Safe and Sane

The day before Thanksgiving, it was quiet in the cafe. Most people were spending time with their families, or preparing to spend time with their families, but that hadn't stopped the cafe owner embracing the theme of the week. Turkey soup kept hot in a huge pot on the counter, alongside warm cranberry muffins, and a couple of oversized pumpkin pies.

To counteract the oncoming somnolence of all the food, apparently, they were also offering 2 for 1 on coffee.

Continued from here:

Jay stopped stock still, his breath shaky for a moment until the tension of stopping had passed.

Since Ry was Ry, it was just in his nature to sometimes show up at his friends' place with Ben & Jerry's and determination to cuddle. Especially when his friends had recently become single again, which was always pretty traumatizing and demanded ice cream and cuddles at regular intervals.

In Ryan's case, it was one Ben & Jerry's and one vegan ice cream, which he was sure tasted nothing like real ice cream should and anyway, nothing was better than Ben & Jerry's, but hey, it was Ryan's decision.

He rang Ryan's bell, bouncing on his heels a little.

Nick had, against his better judgment, picked up one of the extra shifts Ruth had been pressing him to do, which left him no time to shower at the end of his shift before getting straight into the car to drive to Denver to meet Jay. Traffic was kind, though, and gave him half an hour before Jay's flight was due to land, plus the by-now-standard twenty minutes delay, and he'd taken advantage of the showers at the airport, which meant that by the time he was standing by arrivals watching the passengers from Jay's flight come through customs, bleary eyed and dragging various bits of luggage, he was clean, with wet hair, mostly awake, and aching to see Jay again.

Rented home, sweet rented home, Danielle thought as they walked into the house they'd rented for the weekend. One of the club members, a customer of hers and realtor, had found it for them, and she put her bag down in the hall, held a hand out for Armand to pull him into a kiss.

"Let's have a look and settle down."

They lay in a tangle of sweaty limbs. Silence in the room, if not for the sound of their harsh breaths, only gradually steadier, more controlled. Mid was on his stomach, Paul draped over his side, legs tangled, warmth shared. Head rested on his crossed arms looking up at the face of the other man, the one who was tracing a delicate finger along one of his scars, the one on his left shoulder blade. Bullet scar, that one.

It was this sort of perfect moment he couldn't get enough of since they'd met. The sort he would be damned for cutting short, which he had no intention of doing. Perfect, stunning soreness in his ass, and through more than a few of his muscles. He felt well-fucked, and by the most gorgeous man he'd ever met, at that.

Even he had to be smiling a little, a quirk of his lips, nothing more. He was blaming it on the post-orgasmic haze, thank you.

Gabriel had made it a part of his schedule to spend Sunday afternoon and evenings at the club. He had a newspaper tucked under his arm and a cup of tea in his hand as he approached a familiar figure.

"Hello Paul," he said. "Do you mind if I join you?"

Once Ryan and Ven were both feeling more settled and had left the scening room, Ryan bid Ven farewell, and had decided to stay at the club for a while. Maybe gather himself together, maybe use one of the free scening rooms for some yoga. First, though, he needed some more water, and headed out to the common room to get some, still barefoot.

He cracked the bottle open, and noticed a young man sitting alone, and approached slowly. "D'you mind some company for a while?"

Even though it was a school night Andrew had headed out for the evening to unwind. He'd been grading papers for the end of the marking period all weekend and needed some kind of celebratory drink. Also, a change of scenery was overdue. He was at the counter putting a drink together when he noticed he was still smudged in blue and red ink. He lifted up his hand, studying the side of it.

"You think with enough scrubbing the ink would go away," he commented.

Doyle had been back long enough to get over the worst of the jet lag before heading to the university to let them know he was back in town. It was near the top of his 'list of things to do before January', which included reupping his membership at the club and get real food for his flat. And it meant he could stop in and say hi to Beth.

The surprise came when she wasn't there. However, the other ladies in her office were able to tell him where he needed to go. One even had a business card, which gave him the address. And so he left them to go find this 'Strokes' place.

She had her back to the door when he entered and Doyle grinned, sneaking up to the counter and leaning over it. "So," he said, the faint Irish accent he'd always had from his parents having thickened some from being in Ireland. "I go to see my favorite girl at her office today, only to find out that she's up sticks and gone off to greener pastures!" A pause and another lean. "Or, at least, pastures with more cake. What are you making, love?"

Lex went down to the club early that evening, mostly so that she could wander around and get a better idea of what it was like without the Halloween festivities. While she was there she decided she'd look over a couple of lists just to satisfy curiosity. She went up to the front to pick up some copies and then found a place in the lounge to settle down and read.

Sunday morning. Lin had given Carl a few days, but seemed like maybe Carl hadn't managed to contact Gale, or Gale didn't want to call him. Only one way to find out for sure.

Coffee pot on, he shuffled around the kitchen barefoot to find his cellphone, and dialed Gale's number.

Russ wasn't surprised that the lounge wasn't empty that night. It was after all the weekend, and he'd been hoping this might mean company. He was still getting a feel for the place, and while he'd met a few people and perused a few lists he hadn't actively sought anyone or anything out. He was still working on socializing. Or, he was possibly having a streak of what he wasn't willing to call shyness. This was probably why he grabbed a drink before glancing over at the rather harmless but handsome young man who was sitting alone on one of the couches. He might be a little young for Russ' normal taste, but at this point he'd fully realized there was no such thing as normal anymore. Also, there was absolutely nothing intimidating about this boy. Russ took his drink and headed over.

"Care for company?" he asked.

Time off work, and James had a visit to return. Bag stowed safely, it was a glorious morning to be out on the bike, and on something he'd never admit to being more than a whim, he pulled into the driveway of the house he'd discovered Jason was staying in, spray of gravel as he pulled up and kicked the stand down. Silence sudden as he killed the engine, James pulled off his helmet, and waited to see if the noise would bring Jason out, or if he'd need to go in.

A massage earlier in the day had done wonders to relax muscles that ached from working on a new bike throughout the night, and a long steam after had taken care of any residual tension so that Gale entered the club with his mind clear of anything save the afternoon ahead.

The room reserved well in advance, he entered without knocking to change clothes, shedding one skin for another. Fingertips nudged silver, the blade of the straight razor aligned perfectly with the edge of the table, the blade freshly sharpened to a keen edge. A glance enough to tell the advance preparations were done, all that was lacking his partner, and he wandered into the common room in his bare feet to grab a drink and find a couch, relaxing as he waited for Jay.

It felt like eternity since last time Ryan had scened with Ven. He'd managed to concentrate on finishing his class, waiting for the last of his students to leave before going through the familiar rituals, showering, setting his piercings, loose, comfortable clothing and added a warm coat and scarf before walking the couple of blocks to the club. Once there, his coat and shoes went into his locker, and he returned to the common room barefoot to fetch himself a bottle of water, sipping it slowly as he waited for Ven to arrive and tried to keep the mix of nerves and anticipation under control.

Saturday mornings, Beth had found, were likely to be slower than weekday mornings. While she hadn't really expected customers from nearby businesses, apparently they'd taken a liking to her baking and seemed to come in a steady stream from ten onwards to buy cakes to have with their midmorning coffee, or sandwiches for lunch. On Saturdays, though, there were less people, and Beth had put back opening until eleven.

It gave her more time for baking, and that particular Saturday, there was still a batch of scones in the oven when she opened, risking the few minutes she needed to get them out when, of course, the sound of the bell alerted her to the opening of the outside door. Beth cursed, backed through the swing doors with the hot tray still in her hands, and leaned back far enough to speak to her customer. "I'm so terribly sorry, I'll just be a moment, please make yourself comfortable and...Jack?"

New chat session initiated: trustmeimnick to nicksslut

trustmeimnick: Jay?
trustmeimnick: Are you there?
trustmeimnick: can't trust this damn status.

He was dressed slightly more formally than he usually would, in the cut of the trousers at least, but the shirt was one of his regular ones, when he opened the door after Jason rang the bell. "Darling," he greeted the younger man, "come in."

Stuart was having a nice cuppa in the gallery at Strokes. The cold weather was starting to get to him and he had foregone his usual expresso for a nice cup of decent tea, hands cradling his mug as he looked through the art with better focus than he had on the opening night.

Jason had been terribly distracting, after all.

He looked up when a pretty young woman walked into the gallery to go and put a red sticker by one of the pieces, marking it as sold. Could she be the urban legend herself? He walked immediately closer.

"I'm terribly sorry if you're the wrong person, darling, but would you by any chance happen to be the famous Beth?"