WHO: Terry & Rolf WHEN: backdated to 29 November, I think? The night that the kids first arrived. WHERE: Rolf's bedroom! WHAT: Terry & Rolf talk about being dads and they say some Big Things. WARNINGS: PG-13 for suggestiveness at the end.
As the evening winded down, Terry had excused himself for fifteen minutes to gather up the essentials to stay overnight at Rolf’s -- and to pick Brie up. (Terry knew it probably wasn’t the healthiest thing for her to not be alone, but he was as attached to her as she was to him, truthfully.) The night had been overwhelming, to say the least. Despite how much he enjoyed meeting Ronan and Alma, and Otto’s girl Enise, he was looking forward to some quiet time alone with Rolf, too. They had a lot to talk about.
Namely the fact that Rolf had called them endgame. Thinking about it again brought a lopsided grin to Terry’s face as he brushed his teeth in Rolf’s bathroom. Rolf was so… sure. So confident. It was a marked contrast to the man Terry had first met, and he had to admit that he liked how sure Rolf was.
When he emerged from the bathroom, he paused at the foot of Rolf’s bed. Brie was curled up on one side, right next to one of the pillows. He huffed a sigh. “Looks like she’s claimed her spot.”
Rolf, sprawled next to Brie on the bed, rose onto his elbow and grinned at Terry. He might have been tired, but there was always an extra layer of sparkle for Terry. “There’s a spot in between us,” he said, and motioned to the sliver of bed that separated them. “We saved it for you.”
After an evening spending time with the family’s children (whether or not it was their future or another), his elation knew no bounds. He had a career, a partner, a family. In some world, he had been a success. It seemed all the more sure he could be here.
Terry laughed and shook his head. “How am I going to fit there?” he asked teasingly.
He crawled onto the bed anyway, and knelt in front of Rolf about halfway up the bed. “Tonight was a good night.” Good, he suspected, was an understatement for his boyfriend, based on the bright smiles on his face all evening. “I keep pinching myself. It still doesn’t seem real.”
Rolf levered himself up to a seated position to run his palms across Terry’s shoulders, smoothing down to land in his own lap. Brie, for her part, offered her dads a bored yawn. “Meeting them is like … it’s an affirmation that we’re doing the right thing,” he related, brows arched. “Does that make sense? It would be the right thing even if we didn’t meet them, but it is just another feather in our very feathery cap.” He paused … “Sustainably sourced feathers, of course!”
Terry grinned, allowing himself to ride the swell of affection he felt for Rolf. “Of course. No unnecessary death for our cap.” His expression turned more thoughtful, and he took a moment to straddle Rolf’s lap, one leg on either side of him, and sit down. He wanted to be close; it felt important to be close.
“I already knew we were doing the right thing,” he admitted, arms draped over Rolf’s shoulders. “But it is nice to know. It’s nice to know it’s not just in my own head.”
Rolf held him tightly, flushed with all the heat and the electricity of Terry’s nearness, and let his grin fade into something between thoughtfulness and desire. “Terry,” he murmured, burying his face in his boyfriend’s neck. “We are the right thing.”
“When did you know?” Terry asked, digging his fingers into the hair at the back of Rolf’s head. His heart was pounding in his chest, which he knew was partly from the breath on his neck. “That this was it?” They’d only known each other for three months, so it still seemed impossible that they could know already, but the proof that they were something special was right there down the hall.
“I don’t know,” he admitted, and lifted his face to rest his forehead against Terry’s. “It was almost like …” Rolf paused to indulge in a brush of his lip’s across the bridge of Terry’s nose. “It was so natural. We fell into it and I can’t imagine anything else now.”
Terry leaned into Rolf, nudging his face against Rolf’s in response to the affection. “You fell in love with me,” he whispered. They hadn’t said as much - not yet - but it was clear to Terry what was being said without actually saying the words.
Rolf sat back, his face thoughtful before he broke into a crooked grin. He took another moment to breathe it all in and experience the warmth of knowing … yes. He was in love. And bloody hell, Terry must love him back. “Yes, Terry Boot. You beautiful nerd. I fell in love with you.”
It was very, very hard to control the grin on his own face as he watched Rolf process what he’d said and as he waited for a response. When it came, all Terry could do was kiss him. He’d waited - to be sure it wasn’t just him - and he’d wondered if it was too soon, and now that it was out there… Terry’s words disappeared.
But only for half a minute. Then he broke the kiss just long enough to say, “I love you too. Obviously.”
Rolf was jubilant for quite possibly the millionth time that day. He kissed Terry back and only stopped when Brie made her presence quite known by stretching a paw out to hook Terry on the leg. He laughed. He was loved.
“Don’t worry, first child. We know you love us too.”
“I suspect,” Terry said, “that her priority is that we love her.” And they did. He rewarded her by letting go of Rolf to rub her cheek until he felt her start to purr.
“And to think I almost kept on walking that day. I would’ve missed out on -” Terry cut himself off, trying to clamp down on the burst of emotion he felt in his chest. “Everything.”
“ … that’s the interesting part, isn’t it?” Rolf, after a moment of smiling at Brie basking in Terry’s attention, spoke softly. “Our lives are made of these small moments that turn into big ones. One choice and everything changes.”
“Yeah.” Terry’s voice was a little breathless, even though he wasn’t doing anything strenuous at all. He was, however, overwhelmed by the gravity of their situation. How clearly Rolf saw their future, how certain he was. Terry wanted to be everything Rolf was looking for and everything Rolf wanted.
He turned back to Rolf to kiss his cheek. “Let’s go to bed.”
The enormity of their future spun out in front of them and Rolf, considering this, took a moment to breathe. He could not help but return Terry’s kiss (thinking, all the while, he would never get over the open warmth and excitement of these intimate moments) as he laid back and opened his arms.
“We have a big day … big days. Yeah.”
Grinning, Terry leaned forward slowly, “oh, I wasn’t talking about sleep.” He propped himself up on an elbow, just barely hovering over Rolf. “Unless you’re tired…”
Rolf surged upward to bring Terry flush with him and he used the momentum to turn them over so he was now the one hovering over him. “Oh, I suddenly think I’m getting my second wind.”
“That so?” Terry arched an eyebrow. “I think I need a little more proof.”
Knowing a challenge when he heard one, Rolf smirked and eased Terry’s arms over his head. He breathed in, completely in awe of the man stretched out before him, before he ran his mouth down the column of his neck and across his chest. And that? That was just the beginning.