Crash and Burn (Literally)
For the KinkKinkBangBang Meme Prompt:
Harry goes to the beach and gets horrible sunburn, you know, the kind that hurts even when you don't move and gives you a fever and you're all cold and shivering and you get all blistered and sore and when you try to stand your legs hurt because they're so swollen? Yeah, that kind. He gets that and Perry needs to take care of him but he's never seen sunburn that bad so he does his research and ends up rubbing aloe onto Harry's skin and bathing him in tea and vinegar and forcing him to drink lots of water and somewhere along the week it takes to heal, a relationship forms.
TL;DR - Harry gets really bad sunburn, Perry helps to heal him, they start a romantic relationship.
"I'll still can't believe that you like to fish," Harry said, yawning slightly as he leaned against the car door.
"Gay people can't enjoy fishing?" Perry hardly paid attention as he loaded up the trunk. He double-checked everything, after packing and stacking it neater than hotel laundry.
"Gay people enjoy mani pedis and cafe con leches, not sitting out in some boat pulling up smelly fish," Harry said, yawning again.
"Aren't you the expert," Perry scoffed softly, closing the trunk. "And for your dumb information, I like fishing because you don't talk. Nobody talks. Not me. Definitely not you..." he went around to the driver side door. "And I don't have a boat."
"You don't?" Harry climbed into the car too.
Perry frowned at him. "You've lived here for a year and a half now...have you ever seen a boat anywhere in my house?"
"Maybe you rent one," Harry said, almost suspiciously.
"Or maybe I ride a dolphin out to sea," Perry replied in mock-shock. "Shut the fuck up and eat your doughnut." He passed him the small paper sack of rasberry creams.
-------
"I don't like fishing," Harry confessed once Perry pulled into a parking space. It wasn't really a parking space. A semi-wooded area just over-looking small beach cliffs.
"You wait two and half hours to tell me that?" Perry stared at him.
"I didn't know how you'd react," Harry said, shrugging. "Anyway...we're..." he gestured towards the scenery . "We're here, so what does it matter what I think." He laughed nervously. When Perry only stared at him some more, he slapped his knee. "Come on, Per! This'll be fun."
They unloaded the car and started towards the sea wall where a few people were already fishing. Once they set up 'camp' (as Perry called it, and Harry bit back his word play-on jokes), Perry retrieved sunscreen from one of his bags and began to lather up. Not too much since he was already in shorts and a Tshirt. He passed the small, coconut smelling tube to Harry.
"Oh, no thanks," Harry said. "I don't use it."
"What? Why the hell not?" Perry frowned.
"I tan," Harry replied, sure of himself. "I mean, look at me." He pointed to his arm.
"Yah, look at you," Perry said. "Pasty as fuck. Put some on."
"No."
"Harry-"
"I don't like the smell."
"You don't like-" Perry rolled his eyes. "Fine. When you fucking incenerate, don't come whining to me."
He put the sunscreen back and started digging around in the tackle box. He opened a small styrofoam container of worms and Harry quickly spun his upper torso around, making a half gagging, half swallowing noise. Perry's brows furrowed. "What?"
"Nothing." Harry stared poker-faced out to sea. "So where's the poles?"
Perry pointed. "There. Where you put them. Here, take a worm and stick it on the hook. These worms are perfect for salt water fishing." He held out a worm to him.
"Mmm...no thanks..." Harry said, shaking his head quickly.
"Take it. We didn't bring any other kind of bait," Perry argued, thrusting out his hand.
"I have some gum in my pocket."
"You're going to fish with gum?"
"It's wriggling..." Harry became pale.
Perry rolled his eyes and mouthed something that looked like 'dumbass', but couldn't hide his smile. He shook his head slightly, and put the worm back. "You're afraid of it."
"No I'm not. I just don't want to touch it."
"You've touched dozens of corpses," Perry pointed out.
"They weren't squirming around," Harry said, sitting down next to Perry, who also sat. "And they had arms and legs and a neck."
-----
It actually was kind of nice-the silence. Harry had started off jabbering, but after a while, his voice faded out with the waves, and they just sat, rods in hand, the occassional clearing of throats their only conversation. After the early morning became late morning, and then early afternoon, Perry frowned at Harry.
"You're starting to look a little red," he warned. "You really should put on some of that sunblock."
"No, I'm looking a little brown," Harry said, examining his arm and shoulder, which were glowing nicely.
Perry only rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to his pole, which was being tugged on. So far, he'd caught an eel and three fish. Harry had caught a plastic bag, a crab, and an old shoe.
------
"I told you," Perry said, the second they returned home.
Harry only groaned in reply, stiffly removing himself from the car. His skin glowed red in odd patches from where the sun had hit him. He watched miserably as Perry opened the trunk door, and he knew he was not looking forward to unloading it. Perry looked at him, almost like he was trying to hide a grin, and said, "Help me."
"I'll take the poles..." Harry grumbled, reaching for them. He took them out too fast and one of the hooks grazed his shin. "FUCK!" He dropped it and inhaled sharply.
"What?" Harry looked at him.
"The fucking pole...it scratched me..." Harry kicked it. "This was a fucking dumb idea."
"So we should have gone and got mani pedis, right?" Perry began carrying things to the door. "You should have worn sunscreen. You look like the devil on the Red Hots package."
Harry mock mouthe laughter and rubbed his tight, hot shoulders with opposite hands, silently swearing as Perry carried things past him with no problem.
------
The shower was awful. His body craved hot and cold water at the same time and he shivered and winced at the same time as he braved up every few seconds and ducked under the shower head. His skin was tight and was tender to the touch, but he scrubbed anyway, knowing Perry would make him sleep outside if he walked around the house salty and smelly.
After the shower, he emerged from the bathroom only in boxers. He moved towards the fridge and opened the freezer. Perry stared at him from his place at the kitchen table, sipping his evening coffee.
"Feel better?" He asked.
"Yah..." Harry stuck his head in the freezer and closed his eyes. His burning face reacted quite differently to the cool air than he'd hoped and he shut the door. "Fuck..."
"They fucking hurt..." Perry agreed, not looking at him. "In college I spent spring break in Austin one year. Nearly a hundred degrees everyday and we were renting a lake house. Everybody was tanning but me and I paid the price. I actually cried in front of three football players."
"Did they know you were gay?" Harry leaned against the fridge, basking in its cool texture.
"I played college football," Perry said, grinning dryly. "They didn't know."
"I have little blisters on the backs of my knees," Harry winced. "This sucks. It's not like we were in the water."
"We were sitting in the sun," Perry reminded him. "Sitting. Never moving except to change positions. You were supposed to tan, remember?"
"Shut up," Harry said, which actually kind of sounded like Perry.
"I have some aloe," Perry suggested with a half shrug, returning to his laptop and coffee. "If you want some."
------
"This is kind of gay," Harry grumbled, sitting on Perry's bed, Perry seated behind him.
"You're gay," Perry retorted.
"No, you're gay," Harry said, and then realized his mistake. He rolled his eyes before closing them.
"Thank you," Perry smirked slightly. He took some aloe gel in his hands and rubbed them together. "This is going to be col-"
"SHIT!!!!" Harry gasped, his voice raising a couple octaves. He spun his head around. "Jesus, Perry!"
"Shut the fuck up!" Perry scoffed him lightly before forcing his head back to face forward. "You sound like a woman having an orgasm."
"What?" Harry closed his eyes again, his body shivering and tingling at the touch of the cool gel kissing the fire away. He sighed heavily, his muscles finally relaxing. He breathed deeply.
"Should I speed up and see if you start to pant?" Perry joked dryly. "Lean back. It's okay. I'm not gonna bite you."
"I'm sticky."
"Harry, I'm in sweats. It's okay, I'll change."
"Kay." Harry practically laid in his lap, leaning backwards, and inhaled the sharp, spicy scent of the cooling gel.
Perry's hands were surprisingly gentle for such a big guy. He massaged the green goop in carefully, covering all of the glowing red patches. Harry sat up when he felt his hands trying to work at his lower back, and arched forward, allowing contact.
"Harry, you know you look kind of like a slut doing that, right?" Perry grumbled, pouring some more from the bottle onto his palm.
"With this sunburn, I'd work street corners to get some of that gel," Harry informed him. "Fuck, I'd go to prison and ask 'who wants first dibs'."
Perry actually laughed. Harry was so surprised that he laughed a little too. Perry gestured for him to turn around and Harry obeyed, feeling awkward now that they were face to face. He averted his gaze and felt a new kind of tingle as Perry's hands moved over his chest and abdomen. Neither of them said anything for a while, and Harry wondered if he was imagining Perry's movements becoming slower, more experimental than methodical.
"Perry..." Harry said quietly.
"Yah?" Perry didn't look at him either.
"Never mind."
"Okay."
------------
It only took an hour for Harry to get a fever. Perry had warned him about it, but Harry shivered in his bed, pretending there had been no such warning. It's not like it mattered. He had other things to worry about. Like Perry's hands on him, rubbing all over him...Harry closed his eyes, hoping it was the feverish sunburn talking in his head.
"Here." Perry opened his door, carring in a bottle of water.
"What's this?" Harry asked through chattering teeth.
"Water. And some aspirin," Perry handed them to him. "You stupid fuck, Harry. I just looked online and you have a really bad sunburn."
"You're shitting me," Harry said sarcastically, taking the pill and a sip of water. He started to hand the bottle back to Perry, but Perry shook his head.
"Guzzle it down. You're going to be needing lots of it."
"Oh."
"Goodnight, Harry."
"That it?"
"Is what it?"
"Just water and aspirin? I'll be fine soon."
"Good God, you're delirious. Go to sleep. I'll see you in the morning. It's not like you can exactly be missed. Like Rudolph's nose or something."
"You do realize that I'm sick, in pain, on fire, and covered in a minty goo, right? And you're teasing me."
"I'm teasing you? What, are you in the fourth grade? I told you to wear sunblock. Good night."
"You should really say you're sorry."
"For what? Trying to talk some sense into you dumb head?"
Harry didn't say anything. Only shivered. Perry sighed.
"Fine. I'm sorry I made a joke about you. Even though you fully brought it upon yourself. What do you want me to do? Kiss and make it better? Bake you cookies?"
Harry half sat up. "Cookies actually sound really good."
Perry stalked across the short distance from where he was to the bed and scuffed Harry, trying not to smile. "Go to sleep."
"I'm glad you apologized," Harry grinned, only half-smartass-ey.
"You're welcome, I guess." Perry shrugged, and then noticed Harry was averting his gaze, staring straight ahead into space.
"Harry..." He sighed. "Look, if I actually did hurt your feelings-"
"What?" Harry laughed. "No. I'm just...I'm never living in Arizona."
"Anything else I can do?" Perry asked.
"Kiss and make it better?" Harry joked. He thought he was joking anyway. He never expected Perry to lean down and kiss him half on the forhead, half on the eyebrow.
"Better?" Perry shoved him playfully. "Goodnight, Harry." He went to the door and paused. "Drink your water."
"Sure, sure."
To Be Continued...