Post by Philip Garwin on Oct 23, 2019 17:24:21 GMT -5
Landon doesn’t mean to fall in love with Rai. He doesn’t even notice it happening, not really. He doesn’t know if it’s slow and gradual or if it happens all at once; it’s like he just wakes up one day and there it is. He doesn’t remember a lot of how their relationship starts, to be honest. It feels a bit like Rai creeps further into his life every time Landon blinks - and maybe he should mind but he really doesn't, because it also feels like Rai is supposed to be there.
***
He realises that something has changed the first time he wakes up with Rai in his bed, not that he notices the other man right away.
Landon is slow to wake in the morning, which is entirely attributable to the fact that he loses so many hours in his workshop and the calculations inside his own head that he has no real sleeping pattern to speak of. Wyron has implemented strict rules around when Landon can and cannot be in the workshop but not even Wyron can switch off his brain. Landon can exchange a wrench for a blunt pencil and switch focus from working on a project to planning out the next one without even blinking. He loses hours that way, loses days if left to his own devices, and only emerges from the rabbit hole when he reaches the other side. Wyron and Kellen and Dad work together to manage him as best as they can when he gets into that state but the hazy fogginess clouding his thoughts and the insistent hunger clawing at his insides tells Landon that he’s crashed recently. He won’t be allowed back in the lab anytime soon, he realises with a huff. Wyron might even be feeling mean enough to set Rin on him, if he was exceptionally difficult about being forced to bed.
It takes him a moment of silent petulance at the prospect of Rin's particular brand of training before he truly acknowledges that the weight against his arm isn't the foxes. A surreptitious glance confirms that there's a person in bed with him. There should not be a person in his bed, Landon's brain informs him logically. He doesn't allow people in his bed. It just...it’s a rule. It’s a rule, like no food in the lab. It’s a rule so it doesn’t happen - it just doesn’t, because it's a rule - but now it's happened and Landon isn’t quite sure what to do with this turn of events.
Wake up, he commands the other man silently, a deep frown settled on his face. He knows that this is his mysterious new lab partner of sorts, the nameless man who has settled into his lab so easily that Landon somehow can’t resent him for it. He isn’t used to being able to work so easily with someone else, to move in tandem with someone who isn’t Kellen, to leave sentences half-finished because he knows that this man can follow his train of thought in a way that even Kellen can’t because his twin has never had the interest in science and mechanics that Landon does. He’s given him a place in his workshop but he doesn’t know how that translates to a place in his bed, even if they do both seem to be partially dressed still. He scowls at the interloper, bemused, and holds his breath when the man shifts as if he's starting to wake, his pulse spiking with something that tastes like either panic or anticipation. He isn’t sure which it is, but thankfully the man stays asleep long enough for Landon to cautiously remove himself from the bed and, still half-asleep and entirely confused, search out the closest source of coffee.
***
“Bed,” Landon agrees through a yawn, too tired to notice the startled reaction that his easy acceptance garners. He's been known to stubbornly refute his own tiredness long after his eyes have started slipping closed if he's in the middle of a project; Wyron and Raidon have every right to stare at him like they’re concerned for his mental well-being. He doesn’t even notice himself reaching out for something, doesn't register his fingers curling insistently around a familiar wrist as he stumbles his way back to his room from memory alone or the gentle touch of a hand against his shoulder turning him down one corridor or another when his exhausted brain betrays him and tries to lead him in the wrong direction.
“You have to shower and get changed,” Rai points out with poorly hidden amusement when Landon attempts to fall down on the bed in jeans and a t-shirt marked with grease stains and a few holes which look suspiciously like they may have been caused by a small fire. Landon squints at him balefully, not entirely convinced. Raidon said sleep. Neither he nor Wyron mentioned a shower. Sleep then food. That’s what they said.
“Sleep,” Landon repeats demandingly, reaching out to clasp Rai's wrist again and tug him closer to the bed. He's out of the lab now, he’s tired. He wants sleep and he doesn’t understand why Rai is being so difficult. Maybe it’s the grease, he considers thoughtfully, and concedes the point by pulling the t-shirt over his head carelessly. The action musses his hair and knocks his glasses askew but Landon fixes the second issue by discarding the frames on his bedside table with a dismissive flick of his wrist. His less than fantastic vision leaves Rai a bit blurry but he steps closer without needing to be asked, closing the distance by just enough to bring him back into perfect focus. The familiarity in that single movement freezes the breath in Landon's lungs for a brief moment, brown eyes blinking at Rai with bemusement and a slow-dawning realisation that he shies away from with a hint of panic. This isn’t a road that they want to go down, he recognises distantly. It never ends well when a Cartier falls in love with a Graas.
“Buttons,” Landon whines in petulant protest, latching onto the first thought that comes to mind to distract himself and realising too late that he isn’t helping his own cause. Even in the midst of sleep deprivation, he has the sense to doubt that a shirtless Rai will be any less appealing than a fully clothed Rai. That acknowledgement doesn’t seem to translate to the rest of his brain since his fingers are already plucking at Rai's shirt, dark eyes blinking heavily as he waits for the capitulation that he somehow already knows is forthcoming.
Rai's smile is fond and Landon's eyes linger a beat too long on the curve of his mouth before turning away, stubbornly refusing to acknowledge that it’s far too late to guard a heart that he didn’t even know could be in danger.
***
He wakes one morning to find himself curled around Rai as if he has the right, the taste of skin and sweat flooding his mouth as his tongue flicks against his teeth. He’s confused for a moment or two, until his eyes adjust to the darkness enough that he can make out the faint imprint of what he imagines can only be his teeth against Rai's clavicle. “Not good,” Landon breathes almost inaudibly, fingertips brushing against his mark with featherlight pressure for just a second before he snatches them away, afraid of waking Rai.
He knows himself well, much though he’d like to pretend otherwise right now. He knows what it means that he’s been able to sleep so deeply with Rai in his bed - more, that he must have been the one to initiate their half-clothed sleepovers even though he doesn’t remember it first happening. He’s noticed the ease he feels in Rai’s presence, the automatic frown on his face when he looks for Rai in the lab and he isn’t there. None of it points to anything good, particularly when combined with the slowly fading bite pressed into Rai's skin. Landon has never been comfortable with another person invading his space to this degree; he doesn’t let lovers stay the night, he doesn’t tolerate them anywhere near his workspace, and he certainly doesn’t mark them up as if he’s trying to make sure that they don’t forget how he feels against them. He doesn’t even know the feel of Rai's mouth, although the taste of his skin is still electric on his tongue, and yet he's already broken all three of those rules for this man.
“Want,” Landon whines under his breath, eyes wistfully drinking Rai's shadowed form in for a few seconds longer before he sighs and twists away. “Can’t have,” he reminds himself in a mumble as he curls up on the opposite side of the bed. The movement disturbs Copper, who huffs at him delicately before padding heavily over his knees and onto Rai's legs to resettle herself on his feet. Nickel is less careful as he steps on Rai's face and down his torso to join his sister, the two foxes squabbling briefly over who gets to sleep where while Landon closes his eyes and waits for sleep to overtake him.
***
He realises that something has changed the first time he wakes up with Rai in his bed, not that he notices the other man right away.
Landon is slow to wake in the morning, which is entirely attributable to the fact that he loses so many hours in his workshop and the calculations inside his own head that he has no real sleeping pattern to speak of. Wyron has implemented strict rules around when Landon can and cannot be in the workshop but not even Wyron can switch off his brain. Landon can exchange a wrench for a blunt pencil and switch focus from working on a project to planning out the next one without even blinking. He loses hours that way, loses days if left to his own devices, and only emerges from the rabbit hole when he reaches the other side. Wyron and Kellen and Dad work together to manage him as best as they can when he gets into that state but the hazy fogginess clouding his thoughts and the insistent hunger clawing at his insides tells Landon that he’s crashed recently. He won’t be allowed back in the lab anytime soon, he realises with a huff. Wyron might even be feeling mean enough to set Rin on him, if he was exceptionally difficult about being forced to bed.
It takes him a moment of silent petulance at the prospect of Rin's particular brand of training before he truly acknowledges that the weight against his arm isn't the foxes. A surreptitious glance confirms that there's a person in bed with him. There should not be a person in his bed, Landon's brain informs him logically. He doesn't allow people in his bed. It just...it’s a rule. It’s a rule, like no food in the lab. It’s a rule so it doesn’t happen - it just doesn’t, because it's a rule - but now it's happened and Landon isn’t quite sure what to do with this turn of events.
Wake up, he commands the other man silently, a deep frown settled on his face. He knows that this is his mysterious new lab partner of sorts, the nameless man who has settled into his lab so easily that Landon somehow can’t resent him for it. He isn’t used to being able to work so easily with someone else, to move in tandem with someone who isn’t Kellen, to leave sentences half-finished because he knows that this man can follow his train of thought in a way that even Kellen can’t because his twin has never had the interest in science and mechanics that Landon does. He’s given him a place in his workshop but he doesn’t know how that translates to a place in his bed, even if they do both seem to be partially dressed still. He scowls at the interloper, bemused, and holds his breath when the man shifts as if he's starting to wake, his pulse spiking with something that tastes like either panic or anticipation. He isn’t sure which it is, but thankfully the man stays asleep long enough for Landon to cautiously remove himself from the bed and, still half-asleep and entirely confused, search out the closest source of coffee.
***
“Bed,” Landon agrees through a yawn, too tired to notice the startled reaction that his easy acceptance garners. He's been known to stubbornly refute his own tiredness long after his eyes have started slipping closed if he's in the middle of a project; Wyron and Raidon have every right to stare at him like they’re concerned for his mental well-being. He doesn’t even notice himself reaching out for something, doesn't register his fingers curling insistently around a familiar wrist as he stumbles his way back to his room from memory alone or the gentle touch of a hand against his shoulder turning him down one corridor or another when his exhausted brain betrays him and tries to lead him in the wrong direction.
“You have to shower and get changed,” Rai points out with poorly hidden amusement when Landon attempts to fall down on the bed in jeans and a t-shirt marked with grease stains and a few holes which look suspiciously like they may have been caused by a small fire. Landon squints at him balefully, not entirely convinced. Raidon said sleep. Neither he nor Wyron mentioned a shower. Sleep then food. That’s what they said.
“Sleep,” Landon repeats demandingly, reaching out to clasp Rai's wrist again and tug him closer to the bed. He's out of the lab now, he’s tired. He wants sleep and he doesn’t understand why Rai is being so difficult. Maybe it’s the grease, he considers thoughtfully, and concedes the point by pulling the t-shirt over his head carelessly. The action musses his hair and knocks his glasses askew but Landon fixes the second issue by discarding the frames on his bedside table with a dismissive flick of his wrist. His less than fantastic vision leaves Rai a bit blurry but he steps closer without needing to be asked, closing the distance by just enough to bring him back into perfect focus. The familiarity in that single movement freezes the breath in Landon's lungs for a brief moment, brown eyes blinking at Rai with bemusement and a slow-dawning realisation that he shies away from with a hint of panic. This isn’t a road that they want to go down, he recognises distantly. It never ends well when a Cartier falls in love with a Graas.
“Buttons,” Landon whines in petulant protest, latching onto the first thought that comes to mind to distract himself and realising too late that he isn’t helping his own cause. Even in the midst of sleep deprivation, he has the sense to doubt that a shirtless Rai will be any less appealing than a fully clothed Rai. That acknowledgement doesn’t seem to translate to the rest of his brain since his fingers are already plucking at Rai's shirt, dark eyes blinking heavily as he waits for the capitulation that he somehow already knows is forthcoming.
Rai's smile is fond and Landon's eyes linger a beat too long on the curve of his mouth before turning away, stubbornly refusing to acknowledge that it’s far too late to guard a heart that he didn’t even know could be in danger.
***
He wakes one morning to find himself curled around Rai as if he has the right, the taste of skin and sweat flooding his mouth as his tongue flicks against his teeth. He’s confused for a moment or two, until his eyes adjust to the darkness enough that he can make out the faint imprint of what he imagines can only be his teeth against Rai's clavicle. “Not good,” Landon breathes almost inaudibly, fingertips brushing against his mark with featherlight pressure for just a second before he snatches them away, afraid of waking Rai.
He knows himself well, much though he’d like to pretend otherwise right now. He knows what it means that he’s been able to sleep so deeply with Rai in his bed - more, that he must have been the one to initiate their half-clothed sleepovers even though he doesn’t remember it first happening. He’s noticed the ease he feels in Rai’s presence, the automatic frown on his face when he looks for Rai in the lab and he isn’t there. None of it points to anything good, particularly when combined with the slowly fading bite pressed into Rai's skin. Landon has never been comfortable with another person invading his space to this degree; he doesn’t let lovers stay the night, he doesn’t tolerate them anywhere near his workspace, and he certainly doesn’t mark them up as if he’s trying to make sure that they don’t forget how he feels against them. He doesn’t even know the feel of Rai's mouth, although the taste of his skin is still electric on his tongue, and yet he's already broken all three of those rules for this man.
“Want,” Landon whines under his breath, eyes wistfully drinking Rai's shadowed form in for a few seconds longer before he sighs and twists away. “Can’t have,” he reminds himself in a mumble as he curls up on the opposite side of the bed. The movement disturbs Copper, who huffs at him delicately before padding heavily over his knees and onto Rai's legs to resettle herself on his feet. Nickel is less careful as he steps on Rai's face and down his torso to join his sister, the two foxes squabbling briefly over who gets to sleep where while Landon closes his eyes and waits for sleep to overtake him.