FIC: With A Little Help From My Friends
Title: With A Little Help From My Friends
Author: Cassie Morgan badfalcon
Fandom: ITBN
Categories: Christian Kane/Steve Carlson, Fantasy, AU, Hurt/Comfort
Rating: PG-13
Thanks to: You, for reading. charlies_dragon and havenward for the beta.
Disclaimer: Christian Kane and Steve Carlson are real people, and the events in this story are just that - fictional, figments of my sick and twisted imagination. Hell, call it a fantasy if it makes you feel better. Whatever. No rumours should be started in regards to any events in these works of fiction. This story is written purely for entertainment purposes and no money is being made out of it
Notes: Written for amara_m who requested horned!one fic.
Summary: Steve's in a strange place all alone, and all he wants is home... until he sees the sunshine in the rain.
It's late at night; dark, cold and wet. He's huddled over, soaked through to the skin and trembling in the cold. His knees are pulled up to his chest; his arms wrapped tightly around his legs. Leaning forward, he sighed and screwed his eyes shut, trying as hard as he can but there was nothing he could do to ease the storm - but then again, weather control never was one of his strong points. Well, he'd always been good at creating storms but never calming a natural one. His teachers had always said that was because he was half human.
The thought of teachers, of his home, sent another wave of misery crashing through him; the storm growing stronger as homesickness coiled in his belly. He swallowed heavily around the lump in his throat and clenched his jaw in an effort to stop the tears he could feel pricking his eyelids from falling. He missed his mom and dad, his dog and even his little sister. He wanted nothing more than to be at home, in the dry and warm, stretched out in front of the fire, eating his mom's cooking. Another shudder shook him and he couldn't stop the tears from falling, streaming down his cheeks to drip off his chin and mix with the rain water.
There were so many people; so many people walking past and not one of them stopped. He'd always been told about humans, warned about humans but he never believed the stories. Never believed that anyone could be so cruel. But here he was, huddled on the sidewalk in the rain and people were just bustling past him, some not even noticing he was there, some just about sparing a glance and others all but cussing his very existence.
No, he never thought the humans would be like this and somehow that just made everything worse, knowing that something he had always dreamed of as being amazing was actually... well so far his only experience was... this.
Another sigh escaped him and another peal of thunder crashed overhead. His head fell back against the brick wall behind him and his tears fell unchecked as his dreams of the human race, of a life amongst humans came crashing down around him. How long he sat there, he doesn't know but a gentle touch to his shoulder had him jerking upright with a gasp, his eyes opening and locking on the most beautiful pair of blue eyes he'd ever seen. He stared, speechless, unable to look away.
"You ok there buddy?"
Steve blinked rapidly and shook himself, nodding wordlessly.
"You sure?" The blue-eyed guy continued. "Only you don't look too OK. You look frozen and half-drowned, which don't generally signify OK. Usually means not OK. Now, forgive me if I'm intruding but, you got anywhere to go or you plannin' on sittin' here all night?"
"Um..."
"I'll take that as a no," the guy chuckled and pulled him to his feet.
Steve shrugged out of the guys’ hands, his dad's warnings of less than savoury humans running through his mind. Because really, the last thing he wanted was to be the victim of one of those serial killer's he'd read about. True, he was having a shit day but that was just... No thanks.
He pulled his concentration around him and reached out, unobtrusively feeling into the blue-eyed guy's mind. Satisfied he could sense no danger about him he nodded and let himself relax. He looked at the guy for the first time, looked past the blue eyes to see a tanned face, strong jaw line and gently curling long brown hair. Not exactly an ugly face, Steve thought to himself, cheeks colouring faintly, then darker when he realised the guy has stopped talking and was waiting for him to speak. A nervous laugh escaped him and he started to push his hand through his hair before stopping half-way and realising the movement was showing his horns. He dropped his hands and nudged, just in case the guy had seen them. He didn't know if he had or not but wasn't willing to take the chance.
"At least let me buy you a coffee," the guy offered, continuing as if Steve's lack of reply never happened. "My mama would skin me alive she if she knew I left someone sitting out in here this weather," he paused thoughtfully. "Especially with it being Easter an’ all... Just coffee. There's a diner a block away, I was heading there anyway and you look like you could...." He trailed off, frowning at the look of horror on Steve's face. "Hey man..."
"Skin... you... alive..." Steve repeated, swallowing heavily. What sort of person, what sort of mother would do that? Was this typical human behaviour? No-one had ever mentioned the flaying of offspring as a ritual amongst humans before.
"Not literally," The blue-eyed guy hastened to reassure. "It's just a sayin' that's all. At least I don't think she'd skin me. No, she wouldn't. She's more likely to just tan my hide. Always tellin' me I ain't too big to still put over her knee." He laughed, and it was so infectious that Steve couldn't help but laugh along with him. "So, coffee?"
Steve nodded. "Yes please. Coffee would be good."
*****
Steve trailed into the diner after the blue-eyed guy but stopped self-consciously at the threshold; he knew he was soaking wet, rainwater dripping to puddles at his feet. “I...” He trailed off uncertainly, forehead creased in a frown; it didn’t feel right to just... walk in, not in this state, not without drying off first.
“Don’t worry about it,” the guy assured him. “It’s only a little water. It’ll dry. You need to get out of the rain and dry off before you catch your death.”
Steve rubbed his forehead with the palm of his hand and nodded. He followed the guy into the diner and joined him at a booth.
“Christian, sweetheart! How’ve you been? You want your usual?” The dark-haired waitress hugged the blue-eyed guy as she came up to their booth. “And just who is your friend?”
“Um...” The blue-eyed guy - Christian’s - eyes widened slightly and his cheeks flushed pink when he realised that he didn't know the name of the guy he'd literally picked up off the street. He opened his mouth to say <>i>something but Steve interrupted before Christian had chance to speak
“My name’s Steve.”
“A lovely name for a lovely... if somewhat damp... young man. I’m Nicki, I’m your waitress and... You get that wet coat off and I’ll hang it up to dry for you. No, don’t fuss. Just do it. That’s better.” Nicki bustled around the booth and took Steve’s coat from him. “I’ll be right back,” she promised, moving to hang his coat up. “Now,” she continued when she returned. “What can I get for you boys?”
“The usual sounds good to me, thanks Nicki,” Christian grinned. “Steve? You want anything other a coffee?” he asked, after watching Steve’s eyes hungrily devour the menu.
Steve bit down on the corner of his lip and shook his head; another wave of confusion crashing over him. The food all looked really nice but he didn’t have a clue what any of it was, what any of it meant. He’d never had human food before and now Christian and Nicki were both looking at him, waiting for him and he could feel his cheeks heating up. He felt lost, completely out of his depth and these two humans were so nice and... He frowned and shook his head. “Just coffee,” he asked shyly.
“Uh-huh...” Christian leaned forward on the table, his eyes boring into Steve. He narrowed his eyes and huffed out a breath. “What’s good tonight?”
“You know the pancakes are always good,” Nicki laughed, tapping her pen against her lips.
“So they are,” Christian agreed. “The usual for me, pancakes and coffee for Steve and get yourself something too darlin'.”
“You are a sweetheart.” Nicki ruffled Christian’s hair. “I’ll be right back with your drinks.”
Christian scowled at Nicki’s back and ran a hand through his hair before slumping down in his chair. He watched Steve closely, fingers drumming a rhythm out on the tabletop. There was something... unusual... about Steve but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. He damn well liked it though, and liked it more every time Steve smiled at him. He didn’t even know anything about the guy, other than his name, but he just knew he had to find out more. Yeah, there was definitely something about this guy. He flushed at the feel of Steve’s eyes on his and realised he’d been staring. He ducked his head and cleared his throat before apologising. “What brings you to town?” He asked
“I don’t really know.” Steve chuckled and shrugged. “I kinda just... ended up here,” he admitted.
“Yeah, that tends to happen,” Christian agreed. “So you an actor or a singer? Me, I wanna do both. Music’s my life an’ I love acting too but I gotta figure it all out. Just jumped in my truck with like ninety bucks in my pocket, drove out here to see what would happen. Got a few jobs behind me, couple TV shows that didn’t take off but it’ll happen. Just gotta be patient. And my mama was right, I can talk for Oklahoma! I’m sorry man. ”
“This one’ll talk all night if you let him,” Nicki said as she placed their drinks on the table.
“It’s cool,” Steve smiled, pulling his coffee over to him and wrapping his hands around the mug. “I kinda like hearing him talk,” he blushed and lifted his mug, inhaling deeply. “Smells good.” He took a long drink, moaning almost pornographically in pleasure. "Oh yeah, that's good." He all but curled around the mug, feeling the warmth and familiarity of the taste and smell coil comfortably in his belly, warming him from the inside. His eyes slid closed and he took another long drink, emptying the mug. He grinned gratefully at Nicki when she poured him a refill. "Thank you." He sighed in relief, his skin and clothes steaming as he warmed up and started drying off, his hair curling over his collar. He caught a glimpse of the steam rising from him out of the corner of his eye and quickly sent out a nudge to make sure no-one would see it.
"You really enjoy your coffee," Christian chuckled, making Steve laugh. "Don't think I've ever heard sounds like that over coffee. During sex yes but not usually in a diner over a mug of coffee."
Steve laughed and blushed. "It's been a while since I've had a good mug of coffee."
Christian nodded. "Yeah, I got that," he replied softly, half to himself. "Hey, looks like the storm's finally starting to ease," he jerked his chin at the window. "You look like you're startin' to dry off nicely too."
"Yeah. Thank you."
"Don't mention it. Like I said, couldn't leave you out there in that. Wouldn't be right."
Steve opened his mouth to reply but was interrupted by Nicki returning with their food; a plate piled high with pancakes for Steve and a plate full of nothing he recognised for Christian. He frowned and gave Christian a curious look before starting on his food; the pancakes melting on his tongue, mouth exploding with flavour.
"Good, aren't they?" Christian snagged a bite from Steve's plate. "Mmm... Just like mama used to make."
A short burst of laughter escaped Steve at the thought of his mom's cooking. "No. Nothing like my mom's cooking. That was... but this is..." He took another mouthful and another erotic moan escaped him. He quickly started to devour the pancakes, shovelling them into his mouth, forkful after forkful as if afraid they were going to be taken away him again. And if this was a good example of human food, Steve knew he would be hooked easily because this was just possibly the single most amazing thing he'd ever tasted in his life.
Christian and Nicki exchanged a wide-eyed looked; Christian quickly signalling to Nicki to bring Steve another plate of pancakes. He picked his own knife and fork up, keeping one eye on Steve. "You might wanna slow down there," he advised. "Don't wanna go makin yourself sick and there's plenty more where they came from."
Steve blushed, dropping his cutlery to the table. "Sorry, I just..."
"... Haven't eaten in a while?" Christian finished for him.
"Something like that," Steve admitted. He picked his fork back up, glancing between Nicki and Christian when Nicki brought him a second stack of pancakes. He opened and closed his mouth wordlessly. "I... Thank you." He dug into the second pancakes, slower this time, savouring each mouthful, still shooting curious glances at Christian's plate.
"Chicken fried steak," Christian indulged Steve. "With scrambled eggs, hash browns and toast."
"Chicken fried steak?" Steve replied, the phrase unfamiliar.
"They don't got that where you're from?" Christian asked and Steve shook his head. Christian frowned and cut a slice of the steak off, handing it to Steve. "Good, right? Its steak and they coat it in seasoned flour and they pan fry it. Real taste of home, right here." A brief lost, lonely look flashed across Christian's eyes before he smiled and fell silent; both men enjoying their food. "You can tell me to mind my own business," Christian said, pushing his empty plate away from him. "But ... you don't have anywhere to go to when we leave here, do you?"
Steve bit down on his lower lip and shook his head. "No."
Christian sighed. "I don't normally do this but... Do you wanna come back to my apartment for the night? I'm not..." he huffed out a nervous laugh. "I'm not propositioning you or expecting anything, and definitely nothing like that cos you seem like a nice guy and I'm not that kind of guy, and I'm not some kind of axe-murdering rapist or anything - an' you can ask Nicki here, she'll vouch for me, but with the weather we been having lately and I can't bear the thought of you spending another night out on those streets. I've been there and I know its hell and no-one deserves that. It's just an offer of a place to stay; somewhere warm and dry where you can get a good night sleep, get your clothes washed and dried properly. Maybe get some new ones. That's all."
Steve stared at Christian, his mouth open and his eyes wide. He had no idea what to say. "I... um..." He broke out in a wide grin and nodded. "That would be awesome. Thank you." He paused. "What makes you so sure I'm not some kind of axe-murdering rapist?"
"With a smile like that?" Christian laughed and shook his head. "No chance. C'mon, let’s go before it gets even later. I don't gotta work til the afternoon but I still gotta get my beauty sleep" He winked at Steve, called out a goodbye to Nicki, left their check and a generous tip on the table, grabbed Steve's jacket and threw it at him. "Much drier. Same as you are. And out there it looks to have just finished so now’s as good time as any to leave. My apartments only a couple blocks away."
Christian led the way to his apartment, keeping up a steady narration as they walked; telling Steve about his apartment, his home, his family, the area, the role he'd just gotten as an evil lawyer - and were there any other kinds of lawyer, really? They quickly arrived at the door and Christian's flow of words stumbled to a stop. "So. Um. Here we are. This is my place. It isn't much and it's a bit of a mess but..."
Steve laughed, fighting back a growing urge to just lean forward and kiss Christian. "It's great. No, I know we're still outside but I know it'll be great."
Christian blushed and ducked his head, fumbling with the keys before getting the door unlocked and gesturing for Steve to enter. "Like I said. It's not much, but it's home." He crossed over to the kitchenette and flicked the coffee maker on. "Coffee'll be ready in a couple minutes if you want some more. It's not as good as Nicki's though. And we need to get you out of them clothes." He stopped and realised what he'd said. "Um. To wash them. And dry them. I've got some sweats that'll fit you, keep you warm while yours are being washed." Christian all but fled into his bedroom, rifling through the drawers to find some clothes to lend to Steve. Gathering them up, he made his way back to lounge and handed them to Steve. “Take these and I’ll throw your wet stuff in the dryer. I’ll make up the sofa bed when I’m done - you can have my bed and I’ll sleep out here.” He didn’t give Steve chance to argue before turning and walking back across the apartment to the kitchenette, throwing Steve’s clothes in the dryer and turning it on.
He crossed back, ready to set up the sofa bed only to find Steve stretched out on the couch, one arm folded under his head, fast asleep and looking endearingly young. "Huh. Or you could just sleep there," Christian murmured, walking back to his room and grabbing a blanke to drape over Steve
~El Fin~
Author: Cassie Morgan badfalcon
Fandom: ITBN
Categories: Christian Kane/Steve Carlson, Fantasy, AU, Hurt/Comfort
Rating: PG-13
Thanks to: You, for reading. charlies_dragon and havenward for the beta.
Disclaimer: Christian Kane and Steve Carlson are real people, and the events in this story are just that - fictional, figments of my sick and twisted imagination. Hell, call it a fantasy if it makes you feel better. Whatever. No rumours should be started in regards to any events in these works of fiction. This story is written purely for entertainment purposes and no money is being made out of it
Notes: Written for amara_m who requested horned!one fic.
Summary: Steve's in a strange place all alone, and all he wants is home... until he sees the sunshine in the rain.
It's late at night; dark, cold and wet. He's huddled over, soaked through to the skin and trembling in the cold. His knees are pulled up to his chest; his arms wrapped tightly around his legs. Leaning forward, he sighed and screwed his eyes shut, trying as hard as he can but there was nothing he could do to ease the storm - but then again, weather control never was one of his strong points. Well, he'd always been good at creating storms but never calming a natural one. His teachers had always said that was because he was half human.
The thought of teachers, of his home, sent another wave of misery crashing through him; the storm growing stronger as homesickness coiled in his belly. He swallowed heavily around the lump in his throat and clenched his jaw in an effort to stop the tears he could feel pricking his eyelids from falling. He missed his mom and dad, his dog and even his little sister. He wanted nothing more than to be at home, in the dry and warm, stretched out in front of the fire, eating his mom's cooking. Another shudder shook him and he couldn't stop the tears from falling, streaming down his cheeks to drip off his chin and mix with the rain water.
There were so many people; so many people walking past and not one of them stopped. He'd always been told about humans, warned about humans but he never believed the stories. Never believed that anyone could be so cruel. But here he was, huddled on the sidewalk in the rain and people were just bustling past him, some not even noticing he was there, some just about sparing a glance and others all but cussing his very existence.
No, he never thought the humans would be like this and somehow that just made everything worse, knowing that something he had always dreamed of as being amazing was actually... well so far his only experience was... this.
Another sigh escaped him and another peal of thunder crashed overhead. His head fell back against the brick wall behind him and his tears fell unchecked as his dreams of the human race, of a life amongst humans came crashing down around him. How long he sat there, he doesn't know but a gentle touch to his shoulder had him jerking upright with a gasp, his eyes opening and locking on the most beautiful pair of blue eyes he'd ever seen. He stared, speechless, unable to look away.
"You ok there buddy?"
Steve blinked rapidly and shook himself, nodding wordlessly.
"You sure?" The blue-eyed guy continued. "Only you don't look too OK. You look frozen and half-drowned, which don't generally signify OK. Usually means not OK. Now, forgive me if I'm intruding but, you got anywhere to go or you plannin' on sittin' here all night?"
"Um..."
"I'll take that as a no," the guy chuckled and pulled him to his feet.
Steve shrugged out of the guys’ hands, his dad's warnings of less than savoury humans running through his mind. Because really, the last thing he wanted was to be the victim of one of those serial killer's he'd read about. True, he was having a shit day but that was just... No thanks.
He pulled his concentration around him and reached out, unobtrusively feeling into the blue-eyed guy's mind. Satisfied he could sense no danger about him he nodded and let himself relax. He looked at the guy for the first time, looked past the blue eyes to see a tanned face, strong jaw line and gently curling long brown hair. Not exactly an ugly face, Steve thought to himself, cheeks colouring faintly, then darker when he realised the guy has stopped talking and was waiting for him to speak. A nervous laugh escaped him and he started to push his hand through his hair before stopping half-way and realising the movement was showing his horns. He dropped his hands and nudged, just in case the guy had seen them. He didn't know if he had or not but wasn't willing to take the chance.
"At least let me buy you a coffee," the guy offered, continuing as if Steve's lack of reply never happened. "My mama would skin me alive she if she knew I left someone sitting out in here this weather," he paused thoughtfully. "Especially with it being Easter an’ all... Just coffee. There's a diner a block away, I was heading there anyway and you look like you could...." He trailed off, frowning at the look of horror on Steve's face. "Hey man..."
"Skin... you... alive..." Steve repeated, swallowing heavily. What sort of person, what sort of mother would do that? Was this typical human behaviour? No-one had ever mentioned the flaying of offspring as a ritual amongst humans before.
"Not literally," The blue-eyed guy hastened to reassure. "It's just a sayin' that's all. At least I don't think she'd skin me. No, she wouldn't. She's more likely to just tan my hide. Always tellin' me I ain't too big to still put over her knee." He laughed, and it was so infectious that Steve couldn't help but laugh along with him. "So, coffee?"
Steve nodded. "Yes please. Coffee would be good."
*****
Steve trailed into the diner after the blue-eyed guy but stopped self-consciously at the threshold; he knew he was soaking wet, rainwater dripping to puddles at his feet. “I...” He trailed off uncertainly, forehead creased in a frown; it didn’t feel right to just... walk in, not in this state, not without drying off first.
“Don’t worry about it,” the guy assured him. “It’s only a little water. It’ll dry. You need to get out of the rain and dry off before you catch your death.”
Steve rubbed his forehead with the palm of his hand and nodded. He followed the guy into the diner and joined him at a booth.
“Christian, sweetheart! How’ve you been? You want your usual?” The dark-haired waitress hugged the blue-eyed guy as she came up to their booth. “And just who is your friend?”
“Um...” The blue-eyed guy - Christian’s - eyes widened slightly and his cheeks flushed pink when he realised that he didn't know the name of the guy he'd literally picked up off the street. He opened his mouth to say <>i>something but Steve interrupted before Christian had chance to speak
“My name’s Steve.”
“A lovely name for a lovely... if somewhat damp... young man. I’m Nicki, I’m your waitress and... You get that wet coat off and I’ll hang it up to dry for you. No, don’t fuss. Just do it. That’s better.” Nicki bustled around the booth and took Steve’s coat from him. “I’ll be right back,” she promised, moving to hang his coat up. “Now,” she continued when she returned. “What can I get for you boys?”
“The usual sounds good to me, thanks Nicki,” Christian grinned. “Steve? You want anything other a coffee?” he asked, after watching Steve’s eyes hungrily devour the menu.
Steve bit down on the corner of his lip and shook his head; another wave of confusion crashing over him. The food all looked really nice but he didn’t have a clue what any of it was, what any of it meant. He’d never had human food before and now Christian and Nicki were both looking at him, waiting for him and he could feel his cheeks heating up. He felt lost, completely out of his depth and these two humans were so nice and... He frowned and shook his head. “Just coffee,” he asked shyly.
“Uh-huh...” Christian leaned forward on the table, his eyes boring into Steve. He narrowed his eyes and huffed out a breath. “What’s good tonight?”
“You know the pancakes are always good,” Nicki laughed, tapping her pen against her lips.
“So they are,” Christian agreed. “The usual for me, pancakes and coffee for Steve and get yourself something too darlin'.”
“You are a sweetheart.” Nicki ruffled Christian’s hair. “I’ll be right back with your drinks.”
Christian scowled at Nicki’s back and ran a hand through his hair before slumping down in his chair. He watched Steve closely, fingers drumming a rhythm out on the tabletop. There was something... unusual... about Steve but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. He damn well liked it though, and liked it more every time Steve smiled at him. He didn’t even know anything about the guy, other than his name, but he just knew he had to find out more. Yeah, there was definitely something about this guy. He flushed at the feel of Steve’s eyes on his and realised he’d been staring. He ducked his head and cleared his throat before apologising. “What brings you to town?” He asked
“I don’t really know.” Steve chuckled and shrugged. “I kinda just... ended up here,” he admitted.
“Yeah, that tends to happen,” Christian agreed. “So you an actor or a singer? Me, I wanna do both. Music’s my life an’ I love acting too but I gotta figure it all out. Just jumped in my truck with like ninety bucks in my pocket, drove out here to see what would happen. Got a few jobs behind me, couple TV shows that didn’t take off but it’ll happen. Just gotta be patient. And my mama was right, I can talk for Oklahoma! I’m sorry man. ”
“This one’ll talk all night if you let him,” Nicki said as she placed their drinks on the table.
“It’s cool,” Steve smiled, pulling his coffee over to him and wrapping his hands around the mug. “I kinda like hearing him talk,” he blushed and lifted his mug, inhaling deeply. “Smells good.” He took a long drink, moaning almost pornographically in pleasure. "Oh yeah, that's good." He all but curled around the mug, feeling the warmth and familiarity of the taste and smell coil comfortably in his belly, warming him from the inside. His eyes slid closed and he took another long drink, emptying the mug. He grinned gratefully at Nicki when she poured him a refill. "Thank you." He sighed in relief, his skin and clothes steaming as he warmed up and started drying off, his hair curling over his collar. He caught a glimpse of the steam rising from him out of the corner of his eye and quickly sent out a nudge to make sure no-one would see it.
"You really enjoy your coffee," Christian chuckled, making Steve laugh. "Don't think I've ever heard sounds like that over coffee. During sex yes but not usually in a diner over a mug of coffee."
Steve laughed and blushed. "It's been a while since I've had a good mug of coffee."
Christian nodded. "Yeah, I got that," he replied softly, half to himself. "Hey, looks like the storm's finally starting to ease," he jerked his chin at the window. "You look like you're startin' to dry off nicely too."
"Yeah. Thank you."
"Don't mention it. Like I said, couldn't leave you out there in that. Wouldn't be right."
Steve opened his mouth to reply but was interrupted by Nicki returning with their food; a plate piled high with pancakes for Steve and a plate full of nothing he recognised for Christian. He frowned and gave Christian a curious look before starting on his food; the pancakes melting on his tongue, mouth exploding with flavour.
"Good, aren't they?" Christian snagged a bite from Steve's plate. "Mmm... Just like mama used to make."
A short burst of laughter escaped Steve at the thought of his mom's cooking. "No. Nothing like my mom's cooking. That was... but this is..." He took another mouthful and another erotic moan escaped him. He quickly started to devour the pancakes, shovelling them into his mouth, forkful after forkful as if afraid they were going to be taken away him again. And if this was a good example of human food, Steve knew he would be hooked easily because this was just possibly the single most amazing thing he'd ever tasted in his life.
Christian and Nicki exchanged a wide-eyed looked; Christian quickly signalling to Nicki to bring Steve another plate of pancakes. He picked his own knife and fork up, keeping one eye on Steve. "You might wanna slow down there," he advised. "Don't wanna go makin yourself sick and there's plenty more where they came from."
Steve blushed, dropping his cutlery to the table. "Sorry, I just..."
"... Haven't eaten in a while?" Christian finished for him.
"Something like that," Steve admitted. He picked his fork back up, glancing between Nicki and Christian when Nicki brought him a second stack of pancakes. He opened and closed his mouth wordlessly. "I... Thank you." He dug into the second pancakes, slower this time, savouring each mouthful, still shooting curious glances at Christian's plate.
"Chicken fried steak," Christian indulged Steve. "With scrambled eggs, hash browns and toast."
"Chicken fried steak?" Steve replied, the phrase unfamiliar.
"They don't got that where you're from?" Christian asked and Steve shook his head. Christian frowned and cut a slice of the steak off, handing it to Steve. "Good, right? Its steak and they coat it in seasoned flour and they pan fry it. Real taste of home, right here." A brief lost, lonely look flashed across Christian's eyes before he smiled and fell silent; both men enjoying their food. "You can tell me to mind my own business," Christian said, pushing his empty plate away from him. "But ... you don't have anywhere to go to when we leave here, do you?"
Steve bit down on his lower lip and shook his head. "No."
Christian sighed. "I don't normally do this but... Do you wanna come back to my apartment for the night? I'm not..." he huffed out a nervous laugh. "I'm not propositioning you or expecting anything, and definitely nothing like that cos you seem like a nice guy and I'm not that kind of guy, and I'm not some kind of axe-murdering rapist or anything - an' you can ask Nicki here, she'll vouch for me, but with the weather we been having lately and I can't bear the thought of you spending another night out on those streets. I've been there and I know its hell and no-one deserves that. It's just an offer of a place to stay; somewhere warm and dry where you can get a good night sleep, get your clothes washed and dried properly. Maybe get some new ones. That's all."
Steve stared at Christian, his mouth open and his eyes wide. He had no idea what to say. "I... um..." He broke out in a wide grin and nodded. "That would be awesome. Thank you." He paused. "What makes you so sure I'm not some kind of axe-murdering rapist?"
"With a smile like that?" Christian laughed and shook his head. "No chance. C'mon, let’s go before it gets even later. I don't gotta work til the afternoon but I still gotta get my beauty sleep" He winked at Steve, called out a goodbye to Nicki, left their check and a generous tip on the table, grabbed Steve's jacket and threw it at him. "Much drier. Same as you are. And out there it looks to have just finished so now’s as good time as any to leave. My apartments only a couple blocks away."
Christian led the way to his apartment, keeping up a steady narration as they walked; telling Steve about his apartment, his home, his family, the area, the role he'd just gotten as an evil lawyer - and were there any other kinds of lawyer, really? They quickly arrived at the door and Christian's flow of words stumbled to a stop. "So. Um. Here we are. This is my place. It isn't much and it's a bit of a mess but..."
Steve laughed, fighting back a growing urge to just lean forward and kiss Christian. "It's great. No, I know we're still outside but I know it'll be great."
Christian blushed and ducked his head, fumbling with the keys before getting the door unlocked and gesturing for Steve to enter. "Like I said. It's not much, but it's home." He crossed over to the kitchenette and flicked the coffee maker on. "Coffee'll be ready in a couple minutes if you want some more. It's not as good as Nicki's though. And we need to get you out of them clothes." He stopped and realised what he'd said. "Um. To wash them. And dry them. I've got some sweats that'll fit you, keep you warm while yours are being washed." Christian all but fled into his bedroom, rifling through the drawers to find some clothes to lend to Steve. Gathering them up, he made his way back to lounge and handed them to Steve. “Take these and I’ll throw your wet stuff in the dryer. I’ll make up the sofa bed when I’m done - you can have my bed and I’ll sleep out here.” He didn’t give Steve chance to argue before turning and walking back across the apartment to the kitchenette, throwing Steve’s clothes in the dryer and turning it on.
He crossed back, ready to set up the sofa bed only to find Steve stretched out on the couch, one arm folded under his head, fast asleep and looking endearingly young. "Huh. Or you could just sleep there," Christian murmured, walking back to his room and grabbing a blanke to drape over Steve
~El Fin~