Safe and Sane

Continued from here:

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

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.

New chat session initiated: trustmeimnick to nicksslut

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

The club had been transformed. The main room was no longer recognizable as a lounge; it had been made over with mood lighting and subtle decorations. On one end there was a huge buffet, the bar was open and tended. There was even room for dancing on a small wooden floor that had been laid down on the opposite end of the room. Scattered about were bowls of candy of all kinds.

One of the smaller lounges hosted traditional party games -- bobbing for apples, donuts on a string, even a table set up for carving small gourds and pumpkins. A few of the private play rooms on the main level had also been opened, set up for groups or exhibitionism, but as in previous year that wasn't the focus of the night. And, in case anyone had forgotten a costume or hadn't been able to find one, the smallest public lounge was being used as sort of a large wardrobe.

A large poster in the hallway announced the categories for the costume contest: scariest, funniest, the most creative, best couple or group, and -- of course -- the sexiest.

Hey hun. How's ur schedule? You free to meet up anytime today? Jx

cont here: http://asylums.insanejournal.com/safeandsane/317397.html

Jesus, he hated split shifts. The break was never quite long enough to get home and back, and made for long, long days. Nick sighed, stripped out of his scrubs and back into something he was allowed to actually go on the wards in, then avoided as many colleagues as possible on his way to the staff room.

The other problem with split shifts was that no one really seemed to understand that he was actually not working between the two.

He pushed the door to the staff room open, peering round the door before slipping in, and shutting the door firmly behind him, sighing in relief at the sight of only Riley, and the smell of fresh coffee. "Thank Christ, I thought Ruth was going to chase me round the whole damn hospital. Are you my anaesthetist this afternoon again?"

Another Wednesday, another munch night. Evenings were beginning to draw in, with fall nipping at the air, temperatures beginning to drop as soon as the sun had sunk below the horizon. The cafe had responded with a range of spiced coffees, hot soup, and cookies and muffins still warm from the oven.

And, of course, the infamous chili spiced hot chocolate.

Jay walked into the house, shedding keys and his shirt as he went, watching his feet as the cats nearly tripped him up in their enthusiatic greeting. "That was a fun evening, wasn't it?" he said, talking back over his shoulder towards Nick as he came in. "There was a good turnout, I reckon Beth was pleased."

from here

"Jay," Nick warned, and stood back to strip out of his clothing, then paused. "Damn. The cats. Five minutes, I'll get them fed and settled. You, stay still, and keep your hands folded behind your head."

He hated to leave Jay, but the cats really did need settling for the night, and it was better to do it now than later.

Jay moved his hands behind his head slowly. "I'll try," he murmured, but he couldn't resist a wink in Nick's direction.

"You will," Nick said firmly, and went to sort the cats out.

Give Jay his due, he only moved a little, and was just scratching his nose with one hand when Nick came back into the room. He put his hand speedily back behind his head, hoping that Nick hadn't seen him.

Nick had seen. Nick had very definitely seen, and stopped in the doorway, eyes steady on Jay.

"I didn't move," Jay protested. "Well, I did, I had a itchy nose, but only that. Oh and a bit of an itch on my back, but *only* that too."

"Jay," Nick said sternly. "I didn't bind you, I trusted you. And you moved. Take the ring off."

Jay was sprawled on the floor of the living room dressed in only worn grey sweatpants. Scattered across a great deal of the floor were manuscripts, textbooks and lecture notes. Iggy the iguana was stretched out on the back of the couch, bathing in a warm patch, much to the cats chagrin. Jay's hair was held back by a pen and his compilation of indie 'classics' was blasting loud from the stereo.

Jay only belatedly caught the sounds of Nick coming home, haring it through the house to barrel nearly full force into him. "Nick! Nick! Guess what?! Guess. Go on!"

The weather seemed to be doing its best to make up for the week before, and in response, the doors to the cafe were firmly closed to keep the heat out, and the airconditioning in. At least, until the aircon broke down, at which point doors were propped open, fans distributed around the cafe, and extra ice stockpiled behind the counter.

One member of staff was detailed to stand by with a mop to wipe up any wet floors resulting from people throwing ice at each other.

Another Wednesday, nearly August, and thunderstorms outside. Power held - so far - but the cafe was taking no chances. Which meant that instead of lights on inside, each table was lit by a couple of tealights safely protected in the bottom of water glasses, giving the whole place an unusually intimate atmosphere.

Hot drinks would be on offer as long as the power held out, and the owner and staff appeared to be praying for that between each order.

Saturday night, and the club was open to all members. None of the rooms were reserved, for that one night. Light food and drinks were laid out in the common room, the demo rooms were set up with small stage areas free for anyone's use, and the lounges were set aside, dim lights and blankets available for anyone who needed an escape.

Two of the larger rooms had been opened together to form a dance floor, and the garden was open to make the most of the light remaining as the long summer evening faded to darkness.