WHO: Quen Wagtail and Thorne Proudfoot WHAT: Quen and Thorne move in together. They celebrate appropriately: by making out on the couch and getting pizza. WHEN: Sometime in 2016 WHERE: Galveston ,Texas RATING: PG-13 for some heavy petting
The apartment was kind of shitty, but it was less shitty than the one he was moving from, so in the long run Thorne was going to count it as a win. Two bedrooms, a working shower head, no rats… and a boyfriend. The latter was just one more Unexpected Event in a long series of Unexpected Event in Thorne's relatively short life. Other highlights included having a job upon graduation and not getting himself by age ten.
Which reminded him…. Thorne pulled out his phone to make a reminder to text his family his new address. They generally weren't the type to just show up on his doorstep without warning, but just in case. Though if they went to the wrong address that would just give them a few minutes of warning.
He put down his box of books in the small of the two bedrooms, which was supposed to serve as a shared office, and yelled back into the main room. "Hey, Quen? Have you given your parents the new address yet? Or is the wild goose chase an extra few minutes of privacy worth the inevitable guilt trip?"
“You mean my parents that still haven’t been to my OLD place? Yeah, I will let them know on the Christmas card - by then they will either figure out I am not still in university housing or call me very confused.” Quen called back from the kitchen where he was trying to figure out just how to fit their mutually massive mug collection into the non-massive cupboard space.
“Thorne - just how much do you love your collection of mugs you stole from the Waffle House?”
Shrugging, Thorne wandered back out to the kitchen. Sometimes he forgot that while he was quite different from his family and they didn't always get along, he was vastly better off than many people. Boyfriend included. "Just checking." He tossed his cellphone onto the counter and peered around Quen.
"We've got to keep that one." He snapped up a green striped one. "That was a senior year special." Where they all piled back well after curfew but since nothing blew up and it was the second half of senior year the staff mostly let it slide. They all showed up to class on time.
Quen leaned back into Thorne and chuckled. “Okay - maybe it will be easier if you just tell me which ones we HAVE to keep. But I am telling you this - our cupboards will not hold the entirety of our joint collection babe.” he turned his head and kissed his cheek softly, “I will let you sort and go and get my clothes out of my car...and Thorne...I mean it. We can’t keep them all and yours aren’t the only ones we are keeping.”
"How many?" Thorne put the mug in the cabinet and began to sort through the rest sitting on the counter. He had to keep the one from the Hayden Planetarium in New York. Then there was the morning routine mug. And the dinosaur mug. There were a lot of choices. Eventually settling on five for himself, he put the rest in a box. They could shrink it down and shove it in the back of the closet just in case one or two broke. He left the rest for Quen to decide which ones he wanted. Because what if he accidentally chose the wrong ones?
There were a couple more boxes of books that needed to be moved and unpacked, but Thorne ignored them in favor of the bedroom. The bed still needed a firm engorgio cast on it, but they would survive a night or two without the charm. He still had several clothes from Montana and Nebraska, which he probably needed to get rid of sooner or later. He hadn't worn much of it while in Galveston. Until then, it was getting shoved in the back of the closet until there was a freak cold snap and they ended up with a foot of snow in Texas.
Quen had paused once he got out to his car and marveled for a moment that he was moving into a place with Thorne. He hadn’t thought that they would get to this point. But Merlin he was happy they had. He grabbed a suitcase and told himself again to stop overthinking this and just enjoy it...and then headed back upstairs.
Then he set the suitcases in the room, saw Thorne in there and had a feeling there were about five boxes elsewhere that had been started and not finished. So he went back to the kitchen, put some of his cups away, then packed up the rest to be put in a closet somewhere for later. Then he went back to getting the rest of the kitchen set up. He had been planning on maybe making dinner - but he was going to have Thorne order food at some point. There was no way he was going to cook tonight.
Except for particular exceptions, Thorne very rarely concentrated on one task for very long. He simply got too distracted. If it was something truly important he's come back to it… eventually. Clothes dealt with for now, he wandered back into the kitchen because he really didn't want to deal with deciding on the optimal organization for all of his books. It would likely take two or three tries, but even Thorne was self-aware enough to know that move-in day probably wasn't the time to start deciding.
"I'm going to have to eat soon. Do you have any thoughts on where we should go? Tacos? Pizza? Chinese?"
“Pizza sounds amazing and I will love you more than I did this morning when you brought me a coffee if you order it,” Quen responded, his voice muffled a bit as he dug around in a box trying to get all of the seasoning packets out. They really had enough taco seasoning packets. Unless at some point they stopped wanting to go out for tacos ever again. He emerged from the box victorious and tossed them onto the counter.
“I am almost done in here - then I will go and get the rest of the movies and electronics out of my car. We might actually be almost partially moved in.”
Giving a little celebratory dance, because wow he'd forgotten how much moving sucked, Thorne went over to the drawer that had immediately been labeled as the junk drawer. That's where he remembered stuffing the take out menus. After only a little bit of digging, he retrieved their favorite pizza joint's. Thankfully, they didn't move out of the delivery radius.
"Supreme pizza with green olives, not black. Sub meatballs for peppers on half?" It had taken a while for them to settle on the perfect pizza order that not only fit both their particular taste preferences, but also met Thorne's particular dietary needs. Which reminded him….
"Did we unpack the blender yet? My healer told me I needed to start adding tofu to morning smoothies."
Quen nodded, “Pizza sounds good and I turned the ‘coffee center’ into your smoothie center.” He pointed to the little nook with the blender and the travel cups that Quen had found that come with lids that worked with the straws Thorne preferred and were the right size for smoothies he needed.
“That way we can keep the extra parts in the cupboard right above the nook, and then you won’t have to worry about making sure to run the dishwasher so often to make more if you need more than one.” He went over to Thorne and kissed him softly, “We did it though. We moved in together.”
Thorne was going to miss the coffee corner that never was, but the specialist had been clear: up the iron and protein intake and watch the caffeine consumption. So smoothies it was. "Adulting, fuck yeah." He wrapped an arm around Quen's waist, pulling him close so he could kiss the spot right under the other man's jaw.
"Pizza and Venture?" Thorne's grin turned slightly mischievous. "Then we can jump on the bed and eat too much dessert and there's nobody to tell us to go to bed."
“Pizza and Venture.” He grinned at the other man and shuddered as he kissed that spot and he purred, “And I can think of something else we can do other than jump on the bed...since we have no roommates to burst in unexpectedly.”
Thank gods for that. He was really getting tired of being interrupted all the time right when they were getting to the good part.
This is why the shower had always been the better, though Thorne had to remember to put permanent heating charms on the showerhead. Nothing like being in the heat of the moment before everything went cold––literally. Except the showers were just this side for cramped. Now however…. "Should we test the water pressure too?"
While he waited for Quen to give him a reason why showering together would not be a good idea at this particular juncture, Thorne dug around in his pocket for his phone. A few taps later and he was pulling up the app to order pizza, adding in an order of wings with barbeque sauce for the next day. If he had to pay for a delivery fee he was getting more than one meal out of it. "App says thirty minutes." Which could mean anytime between fifteen and forty-five?
"What do you say about testing out that bed?"
“First of all - thirty minutes isn’t enough time for me to REALLY test out the bed and secondly…” Quen turned around and kissed Thorne properly. Or as properly as he ever did. He took his time and savored the fact that there wasn’t a peanut gallery. No one was catcalling. He could stand in the kitchen and kiss his boyfriend and no one was going to say a damned thing about it.
“I was thinking we could make out a bit and see what happens. We haven’t broken in our new-to-us sofa yet….” He grinned, “And it’s less of a mad dash to the door when the delivery guy gets here…”
They were about the same height, though Quen was broader in the shoulders than Thorne, but he let himself be backed into the counter. It was a little weird doing this without the perpetual catcalling, but it was nice to not be distracted. Or, as his stomach rumbled demanding food, by new things. "I pre-tipped and nicely too. So he can wait. No dashing required." Because he remembered the last time there was a mad dash to get delivery. It ended with a broken lamp and his roommate––former roommate now––nearly falling down the stairs.
"The sofa has been cleaned, right?" It had ten them ages to find one in their price range, that fit in the space, and didn't totally skeeve Thorne right out. He was still researching slipcovers, however, but now his internet stalkers thought he was a grandmother and was trying to get him to buy crocheted doilies too.
Rolling his eyes, Quen made a mental note to unpack the slipcovers he had found at Wal-Mart that would work later. He pulled Thorne over to the couch and settled on the material, “I steamed it five times Thorne. And I will sit on it.” He pulled the other man so he was straddling his hips and grinned up at him, “And you can sit here on my lap. I will take the maximum risk if it means making out with you and there not being a play by play commentary.”
He hoped that Thorne was willing to take him up on his offer and settle in for a bit. He would even do laundry later if it meant a few moments now with him focused on him and not the move or the thirty million other things that could distract him. He loved how Thorne’s mind worked. But he also loved how his lips worked. On his lips. Lips on Lips. It was a movement Quen could really get behind.
"I dunno, their commentary got pretty witty at the end. I particularly liked the scorecards." Leaning down to bump his forehead against Quen's gently, Thorne forced his body to relax because worrying about a million little things was not conducive to making out. "But we should get some throw blankets. And pillows. We need blankets and pillows for proper sofa enjoyment." He was about to continue with his rambling, but then Quen was kissing him and that was enough of a distraction.
And then there were those long fingers that looked like they should be playing piano that were doing some very distracting things right under the hem of his shirt. In retaliation, he began to kiss his way across Quen's jawline and down his neck.
There was something about Thorne Proudfoot’s mouth on his skin. It wasn’t fair how distracted he could make him. He slid his fingers along the warm skin just under the hem of Thorne’s shirt and pulled him closer, he sighed contentedly, “Mmm…”
He agreed. This would be better with blankets and pillows. But if he let Thorne down that rabbit hole he was going to end up trying to corral him for a makeout session after dinner got here and it would be an entire production. If he kept him distracted, he could enjoy this now, and then get him into bed, the shower or both once they had eaten and there was less distraction from hunger and impending interruption.
Quen didn't have to worry too much about other distractions right now. With the way Quen's fingers were digging into his skin any thoughts about the sofa, the move, or even his next appointment with the specialist healer had gone right out the window. Because right now, if he moved his hips in one particular direction he was pretty sure he could elicit a filthy sound. That, combined with sucking a spot right under Quen's ear, elicited several filthy sounds.
They were just getting to the good part, where his face was flushed and lips slightly were swollen, when the doorbell rang. "That was fast." It really wasn't a complaint, but he had been enjoying himself. But, as his growling stomach reminded him, food.
"Stay where you are." Thorne pointed at Quen for a moment as he adjusted his glasses before stiffly walked over to the front door.
Quen stretched out and wiggled his toes, “I moved!” He called after his boyfriend and grinned, enjoying the view. They had been getting to the good part, but there was food. And if Thorne ate - it would prolong the fun parts later. And he wouldn’t feel like he had to monitor the smoothie intake quite so much. As he told Thorne repeatedly - he was his boyfriend. He loved him. He got to fuss over him. It was in the rule books.
“If you eat all the pizza before you get over here I am going to hide something you like. And you won’t know what it is till you can’t find it.”
Thorne tried not to look too guilty as he walked back from the front door and towards the kitchen, his fingers still greasy from topping or two he’d snagged. “I would never eat all the pizza,” he retorted. “You got peppers, remember?” Quen ate his peppers and tomatoes, just like Thorne ate Quen’s onions and black olives. It was how it worked.
"Don't hide my Cosmos DVDs. They help me fall asleep." When Quen was working late or if his mind was fucking with him again. The music was good, but the gentle explanations of science were better. "Everything else is up for negotiation."
“It has peppers on it to keep you from eating my pizza,” Quen said, reaching out for the box and then snagging a slice of his own food. Then he rolled his eyes. How many times had he fallen asleep, woken up, or a combination of that to the soundtrack of ‘Cosmos’? He had lost count and it had gotten to the point where Quen had ordered a backup set on the off chance something ever happened to Thorne’s current set.
“I said revenge on you. Not me. Why would I do something that would lead to me not sleeping because you aren’t sleeping? And not in the fun, life-affirming ways either.” The artist snorted and reached for a napkin and a second piece of pizza, “Gods I am starving.”
Thorne threw a middle finger in Quen's direction as he dropped off the pizza in front of the couch before retreating to the kitchen for drinks. He didn't even need to ask what his boyfriend wanted to drink. They'd stashed beers in the refrigerator the moment they'd walked in the first thing that morning. "I told you we should have taken a break earlier." He dropped beside Quen. "So you have nobody to blame but yourself."
“If we would have taken a break earlier you would have gotten distracted by a million things and then you would have distracted me. We needed to move to Thorne. I am not living out of boxes forever because you can have the attention of a squirrel when it sees a shiny thing.” Quen rested his head on Thorne’s shoulder, breathing in the soothing smells of his boyfriend and smiled as he all but inhaled his food and then made a grabby hand for his beer, “I am also maintaining that you are going to increase the size of the bed ASAP because I love you. But you are already a bed hog.”
Thorne wanted to argue, but on reconsideration, each point Quen had made was pretty much accurate. Though he maintained that Quen took up more space in the bed, he was taller, after all, he could at least admit that he had a tendency to resemble a starfish at times. "Right. Enlarging the bed. Anything else that we absolutely have to do tonight?" Because all he really wanted to do was finish his half of the pizza, drink his only beer, and retire after a busy, overstimulating day.
He snagged his second to the last piece of pizza and debated about saving that last one for a midnight snack. That sounded like a good idea. Good forward thought and planning. "I'll deal with the bed if you locate the sheets and pillows and shit."
Quen nodded, “I will even pack up the leftovers - yours will get their own bag so you don’t get the essence of peppers on your pizza.” He personally thought that that was a bit much - but it was a thing. And Thorne went along with his needs easily enough - so what did it hurt really?
He kissed the dark-haired man and headed for the kitchen - the insanity of the day finally hitting him. He started to pack everything away nice and neatly and then he went hunting for bedding - he made sure there were soft things there for Thorne. It would minimize the amount of ‘Cosmos’ he had to listen to tonight if he could keep Thorne happy. He found the softer bedding and blankets.
Making his way to the bedroom - arms fully of bedding, “Are you ready for me yet?”
The mattress and box spring were on the floor because they didn't have a proper frame and they probably wouldn't get one if Thorne wanted to be honest about it. But it was on the floor and big enough for the two of them. The spellwork was guaranteed to last at least the next few days. Long enough to get a proper bed and frame. Or to find a new spell to keep everything its proper place.
"When have I never been ready for you?"
He tossed Thorne his pillowcases and stuck his tongue out at him on his way to the bed, “Alright you - get your pillows covered so we can go to bed. I am exhausted and I just want to be in bed with you already.” Quen said with a small chuckle and wink as he headed for the bed.