Oliver flips through the closet one more time, just to be safe. Flicking through hangers of sweaters and dress shirts and suit jackets. Digging through the boxes he’s got for old t-shirts and jeans that he might wear again someday. He turns to the dresser to look through all the drawers one final time before upending the dirty laundry basket just to make double sure it didn’t get mixed in with the other laundry.
His hoodie is gone.
Hands on his hips, Oliver surveys the chaos of his room. He eyes the three drawers on the left side of the dresser he didn’t touch and the right half of the closet.
Those are Connor’s drawers and Connor’s side. After the epic blowout over the pajama bottoms, Oliver knows not to touch Connor’s clothes. Apparently, they can open a joint checking account but the world will end if Oliver wears Connor’s sweats.
But still, Oliver bites nervously on his thumbnail, he has a sneaking suspicion that his hoodie is in one of those drawers.
Disclaimer: I don’t know anything about actual space travel….so….yeah…..
“Who is this one?” Annalise asks as a new face pops up on the screen.
“Oliver Hampton,” Frank explains as he passes out Hampton’s file to Annalise. “Graduated Magna Cum Laude from MIT with degrees in Astrophysics and Engineering. Masters in Engineering from Cal Tech. Top marks in flight sims. He’s flown mission specialist for docking and research missions.”
“So, he’s the brains?” Annalise concludes as she reads through the rather impressive dossier. “This is a two-man assignment. Who are we thinking for the brawn?”
Bonnie nods for Frank to click to the next picture and hands over a second file to the commander. “This is Connor Walsh. He was a lieutenant with the Air Force. Piloted numerous missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. Top marks in our flight sims and training modules. He’s piloted several docking missions and did a stint last year aboard the International Space Station.”
“This mission isn’t going to be a stint,” Annalise says as she skims Walsh’s file. “This going to be a year assignment. Both these candidates understand that?” Frank and Bonnie both nod and Annalise looks back to the files in front of her. “Personality tests?”
Bonnie reaches over to point to the flagged pages in each file. “They scored well on the compatibility tests.”
“They play nice in training?” Annalise asked, raising her head at Frank’s snort. “Something to share?”
“Connor?” Oliver calls as he walks into the apartment.
Connor’s car was in his space in the garage so Oliver knows he’s home but his boyfriend is nowhere to be seen. Setting down his bag, Oliver pokes his head into the bedroom to verify it’s empty before looking around the apartment again. “Connor?”
“You have to promise not to laugh,” says a muted voice from the bathroom.
Oliver walks over to the closed bathroom door. There’s no light peeking through the bottom. “Are you hiding in there?”
“You have to promise not to laugh,” Connor repeats.
“I would never laugh,” Oliver assures him.
“Promise.”
“Connor, what’s the matter?” Oliver asks. “You’re scaring me.”
“Oliver! Promise!” Connor demands.
“Alright. Alright. I promise,” Oliver says. There’s silence between them and Oliver doesn’t hear Connor moving to open the door. “Connor? I promise I won’t laugh. Please open the door.”
“Okay,” Connor mutters and opens the door.
Oliver braces himself for the worst and is more than a little relieved when Connor opens the door and there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with him. Wait. Are those- “Are you wearing glasses?”
“Don’t say that, Connor” he huffed; folding his arms against his chest. Oliver was mad at Connor, but that didn’t mean that he wanted him to go away. God no, his favourite thing was Connor being right here with him. Oliver didn’t even care that they were arguing over something stupid, just his presence was enough. Sure, the cheating hurt – but Oliver forgave him for that. He lightly stomped his feet over to Connor, poking his chest ever so lightly. “I would never be better off without you.”
“No, I’m not” Oliver muttered, pushing Connor out of his room in nothing but his underwear. It was the morning after a drunken night, and Oliver seemed to be in a right foul mood. His mind was being swamped with the stressful work pieces, stupid friends, and a boy that kept distracting him in every way possible. Oliver was slacking, stressed and tired. His usual routine was washed away, and he needed to pick up and start again. “Go home. I don’t have the time to be fighting against you right now. I have work, and you need to go.”
“Don’t say one word,” Connor says the minute he walks through the door.
Oliver rises from the couch, eager to greet his boyfriend. They’ve been apart for the whole long weekend, with Connor going to visit his sister in Michigan. He’s halfway to the door before he finally takes in the sight of Connor – of Connor’s bright red hair.
“That’s -” Oliver starts.
“Don’t.” Connor stops him. He hangs up his coat and leaves his suitcase by the door. “It’ll wash out in a few days. It’s just the temporary stuff.“
“It’s not that bad.” Oliver waits near the couch for Connor to come to him. When he does, the light catches his hair, and yeah, it’s official. Connor Walsh could have fire engine red hair and still be the hottest man in the universe. Oliver laughs, but lightly, so Connor will know it’s not at his expense. “It’s actually really unfair how hot you look.”
Connor’s gaze slides away even as he reaches for Oliver’s hands and holds them. “You don’t have to lie to me.”
“I honestly wish I was lying,” Oliver tells him. “Seriously.” He lets go of one of Connor’s hands so that he can lift his own and push his fingers through Connor’s red locks. Softer, he breathes, “So unfair.”
Connor laughs then too, finally, and eases closer. Oliver pulls him in and wraps his arms around Connor’s shoulders. He places soft kiss after soft kiss into Connor’s hair.
“Your niece and nephew’s idea, I take it?”
Connor nods. “Can’t say no to them.”
Love swells bright and hot in Oliver’s chest. It’s too early to think about their own kids, but damn, Connor would make a fantastic father. He loves his niece and nephew so much. He’d do anything for them, just to get them to smile.
Oliver wants to tell Connor that, how good a father he’d be, how much Oliver loves him, but it feels too early. They’re fixing things. They’re good. But Oliver doesn’t want to scare Connor away.
Instead, he says, “I missed you,” because it’s just as true.
“Me, too.” Connor sighs and melts further into Oliver’s chest. His arms slide around Oliver’s waist. “Next time, come with me.”
Oliver smiles so wide his cheeks hurt. It’s something – a big something. Maybe they’re already more than Oliver thought.
The first thought Connor has when he opens the front door to the apartment he shares with Oliver is who is this hottie in my living room. That thought passes quickly, as do most thoughts about hot guys who aren’t Oliver. But this one crashes instead into a surge of ugly jealousy – Connor is home earlier than usual. Did Oliver have someone else over on the sly? But that thought too, is short lived, when he remembers Oliver. His boyfriend. The love of his life. Their quiet vows in the dark, “I’ll never hurt you. I love you.” Oliver wouldn’t cheat.
So then who…?
Then Connor’s gaze drags downward, glancing over familiar wide shoulders and down the soft curve of a back he’s kissed hundreds of times, to a gorgeous tight ass Connor would know anywhere.
“Connor, you’re home early!” Oliver says as he turns. His smile’s wide, nervous. A blush paints his cheeks red. And, most noticeable of all, his usually black hair is bright blond.
Connor stands in the doorway for a while, staring, lips parted, throat going dry.
“You’re staring. You hate it, don’t you?”
“No,” Connor says, a bit breathless. He comes fully into their apartment, kicking the door closed behind him, and, taking long confident strides, crosses the room to Oliver. He cups Oliver’s face and pulls him in for a kiss. He licks his way into Oliver’s mouth, heart racing when Oliver’s arms wrap around him, pulling him closer.
“You like it then,” Oliver says when they come up for air, both panting. Oliver smiles, lips red and kiss-swollen. Oliver’s hair is a mess from where Connor had run his fingers through again and again.
Oliver’s beautiful. He’d be beautiful no matter his hair color. But Connor doesn’t know how to say that so he just says, “Yes,” and pushes Oliver down on the couch so he can sit in his lap and get his hands in that hair again.
Bless you for this prompt. I love it. It didn’t go the direction I thought it would, but I hope you enjoy!
It
started off as a simple question. A basic, harmless question when
Connor noticed the bike helmet on Oliver’s coffee table. Oliver didn’t
really strike him as the kind of guy who owned those skin tight,
form-hugging pants and went biking during the ungodly early hours on the
weekend. Turns out, he rarely did it–which, Connor was minor my
grateful for.
Only
to then be kicking himself in the ass seconds later when Oliver asked,
“why do you want to go?” No, Connor didn’t want to go biking. The only
physical activity he ever took part in and actually liked–besides
sex–was running and the occasional trip to the gym when he worried his
stomach was getting too chubby. It never was, but he liked to be a
little toned.
However,
as a part of the become-a-better-boyfriend program, he couldn’t say no.
He couldn’t. Not when they were on a good place. The last thing Connor
needed was to make Oliver upset by refusing to go biking. Even though he
never went before in his life. That fact alone should have deterred
Connor and told him not to do it.
It didn’t.
And that was how he ended up in the hospital a week later with a sprained ankle.
Okay so, I know that we (maybe it’s mostly me) talk all the time about Oliver being Connor’s home and Connor coming back from a terrible day to the wonderfulness that is Oliver and Oliver’s apartment. But what about Connor being Oliver’s home. Like…
Oliver decides to take the elevator up, which he knows is super lazy of him and he hasn’t been to the gym at all this week and it really is only two flights, but today that’s two flights too many. Fred (Is that guy’s name Fred or is Fred the other one?) from upstairs is already in and they exchange weary hellos. Neither try to make small talk and Oliver is embarrassed when the elevator dings at his floor. He should have just taken the stairs.
He walks listlessly down the hall, replaying the events of the day in his head. Nothing really awful happened today it was all just a little too much. Too many annoying problems and coworkers. Too many screens. Too much artificial light. Too much squinting to read small print. It was all just too much today.
Oliver almost closes his eyes as he walks down the hall. His eyes hurt. Maybe he should have worn his glasses. For whatever reason, his eyes never seem to strain so much when he wears his glasses. Maybe he needs a new prescription. Isn’t he due for the dentist too? Did he already get his allergy shot for this season or does he still need that? What was that shot he got a few weeks ago or was that just blood work? Dammit, why can’t he remember?
Digging through his bag for the keys, Oliver thinks over the conversation he had with one of the VPs after he got the guy’s email working again. That last comment seemed…odd. Was that supposed to be a joke? Was he being serious? If it was a joke, it was terrible one. But if the guy was serious, Oliver’s pretty sure he should be offended. Maybe he should be offended either way. The guy laughed a little while he said it, does that mean something? Is that the kind of thing he’s supposed to tell HR about? God, Oliver sighs as he slips the key in the door, he doesn’t want to go to HR. He doesn’t want to file a complaint and fill out a report. Maybe he’s just being over sensitive.
Oliver’s surprised when he opens the door and his lights are all on. Music is coming out of the computer and the smells coming out of the kitchen are fantastic.
Connor’s head pokes out around the fridge. “Oh, you’re home.”
Oliver chuckles at that as he shoulders off his bag and hangs his coat. “Expecting someone else.”
Connor went over all the facts as Frank, one of Annalise’s associates, started to talk. He wasn’t too concerned with who was who at the moment only with getting all the facts right and making key notes in his head what he needed to prepare for his mock defense for their client.
He was until a tall, coke-bottled glasses wearing man stepped out from behind a bunch of students and started talking. He wasn’t sure where he came from but the minute he saw him Connor’s head stopped whatever he was doing and started listening older man.
“I’m Oliver Hampton and unlike both my colleagues and your professor, you’ll probably never personally require my services. I’m the law firms Technical Expert, my office is down the corridor and unless you’ve been sent directly by any of my colleageues, please, don’t bother me.”
Half the class gave a light chuckle but Connor was intrigued by the quiet looking man who seemed too, pure, to belong to such a ruthless firm. He knew Annalise’s track record, that was why he was going to work extremely hard to get a position here. Now he had another reason.
lanablack 