Noel wakes up with the sun on his face. He's in bed, his t-shirt hitched up to his armpits. The room around him is quiet, apart from the busy hiss of the radiator. It must be cold outside--turn up the heating cold, minus ten degrees Celsius cold, the kind of cold with sparkly snow and clear blue skies--but there's no trace of the chill in the sunny bedroom.
He's too drowsy to open his eyes, but the space around him is familiar, easy to picture: a vintage iron bed, an old velvet armchair, a bookshelf with a string of fairy lights hanging on it. The sun is filtering through curtains in the color of hay. Or maybe Matthew has drawn them? The light is so very bright. Noel's cheek is smashed into a pillow that smells like Matthew, a scent so warm and safe it always makes him think his husband uses sleep and sunshine as cologne.
Somewhere in the house, water is running in the sink. Matthew whistles. Noel groans, trying to free himself of the covers and clothes twisted around his body.
He hears Matthew's soft wool sock steps in the hallway before the door squeaks. The smell of freshly brewed coffee trails in after his husband.
"Noel, baby," Matthew says. There's a twin thud as he puts down two mugs of coffee on the nightstand. "Are you awake?"
Noel rolls onto his back and stretches his arms above his head. Tendrils of sleep still cling to him like the soft cotton of the t-shirt. It's Matthew's, though the pajama pants he's wearing are his own. When he came home last night, he wanted to wear something that belonged to Matthew.
The mattress dips as Matthew sits down on the bed. A big, warm hand comes to rest on Noel's bare belly; the fingers of Matthew's other hand twine in the hem of the t-shirt as if he's considering pulling it down but thinks better of it.
"A rough shift?" he asks.
It was. A double shift, and a bad one at that. An image of the hospital's main building, standing tall and palely lit, snow billowing around it, flashes through Noel's mind--it must have been one in the morning when he finally got to leave. He was one of two doctors at the cardiac care unit after one of his colleagues called in sick. Hurried steps, quick cups of black coffee, the nurse calling again,
Dr. Davis, room three
-
He only has to think about it, and stress and anxiety begin to tighten his chest again. He tries to exhale the feeling away, but the sigh comes out tight and aborted.
Matthew smooths his hand over his belly in slow, soothing circles. "That bad, huh? They're really making you carry the whole world on your shoulders, aren't they?"
He slides down beside Noel and pulls him into a hug. He's big and warm, in a way that makes Noel feel warm too, and though Matthew is not much taller than him, in his arms Noel feels small.
"Someone should take care of you for a change," Matthew says. "You deserve it. Please. Let me take care of you today. You don't have to worry about a thing. I've already shoveled the snow and made a fire in the stove. I'll make you breakfast. We can take a walk outside later, or go to the bookstore, whatever you want."
Matthew's lips find Noel's mouth. The kiss he gives him tastes like toothpaste. Noel loops his hands around his neck and pulls him closer.
Matthew's attention always makes him feel warm all over. Small, well cared for. Sometimes, the feeling resides in his chest, like a light radiating from his heart all the way to the tips of his fingers. Other times, it's another kind of warmth: a stickier, hazier heat that comes with a guilty little twist of his stomach. Like he's not entirely deserving. But he's greedy and wants anyway.
This morning, he finds himself wanting.
He makes a little sound in his throat, wiggling in Matthew's embrace. His hips grind into Matthew's thigh: an accident, but also not.
"Oh." Matthew makes a sound of his own.
His hand comes to rest on Noel's belly again. This time with weight that feels like intention. The air in the rooms is suddenly a little denser to breathe, a thick and golden summer heat in the middle of winter.
"That's how you want me to take care of you? Baby?"
Noel feels silly. A little guilty. And he wants. He wants it so much.
Matthew's hand glides down, fingers now fiddling with the drawstrings of Noel's pajama pants. "We can do all the nice things: breakfast, walk, bookstore, all of it. But I could also make you feel really good, right here, right now. Would you like that?"
Noel can't seem to find his voice. Yes, he thinks, yes, as he feels himself sinking down into the bed. Matthew's hand is so warm. So heavy.
He wonders if he should ask for the-
But he can't-
Matthew understands.
The sheets rustle. There's the sound of the drawer of the nightstand opening. The object Matthew presses into Noel's hand is the size of a tennis ball, an IKEA dog toy with a bell inside.
Noel wraps his finger around the ball. He wasn't expecting it to go this way, this fast, but maybe it makes sense after all, with the shreds of dreams that won't leave his head and Matthew's tall frame that makes him feel so small. The outside world slowly disappears; the yellow house and the snow, the apple trees and the blue, blue sky, the room even, drift away until all that remains are the places on his body where Matthew is touching him.
"You're gorgeous like that, did you know that?" Matthew smooths Noel's hair away from his face and kisses his forehead. His voice sounds like the sun, warm and intense. "It's sexy as hell. You can keep your eyes closed, just like that. I'm gonna make you feel really good."
Matthew slides his hand down Noel's pajama pants and rubs his dick through his underwear. Noel has already melted into a puddle liquid want, and Matthew barely needs half a dozen strokes to get him fully hard. Or maybe he woke up like that: hazy from dreams, a warm ache low down in his belly, the sun shining on him and pinning him down like a lover's weight. He can't seem to remember all that clearly.
Matthew crawls on top of him, kissing the side of his neck all the way from the hollow of his throat up to his ear. He can feel Matthew's whole body against him: warm feet, long legs clad in soft sweatpants, the firmness of his abs even through his t-shirt. He's heavy, in the best of ways, his weight pressing Noel down, down towards that good place.
He's hard, too, the bulge of his erection digging into the crease of Noel's thigh. Noel tugs at his t-shirt, desperate for skin on skin.
"Don't worry, love. You'll get what you want," Matthew soothes.