Henry Cheng (livetotell) wrote in valloic, @ 2020-08-12 21:51:00 |
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Entry tags: | !: action/thread/log, the raven cycle: richard campbell gansey, ₴ inactive: henry cheng |
He could hear the TV on in another room, and knew half of the inhabitants were outside working, so he toed off his boat shoes (it was frowned upon to flip them off dramatically when the house wasn’t as open as Monmouth was) and dropped most of his things off at the back table before going exploring.
Henry’s hair was the first thing he noticed, and it made Gansey’s smile grow. He took in the rest of his boyfriend’s form being absorbed by his current favorite video game and leaned in to press a gentle kiss to Henry’s jaw. “Just the person I was hoping to see. Hello.”
Henry’s video game uniform was almost exclusively boxers and a t-shirt and living in Ronan Lynch’s farmhouse hadn’t changed that. It might have if the only woman in the house wasn’t one who was very familiar with his underwear. In the colder months, he did throw in a fuzzy throw blanket and boldly patterned socks, at least. But since it was obnoxiously summer outside, he was sprawled out on the sofa in red boxers and a t-shirt that said got a gut full of dynamite and a booty like poooww. The little bunny drawing probably didn’t clear things up.
“Oh, hello there,” he smiled up over his shoulder before quickly jerking his attention back to his game. A giant soccer ball bounced across the screen. “There’s a completely ridiculous outfit with floaties and jet pack wings that I’m determined to get but it requires a little grinding at the part of this game I really, really suck at.” A fact that made it easy to get distracted. He glanced over at Gansey and lifted his eyebrows. “Everything okay?”
If Gansey looked confused over the explanation Henry gave, it was right there and obvious on his face. He tried to shake it away with a little no, but ultimately was just trying to picture what an outfit like that would look like. “Floaties and jet pack wings…” Gansey shook his head again and moved around the couch, laughing quietly as he saw Henry’s outfit. If you could call it that, anyway, since there was such a stark contrast between that and Gansey’s work button-down and khakis.
He slipped his journal onto the side table and took a seat next to Henry, giving him just enough distance to continue playing his game. “I didn’t realize you played virtual soccer in this game.” Not that Gansey knew a lot about it to begin with. Still, his eyes were fixed on the screen as he continued talking. “Everything’s fine, just wanted to run a few birthday ideas by you for Jane.” He spared a soft look for Henry as he looked over, smiling. “And just to say hello.”
Gansey confusion was a strange and wondrous occasion. Henry only caught it out of the side of his eye, but it was enough to make him miss stopping a goal. He scrunched his nose.
“You didn’t know I played virtual soccer in this game because I don’t usually play virtual soccer in this game. I prefer the much more enjoyable ways of having balls come at my face.” Waggling his eyebrows, he “kicked” the oversized soccer ball towards the opposing team and took that opportunity to really look at Gansey. His expression and that smile - and the actual words he said - made Henry sit up straight.
“Oh! Oh, of course.” He gave the screen an apologetic glance and then booted himself out of the match. The guilt for abandoning his team was fleeting. “Hello,” he echoed with a growing smile. He leaned over to press a kiss to the corner of Gansey’s mouth. “Please, pretend I’m wearing clothes befitting party planning and tell me your ideas.”
The blush bloomed instantly on Gansey’s cheeks, and he pursed his lips together in keen embarrassment at the joke. Even being used to it, and setting up such a prime tease still gave him next level blushing. “Henry.” An exasperated tone that was so familiar to all of the people around him, but that didn’t stop it from happening.
“You didn’t have to-- Your clothes are fine.” He got his blush under control with sigh and embarrassed laugh, as Henry pulled out of the game. “Hi,” he repeated again, and immediately regretted it because that was technically the third time and he sounded ridiculous. “I know we have a little bit of time to plan, but I’d started thinking about it,” And when Gansey started thinking about things, they didn’t easily go away. “and we’ll have to check with Maura to make sure we don’t overlap--”
“We’re alone! I’m not taking that one back,” Henry laughed. Setting aside the playstation controller, he stretched his legs across Gansey’s lap and looped an arm around his back, mostly resting it on the couch. If Lynch came in, he’d move. For Gansey’s sake, not for Ronan’s. They were in a better place these days, especially ever since the kiss test with Gansey, but Henry still felt like he needed to be the one to maintain the peace, because it damn sure wasn’t going to be Ronan Lynch.
He shoved that thought aside and took Gansey’s hand into his lap to wind their hands together. “A little time to plan is good, very good. Do you...want to make another cake? Or are we ordering this time?” His smile was only a little cheeky. “Oh wait! Her mom has the cake she always does, right? I feel like I remember Blue grumbling about a poor substitute last year.”
Gansey had to constantly war with his own brain that they were in their house - albeit one they shared with several other people - when it came to public displays of affection. It was so ingrained in him, but he also enjoyed being the person breaking free from that expectation.
And he liked touching his significant others, which meant Gansey took no issue in threading his fingers into Henry’s and letting the legs drape across him, no matter if someone walked in or not.
“I’ll let Maura handle the cake, I think Blue’s been looking forward to it given the last two birthdays.” Another reason to be thankful at least two of the women of 300 Fox Way arrived in recent months. “I was thinking about getting new camping gear and we can steal her away for an adventure in the forest? Maybe right before her birthday, if everything is calm.”
“That sounds like a very smart plan, Ganseyman.” Henry smiled and toyed with the hair at the nape of Gansey’s neck. “We can buy her big numbered candles. Not too big, we don’t want them taller than her.” Snickering, he rested his head on the arm he had draped behind Gansey’s neck. He hadn’t figured out a gift yet. He didn’t overthink them as much as he suspected Gansey did, but he still hadn’t quite figured out the best ones yet.
There were still weeks to go. It could wait!
“Camping would be nice. Maybe check the forecast and see what we can find out about how the sky will look the few nights leading up to the big day.” He tapped their clasped hands against Gansey’s leg for emphasis and grinned. “A nice moonlit night for adventure.”
Gansey leaned into the touch unconsciously, enjoying the feel of Henry’s fingers enough that his head tilted just right. If he were a cat, he might’ve been purring, but instead there was just a contented little smile on his face as he reached over to snag his journal with his free hand. As much as he liked just resting against someone, Gansey had always been the type of person to need to write something down as a reminder, before it was lost in the hopeless void of his neverending brain.
He propped the journal up on his boyfriend and opened it to it’s bookmarked page and clipped pen, and scribbled a few notes of Henry’s suggestions under the page marked specifically for Blue. It was shorter than the long list he’d come up for Henry’s, months before.
“Candles; no taller than three feet.” He shared an immature snicker at their short joke. “Check weather. Good ideas, thank you.” He glanced up at his boyfriend, “I’ve been hesitant to plan too much, given the disaster of your day.”
Henry’s smile flashed brighter for a moment, the second Gansey reached for his journal. Even before they’d been anything, he’d noticed Gansey’s inclination to handwrite his thoughts and it was just as charming now as it had been then. He sat up a bit to give him room to write comfortably, but still kept his fingers scratching at Gansey’s neck.
“Oh, it is a very good thing you trust me with your life,” he said, mock-seriously. “That three feet joke will need to go with me to the grave.” He laughed and stared off into the distance for a moment. “I had hoped mention of my birthday would too but I suppose it was inevitable. Maybe we can hope we have used up all of our bad luck this year. Or is that just asking for more? Hm,” he frowned.
Gansey laughed quietly, and shrugged a little. He knew Blue would’ve made him pay for that if she had heard it, but that was half the fun of it. Between the jokes and getting to use Henry as a writing table, Gansey was feeling warm and loved and leaned into the touch on the back of his neck. He felt a little bad for bringing up Henry’s birthday, however, and shot his boyfriend an apologetic smile.
“Sorry,” He was. It was a day he would have preferred to forget as well, but they needed a little more time first. “I think we learned our lesson that if one thing goes wrong, we just call it a day and start over again later? We’ll keep the schedule open for Jane?” His suggestion was hopeful as he leaned a little closer into Henry and tilted his journal up to show off the neatly scribbled list. “Look, my list is only half a page. That’s a new record.”
“I forgive you,” Henry said cheekily. As exhausting as his birthday had been, it had been more stressful watching Gansey and Blue look more and more defeated than anything else. “I agree that a lesson was learned, absolutely. Though if we’re going camping for a couple days, we might need to be specific on your list about what our call it a day marker is.”
He looked a little sheepish as he said it. Mostly because he knew he was primarily the cause of camping mishaps during their time traveling. It wasn’t really his fault he’d never been much of an outdoorsy kid. And he was better now! No poison ivy or debilitating sunburn in months! He flashed a toothy wince of a grin and crossed a finger over his heart. “I promise not to eat any suspicious berries or investigate any strange noises.”
At first, Gansey looked confused by his request. Wondering if his boyfriend was worried he would push it too far regardless, and then it clicked, and he laughed. A full-bodied chuckle, and he brought his hand up to stifle it a little. He didn’t want Henry to think he was laughing at him, but… well, Gansey couldn’t stop it, either.
He settled down with a shake of his head and reached out to snag Henry’s hand again, so he could bring it forward to place a gentle kiss to the palm. “Oh, Henry.” It was said with such love and admiration, but Gansey still couldn’t stop smiling against the palm. “I’m not sure if it’ll be better or worse here in Vallo, but at the very least it will be an adventure? I’ll drag Adam and Ronan out to scout for good areas with minimal suspicious berries.”
The laugh didn’t bother Henry. Quite the opposite. That sound wasn’t malicious coming from Gansey so all it did was make Henry laugh along with him. His gaze grew a little warmer even, at the touch of Gansey’s lips to his hand. He felt very lucky, at that moment.
“That’s probably a good idea. I mean I think I’ve improved! But still. I don’t want to ruin Blue’s birthday with a trip to the ER. And there’s something deeply satisfying about Ronan Lynch doing camping surveys.” Henry snorted and leaned back against the arm of the couch, linking his fingers behind his head. “Do you have any idea what to do for a present? I’ve got as far as not a sewing machine before I hit a roadblock.”
Gansey took a moment to appreciate Henry, and all that he was, his own warm gaze dropping onto the spiked hair and wandering down. They were in the middle of the living room, and Gansey wasn’t the type to get carried away in public places, but he was the type to give his significant others significant looks when no one else was watching. There was no shame in that.
“You’ve improved,” he confirmed, with a fading grin. “We’ll get you there.” At least as long as Henry wanted to continue camping with them, he’d be happy to help improve things. He flipped a few pages in his journal, having written down a few ideas for Blue’s gift as he thought them up. “Nothing particularly exciting? A yarn bag - it looks helpful. A voucher for a pottery class in the city? That one had merit. We could three-way reenact the scene in Ghost.”
A heating look in a public place, even with no one around, never went unappreciated as far as Henry was concerned. His eyebrows flapped suggestively and he stretched a little more just for good measure. When Gansey’s attention turned back to his journal, Henry slowly settled into a less obnoxious position but still kept his legs stretched out over Gansey’s lap. He was too comfortable to move now.
“Those are very good ideas, Ganseyman. Especially that second one. Even if it’s more of a gift for all of us and not just Blue,” he snorted. “I was thinking maybe we could plant a few new trees together. Here on the farm.” He scratched at his jaw, wincing. “If Lynch allowed it, anyway.”
“I like that idea,” Gansey agreed with a little nod. “I’ll talk to him.” He knew that Gansey asking would go a lot farther than Henry, even if that idea had frustrated him a little it was a work in progress. Slow progress, but getting there more and more as Ronan adjusted to the idea that Henry was a good addition and not just a replacement for something or someone. They’d get there, eventually.
In the meantime, he didn’t want to think about Ronan or the calm peace they currently had. After a quick glance at his watch, he closed his journal quietly and put it back on the table next to him, and reached his hand back out to Henry, getting fingers around the crude t-shirt with the idea of pulling him closer. “Jane’ll be home from work soon, would you like to go to our room and wait for her, by any chance?”
Henry beamed a pleased smile. He still had every intention of dressing up his idea with something fun - a piñata bigger than Blue came to mind - but for now he was just happy that Gansey had already agreed to go to bat for him. Things were better with Ronan but if he could avoid asking him for anything out right, he still wouldn’t mind. Maybe next year!
“I can’t think of anything I’d rather do more.” Henry scrambled off of Gansey’s lap and pulled him up by his forearm. “I can start a sexy birthday playlist and you can give me an…assessment?” Is that a sexy word?” He laughed and tugged Gansey towards the stairs. “Nevermind don’t answer that.”
Gansey followed after Henry with no resistance and a laugh on his lips. “It's a sexy word to me, if that helps.”