Who: James + Addison What: James sees Addi’s scars Where: Their room When: Tuesday Night, March 3rd Rating: SFW; potential trigger warning
Ever since Addison found out that James looked at him while he changed clothes, he felt awkward changing around him. After the events at Babylon, however, Addison felt a lot more comfortable around James, even with something as simple as changing in front of him (or at least, in his viewing range). As James' attention was stuck on their new cat, Jamison, Addison wiggled out of his clothes and into his comfy pajamas.
"You're a little bugger, aren't you mate?" James asked as he laid on his back and placed Jamison on his stomach. The cat mewed in response and leaned forward, butting heads with James. "Yes you are. Abububu."
He snuggled the cat closer and rolled onto his side, facing Addison. "Oi, mate, you think he'd share a pint of Guinness with me?" He squinted. "What's that on your arm?"
Addison couldn't help but laugh at the way James was playing around with the cat. It was adorable, to say the least, but he'd never tell him that to his face. "No, cats can't drink alcohol. It'll kill them," Addison said, rolling his eyes as he pulled his shirt down.
He nearly froze when James asked about his arm. Addison shrugged and covered it, turning back away. "Nothing, I think you're seeing things."
"Naw, mate, there's something there," James insisted, but he didn't move. Jamison was purring on him. "Scratches or something. Has Jamison been scratching you? I told you he loves his Taco Bell, mate."
"I think you're high," Addison replied, sitting on his bed. He nodded at James' question, figuring that'd be the easiest excuse to use. They did have a stray cat and all. "Yeah, he's been nasty to me. I don't get it, I'm the one who tries to keep him alive!"
"We'll have to get him declawed," James decided, kissing behind Jamison's ear and doing the "abububu" noise. "But his nails aren't that long, mate. Those look pretty thick."
He wasn't even thinking that the wounds had been self-inflicted or done on purpose. He wasn't thinking of anything but having fun with Jamison.
And then the delayed response: "I'm actually sober, mate."
Addison scrunched his nose. Declawed? He never got his old cat declawed, because he knew how painful it could be for the poor thing. He didn't want Jamison to be declawed just because he was being a coward.
"It's alright, he doesn't need to be declawed. I can deal with it."
James rolled back onto his back and sat up. He cuddled Jamison to him and stood, holding the cat like a baby. Jamison was displeased and squirmed against the hold, but James merely shushed the cat and wandered on closer.
"That's a lot of scratches there," James noted.
Addison kept an eye on James, trying not to squirm uncomfortably when he got closer. "Yeah, and? He's a vicious cat, and I try to pet him too much," he said, shrugging his shoulders.
"And nothing, mate," James shrugged. Jamison began purring and pushing away from James to get closer to Addi. "Just checking on you." And now this close, James could see they weren't cat scratches. There were far too many and were too close together. James bit his lip as the realization hit him that they could've been done on purpose. "You, er. You didn't do them yourself, did you?"
Addison could feel his heart dropping in his chest, but he tried not to let it show on his face. "Of course not," he said, running a hand through his hair and looking over at Jamison. "Why would I do that anyways?"
"Dunno, mate," James shrugged. "Here, take the cat. He wants you." He offered the cat over. "Just, you know, I'm here. I may be high a lot, but if you ever need to talk, er. I'm here."
"I'm fine, James, quit worrying," Addison said curtly, taking the cat from James. He touched his nose to the cat's pink nose, smiling a little. "You're adorable, Jamison."
"Right, yeah," James said, but he stepped forward anyway to hug Addison and Jamison. The cat didn't appreciate it, but James ignored the meowing and kept his hold on Addi.
Addison glanced up at James, looking at him, like he was unsure of what he was doing. "Uh...why are you hugging me?" Usually, Addison would never turn down a hug, because let's face it, hugs were the best, but it seemed uncommon to receive them from James.
"Shh," James hushed him. "Don't speak. Just feel, mate."
This had to be the gayest thing he could remember doing.
Addison raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you're not high?" he questioned, but stayed in the hold.
"Yeah," James said. He let go and gave Addison a mock-hurt look. "I can't believe you're turning away my comfort, mate."
"Says the guy who barely wanted anything to do with me a couple months ago, even though we were roommates then too," Addison teased, smiling a little.
"Oi!" James exclaimed, blushing lightly. "That- that was different! I, er- I just didn't realize you were cool, that's all. I can be a bit dim."
"Well, now you know how cool I am," Addison said, reaching over and flicking James' forehead playfully. "Aren't you glad you know that now?"
"Oi!" James whined again, rubbing the spot and sulking. "Yeah, I guess so."
Addison laughed, the awkward and uncomfortable feeling totally gone now that James was distracted away from his arm. "I know so," he said."
"Yeah, yeah," James said, still sulking. "Can't believe you just bloody flicked me, after I said you were cool!"
"It was a love flick," Addison insisted, imitating James' pouty and sulky look. "Promise."
"Cheers then," James said, smiling brightly and giving Addi's cheek a brief kiss. He snagged back Jamison too and abubu'd the cat once more. "You finish changing then mate. Jamison and I have some business to finish up. And er, just remember I'm here for you, yeah?"
Addison's lips curled into an infectious grin at the brief peck on the cheek. He hopped up and finished changing, turning around when James promised that he was there for him. "Don't worry, I know that. I'm here for you too," he replied.
"And Jamison," James added, sitting back down and finally allowing the cat to scamper off. "He's here for both of us too."
Addison nodded in agreement. "Yeah, definitely. There must've been a reason why you were compelled to take him home with you. Must've been faith or something, huh?"
"Or something," James nodded. He couldn't say what he had been thinking.
"Yeah, or something," Addison said with a soft laugh. He hopped back onto his bed and laid down on his side, looking and smiling at James. "Hi."
"Hey," James grinned. "All this talk about our baby and you don't even come over to give him a belly rub? Some mum you are."
Keep it slick, he told himself. Keep it casual.
"Are you calling me a girl?" Addison inquired, faintly amused by the parental labels. "And does that make you Dad?"
"Yeah. Mums are always sayin' what their kids can't eat and fussin' over their health. Da's though, they're the cool ones.
"Well then, I guess we can blame all the healthy, sane children on moms then, huh?" Addison said, rolling his eyes.
"Exactly. Now you comin' over here or not?" James asked, blowing against the cat's stomach and moving away as its claws were swung at his face.
"Careful!" Addison gasped as he watched him almost get his face torn off by Jamison. He got up and walked on over to James, sitting right next to him. "Be nice to him."
"I am!" James laughed, poking at Jamison's paws. He looked up at Addi and grinned wider. "Come on then, get to our level."
"Not when you're antagonizing the poor thing to claw you in the face" Addison pointed out before laying down right beside James, running his fingers up and down Jamison's soft fur.
James in turned laid closer to Addi and stroked along Jamison too. Nothing gay about this. Nope. No sir.
Addison turned around until he was facing James, a smile on his now bare lips. There was no make-up on his face in sight. His fingertips ran along Jamison's spine, making the cat arch its back. "He likes that," Addison commented.
"You do have that magic touch," James commented, trying not to blush too hard when Addison turned to look at him. "You know. Being the mum and all."
"Yeah, yeah," Addison murmured. "You know, we can be two dads instead of a mom and a dad. Considering I'm not female and whatnot," he laughed.
James stopped for a moment and then hesitated. That was right. Not all couples were heteronormative. But two dads...
"You can just take on the mum duties then?" James asked, his brow furrowing.
"Ooooor we could just take on whatever duties we want," Addison suggested, mentally connecting the freckles on James' face like he would with a connect the dot picture..
"I want food duty!" James teased, grinning brightly. "You want some Taco Bell, Jamie?" And off he went, making noises at the cat.
"No, no Taco Bell unless you want to be burying him in the next couple of days," Addison said, pouting. "You never listen to me."
"I'm just takin' the piss outta you," James laughed, poking a finger at Addi's pout. "None of that then, chap."
"Hmph," Addison continued to pout, turning away from James and dramatically crossing his arms over his chest with a loud huff.
"Oi~" James whined, rolling after Addison and abandoning their child for the moment. "C'mon, Addi. Don't be like that. D:"
"Nope, you made me mad," Addison said in a mock upset voice. "I don't think I can even look at you now."
"Addiiiiiiiii," James continued to whine, pouting down at the other boy. "Think of Jamison, mate. He doesn't like it when you're sad."
"Oh nope, I don't think so," Addison continued on, secretly smiling. "I'm just going to stay like this for the rest of the night."
"I won't give him Taco Bell," James tried. He reached around and pulled their lazy cat over to settle on Addison's arm. "See? He wants you to be happy. Give him a smile, love."
Addison squeaked in surprise when he felt weight on his arm, but relaxed when he realized it was only Jamison. "He just wants to be fed and petted," he said before turning his head to look at James. "Did you just call me 'love'?"
"Wha- mate, don't be ridiculous!" James blushed when he realized, shit, yeah, he had. A slightly panicked look crossed his face and he hurriedly stood up. "I'm going to get him some of that cat food then."
Addison frowned a little. "I didn't mean that as a bad thing," he said, trying to calm the other teen down. "It was cute."
James was still fidgeting but he looked down at Addison. Nervously he tugged on his fingers, creating tiny cracking sounds. "It just sort of slipped out."
"It's fine," Addison said, patting James' shoulder. "I promise, it's totally okay. Don't worry about it, alright?"