(no subject)

[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?"

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[atehimrightup]

Even when they’re apart, they tend to text a lot. Lee could tell from George’s increasingly stilted answers that his day wasn’t going well, and he found himself wanting to fix it.

He probably can’t, but he can help end it on a high note.

After a quick trip to the grocery store, Lee lets himself into George’s apartment with the key he’d been given, and puts on some music while making himself at home in the kitchen. He likes cooking, always has, but he never really had access to a working kitchen and a variety of ingredients. Since coming to Darrow, he’s tried to learn more.

Tonight, he’s trying a recipe for butter chicken. He knows that George likes it, and it might have been wiser to just pick up some from a restaurant, but Lee really wanted to make it himself.

When the door opens, Lee turns the music down and pops his head out of the kitchen to look toward the front door, smiling at the sight of George. “Hi.”

[gallowseyes]

The apartment smells delicious and George feels himself relax slightly just at the sight of Lee. He bends to unlace his boots and slips out of them and then pads through into the kitchen.

"Look at you," he teases gently. "So domestic."

[atehimrightup]

“Fuck you,” Lee says with a jovial laugh, though his cheeks flush the tiniest bit. He opens the fridge and pulls out a beer, using the ring on his thumb to pop the lid off before setting it on the end of the counter close to George.

Once his boots are off, Lee approaches him and cradles his jaw, once again appreciating how close they are in height. They can always look each other in the eye.

He draws him in for a soft kiss and wraps his arms around George’s shoulders, squeezing him tight. “I got the feeling you could use a nice night in.”

[gallowseyes]

"I could," admits George, curling his arm around Lee's shoulders and keeping him close for a moment, taking another kiss. He winces when he lowers his arm, rotating the shoulder. It's the one he dislocated that day on the hunt, the day before the first time James came looking for him in the night.

"It's just been one fucking thinking after another."

[atehimrightup]

Lee catches the wince and furrows his brow, subtly inhaling as he pulls back to look at George. There’s something off about the way he smells. Not like he’s sick, but maybe like he’s in pain. It makes Lee’s nostrils flare and he puts a hand on George’s chest.

“Are you hurt?” He asks, watching intently as George rotates his shoulder. “What happened? Did you fall off of a horse?”

He’s joking, but then he looks at George’s face. “Holy shit, did you fall off of a horse?”

[gallowseyes]

"Onto sand, at a trot," says George, waving off the suddenly concerned look on Lee's face. "It's just that I dislocated this shoulder years ago..." He immediately throws up his hands in a placating shoulder. "It's not dislocated. It just aches -- the fall plus playing all day."

[atehimrightup]

“So no jerking me off tonight, is what you’re saying,” Lee jokes, obviously teasing. He kisses George again and squeezes his hips before stepping away, grabbing a ziploc bag and opening the freezer to fill it with ice.

“Here,” he says, patting an empty spot on the counter next to the stove and gesturing for George to hop up before handing over the bag. “You can ice it and keep me company while I finish dinner.”

[gallowseyes]

"I'm inventive. I'll make it work." George hops up on the counter, accepting the bag of ice and pressing it to his aching shoulder. It's another modern marvel, and he's grateful.

"What is for dinner? It smells delicious."

[atehimrightup]

“Butter chicken,” Lee says proudly, lifting the lid off of the simmering pot to stir it, releasing steam and more of the spicy aroma into the air. “I wanted to try making it myself.”

He wanted to impress George, wanted to make him happy. He knows he doesn’t have to work to try and keep George’s affections, and that somehow he has them regardless. He’s just doing it because he wants to.

“I’ve got rice and naan warming over there.” He gestures with the spoon and then replaces the lid on the pot, glancing at the timer. It still has a ways to go, so Lee grabs the beer he opened and takes a swig before handing it to George, stepping between his knees to reach up and hold the ice so he can have a free hand.

[gallowseyes]

George can't help the bright, unguarded grin that spreads across his face at that. What he likes about Lee is that he pays attention, gives all of these little hints that he's been listening, that he cares. It's a novelty for anyone to really care what George actually wants.

He takes the beer and takes a month swallow, hand on the arm under the ice curling around Lee's hip.

"God," he says. "You're lovely." It isn't entirely what he means to say.

[atehimrightup]

Lee blushes at that, pleased by not only the sudden compliment but how honest it is. Between that and the happy grin on George’s face, it feels a little like he might melt into a puddle.

“The benefits of giving me a key,” he says with a soft chuckle, leaning in and curling his hand loosely around the back of George’s neck to pull him in for a long, lingering kiss, resting their foreheads together once it’s over.

“I’m sorry you had a shitty day,” he says softly, kissing the corner of his mouth. “I want to make it better.”

[gallowseyes]

"There are many benefits to having given you a key," says George who likes it best when he's gone to bed alone and wakes up with Lee somehow beside him.

"You already did, just by being here. The fact that dinner also smells delicious and there's cold beer? All extra."

[atehimrightup]

Lee grins so hard that it makes his cheeks ache with the unfamiliarity of it. Nobody has ever been able to make Lee smile like George can, never in his life.

“Hm, well. We’ve also got about—“ He paused to lean away and look at the timer on the stove— “twelve minutes until the food’s done.”

Lee reaches up to tap his chin in playful thought, pursing his lips in a soft pout to draw attention to his mouth. “I wonder what we could do in twelve minutes.”

[gallowseyes]

"Hmm..."

What Lee's thinking about is obvious enough. George smiles, still perched on the counter. Usually, there's barely an inch difference in their height and George finds that he enjoys being above Lee for a moment. Beer bottle still in his hand, he curls his arm around Lee's neck and draws him in for a lazy, lingering kiss.

[atehimrightup]

Lee holds the ice in place as they kiss, sliding his other hand up and down George’s thigh. He realizes, almost belatedly, that he was about to make an assumption about what George might want, when he could just ask him instead.

“I could blow you,” Lee says between kisses, flicking his tongue over George’s plush mouth. “Or we could make out.”

They kiss for another long moment, tongues sliding together as he moves his hand to George’s side, nudging their noses together before pulling back to look at him, head tilted curiously. “Or you could tell me why your day was so bad. It’s your choice how we spend the next—“ he pauses to check again, smiling. “Ten minutes.”

[gallowseyes]

"I can tell you about my day later," says George, hooking his heels behind Lee's thighs to tug him in closer. "And you can definitely do the other later, too."

For now, George is more than content to kiss Lee again, his lips lingering.

[atehimrightup]

There was no right or wrong answer to the question. Lee would have been content with any of them, but George choosing to keep kissing him makes Lee’s heart feel like it stutters in his chest. He grins and lets himself be reeled in, nodding and kissing George again, cradling the back of his head so that it doesn’t bump into the cabinet.

His other hand stays on the ice, keeping it against George’s shoulder even though his hand is freezing cold. Lee rocks his body forward, pressing himself up against George and kissing him deeply, letting out a content hum as he leisurely licks his way past George’s lips.

[gallowseyes]

George loves kissing like this, with no particular end goal in mind other than the joy of it. He opens his mouth easily to the press of Lee's tongue, his hand pushing into Lee's hair and tugging lightly.

[atehimrightup]

Lee had never really known the joy in kissing for the sake of it until George. He and Maren had done it a few times, but he was always so afraid of her deciding he wasn’t worth it and deciding to leave. Which is exactly what happened.

With George, he’s afraid of something similar, but in a different way. A way that is currently the furthest thing from his mind.

Right now, he just pours all of his affection into the kiss, humming his approval when George’s fingers pull lightly at his hair. God, he loves that.

He loves everything about this.

[gallowseyes]

Humming contentedly into the kiss, he keeps his fingers tight in Lee's hair, his legs still wrapped slightly around him. His shoulder has gone numb from the ice and, honestly, he doesn't think he's ever been this happy in his entire life.

[atehimrightup]

Eventually Lee sets the ice down and wipes away the condensation on his sweats before sneaking his cold hand up under the front of George’s shirt, grinning into the kiss when George flinches at the chill.

He pulls back enough to change the angle of the kiss, diving in again and holding the back of George’s neck as his icy fingertips drift over one of George’s nipples, circling it slowly as they kiss.

[gallowseyes]

George's breath comes in a huff as Lee teases chill fingers over his nipple, brushing the bar there. The sensation goes right to his cock and he tips his head back against the cabinet with a soft thud.

"You're obsessed."

[atehimrightup]

“No, I just have a curious mind,” Lee replies with a smirk that’s both amused and a little cocky, pulling back to look at George’s face. “I was wondering if it’d feel good.”

He quirks a brow at George’s reaction and shifts to touch his cold fingers to his other nipple, oh so lightly squeezing between the sides of his fingers. He chuckles, leaning in to press a line of kisses along his jaw. “Looks like I got my answer.”

[gallowseyes]

This time, George squirms his hips against the counter, the fingers that he has still pressed into Lee's hair tightening.

"It feels good," he says.

[atehimrightup]

“Hm, I’ll take a mental note,” Lee says as George squirms, sliding his hand out of his shirt to rest it against his chest, kissing him soundly.

“I could write a book about your body,” he murmurs, sliding his cool hand around the small of his back, pulling him in closer. They can’t get to into it because the timer is going to go off any minute, but George is so easy to get lost in.

His hand goes to George’s face, staring at him while thumbing softly at the corner of his eye. “Your eyes are my favorite, though.”