guylining | Inbox the Second

[ At which point Nate just...teleports over to the living room. ]

Hey, where are you? I'm here. And I bet it's not dumb.

[ oh he's there. on the couch. phone in hand. just... staring at him. ]

Y'know... you gotta just not drop in like that unannounced. Some might consider it rude.

[ Nate lifts his shoulder. ]

Maybe I'm rude. You want me to go outside and knock?

[ ugh. dropping his phone to the couch there. ]

And you call me a punk.

Maybe I'm just hoping I'll catch you naked.

[ He goes over to perch on the arm of the couch. ]

So, why were you being shy?

I don't know.

[ he licks over his lips. takes a moment for himself. ]

Just... it's not wrapped or anything.

[ He reaches out, touches John's hair. Strokes a few strands back from his face. ]

Show me.

You think you can stay put long enough for me to get it?

[ just saying. ]

[ Nate slides down onto the couch and sits, obedient. ]

I promise not to teleport anywhere uninvited.

[ eyeing him, albeit playfully, he makes his way out of the living room and disappears for a bit. he's only gone for about a minute or so before he's coming back with a book in hand. staring to it. quiet. as if contemplating whether or not this is a good idea.

standing there next to him, he licks over his lips. takes a second. then lets out a breath. ]

Here.

[ holding the book out to him. ]

It's a journal. [ a beat. ] When you left I... I wrote in it. Every day, more or less. They're letters to you. About what I was doing, what was happening. I stopped about a year into it but... I don't know. I always had you here to talk to whenever. Sometimes almost every day. [ licking over his lips again, he shrugs. ] I just didn't want to let go of that... of you.

[ Nate takes the book by rote, but his eyes are on John while he explains. While he says...

things Nate never expected. He looks down at the book, at the cover, then slowly opens it. Turns to one page, scans down it. Then another. Moves through it, seeing the number written on, the number of letters. So many letters.

Then he sets it down, stands, and pulls John into his arms. ]

You didn't forget about me. You didn't even try, you kept talking. All that time.

[ nate pulls him in and he lets him. arms at his sides for a moment before he gently lifts them. gently rests his hands on the other's sides. ]

Was trying to, yeah. Just got used to always having you there.

[ He'd always been afraid he would lose any connection to John if he ever went home. He'd seen how John reacted to other losses. Why should his loss be any different?

Seeing this, knowing what it means. It settles that part of him. He turns his face in against John's neck. ]

Thank you.

I'm gonna read every one of them. I want to know everything I missed, good and bad.

[ bringing his hand up to gently grasp the nape of nate's neck, he closes his eyes. holds him and lets himself be held. sigh so very soft there on his lips, just like the words that leave him a moment after: ]

I missed you.

[ Nate moves very slightly, turns his head to put his forehead against John's. Then moves his hand to touch his jaw, lightly runs his thumb across it. ]

I'm here.

I love that book. I love you.

[ foreheads touching, he looks to him. gaze soft. fingers gently stroking at the nape of the witch's neck there as he stands there with him. still so close. ]

You leave again and I'm breaking up with you.

[ he's not sure if he means it, but. just john being john. ]

[ Fingers push up into his hair. ]

Reasonable.

[ He smiles. John being John. This is the John he fell for in the first place. His head tilts up a bit, nudging their noses together. ]

It was my birthday two weeks ago. [ A flick of his eyebrow. ] Only technically. Couple of days before the Finder. That was better than a video.

[ Not the Finder, but what they'd done after. ]

Didn't want another threesome with me and Caliban?

[ he raises a brow as he asks that. keeps close. ]

Shame. Pretty sure you like seeing both my holes filled with the two of you.

[ He softly laughs. ]

I want another threesome with you and Caliban every day.

[ A beat. ]

Sometimes I just want you, though. Sometimes I just want this.

[ Not sex, just this. It's close, it's soft, it's loving. And it's rare, compared to all the rest. It feels very personal. Sometimes he needs that. ]

[ john's the same in the sense that, for all the filth that leaves his mouth and that he's capable of with that mouth, a lot of the time it's all an act. a means to just disconnect from something— dissociate sometimes. from whatever mood might be trying to drown him beneath the surface.

so he huffs a little when nate goes and says that. stands there with him still, forehead pressed to his, gaze dropping down between them. ]

Matchstick and hocus pocus. Remember that?

Yeah.

[ It makes him grin, that memory. The way they'd been with each other at first. The easy banter. The flirting, before it was flirting. ]

I didn't know your real name for ages. You didn't go by it. I think you were my best mate before I knew your name.

[ it feels so long ago now. when they'd first met. so many faces that were once here, now gone. memories. nothing more. still, he wears a crooked sort of smile there on his face. presses his forehead a little harder against nate's. ]

Now look where we are.

[ His fingers are back on John's jaw, tracing it. ]

In the house you share with the King of Hell. We've come far.

You remember when our nightmares came to life and we fought a sentinel? Crazy things.

[ when he'd been killed by it, yeah. ]

Yeah. Crazy things.

[ lifting his gaze to meet nate's, he kisses him then. slow. soft. sweet and tender. fingers brushing there against the nape of his neck he still holds. ]

I love you.

[ Nate's lips part beneath him. Hands move around his back, arms tightening. He stays against him, forehead resting against his. ]

I love you.

[ One hand moves up, thumb brushing John's lip. ]

Is it still rude I stay a while? Keep you company?

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fireshow - 2024-06-25 15:11 (UTC) - Expand