a snippet from a summer fling lifeguard and ex-paramedic au that i will never finish
Thor looked down at Bruce’s hand, gently pulling him parallel to the shore. Their feet splashed through the shallow water as the pair slowly walked; he smiled and gave Bruce’s hand a squeeze. His almost-kind-of-boyfriend turned around and smiled back, stopping to give his full attention to Thor.
“You know,” Thor said, his voice low in the warm, quiet air, “when I’ve described myself as someone who enjoys long walks on the beach, I’ve never had something quite like this in mind.”
Bruce shook his head as he laughed, pulling Thor’s hand to his lips to kiss along the knuckles. “This is the definition of a long walk on the beach, darling.”
“Am I your darling, now?” Bruce’s eyes shot back to Thor’s as the taller man spoke, but his expression relaxed once he saw the carefree, joyous look on Thor’s face. He let go of Thor’s hand to shove him gently, scoffing.
“Don’t say it like that, you scared me,” he said, moving his hand that he had planted against Thor’s shoulder up to cradle the side of his face. “Made me think you didn’t want me to call you that.”
Thor grinned, his teeth glinting briefly in the dim light. He looked gorgeous like this—well, like anything, really, but especially here, his muscular body coated in slowly-drying saltwater, his hair covered with sand—and Bruce wanted nothing more than to kiss him senseless, kiss him until the world fell out from under them. The fiery feeling in Bruce’s chest only grew as Thor turned his head to kiss the palm of Bruce’s hand, his cheeky grin never leaving his face. “You could call me anything you damn well please,” he said, and even though it sounded like a joke, Bruce could hear the devotion in Thor’s voice. This man was all-or-nothing, something that the lifeguard really respected, even though it sent a shiver down his spine to think of being so genuinely loved for probably the first time in his life.
“I like ‘darling,’” Bruce admitted with a shrug, moving his fingers to comb through Thor’s cropped hair.
“I believe that means it’s time to legally change my name.” One side of his mouth was quirked into an even snarkier grin, though the playful bite held no weight, as his head was still leaned into Bruce’s hand. He turned to give yet another kiss to Bruce’s palm, blinking tiredly. “What time is it, actually?” Bruce used his free hand to pull his phone from the trunks’ pocket, telling Thor that it was just after two in the morning. He earned a slightly groggy nod and a clipped yawn. “Man, I’m getting old; I can’t stay up anymore.”
“I’m older than you,” Bruce said after a moment, recalling that he was, in fact, a good ten years older than Thor. He put his phone back in his pocket and moved his hand to Thor’s side, rubbing his thumb against one of the many burn scars that littered Thor’s skin. Thor closed his eyes for a moment and smiled serenely, lifting one of his own hands to pull Bruce closer to him. Neither of them really knew how it happened, but they were somehow on the sand a few moments later, sitting next to each other with their feet in the water. Thor guessed that he had probably tugged Bruce down in an attempt to lay with him.
He was content with just sitting there silently, leaning against Bruce, but the shorter man shifted after only a few moments so that his hand was grasping Thor’s, and he was close to Thor’s face. Really close. “May I kiss you?” Bruce asked. At first, it felt like it was out of nowhere, like he might as well have been asking a stranger to kiss him. But then his logic started to catch up to his impulse and it started to click together, like a puzzle he had finally figured out the pattern of. After years and years of being on edge at any given moment, being prepared to rush in to save people from car wrecks, national disasters, and much more mundane—but still goddamn terrifying—things, he had subconsciously drawn himself back into a bubble. Life had always been too dangerous for Thor to allow himself to feel things as strongly as he was now. But now? He was laying in the sand, for God’s sake. This was the calmest he’d been in his life. So, yeah. It made plenty of sense. He may even say that he was falling in love.
This entire thought process ran through Thor’s head in the two and a half seconds that it took him to give a shaky nod.
And that was that. Bruce grinned and leaned in, and his lips were a welcome pressure against Thor’s own. Jesus, it was nice. He felt Bruce’s hands pulling him closer, impossibly so, and Thor smiled into the kiss as he moved to straddle the lifeguard. He slung one arm over Bruce’s shoulder and held the other against the back of his head, tangling his fingers into Bruce’s hair. Bruce’s arms were held firmly around Thor’s waist, continuing their nonviable task of pulling Thor closer. Thor’s feet dug into the sand and his breathing picked up as the kiss got more intense, and he felt every inch of his body burning, crying out for more, more, more. “Bruce,” he whispered as they took a breath. Bruce opened his eyes, and Thor studied him in the moonlight. He had to lean back to do so, but the loss of contact was worth it; Bruce was even more gorgeous when he was all flushed and sitting right underneath Thor. The scattered light from the moon and stars cast soft shadows across his face and glinted in his inky black hair.
“What?” The word brought Thor’s attention back to Bruce’s lips, slightly parted and absolutely gorgeous.
The ex-paramedic smiled gently. “I’ve never met someone more beautiful than you.” To punctuate the statement, he leaned back in, aiming for Bruce’s jawline. Bruce never responded, but he didn’t need to. The way he gasped as Thor lined kisses down his throat was answer enough.
