Green Lantern Corps. General. 059. Food.
Title: Windows and Coffee
Fandom: Green Lantern Corps
Characters: Kyle Rayner, Connor Hawke
Prompt: 059 - Food
Word Count: 2140
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Coffee doesn’t count as food either.
Author's Notes: Fluffy. Follows prompts 53 (Earth), 60 (Drink), and 34 (Not Enough). Slash.
“I really appreciate this, Connor.”
“No problem.” Connor opened the door wider and took the drawing board from under his friend’s arm. “Here, let me get that.” Kyle looked like hell, which was nothing new. He was also balancing a ridiculously oversized coffee cup along with his art supplies, which again was nothing new.
“Thanks,” he said.
“Are you sure you can just, you know, take off like this?” It wasn’t that Connor minded having Kyle stay for a few days or so in order to catch up on work deadlines without everything else getting in the way, but he wondered if Kyle just running out on his responsibilities as Green Lantern was really the right thing to do.
“Hal’s picking up the slack,” Kyle said, closing the door with his foot. Connor could all but hear the unspoken corollary - they don’t need me.
“If you’re sure,” Connor said. He’d heard about Hal and his trip forward through time - the Hal Jordan who was currently in the Justice League Watchtower wasn’t much older than Kyle. He’d had more training, but less experience, and as much good as Connor had heard about the man, he didn’t quite trust him. Kyle seemed to, though, and Connor wasn’t about to try and convince him otherwise. Kyle was perfectly capable of making his own decisions.
“Yeah,” Kyle replied distractedly. “Can I put this over here?” He’d wandered over to the only south-facing window and was staring out of it.
“Go ahead.” Connor followed with the drawing board. He hadn’t been in the apartment for more than a few weeks, and wouldn’t stay for much longer; he spent most of his time traveling. Kyle’s request for what amounted to a place to hide had coincided with Connor’s usual traveling partner - Eddie Fyers, longtime friend of his father - leaving temporarily on his own business, and Connor was looking forward to having the company. “How does this thing work?”
“Oh, right.” The drawing board wasn’t actually difficult to set up, but Kyle had been staring at the same point of nothing for several minutes. “Here.” It was a matter of minutes to get it settled, and then Kyle suddenly frowned and shook his coffee cup. “Got any coffee around here?”
“No,” Connor started. “But I could go get some,” he finished with a sigh.
By the morning of the third day, Connor was starting to think the coffee, at the very least, was a bad idea. As far as he could tell, Kyle hadn’t actually slept and his increasingly short temper was beginning to get on Connor’s nerves, not to mention Kyle’s disturbing propensity for bad takeout food swimming in animal products. Connor had tried cooking for him for the first two days, only to find Kyle too immersed in drawing and redrawing pieces for his deadlines to pay any attention to mundane things like food and then suddenly there were takeout cartons accumulating under the chair. (At least they were neatly contained in a trash can, although that was nearly to the point of overflow.) Connor had restrained himself more than once from the phrase “Eat your goddamn vegetables, Kyle.”
“Yaaa!” came a shout from the window, followed by the neighbor’s cat - which had taken an inexplicable liking to Kyle - streaking through the open door, tail fluffed and claws skidding on the floor. Connor opened his eyes, attempts at meditation ruined for the fourth time that day by Kyle’s reaction to the cat climbing on his lap. It had been funny the first time, but one would think either Kyle or the cat would learn to react - or act - differently.
“Stop scaring the cat, Kyle.” Connor padded into the other room in bare feet, putting his hand on his friend’s shoulder.
A violent start nearly threw his hand off, Kyle clearly suppressing another yelp. “Don’t do that,” he said after a moment. Connor could all but feel Kyle’s heart pounding in adrenaline-induced reaction.
“I thought you Lanterns were supposed to be fearless,” he said teasingly.
“That’s Hal,” Kyle snapped. “And everyone else.”
Wrong button, Connor. “Sorry,” he offered, starting to gather up the paper coffee cups. There were so many he was beginning to wonder if they were breeding.
“Yeah, me too.” Kyle put down his current pencil - graphite, 2H - and rubbed his eyes. “Got any coffee?” he said hopefully.
Connor looked at the stack of empty cups in his hand. “Maybe the caffeine’s not such a good idea,” he said. “Coffee doesn’t really count as food.”
“If I don’t get this done on time, I am so screwed.” From what Connor could tell, all the crumpled paper on the floor meant that Kyle was not progressing towards making his deadline in any case. “I’m almost done. Really.”
Connor did not ask if the ring was telepathic. “Maybe you should step back for a little while, look at it from another angle.”
“I don’t have time to step back!” Kyle stood, nearly knocking the chair over. “I need to get this done, Connor. That’s why I came to you.”
“When was the last time you slept?” Connor countered. “I understand that you need to work, but if you can’t work as Green Lantern maybe this isn’t the day job you should be doing.”
“Should, should, should,” Kyle spat back. “Hal’s Green Lantern again. It’s not my name, it never was. It was always Hal.”
“Calm down, Kyle.” Connor put up his hands in what he hoped was a soothing gesture. It did not have the intended effect.
“Don’t tell me to calm down!” Kyle was shouting now, and Connor was beginning to feel a slow burn.
“Look, you came to me! The least you could do is be polite!” The moment he’d said the words, he winced; it wasn’t what he’d meant at all, or what he’d wanted to say. Kyle wasn’t the only one with a volatile temper.
“If that’s the way you feel, then fine! I’m gone!” Kyle started throwing pencils, markers, everything at hand haphazardly into the first bag he found.
“Kyle. Kyle!” Connor grabbed his friend by the shoulders and forcibly turned him around. Kyle was breathing hard, anger quivering in every muscle. “I’m worried about you,” he said softly.
“I…” Kyle looked at him directly for the first time in three days and leaned forward. “I’ve figured it out,” he said, and Connor was trying to parse the sentence when Kyle kissed him. He was surprised enough that he didn’t pull away, and Kyle took that as an invitation to pull Connor closer. For someone who spent most of his time not training, Kyle was surprisingly strong. It was the taste of coffee that broke Connor’s temporary paralysis - Kyle was, in his limited experience, a damn good kisser, but Connor did not like coffee no matter what form it came in.
“Okay,” he said, pushing Kyle back.
“I am so sorry.” Kyle had misinterpreted; he was blushing and the look of acute horror on his face said more than words ever could. “Connor, I am sorry. I didn’t mean to do that.”
“Kyle, it’s okay.” He wasn’t sure exactly why Kyle was apologizing; if he’d really objected, Kyle would have known. Without the ring - which was back at Kyle’s apartment being guarded by Kyle’s temporary roommate - Kyle wouldn’t have a chance. “It was nice.”
Kyle blinked. “….nice?” he said, brain obviously trying to catch up with perception.
“I don’t like coffee,” Connor said, gently pushing Kyle towards the bathroom. “Shower. Brush your teeth. Then maybe we can give it another shot.”
The blinking did not stop, but Kyle continued under his own power. The sound of water flowing followed, and Connor took the opportunity to get rid of the accumulated trash (how could the man drink so much coffee and not explode? Truly, the human body was a mystery). The shower didn’t take long, and Kyle emerged wearing a handtowel and soaking wet. “Um, Connor?”
As much as he would have liked to enjoy the view, it was spoiled by the unavoidable fact that despite the shower, Kyle looked like worse hell than he had when he’d arrived. On the other hand, the handtowel was pretty funny. “Oh, right,” Connor said, and dug a larger towel out of what passed for a linen closet (a box currently serving double duty as a table). “Here.” Kyle just stood there, staring, so Connor wrapped the towel around his shoulders and used the ends to start toweling Kyle’s hair dry.
“Mm.” Kyle closed his eyes and leaned into the touch. Connor took it as a cue to move downwards, running the soft cloth over Kyle’s exhausted face and down his shoulders. He’d reached Kyle’s waist when Kyle leaned down and kissed him again, softly. Connor returned the kiss this time, tangling his hands in Kyle’s still damp hair.
“Over here.” Connor pulled away for the second time, leading Kyle towards the bedroom.
“I -“ Kyle started, looking genuinely freaked out for the second time that day.
“I thought I was supposed to be the one who was new at this.” Kyle wasn’t going to go toward the bed without resistance, but Connor was stronger. “I’m going to give you a backrub, Kyle, that’s all. Then you can go back to work and meet your deadline.”
“I… right.” Kyle’s brain was apparently still having trouble keeping up with his senses, but he stopped fighting Connor and lay down obediently.
Starting with the shoulders, Connor pressed his thumbs into Kyle’s tense muscles. He moved along the spine and shoulderblades, pressing gently. Kyle’s skin was smooth and damp, still overheated from the shower. Connor moved to his neck, fingers massaging the base of Kyle’s skull, and Kyle made a happy little noise somewhere between a moan and a sigh. There were knots starting at the shoulders and continuing all the way down, and as Connor worked each one out, he could feel Kyle relax more. By the time he reached the base of Kyle’s spine, the other man’s breathing had deepened and evened.
“Kyle?” Connor said softly, just to check. There was no answer. As Connor had halfway hoped, Kyle was out like a light. He drew a blanket over him, pausing for a moment to stroke Kyle’s hair. Kyle sighed, leaning into the touch. Connor smiled, and then quietly closed the blinds and left the darkened room.
Several hours of meditation, training, and distance running later, Connor found himself in the kitchen and the bedroom door still closed. The sun was setting, pinks and oranges spectacularly and flamboyantly painting the western sky. Connor chopped vegetables, enjoying the simple task. He’d nearly finished when the door finally opened and Kyle stumbled out, yawning and wrapped in the sheet. He squinted at the light.
“What time is it?” Apprehension dawned. “What day is it?”
Connor chuckled and carried a plate out to him. “Around eight, the same day you went to sleep.”
Kyle looked suspiciously at the plate. “What’s this?”
“Eat your goddamn vegetables, Kyle.” Connor pushed one of the room’s two chairs towards him and sat in the other. “Better for you than coffee.”
“Ha,” Kyle muttered, but he sat down, still draped in the sheet and started eating. “That’s pretty good,” he said after a few moments.
“Thank you,” Connor said graciously. All in all, it didn’t really matter if it tasted good or not; the main idea was to properly fuel the body, something Connor doubted Kyle ever considered.
“Wait, where are my clothes?” Connor looked over to see Kyle putting his empty plate in the sink and frowning at the sheet.
“In the bathroom, where you left them.” Connor knew this because he’d noticed the clothes when he’d taken his own shower; Kyle had folded them and placed them neatly on the floor.
“Where I…” Kyle choked. “I kissed you,” he said. “That wasn’t a dream?”
“You dream about me?” Connor hid a smile.
“….yes?” Kyle looked like a puppy, all big eyes and expression that said he expected to be kicked. Green Lanterns - scratch that, superheroes shouldn’t ever have that expression. It just wasn’t fair.
Connor couldn’t help it. He ruffled Kyle’s hair. “Finish your deadlines and then we’ll see where we are,” he said.
“But you -“
“Your work is important to you. That’s why you’re here. I’m not going anywhere, Kyle.” Connor trailed his fingers across Kyle’s cheek and down his jaw, feeling the smoothness of the skin underneath the faint roughness of stubble just beginning to come in. “Finish your work and I’ll see you in the morning.”
As he closed the door, Connor could hear Kyle humming, and the sound made him smile.
FINIS
Nalanzu's Little Damn Table
Fandom: Green Lantern Corps
Characters: Kyle Rayner, Connor Hawke
Prompt: 059 - Food
Word Count: 2140
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Coffee doesn’t count as food either.
Author's Notes: Fluffy. Follows prompts 53 (Earth), 60 (Drink), and 34 (Not Enough). Slash.
“I really appreciate this, Connor.”
“No problem.” Connor opened the door wider and took the drawing board from under his friend’s arm. “Here, let me get that.” Kyle looked like hell, which was nothing new. He was also balancing a ridiculously oversized coffee cup along with his art supplies, which again was nothing new.
“Thanks,” he said.
“Are you sure you can just, you know, take off like this?” It wasn’t that Connor minded having Kyle stay for a few days or so in order to catch up on work deadlines without everything else getting in the way, but he wondered if Kyle just running out on his responsibilities as Green Lantern was really the right thing to do.
“Hal’s picking up the slack,” Kyle said, closing the door with his foot. Connor could all but hear the unspoken corollary - they don’t need me.
“If you’re sure,” Connor said. He’d heard about Hal and his trip forward through time - the Hal Jordan who was currently in the Justice League Watchtower wasn’t much older than Kyle. He’d had more training, but less experience, and as much good as Connor had heard about the man, he didn’t quite trust him. Kyle seemed to, though, and Connor wasn’t about to try and convince him otherwise. Kyle was perfectly capable of making his own decisions.
“Yeah,” Kyle replied distractedly. “Can I put this over here?” He’d wandered over to the only south-facing window and was staring out of it.
“Go ahead.” Connor followed with the drawing board. He hadn’t been in the apartment for more than a few weeks, and wouldn’t stay for much longer; he spent most of his time traveling. Kyle’s request for what amounted to a place to hide had coincided with Connor’s usual traveling partner - Eddie Fyers, longtime friend of his father - leaving temporarily on his own business, and Connor was looking forward to having the company. “How does this thing work?”
“Oh, right.” The drawing board wasn’t actually difficult to set up, but Kyle had been staring at the same point of nothing for several minutes. “Here.” It was a matter of minutes to get it settled, and then Kyle suddenly frowned and shook his coffee cup. “Got any coffee around here?”
“No,” Connor started. “But I could go get some,” he finished with a sigh.
By the morning of the third day, Connor was starting to think the coffee, at the very least, was a bad idea. As far as he could tell, Kyle hadn’t actually slept and his increasingly short temper was beginning to get on Connor’s nerves, not to mention Kyle’s disturbing propensity for bad takeout food swimming in animal products. Connor had tried cooking for him for the first two days, only to find Kyle too immersed in drawing and redrawing pieces for his deadlines to pay any attention to mundane things like food and then suddenly there were takeout cartons accumulating under the chair. (At least they were neatly contained in a trash can, although that was nearly to the point of overflow.) Connor had restrained himself more than once from the phrase “Eat your goddamn vegetables, Kyle.”
“Yaaa!” came a shout from the window, followed by the neighbor’s cat - which had taken an inexplicable liking to Kyle - streaking through the open door, tail fluffed and claws skidding on the floor. Connor opened his eyes, attempts at meditation ruined for the fourth time that day by Kyle’s reaction to the cat climbing on his lap. It had been funny the first time, but one would think either Kyle or the cat would learn to react - or act - differently.
“Stop scaring the cat, Kyle.” Connor padded into the other room in bare feet, putting his hand on his friend’s shoulder.
A violent start nearly threw his hand off, Kyle clearly suppressing another yelp. “Don’t do that,” he said after a moment. Connor could all but feel Kyle’s heart pounding in adrenaline-induced reaction.
“I thought you Lanterns were supposed to be fearless,” he said teasingly.
“That’s Hal,” Kyle snapped. “And everyone else.”
Wrong button, Connor. “Sorry,” he offered, starting to gather up the paper coffee cups. There were so many he was beginning to wonder if they were breeding.
“Yeah, me too.” Kyle put down his current pencil - graphite, 2H - and rubbed his eyes. “Got any coffee?” he said hopefully.
Connor looked at the stack of empty cups in his hand. “Maybe the caffeine’s not such a good idea,” he said. “Coffee doesn’t really count as food.”
“If I don’t get this done on time, I am so screwed.” From what Connor could tell, all the crumpled paper on the floor meant that Kyle was not progressing towards making his deadline in any case. “I’m almost done. Really.”
Connor did not ask if the ring was telepathic. “Maybe you should step back for a little while, look at it from another angle.”
“I don’t have time to step back!” Kyle stood, nearly knocking the chair over. “I need to get this done, Connor. That’s why I came to you.”
“When was the last time you slept?” Connor countered. “I understand that you need to work, but if you can’t work as Green Lantern maybe this isn’t the day job you should be doing.”
“Should, should, should,” Kyle spat back. “Hal’s Green Lantern again. It’s not my name, it never was. It was always Hal.”
“Calm down, Kyle.” Connor put up his hands in what he hoped was a soothing gesture. It did not have the intended effect.
“Don’t tell me to calm down!” Kyle was shouting now, and Connor was beginning to feel a slow burn.
“Look, you came to me! The least you could do is be polite!” The moment he’d said the words, he winced; it wasn’t what he’d meant at all, or what he’d wanted to say. Kyle wasn’t the only one with a volatile temper.
“If that’s the way you feel, then fine! I’m gone!” Kyle started throwing pencils, markers, everything at hand haphazardly into the first bag he found.
“Kyle. Kyle!” Connor grabbed his friend by the shoulders and forcibly turned him around. Kyle was breathing hard, anger quivering in every muscle. “I’m worried about you,” he said softly.
“I…” Kyle looked at him directly for the first time in three days and leaned forward. “I’ve figured it out,” he said, and Connor was trying to parse the sentence when Kyle kissed him. He was surprised enough that he didn’t pull away, and Kyle took that as an invitation to pull Connor closer. For someone who spent most of his time not training, Kyle was surprisingly strong. It was the taste of coffee that broke Connor’s temporary paralysis - Kyle was, in his limited experience, a damn good kisser, but Connor did not like coffee no matter what form it came in.
“Okay,” he said, pushing Kyle back.
“I am so sorry.” Kyle had misinterpreted; he was blushing and the look of acute horror on his face said more than words ever could. “Connor, I am sorry. I didn’t mean to do that.”
“Kyle, it’s okay.” He wasn’t sure exactly why Kyle was apologizing; if he’d really objected, Kyle would have known. Without the ring - which was back at Kyle’s apartment being guarded by Kyle’s temporary roommate - Kyle wouldn’t have a chance. “It was nice.”
Kyle blinked. “….nice?” he said, brain obviously trying to catch up with perception.
“I don’t like coffee,” Connor said, gently pushing Kyle towards the bathroom. “Shower. Brush your teeth. Then maybe we can give it another shot.”
The blinking did not stop, but Kyle continued under his own power. The sound of water flowing followed, and Connor took the opportunity to get rid of the accumulated trash (how could the man drink so much coffee and not explode? Truly, the human body was a mystery). The shower didn’t take long, and Kyle emerged wearing a handtowel and soaking wet. “Um, Connor?”
As much as he would have liked to enjoy the view, it was spoiled by the unavoidable fact that despite the shower, Kyle looked like worse hell than he had when he’d arrived. On the other hand, the handtowel was pretty funny. “Oh, right,” Connor said, and dug a larger towel out of what passed for a linen closet (a box currently serving double duty as a table). “Here.” Kyle just stood there, staring, so Connor wrapped the towel around his shoulders and used the ends to start toweling Kyle’s hair dry.
“Mm.” Kyle closed his eyes and leaned into the touch. Connor took it as a cue to move downwards, running the soft cloth over Kyle’s exhausted face and down his shoulders. He’d reached Kyle’s waist when Kyle leaned down and kissed him again, softly. Connor returned the kiss this time, tangling his hands in Kyle’s still damp hair.
“Over here.” Connor pulled away for the second time, leading Kyle towards the bedroom.
“I -“ Kyle started, looking genuinely freaked out for the second time that day.
“I thought I was supposed to be the one who was new at this.” Kyle wasn’t going to go toward the bed without resistance, but Connor was stronger. “I’m going to give you a backrub, Kyle, that’s all. Then you can go back to work and meet your deadline.”
“I… right.” Kyle’s brain was apparently still having trouble keeping up with his senses, but he stopped fighting Connor and lay down obediently.
Starting with the shoulders, Connor pressed his thumbs into Kyle’s tense muscles. He moved along the spine and shoulderblades, pressing gently. Kyle’s skin was smooth and damp, still overheated from the shower. Connor moved to his neck, fingers massaging the base of Kyle’s skull, and Kyle made a happy little noise somewhere between a moan and a sigh. There were knots starting at the shoulders and continuing all the way down, and as Connor worked each one out, he could feel Kyle relax more. By the time he reached the base of Kyle’s spine, the other man’s breathing had deepened and evened.
“Kyle?” Connor said softly, just to check. There was no answer. As Connor had halfway hoped, Kyle was out like a light. He drew a blanket over him, pausing for a moment to stroke Kyle’s hair. Kyle sighed, leaning into the touch. Connor smiled, and then quietly closed the blinds and left the darkened room.
Several hours of meditation, training, and distance running later, Connor found himself in the kitchen and the bedroom door still closed. The sun was setting, pinks and oranges spectacularly and flamboyantly painting the western sky. Connor chopped vegetables, enjoying the simple task. He’d nearly finished when the door finally opened and Kyle stumbled out, yawning and wrapped in the sheet. He squinted at the light.
“What time is it?” Apprehension dawned. “What day is it?”
Connor chuckled and carried a plate out to him. “Around eight, the same day you went to sleep.”
Kyle looked suspiciously at the plate. “What’s this?”
“Eat your goddamn vegetables, Kyle.” Connor pushed one of the room’s two chairs towards him and sat in the other. “Better for you than coffee.”
“Ha,” Kyle muttered, but he sat down, still draped in the sheet and started eating. “That’s pretty good,” he said after a few moments.
“Thank you,” Connor said graciously. All in all, it didn’t really matter if it tasted good or not; the main idea was to properly fuel the body, something Connor doubted Kyle ever considered.
“Wait, where are my clothes?” Connor looked over to see Kyle putting his empty plate in the sink and frowning at the sheet.
“In the bathroom, where you left them.” Connor knew this because he’d noticed the clothes when he’d taken his own shower; Kyle had folded them and placed them neatly on the floor.
“Where I…” Kyle choked. “I kissed you,” he said. “That wasn’t a dream?”
“You dream about me?” Connor hid a smile.
“….yes?” Kyle looked like a puppy, all big eyes and expression that said he expected to be kicked. Green Lanterns - scratch that, superheroes shouldn’t ever have that expression. It just wasn’t fair.
Connor couldn’t help it. He ruffled Kyle’s hair. “Finish your deadlines and then we’ll see where we are,” he said.
“But you -“
“Your work is important to you. That’s why you’re here. I’m not going anywhere, Kyle.” Connor trailed his fingers across Kyle’s cheek and down his jaw, feeling the smoothness of the skin underneath the faint roughness of stubble just beginning to come in. “Finish your work and I’ll see you in the morning.”
As he closed the door, Connor could hear Kyle humming, and the sound made him smile.
FINIS
Nalanzu's Little Damn Table