FIC: Restless (Ray Levoi/Walter Crow Horse, PG-13)
TITLE: Restless
RATING: PG-13
FANDOM: Thunderheart
PAIRING: Ray Levoi/Walter Crow Horse
SUMMARY: Turnabout is fair play.
AUTHOR’S NOTES: For rarepair100 prompt #25: restless.
Ray had trouble relaxing. At first Crow Horse had thought it was a raised Wasi’chu thing, but then he reflected on how long it seemed to take the white folks at BIA to get anything done, and besides, with Ray it went deeper than that. It was something inherent, as ever present and unalterable as the color of his eyes.
Crow Horse was a sensible man. He knew what his responsibilities were, and he held to them. And if he needed to get up at two AM to get things done, well, that’s when he’d get up. But not a moment before that, and certainly not over an hour before that, to go out running, of all the fool things.
Happily, it wasn’t two when he needed to be up, but five, but unfortunately Ray got restless even in his sleep, which meant that it was now quarter ’til four and Crow Horse was awake. Ray had dreamt funny, and then they’d woken him to toss and turn and generally make a nuisance of himself. Crow Horse wished he could just push Ray off the bed like he did the damn dog when he couldn’t settle down, but he knew that the resulting argument-they were partners, and this was Ray’s bed too, and if it wasn’t, then Crow Horse had a whole helluva lot more to answer for than an exuberant nudge-wouldn’t exactly be sleep-conducive, either. So he had just waited for Ray to get agitated enough to go put himself to something, which he finally had, snatching up his sneakers and heading for the road.
Which was all well and good, but Crow Horse was still awake.
Crow Horse kicked Jimmy, who had snuck up to take Ray’s spot, off the bed for a third time, and buried his face in his pillow. Once you got near enough to when you had to get up, you could chase sleep hard as you could and never hope to catch it. Crow Horse cursed Ray, and Jimmy, and then himself for bringing them both home with him. His mother had warned him about taking in strays.
Crow Horse, with the raw senses of being awake against your will, heard the front door open and close-gentler now then when Ray had left; hopefully that meant he’d burnt through some of his nerves. Crow Horse listened, still facedown in his pillow, as Ray entered the bedroom and stripped, letting his clothes fall to the floor and then leaving them there. That piqued some interest-Ray wasn’t so much anal as he was habitually neat-but not enough for Crow Horse to move. He did that shortly enough, though, and without his permission; Ray slid back under the covers, his body brushing Crow Horse’s, and Crow Horse jumped.
“Jesus! You’re freezing.”
Ray winced. “Sorry. It’s raining.”
“Yeah, I figured,” Crow Horse said, propping himself up on his forearms. “You’re dripping.”
“Sorry,” Ray said, mouth turning down sheepishly, and started to leave.
“Hell,” Crow Horse said. “Don’t run off.”
Ray settled back down, and when Crow Horse lay down himself, Ray scooted against him. Crow Horse flinched; Ray’s body, all the way down, was ice cold, and in many places wet with freezing rain. Crow Horse could feel little muscles shivering against him, and he ignored his own discomfort and put an arm around Ray, pulled him close. Ray nuzzled against him gratefully.
“Thought a nice, cold rain’d feel good running,” Crow Horse said. “Cool you off.”
Ray moaned. “No. It makes your muscles ache; it’s painful.”
Crow Horse ran his fingertips absently over the dips and ridges of Ray’s spine.
“Then why do it? Why not come in the house where it’s warm and dry, like a sane person?”
Ray sighed, and drew back enough to look Crow Horse in the face.
“You wouldn’t like me if I was easy,” he said.
Crow Horse laughed and fit the joint of Ray’s jaw in his palm, held Ray in place long enough to kiss him.
“Maybe you’re right,” he said. “Still. You need to watch what you say, kola. That word’s got another meaning, especially considering where we are.”
Ray blinked at him for a moment, and then went red the moment he got the joke. He tried to pull away, but Crow Horse had his sensible hands on him, holding him fast. Crow Horse pushed Ray to his back, pinning him to the mattress, and then loomed over him. Ray shivered beneath him, but Crow Horse wasn’t so sure, this time, that it was from the cold.
“I like you easy in bed just fine.”
***
When the alarm went off at five, poor Ray was still trying to catch his breath. He moaned, squeezing his eyes shut like he could blind himself to the coming morning.
Crow Horse turned the alarm off. It didn’t seem to ease Ray’s suffering any.
“Let’s go, chief,” he said.
“I don’t think I have the energy to get out of bed,” Ray said. His voice was muffled, strangely bloated; he was talking into the mattress.
“You best find it,” Crow Horse said. “We got a long day ahead of us. Come on, now; don’t think just cuz you’re sleeping with the boss, you won’t get written up for being late.”
Ray cursed. Crow Horse laughed, and near skipped to the door to let Jimmy out. Normally that was Ray’s job, but Crow Horse figured Ray could use a few extra minutes in bed. Poor kid sounded exhausted.