(no subject)
Title: Operation Cuddle
Pairing: Columbus/Tallahassee
Rating: R -LANGUAGE-
Warnings: Unexpected night cuddles, and head trauma followed by more cuddles.
Summary: Tallahassee cuddles with Columbus when he thinks he's sleeping. Columbus notices.
Notes: Done for the kink-meme!
Columbus was so surprised the first time it happened that he'd pretended to still be asleep and stared the wall across the bed for three hours until Tallahassee had fallen asleep and he could slither out of the man's grasp to spend another three hours staring at him in bemused confusion. He hadn't known that Tallahassee was... cuddly. Especially not intentionally.
He'd spent the entire day sneaking glances at the older man out of the corner of his eyes, trying to catch him looking back or giving some sort of clue as to why he did it. By the end of the day he'd spent more time looking at Tallahassee than paying attention to where he was going and had run into walls, doors and one large window. It was, overall, embarrassing, bruising, and fruitless. Tallahassee gave no hints.
The next time it happened Columbus was half asleep, disoriented, and snuggled back into the warmth of the body behind him with a contented little mumble before he was coherent enough to realize what was going on. There was a soft, low chuckle, and the man behind him buried his nose against his curls.
"So fuckin' cute," he heard, the words a fond grumble.
He turned red to the tips of his ears and prayed the man behind him wouldn't notice and discover he was awake. Luckily, Tallahassee remained ignorant.
The next day he woke up first, and was in the distinctly confusing situation of not wanting to wake up the guy who he'd thought found him annoying, but really needing to pee. In the end, after a ten minute debate, he'd decided it would be more embarrassing to piss the bed than to get caught sneaking away, so he slithered out of Tallahassee's grip.
He decided not to go back to bed, and instead stayed up and make breakfast for everybody (an extremely decadent meal of beef jerky and dry cornflakes). Tallahassee was unusually cranky the entire day after coming downstairs half asleep and worried looking. Columbus bit his lip and made a oath to himself not to ever wake up first again.
That night he decided to try an experiment, just to see how serious Tallahassee was about his secret cuddle sessions. He feigned sleep facing him. He didn't know what he was expecting to happen, but as soon as Tallahassee had thought he was asleep the older man had ever-so-gently pulled him so that he was laying half on top of him. Columbus swallowed nervously, and tried to stay as still as possible. He could hear the man's heart beat against his ear and feel it under his fingertips. It was the most intimate position he had ever been in, and he was sure he wouldn't be able to sleep at all.
To his surprise, he was dead to the world in minutes.
When he woke up the next morning, comfortable and warm, he stretched against Tallahassee, a contented sigh escaping his lips as his eyes fluttered open. What he saw was a slightly panicked Tallahassee staring back at him, his mouth working, but no sound coming out. Giving a cry of surprise, Columbus rolled away, overshot the bed and ended up falling off. His head smacked loudly against the nightstand as he fell, and he curled into a fetal position on the floor, clutching his head and breathing hard.
Bare feet hit the floor a second later and a rough hands grabbed his head, trying to turn it so that the quickly forming bump could be examined. "Shit kid, you okay?"
"I'm fine!" he squeaked, "I'm sorry-I must have rolled over on you in my sleep. I didn't mean to."
Because if the panic he'd seen had been any indication, Tallahassee didn't want it to be known that he was a midnight cuddler, and Columbus didn't want to embarrass him and/or piss him off.
"It's - err - it's fine," he heard, the voice above him sounding awkward and unsure, "Are you sure you're okay? Is it bleeding?"
"No, it's fine," Columbus said, sitting up and putting his best nervous-OCD-boy smile on. "Just a bump."
He firmly ignored the wave of dizziness that washed over him when he stood up and stumbled to the bathroom where he learned that yes, actually, it was bleeding. Groaning and pressing a wad of toilet paper to it in an attempt to get it to clot faster, he did his business and vacated so the others could have a turn.
The dizziness followed him around all day, hitting him whenever he moved his head too quickly, and leaving him leaning against the window of their SUV with his eyes closed. He didn't think anyone noticed though, Tallahassee was busy driving and the girls were in a heated debate over the merits of the zombie apocalypse. It was a debate they had regularly. Their latest subject was whether not having to pay bills was a pro or a con. Wichita said pro, but Little Rock, wise beyond her years, pointed out that the systems that shut off utilities were automated so eventually the electricity and water would run out.
Columbus listened to them go, trying to ignore the buzzing in his ears, and stared at the passing scenery until it made him nauseous.
That night he couldn't wait to get to bed, and when he flopped backwards on the bed he only experienced a little bit of the spinning sensation he'd been having all day. There were like twelve bedrooms in the house, so when Tallahassee slipped in in the middle of the night, he was mildly surprised. At least he guy knocked first, and Columbus wondered what excuse for his arrival he'd thought up in case he was awake. Biting his lip and rolling over when he heard Tallahassee close to the bed, he decided that his curiosity had to be humored.
"Tallahassee?" he questioned, and was surprised at how groggy he sounded. "What're you doing in here?"
The man went surprisingly still, and tense, and then, "You hit your head pretty hard this morning."
"Yeah..."
"I wanted to make sure you were alright."
"A little bit dizzy off and on today," he admitted quietly.
"You could have brain damage," the older man huffed, sounding mildly irritated, "Why didn't you say somethin'?"
Columbus could feel an embarrassed flush creeping up his neck, "Well - I - Um."
"Every hour," the man said firmly, cutting off his guilty stammering. "You need to get up every hour. I saw it on ER."
Columbus huffed out an amused laugh, "Yes, doctor."
Tallahassee gave an aggravated growl, "I'm serious, spitfuck. You might not wake up in the morning otherwise."
"Fine," Columbus said, heaving a yawn, "Now can I go back to sleep?"
Tallahassee nodded in the semi-darkness, "I'll come back and wake you up in a bit."
Columbus watched him walk towards the door and bit his lip, "Hey?"
The older man stopped and turned back, "Eh?"
"You could just stay, you know," he said, "Um-you know-so you don't wake up the girls moving back and forth."
He saw the older man shift his weight, looking fidgety, before he received a quiet grunt. Then Tallahassee was slipping into his bed, under the covers. Columbus edged a little closer to him.
"Sorry," he muttered, and Tallahassee turned towards him.
"Why?"
Columbus snorted, "The one night you could have your own bed and I get a head injury."
He felt Tallahassee shift in what might have been a shrug, "Doesn't matter."
They lapsed into silence, and Columbus fell into a disorienting snooze, mumbling incoherently when Tallahassee gave his shoulder a gentle shake. Somehow they'd shifted and he was half on the older man again, one leg thrown over his, and an arm draped over the man's abdomen. Tallahassee forced him to say a coherent sentence before he let him slip back into the confusing dreams he'd been muddling through. The rest of the night was incoherent, he drifted in and out of consciousness with limited awareness of anything going on, but every time he was aware it was of how Tallahassee didn't seem to mind that he was clutching at him like a child would hold a stuffed animal.
"Talk to me, spitfuck," he heard the man say, his voice sounding gruff.
Columbus blinked, trying to clear the fog from his mind, "It's like London in my head."
"What?" the older man asked, sounding genuinely confused.
Columbus made an aggravated noise in the back of his throat and buried his face against Tallahassee's chest, hoping he wouldn't press it, because he wasn't even sure what he'd meant. A second later there was a gentle prod at his shoulder, he opened his eyes and wondered when they'd gotten closed.
"I need something that makes sense," the older man pressed. "So I know you're not losin' it."
Columbus growled in frustration, wanting to just go to sleep and not wake up and he was just so tired, "I'm coherent. My name is Jas-"
He cut himself off with a hard swallow. "Columbus."
"Alright," Tallahassee muttered, and it was then that Columbus realized the man had an arm wrapped around him, holding him. "Go back to sleep, sunshine, you're a grumpy fuck without sleep."
"Nnngh," Columbus groaned, but did as he was told and slipped into the confusing swirl of his dreams again.
The next time he woke up, there was pale light filtering through the filthy bedroom window and Tallahassee was snoring lightly. He shifted against the man, clutching to him tighter and inhaling deeply, not wanting to move. It was just too comfortable, and warm, and he thought it was something he could get used to. Maybe without the brain damage.
He heard Tallahassee inhale an uneven breath, and then the man was shifting to shake his shoulder, his voice was sleep-rough, "Wake up, coherent?"
Columbus hummed and shifted again, "Already awake. Perfectly fine. Back to sleep?"
Tallahassee grunted in reply and they both drifted back to sleep. Columbus fell asleep wishing he could wake up to pancakes and coffee and maybe the weather man chattering over the radio, and maybe also to Tallahassee still in bed with him.
He got approximately none of his wishes. Tallahassee was awake and gone before he got up, and when he ventured downstairs it was to the smell of teriyaki beef jerky and bottled water. The only sound was Little Rock chattering away about Hannah Montana. He sat down heavily at the island countertop/breakfast bar, and buried his face in his folded arms.
"Are you alright?" Wichita asked, taking a swig of water, "You look like shit."
"My head feels like someone took a pick to it," he grumbled.
"No kidding?" she asked, raising her eyebrows and going back to her breakfast.
Columbus didn't reply and she let the subject drop; he was grateful. He wasn't in the mood for any sort of conversation about anything. Partway through breakfast Little Rock noticed he wasn't eating anything and offered him some of her far superior jerky. The smell hit his nose and he grimaced.
"No thanks," he said, "Not hungry."
"You need to eat something," Wichita said, fixing him with her stern look.
"I'll eat later," he placated.
She let the subject drop.
Somehow, Tallahassee convinced the girls that they needed to stay an extra night, and they spent the day wandering through the nearby grocery store searching for whatever they could find. Columbus felt that the trip to the market was a good one when he found an unopened box of Emergen-C in the pharmacy area and several boxes of extra strength aspirin. Tallahassee found twinkies, which they'd been stumbling across all over since making it further east again. The girls found actual substance, bran cereal and several jars of fruit preserves. Booty in hand, they made for the stronghold.
That night Columbus was unprecedentedly pleased when Tallahassee slipped into his room and bed without invitation. A week prior he would have been annoyed. He pretended to be asleep and gave a sleepy sigh when he was pulled back against a warm, broad chest. It was twisted funny that their cuddling sessions had become both of their dirty secrets, from each other. Feeling bold, Columbus chuckled. Behind him, Tallahassee went tense and sucked in a breath.
"I think we need to agree that cuddling is fine," Columbus said in a murmur, twisting around so he could try to see the man in dark. "Because pretending to be asleep is exhausting, and I don't want to go to the trouble of pretending I don't enjoy it."
Tallahassee exhaled and it sounded like a "pft", "You little fucker."
Columbus laughed as quietly as he was capable of, trying to angle himself closer, "Who molests who in whose bed?"
Tallahassee definitely pffted at that one, "Who just admitted to liking it?"
Columbus sighed, lifting his head and leaning in close to the man's face, "Sleep now, witty banter in the morning."
Tallahassee grumbled, and feeling even more bold, Columbus pressed a quick kiss to his lips. Tension melted out of the body beside him, and he found that a second, longer and more demanding, kiss followed. "Hmm, what else can we do in the morning?"
"Nothing that the girls might hear," Columbus said in a whisper, earning a chuckle.
"So I'll hafta gag you."
Columbus's eyes went wide and he felt his entire body burn with embarrassment.
Pairing: Columbus/Tallahassee
Rating: R -LANGUAGE-
Warnings: Unexpected night cuddles, and head trauma followed by more cuddles.
Summary: Tallahassee cuddles with Columbus when he thinks he's sleeping. Columbus notices.
Notes: Done for the kink-meme!
Columbus was so surprised the first time it happened that he'd pretended to still be asleep and stared the wall across the bed for three hours until Tallahassee had fallen asleep and he could slither out of the man's grasp to spend another three hours staring at him in bemused confusion. He hadn't known that Tallahassee was... cuddly. Especially not intentionally.
He'd spent the entire day sneaking glances at the older man out of the corner of his eyes, trying to catch him looking back or giving some sort of clue as to why he did it. By the end of the day he'd spent more time looking at Tallahassee than paying attention to where he was going and had run into walls, doors and one large window. It was, overall, embarrassing, bruising, and fruitless. Tallahassee gave no hints.
The next time it happened Columbus was half asleep, disoriented, and snuggled back into the warmth of the body behind him with a contented little mumble before he was coherent enough to realize what was going on. There was a soft, low chuckle, and the man behind him buried his nose against his curls.
"So fuckin' cute," he heard, the words a fond grumble.
He turned red to the tips of his ears and prayed the man behind him wouldn't notice and discover he was awake. Luckily, Tallahassee remained ignorant.
The next day he woke up first, and was in the distinctly confusing situation of not wanting to wake up the guy who he'd thought found him annoying, but really needing to pee. In the end, after a ten minute debate, he'd decided it would be more embarrassing to piss the bed than to get caught sneaking away, so he slithered out of Tallahassee's grip.
He decided not to go back to bed, and instead stayed up and make breakfast for everybody (an extremely decadent meal of beef jerky and dry cornflakes). Tallahassee was unusually cranky the entire day after coming downstairs half asleep and worried looking. Columbus bit his lip and made a oath to himself not to ever wake up first again.
That night he decided to try an experiment, just to see how serious Tallahassee was about his secret cuddle sessions. He feigned sleep facing him. He didn't know what he was expecting to happen, but as soon as Tallahassee had thought he was asleep the older man had ever-so-gently pulled him so that he was laying half on top of him. Columbus swallowed nervously, and tried to stay as still as possible. He could hear the man's heart beat against his ear and feel it under his fingertips. It was the most intimate position he had ever been in, and he was sure he wouldn't be able to sleep at all.
To his surprise, he was dead to the world in minutes.
When he woke up the next morning, comfortable and warm, he stretched against Tallahassee, a contented sigh escaping his lips as his eyes fluttered open. What he saw was a slightly panicked Tallahassee staring back at him, his mouth working, but no sound coming out. Giving a cry of surprise, Columbus rolled away, overshot the bed and ended up falling off. His head smacked loudly against the nightstand as he fell, and he curled into a fetal position on the floor, clutching his head and breathing hard.
Bare feet hit the floor a second later and a rough hands grabbed his head, trying to turn it so that the quickly forming bump could be examined. "Shit kid, you okay?"
"I'm fine!" he squeaked, "I'm sorry-I must have rolled over on you in my sleep. I didn't mean to."
Because if the panic he'd seen had been any indication, Tallahassee didn't want it to be known that he was a midnight cuddler, and Columbus didn't want to embarrass him and/or piss him off.
"It's - err - it's fine," he heard, the voice above him sounding awkward and unsure, "Are you sure you're okay? Is it bleeding?"
"No, it's fine," Columbus said, sitting up and putting his best nervous-OCD-boy smile on. "Just a bump."
He firmly ignored the wave of dizziness that washed over him when he stood up and stumbled to the bathroom where he learned that yes, actually, it was bleeding. Groaning and pressing a wad of toilet paper to it in an attempt to get it to clot faster, he did his business and vacated so the others could have a turn.
The dizziness followed him around all day, hitting him whenever he moved his head too quickly, and leaving him leaning against the window of their SUV with his eyes closed. He didn't think anyone noticed though, Tallahassee was busy driving and the girls were in a heated debate over the merits of the zombie apocalypse. It was a debate they had regularly. Their latest subject was whether not having to pay bills was a pro or a con. Wichita said pro, but Little Rock, wise beyond her years, pointed out that the systems that shut off utilities were automated so eventually the electricity and water would run out.
Columbus listened to them go, trying to ignore the buzzing in his ears, and stared at the passing scenery until it made him nauseous.
That night he couldn't wait to get to bed, and when he flopped backwards on the bed he only experienced a little bit of the spinning sensation he'd been having all day. There were like twelve bedrooms in the house, so when Tallahassee slipped in in the middle of the night, he was mildly surprised. At least he guy knocked first, and Columbus wondered what excuse for his arrival he'd thought up in case he was awake. Biting his lip and rolling over when he heard Tallahassee close to the bed, he decided that his curiosity had to be humored.
"Tallahassee?" he questioned, and was surprised at how groggy he sounded. "What're you doing in here?"
The man went surprisingly still, and tense, and then, "You hit your head pretty hard this morning."
"Yeah..."
"I wanted to make sure you were alright."
"A little bit dizzy off and on today," he admitted quietly.
"You could have brain damage," the older man huffed, sounding mildly irritated, "Why didn't you say somethin'?"
Columbus could feel an embarrassed flush creeping up his neck, "Well - I - Um."
"Every hour," the man said firmly, cutting off his guilty stammering. "You need to get up every hour. I saw it on ER."
Columbus huffed out an amused laugh, "Yes, doctor."
Tallahassee gave an aggravated growl, "I'm serious, spitfuck. You might not wake up in the morning otherwise."
"Fine," Columbus said, heaving a yawn, "Now can I go back to sleep?"
Tallahassee nodded in the semi-darkness, "I'll come back and wake you up in a bit."
Columbus watched him walk towards the door and bit his lip, "Hey?"
The older man stopped and turned back, "Eh?"
"You could just stay, you know," he said, "Um-you know-so you don't wake up the girls moving back and forth."
He saw the older man shift his weight, looking fidgety, before he received a quiet grunt. Then Tallahassee was slipping into his bed, under the covers. Columbus edged a little closer to him.
"Sorry," he muttered, and Tallahassee turned towards him.
"Why?"
Columbus snorted, "The one night you could have your own bed and I get a head injury."
He felt Tallahassee shift in what might have been a shrug, "Doesn't matter."
They lapsed into silence, and Columbus fell into a disorienting snooze, mumbling incoherently when Tallahassee gave his shoulder a gentle shake. Somehow they'd shifted and he was half on the older man again, one leg thrown over his, and an arm draped over the man's abdomen. Tallahassee forced him to say a coherent sentence before he let him slip back into the confusing dreams he'd been muddling through. The rest of the night was incoherent, he drifted in and out of consciousness with limited awareness of anything going on, but every time he was aware it was of how Tallahassee didn't seem to mind that he was clutching at him like a child would hold a stuffed animal.
"Talk to me, spitfuck," he heard the man say, his voice sounding gruff.
Columbus blinked, trying to clear the fog from his mind, "It's like London in my head."
"What?" the older man asked, sounding genuinely confused.
Columbus made an aggravated noise in the back of his throat and buried his face against Tallahassee's chest, hoping he wouldn't press it, because he wasn't even sure what he'd meant. A second later there was a gentle prod at his shoulder, he opened his eyes and wondered when they'd gotten closed.
"I need something that makes sense," the older man pressed. "So I know you're not losin' it."
Columbus growled in frustration, wanting to just go to sleep and not wake up and he was just so tired, "I'm coherent. My name is Jas-"
He cut himself off with a hard swallow. "Columbus."
"Alright," Tallahassee muttered, and it was then that Columbus realized the man had an arm wrapped around him, holding him. "Go back to sleep, sunshine, you're a grumpy fuck without sleep."
"Nnngh," Columbus groaned, but did as he was told and slipped into the confusing swirl of his dreams again.
The next time he woke up, there was pale light filtering through the filthy bedroom window and Tallahassee was snoring lightly. He shifted against the man, clutching to him tighter and inhaling deeply, not wanting to move. It was just too comfortable, and warm, and he thought it was something he could get used to. Maybe without the brain damage.
He heard Tallahassee inhale an uneven breath, and then the man was shifting to shake his shoulder, his voice was sleep-rough, "Wake up, coherent?"
Columbus hummed and shifted again, "Already awake. Perfectly fine. Back to sleep?"
Tallahassee grunted in reply and they both drifted back to sleep. Columbus fell asleep wishing he could wake up to pancakes and coffee and maybe the weather man chattering over the radio, and maybe also to Tallahassee still in bed with him.
He got approximately none of his wishes. Tallahassee was awake and gone before he got up, and when he ventured downstairs it was to the smell of teriyaki beef jerky and bottled water. The only sound was Little Rock chattering away about Hannah Montana. He sat down heavily at the island countertop/breakfast bar, and buried his face in his folded arms.
"Are you alright?" Wichita asked, taking a swig of water, "You look like shit."
"My head feels like someone took a pick to it," he grumbled.
"No kidding?" she asked, raising her eyebrows and going back to her breakfast.
Columbus didn't reply and she let the subject drop; he was grateful. He wasn't in the mood for any sort of conversation about anything. Partway through breakfast Little Rock noticed he wasn't eating anything and offered him some of her far superior jerky. The smell hit his nose and he grimaced.
"No thanks," he said, "Not hungry."
"You need to eat something," Wichita said, fixing him with her stern look.
"I'll eat later," he placated.
She let the subject drop.
Somehow, Tallahassee convinced the girls that they needed to stay an extra night, and they spent the day wandering through the nearby grocery store searching for whatever they could find. Columbus felt that the trip to the market was a good one when he found an unopened box of Emergen-C in the pharmacy area and several boxes of extra strength aspirin. Tallahassee found twinkies, which they'd been stumbling across all over since making it further east again. The girls found actual substance, bran cereal and several jars of fruit preserves. Booty in hand, they made for the stronghold.
That night Columbus was unprecedentedly pleased when Tallahassee slipped into his room and bed without invitation. A week prior he would have been annoyed. He pretended to be asleep and gave a sleepy sigh when he was pulled back against a warm, broad chest. It was twisted funny that their cuddling sessions had become both of their dirty secrets, from each other. Feeling bold, Columbus chuckled. Behind him, Tallahassee went tense and sucked in a breath.
"I think we need to agree that cuddling is fine," Columbus said in a murmur, twisting around so he could try to see the man in dark. "Because pretending to be asleep is exhausting, and I don't want to go to the trouble of pretending I don't enjoy it."
Tallahassee exhaled and it sounded like a "pft", "You little fucker."
Columbus laughed as quietly as he was capable of, trying to angle himself closer, "Who molests who in whose bed?"
Tallahassee definitely pffted at that one, "Who just admitted to liking it?"
Columbus sighed, lifting his head and leaning in close to the man's face, "Sleep now, witty banter in the morning."
Tallahassee grumbled, and feeling even more bold, Columbus pressed a quick kiss to his lips. Tension melted out of the body beside him, and he found that a second, longer and more demanding, kiss followed. "Hmm, what else can we do in the morning?"
"Nothing that the girls might hear," Columbus said in a whisper, earning a chuckle.
"So I'll hafta gag you."
Columbus's eyes went wide and he felt his entire body burn with embarrassment.