltzed into David's room with the same announcement, while Ethan had him pressed against the wall with lips at his neck. Somehow David found this moment with him carefully unwrapping candies for the cake far more embarrassing than that day. He wasn't even touching Alex! Still, he was thankful to see the two women crossing the living room, tossing their coats aside onto the chair before they made their way to the other side of the breakfast bar from where David was sitting.
“Looks like it,” Alexa noted as she left Connie behind to head to the fridge and fish a pitcher out of it. “Drinks anyone?”
“If you get drunk and ruin my meal, I'm going to mess you up,” Alex warned his twin and David laughed, shaking his head. This was nice, the ease these three people had with each other. They had even welcomed him in. Alexa and Connie had been great, not as close as Nate after he met the man.
“Drink and be merry,” Alexa countered, putting the pitcher down loudly next to David before moving to fetch cups. Connie rolled her eyes at the display and offered David a little smile. After another moment her hand reached out to curl her fingers around those of one of David's hands.
“Looks like Alex didn't let us snatch you. Which was good. Tell me you kept Alex from making an eight course meal.”
“Uh...” David said briefly, frowning. “I might have added two.”
“Traitor. How am I going to keep my girlish figure if he feeds us all too much?” Connie asked, drama in her voice as she shook her head.
“Work out more with me,” Alexa answered for him, a smirk on her lips. “In fact, you should have seen it today. The guy you sent me, David, he's a beast. Nate actually put me on my ass twice in the ring today. Damn military tactics and training beat me and it wasn't fair.”
“Nate, the large guy in the Master Chief getup at the party?” Alex asked as he put the last piece of chocolate in place.
“Yeah,” David smiled as he sat up straighter. “Met him while you were gone, almost immediately after actually. Marine. Daniel and him, they sorta started a romance while Nate was here after leaving the service for a family reunion. He was going to head back up to Maine when he was done, but instead he's going to be staying with Daniel. I helped him find work with Alexa, and he's been helping to train her self defense classes.”
“My intention is to get him all the way to helping out with training people who want to do competitive stuff,” Alexa grinned, and David can see the glee in her gaze. “His take-downs may not be the best, but he's got a lot of force behind him and he knows how to get people to learn how to use it as well. The business is going to boom with him to back me up. And he has the perk of making Shaun annoyed.”
“French,” Connie chuckled, shaking her head, and David joined her.
“French?” Alex asked, and David had to smile. If Alexa could speak it, so could Alex.
“Oui,” David agreed. “See, Shaun can't speak it. But it turns out that not only do the three of us speak it to different levels, but Daniel and Nate speak it as first or second languages I guess, and even Michael does to a degree. Shaun grew up with Daniel but never really learned the language and it makes him a touch frustrated to hear it all.”
Just a sentence made Shaun glare at David and pounce on him later in a great way. That made him smile.
“Sounds like you've got a new way to drive your boyfriend up the wall, is that a good thing?”
The tone Alex gave him was genuinely worried. A friend wanting to be certain that they didn't drive their boyfriend away from them. That there wasn't something to relationship that made things difficult for them. It was a kind of affection that made David smile.
“Yeah,” David smiled as he unwrapped the last candy and dropped it into the bowl. “He knows we do it to make him frustrated. We get a good laugh. And it means I can keep secrets from him to plan surprises if needed. And the way he glares just... it makes me smile. Is that weird?”
“Yes,” Alex said even as Connie shook her head and Alexa huffed. Apparently they had opinions about it all.
“It's not that bad though,” Alex quickly continued. “Does he make you smile, David?”
In ways that he hadn't in a very, very long time. He knew, or he thought he knew, why Alex asked. Alex, Connie, they both knew about Ethan, or had their suspicions, and David knew it. To have the two of them smiling now was helpful.
“He does,” David agreed, his voice soft. “Really. I feel... it was more than I expected, Alex, I mean... your advice was a lot more helpful than I ever would have thought it could be. I'm happy.”
Alex nodded and reached out to pat David on the back.
“Good,” Alexa spoke up. “Because if the man hurts you, I am pretty sure Alex is going to have me break some bones. So let's avoid that since my number one employee is sorta dating his best friend.”
“I could beat him up on my own, and I would,” Alex countered.
“Not if you don't get back to your physical training you won't,” Alexa shrugged.
Within moments she was going back into discussions of her gym and training regimen, and David was happy to sit back and listen. Here and now he didn't know if there was anything more he could want.
* * * * * *
Shaun had always thought of himself as a fit man. Never had any real issues moving his own furniture, he could carry his packs with ease, and it was easy to lift David into his arms and carrying him about when he wanted or needed. None of that prepared him for just how hard of a time he was having keeping up with Nate.
“You know, not everyone can carry three people on their back and move a car with a single hand at the same time.” Shaun didn't exactly wheeze as he worked to handle the weight of his side of the dresser. Nate, of course, wasn't even breathing hard.
“Can't if you don't try,” Nate countered as he backed up, the asshole could lift everything and still manage to back up without looking like he'd trip, to get into the right location for the dresser. This was the second one they had to move. The first had been in an attempt to move Daniel's into a better position so his bedroom could contain the second one for Nate. There were other things they were doing too, like switching out for a more comfortable fold-out couch, adding in more storage space in other ways, and the list only went on from there.
“Not everything is about a can-do mentality, soldier,” Shaun groaned. A nod from Nate was all the gesture he needed to have him set his side of the large dresser down, and it was a relief to do it. Immediately Shaun stepped back to rub at his arms. They were sore, but it was a good sore, the sore that said he'd done something good. Helping his best friend was definitely a good thing.
“Not everyone whines when they do something difficult,” Nate countered with a shrug. Asshole didn't even have the decency to be sweating.
“Well I like to be special,” Shaun answered easily, only to hear snickering behind him. “If I turn around and you're there laughing at me, Danny, I will have to pinch you.”
“Really? Nate, would you let him do that?”
“I surrender,” Shaun corrected himself as he turned to face his friend. While he and Nate had the hard task of taking care of the furniture, Daniel was responsible for the smaller parts of the transition. Clothes had been washed today and needed folding, dinner that wasn't merely pizza needed to be prepared for them all, and on top of it they needed a peace maker. Not that Shaun couldn't get along with Nate. It was just...
The man wasn't what he had ever expected for his friend. It wasn't like he thought Nate wasn't good enough for Daniel. It was... something else. But he supposed both of them were changing. Being adults did that.
“Good choice,” Nate answered from behind Shaun, and Shaun refused to let that shake him.
“Thanks,” Shaun shrugged as he walked past them. “You know, if you're serious about moving in together, maybe you should go shopping. New drapes, matching couple's towels, those sorts of things.”
He immediately danced away from Nate. All through the evening he had been jabbing Nate with that, and his friend and the larger man never used the word 'moving'. How neither of them could understand that Nate crashing long term on Daniel's couch while they were dating definitely fell into the category of living together. Definitely meant serious. Neither of them liked it. Nate, though, seemed to be getting closer and closer to taking a swipe at him.
“I think we'll be good with what we have,” Daniel countered simply as he moved out of the bedroom. “Now, since we have that in place, will you two please come out to the living room? I've taken a look at the couch and it really needs to be about two feet to the right.”
“You're kidding me,” Shaun groaned in frustration. “Come on, Danny, surely it's not that important right now. Please tell me it's not that important right now.”
“It's important to me right now,” Daniel countered as Shaun trailed after his friend, “and I don't have people over here enough to take care of all of it for me. Even Nate can only do so much. Right?”
That comment earned Daniel a brief grumble in French which left Shaun twitching in annoyance before he threw himself down onto the couch itself. Of course they were using French. Stupid realizations, stupid everyone talking over his head and leaving him behind. He was going to learn this damn language and show them all that they couldn't hide their insults from him.
“That isn't polite,” Daniel chided from somewhere behind Shaun and off to the left.
“I'm sure it wasn't,” Shaun answered, throwing a sore arm over his eyes to block out the light of a nearby lamp.
“I was talking to you. You're on the couch we're about to move.”
The words came just before strong arms moved Shaun's legs roughly to the side, and then there was a light weight beside him. Shaun peeked out from under his arm and he saw Daniel sitting with Nate leaning over the back of the couch to frown down at him.
“Come on, guys, I'm only human here. Let me have a minute to rest, okay?”
“Of course,” Daniel smiled across at him and Shaun was relieved to have that look from his friend.
Since Nate came into the picture Daniel was not always as easy to pin down, mostly because a lot of his time had become about the other man. Shaun really didn't have a place to speak, given the fact that he spent a lot of time with David now. Perhaps he and Daniel needed to set up a very specific day of the week that was just for them, for the people who knew what it was like to grow up where they did and how they did. He refused to lose a connection just because they had people in their lives.
“Listen, I know I'm being a brat, especially to you, Nate, but I am still happy for the two of you. Finding each other is pretty cool. Not everyone gets that. I don't even know how I got it,” Shaun admitted nervously.
“You're a good person,” Nate offered immediately.
“Not that this is necessarily long term,” Daniel added. “Nate is still looking for his own place. Of course, I won't throw you out as long as you need this space.”
Shaun covered his eyes again and he was more than happy to not see them making cute faces at each other. Still, a smile curved his own lips at the thought of just how happy this big lug made his friend. Someone Daniel could fall back on and believe in that wasn't him was perfect. Someone he could trust enough to allow in his space was even better.
The murmuring in another language made Shaun sit up again at last. “Come on, let's get this couch moved. Not like anyone else is going to swoop in to help us with this.”
“Not even David?” Daniel asked.
They all knew his boyfriend wasn't coming, or Shaun had thought as much. Maybe Daniel had thought that Shaun might get bored and invite his boyfriend over to help anyway, but not this time. A guy couldn't spend every waking moment with a new boyfriend, especially not one as skittish as David could be at times. Sure, Shaun would love to have him around more, but he wasn't going to push it. For half a moment he thought of that scar on his boyfriend's body, the one that didn't belong with what little he knew of the man's background, and then he pushed himself abruptly up from the couch.
“No, he's taking the night to himself. I think he got invited over to some party now that his friend Alex is back in town. Wasn't going to drag him here for this anyway. No offense, Nate, he could probably use a nap.”
Nate shrugged behind the couch. He placed a brief hand on Daniel's shoulder and just like that the smaller man was rising and moving away from the couch. It freed up a place for Nate to stand by one arm, and Shaun took his appointed place on the other end.
“About that...” Daniel said as Shaun got a good grip on the monster of a couch.
“After we've moved it. Don't want him dropping it on his foot,” Nate interrupted. That made Shaun raise a curious eyebrow before the other man was gesturing for him to lift.
There were more pressing things on his mind then, and seeing as he would get an answer soon enough Shaun opted to stay silent and focus on the couch. No one spoke as they moved with Nate walking backward again, and Shaun kept a careful watch on Daniel. When his friend waved for them to stop he was quite relieved to put the couch down. Stupid wood floors and not being able to push things. Oh well.
“Now what could we not talk about for fear of crushing my foot?”
Daniel looked to Nate, some clear communication passing between the other two men as Shaun watched. Now they were apparently capable of telepathy, another way they could talk behind his back or over his head or whatever else they wanted.
“David has neighbors,” Nate said at length. It was such an opaque answer that Shaun ignored it in favor of moving the coffee table to line up with the couch.
“A lot of people do, big guy. In fact, since you're staying here, you have me as a neighbor... so I guess I want to know what your point is?”
When he looked back up he found that Daniel had somehow slipped away on silent feet. It was a talent his friend had always possessed, and often used against Shaun to leave him in awkward places. Which meant this was about to get awkward, didn't it?
“Find a wall that isn't shared by his friend and neighbor.”
Find a what? Shaun stared for a moment before what Nate meant really hit home. Rarely had he ever considered himself a man that was uncomfortable about sex, but the way Nate said it almost made him red in the face. How did the big guy know? Likely because David and Nate had connected rather well in the last weeks. Not that Shaun could figure out exactly what united the pair, but he respected it. None of that prepared him for being lectured on sex by a guy that he was pretty certain still hadn't kissed Daniel.
“Excuse me?” Shaun found himself asking as Nate stood there, the big man crossing his arms over his chest.
“You heard me,” Nate replied, the words simple and brooking no argument. “David is private, all of us can see that. You got away with some stuff because that Alex guy was out of town, but he's back and he's David's friend, and he's going to have limits. Has enough of them that he mentioned to me how uncomfortable he felt when he found out Alex heard you two. I'm just saying you need to figure out those limits yourself instead of having me explain them. And you better respect them or I might have to accidentally drop a dresser on your foot.”
It clearly wasn't an empty threat.
“Daniel wouldn't be pleased with you if you did that.”
Nate just shrugged and turned away, heading toward the kitchen. Clearly the man thought the conversation was over. Nothing more needing said. Perhaps he was right. Still... it was far from done in Shaun's own head. He flopped down on the couch once more and wondered what was worse: the idea that David wasn't able to bring that point up himself, the idea that they might have been caught in the act by someone, or that the idea of Alex listening in on them was more than slightly hot.
Dammit, why did life have to get complicated just as it all seemed to be coming together?
Yeah, I’m back. I’ve got another chapter for you. It brings a close to the Halloween 2014 celebrations for our trio and some unexpected company. I’m off to write the next part now. Feel free to jump over to Ao3 to comment, send me a message here, or even use the new Tumblr messenger. Or, if you’re feeling really generous and supportive, check out my donation link.
[Story Index Here]
Relocation - Part Sixteen
Routine. Strange how much he had come to value that. Sure his life could be highly unstable schedule wise, just look at his recent trip, but some things remained. Traditions that were routine, expected, mundane. Halloween was one of those things. Costumes and candy and cooking a birthday dinner with his sister and finishing with a cake topped with mini snickers. Just the way life went. Should go. Except life wasn't big on ‘should’ lately, was it?
“Stop looking so pathetically glum,” Niner grumbled from behind the counter as she pushed the small plate with a cupcake closer to him. “I know Alexa isn't as good at baking as you, but she told me to make sure every bite of cupcake made it into your mouth.”
Alex resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He loved his sister enough to know that she didn't make the cupcake and to forgive her for it. The foresight to see it into Niner’s hands for when he showed up was to be applauded, and the touch of actually getting one custom made at a bakery so the snickers could be on top was to be saluted. But that didn't mean she was anymore here than she should have been. Perhaps he was being too hard on her, but After the last few days, could he be blamed? Yes, probably quite easily. He had to be rational about that part. Not that he wanted to be, but it was only right.
"Geez, only you could be glum for a confirmation that a guy you like is gay,” Niner grumbled before walking away down the bar. "Not like Shaun stays relationships."
For a second he wanted to ask how she knew that. Only for a second. If Shaun lived nearby, like Alex suspected, then this would be one of the closest bars in town to him. Prime location to fish for attention. Thus Niner would have had chances to see the man at work, trying to pick up people. Perhaps even her. The very idea brought a mean little smirk to his lips. He knew it was mean because he had seen the same look on his twin’s face. It was a pleasure to be had and just how hard Niner would have shut the man down. As much as he didn't want to indulge his mean side, it was cathartic to imagine the way she would…
"Here," the word, accompanied by the clinking of a full, chilled bottle of beer on the counter next to his unfinished one, shocked Alex. Both came seemingly from left field and he stared for a full moment before looking up at the woman.
"Isn't it your job to see me only reasonably wasted? Not that I'm complaining. You're just jumping the gun a little," Alex found himself protesting. Still, he pulled the beer bottle closer, not wanting her to snatch the open container back in a fit of pique.
"True enough Zeus, or whoever you're supposed to be. But this one isn't on either of us. You either have a sympathizer morning min but this one isn't on either of us. You either have a sympathizer or an admirer. Either way, good fucking luck.”
With that she pointed a man further down the bar and walked off to deal with another customer. It seemed she was finally out of patience for him. Which was okay considering the new person occupying his attention. Well, new was a relative term. This was neither a young man nor stranger, not either by a longshot. Curiosity, and drink and enhanced imagination caught, Alex collected his beers and moved to sit on the stool next to his benefactor.
"Didn't see you at the party earlier Sarge," he greeted the man more carefully then he honestly felt. "That desperate to avoid Grif?”
"Naw, ain't like that. Just ain't big on them damn get-togethers the lady boss likes throwin. Specially holidays. She don't even set anything on fire for it.”
Alex let himself smirk at that, please to see an answering one from the other man. Of course he would want more fire. There was just something about the man that meant he didn't fit in with the other employees there. No, as Alexa had put it one time, sword with her kind of man. Given her recent selection of male to associate with in this Nathaniel, Alex thought he was beginning to see a pattern. Men that, with the right motivation, could set out to break almost as much as her. Sarge had old, well, Sergeant written all over him. Mix that with Alexa’s attitude and Nate's apparent marine training and you'd have an explosive trio.
Especially if you questioned Sarge’s ability as a manager, as Alexa once had.
Unlike pretty much everyone else in the bar, Sarge was not visibly dressed for the day. Granted the old army fatigue jacket and pants might make one assume that the man with the red bandanna around his brow was dressing up as a soldier on leave, but Alex knew better. More than once he'd seen the man arrive at a variety of café events in that very coat. It's seem just right on him as workout clothes did on Alexa. Natural to him, like the plumage of a bird. A bird that it covered itself in a variety of patches at least.The man had them to show off everything from a local mechanic shop to service back in his youth. The effect was an interesting one, and Alex yearned for his camera. The interplay of color and styles, wear and pristine condition, advertisement and honor, it was beautiful in its own way.
"Got to admit, you make one mean bratwurst,” Alex mild, raising his new beer to the older man at his side. "Mind if I ask why the beer?”
That you're a shrug from the man. "Look like you needed it, not much more than that.”
A more than sufficient answer in his mood. Niner had agreed too, given she hadn't denied him to drink. Of course she knew what was going on. Sarge didn't.
“‘Sides, no man should have to buy their own drinks on their birthday. No," Sarge stop the question with the raised hand before Alex could ask it, "it ain't hard to tell with how you and your beast-woman sister are in the days leading up to Halloween. Plus, Connie’s got it on her calendar in the back and all. Whole girlfriend thing.”
They are they got to the root of it. Things always took a while to get to the heart of with Sarge. The man must have read too many mystery novels in his life for how complexly he built things up. In the time they had known each other, though only in passing, Sergeant only ever been straightforward about his dislike of the Blue shift. Ask him the color of the ocean or why he disliked the blues, though… That took longer.
"The frankly why that David kid is off no doubt boning Shaun rather than here greasing your wheels, that one I don't know.”
Let it not be said that Sarge lack a sense of dramatic timing. With a bottle to his lips Sarge spoke, what else could happen with what Sarge said? Luckily for Alex, Niner wasn't standing on the other side of the bar, so the spray of beer went only over the counter and bottles behind it. Down the bar he could hear Niner cursing his name, and he frantically snatched at napkins to dry off the counter before even his face. And Sarge? The damn asshole at his side was laughing like he had never seen a funnier sight. Somehow Alex doubted that given where the older man worked, not to mention who he worked with.
"Glad you're so amused," Alex grumbled as he work to clean his mess.
"Don't get your toga in a twist, Blondie. Didn't mean for it to happen. I'm just confused by the attention Grumpsmagurt draws.”
"Who?" Alex answered, and playing Cory was stupid. He knew it but the words were already out there.
"Into much of a little dance around Washington since he got here," Sarge continued, ignoring Alex’s futile ploy. "Still, gotta sting to lose that battle to someone like Shaun and all that. Pull the rug right out from under your feet he did. So I feel bad. So the drinks are on me tonight, okay?”
A kindness from Sarge? Alex was love staring for a long moment, watching is the older man took a swig of his beer. How do you really look that pathetic at the bar? He must have. Part of him wanted to go home and that realization. The rest of him, done cleaning the counter, put aside damp napkins and pulled his thankfully untouched cupcake and the plastic knife toward him. The process of cutting through the Snickers bar was a difficult one, but once he was through to the soft give of the cupcake itself the whole process went a lot faster. His last remaining napkin became a makeshift plate for half of his dessert so he could push it to Sarge.
"What's this then?”
"It's wrong to hog the whole cake on your birthday. And you shouldn't drink on an empty stomach either. Consider this two birds with one stone. Eat up or birthday boy is going to be too offended to have any more drinks. What do you say to that?”
Sarge Graceton with the rare smile as he picked up his half of the cupcake. "Bon appétit.”
* * * * * *
Shaun’s apartment was going to be quite the familiar place these days. Sure there was the obvious amount of time he spent in the other man's arms, not to mention his bed, but mainly the place had grown to be comfortable for him. There was nothing here to actively remind him of Ethan, no memories of calls or harassment, no books that belonged to him, no furniture they prompted memories. The only shadows in Shaun’s home with the ones David brought with him, and the one that caught his boyfriend's attention whenever he looked in the mirror. This apartment, with his friend Daniel upstairs and the already growing protective form of Nathaniel with him, was a safe haven. Shaun’s side was a place of comfort, his couch a place to relax, his kitchen somewhere with laughter and counterpoint to how serious David could be in his own.
The only specters tonight we're the ones in David's heart and mind, and his fear. All of it wrapped in a Spock costume and Shaun’s warm arms. Arms that had hands that were ghosting up his arms, no doubt eager to work David's costume off and pull him into the shower as those talented lips working at his ear insisted they were only going to clean the makeup off. Another night he would love the idea, laugh and play along and be the one to break first and put his lover to the shower and do wonderful things with him. This wasn't another night and there was a lot to be said for that.
Those lips ghosted away from his year, the arms around him to send and he found himself only growing stiffer. He had done something wrong, given too much away to his boyfriend.
"You know, just because Spock is a gorgeous wall who keeps his emotions locked up most of the time doesn't mean that's what I'm looking for and lover. Kirk get up or not," Shaun whispered, Boyce soft and soothing in the way somehow always managed.
"Sorry," David let himself sigh. "I'm just, in my head I guess.”
"As gorgeous as your head is, I'd rather you be out here with me," Shaun chuckled, and his fingers moved it last to work through David's hair. The touch did more to sooth David and he cared to admit, and it almost drove the truth from his lips. No, though, he couldn't allow that, never would. Some things couldn't be said, even with how open he had been in the past.
"I'm fine," David struggle to assure him, but the words came out a lie even to his own ears. Really, he wasn't surprised when does arm shifted around him to instead hold him close, hold him tight to Shaun for comfort.
"Relationships have talking," Shaun noted. "Remember? Communication? Talk to me. I promise nothing bad will come of it. We'll just have a nice little talk, I'll reheat some of that stew for you, and everything will be okay.”
No, it wouldn't, because as soon as he opened his mouth everything would be wrong. Ruined. All because he was no better than Ethan. Should he have expected anything else, really? All those years, of course some of that taint would rub off on him. He wouldn't touch Shaun with that though. The man was too good.
"Tell me," Shaun repeated, his voice soft and familiar. No plea edged his voice, just a calm acceptance.
"I can't sound like Ethan," David protested, the words of tiny whisper. "I won't just…”
"You're a good man who would never…" Shaun didn't finish the sentence, just trailed off and let his fingers follow the hidden line of scar tissue David's ex-boyfriend had left in his wake. "You wouldn't. You're a good man.”
"Then why am I so jealous?" David whimpered. With the first of it out he curled himself further into his boyfriend, squeezing his eyes closed. "You weren't even doing anything wrong. Just looking.”
"Fuck," Shaun cursed, his arms tighter around David in that instant. "This is about Alex. I'm sorry, love. I promise it won't happen again. You're my man, my love, and I'm sorry. So sorry.”
Shaun was apologizing to him? Calling him his love? No, that wasn't how this was supposed to go. It was David that had done something wrong, being upset like this. Ethan was always wrong about people drawing David's attention, had hurt him for it, and David… Had been right? Somehow that hurt more deeply than he could ever explain. Hurt more than hearing the L word could even begin to soothe him. Already Shaun was turning away from him. For not being enough? Worst was that he was doing it over a guy David himself had more than merely appreciated.
"I… I should be the sorry one," David insisted, pushing the dark thoughts aside.
"Jealousy is fine sometimes," Shaun noted, "if you don't let it control you that is. Are you going to let it control you?”
"Ethan always did.”
The words he gave were whisper, a dirty secret only alluded to finally drawn forth. Somethings are better unsaid. This was one.
"You aren't him," Shaun's voice answered immediately. Fingers curled around his chin and twisted his head to the side. Like this their eyes could meet. Like this he could see the softest there. "You will never be that man. You are my kind, sweet David, who was understandably jealous when I was scoping the ass of a Greek god. Which won't be happening again. You have my word. I swear.”
Was it wrong to be comforted by that? Wrong to look upon Shaun with hope that he really could be okay? That everything would be alright?
"Come on," Shaun said is he finally shifted David out of his arms. "We should get cleaned up, and get you fed.”
When Shaun stood it was to offer a comforting hand. A gesture David took without hesitation. The fingers were always so deft, so it was a shock to find how tightly they could grip Shaun hold him to his feet.
"I'm not feeling… Frisky as it were. I know I promised you a show in these outfits, but…" David said softly and found the man smiling gently at him.
“Don't worry," Shaun said with that smile that made David warm inside. "I have other plans for tonight.”
Other plans, David discovered as soon as they cleaned up after dinner, we're no less amazing for being unexpected. With soft hands and on silent feet Shaun guided him toward the bedroom. The lights were dimmed through the whole apartment, and Shaun didn't offer a single word as they moved. Together the pair walked, David focusing on the sensations. On the roughness of the carpet beneath his feet. On the lingering smell of the beef barley stew, prepared for them days ago by Daniel. On the soft, fuzzy outlines of everything around them, the sounds in the air just as muffled as their edges.
Darkness seem to flow after them, putting everything apart from them as Shaun sat him down on the edge of the bed. Sure fingers sought not for his shirt but slid down the line of his legs. The touch was firm enough to not tickle, soft enough not to arouse in the possessiveness. Strange how he could find that so arousing from Shaun and repulsive in others. Stranger still to have those hands moved to his socked feet. Then warm fingers were pressing into that exact spot in the arch of his foot that held all the tension after a long day on his feet.
"What are you…?" David groaned in pleasure at the touch, only to be cut off by nimble fingers rubbing at his ankles.
"Hush," Shaun returned immediately, voice soft. "Let me work.”
Work he did. David found himself left silent as those hands massaged up his thighs. Each press of fingers sought out points in his muscles, leaving David moaning once again. This was so different, so amazing. His eyes closed as he lowered himself to lie down. Ever upward those fingers quested, warm and skillful in ways they had never shown David before. His body arched up as Shaun's fingers found his hips and slowly his pants were tugged down. Yet still those fingers quested upward, beyond where David found he suddenly wanted them. Despite the way the touch made him relax, David forced his eyes open. Those fingers sought over the blue of his costume shirt, still on, and his eyes followed the length of the yellow sleeves to the gold pips, the tan column of his boyfriend’s neck, and into those beautiful eyes.
Adoring eyes.
Loving eyes. The word from earlier came back and the warm pleasure of his body burst into flames. Shaun must've known that, with the absolutely hungry look in his eyes. Yet the way the man controlled himself… It was amazing. How could a man say that word and stay so composed?
"I love you too.”
David's words for whisper pulled from the too full heart. Words he never thought he could utter again. An emotion that should've died that day in the hospital, in the apartment, in all those years he let himself be hurt. They stopped Shaun for only half a moment. Then the smile returned, as gold as his shirt, his skin, his heart. As gold and bright and radiant as the dawn of a new day.
Still those hands massaged, never letting up for a second. And David, with a sigh that was as much contentment as pleasure, let himself lie back with his eyes closed and just be there. Pampered by his newest and truest love.
"Strange to think I would hear those words from you, especially from you," Shaun admitted, his voice a bit strained. But a good kind of straight, like the sweet emotional kind. Even as those fingers worked, Shaun's face rose further into David’s view. "Sorry, dear, got to get that shirt off you.”
there was a giddiness building in David's got that he could only call a playful sort of happiness. It demanded to be let out, but nothing wanted to interrupt those fingers rising to the shoulders. So he spoke, because it was what was left to him.
"Of course… Captain.”
That brought a new curved to Shaun's smile. "Oh? Feeling spirited today, my number one? I think I can find a way out of your mischievous mood. You know, in the name of helping you keep your cool.
David barely had time to laugh before he found those soothing hands suddenly on his hips and firmly so. He had an idea of what was wanted of him, so he rolled onto his stomach. Those fingers found his shoulders once more, this time from the back, and at once they found knots to work out. How could shown be so good at this? No, better not to ask. Instead he just wanted to enjoy.
"Damn this is a bad one," Shaun sighed, and with that there was a new weight not only on the bed, but straddling David's back. Which, of course, made the pressure on those tight muscles all the more amazing.
Still, he couldn't help with smart over his boyfriend's antics.
"This was all so much more romantic when you weren't talking," David tease softly.
The words and giddiness seemed less important as those hand slipped below his shirt to work at tired muscles. They were kind enough not to linger overlong upon scars, and soon those magic digits found the rhythm that made him melt once more. Again the pleasurable silence overtook them, letting David just rest there, feeling. Had he ever felt so good before? Had a night ever been this perfect? Never with Ethan, not like this. Had he ever been so pampered? So loved without anything being asked of him in return but his own pleasure?
No. He wouldn't let himself be taken away from this perfection. Not from the man he loved, who he loved to be with. The warmth of the massage itself warred with the warmth in his chest, neither quite winning until long after his clothes were shed and a warm, bare body held his own closely. Lying like this, and Shaun's arms, assured him that it was the warmth in his heart that was the greater one, stoked within him even surrounded by those arms.
"Feels weird, going to sleep before midnight on Halloween," David murmured as he rested in those arms.
"No one said you have to sleep," Shaun mumbles and response. "I mean tomorrow is Saturday. We don't have to go anywhere in the morning if we don't want to. We can have a lazy morning together.”
"I have to work," David groaned in protest.
"Call off sick," Shaun suggested, nuzzling at his ear.
"No thanks. You've already healed me up in ways you can't understand.”
"Maybe I can," Shaun countered. "I'll sure as hell try.”
* * * * * *
Laughter, Alex mused, was a strange thing. Mostly it was because there were so many varieties of it. Laughter of joy, laughter of hysteria, laughter over terrible jokes and for being tickled, and to underlined awkward situations. Then there were all the different ways a voice could create laughter. Deep rumbles and high barks. Shrill cackles and bubbly giggles. Sweet things half swallowed and bitter edges almost choked out.
"It's like chocolate," he observed out loud to himself as he unwrapped mini Mr. Goodbar.
"What's like chocolate?”
Alex tilted his head back on the arm of the couch, and almost painful contortion made worthwhile because he didn't want to move much. The position gave him a rather unique angle on Sarge that made the stubble on his jaw glint in the lights of the apartment. It was nice, the way it moved as Sarge frowned at him. Alex just smiled as Sarge put down the still heaping bowl of candy on the seat of the coat chair and resumed his own perch on the arm of it. As Alex was a good host he had offered to sit up and give Sarge some space on the couch, which the older man had denied. So Alex just stretched out instead, content with the space.
‘Easier to get up and fetch more beers and give the kitties chocolate for you this way,’ Sarge had said an hour ago when he had stretched Alex out on the couch and proceeded to gather beers, candy, and chocolates just for Alex.
"Chocolate," Alex answered playfully before the Goodbar was popped into his mouth. It was really terrible that he could only find the things at Halloween and Christmas.
"It's right there in the name," Sarge observed blandly as he reached for his beer. They were down to some of Alexa’s favorites, pilfered by Alex of course. He could apologize later.
"Have I thanked you yet?" Alex asked as he reached for his own drink. It was only his second since they got here, and it was strangely wonderful with the taste of chocolate already on his lips.
"For handing out candy? It's nothing. A pleasure really. No one ever comes by my place," Sarge pointed out. His voice didn't even slur. How was that fair at all? Alex was certain the other man had managed to down way more than he had himself.
"You live above your nephew’s mechanic shop," Alex laughed. He thought it was a sweet laugh so he decided it was milk chocolate over marshmallow.
"A detail you didn't know until after so still no thank yous.”
"No, genius, for getting me home safely," Alex said with a sigh and a roll of his eyes.
"Well, woulda been easier for you to get home if I had stopped buying drinks.”
Another laugh wanted to bubble up from Alex at that. Warm and bubbly… Hot chocolate? Good enough. He let himself smile at that decision. Hot chocolate couldn't be a Sarge thing, but it felt right. A good decision. Just like his next swig of beer. That was a great decision.
"In fact, was pretty sure your bartender friend, the lady with the insane hair, would have killed me if another round got bought.”
Good thing they had booze here. Alex smiled at that and sat up a bit more. He could remember the way they had stumbled into his apartment. Their voices raised and bouncing through the halls. There had been less kids then, but whenever he saw some, Alex had insisted that they stay silent and steady until the children passed them. That hadn't been easy to say the least with how off-balance they had both been. Alex was still there, glad for the couch, his head busy spinning still. Not so much as in the past, but still there nonetheless.
"Niner can be like that," Alex smiled. "More intimidating than she really is. Seems that is. She's more intimidating than she is. Not more dangerous, but more intimidating. Picked up pointers from my sister. They dated in college." It all came out as a mess but Alex thought Sarge got the point.
"Yeah, they seem the type," Sarge agreed immediately. "Tough ladies attract tough ladies sometimes. Connie is pretty tough too.”
"Not tough. Secretly soft," Alex chuckled lightly. "Call me is like a… Kitten. Sweet and soft and when you make her mad…”
“Out come the claws,” Sarge finished for him with his own, deeper laugh. "Seems to describe a lot of ladies I know.”
Quick knocking layered with giggles coming from the door through Sarge to his feet. Quickly he grabbed the bowl of candy and moved to the door to answer it. Alex watched intently, impressed by how sure the other man's steps were, how straight his back, how his arm muscles flexed in the T-shirt he wore now that the coat was discarded. It was the thought of a moment but left Alex stunned and frowning to himself. How desperate did he need to be to appreciate Sarge like that?
Quite.
"There we go," Sarge announced as he shut the door and turned to regard Alex. "Yanno… You never did tell me what gets everyone worked up about the grumpus.”
No, he hadn't, and for good reason. How did one explain David and the way the man made him feel? Part of it was that part of him that wanted to protect people. It was an asshole-ish reason to want to be by someone. But there was more than that to it. He wasn't motivated by that alone. There was the softness of his smile, and the warmth in how David treated people around him when he was in a good mood. There was the smile on his face when he cooked and the laughter in his voice when they drink together. There was the trust when Alex had bleached his friend’s hair…
"Doesn't have to make sense?" Alex asked after a long time of thinking.
"Naw, rarely does," Sarge agreed as he sat again. "Can’t say it’s ever sensical. See a lot of people come into the cafe, see lots of relationships come and go. Only thing I’ve learned is that shit happens. Simple as that.”
Nothing could ever be that simple, but Alex let it go. Summing David up like that felt unfair. Not that Alex would say that.
“So… getting late,” Sarge observed, his attention on the clock by the television. “Should be getting out of here.”
“You’re not good to drive,” Alex countered. ‘You can spend the night on this couch.”
“Naw, can get a cab,” Sarge insisted, pushing back up to his feet and grabbing his coat. “Happy birthday, Blondie.”
He was leaving already? Alex struggled to his own feet, stumbling after Sarge to the door.
“Thanks,” he spoke when they reached the door. “Sort of salvaged my night if you can believe it.”
“Given your only company of note was that busy bartender with all the cuddly potential of an angry porcupine. Who knew?”
Alex let out a bark of laughter at that, and it put him off balance. Off balance enough to stumble, and of course Sarge was there, holding him up. The man was more than capable of it, even drunk, and Alex was quite amused by that. Sarge, just being there, was supporting him so easily that it was enough to make him smile. The question was why he was so amused? No doubt the answer came down to the alcohol in his gut, and the sheer amounts of it. “Oh man, I really need to lay down, you know?”
“I could help with that,” Sarge offered immediately.
“Someone has to lock the door,” Alex countered. “Go on, get out of here.”
Was it something he did, something he had said during the night? Alex’s mind could provide no answers to the sudden hand around his neck pulling him of balance. Nothing to explain the warm press of chapped lips or how it left his mind reeling. That hand at his neck almost literally made him fall over. The lips made his head spin and his brain couldn’t figure out how to focus on anything but those lips or his neck and no matter how much he wanted to move away from them to find answers he kept spinning back to them just like his whole body was spinning from the drink. Then, when Sarge pulled away at last, Alex found himself almost stumbling. The only thing that kept him standing was Sarge, once again, this time with a hand pressed firmly against his chest.
“What… just happened?” Alex whispered nervously.
“You needed it,” Sarge answered just as simply, turning for the door.
“Wait. What?”
No, he couldn’t just do something like that and then walk away. Not without answers. Not without a lot of answers. That was the way the world worked, right? When someone kissed you without warning they were obliged to give you some sort of answer, even if it was shyly running away. Which Sarge wasn’t doing, right? But he was going for the door. Was that the answer that Alex so desperately needed right now?
“Wait,” Alex repeated, grabbing Sarge’s arm. “What just happened?”
“It’s called a kiss, Blondie,” Sarge chuckled. Rough and deep. Chocolate covered pretzels sprinkled with extra salt. One of Alex’s favorite treats that one. “You needed it more than anything.”
“I… did?”
Sarge nodded. “Consider all that happened. Thing is, kid, you’re a good man, A good man who got a bit of a bad break with everything that happened while you were gone or whatever. You deserve a good break. A better break than you’ve had lately. Sure, I know I can’t be the one to give you that. But I can respect you and what you need. You need something to go your way, and I hope it does. So, like I said, looked like you needed it, especially right now. Being alone and all of that on your birthday.”
No kidding. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Alone wasn’t… It just wasn’t something Alex did well, by any stretch of the imagination. And Sarge had given him company. For the life of him Alex didn’t understand why other than the sort of excuse that Sarge had thrown out there, almost like he was trying to see if it would stick. But he was thankful for the attention anyway. Deeply so. Not that he quite knew how to deal with it.
“Gotta go,” Sarge informed him, and then he was through the door, leaving Alex behind with only a closed door and a head full of unexplainable thoughts. Unreasonable thoughts. Thoughts he didn’t think he was sober enough to deal with.
And underneath it all, the silence of the apartment almost haunted him.
Note: Thanks for sticking with the story for so long guys. I wanted to say that at the moment I am exhausted and burnt out with Relocation and so will be taking a bit of a break on it for a while. I have discovered that forcing myself to put out massive word counts on this when this drained on the story is far from good for it or myself. Thus I'll be taking a break on Relocation, at least until January, due to sheer need. That being said I wanted to make sure that I got the important Halloween related stuff finished for the holiday, so you do get this. Hope it satisfies.
[Story Index Here]
Relocation - Part Fifteen
The best part about Connie’s annual Halloween party was the fact that it kept the cafe closed for the day. Sleeping in on a Friday morning was pretty amazing in David’s mind, even if it was paired with the fact that there was a lot of other things about today that he wasn’t certain he wanted to have to deal with. For one thing, he was going to have to see Alex again, this time with Shaun around. For another there was the fact that he was going to be expected to interact with the Red Shift, made worse by the fact that Sarge would no doubt be there. And, of course, there was the fact that he wasn’t exactly the most excited about his costume, but he hadn’t known until recently that this party was even a thing, much less that he would be expected to dress up. Shaun, though, had come through for him. A bit.
Of course, who wouldn’t feel ridiculous with fake pointy ears hooked over his own, the bandana around his brow, and the strange combination of the store bought Spock costume and the piecemeal construction of the pirate ‘disguise’ around it. The only upside of his costume in his opinion, was that he wasn’t Kirk. The dubious honor went, of course, to Shaun.
“Relax,” Shaun said, their fingers intertwined as they walked the road. David glanced out of the corner of his eyes at his boyfriend, frowning yet again over the eyepatch Shaun had insisted on wearing. Making fun of nearly losing his vision wasn’t something David was comfortable with, but Shaun had come up with the idea and been so excited about it that David hadn’t had the heart to protest. “This is just going to be a fun party that friends are having together, okay?”
David had to roll his eyes. “How would you know, Shaun? You’ve never been to this party before either.”
“Yeah, but they invited D and Nate, so clearly it’s meant to be friendly,” Shaun countered, grinning that charming grin that Shaun said made him the perfect Kirk. And thus David had been stuck as Spock with nothing like a scrap of logic to his name. Worse… pirate Spock. Seriously?
“Just remember not to encourage my boss, who is my best friend in the world, to kill you for your stupidity,” David sighed as he moved them up to the door of the cafe. “Seriously, I’ve gotta side with her in any of this stuff. Best friend rules. You get that, right?”
“What a dramatic betrayal by my first officer,” Shaun said dramatically, in his best Shatner. Which was terrible. No one did a good Shatner, not even Shatner.
David just rolled his eyes and pulled the door open for them before moving into the cafe. Once inside he found that he was far from the first there, though not too far from the last. The cafe was filled with the music from some Halloween music CD that Connie had said she was going to put on, and the decorations he’d been putting up the day before still decorated the shop without too much of a problem. Which, he thought, was sort of impressive in the case of the spider webs, because when he looked over at Caboose he found the young man hovering near Tex and Church, clad in a white robe with fake wings and a halo that hung almost a foot over his head, making his already impressive height perilous for the decorations.
“Well, that’s probably an interesting interpretation,” Shaun said at David’s side, and when David looked, he saw the man’s gaze was on the same trio of Tex, Church and Caboose.
“Interesting?” David asked.
“Yeah,” Shaun sighed. David had told him quietly about the complication Tex apparently presented in Caboose’s life, and the pity Shaun had for him clearly extended to this moment. “See, that nice, almost pure school girl look with the leather coat over it and the prominent cross necklace? She’s clearly playing Buffy. And Church, with that hideous wig and the black leather coat? Spike. They’re characters from this show…”
“Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” David finished for him. Even though he hadn’t seen the show he’d heard a lot about it. Unsurprisingly from Church. “What about Caboose?”
“Well, there’s another vampire named Angel and… Well, I guess you could say there is definite unresolved tension there,” Shaun sighed. “Poor kid.”
“Don’t call him that,” David said reflexively. He’d gotten fond of the young baker, and the tone Shaun took toward him was hardly appropriate.
“Yeah, you should call him daddy,” someone said in an awful attempt to sound like a woman. Sure enough, when David looked he found Tucker there in front of them, posing in what he clearly thought was a seductive manner in his sexy nurse outfit. David just rolled his eyes at the pure white stockings, the heels, and definitely the too-short skirt and shirt with a neckline that dipped so low that a woman would look completely indecent by traditional standards. On Tucker it all just looked silly.
“That is so not happening,” Shaun giggled, shaking his head as David just frowned at Tucker. “Dude, did you seriously go with…”
“If you’ve got an owwie, I can kiss it better,” Tucker winked, which was when David realized the man had even gone so far as to put on lipstick and eyeshadow in a brilliant teal shade that matched his normal shirt. Interesting. It was even well done. David was certain Franklin had a hand in that.
“The only ‘owwie’ I have is my sides hurting from how hilarious this is,” Shaun kept laughing, and David could hear him gasping in pain from his laughter.
And as he turned to comfort his boyfriend he found himself instead smiling past him as the other two people he was looking forward to seeing (other than Connie of course), pushed through the doors. What a pair the two of them made in their costumes. The SPARTAN style armor that Nate had claimed to have back home was indeed impressive, right down to the artificially created wear on corners of the armor pieces and bits of dirt and other scuffs on the armor. Of course Nate’s face wasn’t visible through the helmet, but he knew the man must be bursting with pride, because the thing looked insanely good on him. Just as good as Daniel looked at his side.
“Nate, Daniel,” he greeted the two, smiling as he moved past Shaun to offer his hand to Nate.
“Spock,” Nate’s voice rumbled through the helmet. “You may call me Nate-135.”
“And I am Artificial Intelligence Program Delta,” Daniel smiled at David, and David had to smile back. Connie had outdone herself on the costume Daniel said she had helped him with. The green body suit had veins of slightly reflective green strips sewn into it, to bring him closer to the look of Cortana. The reason David and Shaun had left the other pair to change on their own was because Daniel had needed help from Maine getting skin painted green and ‘sealed’, not that David knew what was involved in that process. “Assigned to Nate-135. It is a pleasure to meet you, Spock.”
David had to chuckle at the pair, how serious they looked with their outfits. While David had never been a nut for the holiday, he had to appreciate the pleasure Daniel was radiating at his presence with his boyfriend. And damn if Nate didn’t look intimidating.
“May I inquire as to what has caused Captain Kirk distress?” Daniel asked.
“Nurse Tucker broke his brain,” David provided, stepping aside and looking back, to find Tucker gently rubbing Shaun’s back. “Tucker. Let him suffer if he can’t keep himself composed.”
Tucker rose his hands before him defensively before walking away to find someone to talk to, and so David returned his attention to his friends, leaving Shaun to his wheezing misery.
“You two look good,” David told them, smiling warmly at his friends. “Why don’t you come and sit down with us to talk, okay?”
“Yes sir,” Nate confirmed. “Where should we…”
“Wash?”
David frowned at Caboose’s voice and turned to look at the other man. He found Caboose standing there, frowning lightly. There was something sad about him that worried David. To see the cheerful man so upset bothered him, and so he waved briefly to Daniel and Nate behind him.
“Get Shaun seated somewhere. I’ll join you guys in a few minutes with treats, okay?” David asked.
“Right,” Daniel confirmed, moving forward to get Shaun.
Meanwhile David gestured for Caboose to lead on and followed the younger man back to the kitchen. Once they were away from anyone else he stopped and waited for Caboose to face him. And what he found was concern on Caboose’s face. “Mister Alex is back,” Caboose said softly.
“Yeah, I noticed,” David admitted. “We met up at the apartment yesterday and…”
“It wouldn’t be nice to hurt Mister Shaun by being too nice to Mister Alex around him,” Caboose said, his voice grave. And a bit personally hurt.
“Caboose, I wouldn’t…”
“Because it really doesn’t feel nice to be with someone and then have the someone look at another someone and forget you exist even though you are together and they forget that whenever the other person is there and…”
David moved without thinking. This wasn’t about him and Alex, or him and Shaun. This was about Caboose hovering around the boyfriend who didn’t claim him as a boyfriend even as they were dating, and who dropped him whenever a certain blonde woman showed up for him. He just hugged Caboose tightly and was shocked that the returned hug was almost painful in its intensity.
“I’m sorry,” he gasped out, causing Caboose’s grip to loosen up a bit. “About Church being an idiot.”
“It’s okay,” Caboose whispered. “But I don’t want Mister Shaun to feel that either. So please be very fair to him. If you don’t want him you have to tell him. Can you promise to tell him?”
“I want him, Caboose, Michael, I promise you I want him. Just like I’m certain Church wants you. He just has to remember that, okay?” David said. “Do you believe me?”
“I want to, but… I don’t think it will happen.”
David resolved in that moment to give Church a piece of his mind, but he stayed there for a while, just holding Caboose tightly to him. His hands reached up to stroke Michael’s hair to soothe him, and it was only when the other man finally let him go that David pulled away. Carefully he took the halo from Caboose’s head and pulled back.
“There you go. You look better like this. Now, mister baking angel, you go out there and ignore Church and have lots of help, okay?”
Caboose nodded seriously and David sighed as he watched the younger man walk off, still clearly forlorn. David took a deep breath to calm himself. He wasn’t going to hurt Shaun, he was certain of that. Wasn’t he? He’d never hurt the man he was coming to love like that. And yet…
No, he shook the concern off and headed back into the main room. He took a moment to fill some small plates with treats and then moved to the table he saw his boyfriend and friends had set up at. With Connie momentarily missing he smiled and put the treats down on the table for them, and found Shaun standing within second to embrace him.
“Shaun?” he asked, confused a bit by the behavior.
“Caboose told me you need a hug, and I had no reason to think he was lying,” Shaun assured him. “Now you just stand there and take it like a good first officer.”
“That’s why you did this,” David teased, chuckling. “You wanted me to help you make your ship sail, didn’t you?”
“Maybe…” Shaun grinned. “Can you blame me?”
With that David found himself turned around and pulled close to Shaun.
“No,” David admitted, and when they kissed it felt damn good.
* * * * * *
Happy birthday to him, Alex thought a bit sourly as he entered the cafe and first and foremost saw something he didn’t want. David and Shaun there together, standing near a table with a large man in armor and a very green Daniel, and the two of them were quite deep into a kiss that had Tucker and Donut making cheering noises. Alex tried not to look at them, instead turning his attention to one of the tables filled with people he knew better than the members of Blue Shift.
“Hey tall guy,” someone under a sheet greeted from a table to his side. “What are you supposed to be?”
Given the size and position of the sheet, Alex was pretty certain that he was looking at Grif. Something that he grew certain of when a hand slipped out from under the sheet to grab a cookie and pull it under so it could be consumed. Across from him sat Simmons in the best Ghostbusters style outfit he’d ever seen before. Interesting. Again Grif put nothing at all into his costume, and Simmons put in a level of detail that far exceeded even Alex’s hand made outfit.
“Someone who cares more about the holiday than you,” Alex smiled warmly down at Grif. “Come on then, aren’t you going to socialize with people, or are you only going to focus on stuffing your face?”
“You actually have to ask him?” Simmons asked, shaking his head. Alex couldn’t help but give him a pitying smile. Simmons returned with with a bit of a sigh.
“I don’t know why I try,” Alex admitted with a shake of his head. “I do like that you guys wore matching costumes, though.”
“Matching?” Simmons demanded, his tone clearly offended. Far beyond offended, horrified. “I’ll have you know that when I came over to his place to pick him up this afternoon he didn’t have a costume at all. So he just pulled the sheet off his bed, cut some holes in it, and said he was coming like that!”
Alex actually had to chuckle a bit at that. That sounded like Grif alright. “Well, at least he went that far for this. He could have just come in whatever he was wearing before.”
“In a way he did,” Simmons sighed. “So, uh, your skirt is kinda short, Alex.”
“It’s a toga, and nothing I could say would convince Connie to make it longer,” Alex smiled. “Apparently Greek gods are supposed to show a little leg.”
“Yeah, well, if you ask me it’s a bad decision,” Grif shrugged. “Gotta be cold out there with that skimpy thing you’ve got on.”
“You have no idea, sheet-boy,” Alex admitted with a sigh, shaking his head.
“Of course not, because he’s got a sweater and sweat pants on under that,” Simmons snapped. “The damn lazy…”
“Hey guys!”
The chipper voice of Donut cut Simmons off, leaving the man grumbling at the fact that he couldn’t even complain properly without someone interrupting him. But Alex’s attention was so far away from the disgruntled pair of ‘not dating’ Red Shift employees that it didn’t matter. He had to wonder if Donut had ever had someone so intently focused on him, because the tux-clad man looked a bit distressed from the way that Alex was staring at him.
“Hi Donut,” Grif greeted, Simmons mumbling a similar greeting as Alex stared the young man down.
“Donut,” Alex said as he pushed out of the booth and stood. The smaller man frowned up at him, his smile faded from Alex’s focus. Or so he liked to think. Good to know he could manage intimidating sometimes, even if he didn’t mean it.
“Uh, hey Alex,” Donut answered, his voice a tiny little meep. “What can Agent Double-0 Donut do for you?”
“What you’re good at,” Alex said, ignoring the immediate ‘bow-chicka-bow-wow’ across the room from Tucker and a ‘man don’t even go there’ from Grif. “We’re going to talk.”
“Oh!” came Donut’s cheerful reply almost immediately. “Yeah, that I can do. Come on, let’s get a seat!”
Alex followed the far too cheerful man to a table in a corner, and when the young man plopped down into a seat, Alex mirrored the motion far more sedately. There was a lot about Franklin Donut that Alex had never figured out how to handle, and chief among those was the sheer amount of energy the man possessed. Truth be told, he was more intense than even Connie could be when she was on a warpath. Well, not that he’d seen Connie on a warpath often, but she did become something like a cyclone of energy and intention, and he’d learned to stay out of her way as much as he could when she was like that. Donut, though, he was seeking out because otherwise he wasn’t going to get the answers that he needed.
“So you finally ready to let me catch you up on all of the absolutely juiciest gossip that you’ve been missing out on?” Donut breezed, and as the man adjusted the cuffs of his coat, he grinned. “Okay, so first of all while you were gone, Grif…”
“I don’t want to hear about Grif,” Alex admitted, cutting Donut off. Of course the smaller man tilted his head to the side at that statement, frowning in a sort of way that Alex was pretty certain was disapproval. “Can you tell me how David’s been doing?”
There was silence for a few minutes, and then Donut was sighing, his shoulders sagging as well.
“I think I get it. You’re into him, right?”
Alex stared at Donut in shocked horror. Was he really that transparent? No, that wasn’t even possible, but maybe he had been a bit too forceful when it came to asking about David. Still, there was no way anyone but his sister and Connie could know. Except, maybe, David, if he had felt the same tension the night they had dinner that Alex had. But seeing as the younger man hadn’t even said anything about the whole situation, he had to assume…
“Please don’t deny it. Because if you deny it then it’s a rumor and I love sharing those,” Donut warned him. “If you confirm it, it’s a secret, and those I keep.”
To think Donut could ever be so straightforward. Alex sighed and nodded briefly at the comment from the other man. No reason not to own up if there was that sort of not-quite threat hanging over his head.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Donut said, reaching across the table to lay his hand on Alex’s. “Listen, I can fill you in on a lot of stuff, but I think you don’t want the details. To sum it up in the simplest way I can, those two are clearly really into each other. Like, maybe they haven’t said the words yet, but I figure the sentiment is there. Or will be. I’m so sorry. Your timing was…”
“Miserable,” Alex agreed, closing his eyes and just putting up with the contact, even though he didn’t want it.
“You know… I mean… it doesn’t have to be so cut and dried,” Donut spoke after a moment of silence.
That got Alex to open his eyes. “Just what do you mean by that? The man I’m interested in has his eyes on another man and they got together while I was out of town. Seems pretty plain to me.”
“I mean, there are other ways somebody can approach a situation. It may take two to tango, but there are plenty of ways to dance. I myself am…”
Donut’s words, and point, were lost as Connie’s hand settled on Alex’s shoulder. Alex knew it had to be her touch because it was light and was carefully placed where there was fabric, rather than assuming to touch elsewhere. So he looked up at her, and was met with a softly smiling face.
“Hey,” she greeted him. “Your sister and I are free now for a toast. I grabbed some cupcakes out of the back too, put candles in them. You should come make a wish.”
“Wish?” Donut asked, perking up. “Oh my god, is it a birthday today?”
Alex just nodded, confirming what both of them said as he pushed away from the table and stood. “Alright then. I suppose now that you’re in on the secret of our birthday, Connie, I can’t protest a mini-cake.”
“And if you did I’d be very upset,” Connie laughed at that, reaching down to take Alex’s hand when he was standing. “I asked Caboose to come over this morning to help me make them special. He’ll be very upset if you don’t enjoy it. Granted, they’re both frosted like jack o'lanterns, but it’s something, right?”
It was, and Alex was thankful for it. Alexa wasn’t big on cake, and so last year they’d just skipped on it entirely because their Halloween party card was so filled up that finding time to share a smaller party with friends hadn’t been possible. Besides, he did like a bit of a fuss put up over him on his birthday. If Alexa wasn’t going to do it or let him do it for her, then damn if he wasn’t going to let Connie cover it for him. With a smile he followed her when she pulled on his wrist, and she guided him over to the table nearest the pastry case where Alexa was waiting. Alex did his best to ignore the fact that it meant they were leaving him just a few feet away from where David was hanging out with his boyfriend and their friends. Why couldn’t they pick a better place? But when Connie directed him to sit down across from his sister, Alex just obeyed.
“She’s a forceful one,” Alex obeyed and Alexa just nodded in agreement.
“I like that about her,” she chuckled, shaking her head as her girlfriend went off to wherever she had secreted their treats. “No matter who is feeling down, Connie will find a way to make it better.”
“Good thing no one is feeling down,” Alex told her pointedly, and his sister, his twin, the Artemis to his Apollo costume, rolled her eyes.
“Yeah, keep telling yourself that,” Alexa rolled her eyes, and then she was saying nothing because people were singing all around them.
Alex put a smile on his lips and listened as first Connie sang, and then she was quickly joined by other voices. Alex closed his eyes and sang along under his breath. With his eyes closed he could almost pretend that this wasn’t something special. That there were always friends and companions who would be there to celebrate with him. And that the person across the table from him was David, not his twin. Wouldn’t that have been nice, coming home to a boyfriend who had missed him, sharing a private little dinner after an evening with their friends, and David bringing out a cake they would sing over. He’d look good, candle light in his eyes, and his smile would be warm and welcoming, like coming home itself.
As the song wound down to the find notes, Alex opened his eyes and smiled across at his sister. She gave him a smile in return and as it finally ended and someone, he didn’t know who, called out that they should blow out the candles. Alex closed his eyes briefly again, holding back the wish he really wanted to have. Quickly he blew out the candle, leaving the wish out of mind.
“Happy birthday, idiot,” Alexa smiled across the table at him.
“You too, jerk,” Alex laughed at her as he reached out to pluck the candle free from his cupcake. He started to peel the paper off when he heard the sound of something hitting the floor, as well as Alexa cursing under her breath.
“Hey, dropped my phone under the table, get that would you?” she asked.
Alex sighed and didn’t argue that it was her fault and thus she should handle it. He didn’t want the conflict right now. So he just pushed back from his seat, knelt on the floor to get down low, and started reaching around under the table to find it.
* * * * * *
It must be said that Shaun believed himself to be a rather composed person with the self-control of a saint. But as he chuckled with pleasure at the kiss David left on his cheek, he couldn’t help but look aside. And so his eyes fell upon the sight of David’s friend Alex, dressed up as one member of a divine trio, bent over under a table. Shaun couldn’t help but whistle in appreciation as the hem of the man’s toga slid up, revealing a beautiful stretch of paler, creamy white skin where the rest of him had a bit of a tan. They looked strong too, muscular legs looking wonderful next to the golden sheen of the fabric of his costume.
“What are you look…” David started to ask at his side, and when Shaun looked to his boyfriend out of the corner of his eyes, and he found a beautiful pinkening to his cheeks. That sort of blush made Shaun want to push his boyfriend down and kiss his cheeks until the blush had moved down his neck and left color flowing over his collarbone where he would lick and bite at it, loving the sounds it drove from his boyfriend.
“You know, it’s an interesting costume choice,” Shaun chuckled, tearing his eyes from the beautiful form before him. He had a boyfriend, who was small, cute, and covered with little freckles like specks of cinnamon that Shaun took no end of pleasure in licking and tasting. So he had no reason to look elsewhere.
“Only you would comment when someone was…” David started, and Shaun smiled and turned to cup his boyfriend’s face in his hands.
“I mean here I am, Captain Kirk, arrrrrh, and he’s Apollo. We’ve waged war before,” Shaun said simply. “Do you not remember it, Spock? When he plucked the ship from orbit and forced us to the surface?”
“Shaun, please, no,” Daniel groaned across the other side of the table, and Shaun grinned at his best friend. This was what Daniel got for not being his science officer, so he could instead be a green computer. Because that made sense. Not.
“He’s a Trekkie?” Nate asked in that deep rumble that seemed to come from somewhere south of his ankles. There was something almost like disapproval in his voice, but truth of the matter was that Shaun had a very, very hard time reading the tones the other man’s voice took. Especially considering how rarely Nate spoke around him in English.
“Since we were children,” Daniel sighed, shaking his head. “You saved me from that costume, David.”
“I think Nate saved you,” David countered, and Shaun just grinned at them both.
“Captain’s log: my crew seems to be planning a mutiny against me.”
“I will if you start Shatnering at me,” David warned him, and there was a hard edge to his voice that said he wasn’t even remotely kidding on that point.
“But why… would I ever… do that?” Shaun asked, making the pauses far past too long.
He was actually shocked to see David stand. Even if it hadn’t sounded like David was kidding, he still hadn’t expected David to actually go through with it. Yet there David was, walking away from him. Strolling off to the table where Connie and the twins sat. The look Daniel gave him across the table was one of reproval, and Shaun couldn’t even see Nate’s expression. Still, he was certain it wasn’t exactly cheerful and supportive. After all, he and Nate still hadn’t managed a really stable relationship, no matter what Shaun desired. Truth be told, he wanted to be closer to his friend’s first boyfriend, but there was something questionable at him getting involved with someone out of the blue who was now living in his apartment, but that was just Shaun’s opinion.
“Nate,” Daniel spoke, his voice soft and assuring as he reached out to touch his boyfriend’s arm. “Why don’t you go meet Alex. Your boss’s twin is no doubt important to him, and you should at least introduce yourself.”
It was a dismissal and Shaun was certain of that much. There was always an edge when Daniel did that, but it was always soft, making it sound more request than order. Nate clearly recognized it for what it was, so the large man moved out of the booth and moved after David. Which meant, soon enough, Shaun was left alone with his best friend, who was giving him an angry look. One Shaun was certain he didn’t deserve.
“I’ve got to assume you had a reason to do that,” Shaun sighed, frowning across at his best friend.
“Do I ever lack a reason for my actions?” Daniel asked simply. “I’m a bit more possessed of rational behavior than you seem to be. So I must ask, Shaun, what was it exactly that you were doing?”
Well, there was a question that Shaun wasn’t certain how to answer. Mostly because he wasn’t entirely sure what Daniel was asking about. So to buy himself some time to think he selected a few pieces of candy corn and popped them into his mouth. See, he was chewing, there was nothing to be done for it. Of course Daniel was quite experienced with all of Shaun’s defenses, and this one earned him a roll of Daniel’s eyes. Still, Shaun’s ploy seemed to work well enough because Daniel sighed and pushed his own small plate of treats aside to fold his hands together before him on the table.
“Alright then,” Daniel said at last, “as you don’t seem to understand the source of my disappointment, I shall have to be blunt. All of us noticed you checking Alex out. It is inappropriate of you to do so, specially in front of your boyfriend. The one you worked hard to win over despite your reputation for seeking physical pleasure and not a lasting relationship.”
Oh. That. Shaun sighed and stared down at his candy. Slowly he nudged the little triangles of the candy corn into a little smiling face, and then put the pumpkin ones in place for the eyes. A halloween orange Hersey’s kiss formed the nose of his little creation and he arranged small pieces of laffy taffy into bits of colorful hair. This definitely wasn’t a conversation he wanted to be having, clearly.
“”That,” Shaun sighed. “I… well, I mean, it’s harmless, right? It’s not like I intend anything by it. It’s harmless, because the guy holds no interest to me. None at all.”
Except those lovely strong legs, and the shapely rear and the way the gold cloth looked against his skin. It was all very tempting. Shaun thought maybe if he closed his eyes he could see what it looked like on David, but another part of him said that if he tried, what he’d find would be Alex behind his eyelids, not David. But no, he was set on the man he loved, or very near to it. David was important to him. And he knew he was important to David. There was something about the younger man that made him feel like he was healing. Maybe not physically, but definitely emotionally. Which was the better part of what mattered to him, truth be told.
“And I’m the heir to a wealthy family,” Daniel dismissed his comments simply. Shaun winced at that.
“I’m not…”
“I know,” Daniel waved his protest aside with a sigh. “But I’m worried anyway. This is one of your first serious relationships, and I don’t want you ruining it for yourself or David because you used to have a wandering eye.”
“It wasn’t always like this,” Shaun mumbled under his breath.
“I know,” Daniel repeated. “Charlotte… Well, things are different now, from how they were when she was around, and how they were after. You’re in a relationship, and that requires a maturity and restraint that you didn’t possess before.”
“Wow, I feel like you have so much confidence in me,” Shaun sighed, looking up at his best friend. “I know how to restrain myself. And it’s David I want. More than anything. I want him.”
He loved David. Which was wonderful. But that body…
No, Shaun shook his head. “I’m certain, D, I know I can handle this. A moment of lust for another guy doesn’t mean, for the briefest moment, that I’m any less in love with David.”
Daniel’s eyes went wide at that declaration, and rather than let himself hear what his friend had to say about it, Shaun just continued on, because it was the right thing to do. To get it all off his chest.
“I love him,” Shaun repeated firmly. “And nothing is going to get in the way of that, not even a momentary glance at another guy. I’m not going to act on it, because I love him, so there are no problems really. So... I’m cool.”
Yeah, they were cool, or so Shaun felt. So he smiled and looked over toward his boyfriend, where he’d sat down with his friend and neighbors and he was laughing. There was amusement, pleasure, pride in his eyes and really, Shaun couldn’t help but be happy at that. In almost a month and a half David had clearly become far more comfortable with his life here. Shaun was a part of that. He had a hand in that happiness the man was showing. The joy, the pleasure, his place among these people was partially because of Shaun, and that warmed him inside in a way he hadn’t known for a while.
"And here I thought for a while you weren't looking for happiness anymore," Daniel mused quietly as he pulled his plate close once more and picked up a cookie for himself. "I thought you'd given up after her."
"Me too," Shaun admitted with a sad frown. "But what happens happens. And what happened here is more than I ever thought possible."
Daniel nodded in agreement. "Maybe we should go over there and join their conversation."
That much Shaun knew not to do, so he shook his head. "He hasn't seen his friend in a month. I'm not going to interrupt that. So let's just have our treats and wait to either be called over or have him come back."
Again he got a nod in response and Shaun sighed in relief at that.
Though, truth be told, he was pretty certain his mind was going to be pretty distracted, just for a little bit. Because that body, like it or not, was a beautiful thing. And someone didn't shake off a desire for beautiful things so easily as saying they were done and expecting it to be true. Then again, he was going to take David home with him tonight and he was certain that his energetic lover was going to more than simply banish thoughts of this Alex from his mind.
But his eyes kept going back over to that table, to the beautiful man who was his boyfriend, and the gorgeous god who was laughing with him, their smiles looking absolutely enchanting together. If only he could look nearly so good with his boyfriend as Alex was. Still… David was his, and Shaun was certain he’d never have to worry about that. Thank god for the small things. Like knowing someone cared about you. No.
No, Shaun realized as David looked up and their eyes met across the room. It was more than simple caring.
