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[gallowseyes]

His day, not to put too fine a point on it, has gone to shit. He'd slipped out of the apartment nearly to go and ride and had been thrown. Thankfully, he'd been on sand, so the bruising is minimal, but the stiffness in his shoulder has lingered all day. He'd gone to do some session work -- cello, not viola de Gamba, which means the instrument, whole familiar, feels less like a part of him. The fingering of the part has been complicated, and he'd managed to break his bow and had to use a spare.

At least he'd been paid.

By the time he lets himself into his apartment, he's in a foul mood but, when he opens the door, he instantly knows that someone else is home.

"Lee?"

Comments

[atehimrightup]

“Yeah, I need something to eat. Can you bring me a beer and a protein bar?” He starts to sit up and then pauses. “And a banana.”

He slides off of the bed and gets onto his feet for the first time in several fuckings and then stumbles a bit at how tender he is, legs still feeling a little like jelly.

“Man, I’m gonna be sore tomorrow,” he says with a chuckle, stretching his arms over his head. “I expect you to stay here and wait on me hand and foot tomorrow.”

[gallowseyes]

"Your wish, my command," he says, grinning. He'd had some experience of that kind of service, as a Gentleman of the Bedchamber, after all.

On his way to the kitchen, he glances back.

"Hell, I'll do it naked and collared if it pleases you."

[atehimrightup]

“Oh, if it pleases me, huh?” Lee calls back with a laugh. “You’d make that sacrifice? Suffer through it just for me? How selfless.”

He’s grinning as he walks into the bathroom, and he does a bit of a double take when he sees his reflection in the mirror. His hair is rumpled, skin flushed and eyes red from crying. He looks like a mess, but he’s never looked so… soft.

After a moment he tears his gaze away, blinking rapidly and going over to fill up the tub, sitting on the edge of it and rolling his eyes as he reaches for the bubble bath.

[gallowseyes]

George laughs at he slips into the kitchen, retrieving beers and water, Lee's requested protein bar and a banana for each of them. Still naked as the day he was born, he pads back into the bathroom and sets things down on the edge of the tub.

"Ready?" he asks, and doesn't want to be told where Lee wants him, stepping into the steaming water.

[atehimrightup]

Lee is all cried out, he’s pretty sure, but when he turns his head to see George coming into the room, sleepy and naked and carrying food and water for them, something in his chest constricts, heart clenching like a fist behind his ribs.

It keeps hitting him over and over again. He’s never been this happy in his life.

Lee nods and grabs one of the bottles of water, sitting on the edge of the tub and chugging from it while reaching out to curl his hand around the inside of George’s thigh as he stands in the tub, squeezing once before letting go so George can sit down. He turns his head to look at George as he settles down into the frothy water.

“In a sec,” he says as he unwraps his protein bar, smirking faintly. “I’m enjoying the view.”

[gallowseyes]

George smiles at that, leaning back against the enamel of the tub as he peels a banana, breaking it into chunks and virtually inhaling it. He discards the skin and reaches for one of the open beers. "Take your time," he says. "No charge."

[atehimrightup]

Lee turns to lean against the wall so he can face George, smiling as he takes in the sight of him, relaxed and happy with bubbles in his hair.

“No charge even for me getting to watch you eat a banana?” Lee drawls out, smirking as he takes a bite of his protein bar. “So gracious of you.”

He takes his time eating the protein bar, happy just sit there and watch George lounge in the bath, taking in every inch of him as if he’s trying to commit him to memory. “I like looking at you. Especially like this.”

[gallowseyes]

"Well you see me naked all the time, so it can't be that," says George, taking a sip of his beer and watching Lee, head tilted one one side. He's not self conscious about being watched -- he'd grown up observed, and if had only gotten worse as he got older. The only person at court who could expect privacy was the King and, when then, it was mostly an illusion. George lies back, pressing the cool glass of his beer bottle against his flushed cheek, the side of his neck.

[atehimrightup]

“I like to look at you even when your clothes are on,” Lee tells him, sipping from his beer and smiling softly. “Even when you’re drooling in your sleep.”

His smile widens and he pops the last bite of his bar into his mouth and stands up, turning to put the wrapper in the trash. He stays facing George as he steps into the tub between his legs, still looking down at his face. “Even when you’re grumpy.”

[gallowseyes]

"Me?:Grumpy?" He shifts, reaching out for Lee, squeezing his thigh. "Never. You must have me confused with someone else."

He grins, that boyish, bright smile that is really lovely reserved for Lee, these days.

[atehimrightup]

“Oh, right. I confused you with one of the many other bratty pretty boys that I let put their whole hand inside me,” Lee teases, slowly sinking down to his knees between George’s thighs. He takes George’s face in his hands, thumbing at his cheeks and drawing him in for a soft kiss.

After resting their foreheads together for a moment, he carefully turns around and sits down in front of George, hissing a little and shifting to find the most comfortable position. A soft, pleased hum escapes him as he leans back against George’s chest, hands resting on the tops of his thighs and slowly sliding up to curl around his knees.

He still doesn’t quite get the point of baths for actual cleanliness, but he’s come to cherish these soft, intimate moments with George— sitting snug between his thick thighs, with his soft cock resting in the dip at the base of his spine. They fit together like puzzle pieces.

“So,” Lee breathes out after a moment, eyes closed as he rests his head against George’s shoulder, smirking to himself. “Did I make your night better than your day?”

[gallowseyes]

"There are others?" says George, pouting for a second before his mouth softens when Lee kisses him. "You'll break my heart."

He makes a soft, contented sound when Lee sinks into the water, letting him settle against him before he offers him the beer in his hand.

[atehimrightup]

“I never want to do that,” Lee says with a little more sincerity than he intends to, cheeks warm as he reaches up to take the beer. After lifting it to take a long drink, he hands it back over.

“You know damn well there aren’t,” he says with a low chuckle, warm and fond. “Look how long it took me to roll over for you. No one else is puttin’ in all that work.”

As if he’d let anyone else even try. When this is what’s waiting for him? Not a fucking chance.

He smirks again and then twists to bend his head back and try to look up at him. “I notice you didn’t answer my question.”

[gallowseyes]

"Which question?" asks George, taking a sip of the beer they're sharing, his other hand on Lee's chest, over his heart. "Ask it again."

He tilts his head. "I'd tell you anything."

[atehimrightup]

“I asked if I made your night better, but I already knew the answer,” Lee says with a laugh, putting his hand over George’s on his chest, where it rests over the scar there.

“Especially since you’re all come dumb,” he teases warmly, threading their fingers together over his chest. “I’ll take the compliment.”

[gallowseyes]

"Oh, yes," says George, squeezing Lee's fingers. "You've definitely fed and fucked the bad day right out of me." He drops a kiss into Lee's hair. "A proper antidote. And that was before you let me put my fist inside you."

[atehimrightup]

“God, your voice is stupid,” Lee says with a laugh, though by his tone it’s clear that means the opposite. “I could listen to you read the dictionary.”

He reaches for his banana and unpeels it, taking a bite and then holding it over his shoulder for George to take a bite if he wants. As he chews, he looks down at their long legs cramped into the space. “Have you ever been in a hot tub?”

[gallowseyes]

"Mmmm, so you've said, my love," he murmurs in French, before he leans forward and takes a bite of the fruit. "I have not. I hadn't done a lot of things before I got here."

[atehimrightup]

“Well. That’s rude,” he breathes out, shivering at the sound of husky French in his ear. God, he’s such a cliche.

“I know you hadn’t been in one before you got here. They hadn’t been invented yet.” He chuckles and takes another bite. “They’re like this but a lot bigger and deeper.” He licks his thumb and turns his hand in a vague wave around the tub. “With jets that blow bubbles. They have ‘em at hotels and shit.”

After finishing the banana, he tosses the peel toward the trash can and rinses his fingers in the water. “I imagine you’ve seen like, a big stew pot over a fire, right? That seems like classic castle imagery. It’s like that but for people.”

[gallowseyes]

"That does sound like something I would definitely enjoy," says George, though the comparison to a cooking pot is somewhat disquieting. Setting the bottle down in the edge of the tub, George lets his other hand trail in the water, tracing the dip of Lee's belly button.

[atehimrightup]

“Mm, we should get a hotel room with one sometime,” Lee suggests, sliding his fingertips up and down George’s forearm. He chuckles and reaches out for the beer, taking another sip.

“A weekend getaway all the way across the city.” He sets the beer down and realizes how long it’s been since he even thought about how they’re trapped here. He used to think about it every minute of the day, feeling like an animal with a leg in a trap. But that feeling has disappeared entirely, since replaced with an intense desire to stay.

[gallowseyes]

"That sounds good," says George, eyes closed, utterly content. "We can luxuriate in this hot tub of yours, fuck in a different bed. Have people bring us food." A smile tugs the corner of his mouth. "Sounds like a dream."

[atehimrightup]

“It does sound really nice,” Lee agrees, smiling to himself. It’s such a marvel to be able to make plans in advance. He likes knowing where he’s going to wake up every day. Darrow gave him a place that feels like home for the first time in his life.

Darrow gave him George.

“We can keep all the lights off and pretend we’re waking up in a castle somewhere,” he says in a sleepy drawl, one corner of his mouth quirking up in amusement. “And I’m the poor stable boy you just deflowered so thoroughly that I passed out in your bed.”

[gallowseyes]

"You really did like that, didn't you?" says George, gently amused. He trails his fingers over Lee's belly, up to his chest and back. "And then, what? The debauchery continues? I don't think you can behave yourself that long, you little gremlin."

[atehimrightup]

“Yes. Don’t tease me about it or I’ll get shy,” he says with a laugh, feeling his cheeks heat up. “I think— it sounds dumb but I guess I like to play pretend. Make up stories.”

He looks down and watches as George’s hand moves up and down his torso, under the water and back up again as the dim light catches on the ring on his finger.

“I think maybe I would have been a writer in another life,” he says after a moment, feeling a little like he just flayed himself open right there in the tub.