New Year's fic for mercilynn
Recipient: mercilynn
Author: sororcula
Disclaimer: Author doesn't own the show or the characters and isn't making any profit.
Title: *Bleep* Mountain!
Pairing: Don/Coop, brief mention of past Don/OFC and Don/OMC
Rating: hard R
Warnings: Spoilers for episode 1x13 Man Hunt.
Summary: Don and Cooper take a vacation.
Author's Note: Part of the prompt was "water slide," which Disneyland doesn't have, so I hope that a ride on Splash Mountain will suffice. The point was to get them wet, right? ;) I apologize if this gets slightly angsty in places. It's Don Eppes, what can you do?
*Bleep* Mountain!
Don hadn't been there since he was 12. Cooper, having grown up in the midwest in a family whose income meant that a vacation was rarely anything more spectacular than a drive to his grandma's house, had never been. When after two straight months spent tracking him down they caught Nathan Ritelli, the biggest crime lord this side of Chicago, they were rewarded with a week's paid vacation and Coop announced their destination with what could only be described as glee.
"We're going to Disneyland!" he said, slapping Don on the back. Don raised his eyebrows, ducking away.
"I hate to break it to you, man, but I don't think you're gonna fit on the Dumbo ride."
He managed to dodge the punch thrown his way.
Don hadn't been avoiding calling his folks because he didn't want to talk to them. He just didn't appreciate the lectures that invariably rang out across the line, even more concerned ever since they found out--which was entirely Coop's fault, and Don still hadn't completely forgiven him for it--about his little hospital stay back in March. It wasn't even serious. Don definitely would have called them about it if there had been major surgery involved.
He wondered if they'd ever told Charlie about that incident. Probably not. They treated the kid like he'd break under pressure, despite the fact that he was living across the Atlantic with some mysterious British blonde the rest of the family had never met. In his more spiteful moments Don sometimes wished Charlie would knock her up or develop a minor drug problem--something to prove that he wasn't perfect, and he wasn't a child. But that only happened occasionally. Mostly Don accepted his lot in life, even if it meant being the dumb brother. He didn't have to be a certified genius to do his job. Hell, Charlie couldn't handle this shit on the best of days. It was enough.
The point was, Anaheim is less than an hour from LA in good traffic, and he would never get away with coming that close and not visiting. He called home from the airport while Coop went to arrange a car rental.
He drove. It wasn't unusual to have Coop in the passenger seat, ready to point out the exits and interchanges, but this time he didn't need the direction or the map, and it felt different, having been intimately acquainted with these roads since childhood. Not some little podunk highway in the middle of Michigan barely paved over from gravel. Los Angeles meant full, wide freeways full of speeding cars and wildly irresponsible drivers. It felt like home.
Dad was on a consulting gig up in Sacramento and Charlie was still off drinking tea with Susan, so Mom was the only one home when they pulled up in the driveway. It was her first time meeting Coop in person, Don realized, but she hugged him like an old friend before turning to Don and holding him tight for long minutes. He wasn't ashamed to receive the affection. It had been sorely lacking for the past year.
"Come inside," she told them finally. "That was a long flight, you must be tired."
The house looked the same as when he'd last seen it. It was perfect. Mom ushered them inside and sat them down in the living room like company, paying careful attention to the life story she dragged out of Coop, charmed, Don could tell, by his "Yes ma'am, no ma'am" polite facade. It made him feel restless, so after a little while he excused himself to wander into the kitchen for a drink. Out the window was a view of the backyard, and off to the side, the garage. He poured himself a glass of water and headed out there to take in the sunshine and see how many of the koi had survived his absence. Eventually, Coop came out and found him sitting on the grass, leaning against the side of the garage.
"Your mom's going to cook us dinner," he told him. Don nodded and hummed in satisfaction. Coop settled down next to him, long legs stretched out in front of him. "You finding some fond memories?"
Don considered. He jerked a thumb at the building behind them. "I fucked the babysitter in here," he said.
Coop laughed, like he was maybe a little shocked. "Shut the fuck up, the babysitter?" He waited, and when Don said nothing, he laughed again, content that Don was lying. "You did not."
He had. Thinking about it, he could still remember the soft feel of her thighs spreading under his hands, the slightly cloying scent of her perfume mixed with that of her hairspray, the little whimpering noises she'd made when he pushed inside her.
Coop's thigh was pressed warm against his, and he shifted his leg away, uncomfortable.
His mom's homecooked meal was a refreshing change from the plastic packaging and greasy paper-wrapped fast food Don had gotten used to. He and Coop played off of each other, regaling her with stories that managed somehow to feature all of their bravest and least danger-filled moments. He could see the worry, though, hidden under the surface as she listened, and he changed the subject to ask about her work.
She caught him up on what he'd missed, which was a lot, as it turned out. His cousin was pregnant, his uncle getting married, Dad had gotten a promotion. Charlie was coming home in November and it would mean so much if Don could make it back for that, she told him earnestly. Don could feel Coop's eyes on him, but he just shrugged noncommittally and took a bite of his lasagna.
The next day was hot and bright. They stood in line among excited, whiny children and their harried parents, waiting for the ticket booths to open. Don adjusted his sunglasses and eyed Coop's fair skin.
"You know, we'll be outside all day. You're going to burn."
Coop ignored him, checking his watch and craning his neck to see if any ticket takers were in sight.
"Luckily for you," Don continued, "I brought sunscreen." He pulled the tube out of his pocket. Technically his mother had been the one to think of it and force it on him, but he couldn't see any reason to pass that information along. He held it out to Coop, who took it with a sigh.
"Jesus, Don, do you mind? I'm trying to look cool in front of the 5-year-olds." Coop smeared the block onto his face, leaving a few white streaks along his chin. Don reached out and smudged it in with his thumb, making the marks disappear. When he pulled back Coop was watching him. He stuck his hands in his pockets and looked away.
"Don't forget your arms," he muttered.
The thing with Coop was... Don wasn't gay. There had been the time in high school, once, when he made out with José, and a couple of mutual drunken handjobs in college, and okay, the locker room incident in the Rangers got pretty explicit, but.
Maybe Don was a little bit gay.
Before Coop, though, there hadn't been any guys who made his stomach drop out like this, who made him fantasize, distracted, about touching the skin revealed when their shirts rode up. It was always casual and spontaneous before Coop.
Coop made Don want to make plans.
A small cheer rang out around them as the gates opened up ahead. They shuffled forward with the crowd and finally made it into the park.
After a few hours Don was contemplating sending his pregnant cousin a condolence card instead of a congratulatory one. He didn't remember children being this awful when he was a kid. Some of them were cute, and a few were well-behaved, but really, why risk it when you could just get a cat? A stroller banged into his shins for the 10th time that day and he stifled a curse, nodding stiffly at the apologetic mother navigating it.
Coop was having a blast. Don couldn't begrudge him the good time. He'd forgotten how cool some of this was. Some of the rides were too babyish for two grown men to ride without looking creepy, but they rocked Space Mountain and the Matterhorn and the Indiana Jones ride a few times throughout the day.
A little after four o'clock, when the sun was high in the sky, they found themselves in Critter Country and bypassed the weirdass animatronic singing bears to stand in line at Splash Mountain. They made their way through the cavelike labyrinth of a line and ended up climbing into a floating hollowed out log with two teenaged girls sitting in the seats behind them. Coop sat in front.
They floated along for a minute before finding themselves bearing witness to the adventures of Br'er Rabbit as he tried to outsmart his adversaries, all the while accompanied by a lively soundtrack. Then the music turned ominous and they were cranked up an incline. At the top there was a brief pause before they were plunged down the steep mountainside to land with a splash at the bottom. The girls sitting behind him shrieked with delight, and Don couldn't hold back a grin as they floated their way through to the end.
When they arrived out in the open, Don went to exchange a smile with Coop and felt the familiar flip his stomach always did when, say, Coop stepped out of the shower without bothering to properly dress. His white t-shirt was soaked through and clinging to his chest. Coop gathered up the hem to ring it out and the smooth, flat surface of his stomach was exposed for a moment, drawing Don's gaze. The fabric slapped back into place and Don's eyes jumped up to meet Coop's. He'd been caught. Maybe. Coop didn't say anything, but he paused for a second before grinning and making some comment about not needing a shower after this.
They wandered around outside for awhile to let the sun dry them off and eventually went on a few more rides before deciding to call it a day. It was after 7 by the time they got home, and Mom was out at a book club meeting, so Don heated up a couple plates of leftover lasagna and scrounged up a bottle of wine, since there was a shameful lack of beer in the fridge.
They ate in the living room, with the TV on to a Seinfeld rerun. Between them they finished off the wine.
Disneyland was more exhausting than man hunting, Don thought. Which was kind of fucked up. It was just after 8 but he felt like he could fall asleep in his chair if he let himself. He stood up, stretching.
"I'm gonna take a shower," he announced. Coop nodded, eyes on George Costanza.
The hot water felt blissfully good on his skin, washing off the sweat and grime of the day. He thumbed at his dick as he washed but was too tired to do anything. He couldn't remember the last time he'd gone to bed this early, but he also couldn't remember the last time he'd gotten enough sleep on a regular basis, so maybe it made sense to catch up while he was on vacation.
Coop was in Don's room when he got out of the shower, stretched out on the bed with his ankles crossed and his arms tucked behind his head. Don paused in the doorway and Coop opened his eyes, smiling sleepily.
Don closed the door behind himself without thinking and ignored Coop in favor of heading over to his suitcase, where his discman was packed.
"C'mere," Coop said.
"I'm working on it, but once I get there I'm kicking you out, so be careful what you wish for," Don warned him.
Coop's voice got a little steadier. Harder. "Come here."
Don froze, then turned slowly to face Coop, headphones dangling from one hand. Coop didn't say anything for a few moments.
"What?" Don asked, finally.
Coop sighed. "I know you think you're being subtle or some shit, but you're not doing either of us any favors pretending you're not doing what we both know you are."
What was that, a riddle?
"What am I doing?" Don challenged. He tried to make his voice hard and discouraging, but he was afraid it only came out trapped.
"I see you looking," Coop said clearly, slow to enunciate each word. "I know what it means."
"It doesn't mean anything," Don said, a little desperate, "except that you're always in my face! I didn't invite you in here."
"You closed the door."
Don crossed to the door and opened it. He stood there expectantly, waiting for Coop to leave. Sure enough, Coop got up and ambled over, and Don was almost ready to heave a sigh of relief. Then Coop grabbed the knob to shut the door closed, pressing Don up against it, and the sigh turned into a sharp intake of breath.
"I don't know why you're denying it." He paused. "Hell, I don't think you even know why you're denying it."
He leaned in, pressed a soft kiss to Don's lips, and Don let out a muffled sound of surprise.
If Coop wanted Don, that... Well. That changed everything.
He let Coop lead for a minute, worried that he'd pull away at any second, that this was some elaborate prank, but when Coop slipped his thigh between Don's, pressing up against his dick, Don couldn't hold back and he leaned in to return the kiss in earnest. He could feel Coop smile against his mouth before deepening their kiss with a brush of his tongue across Don's lips and as he let Coop in he felt rough, thick fingers slipping inside his sweat pants to slide down against his dick.
Coop pulled his mouth away far enough to speak. "You still want to kick me out?" he murmured.
Don dropped his head back against the door. "Not really."
Coop laughed and tugged him forward until they were at the bed. He sat, pulling Don down with him, and maneuvered them so that he was on top, straddling Don.
It felt like a dream. In fact, Don was pretty sure he'd had this dream before.
It also felt shockingly real, Coop's heavy warmth weighing him down, lightly calloused fingertips brushing up under his shirt, making him shiver, lips traveling along his jaw, soft licks interspersed with the occasional sharp bite of teeth.
Downstairs he heard the front door open and he almost bucked Coop off the bed in his haste to sit up and somehow make the situation appear innocent to potential witnesses. Coop looked annoyed.
"It's not like she's coming in here," he murmured, starting to lean in again.
"That's my mother," Don hissed. "I can't... Definitely can't have sex while she's in the house."
Just the thought of it was enough to give him a miniature heart attack.
"You're kidding me," Coop said.
Don shook his head.
Coop sighed and collapsed back to lie sideways across the foot of the bed. Don sat and eyed the erection tenting Coop's shorts.
"Sorry," he offered. Coop pressed a palm against his dick for a moment, taking a deep breath before scrubbing a hand across his face.
"You should probably go back to your room," Don said apologetically.
"Yeah." Coop paused. "Man, I can't believe this is a thing for you. After all that."
After another minute he got up, leaned down to press one last firm kiss to Don's lips, and slipped out of the room. Downstairs Don heard the sound of the refrigerator being opened and shut.
He lay back, settled against his pillow, content despite it all.
He had plans to make.
--End--
Author: sororcula
Disclaimer: Author doesn't own the show or the characters and isn't making any profit.
Title: *Bleep* Mountain!
Pairing: Don/Coop, brief mention of past Don/OFC and Don/OMC
Rating: hard R
Warnings: Spoilers for episode 1x13 Man Hunt.
Summary: Don and Cooper take a vacation.
Author's Note: Part of the prompt was "water slide," which Disneyland doesn't have, so I hope that a ride on Splash Mountain will suffice. The point was to get them wet, right? ;) I apologize if this gets slightly angsty in places. It's Don Eppes, what can you do?
*Bleep* Mountain!
Don hadn't been there since he was 12. Cooper, having grown up in the midwest in a family whose income meant that a vacation was rarely anything more spectacular than a drive to his grandma's house, had never been. When after two straight months spent tracking him down they caught Nathan Ritelli, the biggest crime lord this side of Chicago, they were rewarded with a week's paid vacation and Coop announced their destination with what could only be described as glee.
"We're going to Disneyland!" he said, slapping Don on the back. Don raised his eyebrows, ducking away.
"I hate to break it to you, man, but I don't think you're gonna fit on the Dumbo ride."
He managed to dodge the punch thrown his way.
Don hadn't been avoiding calling his folks because he didn't want to talk to them. He just didn't appreciate the lectures that invariably rang out across the line, even more concerned ever since they found out--which was entirely Coop's fault, and Don still hadn't completely forgiven him for it--about his little hospital stay back in March. It wasn't even serious. Don definitely would have called them about it if there had been major surgery involved.
He wondered if they'd ever told Charlie about that incident. Probably not. They treated the kid like he'd break under pressure, despite the fact that he was living across the Atlantic with some mysterious British blonde the rest of the family had never met. In his more spiteful moments Don sometimes wished Charlie would knock her up or develop a minor drug problem--something to prove that he wasn't perfect, and he wasn't a child. But that only happened occasionally. Mostly Don accepted his lot in life, even if it meant being the dumb brother. He didn't have to be a certified genius to do his job. Hell, Charlie couldn't handle this shit on the best of days. It was enough.
The point was, Anaheim is less than an hour from LA in good traffic, and he would never get away with coming that close and not visiting. He called home from the airport while Coop went to arrange a car rental.
He drove. It wasn't unusual to have Coop in the passenger seat, ready to point out the exits and interchanges, but this time he didn't need the direction or the map, and it felt different, having been intimately acquainted with these roads since childhood. Not some little podunk highway in the middle of Michigan barely paved over from gravel. Los Angeles meant full, wide freeways full of speeding cars and wildly irresponsible drivers. It felt like home.
Dad was on a consulting gig up in Sacramento and Charlie was still off drinking tea with Susan, so Mom was the only one home when they pulled up in the driveway. It was her first time meeting Coop in person, Don realized, but she hugged him like an old friend before turning to Don and holding him tight for long minutes. He wasn't ashamed to receive the affection. It had been sorely lacking for the past year.
"Come inside," she told them finally. "That was a long flight, you must be tired."
The house looked the same as when he'd last seen it. It was perfect. Mom ushered them inside and sat them down in the living room like company, paying careful attention to the life story she dragged out of Coop, charmed, Don could tell, by his "Yes ma'am, no ma'am" polite facade. It made him feel restless, so after a little while he excused himself to wander into the kitchen for a drink. Out the window was a view of the backyard, and off to the side, the garage. He poured himself a glass of water and headed out there to take in the sunshine and see how many of the koi had survived his absence. Eventually, Coop came out and found him sitting on the grass, leaning against the side of the garage.
"Your mom's going to cook us dinner," he told him. Don nodded and hummed in satisfaction. Coop settled down next to him, long legs stretched out in front of him. "You finding some fond memories?"
Don considered. He jerked a thumb at the building behind them. "I fucked the babysitter in here," he said.
Coop laughed, like he was maybe a little shocked. "Shut the fuck up, the babysitter?" He waited, and when Don said nothing, he laughed again, content that Don was lying. "You did not."
He had. Thinking about it, he could still remember the soft feel of her thighs spreading under his hands, the slightly cloying scent of her perfume mixed with that of her hairspray, the little whimpering noises she'd made when he pushed inside her.
Coop's thigh was pressed warm against his, and he shifted his leg away, uncomfortable.
His mom's homecooked meal was a refreshing change from the plastic packaging and greasy paper-wrapped fast food Don had gotten used to. He and Coop played off of each other, regaling her with stories that managed somehow to feature all of their bravest and least danger-filled moments. He could see the worry, though, hidden under the surface as she listened, and he changed the subject to ask about her work.
She caught him up on what he'd missed, which was a lot, as it turned out. His cousin was pregnant, his uncle getting married, Dad had gotten a promotion. Charlie was coming home in November and it would mean so much if Don could make it back for that, she told him earnestly. Don could feel Coop's eyes on him, but he just shrugged noncommittally and took a bite of his lasagna.
The next day was hot and bright. They stood in line among excited, whiny children and their harried parents, waiting for the ticket booths to open. Don adjusted his sunglasses and eyed Coop's fair skin.
"You know, we'll be outside all day. You're going to burn."
Coop ignored him, checking his watch and craning his neck to see if any ticket takers were in sight.
"Luckily for you," Don continued, "I brought sunscreen." He pulled the tube out of his pocket. Technically his mother had been the one to think of it and force it on him, but he couldn't see any reason to pass that information along. He held it out to Coop, who took it with a sigh.
"Jesus, Don, do you mind? I'm trying to look cool in front of the 5-year-olds." Coop smeared the block onto his face, leaving a few white streaks along his chin. Don reached out and smudged it in with his thumb, making the marks disappear. When he pulled back Coop was watching him. He stuck his hands in his pockets and looked away.
"Don't forget your arms," he muttered.
The thing with Coop was... Don wasn't gay. There had been the time in high school, once, when he made out with José, and a couple of mutual drunken handjobs in college, and okay, the locker room incident in the Rangers got pretty explicit, but.
Maybe Don was a little bit gay.
Before Coop, though, there hadn't been any guys who made his stomach drop out like this, who made him fantasize, distracted, about touching the skin revealed when their shirts rode up. It was always casual and spontaneous before Coop.
Coop made Don want to make plans.
A small cheer rang out around them as the gates opened up ahead. They shuffled forward with the crowd and finally made it into the park.
After a few hours Don was contemplating sending his pregnant cousin a condolence card instead of a congratulatory one. He didn't remember children being this awful when he was a kid. Some of them were cute, and a few were well-behaved, but really, why risk it when you could just get a cat? A stroller banged into his shins for the 10th time that day and he stifled a curse, nodding stiffly at the apologetic mother navigating it.
Coop was having a blast. Don couldn't begrudge him the good time. He'd forgotten how cool some of this was. Some of the rides were too babyish for two grown men to ride without looking creepy, but they rocked Space Mountain and the Matterhorn and the Indiana Jones ride a few times throughout the day.
A little after four o'clock, when the sun was high in the sky, they found themselves in Critter Country and bypassed the weirdass animatronic singing bears to stand in line at Splash Mountain. They made their way through the cavelike labyrinth of a line and ended up climbing into a floating hollowed out log with two teenaged girls sitting in the seats behind them. Coop sat in front.
They floated along for a minute before finding themselves bearing witness to the adventures of Br'er Rabbit as he tried to outsmart his adversaries, all the while accompanied by a lively soundtrack. Then the music turned ominous and they were cranked up an incline. At the top there was a brief pause before they were plunged down the steep mountainside to land with a splash at the bottom. The girls sitting behind him shrieked with delight, and Don couldn't hold back a grin as they floated their way through to the end.
When they arrived out in the open, Don went to exchange a smile with Coop and felt the familiar flip his stomach always did when, say, Coop stepped out of the shower without bothering to properly dress. His white t-shirt was soaked through and clinging to his chest. Coop gathered up the hem to ring it out and the smooth, flat surface of his stomach was exposed for a moment, drawing Don's gaze. The fabric slapped back into place and Don's eyes jumped up to meet Coop's. He'd been caught. Maybe. Coop didn't say anything, but he paused for a second before grinning and making some comment about not needing a shower after this.
They wandered around outside for awhile to let the sun dry them off and eventually went on a few more rides before deciding to call it a day. It was after 7 by the time they got home, and Mom was out at a book club meeting, so Don heated up a couple plates of leftover lasagna and scrounged up a bottle of wine, since there was a shameful lack of beer in the fridge.
They ate in the living room, with the TV on to a Seinfeld rerun. Between them they finished off the wine.
Disneyland was more exhausting than man hunting, Don thought. Which was kind of fucked up. It was just after 8 but he felt like he could fall asleep in his chair if he let himself. He stood up, stretching.
"I'm gonna take a shower," he announced. Coop nodded, eyes on George Costanza.
The hot water felt blissfully good on his skin, washing off the sweat and grime of the day. He thumbed at his dick as he washed but was too tired to do anything. He couldn't remember the last time he'd gone to bed this early, but he also couldn't remember the last time he'd gotten enough sleep on a regular basis, so maybe it made sense to catch up while he was on vacation.
Coop was in Don's room when he got out of the shower, stretched out on the bed with his ankles crossed and his arms tucked behind his head. Don paused in the doorway and Coop opened his eyes, smiling sleepily.
Don closed the door behind himself without thinking and ignored Coop in favor of heading over to his suitcase, where his discman was packed.
"C'mere," Coop said.
"I'm working on it, but once I get there I'm kicking you out, so be careful what you wish for," Don warned him.
Coop's voice got a little steadier. Harder. "Come here."
Don froze, then turned slowly to face Coop, headphones dangling from one hand. Coop didn't say anything for a few moments.
"What?" Don asked, finally.
Coop sighed. "I know you think you're being subtle or some shit, but you're not doing either of us any favors pretending you're not doing what we both know you are."
What was that, a riddle?
"What am I doing?" Don challenged. He tried to make his voice hard and discouraging, but he was afraid it only came out trapped.
"I see you looking," Coop said clearly, slow to enunciate each word. "I know what it means."
"It doesn't mean anything," Don said, a little desperate, "except that you're always in my face! I didn't invite you in here."
"You closed the door."
Don crossed to the door and opened it. He stood there expectantly, waiting for Coop to leave. Sure enough, Coop got up and ambled over, and Don was almost ready to heave a sigh of relief. Then Coop grabbed the knob to shut the door closed, pressing Don up against it, and the sigh turned into a sharp intake of breath.
"I don't know why you're denying it." He paused. "Hell, I don't think you even know why you're denying it."
He leaned in, pressed a soft kiss to Don's lips, and Don let out a muffled sound of surprise.
If Coop wanted Don, that... Well. That changed everything.
He let Coop lead for a minute, worried that he'd pull away at any second, that this was some elaborate prank, but when Coop slipped his thigh between Don's, pressing up against his dick, Don couldn't hold back and he leaned in to return the kiss in earnest. He could feel Coop smile against his mouth before deepening their kiss with a brush of his tongue across Don's lips and as he let Coop in he felt rough, thick fingers slipping inside his sweat pants to slide down against his dick.
Coop pulled his mouth away far enough to speak. "You still want to kick me out?" he murmured.
Don dropped his head back against the door. "Not really."
Coop laughed and tugged him forward until they were at the bed. He sat, pulling Don down with him, and maneuvered them so that he was on top, straddling Don.
It felt like a dream. In fact, Don was pretty sure he'd had this dream before.
It also felt shockingly real, Coop's heavy warmth weighing him down, lightly calloused fingertips brushing up under his shirt, making him shiver, lips traveling along his jaw, soft licks interspersed with the occasional sharp bite of teeth.
Downstairs he heard the front door open and he almost bucked Coop off the bed in his haste to sit up and somehow make the situation appear innocent to potential witnesses. Coop looked annoyed.
"It's not like she's coming in here," he murmured, starting to lean in again.
"That's my mother," Don hissed. "I can't... Definitely can't have sex while she's in the house."
Just the thought of it was enough to give him a miniature heart attack.
"You're kidding me," Coop said.
Don shook his head.
Coop sighed and collapsed back to lie sideways across the foot of the bed. Don sat and eyed the erection tenting Coop's shorts.
"Sorry," he offered. Coop pressed a palm against his dick for a moment, taking a deep breath before scrubbing a hand across his face.
"You should probably go back to your room," Don said apologetically.
"Yeah." Coop paused. "Man, I can't believe this is a thing for you. After all that."
After another minute he got up, leaned down to press one last firm kiss to Don's lips, and slipped out of the room. Downstairs Don heard the sound of the refrigerator being opened and shut.
He lay back, settled against his pillow, content despite it all.
He had plans to make.
--End--