Richard Book is Innocent (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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tweedandtinsel2010-12-04 05:06 pm
oxfordtweed) wrote in tweedandtinsel2010-12-04 05:06 pm
Lamp Light (6/10)
Title: Lamp Light
Fandom: Hot Fuzz
Character/s: Like in the film
Word Count (chapter/total): 6,000 / 47,100
Rating: NC-17
Summary/Warnings: With all that's going on in Nicholas' life, Danny's starting to feel a bit neglected.
Some things happened in this chapter that were completely unplanned, but I think they've added a bit of depth and insight into the characters; particularly Nicholas' relationships with Janine and Travis. I'm not necessarily sure how to categorize Nicholas and Travis, in respect of where they were when Nicholas was still in London, and where they are now, especially with Danny in the picture, but I have a very clear idea of how they are with one another, and why, despite Travis being the one to ship Nicholas off to fuck-all nowhere, they're still close. Truth be told, he wasn't even supposed to be a character in this, but I think he's become a major role in the overall plot, and has caused me to re-work my outline more than once.
Danny slammed the burnt rubbish bin down on the desk, letting the clang resonate throughout the makeshift office.
"Wot's that?" Andy asked. "If you're that pressed for a Christmas gift, I can go without this year."
Danny frowned down at the detective. "You're gonna tell me who's responserable," he said stiffly.
Andrew peered into the rubbish bin. "You mean 'responsible,' you prick," he said.
Danny slammed the bin down again, causing Andrew to jump back. "One of you arseholes put a lit fag in 'ere last night," he demanded. "And I know it were you, because no one else 'ere smokes!"
"So, what's the big deal?" Andy sneered. "S'not like Angle's 'ere to mother hen us any more. Didn't you hear he transferred?" Andrew cast a sideways glance at the younger detective.
Danny frowned. "He didn't fuckin' transfer!" he shouted. "He's at home, on account of you pricks!" Andrew inhaled nervously. "He had to come in 'ere at eight last night, 'cause you lit the place on fire!" Danny continued. "And I had to deal with it the rest of the night!"
"So?" Andy snipped. "S'not my fault he's got you on a short leash."
Danny chewed his lip for a moment before slamming identical papers on the desk. "Sign them," he ordered.
"Ain't that Tony's job?" Andrew asked, reading over the paper.
"He's in the closet, breathin' into a paper bag," Danny said stiffly, slamming a pair of pens onto the desk. "Sign it."
The detectives grumbled as they reached out for the pens, grudgingly signing their names in the appropriate boxes. Satisfied, Danny took the forms and pens, and left, leaving the charred remains of the rubbish bin as a reminder.
Danny let himself into the cottage, finding Nicholas awake and looking not very cranky at all. Maybe staying at home was a good thing. Of course, he was petting that damn plant again, so maybe not.
"Hey," Danny said, making sure Nicholas knew he was there.
Nicholas turned around, startled at Danny's entry. "Hi," he said. "Didn't hear you come in."
Danny shrugged as he walked up to Nicholas, handing him a thin folder. Nicholas put down his spray bottle and went through the forms that needed his attention. Being the only inspector in Sandford, he couldn't ever really go on a proper leave of absence, because he needed to sign everything that went through the station.
"Tony figured out what to do about them, then?" he asked, coming to the Andy's corrective action details, effectively marking them for traffic detail for two weeks.
Danny frowned as he shrug again. "Sure," he said. His handwriting looked nothing like Tony's, and he thought Nicholas would have known this, but didn't want to point it out. He probably shouldn't have taken matters into his hands, but if Tony was gonna pitch another fit every time he needed to decide on anything more complicated than what colour Biro to use, what was left of the Sandford constabulary would collapse. "Walker officially put in his resignation today, too," Danny informed him. "Should be in the back, somewhere."
Nicholas nodded. "He deserves it," he said honestly. "Though I am sad to see him go."
"Pension's enough to keep him and Saxon happy, I guess," Danny conceded.
Nicholas blinked and looked up. "Saxon's station property, isn't he?"
Danny laughed. "You ever see a police dog that'll chase a suspect just to lick their face?" he asked. "Dad just let him keep him around, because he said it looked good for us to have a dog around the place."
Nicholas shook his head as he finished leafing through the papers. "I'll drop this by tomorrow," he said, slapping it lightly on the table in an effort to finalize with himself that he really, honestly, should not be thinking about work. "But I think I have some down time I need to get to."
Danny smiled; that wonderful, tilted smile he gave when something didn't quite fit in his mind. "You should have been doing that all day," he pointed out.
Nicholas looked away guiltily. "I...might have got Mr. Baker next door to give me a lift into Bufford Abbey," he admitted. "I took care of a lot of errands I haven't had the time to do lately, and fetched a cab back home.
Danny shook his head. "You're supposed to be relaxin'," he scolded. "Not off gallivantin' with the neighbours."
Nicholas shrugged. "I can't properly relax if I've got a stack of work that needs to be done," he said, moving to the sofa. "You know that."
"You need to switch off," Danny said as he followed Nicholas.
"You're sounding like my ex."
Danny frowned again, not sure how much he agreed to being compared to the previous person Nicholas had slept with. "Well, I don't know..." he realized that he'd never even heard anything about Nicholas' ex, other than that there was one... "him... but he's right."
"Her," Nicholas said with a sigh.
Danny blinked. "Her?" he asked.
"Yes," Nicholas confirmed. "Her name was Janine."
"Oh," Danny said, suddenly dreading that he'd misinterpreted their entire relationship. "I thought..."
Nicholas laughed. "Some thing's are black and white, Danny," he said, leaning heavily against the other man. "Yes, I have slept with women. And believe it or not, I actually enjoyed it."
Danny laughed. "Andy says you don't enjoy nothing," he said.
"And Andy also may have lit a rubbish bin on fire," Nicholas pointed out. "Don't listen to him."
Danny sighed nervously and shifted to wrap his arm around Nicholas' chest, feeling slightly better when Nicholas reached up to grab hold of his hand. "Andy said you was talking to some girl when you two was in London," Danny said quietly. "Was that her, then?"
Nicholas took a moment to think. For a few seconds, he thought Andy might have been referring to Peter, and then remembered what had happened earlier that evening. "Yeah," he said.
"Do you still care about her?" Danny wasn't sure why he asked it, afraid of what Nicholas might say.
"Part of me always will," he admitted. "We had planned on getting married, even." He sighed, squeezing Danny's hand tightly.
"What happened?" Danny asked, not sure if he was allowed to bring up his boyfriend's ex-apparently-finance.
Nicholas took a few moments to respond, idly stroking his fingers up and down Danny's arm. "Things got... complicated," he said finally. He acted like he was trying to find the right words, but eventually gave up. Danny, taking the hint, nodded. He lightly pushed Nicholas off of him and stood up.
"Hey," he said, effectively hijacking their conversation. "I brought some DVDs over, if you want."
Nicholas looked up at him, nodding after a few seconds. "Yeah," he said, trying to ignore that Janine had even been brought up. "Sure."
Danny grinned and made his way toward the front door. "Great," he said. "Got 'em in the car. Be right back." He bounded out the door, leaving Nicholas alone on the sofa for a few moments. In a brief fit of insanity, he considered trying to give Janine a ring, but vetoed the idea at once. Nothing good would come of it, and she'd likely just hang up on him.
He sighed and brought his feet up onto the sofa, his fingers tracing the seam in his trousers. He jumped slightly when Danny let himself into the cottage, holding up a few DVDs. "We got Die Hard, or Leon," he said happily.
"We're watching them both anyway," Nicholas said, familiar with Danny's pattern. "Which do you want to watch more?"
Danny grinned, prying open Die Hard. "We'll end with the better one," he said. He walked up to Nicholas' new set up, which was really just an old television and DVD that Danny had in his spare room, and got everything ready. Queuing up the film, he returned to join Nicholas on the sofa, adopting their familiar position. He wrapped his arm round Nicholas' chest again, holding tightly to the other man.
"You really never saw Die Hard?" Danny asked, sounding genuinely concerned.
"I've really never seen Die Hard." Nicholas returned. He let his head rest against Danny's shoulder, closing his eyes lightly. He found he could really, truly relax when around Danny; the light circles he would trace on Nicholas' arms and chest with his fingers barely heavy enough to register.
Danny would often touch Nicholas when they spent their evenings together, but Nicholas' lack of reciprocation would inevitably lead Danny to stop before he would get himself too worked up. Nicholas never protested or disagreed with the way Danny would touch him; he just never seemed to respond, more often than not seeming to fall asleep.
Fearing Nicholas had fallen asleep in record time, and not wanting to take advantage of him, Danny force himself to stop, pulling his hand away and resting it lightly on Nicholas' shoulder.
"I like that," Nicholas said quietly, his eyes still shut. "Why'd you stop?"
Danny looked down at him, surprised to hear any sort of sound at all. "Thought you was asleep,' he said simply.
Nicholas shook his head. "No," he said. "Just liking what you were doing."
Never being one to disappoint, Danny moved his hand back down to Nicholas' chest, again tracing light circles through his shirt. Having received the closest thing he'd ever heard to consent from Nicholas, he allowed his hand to trail down further than usual, daring to move under his shirt, rough finger tips brushing against soft skin. Tilting his head back, Nicholas let out a soft whimper as he shifted slightly. Again, Danny grew more daring and confident in his exploration, going from just finger tips to using his full hand, touching and rubbing against bare skin. He let his fingers trail under Nicholas' waistband, surprised to find boxer shorts. Nicholas shifted nervously at the touch, prompting Danny to back off, bringing his hand to safer territory.
"Nick, please tell me I ain't your first," he said, dreading the answer.
Again, Nicholas shifted. "No," he assured. "Just...sorry."
Danny chewed his lip. "S'all right," he said flatly. "We don't have to."
Nicholas sighed, leaning his head against Danny's shoulder. "Sorry," he said quietly."
"What do you mean, 'no'?"
"I'd say it's pretty self-explanatory," Nicholas said simply. "It's a fairly simple word."
"That's not fair," Travis said, clearly sulking on the other end.
"And I didn't think it was fair that you wanted to not be exclusive." Nicholas carefully peered round the corner, making sure Janine was still asleep. Sighing, he continued to find places for everything given to them by Janine's massive amount of female friends Nicholas didn't even know existed. "It's always been like this. You know that."
"Yeah, well, I didn't know you were gonna go get married on me," Travis grumbled. "Nicky, I like you. I didn't want to hurt you, which is exactly why I didn't want to be exclusive."
Nicholas leaned up against the wall. "Part of the arrangement is that I was allowed to pursue committed relationships if I wanted to. Now that I've agreed to commit to somebody, you're suddenly not happy with the rules?"
"Yes," Travis admitted childishly.
"When have I ever slept with you when I was with somebody else?" Nicholas asked. "Why should this be any different?"
"Because you've know me longer," Travis rationalized.
Nicholas sighed. As much as he hated to admit it, the bastard did have a point. "I'll come over," he agreed finally. "But it'll be on my terms."
"You're such a goddamn tease," Travis said, hanging up. Shaking his head, Nicholas put the telephone down on the counter before wandering back to the bedroom.
"Hey," he said softly, leaning over Janine. "I'm gonna nip off to Travis' for a while. I'll have my mobile if you need anything, all right?"
Janine managed to smile. "All right," she said. "Don't stay out too late."
Nicholas brushed her hair out of the way and lightly kissed her forehead. "I won't," he promised.
Nicholas woke suddenly, realizing that Danny wasn't on the sofa any more. He looked around, confused at the DVD menu on the telly and the lack of anybody else in the immediate proximity.
"Danny?" he called hesitantly.
"Kitchen."
Rubbing his face, Nicholas got to his feet, wincing at the percussion act his spine had decided to do. He shuffled into the small kitchen, finding Danny sitting at the table. "Did you want to watch that other DVD of yours tonight?" Nicholas asked, joining Danny at the table.
Danny shrugged. "You never really seem to be into them," he said dully.
Nicholas shrugged. "I like spending time with you," he said. "Time that's not spent in the patrol car."
"How would you know?" Danny asked bitterly. "You're always asleep."
"I thought I'm supposed to switch off when I'm at home," Nicholas said lightly, trying to change the atmosphere.
"Yeah. Switch off," Danny said. "Not shut down."
Nicholas sighed and looked down at the table. "I didn't realize you felt that way," he said. Danny only shrugged. "I'll tell you what," Nicholas said, cautiously reaching out to take Danny's hand from across the table. "We'll watch your other DVD, and I promise I'll try to stay awake."
Danny looked up, unconvinced. "You gonna try, or you gonna do it?" he asked.
"I will do it to the best of my abilities," Nicholas said. He squeezed Danny's hand lightly. "Why don't you go get it started. I'll put some tea on."
It certainly was a change from Danny's usual choice of film. It was a bit more slow than the usual shoot 'em up, and there was even a peace lily featured. Despite the compelling plot, tragic characters, and gripping storyline that the back of the case had promised, Nicholas still managed to start to drift off to sleep a few times, having to move around more often than usual just to keep from staying asleep.
"You're not really into this, are you?" Danny asked during one of the slower moments.
"Sure I am," Nicholas insisted. "She's mad, and wants to kill these other guys," Nicholas said simply.
Danny snorted. "Yeah, sure," he said. "You know, she was a stripper in Closer," Danny said, pointing at the telly.
"That little girl?" Nicholas asked.
Danny only nodded.
"That's really unfortunate," Nicholas said, a hint of disapproval in his voice.
"She wasn't twelve when she did it, Nick," Danny said, laughing. "Kor, she's a consenturing adult."
Nicholas considered this before accepting it as another one of Danny's stories of possible half-truth, and leaned back against the other man's side. He waited for Danny to again wrap him into a loose embrace, but he never did, keeping a still watch on the telly. Nicholas tried shifting slightly, trying to get Danny to notice that he was right there. Still, Danny just kept watching the film, keeping his arm rested up on the back of the sofa. Slowly, Nicholas realized that Danny did in fact know exactly what Nicholas wanted, but was holding out for some reason. As though he were mad at Nicholas for something. But that was just it, wasn't it? Danny was upset with him. He'd remained nothing but patient, and Nicholas had slept through their movie nights. He didn't know why it had been so damn hard to initiate anything with Danny; it wasn't exactly like he was new to this, or anything. That much had been well established. So why the hell hadn't he done a damn thing?
Nicholas' fingers stumbled over one another as he tried to make himself reach out and... do something. Anything. Something simple like a touch should not have been so difficult. It wasn't like he hadn't done this before. He'd more than touched people. He'd felt people; he'd fucked a few of them. He'd even made love to one or two of them. But suddenly, he was back in secondary school all over again. Back to being terrified of himself and his own reactions, and a million what-ifs -;
What if nothing? If he did nothing, then what? He didn't even give himself the chance to take a breath, and think about it. Gripping tightly to the collar of Danny's rugby jersey, he pulled himself onto the other man's lap, leaning in to lock Danny into a kiss. It was awkward, and ended quickly, both likely stemming to Danny being completely unprepared. He took a firm grip to Nicholas' arms, pushing him back with a fair bit of force.
"Nick," he said flatly. "Don't start what you don't want to finish."
Nicholas froze for a moment, not sure what Danny meant. For a crushing moment, he thought Danny was turning him down, but the hardness he felt against his thigh was evidence enough to dispel the theory. Certain he was doing the right thing, Nicholas fought against Danny's grip, Nicholas pulled forward again, locking Danny into another kiss, less awkward and with more response. As Danny's hands moved from gripping Nicholas' arms, to slowly moving down his sides, Nicholas knew he'd made the right decision, and let himself explore deeper, his own hands leaving the safety of Danny's collar, and down around the back of the other man's neck, gripping tightly as he moved closer with his hips. Danny broke away long enough to push Nicholas onto his back, using his knee to push Nicholas' thighs apart.
"I better not fuckin' be your first," Danny said quietly as he leaned down over Nicholas.
Nicholas shook his head. "No," he assured. He bit his lip as Danny's fingers began working at Nicholas' belt buckle, quickly getting it out of the way so he could unzip those damn black trousers that Nicholas wore far too much. Nicholas lifted his hips as Danny grabbed his trousers by the waistline, easily pulling them off and tossing them aside. He ran his fingers down Nicholas' thighs, through fine gingery hair, and over a particularly gnarled scar.
"What's this?" Danny asked softly, his fingers pulling away quickly, as though he was afraid he might hurt Nicholas if he touched the marks.
Nicholas twisted to see what Danny was asking about. "Dog bite," he answered simply. "About two years ago."
Danny frowned at the mark, letting his fingers lightly trace over slightly sunken edges. "What a prick," he said quietly. Nicholas laughed, caught off guard when Danny leaned his weight into Nicholas long enough to bite lightly on his neck, as his hand moved from his thigh to his half-erect cock, gripping firmly as he moved up the shaft, his fingers moving over the tip quickly before he pulled away again. Confused, Nicholas gazed up at him, watching as he clumsily removed his own trousers. Tossing them down to the ground, he stroked himself quickly before again pressing his knees between Nicholas' thighs, wincing slightly as he tried to lower himself over Nicholas.
"There's an easier way to do this," Nicholas said, pulling himself into an upright position. Pulling off his shirt, he pushed Danny backwards, so that he leaned against the arm rest of the sofa. He straddled Danny's hips, looking around the room.
"What's wrong?" Danny asked.
Nicholas bit his lip. "Did not think this through," he muttered.
"Trousers."
Raising his eyebrows, he leaned down and grabbed for Danny's trousers. He held them up, letting Danny do with them whatever he had in mind. Danny reached inside the back pocket, pulling out a small foil packet and tearing it with his teeth as he took his trousers from Nicholas and threw them back on the floor. Nicholas leaned forward to let Danny roll the condom on, surprised to feel Danny licking his chest. Suddenly, Danny gripped his hips tightly, pushing Nicholas back against his cock.
"It has been a while," Nicholas warned. "I mean like, a few years, while."
Danny looked at him almost sympathetically. "You ain't been laid in years?" he asked. "Jesus, Nick."
Nicholas laughed nervously. "No," he said, feeling his face turn red. "Since I was..."
Danny grinned, his fingers moving from Nicholas' hip to his cock, stroking the length lightly. Nicholas inhaled deeply, his eyes fluttering shut as he leaned his head back and exposed his neck. Danny leaned forward and bit lightly on the unshaven skin, letting his tongue run over the roughness. Nicholas stifled a lightly moan as he tilted his head back further before pulling away. Danny watched, surprised, as Nicholas spat into his own hand and reached behind him to rub the erection throbbing impatiently against the base of his spine. Watching Nicholas do something so raw and frankly insanitary, Danny realized that he must have him, now, no questions please.
Nicholas gripped the back of the sofa with one hand, and Danny's arm with the other, raising himself up onto his knees. He slowly lowered himself onto Danny's shaft, grinding his teeth in an effort to not call out and wake the neighbours. As though they needed anything else to gossip about. He pushed himself down onto Danny's hips, his arms shaking from supporting his own weight, not wanting to let himself all the way down.
"Gimme a minute," he said shakily. He didn't remember it ever hurting so badly before, though in fairness, when it came to men, he did stay mostly exclusive to Travis, and he'd always topped, unless they were both sober. Which, when it came down to it, was infrequent at best.
"All right, Nicky?" Danny asked, taking all of his will power from pulling Nicholas down onto him further. When Nicholas nodded, Danny did just that, arching his own thrusts into his partner. Nicholas cried out suddenly, gripping tightly with both hands.
"Gently!" he warned, his voice straining through his teeth.
Danny took hold of Nicholas' cock, rubbing his thumb along the glans and foreskin, causing Nicholas to arch his back into Danny's thrusts. He hesitantly took his weight from his arms, letting himself grind against Danny's hips as he moved his hands down to Danny's sides. He repositioned his knees and began thrusting himself against Danny's grip, his own hands reaching for Danny's jersey. He tried to pull it off, surprised when he felt Danny grab his wrists and stop him.
"My scars ain't healed like yours," he said, a hint of apology around the edges of his voice.
Nicholas nodded, instead holding him by the shoulders and pulling him into an upright position, wrapping his arms tightly around the back of Danny's neck as he pulled himself almost violently against Danny's cock, his own erection pressed firmly between the two of them. Danny slid back slightly, pressing himself deeper into Nicholas, biting his lip as he heard the other man cry out sharply.
"Don't let go," Nicholas begged, holding tightly to Danny.
Danny held onto Nicholas' hips, guiding his motions as he thrust, leaning in to kiss bare skin. He made his way down Nicholas' neck, trailing light kisses down to his collar bone, and across the front of his chest. "Come on," he said, pushing Nicholas off of him. He shifted heavily, pushing Nicholas against the arm rest. He lightly slapped Nicholas' thigh as he positioned himself on the sofa, letting one foot rest on the ground for balance. Nicholas laughed nervously as he gripped the arm rest, his entire body trembling lightly. He let his head drop as he felt Danny's hand lightly trail up his thigh, the tips of his fingers teasing his cock with feather touches. Danny moved close to Nicholas, inhaling deeply as he guided himself in, skin pressing firmly against skin. He gripped Nicholas' thighs tightly, slamming himself against the smaller man. Nicholas cried out loudly as he grabbed the arm rest even tighter. He bit down on the upholstery, trying to muffle the sounds that started deep in his chest, but ended high in his throat. Grinding his teeth, Danny called out sounds of his own, muffled and short as he slammed against Nicholas, pushing him further over the edge of the arm rest until grabbing hold was no longer an option, and he was forced to hold himself up from the floor to avoid landing face-first in the rug. His hips moved greedily against the arm rest, his cock rubbing almost violently against the upholstery.
Danny took hold of Nicholas' hips, lifting him enough to be able to wrap his arms around Nicholas' stomach. He gripped Nicholas' cock with the tips of his fingers, stroking gently at first before pumping out of rhythm with his own thrusts. Nicholas cried out loudly, his fist jammed in his own mouth in a fruitless effort to not risk waking the neighbours as he came hard, releasing his fluids over Danny's fingers. His head swimmy, he lifted himself onto the arm rest, only to be pushed forward again by Danny's thrusting.
Danny gripped tightly to Nicholas' hips, leaning against his back as he came, spilling into the condom. He let his head rest against Nicholas, the two panting heavily. Taking a moment to get his wits about him, Danny sat up and pulled out, pulling the condom off and tying it at the end. A few moments later, he pushed himself to his feet, and after a quick, confused look around the cottage, stumbled slightly, and made his way to the loo. He started the tap in the shower, waiting for the hot water to kick in. He stepped under the spray as Danny appeared in the door way.
"Join me?" Nicholas asked.
Danny grinned as he hesitantly pulled off his jersey and stepped into the small shower with Nicholas, standing possibly in closer proximity than he really needed to.
"Careful," Nicholas warned. "The tap's like a bad relationship."
"Wot?" Danny asked. Before Nicholas had the chance to explain, the water went suddenly cold, prompting Danny to get as far away as possible, as loudly as possible. Nicholas yelped slightly, turning the hot water higher, as he held his head under the spray. As the water warmed, Danny stepped closer, wrapping his arms around Nicholas's chest, rubbing wet skin lightly. Two hands turned to one, lightly tracing circles on Nicholas' stomach when a high-pitched squeak echoed off of porcelain tiles. Nicholas stiffened sharply, his jaw clenched as he turned round, blindly grabbing the grinning yellow duck from Danny's hands.
"No," he said simply, perching the toy back on the shelf next to his razor, his fingers pausing slightly on the slick rubber before turning his attention back to not smelling like condom lubricant and sweat.
"You all right, Nick?" Danny asked lightly, letting his hand trail down Nicholas' chest. "S'just a duck. Not like they're all that hard to come by."
"I just..." Nicholas started, looking over at the duck, "prefer that some things not be touched," he said unevenly.
"S'all right," Danny said, kissing Nicholas lightly on the forehead. "I get it." He didn't, really. At all. But it sounded like the right thing to say.
Danny lightly took hold of Nicholas' chin, turning his head so they faced one another before leaning in to kiss him, not roughly like before, but deep, rather; exploring Nicholas' mouth with his own. He pushed Nicholas' body against the cool tile wall, leaning his weight against him. Focusing more on not slipping and breaking their collective neck, Nicholas, shifted slightly, leaning in to respond just as Danny pulled away.
"Come on," Danny said, quickly washing himself down. "I think it's getting to be about past your bedtime."
Nicholas smiled dryly as he watched Danny step out of the shower and towel off. "I think you've a pair of pyjamas upstairs," Nicholas told him over the spray. "If you're wanting to stay the night, that is."
Danny wrapped the towel round his waist as he turned to give Nicholas a crooked smile. "Course," he said. "Why wouldn't I?"
Nicholas ducked back under the spray as Danny left, and slowly began cleaning himself off, beginning to feel a lightly buzz behind his ears. He inhaled deeply, trying to will it away. As he turned off the tap before the temperature could turn again and try to kill him, he looked up at the grinning yellow duck, sighing deeply.
"I didn't mean for anything to happen," he told it, reaching for the towel Danny didn't take. He dried off quickly, and wrapping the towel round his own waist, made his way slowly up the steps to the bedroom, finding Danny already changed and setting Nicholas' alarm. Nicholas quickly changed into pyjamas of his own, folding the towels and setting them on a chair near the door. The buzzing in his head only getting worse, he picked up his prescription bottle from his desk and fumbled with the child lock before managing to get one out. Swallowing it dry, he put the bottle back and hazarded a glance in the small mirror mounted on the wall, bringing his hand up to trace the white line that ran across his cheek. It wasn't as bad as the dog bite, or the bullet wound in his arm, but like the matching marks on his hand, it was clearly visible, and thoroughly annoying. Maybe being an inspector, he could finally stop this silly nonsense. Though, if the current trend was anything to go by, that didn't seem likely.
Sighing to himself, Nicholas turned round and carefully took the folded quilt from the foot of the bed and put it on the same chair by the door. Turning back around to face Danny, he realized that the lemur on his night stand had been moved, and rushed over to put the creature back where it belonged.
"I think your DVD's still on," he said, trying to convince himself that the animal was moved when Danny changed the alarm.
Danny got up from the bed and reached for the towels on the chair. "Yeah," he said. "We can finish it now, or go to bed."
Nicholas made his decision by flipping off the light and making his way to the sofa, waiting patiently for Danny to return the towels to the loo and join him. Nicholas had no idea at all what had happened past the twenty minute mark, and even less of a desire to start it over to catch what he missed. Moments later, Danny joined him, kicking dirty clothes out of the way, having already cleaned up any real mess that had been made. He moved Nicholas over slightly before collapsing back onto the sofa, pulling Nicholas into a tight embrace.
Mathilda was trying to plant Leon's lily when Nicholas' mobile went off, startling Danny slightly. When Nicholas didn't stir, Danny reached for it, glancing at the ID screen. He frowned at the name that appeared, but answered anyway.
"Nick's phone," he said flatly.
"Oh," Travis said, almost happily. "Is this Danny?"
"Yep," he said stiffly.
"Well, at least I have a voice to go along with the name, now. I don't think we spoke when I was out there," Travis said, banging around on the other end. "You're just about all he ever talks about when he's up here. The kid's crazy about you."
"Really?" Danny asked, forgetting that he had meant to be upset with him, on the grounds that Nicholas had slept with him, and was still friendly with him. "I can barely get him to say two words some days."
"Well, that's Nick, isn't it?" Travis asked. "Things are rough for him right now. Maybe the time off'll do him a spot of good."
Danny went back to being upset with Travis. Nicholas hadn't been having his "time off" a full two days yet, and he'd already told his friendly little ex. "Maybe," he said stiffly.
Travis laughed. "Is he there?" he asked.
"He's sleeping." Danny said simply.
"Headache?" Travis sounded genuinely concerned.
"Dunno," Danny answered, rubbing a gentle hand over Nicholas' hair. "Fell asleep watching a DVD."
There was a brief silence. "I hate to wake him, but I've something rather important to tell him."
"Can it wait until tomorrow?" Danny asked, doing his best to sound imposing.
"No."
Danny sighed and leaned over slightly. "Oi. Nick," he said, nudging him slightly. "That ex of yours is wanting to talk to you."
Nicholas sat up quickly. "Janine?" he asked, sounding almost excited. Danny felt his heart sink just a little bit more.
"No," he said flatly, handing the mobile over. "That one bloke."
Nicholas frowned. "Oh," he said, taking the mobile. "Travis, what do you want?"
"Hi, Nicky," Travis said, overly cheerful. "How are you today? Great to talk to you, too." There was a bit of a pause, during which Travis dropped something in his kitchen. "You're needed at the met tomorrow," he continued.
"What?" Nicholas demanded. "Tomorrow?"
"Yes," Travis said. "At four."
"Fuck," Nicholas muttered. He looked at the clock, trying to figure out what time he'd have to leave Bufford Abbey. "I'm not paying for my ticket," he said flatly. "London's costing me a buggering fortune."
Travis sighed. "I'll take care of it," he said, knowing getting Nicholas reimbursed properly would take too long. "I'll meet you at King's Cross. Call me in the morning when you get up."
"Yeah," Nicholas said flatly, hanging up his mobile. He leaned heavily against Danny, feeling the buzzing in his skull again. "Could I get a lift to Bufford Abbey tomorrow?" he asked sullenly.
Fandom: Hot Fuzz
Character/s: Like in the film
Word Count (chapter/total): 6,000 / 47,100
Rating: NC-17
Summary/Warnings: With all that's going on in Nicholas' life, Danny's starting to feel a bit neglected.
Some things happened in this chapter that were completely unplanned, but I think they've added a bit of depth and insight into the characters; particularly Nicholas' relationships with Janine and Travis. I'm not necessarily sure how to categorize Nicholas and Travis, in respect of where they were when Nicholas was still in London, and where they are now, especially with Danny in the picture, but I have a very clear idea of how they are with one another, and why, despite Travis being the one to ship Nicholas off to fuck-all nowhere, they're still close. Truth be told, he wasn't even supposed to be a character in this, but I think he's become a major role in the overall plot, and has caused me to re-work my outline more than once.
Danny slammed the burnt rubbish bin down on the desk, letting the clang resonate throughout the makeshift office.
"Wot's that?" Andy asked. "If you're that pressed for a Christmas gift, I can go without this year."
Danny frowned down at the detective. "You're gonna tell me who's responserable," he said stiffly.
Andrew peered into the rubbish bin. "You mean 'responsible,' you prick," he said.
Danny slammed the bin down again, causing Andrew to jump back. "One of you arseholes put a lit fag in 'ere last night," he demanded. "And I know it were you, because no one else 'ere smokes!"
"So, what's the big deal?" Andy sneered. "S'not like Angle's 'ere to mother hen us any more. Didn't you hear he transferred?" Andrew cast a sideways glance at the younger detective.
Danny frowned. "He didn't fuckin' transfer!" he shouted. "He's at home, on account of you pricks!" Andrew inhaled nervously. "He had to come in 'ere at eight last night, 'cause you lit the place on fire!" Danny continued. "And I had to deal with it the rest of the night!"
"So?" Andy snipped. "S'not my fault he's got you on a short leash."
Danny chewed his lip for a moment before slamming identical papers on the desk. "Sign them," he ordered.
"Ain't that Tony's job?" Andrew asked, reading over the paper.
"He's in the closet, breathin' into a paper bag," Danny said stiffly, slamming a pair of pens onto the desk. "Sign it."
The detectives grumbled as they reached out for the pens, grudgingly signing their names in the appropriate boxes. Satisfied, Danny took the forms and pens, and left, leaving the charred remains of the rubbish bin as a reminder.
Danny let himself into the cottage, finding Nicholas awake and looking not very cranky at all. Maybe staying at home was a good thing. Of course, he was petting that damn plant again, so maybe not.
"Hey," Danny said, making sure Nicholas knew he was there.
Nicholas turned around, startled at Danny's entry. "Hi," he said. "Didn't hear you come in."
Danny shrugged as he walked up to Nicholas, handing him a thin folder. Nicholas put down his spray bottle and went through the forms that needed his attention. Being the only inspector in Sandford, he couldn't ever really go on a proper leave of absence, because he needed to sign everything that went through the station.
"Tony figured out what to do about them, then?" he asked, coming to the Andy's corrective action details, effectively marking them for traffic detail for two weeks.
Danny frowned as he shrug again. "Sure," he said. His handwriting looked nothing like Tony's, and he thought Nicholas would have known this, but didn't want to point it out. He probably shouldn't have taken matters into his hands, but if Tony was gonna pitch another fit every time he needed to decide on anything more complicated than what colour Biro to use, what was left of the Sandford constabulary would collapse. "Walker officially put in his resignation today, too," Danny informed him. "Should be in the back, somewhere."
Nicholas nodded. "He deserves it," he said honestly. "Though I am sad to see him go."
"Pension's enough to keep him and Saxon happy, I guess," Danny conceded.
Nicholas blinked and looked up. "Saxon's station property, isn't he?"
Danny laughed. "You ever see a police dog that'll chase a suspect just to lick their face?" he asked. "Dad just let him keep him around, because he said it looked good for us to have a dog around the place."
Nicholas shook his head as he finished leafing through the papers. "I'll drop this by tomorrow," he said, slapping it lightly on the table in an effort to finalize with himself that he really, honestly, should not be thinking about work. "But I think I have some down time I need to get to."
Danny smiled; that wonderful, tilted smile he gave when something didn't quite fit in his mind. "You should have been doing that all day," he pointed out.
Nicholas looked away guiltily. "I...might have got Mr. Baker next door to give me a lift into Bufford Abbey," he admitted. "I took care of a lot of errands I haven't had the time to do lately, and fetched a cab back home.
Danny shook his head. "You're supposed to be relaxin'," he scolded. "Not off gallivantin' with the neighbours."
Nicholas shrugged. "I can't properly relax if I've got a stack of work that needs to be done," he said, moving to the sofa. "You know that."
"You need to switch off," Danny said as he followed Nicholas.
"You're sounding like my ex."
Danny frowned again, not sure how much he agreed to being compared to the previous person Nicholas had slept with. "Well, I don't know..." he realized that he'd never even heard anything about Nicholas' ex, other than that there was one... "him... but he's right."
"Her," Nicholas said with a sigh.
Danny blinked. "Her?" he asked.
"Yes," Nicholas confirmed. "Her name was Janine."
"Oh," Danny said, suddenly dreading that he'd misinterpreted their entire relationship. "I thought..."
Nicholas laughed. "Some thing's are black and white, Danny," he said, leaning heavily against the other man. "Yes, I have slept with women. And believe it or not, I actually enjoyed it."
Danny laughed. "Andy says you don't enjoy nothing," he said.
"And Andy also may have lit a rubbish bin on fire," Nicholas pointed out. "Don't listen to him."
Danny sighed nervously and shifted to wrap his arm around Nicholas' chest, feeling slightly better when Nicholas reached up to grab hold of his hand. "Andy said you was talking to some girl when you two was in London," Danny said quietly. "Was that her, then?"
Nicholas took a moment to think. For a few seconds, he thought Andy might have been referring to Peter, and then remembered what had happened earlier that evening. "Yeah," he said.
"Do you still care about her?" Danny wasn't sure why he asked it, afraid of what Nicholas might say.
"Part of me always will," he admitted. "We had planned on getting married, even." He sighed, squeezing Danny's hand tightly.
"What happened?" Danny asked, not sure if he was allowed to bring up his boyfriend's ex-apparently-finance.
Nicholas took a few moments to respond, idly stroking his fingers up and down Danny's arm. "Things got... complicated," he said finally. He acted like he was trying to find the right words, but eventually gave up. Danny, taking the hint, nodded. He lightly pushed Nicholas off of him and stood up.
"Hey," he said, effectively hijacking their conversation. "I brought some DVDs over, if you want."
Nicholas looked up at him, nodding after a few seconds. "Yeah," he said, trying to ignore that Janine had even been brought up. "Sure."
Danny grinned and made his way toward the front door. "Great," he said. "Got 'em in the car. Be right back." He bounded out the door, leaving Nicholas alone on the sofa for a few moments. In a brief fit of insanity, he considered trying to give Janine a ring, but vetoed the idea at once. Nothing good would come of it, and she'd likely just hang up on him.
He sighed and brought his feet up onto the sofa, his fingers tracing the seam in his trousers. He jumped slightly when Danny let himself into the cottage, holding up a few DVDs. "We got Die Hard, or Leon," he said happily.
"We're watching them both anyway," Nicholas said, familiar with Danny's pattern. "Which do you want to watch more?"
Danny grinned, prying open Die Hard. "We'll end with the better one," he said. He walked up to Nicholas' new set up, which was really just an old television and DVD that Danny had in his spare room, and got everything ready. Queuing up the film, he returned to join Nicholas on the sofa, adopting their familiar position. He wrapped his arm round Nicholas' chest again, holding tightly to the other man.
"You really never saw Die Hard?" Danny asked, sounding genuinely concerned.
"I've really never seen Die Hard." Nicholas returned. He let his head rest against Danny's shoulder, closing his eyes lightly. He found he could really, truly relax when around Danny; the light circles he would trace on Nicholas' arms and chest with his fingers barely heavy enough to register.
Danny would often touch Nicholas when they spent their evenings together, but Nicholas' lack of reciprocation would inevitably lead Danny to stop before he would get himself too worked up. Nicholas never protested or disagreed with the way Danny would touch him; he just never seemed to respond, more often than not seeming to fall asleep.
Fearing Nicholas had fallen asleep in record time, and not wanting to take advantage of him, Danny force himself to stop, pulling his hand away and resting it lightly on Nicholas' shoulder.
"I like that," Nicholas said quietly, his eyes still shut. "Why'd you stop?"
Danny looked down at him, surprised to hear any sort of sound at all. "Thought you was asleep,' he said simply.
Nicholas shook his head. "No," he said. "Just liking what you were doing."
Never being one to disappoint, Danny moved his hand back down to Nicholas' chest, again tracing light circles through his shirt. Having received the closest thing he'd ever heard to consent from Nicholas, he allowed his hand to trail down further than usual, daring to move under his shirt, rough finger tips brushing against soft skin. Tilting his head back, Nicholas let out a soft whimper as he shifted slightly. Again, Danny grew more daring and confident in his exploration, going from just finger tips to using his full hand, touching and rubbing against bare skin. He let his fingers trail under Nicholas' waistband, surprised to find boxer shorts. Nicholas shifted nervously at the touch, prompting Danny to back off, bringing his hand to safer territory.
"Nick, please tell me I ain't your first," he said, dreading the answer.
Again, Nicholas shifted. "No," he assured. "Just...sorry."
Danny chewed his lip. "S'all right," he said flatly. "We don't have to."
Nicholas sighed, leaning his head against Danny's shoulder. "Sorry," he said quietly."
"What do you mean, 'no'?"
"I'd say it's pretty self-explanatory," Nicholas said simply. "It's a fairly simple word."
"That's not fair," Travis said, clearly sulking on the other end.
"And I didn't think it was fair that you wanted to not be exclusive." Nicholas carefully peered round the corner, making sure Janine was still asleep. Sighing, he continued to find places for everything given to them by Janine's massive amount of female friends Nicholas didn't even know existed. "It's always been like this. You know that."
"Yeah, well, I didn't know you were gonna go get married on me," Travis grumbled. "Nicky, I like you. I didn't want to hurt you, which is exactly why I didn't want to be exclusive."
Nicholas leaned up against the wall. "Part of the arrangement is that I was allowed to pursue committed relationships if I wanted to. Now that I've agreed to commit to somebody, you're suddenly not happy with the rules?"
"Yes," Travis admitted childishly.
"When have I ever slept with you when I was with somebody else?" Nicholas asked. "Why should this be any different?"
"Because you've know me longer," Travis rationalized.
Nicholas sighed. As much as he hated to admit it, the bastard did have a point. "I'll come over," he agreed finally. "But it'll be on my terms."
"You're such a goddamn tease," Travis said, hanging up. Shaking his head, Nicholas put the telephone down on the counter before wandering back to the bedroom.
"Hey," he said softly, leaning over Janine. "I'm gonna nip off to Travis' for a while. I'll have my mobile if you need anything, all right?"
Janine managed to smile. "All right," she said. "Don't stay out too late."
Nicholas brushed her hair out of the way and lightly kissed her forehead. "I won't," he promised.
Nicholas woke suddenly, realizing that Danny wasn't on the sofa any more. He looked around, confused at the DVD menu on the telly and the lack of anybody else in the immediate proximity.
"Danny?" he called hesitantly.
"Kitchen."
Rubbing his face, Nicholas got to his feet, wincing at the percussion act his spine had decided to do. He shuffled into the small kitchen, finding Danny sitting at the table. "Did you want to watch that other DVD of yours tonight?" Nicholas asked, joining Danny at the table.
Danny shrugged. "You never really seem to be into them," he said dully.
Nicholas shrugged. "I like spending time with you," he said. "Time that's not spent in the patrol car."
"How would you know?" Danny asked bitterly. "You're always asleep."
"I thought I'm supposed to switch off when I'm at home," Nicholas said lightly, trying to change the atmosphere.
"Yeah. Switch off," Danny said. "Not shut down."
Nicholas sighed and looked down at the table. "I didn't realize you felt that way," he said. Danny only shrugged. "I'll tell you what," Nicholas said, cautiously reaching out to take Danny's hand from across the table. "We'll watch your other DVD, and I promise I'll try to stay awake."
Danny looked up, unconvinced. "You gonna try, or you gonna do it?" he asked.
"I will do it to the best of my abilities," Nicholas said. He squeezed Danny's hand lightly. "Why don't you go get it started. I'll put some tea on."
It certainly was a change from Danny's usual choice of film. It was a bit more slow than the usual shoot 'em up, and there was even a peace lily featured. Despite the compelling plot, tragic characters, and gripping storyline that the back of the case had promised, Nicholas still managed to start to drift off to sleep a few times, having to move around more often than usual just to keep from staying asleep.
"You're not really into this, are you?" Danny asked during one of the slower moments.
"Sure I am," Nicholas insisted. "She's mad, and wants to kill these other guys," Nicholas said simply.
Danny snorted. "Yeah, sure," he said. "You know, she was a stripper in Closer," Danny said, pointing at the telly.
"That little girl?" Nicholas asked.
Danny only nodded.
"That's really unfortunate," Nicholas said, a hint of disapproval in his voice.
"She wasn't twelve when she did it, Nick," Danny said, laughing. "Kor, she's a consenturing adult."
Nicholas considered this before accepting it as another one of Danny's stories of possible half-truth, and leaned back against the other man's side. He waited for Danny to again wrap him into a loose embrace, but he never did, keeping a still watch on the telly. Nicholas tried shifting slightly, trying to get Danny to notice that he was right there. Still, Danny just kept watching the film, keeping his arm rested up on the back of the sofa. Slowly, Nicholas realized that Danny did in fact know exactly what Nicholas wanted, but was holding out for some reason. As though he were mad at Nicholas for something. But that was just it, wasn't it? Danny was upset with him. He'd remained nothing but patient, and Nicholas had slept through their movie nights. He didn't know why it had been so damn hard to initiate anything with Danny; it wasn't exactly like he was new to this, or anything. That much had been well established. So why the hell hadn't he done a damn thing?
Nicholas' fingers stumbled over one another as he tried to make himself reach out and... do something. Anything. Something simple like a touch should not have been so difficult. It wasn't like he hadn't done this before. He'd more than touched people. He'd felt people; he'd fucked a few of them. He'd even made love to one or two of them. But suddenly, he was back in secondary school all over again. Back to being terrified of himself and his own reactions, and a million what-ifs -;
What if nothing? If he did nothing, then what? He didn't even give himself the chance to take a breath, and think about it. Gripping tightly to the collar of Danny's rugby jersey, he pulled himself onto the other man's lap, leaning in to lock Danny into a kiss. It was awkward, and ended quickly, both likely stemming to Danny being completely unprepared. He took a firm grip to Nicholas' arms, pushing him back with a fair bit of force.
"Nick," he said flatly. "Don't start what you don't want to finish."
Nicholas froze for a moment, not sure what Danny meant. For a crushing moment, he thought Danny was turning him down, but the hardness he felt against his thigh was evidence enough to dispel the theory. Certain he was doing the right thing, Nicholas fought against Danny's grip, Nicholas pulled forward again, locking Danny into another kiss, less awkward and with more response. As Danny's hands moved from gripping Nicholas' arms, to slowly moving down his sides, Nicholas knew he'd made the right decision, and let himself explore deeper, his own hands leaving the safety of Danny's collar, and down around the back of the other man's neck, gripping tightly as he moved closer with his hips. Danny broke away long enough to push Nicholas onto his back, using his knee to push Nicholas' thighs apart.
"I better not fuckin' be your first," Danny said quietly as he leaned down over Nicholas.
Nicholas shook his head. "No," he assured. He bit his lip as Danny's fingers began working at Nicholas' belt buckle, quickly getting it out of the way so he could unzip those damn black trousers that Nicholas wore far too much. Nicholas lifted his hips as Danny grabbed his trousers by the waistline, easily pulling them off and tossing them aside. He ran his fingers down Nicholas' thighs, through fine gingery hair, and over a particularly gnarled scar.
"What's this?" Danny asked softly, his fingers pulling away quickly, as though he was afraid he might hurt Nicholas if he touched the marks.
Nicholas twisted to see what Danny was asking about. "Dog bite," he answered simply. "About two years ago."
Danny frowned at the mark, letting his fingers lightly trace over slightly sunken edges. "What a prick," he said quietly. Nicholas laughed, caught off guard when Danny leaned his weight into Nicholas long enough to bite lightly on his neck, as his hand moved from his thigh to his half-erect cock, gripping firmly as he moved up the shaft, his fingers moving over the tip quickly before he pulled away again. Confused, Nicholas gazed up at him, watching as he clumsily removed his own trousers. Tossing them down to the ground, he stroked himself quickly before again pressing his knees between Nicholas' thighs, wincing slightly as he tried to lower himself over Nicholas.
"There's an easier way to do this," Nicholas said, pulling himself into an upright position. Pulling off his shirt, he pushed Danny backwards, so that he leaned against the arm rest of the sofa. He straddled Danny's hips, looking around the room.
"What's wrong?" Danny asked.
Nicholas bit his lip. "Did not think this through," he muttered.
"Trousers."
Raising his eyebrows, he leaned down and grabbed for Danny's trousers. He held them up, letting Danny do with them whatever he had in mind. Danny reached inside the back pocket, pulling out a small foil packet and tearing it with his teeth as he took his trousers from Nicholas and threw them back on the floor. Nicholas leaned forward to let Danny roll the condom on, surprised to feel Danny licking his chest. Suddenly, Danny gripped his hips tightly, pushing Nicholas back against his cock.
"It has been a while," Nicholas warned. "I mean like, a few years, while."
Danny looked at him almost sympathetically. "You ain't been laid in years?" he asked. "Jesus, Nick."
Nicholas laughed nervously. "No," he said, feeling his face turn red. "Since I was..."
Danny grinned, his fingers moving from Nicholas' hip to his cock, stroking the length lightly. Nicholas inhaled deeply, his eyes fluttering shut as he leaned his head back and exposed his neck. Danny leaned forward and bit lightly on the unshaven skin, letting his tongue run over the roughness. Nicholas stifled a lightly moan as he tilted his head back further before pulling away. Danny watched, surprised, as Nicholas spat into his own hand and reached behind him to rub the erection throbbing impatiently against the base of his spine. Watching Nicholas do something so raw and frankly insanitary, Danny realized that he must have him, now, no questions please.
Nicholas gripped the back of the sofa with one hand, and Danny's arm with the other, raising himself up onto his knees. He slowly lowered himself onto Danny's shaft, grinding his teeth in an effort to not call out and wake the neighbours. As though they needed anything else to gossip about. He pushed himself down onto Danny's hips, his arms shaking from supporting his own weight, not wanting to let himself all the way down.
"Gimme a minute," he said shakily. He didn't remember it ever hurting so badly before, though in fairness, when it came to men, he did stay mostly exclusive to Travis, and he'd always topped, unless they were both sober. Which, when it came down to it, was infrequent at best.
"All right, Nicky?" Danny asked, taking all of his will power from pulling Nicholas down onto him further. When Nicholas nodded, Danny did just that, arching his own thrusts into his partner. Nicholas cried out suddenly, gripping tightly with both hands.
"Gently!" he warned, his voice straining through his teeth.
Danny took hold of Nicholas' cock, rubbing his thumb along the glans and foreskin, causing Nicholas to arch his back into Danny's thrusts. He hesitantly took his weight from his arms, letting himself grind against Danny's hips as he moved his hands down to Danny's sides. He repositioned his knees and began thrusting himself against Danny's grip, his own hands reaching for Danny's jersey. He tried to pull it off, surprised when he felt Danny grab his wrists and stop him.
"My scars ain't healed like yours," he said, a hint of apology around the edges of his voice.
Nicholas nodded, instead holding him by the shoulders and pulling him into an upright position, wrapping his arms tightly around the back of Danny's neck as he pulled himself almost violently against Danny's cock, his own erection pressed firmly between the two of them. Danny slid back slightly, pressing himself deeper into Nicholas, biting his lip as he heard the other man cry out sharply.
"Don't let go," Nicholas begged, holding tightly to Danny.
Danny held onto Nicholas' hips, guiding his motions as he thrust, leaning in to kiss bare skin. He made his way down Nicholas' neck, trailing light kisses down to his collar bone, and across the front of his chest. "Come on," he said, pushing Nicholas off of him. He shifted heavily, pushing Nicholas against the arm rest. He lightly slapped Nicholas' thigh as he positioned himself on the sofa, letting one foot rest on the ground for balance. Nicholas laughed nervously as he gripped the arm rest, his entire body trembling lightly. He let his head drop as he felt Danny's hand lightly trail up his thigh, the tips of his fingers teasing his cock with feather touches. Danny moved close to Nicholas, inhaling deeply as he guided himself in, skin pressing firmly against skin. He gripped Nicholas' thighs tightly, slamming himself against the smaller man. Nicholas cried out loudly as he grabbed the arm rest even tighter. He bit down on the upholstery, trying to muffle the sounds that started deep in his chest, but ended high in his throat. Grinding his teeth, Danny called out sounds of his own, muffled and short as he slammed against Nicholas, pushing him further over the edge of the arm rest until grabbing hold was no longer an option, and he was forced to hold himself up from the floor to avoid landing face-first in the rug. His hips moved greedily against the arm rest, his cock rubbing almost violently against the upholstery.
Danny took hold of Nicholas' hips, lifting him enough to be able to wrap his arms around Nicholas' stomach. He gripped Nicholas' cock with the tips of his fingers, stroking gently at first before pumping out of rhythm with his own thrusts. Nicholas cried out loudly, his fist jammed in his own mouth in a fruitless effort to not risk waking the neighbours as he came hard, releasing his fluids over Danny's fingers. His head swimmy, he lifted himself onto the arm rest, only to be pushed forward again by Danny's thrusting.
Danny gripped tightly to Nicholas' hips, leaning against his back as he came, spilling into the condom. He let his head rest against Nicholas, the two panting heavily. Taking a moment to get his wits about him, Danny sat up and pulled out, pulling the condom off and tying it at the end. A few moments later, he pushed himself to his feet, and after a quick, confused look around the cottage, stumbled slightly, and made his way to the loo. He started the tap in the shower, waiting for the hot water to kick in. He stepped under the spray as Danny appeared in the door way.
"Join me?" Nicholas asked.
Danny grinned as he hesitantly pulled off his jersey and stepped into the small shower with Nicholas, standing possibly in closer proximity than he really needed to.
"Careful," Nicholas warned. "The tap's like a bad relationship."
"Wot?" Danny asked. Before Nicholas had the chance to explain, the water went suddenly cold, prompting Danny to get as far away as possible, as loudly as possible. Nicholas yelped slightly, turning the hot water higher, as he held his head under the spray. As the water warmed, Danny stepped closer, wrapping his arms around Nicholas's chest, rubbing wet skin lightly. Two hands turned to one, lightly tracing circles on Nicholas' stomach when a high-pitched squeak echoed off of porcelain tiles. Nicholas stiffened sharply, his jaw clenched as he turned round, blindly grabbing the grinning yellow duck from Danny's hands.
"No," he said simply, perching the toy back on the shelf next to his razor, his fingers pausing slightly on the slick rubber before turning his attention back to not smelling like condom lubricant and sweat.
"You all right, Nick?" Danny asked lightly, letting his hand trail down Nicholas' chest. "S'just a duck. Not like they're all that hard to come by."
"I just..." Nicholas started, looking over at the duck, "prefer that some things not be touched," he said unevenly.
"S'all right," Danny said, kissing Nicholas lightly on the forehead. "I get it." He didn't, really. At all. But it sounded like the right thing to say.
Danny lightly took hold of Nicholas' chin, turning his head so they faced one another before leaning in to kiss him, not roughly like before, but deep, rather; exploring Nicholas' mouth with his own. He pushed Nicholas' body against the cool tile wall, leaning his weight against him. Focusing more on not slipping and breaking their collective neck, Nicholas, shifted slightly, leaning in to respond just as Danny pulled away.
"Come on," Danny said, quickly washing himself down. "I think it's getting to be about past your bedtime."
Nicholas smiled dryly as he watched Danny step out of the shower and towel off. "I think you've a pair of pyjamas upstairs," Nicholas told him over the spray. "If you're wanting to stay the night, that is."
Danny wrapped the towel round his waist as he turned to give Nicholas a crooked smile. "Course," he said. "Why wouldn't I?"
Nicholas ducked back under the spray as Danny left, and slowly began cleaning himself off, beginning to feel a lightly buzz behind his ears. He inhaled deeply, trying to will it away. As he turned off the tap before the temperature could turn again and try to kill him, he looked up at the grinning yellow duck, sighing deeply.
"I didn't mean for anything to happen," he told it, reaching for the towel Danny didn't take. He dried off quickly, and wrapping the towel round his own waist, made his way slowly up the steps to the bedroom, finding Danny already changed and setting Nicholas' alarm. Nicholas quickly changed into pyjamas of his own, folding the towels and setting them on a chair near the door. The buzzing in his head only getting worse, he picked up his prescription bottle from his desk and fumbled with the child lock before managing to get one out. Swallowing it dry, he put the bottle back and hazarded a glance in the small mirror mounted on the wall, bringing his hand up to trace the white line that ran across his cheek. It wasn't as bad as the dog bite, or the bullet wound in his arm, but like the matching marks on his hand, it was clearly visible, and thoroughly annoying. Maybe being an inspector, he could finally stop this silly nonsense. Though, if the current trend was anything to go by, that didn't seem likely.
Sighing to himself, Nicholas turned round and carefully took the folded quilt from the foot of the bed and put it on the same chair by the door. Turning back around to face Danny, he realized that the lemur on his night stand had been moved, and rushed over to put the creature back where it belonged.
"I think your DVD's still on," he said, trying to convince himself that the animal was moved when Danny changed the alarm.
Danny got up from the bed and reached for the towels on the chair. "Yeah," he said. "We can finish it now, or go to bed."
Nicholas made his decision by flipping off the light and making his way to the sofa, waiting patiently for Danny to return the towels to the loo and join him. Nicholas had no idea at all what had happened past the twenty minute mark, and even less of a desire to start it over to catch what he missed. Moments later, Danny joined him, kicking dirty clothes out of the way, having already cleaned up any real mess that had been made. He moved Nicholas over slightly before collapsing back onto the sofa, pulling Nicholas into a tight embrace.
Mathilda was trying to plant Leon's lily when Nicholas' mobile went off, startling Danny slightly. When Nicholas didn't stir, Danny reached for it, glancing at the ID screen. He frowned at the name that appeared, but answered anyway.
"Nick's phone," he said flatly.
"Oh," Travis said, almost happily. "Is this Danny?"
"Yep," he said stiffly.
"Well, at least I have a voice to go along with the name, now. I don't think we spoke when I was out there," Travis said, banging around on the other end. "You're just about all he ever talks about when he's up here. The kid's crazy about you."
"Really?" Danny asked, forgetting that he had meant to be upset with him, on the grounds that Nicholas had slept with him, and was still friendly with him. "I can barely get him to say two words some days."
"Well, that's Nick, isn't it?" Travis asked. "Things are rough for him right now. Maybe the time off'll do him a spot of good."
Danny went back to being upset with Travis. Nicholas hadn't been having his "time off" a full two days yet, and he'd already told his friendly little ex. "Maybe," he said stiffly.
Travis laughed. "Is he there?" he asked.
"He's sleeping." Danny said simply.
"Headache?" Travis sounded genuinely concerned.
"Dunno," Danny answered, rubbing a gentle hand over Nicholas' hair. "Fell asleep watching a DVD."
There was a brief silence. "I hate to wake him, but I've something rather important to tell him."
"Can it wait until tomorrow?" Danny asked, doing his best to sound imposing.
"No."
Danny sighed and leaned over slightly. "Oi. Nick," he said, nudging him slightly. "That ex of yours is wanting to talk to you."
Nicholas sat up quickly. "Janine?" he asked, sounding almost excited. Danny felt his heart sink just a little bit more.
"No," he said flatly, handing the mobile over. "That one bloke."
Nicholas frowned. "Oh," he said, taking the mobile. "Travis, what do you want?"
"Hi, Nicky," Travis said, overly cheerful. "How are you today? Great to talk to you, too." There was a bit of a pause, during which Travis dropped something in his kitchen. "You're needed at the met tomorrow," he continued.
"What?" Nicholas demanded. "Tomorrow?"
"Yes," Travis said. "At four."
"Fuck," Nicholas muttered. He looked at the clock, trying to figure out what time he'd have to leave Bufford Abbey. "I'm not paying for my ticket," he said flatly. "London's costing me a buggering fortune."
Travis sighed. "I'll take care of it," he said, knowing getting Nicholas reimbursed properly would take too long. "I'll meet you at King's Cross. Call me in the morning when you get up."
"Yeah," Nicholas said flatly, hanging up his mobile. He leaned heavily against Danny, feeling the buzzing in his skull again. "Could I get a lift to Bufford Abbey tomorrow?" he asked sullenly.