It's a gray and dreary Monday here and I thought why not share a scene I'd originally written for a writing portfolio for class, but really it's too fun to leave tucked away in a file on my desktop. Although it actually might make it into an EMPIRE OF LIGHT sequel some day, with a slight change of POV (though Raeyn may stick around as a first-person POV instead). This scene takes place about six months after the end of EMPIRE OF LIGHT and Raeyn has some things he needs to get out in the open -- and what better to soften Damian up than a lengthy massage beforehand?
Original content by me with some edited quotes from Burroway's Writing Fiction (despite all the nakedness and oil, it was for a writing class after all ;))
Enjoy,
Alex
Build-Up
“There is something I would like to ask you.”
As soon as he said it, Raeyn felt the sudden urge to take it back. Maybe, if he was very lucky, he had overestimated the effects of the last half-hour spent carefully massaging Damian into blissful relaxation and Damian had fallen asleep already.
“Hmm?” No such luck. Damian’s voice was muffled against one arm, but he was unmistakably awake.
“I was wondering,” Raeyn began, but let the sentence trail off along with his hands down Damian’s spine. He briefly considered just dropping it right there. It was either that or cut to the chase, but bluntness would put a premature end to an otherwise perfectly pleasant evening. That or they would argue with splendid eloquence – at least he would – but there would be nothing to decide and therefore no option for anything to change. He trickled more oil down Damian’s lower back and settled for the less dangerous question.
“Are you planning on staying the night?”
He could hear the frown in Damian’s voice. “Um. Yeah?” Then something changed and Raeyn could feel the tension forming between his shoulder blades. “I mean, it’s okay if you don’t want me to. I can go and—“
Raeyn held him down and applied his fingers to the notch of Damian’s collarbone, thumbs stroking circles across oil-slicked skin. “That’s not what I meant.”
“It’s okay. Really.” The stiff set of his shoulders put a lie to his words. “Need to wrap up some stuff before work anyway. If Stern got her way I’d sleep at that fucking office as it is.”
“Hm,” Raeyn said and ran his hands down Damian’s sides. “You do what you have to do, of course.”
He bit back a comment about how he seriously doubted Damian could even find as much as a pen among the detritus of his apartment, let alone get any work accomplished there. That would require a minimum of organization. Beginning with unpacking boxes. Judging from the last time Raeyn had been at his place, Damian had no intention of doing either, especially since it would mean having to sort through the odds and ends that Aris had left behind. Raeyn knew better than to push the issue.
Another subject that remained unspoken between them, slowly building up tension until it would come to the surface and explode.
“It seems like a long time since the Restructuring, doesn’t it?” he asked, abandoning the idea of trying to force conversations with Damian to follow any logical order. “I mean, it’s been months since the re-elections.” And you’ve been practically living here all the time. Raeyn traced a lazy finger along the landscape of pink scars on Damian’s back. Not for the first time he wondered whose hand had put them there. Damian wouldn’t talk about it and for once Raeyn knew to leave well enough alone.
Instead he took a breath, aiming the next question to sound like nothing but an afterthought. “It seems awfully impractical to keep up two places of residence, don’t you think?”
Silence. The twitch of Damian’s hand curling into the pillowcase was all the reaction he got for a moment, before Damian finally turned his head, squinting at the low light. “Wait a minute, are you asking me to move in with you?”
“Yes,” Raeyn said, struggling to keep his voice from skipping. “Yes, I suppose I am. I—“
It didn’t matter, because he seemed to have temporarily lost his power of speech, partly mesmerized by the naked body in his bed, partly from sheer relief that Damian hadn’t gotten up and walked out yet. It took him a moment to recover and find something to do with his hands. In the end he put them on Damian’s hips, applying pressure as he stroked down. At least it gave him something to do to bridge the silence while Damian seemed to think it over.
“There’s no need for an immediate decision. I just wanted to let you know that I put some thought into it and thought it would make things more convenient for both of us.” Raeyn paused for more oil and trailed light kisses down Damian’s back. “Believe it or not, I’ve become quite used to having you here.”
“You mean you’re used to doing all the cooking and picking up after my mess in exchange for having me around for a handy fuck whenever you want me.”
“Well, if you’re putting it that way.” Raeyn brushed his lips against the nape of Damian’s neck and worked his hands down lower.
“Hmm. Yeah, right th—“ Damian froze. “Oh, you bastard.”
“Excuse me?”
“You set me up.” Damian’s shoulders shook with suppressed laughter. “Fuck, you practiced this, didn’t you?”
Raeyn stared down at his hands on Damian’s coppery skin and smiled despite himself. “In front of the mirror. With considerably less stuttering.”
So much for thinking words had to do more than one thing at a time. That rule clearly failed to account for distractions like this. Content to let the matter drop for the time being, he focused on the matter at hand, slowly working his way deeper, rather enjoying the low noises of contentment he elicited with his hands. At least Damian hadn’t said no.
Or at least not yet, because after a while, he turned over, dark eyes intent on Raeyn’s face. “Oh what the hell,” he muttered and just when Raeyn thought he knew what the outcome of this conversation was going to be, he said, “Okay.”
For a moment Raeyn didn’t quite follow him. “Okay?”
Damian paused, then nodded. “Yeah. I mean, why not? Your place is bigger and closer to work. ‘Sides, it isn’t like you’re going to let this go any time soon. Not when you’ve got that look on your face.”
Raeyn kept his face carefully blank. “What look?”
Damian shook his head and dragged him down for a kiss. “That look,” he said against Raeyn’s mouth. “Like you’re really hoping you didn’t just waste all that damn effective build-up. Very fucking clever, by the way.”
“Hm, well, in this case, I could always stop. After all, it isn’t like I would want to pressure you into anything.” Raeyn pulled his hands back, but not before Damian had time to catch them and pull him down on top of him.
“If you stop now, I’ll probably kill you.” Damian grinned. “And if you think I’m moving all my stuff over here by myself, you better fucking think again.”
That sounded dangerously close to a decision. A surprisingly painless one at that. Somehow Raeyn couldn’t shake the feeling that more could have been said, but as it was, he was perfectly content to let nonverbal communication take over the rest of the night. He leaned down and gently bit the crook of Damian’s throat.
“Turn over, Darling.”
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