Touch-A, Touch-A, Touch Me 1/1
Touch-A, Touch-A, Touch Me
By Audrey Lynne
...as far as the title is concerned, I apologize, but it had to be done. Thank you, that is all.
There were certain advantages, Rodney mused, to having a night job--other than the obvious perk of having a legitimate excuse to sleep past noon on a daily basis if he so desired. There was also the benefit of knowing his boyfriend, who happened to be a university professor and therefore on a schedule more consistent with the rest of the world, was likely to have already scrounged up something for breakfast by the time Rodney even considered regaining consciousness. This morning, it was cheese danishes from the hole-in-the-wall bakery around the corner. Rodney suddenly found himself glad he was up early--well, early for him. It was a little after eleven am. Cheese danishes were always worth getting up early for, as was the person who had bought them. "Have I mentioned I love your taste?" Rodney called out around a mouthful of pastry. He and Radek had been together long enough that most societal niceties were long since dropped.
"I'm dating you, aren't I?" Radek called back from the bedroom, where he was getting ready for work. It was a Thursday, and though he usually taught a ten am class on Thursdays, there was something or other special going on today that Rodney remembered hearing about. He knew it involved university administration, but he was still fuzzy on the details. Rodney attributed it mostly to the fact that Radek had told him about it before Rodney was fully awake--meaning sometime before five pm. After two years and change of working eight pm to two am and occasionally a bit later if he was locking the place up, Rodney viewed the world a little differently than most. As far as he was concerned, five am was a perfectly acceptable time to have a beer, because that meant he was up late and, hey, why not? Why people chose jobs where they had to wake up at such an obscene hour, Rodney would never know. Even Radek didn't get up that early. He always tried to schedule his classes and office hours so he could get out of bed at a time he liked, which was still way too early if one asked Rodney. Because, really, in Rodney's mind, there was only one eight-thirty he needed to be aware of each day, and that was a half hour after Atlantis opened for the night.
Rodney snorted. "Smartass."
"I have to be. Is required at the university, to maintain a reasonable level of intelligence."
That coaxed a genuine laugh out of Rodney. "Oh, really? That's news. Is it native to NYU? Or maybe I just missed something when I was in school, because a lot of those guys seemed to be suffering from delusions of adequacy." There had been a time when those words would have been tinged with bitterness on Rodney's part, but now, he was simply enjoying the opportunity to tease Radek. He was just contemplating his next tactic when Radek stepped out of the bedroom--and Rodney's jaw nearly dropped. "Wow."
"Thank you." Radek smiled, moving toward the kitchen. He side-stepped one of his cats--Rodney never could tell at immediate glance which of the Siamese was which--and continued toward the kitchen. "It is a little more effort than I usually put into getting ready, but unfortunately required for this luncheon."
"Yeah, what luncheon is that again, anyway?" Rodney asked, taking another bite of his danish. Whatever it was, he mostly definitely approved. Radek looked hot. Well, he always looked hot, but this time especially so. Radek had contacts he occasionally chose to wear instead of his glasses and since he wasn't wearing his glasses or squinting, Rodney assumed Radek was wearing them. His hair, though tame, still wanted to curl at the back, which Rodney had always found irresistible, and instead of his usual jeans and paisley shirt, Radek was wearing a suit. A very nice suit. The term "sex on a stick" had been invented for situations like this.
Radek sighed and rolled his eyes. "It is ridiculous, that's what it is. The heads of each department are having this lunch with the board of trustees, fancy luncheon, much administrative BS."
Rodney nodded sympathetically. "I know what you mean. But why are you going? You're not the head of engineering...unless you got promoted and never told me."
"No, Dr. Marshall is, but if a department head is busy, they are allowed to designate someone else to attend in their place." Radek looked understandably less than thrilled. "Amazingly, last week, Dr. Marshall realized he had an extremely important meeting scheduled about the same time as he would be attending this luncheon."
"Lucky you." Rodney could sympathize. "Pretty cool, though, that he trusts you enough to let you represent all of engineering to the board."
Radek didn't seem terribly impressed. "Not really. I suspect it has more to do with nationality than anything. The board is always fond of being able to claim the university has pooled talent from across the globe."
"...and Dr. Marshall is American," Rodney supplied.
"Yes," Radek confirmed. "Hardly surprising at an American university, but Dr. Marshall is always looking for any excuse to impress the trustees. It makes sense, more money for research, but it was my misfortune that Dr. Khemani is on vacation this week. She likes these functions."
Rodney tried to look appropriately sympathetic as he leaned back against Radek's kitchen counter. "Well, have fun."
"Fun, yes." Radek's accent sharpened a bit with the added sarcasm. "Perhaps I should clean you up and drag you along."
"Who, me?" Rodney blinked innocently. "A musician from a hole in the wall bar?"
"A Canadian musician who was once up and coming in the field of theoretical physics." Radek's lips--oh, those lips--curled into a sly grin. "If you were looking for a second job, I could pull some strings for you. With your masters' degree, you could easily teach some introductory courses."
In the past, Rodney had usually become annoyed at this point in the conversation, academic friends who insisted he should get back into physics, put his "real" talents to use again. With Radek, though, he knew it was only the same sort of teasing he had been throwing Radek's way a few minutes ago. "Riiiight. A class full of eighteen year olds who are mostly just trying to get their science requirement out of the way. I don't think so." Time to up the ante. Without saying anything more, Rodney lifted the rest of the danish to his lips and licked it slowly, deliberately, giving Radek his best bedroom eyes.
Radek snorted. "Nice try--tempting, even. Unfortunately for both of us, I have to leave in the next few minutes if I want to avoid rushing to get to the university on time."
"Tempting, hmm?" Rodney was at least going to get a kiss out of this, dammit, because time crunch or not, Radek was looking seriously hot. He used a finger to scoop up a bit of icing, then smeared it on his lips. "I can be evil."
Radek sidled closer, smiling in anticipation. "You are the Diet Coke of evil." He leaned forward and kissed Rodney gently, kicking the icing from his lips and then following it up with a second kiss.
Rodney made a pleased noise, dipping his head down to brush his face against Radek's briefly. "I can't believe you just used that line."
"Are you kidding?" Radek asked, his voice low and sultry. "I have been waiting a long time to use that line." He took the danish from Rodney's hand and set it on the counter, then lifted Rodney's sticky fingers to his mouth, licking the icing clean. Then, as if that weren't enough of a turn-on, Radek very slowly and deliberately took each of Rodney's fingers into his mouth in turn, sucking them sensuously. He licked each finger in parting before moving on to the next, raising his eyes to meet Rodney's.
Rodney could feel himself becoming aroused very quickly, not that this was any surprise. His breath quickened as a significant amount of his blood flow was abruptly redirected south. Radek's mouth was warm, moist, and so inviting and Rodney's mind raced with possibilities. A quickie before Radek left was sounding more inviting by the second, especially as each swipe of Radek's tongue brought Rodney that much closer to being well and truly hard. "Oh...oh, God, you win. You so win."
"Thank you." Radek finished with the pinkie of Rodney's left hand, then handed him the danish again and licked his own fingers clean. He kissed Rodney's cheek quickly, then headed for the door. "I'll see you tonight."
It took Rodney's brain a second to process what just happened. "What the--you can't just leave like that!"
Radek threw him a look that was pure, sugar-coated evil. "I have to get to the university. Tonight?"
"Tonight," Rodney agreed, before frustration caught up with him. "Fucking tease!" he accused as Radek grabbed his wallet and started for the door.
Radek only continued to grin back over his shoulder as he headed out. "Tonight," he repeated, just before the door snicked shut behind him.
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It was fortunate, Rodney thought, that when Radek had decided to be such a tease, at least he'd had the good sense to do it in his apartment, where Rodney could slip into the bathroom and take care of himself before cleaning up and heading home to feed his cat. Rodney sometimes wondered why he and Radek bothered to maintain separate residences, but neither of them had brought up the idea of moving in together yet. Rodney didn't want to push--he liked what they had way too much to risk scaring Radek off if he wasn't ready for that next step yet--but he was well aware of the fact that they spent more nights together than not. Not that there was anything wrong with that...quite the opposite, in fact. Rodney's relationship with Radek was one of the best things to happen to him in a long time, and he was willing to allow as much time as was needed for things to progress naturally.
Thursdays around Atlantis were moderately busy--if the hotel across the street was holding a weekend conference, as it usually was, sometimes the early arrivals wandered over to check things out. Atlantis wasn't much to look at from the street, just another bar on the strip with a neon sign, but it was the closest one to the hotel. Atlantis had never managed to stay in business based solely on its looks; it was the atmosphere the regulars kept returning for. The hotel guests were probably more interested in the fact that they wouldn't be forced to pay nine dollars for a cocktail.
Rodney was just finishing up with "Let it Be" when he saw Radek come into the bar. Radek had obviously been home since his meeting, because he was back in jeans again, along with his glasses. Rodney wasn't surprised; Radek never had liked the contacts much. Rodney kind of preferred the glasses himself, but it honestly didn't matter--Radek looked damned good either way.
After swinging by the bar to talk to John for a moment and grab a drink, Radek wandered over and leaned up against the piano. "Good evening."
Rodney laughed quietly, but it came off as more of a snort. "You don't feel the least bit guilty about messing with me like that earlier, do you?"
Radek frowned a little. "Of course I do, milacku." He shrugged. "Not enough to stop me from doing it, but, yes, a little guilt nonetheless. Even if you started it."
Rodney glanced across the bar to where some of the patrons were taking advantage of the brief lull in the live music to check out the jukebox's selections. He could safely take a short break--longer, if they really loaded up a playlist. "Okay, fine, I'm sorry I challenged your capacity to be evil."
Radek didn't respond right away, instead taking a long sip of his drink and glancing around to see how many people were watching. Apparently satisfied, he looked back at Rodney and licked his lips slowly, extremely suggestively.
Rodney swallowed hard, then gave Radek a look. "You suck."
"I know," Radek responded, his voice low. "Quite well, actually--at least that's what you said last night, ne?"
Oh, God, the man was evil. Rodney tried to deepen his glare without much success, which was a little disturbing to him, considering how much experience he had with being snarky. "Bohemian freak," he muttered, shaking his head. "I'd tell you to bite me, but you'd enjoy that too much."
Radek took another sip of his drink, then finished it off. He shifted the empty glass from one hand to the other, then leaned forward to kiss Rodney's cheek quickly. They rarely took it farther than that in public, and as far as Rodney was concerned, anyone who had a problem with it could get the hell over it. He saw worse on the subway sometimes. "I promised I would see you tonight, but I really should be going now."
"Going?" Rodney echoed. "You've been here, what, ten minutes?"
"Yes," Radek confirmed with another small shrug, "but I told my sister I would call her tonight and if I wait too long, she will have left for work."
"Work?" Rodney was beginning to feel a bit like a parrot. "But it's only--oh, right." Prague was six hours ahead of them, after all. "Fine, be that way." He snuck a quick kiss of his own. "But you still suck. And not in the fun way, either."
Radek only smiled serenely, letting his hand linger on Rodney's shoulder for a long moment before he turned away. "You'll get over it soon."
Rodney was beginning to form a few plans of his own, and if they fell into place like he hoped, he would definitely be getting over it soon. "Your place or mine?"
Radek thought for a second. "I have a ten am meeting with a student tomorrow, so it should probably be mine. I'll see you in the morning."
Rodney grabbed Radek's hand as he began to walk away, giving it a quick squeeze before releasing. "See ya." He couldn't wait until he got to Radek's place now--this was going to be good.
--------------
It was not quite three am when Rodney got in; Radek's apartment was closer to the bar than his own, which was another fine reason for him to spend the night there again. He dropped his jacket on the couch and moved toward the bedroom quietly, quickly shedding everything but his boxers and slipping into bed. Radek roused a little, blinking at Rodney sleepily. "Oh, you're in, good." He snuggled closer to Rodney and settled again, closing his eyes.
Rodney had considered using the internet for a little translation work so he could figure out how to say "wake up" in Czech, but he had ultimately decided against it. He would probably manage to mangle the pronunciation somehow or use it in the right context and that would only confuse the situation. He kissed Radek's lips gently, then angled his neck so he could nibble on Radek's earlobe for a second. "Hey, not so fast; we still have unfinished business."
Radek's voice was still syrupy with sleep. "Mmm...later?"
"Oh, no." Rodney could be evil too, if not in the same ways. "You, me, sex, now. You started this."
"Actually, you did, Rodney," Radek murmured half-against the pillow.
"Yeah, but you took it way farther than I ever planned to." Fortunately, they'd been together long enough that Rodney knew exactly how to best get to Radek. He reached up a hand, toying gently with the soft curls at the nape of Radek's neck. It was a sensitive spot for Radek and never failed to produce results.
Radek's eyes opened again. "Oh...all right." Unsurprisingly, he didn't sound terribly put out about his sudden change of opinion. He shifted position and kissed Rodney, in that slow, gentle, early-morning sex sort of way.
Rodney returned the kiss, though he was decidedly more awake, then dropped his head down to nuzzle Radek's neck. "I want a divorce."
"We're not even married," Radek said.
"I don't care. You're, like, pure Czech evil." Even when they were starting up a sleepy make-out session, which would hopefully lead to something more, even if it was quick, Rodney couldn't resist a little teasing. He loved that their relationship was like that. "I still want a divorce."
"No, you don't," Radek insisted, reaching down to slip one hand inside Rodney's boxers.
Rodney shuddered a little at the touch. "Oh, no, I don't," he agreed suddenly, going back for another kiss.
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Rodney awoke to the sound of Radek's alarm and the wonderful feel of Radek's warm body curled up beside him, one arm draped over Rodney's chest. Life was good, despite the shrill alarm. Radek muttered a Czech curse of some sort and rolled over to silence the offending noise.
"Good morning," Rodney greeted him when Radek looked back at him.
"Morning," Rodney murmured.
Radek dropped a kiss onto Rodney's forehead. "It's early, still. Go back to sleep."
Rodney wasn't going to have a problem complying with that suggestion. "Mm'kay." He loved mornings like these--especially following nights like the one they'd had. "Have fun at work."
"Oh, yes, setting up student's schedules, much entertainment to be found." Radek chuckled. "I will call you later--perhaps we can do lunch?"
Lunch sounded good. "Mmm, maybe I can do you at lunch?" Rodney suggested.
"Now who's being evil?" Radek purred. He kissed Rodney's temple again before moving toward the bedroom door, presumably so he could get in the shower. "I'll see you soon, milacku."
One of these days, Rodney was going to figure out what that endearment meant. He knew he could look it up online if he really wanted to, but that would have ruined the mystery. "See ya," he called back tiredly, rolling over to get a little more sleep, even as Radek's cats both jumped up to claim his vacated spot in the bed. Yeah...his life was pretty damned good.
The End