And The Snow Lay Roundabout - Secret Santa Fic
I was going to wait until later in the evening my time, but since there are a lot of fics already posted, I thought I might as well go ahead!
Title:And The Snow Lay Round About for telperion_15
Character(s): Danny Quinn/James Lester
Warnings: Danny's dick! ;P
Rating: M, possibly R (I'm never sure of ratings)
Spoilers: Danny's existence?
Beta(s): Many thanks to Lukadreaming for the speedy and thorough beta!
Author's Notes: Only my second time ever actually writing smut, just so you all know! And I went off of the first prompt: "When the snow lay round about, deep and crisp and even." (Which song, by the way, is one of my favourites!) I even managed to stay within the word count.
Hope you like it, Tel! And Merry Christmas all around.
Disclaimer: Not mine, never mine, don't sue. (Though the house is my creation. *g*)
Summary: The best part of Christmas comes a little late to Danny Quinn this year.
By the time they pulled up in front of the house, the snow was falling thick and fast. It looked nice, Danny supposed, but he shuddered to think of the road conditions. Some poor soul would crash, for sure, with a storm like this on Boxing Day morning. He turned the key in the ignition and the old car’s engine sputtered to a stop. In the seat next to him, Lester stirred.
“We’re here, luv,” Danny said, not bothering to hide his grin at the sight of James Lester blinking himself awake, coat askew and hair mussed from sleeping against the door. There’d been an anomaly shout, of course, late on Christmas afternoon. And though Danny knew it had forced Lester to leave his kids (and ex-wife) early, Danny himself had been relieved. Christmas was dull and dreary enough without having to spend all day moping about the flat alone because your lover was spending it with his children (and ex-wife, though they never spoke of her).
Lester scowled at him - though rather half-heartedly Danny thought - as he unbuckled his seat belt and stretched. The shout had taken all night - between the snow that had already fallen, the winds and the snow that began to fall sometime around 3 AM, not to mention the lost kitten, an aggrieved (and wealthy) grandmother, and the anomaly closing device playing up - and even once the others had headed home, it had taken several more hours for Danny to drag Lester away from the office and burgeoning paperwork.
Now, Danny flung his car door open and hopped out into the snow, shivering and grimacing at the cold. Letting the door slam shut behind him, he tucked his hands into his armpits and eyed the old house sprawled out before them. He heard Lester emerge, rather more sedately, and clump through the snow to stand beside him.
“So this is it, then?” Lester asked. He certainly didn’t sound like a man who’d just slept in a car for three hours. In fact, he sounded just as dry and posh as usual.
“Yup. Welcome to the Quinn family home!” Danny forced a grin into his words and swept an arm out dramatically. He could practically hear Lester roll his eyes.
“Hm,” was all the other man said, then he began walking - no, wading - through the snow towards the front door. “Who’d you say you inherited this from?”
Well, there was nothing for it. Danny plunged ahead, rapidly closing the distance between him and Lester.
“I didn’t. It was my grandfather's, though.”
“Ah.”
The snow had drifted up over the doorstep, so they had to pause to shove through the snow. Danny knew where the steps were, of course, but Lester nearly slipped. Danny caught his arm and hauled him back up with a grunt, tugging him in close. He debated making a snarky remark, but settled for a wink and a quick grope of Lester’s arse instead. Lester rolled his eyes and swatted Danny’s arm, but didn’t move away.
“Open the door, Quinn, it’s freezing out here.”
“Well, you know I can warm you up,” Danny said cheerfully as he rooted about in his pockets for the key. He had only been here once since his grandfather had died, but some of the money that had come with the house had gone towards paying for a housekeeper to come and air it out once a week. The house itself featured a rather impressive library, and Danny had had enough respect for books drilled into him at a young age to know better than to leave them to mildew and dust. Finally finding the key, he shoved it into the heavy, old lock and turned it. The heavy ‘thunk’ was as satisfying as always and Danny pushed the door open.
A gust of wind followed them in, blowing snow all through the hall. Danny stamped the snow off his boots as Lester slammed the door shut behind them and shot the bolt. Sitting himself down on the bench, Danny began to unlace his boots and pry them off, watching discreetly as Lester looked around the dark hallway.
“Tell me, Quinn, does this place have any lights at all, or is all your family as nocturnal as you?”
A common grievance of Lester’s was how dark Danny kept his flat. Danny just grinned, however, and kicking his boots off, he at last padded down the familiar hallway. By some quirk of architectural design, when they had wired the house, they hadn’t put a light switch next to the front door. Reaching the point where hallway turned into kitchen, he groped along the wall and found the switch. Old light bulbs flickered as they turned on, casting a yellow glow along the walls. Danny saw James at the other end of the corridor, blinking owlishly in the light.
Hanging his coat on a hook, Lester slowly turned about, inspecting the hallway. To his right, a dark staircase disappeared into the upper reaches. Down further towards Danny, a few doorways gaped along the left-hand side. Spotted between were metal and glass wall sconces, the electric light almost yellow enough to be mistaken for candlelight.
“Well,” Danny asked, after a few moments, “What do you think?”
He just barely spotted the small smile that quirked Lester’s lips, but wasn’t surprised when the answer was not a gushing compliment.
“Very medieval, really,,” was Lester’s reply. He shivered then, and pulled a face. "Cold, too. I don’t suppose you’ve got an enormous fireplace tucked away here somewhere, do you?”
Danny chuckled. “Maybe I do! C’mon, kitchen first. Don’t know about you, but I’m starving.”
He ducked through the doorway and found a second switch, swamping the long kitchen with light. The world outside the windows was quite dark now, looking near evening despite the hour being closer to two o’clock. Danny barely spared it a glance, however, promptly making himself busy in the cupboards and at the stove. He’d just turned the kettle on when Lester finally entered.
“There’s food here? I thought you said you don’t use it much.”
“Check out the other rooms, did you? And yeah, there is. I had the housekeeper stock up last week once I knew we were coming down. She left about 20 different types of tea as well.”
Lester padded over to him, stockinged feet quiet on the wooden floorboards. At the mention of tea he practically shouldered Danny aside to peer into the cupboard.
“I just peeked in. You’re making tea?”
“For you. Coffee for me.”
“Ah. I wondered. Here, use this one.” Lester pulled down a box and fished a bag out, tossing it over to Danny, who was fiddling with a coffee maker older than he was. Danny caught the bag and shot Lester a mock scowl.
“What do you think I am? Your servant?”
“Yes,” was Lester’s prim reply, even as he busied himself with poking through the cupboards.
“Bastard,” Danny called cheerily over his shoulder, finally getting the coffee brewing by giving the side of the machine a good whack.
“You’re the one who propositioned me.”
“Must’ve been delusional.” Danny clattered about, tasting the soup and rummaging about for bowls and spoons.
“Quite likely. Probably trampled by one to many dinosaurs. Do we want bread?”
“Dunno, do we? And I don’t get trampled! That’s Connor you’re thinking of.”
“Bread it is,” Lester paused to inspect the loaf he’d found in a cupboard. “Homemade, by the look of it.”
“Probably is,” Danny agreed before swooping in and relieving Lester of said bread. “Now sit, and stop being such a nosy bugger. Tea’s almost done.”
That earned him an arched eyebrow and a drawled, “Nosy bugger, is it? Have you looked in the mirror lately, pot?” but Lester, surprisingly, sat. Danny inspected him out of the corner of his eye. Clearly the man was more tired than he’d let on. Well. Hopefully a hot meal would fix that - Danny didn’t plan on just sleeping tonight.
Tea and soup were ready at the same time, so Danny cut a piece of bread and delivered the food to Lester, who dived in with relish. Other than the bread, it wasn’t anything special - soup straight from the can, one of Danny’s specialties, but despite how often he served Lester instant food, he hadn’t heard a complaint yet.
By the time the coffee had brewed (he’d forgotten how long the ancient machine took), Lester was half-done the soup and nursing his tea with obvious relish. Danny settled down with a sigh, his stomach giving a loud grumble of agreement. Lester smirked into his mug. Danny pointed his spoon at him, and said around a mouthful of bread, “Saw that! Don’t you smirk, James Lester, it’s your fault I’ve not eaten yet.”
Lester wrinkled his nose. “Manners, Quinn, were you never taught them? And you could quite well have gone off and got yourself something to eat.”
Danny swallowed and grinned unrepentantly. “Sure I was. They just went in one ear and out the other.”
Lester snorted. “Typical.”
“But what, leave you…” he continued between spoonfuls, “leave you to get started on some new absolutely vital piece of paperwork? I think not.”
“Don’t be absurd, I-“
Danny looked up, struggling to keep his face a mask of innocence. “You what?”
“I would not have…“
“No?”
“Of course not! I just had…“
“You sure?”
Lester glared. “Shut up, Quinn. I’m trying to make excuses here.”
“I know, and I’m not letting you. Now come on. Let’s go upstairs and start a fire.”
Rolling his eyes heavenwards, Lester heaved a long-suffering sigh and stood, collecting up his bowl and mug. Danny chuckled and followed suit, overtaking the shorter man quickly to abandon his dirty dishes in the sink.
“If that is supposed to be a euphemism for anything, you’re sleeping alone tonight, by the way,” Lester informed him.
“Good thing it’s not, then. Now, let’s get moving, I’m freezing.”
“You’re freezing? I’ve been freezing since we entered this bloody place!"
Ushering a (harmlessly) spluttering Lester out of the kitchen and back down the hall to the stairs, Danny couldn’t resist pausing midway there and catching Lester by the shoulder to murmur in his ear, “I told you, luv, I’ll warm you up.”
“And how will you do that if you’re cold too?” came the retort, followed by, “And don’t you dare say ‘I’ll start a fire’, either!”
Danny laughed, and then slipped ahead of Lester to climb the stairs first. There was no light on the stairs, of course, courtesy of the same genius who had failed to place a light switch convenient to the front door. No light, that was, save for what was filtering through the small window overlooking the landing midway up. Danny paused, more out of habit then anything, and glanced out. The snow was still falling, but the wind had let up and the view, though darker than ever, was surprisingly peaceful. The old house was beside a farmer’s field, and the snow now blanketed that in a manner reminiscent of Robert Frost poems.
“Well, are you going to stand there and stare, or do I have to turn on a light myself?”
He almost jumped at Lester’s voice emerging from behind his shoulder. Almost, but not quite.
“Ah, thought I might look for a while. You don't see too many scenes like that in the middle of London!” Flashing Lester a toothy grin, Danny turned and mounted the rest of the stairs up to the first floor. By the time he found the switch - they hadn’t usually bothered with them when he lived here - Lester was standing beside him, looking amused in that amazingly condescending manner of his. A manner, of course, that always made Danny want to kiss him, and since they were, for once, not at work, he obliged the need. Lester yelped as his back hit the wall, but the yelp was quickly stifled by Danny’s mouth on his.
Danny pressed against the smaller man, tracing his hands up Lester’s sides as he broke the kiss to nip and tug at Lester’s lips. He grinned as he felt his lover’s hands finally stir and run up his back, tugging him in even closer, Lester’s lips capturing his in another hard, possessive kiss. The need for air drove them apart. They stood there for a few moments, chests heaving, bodies fitted snugly together.
Lester quirked an eyebrow. “And what was that for?” he asked, voice soft.
Danny ran a hand along Lester’s cheek, smiling at the scrape of stubble against his knuckles. “Because I could?”
Lester’s lips quirked in that wry, but honest, half-smile of his and Danny was sure his heart skipped a beat. He was just debating going in for another kiss, when Lester wriggled a little and said, “Well, as cosy as this is, I was promised a fire.”
Danny laughed and stepped back. “Didn’t promise you anything of the sort, luv.”
“What, so all those sweet whispers about ‘keeping me warm’ were false? How disappointing.”
“Didn’t know you were looking forward to it that much,” Danny called as he headed down the landing. “Follow me!”
Moments later, the two men entered a large room near the end of the landing. It wasn’t the master bedroom - no, his grandfather had always slept there and Danny hadn’t got around to buying a new bed yet - but it was large and, most importantly, had a fireplace. A fireplace with wood in it and extra logs stacked beside it. As Danny fought with the matches to get the fire going, wishing all the while that he’d brought his lighter, Lester wandered around the room.
Like the rest of the house, the walls were dark wood panelling and the floors a lighter shade. An old king-sized bed dominated one side of the room, with it and the fire closest to the door. The rest was sparsely furnished, with only what looked like a rug of real fur, a wardrobe, and on the far wall, a sweeping window. By the time Danny had the fire going Lester was standing on the rug with a thoughtful look on his face and his eyes on Danny.
Danny took one look and grinned. “Are you thinking what I think you’re thinking?”
Lester arched an eyebrow, face a picture of false innocence. “And that would be?”
“We’re not having sex on the rug, James.” On anyone else, Danny would have called the resultant expression a pout.
“Well, why not?”
Danny supposed Lester himself would insist his tone of voice was something fancy and multi-syllabic like ‘aggrieved’. Privately, Danny thought it sounded a lot like whining. “Because we’re both over 40, the floor is cold even with a rug, and the rug itches?”
Lester frowned. “It itches? How would you…? No, stupid question.” He shook his head with a sad sigh and Danny bit his lip, trying to keep from laughing.
Lester noticed, though, and frowned at him. “What?”
“Nothing.”
“It’s not nothing! What are you smirking at, Quinn?”
Well, since he’d noticed that much... Danny let himself grin like an idiot as he headed towards Lester.
“You, luv.”
At that, Lester folded his arms and glared, but the effectiveness of the glare was distinctly reduced, in Danny’s opinion, by the fact that he was standing there in his stockinged feet, shirt-tails loose and braces hanging around his hips. In fact, he looked more like a sulky two-year-old than a government man to Danny’s eyes. Their surroundings - a room that, in Danny’s long-held opinion, was straight out of a bad romance novel - certainly didn’t help much either.
Standing in front of Lester, Danny folded his arms in mirror image and regarded him sombrely. They lasted all of five seconds before Lester was rolling his eyes.
“Oh, stop it, Danny. Is that fire going yet?”
Danny grinned and obliged, stepping aside to gesture at the fireplace. “A roaring blaze, or it will be soon. And don’t be so put out - the bed’s quite comfortable.”
Trotting over to stand in front of the flickering flames, Lester sighed. “You know, I’d never thought I’d say this, but you, Danny Quinn, are rather boring tonight.”
Danny followed, slipping up behind Lester to wrap his arms around his waist and rest his chin on his shoulder.
“Boring? I should be insulted.”
“You should,” Lester agreed, leaning back into the embrace. They stood like that, watching the blaze grow, until Danny began to twitch. Lester had more patience than most cops Danny had been on stake-outs with and while admirable, he had been thinking of this since yesterday, and quite frankly, Danny Quinn wanted James naked and writhing sooner rather than later. So he pressed himself closer, grinding his hips into Lester’s arse and began fiddling with the buttons on his shirt.
“What’re you doing, Quinn?” Lester murmured, but his question turned into a soft moan as Danny nuzzled his neck and licked a stripe up the back of his ear. Grinning into Lester’s neck, Danny got the shirt unbuttoned enough to slip a hand inside. He skimmed his hand up over Lester’s chest to tweak a nipple and growled in a voice even thicker than usual, “Want you, James. Want you to beg.”
“Is that-“ Lester’s voice broke, briefly, as Danny nibbled his ear and tweaked a nipple in unison, “-that so, Quinn?”
“Mmhmm,” Danny stepped back a little, his cock already half-hard, and tugged at Lester’s shoulders. Obligingly, he spun around and stood there, thumbs hooked in belt loops, as Danny finished unbuttoning his shirt. The tie, Danny noticed, must have gone the way of the coat.
“And just how do you intend to do that?” The convulsive bob of his Adam’s apple gave lie to Lester’s cool, cultured tones.
That gave Danny pause for thought. He was flying by the seat of his pants, of course - or by the lead of his cock, perhaps. He hadn’t quite expected Lester to go along quite as readily as he was. Then again, he might not be...
His hands had stilled, resting on Lester’s shirt. He was startled out of his contemplations by Lester reaching up to unbutton Danny’s shirt. Lester began to push Danny backwards, eyes glittering. Danny smirked and let Lester crowd into his space before actually stepping back.
“Well, since you’ve ruled out the rugs, I suppose we’ll have to use the bed.” Who said this?
Danny's legs bumped into the bed and he sat down, shedding his plaid shirt before grabbing Lester’s waist and pulling him in. Lester rested his arms on Danny’s shoulders as Danny grinned up from the vicinity of his (still surprisingly fit) stomach.
“I’ve decided what I’m going to do,” Danny said
“Have you?” Lester’s drawl was even lazier than usual as he threaded his fingers through Danny’s hair.
“Yep. I’m gonna give you the best blowjob you’ve had in ages.”
Lester’s eyebrows shot up. “Well, don’t set high expectations or anything, Danny.”
There was a pregnant pause, weighty with anticipation. Between their jobs and the need to be discreet ,they didn’t get as much time together as Danny, at least, would have liked. And he suspected James felt the same. Before he could make another move, though, Lester proclaimed ‘Fuck it, you’ve too much clothing,’ and dived in.
Getting out of a tight tee-shirt while being snogged half senseless wasn’t the easiest feat on the planet, so Danny thought himself quite impressive for managing it. Pants and trousers, for both of them, quickly followed suit, the only real pause in their frantic kissing coming when Lester had to remove his (and Danny’s) socks.
“I am not…“ Lester punctuated his words with demanding kisses, so hard they felt as though to bruise. "-ever having sex with my socks on. Or with-"
Danny rolled over, trapping James beneath him. “I know, James,” Danny growled, before latching on to his collarbone and sucking. Lester groaned and his head fell back, exposing his neck, a target to tempting to ignore. Both men were fully hard now, thrusting against each other, desperate for friction, heat.
Moving down Lester’s body, Danny paused to lave attention on his nipples, pleased at the sounds that he was dragging from the usually stoic man beneath him. Spreading Lester’s legs so he could kneel between them, Danny regarded the cock, erect and leaking, before him. He could hear Lester’s breathing slowing back down, and Danny didn’t want that, so fastening a hand around the base of the cock, he looked up, caught James’ eye, winked and then bent down and sucked the head into his mouth with a faint pop.
He took it slowly, never once actually drawing the entire cock into his mouth. He licked up and down the shaft, kissed the very tip, and alternated his attentions between cock and balls, all the while keeping his hand firmly fastened at the base. James was practically panting now, and when Danny glanced up to check on him, he was biting his lip. Danny smirked. Well, that wouldn’t do.
So he turned his attention to Lester’s thighs and stomach. He trailed slow kisses, interspersed with light nips, up and down and over them. He let his jaw brush along as well, knowing well the rough scrape of two days’ worth of stubble. When he looked up again to meet Lester’s eyes, he wasn’t surprised to be met with a sharp glare, dark with lust.
“Damn it, man, you call that a blowjob?” James’ voice was rough.
Danny smirked. He debated retorting, briefly, but didn’t trust his self-control quite that far. Sliding his hand up the shaft, finally, Danny met it at the head with his mouth. Then slowly, ever so slowly, he drew it back down. He hit his gag, paused and swallowed past. James whimpered. Carefully, he moved his hand from cock to hip, pinning Lester down.. James’ hips thrust upwards, trying to follow the slick heat as Danny drew back, and he tightened his hold.
He paused at the top and ran his tongue thoughtfully around the head. Another whimper. Then he moved back down again, trying for just as slow as before but perhaps a little faster. When his nose met the dark curls at the base, Danny swallowed.
“Oh God, Danny! Please!” James writhed, hips bucking helplessly up into Danny’s grasp.
Danny grinned around his mouthful of cock - he loved it when Lester begged. He would have liked to continue this slow tease, to draw it out, but his own cock felt swollen fit to burst and it had been an entire week, after all, without any company other than his own hand.
So he obliged the plea, and sped up his motions, letting his teeth scrape very lightly, just so, curling his tongue, hollowing his cheeks and then James was grabbing hold of his hair, pushing Danny back down with only the barest of gasped warnings before he came down his throat. Choking only a little, Danny swallowed it all, drawing back even as he did so.
He sat back on his heels, licking his lips and watching Lester as the man gasped out the last spasms, skin flushed a delightful red. When he didn’t show any sign of moving from where he lay sprawled, Danny drawled out, “Well, am I going to have to wank myself off, or do I get a thank-you?”
Lester flapped a hand lazily. “Hold on there, you, let me get my breath back.”
“Breathing sounds fine to me, so hurry up about it!”
“Demanding,” Lester muttered, but his eyes were sparkling with amusement as he hauled himself upright. “Well, come here, then. You can’t expect me to move all the way down there.”
Danny rolled his eyes but crawled up the bed to lie beside Lester. A bit of wriggling to get into position (including further grousing from Lester), and then finally, finally, James’ hand fastened around his cock. Smooth and long-fingered, James worked skilfully until Danny was the one bucking, his arse pressing back into Lester’s groin, and coming with a cry of ‘Oh fuck, James!’
It was lucky the bed was big, Danny thought sleepily and only half-sensibly, a little later on. The coals of the fire had been banked, and with that as the only source of light, the view through the window on the far wall was stunning. Upon sunset the cloud cover had finally cleared, and now the light from the moon and stars shone out silver, reflecting off the snow. The wind had died off and the landscape - gently rolling hills, clear, with only a few trees - was stunning. Danny tucked himself closer against James and sighed. The hour was still early, as these things went, but he was exhausted. He thought James had already drifted off to sleep, but just as he himself was closing his eyes, a soft murmur of humming floated up, turning into song.
“-deep and crisp and even.”
“Hm?”
James yawned. “Christmas carol. It’s been going through my head all day. But if we see some poor soul stumbling about in the cold out there, we’re not-“ another yawn, and his words slurred sleepily together, “- getting up to let them in.”
Danny blinked, a little bemused, but by the time he could think of a response, James’ breathing had quieted into the deep breaths of sleep. Shaking his head a little, Danny finally closed his eyes and let himself fall into the pleasant darkness. All in all, not the worst Christmas he’d ever had.
Title:And The Snow Lay Round About for telperion_15
Character(s): Danny Quinn/James Lester
Warnings: Danny's dick! ;P
Rating: M, possibly R (I'm never sure of ratings)
Spoilers: Danny's existence?
Beta(s): Many thanks to Lukadreaming for the speedy and thorough beta!
Author's Notes: Only my second time ever actually writing smut, just so you all know! And I went off of the first prompt: "When the snow lay round about, deep and crisp and even." (Which song, by the way, is one of my favourites!) I even managed to stay within the word count.
Hope you like it, Tel! And Merry Christmas all around.
Disclaimer: Not mine, never mine, don't sue. (Though the house is my creation. *g*)
Summary: The best part of Christmas comes a little late to Danny Quinn this year.
By the time they pulled up in front of the house, the snow was falling thick and fast. It looked nice, Danny supposed, but he shuddered to think of the road conditions. Some poor soul would crash, for sure, with a storm like this on Boxing Day morning. He turned the key in the ignition and the old car’s engine sputtered to a stop. In the seat next to him, Lester stirred.
“We’re here, luv,” Danny said, not bothering to hide his grin at the sight of James Lester blinking himself awake, coat askew and hair mussed from sleeping against the door. There’d been an anomaly shout, of course, late on Christmas afternoon. And though Danny knew it had forced Lester to leave his kids (and ex-wife) early, Danny himself had been relieved. Christmas was dull and dreary enough without having to spend all day moping about the flat alone because your lover was spending it with his children (and ex-wife, though they never spoke of her).
Lester scowled at him - though rather half-heartedly Danny thought - as he unbuckled his seat belt and stretched. The shout had taken all night - between the snow that had already fallen, the winds and the snow that began to fall sometime around 3 AM, not to mention the lost kitten, an aggrieved (and wealthy) grandmother, and the anomaly closing device playing up - and even once the others had headed home, it had taken several more hours for Danny to drag Lester away from the office and burgeoning paperwork.
Now, Danny flung his car door open and hopped out into the snow, shivering and grimacing at the cold. Letting the door slam shut behind him, he tucked his hands into his armpits and eyed the old house sprawled out before them. He heard Lester emerge, rather more sedately, and clump through the snow to stand beside him.
“So this is it, then?” Lester asked. He certainly didn’t sound like a man who’d just slept in a car for three hours. In fact, he sounded just as dry and posh as usual.
“Yup. Welcome to the Quinn family home!” Danny forced a grin into his words and swept an arm out dramatically. He could practically hear Lester roll his eyes.
“Hm,” was all the other man said, then he began walking - no, wading - through the snow towards the front door. “Who’d you say you inherited this from?”
Well, there was nothing for it. Danny plunged ahead, rapidly closing the distance between him and Lester.
“I didn’t. It was my grandfather's, though.”
“Ah.”
The snow had drifted up over the doorstep, so they had to pause to shove through the snow. Danny knew where the steps were, of course, but Lester nearly slipped. Danny caught his arm and hauled him back up with a grunt, tugging him in close. He debated making a snarky remark, but settled for a wink and a quick grope of Lester’s arse instead. Lester rolled his eyes and swatted Danny’s arm, but didn’t move away.
“Open the door, Quinn, it’s freezing out here.”
“Well, you know I can warm you up,” Danny said cheerfully as he rooted about in his pockets for the key. He had only been here once since his grandfather had died, but some of the money that had come with the house had gone towards paying for a housekeeper to come and air it out once a week. The house itself featured a rather impressive library, and Danny had had enough respect for books drilled into him at a young age to know better than to leave them to mildew and dust. Finally finding the key, he shoved it into the heavy, old lock and turned it. The heavy ‘thunk’ was as satisfying as always and Danny pushed the door open.
A gust of wind followed them in, blowing snow all through the hall. Danny stamped the snow off his boots as Lester slammed the door shut behind them and shot the bolt. Sitting himself down on the bench, Danny began to unlace his boots and pry them off, watching discreetly as Lester looked around the dark hallway.
“Tell me, Quinn, does this place have any lights at all, or is all your family as nocturnal as you?”
A common grievance of Lester’s was how dark Danny kept his flat. Danny just grinned, however, and kicking his boots off, he at last padded down the familiar hallway. By some quirk of architectural design, when they had wired the house, they hadn’t put a light switch next to the front door. Reaching the point where hallway turned into kitchen, he groped along the wall and found the switch. Old light bulbs flickered as they turned on, casting a yellow glow along the walls. Danny saw James at the other end of the corridor, blinking owlishly in the light.
Hanging his coat on a hook, Lester slowly turned about, inspecting the hallway. To his right, a dark staircase disappeared into the upper reaches. Down further towards Danny, a few doorways gaped along the left-hand side. Spotted between were metal and glass wall sconces, the electric light almost yellow enough to be mistaken for candlelight.
“Well,” Danny asked, after a few moments, “What do you think?”
He just barely spotted the small smile that quirked Lester’s lips, but wasn’t surprised when the answer was not a gushing compliment.
“Very medieval, really,,” was Lester’s reply. He shivered then, and pulled a face. "Cold, too. I don’t suppose you’ve got an enormous fireplace tucked away here somewhere, do you?”
Danny chuckled. “Maybe I do! C’mon, kitchen first. Don’t know about you, but I’m starving.”
He ducked through the doorway and found a second switch, swamping the long kitchen with light. The world outside the windows was quite dark now, looking near evening despite the hour being closer to two o’clock. Danny barely spared it a glance, however, promptly making himself busy in the cupboards and at the stove. He’d just turned the kettle on when Lester finally entered.
“There’s food here? I thought you said you don’t use it much.”
“Check out the other rooms, did you? And yeah, there is. I had the housekeeper stock up last week once I knew we were coming down. She left about 20 different types of tea as well.”
Lester padded over to him, stockinged feet quiet on the wooden floorboards. At the mention of tea he practically shouldered Danny aside to peer into the cupboard.
“I just peeked in. You’re making tea?”
“For you. Coffee for me.”
“Ah. I wondered. Here, use this one.” Lester pulled down a box and fished a bag out, tossing it over to Danny, who was fiddling with a coffee maker older than he was. Danny caught the bag and shot Lester a mock scowl.
“What do you think I am? Your servant?”
“Yes,” was Lester’s prim reply, even as he busied himself with poking through the cupboards.
“Bastard,” Danny called cheerily over his shoulder, finally getting the coffee brewing by giving the side of the machine a good whack.
“You’re the one who propositioned me.”
“Must’ve been delusional.” Danny clattered about, tasting the soup and rummaging about for bowls and spoons.
“Quite likely. Probably trampled by one to many dinosaurs. Do we want bread?”
“Dunno, do we? And I don’t get trampled! That’s Connor you’re thinking of.”
“Bread it is,” Lester paused to inspect the loaf he’d found in a cupboard. “Homemade, by the look of it.”
“Probably is,” Danny agreed before swooping in and relieving Lester of said bread. “Now sit, and stop being such a nosy bugger. Tea’s almost done.”
That earned him an arched eyebrow and a drawled, “Nosy bugger, is it? Have you looked in the mirror lately, pot?” but Lester, surprisingly, sat. Danny inspected him out of the corner of his eye. Clearly the man was more tired than he’d let on. Well. Hopefully a hot meal would fix that - Danny didn’t plan on just sleeping tonight.
Tea and soup were ready at the same time, so Danny cut a piece of bread and delivered the food to Lester, who dived in with relish. Other than the bread, it wasn’t anything special - soup straight from the can, one of Danny’s specialties, but despite how often he served Lester instant food, he hadn’t heard a complaint yet.
By the time the coffee had brewed (he’d forgotten how long the ancient machine took), Lester was half-done the soup and nursing his tea with obvious relish. Danny settled down with a sigh, his stomach giving a loud grumble of agreement. Lester smirked into his mug. Danny pointed his spoon at him, and said around a mouthful of bread, “Saw that! Don’t you smirk, James Lester, it’s your fault I’ve not eaten yet.”
Lester wrinkled his nose. “Manners, Quinn, were you never taught them? And you could quite well have gone off and got yourself something to eat.”
Danny swallowed and grinned unrepentantly. “Sure I was. They just went in one ear and out the other.”
Lester snorted. “Typical.”
“But what, leave you…” he continued between spoonfuls, “leave you to get started on some new absolutely vital piece of paperwork? I think not.”
“Don’t be absurd, I-“
Danny looked up, struggling to keep his face a mask of innocence. “You what?”
“I would not have…“
“No?”
“Of course not! I just had…“
“You sure?”
Lester glared. “Shut up, Quinn. I’m trying to make excuses here.”
“I know, and I’m not letting you. Now come on. Let’s go upstairs and start a fire.”
Rolling his eyes heavenwards, Lester heaved a long-suffering sigh and stood, collecting up his bowl and mug. Danny chuckled and followed suit, overtaking the shorter man quickly to abandon his dirty dishes in the sink.
“If that is supposed to be a euphemism for anything, you’re sleeping alone tonight, by the way,” Lester informed him.
“Good thing it’s not, then. Now, let’s get moving, I’m freezing.”
“You’re freezing? I’ve been freezing since we entered this bloody place!"
Ushering a (harmlessly) spluttering Lester out of the kitchen and back down the hall to the stairs, Danny couldn’t resist pausing midway there and catching Lester by the shoulder to murmur in his ear, “I told you, luv, I’ll warm you up.”
“And how will you do that if you’re cold too?” came the retort, followed by, “And don’t you dare say ‘I’ll start a fire’, either!”
Danny laughed, and then slipped ahead of Lester to climb the stairs first. There was no light on the stairs, of course, courtesy of the same genius who had failed to place a light switch convenient to the front door. No light, that was, save for what was filtering through the small window overlooking the landing midway up. Danny paused, more out of habit then anything, and glanced out. The snow was still falling, but the wind had let up and the view, though darker than ever, was surprisingly peaceful. The old house was beside a farmer’s field, and the snow now blanketed that in a manner reminiscent of Robert Frost poems.
“Well, are you going to stand there and stare, or do I have to turn on a light myself?”
He almost jumped at Lester’s voice emerging from behind his shoulder. Almost, but not quite.
“Ah, thought I might look for a while. You don't see too many scenes like that in the middle of London!” Flashing Lester a toothy grin, Danny turned and mounted the rest of the stairs up to the first floor. By the time he found the switch - they hadn’t usually bothered with them when he lived here - Lester was standing beside him, looking amused in that amazingly condescending manner of his. A manner, of course, that always made Danny want to kiss him, and since they were, for once, not at work, he obliged the need. Lester yelped as his back hit the wall, but the yelp was quickly stifled by Danny’s mouth on his.
Danny pressed against the smaller man, tracing his hands up Lester’s sides as he broke the kiss to nip and tug at Lester’s lips. He grinned as he felt his lover’s hands finally stir and run up his back, tugging him in even closer, Lester’s lips capturing his in another hard, possessive kiss. The need for air drove them apart. They stood there for a few moments, chests heaving, bodies fitted snugly together.
Lester quirked an eyebrow. “And what was that for?” he asked, voice soft.
Danny ran a hand along Lester’s cheek, smiling at the scrape of stubble against his knuckles. “Because I could?”
Lester’s lips quirked in that wry, but honest, half-smile of his and Danny was sure his heart skipped a beat. He was just debating going in for another kiss, when Lester wriggled a little and said, “Well, as cosy as this is, I was promised a fire.”
Danny laughed and stepped back. “Didn’t promise you anything of the sort, luv.”
“What, so all those sweet whispers about ‘keeping me warm’ were false? How disappointing.”
“Didn’t know you were looking forward to it that much,” Danny called as he headed down the landing. “Follow me!”
Moments later, the two men entered a large room near the end of the landing. It wasn’t the master bedroom - no, his grandfather had always slept there and Danny hadn’t got around to buying a new bed yet - but it was large and, most importantly, had a fireplace. A fireplace with wood in it and extra logs stacked beside it. As Danny fought with the matches to get the fire going, wishing all the while that he’d brought his lighter, Lester wandered around the room.
Like the rest of the house, the walls were dark wood panelling and the floors a lighter shade. An old king-sized bed dominated one side of the room, with it and the fire closest to the door. The rest was sparsely furnished, with only what looked like a rug of real fur, a wardrobe, and on the far wall, a sweeping window. By the time Danny had the fire going Lester was standing on the rug with a thoughtful look on his face and his eyes on Danny.
Danny took one look and grinned. “Are you thinking what I think you’re thinking?”
Lester arched an eyebrow, face a picture of false innocence. “And that would be?”
“We’re not having sex on the rug, James.” On anyone else, Danny would have called the resultant expression a pout.
“Well, why not?”
Danny supposed Lester himself would insist his tone of voice was something fancy and multi-syllabic like ‘aggrieved’. Privately, Danny thought it sounded a lot like whining. “Because we’re both over 40, the floor is cold even with a rug, and the rug itches?”
Lester frowned. “It itches? How would you…? No, stupid question.” He shook his head with a sad sigh and Danny bit his lip, trying to keep from laughing.
Lester noticed, though, and frowned at him. “What?”
“Nothing.”
“It’s not nothing! What are you smirking at, Quinn?”
Well, since he’d noticed that much... Danny let himself grin like an idiot as he headed towards Lester.
“You, luv.”
At that, Lester folded his arms and glared, but the effectiveness of the glare was distinctly reduced, in Danny’s opinion, by the fact that he was standing there in his stockinged feet, shirt-tails loose and braces hanging around his hips. In fact, he looked more like a sulky two-year-old than a government man to Danny’s eyes. Their surroundings - a room that, in Danny’s long-held opinion, was straight out of a bad romance novel - certainly didn’t help much either.
Standing in front of Lester, Danny folded his arms in mirror image and regarded him sombrely. They lasted all of five seconds before Lester was rolling his eyes.
“Oh, stop it, Danny. Is that fire going yet?”
Danny grinned and obliged, stepping aside to gesture at the fireplace. “A roaring blaze, or it will be soon. And don’t be so put out - the bed’s quite comfortable.”
Trotting over to stand in front of the flickering flames, Lester sighed. “You know, I’d never thought I’d say this, but you, Danny Quinn, are rather boring tonight.”
Danny followed, slipping up behind Lester to wrap his arms around his waist and rest his chin on his shoulder.
“Boring? I should be insulted.”
“You should,” Lester agreed, leaning back into the embrace. They stood like that, watching the blaze grow, until Danny began to twitch. Lester had more patience than most cops Danny had been on stake-outs with and while admirable, he had been thinking of this since yesterday, and quite frankly, Danny Quinn wanted James naked and writhing sooner rather than later. So he pressed himself closer, grinding his hips into Lester’s arse and began fiddling with the buttons on his shirt.
“What’re you doing, Quinn?” Lester murmured, but his question turned into a soft moan as Danny nuzzled his neck and licked a stripe up the back of his ear. Grinning into Lester’s neck, Danny got the shirt unbuttoned enough to slip a hand inside. He skimmed his hand up over Lester’s chest to tweak a nipple and growled in a voice even thicker than usual, “Want you, James. Want you to beg.”
“Is that-“ Lester’s voice broke, briefly, as Danny nibbled his ear and tweaked a nipple in unison, “-that so, Quinn?”
“Mmhmm,” Danny stepped back a little, his cock already half-hard, and tugged at Lester’s shoulders. Obligingly, he spun around and stood there, thumbs hooked in belt loops, as Danny finished unbuttoning his shirt. The tie, Danny noticed, must have gone the way of the coat.
“And just how do you intend to do that?” The convulsive bob of his Adam’s apple gave lie to Lester’s cool, cultured tones.
That gave Danny pause for thought. He was flying by the seat of his pants, of course - or by the lead of his cock, perhaps. He hadn’t quite expected Lester to go along quite as readily as he was. Then again, he might not be...
His hands had stilled, resting on Lester’s shirt. He was startled out of his contemplations by Lester reaching up to unbutton Danny’s shirt. Lester began to push Danny backwards, eyes glittering. Danny smirked and let Lester crowd into his space before actually stepping back.
“Well, since you’ve ruled out the rugs, I suppose we’ll have to use the bed.” Who said this?
Danny's legs bumped into the bed and he sat down, shedding his plaid shirt before grabbing Lester’s waist and pulling him in. Lester rested his arms on Danny’s shoulders as Danny grinned up from the vicinity of his (still surprisingly fit) stomach.
“I’ve decided what I’m going to do,” Danny said
“Have you?” Lester’s drawl was even lazier than usual as he threaded his fingers through Danny’s hair.
“Yep. I’m gonna give you the best blowjob you’ve had in ages.”
Lester’s eyebrows shot up. “Well, don’t set high expectations or anything, Danny.”
There was a pregnant pause, weighty with anticipation. Between their jobs and the need to be discreet ,they didn’t get as much time together as Danny, at least, would have liked. And he suspected James felt the same. Before he could make another move, though, Lester proclaimed ‘Fuck it, you’ve too much clothing,’ and dived in.
Getting out of a tight tee-shirt while being snogged half senseless wasn’t the easiest feat on the planet, so Danny thought himself quite impressive for managing it. Pants and trousers, for both of them, quickly followed suit, the only real pause in their frantic kissing coming when Lester had to remove his (and Danny’s) socks.
“I am not…“ Lester punctuated his words with demanding kisses, so hard they felt as though to bruise. "-ever having sex with my socks on. Or with-"
Danny rolled over, trapping James beneath him. “I know, James,” Danny growled, before latching on to his collarbone and sucking. Lester groaned and his head fell back, exposing his neck, a target to tempting to ignore. Both men were fully hard now, thrusting against each other, desperate for friction, heat.
Moving down Lester’s body, Danny paused to lave attention on his nipples, pleased at the sounds that he was dragging from the usually stoic man beneath him. Spreading Lester’s legs so he could kneel between them, Danny regarded the cock, erect and leaking, before him. He could hear Lester’s breathing slowing back down, and Danny didn’t want that, so fastening a hand around the base of the cock, he looked up, caught James’ eye, winked and then bent down and sucked the head into his mouth with a faint pop.
He took it slowly, never once actually drawing the entire cock into his mouth. He licked up and down the shaft, kissed the very tip, and alternated his attentions between cock and balls, all the while keeping his hand firmly fastened at the base. James was practically panting now, and when Danny glanced up to check on him, he was biting his lip. Danny smirked. Well, that wouldn’t do.
So he turned his attention to Lester’s thighs and stomach. He trailed slow kisses, interspersed with light nips, up and down and over them. He let his jaw brush along as well, knowing well the rough scrape of two days’ worth of stubble. When he looked up again to meet Lester’s eyes, he wasn’t surprised to be met with a sharp glare, dark with lust.
“Damn it, man, you call that a blowjob?” James’ voice was rough.
Danny smirked. He debated retorting, briefly, but didn’t trust his self-control quite that far. Sliding his hand up the shaft, finally, Danny met it at the head with his mouth. Then slowly, ever so slowly, he drew it back down. He hit his gag, paused and swallowed past. James whimpered. Carefully, he moved his hand from cock to hip, pinning Lester down.. James’ hips thrust upwards, trying to follow the slick heat as Danny drew back, and he tightened his hold.
He paused at the top and ran his tongue thoughtfully around the head. Another whimper. Then he moved back down again, trying for just as slow as before but perhaps a little faster. When his nose met the dark curls at the base, Danny swallowed.
“Oh God, Danny! Please!” James writhed, hips bucking helplessly up into Danny’s grasp.
Danny grinned around his mouthful of cock - he loved it when Lester begged. He would have liked to continue this slow tease, to draw it out, but his own cock felt swollen fit to burst and it had been an entire week, after all, without any company other than his own hand.
So he obliged the plea, and sped up his motions, letting his teeth scrape very lightly, just so, curling his tongue, hollowing his cheeks and then James was grabbing hold of his hair, pushing Danny back down with only the barest of gasped warnings before he came down his throat. Choking only a little, Danny swallowed it all, drawing back even as he did so.
He sat back on his heels, licking his lips and watching Lester as the man gasped out the last spasms, skin flushed a delightful red. When he didn’t show any sign of moving from where he lay sprawled, Danny drawled out, “Well, am I going to have to wank myself off, or do I get a thank-you?”
Lester flapped a hand lazily. “Hold on there, you, let me get my breath back.”
“Breathing sounds fine to me, so hurry up about it!”
“Demanding,” Lester muttered, but his eyes were sparkling with amusement as he hauled himself upright. “Well, come here, then. You can’t expect me to move all the way down there.”
Danny rolled his eyes but crawled up the bed to lie beside Lester. A bit of wriggling to get into position (including further grousing from Lester), and then finally, finally, James’ hand fastened around his cock. Smooth and long-fingered, James worked skilfully until Danny was the one bucking, his arse pressing back into Lester’s groin, and coming with a cry of ‘Oh fuck, James!’
It was lucky the bed was big, Danny thought sleepily and only half-sensibly, a little later on. The coals of the fire had been banked, and with that as the only source of light, the view through the window on the far wall was stunning. Upon sunset the cloud cover had finally cleared, and now the light from the moon and stars shone out silver, reflecting off the snow. The wind had died off and the landscape - gently rolling hills, clear, with only a few trees - was stunning. Danny tucked himself closer against James and sighed. The hour was still early, as these things went, but he was exhausted. He thought James had already drifted off to sleep, but just as he himself was closing his eyes, a soft murmur of humming floated up, turning into song.
“-deep and crisp and even.”
“Hm?”
James yawned. “Christmas carol. It’s been going through my head all day. But if we see some poor soul stumbling about in the cold out there, we’re not-“ another yawn, and his words slurred sleepily together, “- getting up to let them in.”
Danny blinked, a little bemused, but by the time he could think of a response, James’ breathing had quieted into the deep breaths of sleep. Shaking his head a little, Danny finally closed his eyes and let himself fall into the pleasant darkness. All in all, not the worst Christmas he’d ever had.