OOM: The transition begins.

[isaysimplewords]

The Door opens into Cal's living room, which features a brown leather sectional couch. The color base of the room is fairly neutral, with a few colors overlaid that emphasize the framed pictures on the wall without going overboard. In short, it looks exactly like it was decorated by someone with good taste and a substantial budget who knows Cal

Comments

[necessary_child]

"Nice place," Sam says, glancing around himself curiously. He smiles at Cal, letting the boxes drop as he himself drops lightly onto the sofa. "See you in a minute."

[isaysimplewords]

"Thanks," Cal says. "Told you Bela did good."

It only takes a few seconds to take the boxes into his room and drop them on the bed. He'll unpack later.

(He can't face looking at Calvin's book right now, even for just a second.)

Back in the living room, he says, "Nice couch, huh?"

It's exactly as comfortable as a couch should be, which is the only factor Cal was overly concerned with when it came to the majority of his furniture.

[necessary_child]

"You did," he agrees.

Sam is one of those people who frequently manage to look as if they're sprawling without even trying, and now is one of those moments.

"Very comfy," he says, stretching a hand out towards Cal. "Going to come sit?"

[isaysimplewords]

Cal smiles and takes Sam's hand, dropping onto the couch next to him.

"It's harder to give you the tour this way," he observes. He doesn't sound too upset about that, though.

[isaysimplewords]

Cal is almost surprised to find himself waking up the following morning; he was so comfortable, and worn out, last night that he barely had time to notice his exhaustion before he fell asleep.

He slept deeply, too, so much so that he's fully awake within a few minutes. He looks at Sam, curled up close against him, and contemplates - well, there are a lot of things he could contemplate right now, but he's not that awake, so mostly he thinks about getting breakfast and coffee when he doesn't actually have a single thing in the kitchen just yet, and about getting up without waking Sam. He knows Sam likes to sleep in.

[necessary_child]

Yeah, nice try.

Sam, eternally sensitive to other's moods, is especially so when it comes to someone he's sleeping with. He's not quiet awake, not yet, but he senses Cal's waking, and begins to stir in response. For the moment, that manifests as a slight stirring: he makes a quiet, comfortable sound, turning a little in his almost-sleep.

[isaysimplewords]

Cal doesn't say anything just yet, but he does reach up to stroke Sam's hair, brushing it back a little from his face.

[necessary_child]

Sam smiles slightly, his eyelids flickering.

Sure, he could wake up now, but who'd want to?

[isaysimplewords]

It's been a full twenty-four hours since they've been out of the apartment.

Not that all of that has been spent in bed. Right now, for example, they're on the couch, leftovers from dinner getting cold on the coffee table as they talk. Half the concentration is on the conversation, half of it on each other and the inevitable return to bed. If they get that far.

Cal's beginning to feel a little - unsettled? static? - limited, though. There's only so much he's comfortable with doing, and while Sam has seemed perfectly satisfied with how things have unfolded so far, Cal is becoming acutely aware of the fact that they can't stay stuck somewhere between second and third base forever.

[necessary_child]

Sam is, indeed, not complaining: he's having a good time in New York, and he assumes that Cal will, well, do more when he wants to do more.

He stretches, not-quite-yawning and leaning back against Cal.

"So," he asks, smiling up at him, "Are you having a good time?"

[isaysimplewords]

Cal automatically shifts his weight to comfortably counter Sam's, saying,

"I am. I'm glad you came back with me."

Which doesn't really need saying in order to be obvious, but since when has that stopped Cal?

[necessary_child]

Sam grins. "You're putting up with me okay, then."

[isaysimplewords]

Eventually, physical exhaustion takes over, and Cal falls asleep on the couch somewhere around dawn. He wakes just a couple hours later, but the mental break - and the sunlight streaming through the windows - are enough to clear away the worst of the anxiety from the long night. He listens for a few minutes, rubbing at a crick in his neck, but doesn't hear anyone moving around; Sam must still be asleep.

. . . Oh, Jesus. He grimaces as the memory of his behavior last night comes flooding back. He'd thought he was done with that shit. There was no reason for that. Not with Sam

[necessary_child]

Sam hasn't really slept: irritable catnaps, sprawled out more or less fully-dressed (shoes and socks kicked off), are closer to the picture.

When he hears Cal moving about he does too, but before he can open the door the front door goes bang. For fuck's sake, he thinks, but it's about possible that Cal just wanted milk or something, so he squelches down on the instinct to throw up his hands and just go back to Milliways, tossing himself down on the bed again to wait. For the moment.

...This had better be good.

[isaysimplewords]

The apartment is still quiet when Cal gets back, but then it's still early. The coffee, he realizes, will probably get cold before Sam gets up. Well, it can always be reheated, and the pastries will still be good.

In the meantime, he decides on his usual post-run shower. The water is warm and soothing, and that combined with the lingering endorphins has him almost feeling good. After the shower, he ties the towel around his waist and slips carefully into his room for a change of clothes. Hopefully, he can just get in and out and not wake Sam.

(The pieces of the letter are still on the floor where he left them. He ignores them.)

It turns out to be unnecessary, though - Sam is sitting up on the bed, very obviously awake. Cal blinks, surprised.

"Oh, hey," he says, voice automatically pitched low as if waking Sam might still be a problem. He pauses, mentally corrects that, then continues in a normal tone,

"I thought you were asleep. Uh, I brought coffee, if you want any." He gestures in the general direction of the kitchen.

[necessary_child]

"Yes, thanks."

Sam shrugs, shaking his head. "I didn't really sleep that much, just napped a bit. Wondered why you went straight out."