(Untitled)

[little_moons]

It was a good day. Busy and hectic and humiliatingly domestic, but a good day. By some fuckin' miracle, the girls slept 'til seven, and Mike and I were heading out the door to open up the restaurant while Tom was getting them up and dressed for the day. I spent the morning there, sitting behind the bar with an open textbook, then I made the walk up

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[out_of_realm]

Tom Hobbes was tired. He didn't have much reason to be, it wasn't a longer day than any other. The girls, ITF, a few minor projects around the house. Not anything unusual, but there was a tingle in his shoulderblades that told him pain would come with morning. He grimaced. He was getting to the age where it was a choice between giving up beer and being more diligent about running, and sometimes when it rained his right hip shot hot little slivers of pain through his thigh. That was Sarajevo, just saying hello across the years.

He was getting older. He guessed it had to happen sometime.

"You know," he said, dropping down into a low crouch by the edge of the pool and watching Neil with a slow smile. "I think I've seen you naked here more times than I have in our bedroom."

[out_of_realm]

"No...not at all," he said, shaking his head. "I mean, you're not...living back there, right? Back in Hutchinson?"

If he was, Tom couldn't blame him. This god damn place made it hard to get away.

[little_moons]

"No. Jesus, Tom, that place is about a million miles away, right now," I tell him, leaning back far enough that he can see my crooked smile.

"I've been here four years, today. That's why I was out here. I was thinkin' 'bout it. Everything that's happened here, you know?"

[out_of_realm]

Tom's eyes widened. "Four years? Jesus. I just passed three a few months ago."

He ducked his head, catching Neil's mouth in a kiss. "You know...things have changed a little." There was a grin in his voice. All the fear, the sadness, anger, those first rocky months with Mike -- it's funny, now. Or near enough to funny that no one would notice otherwise. Trial by fire, damn the odds.

They had done pretty well, all things considered.

[little_moons]

"Yeah, no shit," I say, grinning against his lips and playfully tightening my legs around his hips.

"Some really fucked up shit happened here at this fuckin' waterfall, but some good shit happened, too. It's always been one of my favorite places on the island."

[out_of_realm]

"I fucked Mike for the first time in that cave," he admitted, grinning a little. "That was pretty much right after we figured things out."

"What about you?" He asked, making a soft noise when Neil was flush against him. All told, the water wasn't that cold...

"What happened to you here?"

[little_moons]

"Yeah, I know. He told me. Right before he took me back there and fucked me right in the same place," I admit with a grin, laughing softly and making a face when I think back, all the way back, to when I first got here.

"I dunno, man. I learned how to swim, here. The first time I ever told Logan I loved him, was here. I caught him fooling around with his ex-girlfriend, right over there, and a few months later, he stood me up at the altar, right in the clearing over there," I say, jerking a nod toward dry land. "I ask him to marry me, on those rocks over there, and then broke up with him out here, more than once. And uh, Sirius and me fucked in the caves, not that long after he showed up here, the second time. I think I remember you bein' my knight in shinin' armor out here, once. Even though I didn't actually need saving."

[out_of_realm]

"Could've fooled me," Tom said, reaching down and palming Neil's ass under the water, kicking and stepping their way closer to the falls.

"So how does it come out after all that?" Tom asked, tilting his head at him. "Good place? Bad place? Just another place?"

[little_moons]

"I dunno. Maybe the jury's still out," I grin, leaning in to catch him in a shallow, teasing kiss, "You could still, you know, influence my decision."

[out_of_realm]

"Yeah?" Tom said, arching an eyebrow. "What do you suggest? Singing you songs? Dirty poems?"

He ran his hand down the underside of Neil's thigh. "I can go grab some candles, if you like."

[little_moons]

"I dunno. I think maybe what you're doin' right now could do the trick," I murmur, rocking against him gently with a playful glint in my eyes.

"I dunno what you're fuckin' obsession with dirty poems is. You never wrote a dirty poem in your fuckin' life."

[out_of_realm]

"You don't know that," Tom said primly, backing Neil up against a smooth boulder and crowding in against him. "I could have...volumes of dirty poems that you don't know about. Just wait, one day they'll wash up on the rec room shelf."

[little_moons]

"Sweetheart," I say with a syrupy sweet smile that just doesn't quite fit on my face, "I'm sorry, but you know you're full of shit, right?"

[out_of_realm]

The laughter that had been cloying at the back of Neil's throat suddenly burst loose and tucked his head against Neil's neck, laughing openly between light, brushing kisses.

"Hidden depths," he insisted, "Just you wait. One year anniversary, I'll show you all my other skills."

[little_moons]

"Why've I gotta wait 'til then?" I ask, grinning at the buzz of his laughter against my skin, "You could go ahead and show me now."

[out_of_realm]

"I've got a plan," Tom said, shaking his head. "Sorry. You're just gonna have to stick it out until then. If you think you can take it, I mean."

He pulled back and hoisted Neil up higher, fingers digging into his hips. "I think I can fall back on my other talents until then."