Chapter Text
Richard lightly scraped a fingernail across the bridge of Lee's nose. He smiled when the nose twitched, thick brows furrowed, and a large hand half-heartedly rose to swat blindly around the area of his face. He kept watching as the features calmed, and Lee returned to his previous state of peaceful slumber.
It was 1 am on a Monday, and he really should be sleeping as well. But all of yesterday was still fresh on his mind - Lee's birthday, and while all the surprises Richard had planned went over well, Lee's single request for them to sleep under the half-formed roof of their house had been the highlight of his evening. It only happened because the people they'd contracted to handle the plumbing had sent him a message saying that they had running water now, just to please test the toilet's flush before actually using it for the first time, thank you very much. Lee had gotten excited as only Lee could, the sort of bright-eyed, jump-up-and-down-internally sort of enthusiasm Richard discovered he had a weakness for, and he'd said yes before he'd fully comprehended what he had been agreeing to.
He reached over and tugged the large blanket covering both of their naked forms higher up on Lee's back. Proof of their lovemaking earlier in the night still felt sticky on his thighs (clean-up was going to be a little embarrassing tomorrow), and the cold cement floor they were laying on was far from comfortable. Overhead, the starlit sky was visible through tree branches and the half-finished foundations of a shingled roof. Richard couldn't remember feeling so exposed in his entire life, but the fear he'd normally associate with the sensation was wonderfully, completely absent.
Everything was already so different from the life he used to lead, in the house he'd shared with Jimmy for over 15 years, with the state-of-the-art security system, the marble-tiled floors, and mahogany-panelled walls. He still had trouble believing he'd been talked into selling it, but he supposed it helped that Graham was oddly supportive of the idea.
The day Lee first proposed the change had been uneventful apart from the evening's conversation. He should have known something was up when Lee willingly ordered and ate Thai food with him. One moment, he was licking spicy sauce from his fingers, and the next, Lee was looking at him with this vaguely hopeful expression and pre-empted his request with "Don't be mad."
Which had Richard looking suspiciously at his fingers and wondering if what he'd just consumed was laced with something. "About...?"
"I've been thinking about our living conditions-"
"Do you not like it?" Richard quickly asked, worried. Their nights together were mostly spent either in hotel rooms or at Richard's house, but he could tell Lee didn't fancy spending his time there much. Less to do with Richard and more to do with the previous occupant. Richard had proposed having it refurnished and repainted, but Lee hadn't wanted that either, and he'd always harboured this misgiving that the whole thing was going to escalate when he wasn't looking.
His suspicion grew when Lee hesitated this time - he'd always been quick with his assurances before.
"So, you have that house, right?" Lee tentatively ventured.
Richard gave him an amused smile. "Yes, I have my house."
"I was thinking you could, maybe, you know...sell it." Richard wasn't sure what expression he was wearing on his face, but whatever it was, it had Lee quickly raising a hand and saying, with wide eyes, "Hear me out first."
"I like that house," Richard said, struggling to keep his tone even, "I went through a very unusual and humiliating settlement just so I could keep that house."
"I know, I know! I'm not suggesting this lightly, so just hear me out first? Please?"
Richard took a deep breath. At his nod, Lee continued:
"I was thinking maybe we can buy a new one. Not with just your money, of course - I've been saving up to lease a fancy apartment over in Greenwood, but I'll put all of that into a new house if you're on board with me. We can split the costs, find something we both like."
Richard fixed his gaze on his plate, his fork idly chasing around a piece of chicken as he mulled over Lee's suggestion. He didn't want to dismiss it out of hand, what with Lee having given it much thought, apparently, but everything he'd just been told held absolutely no attraction to him.
"Where will I live?" he eventually asked, thinking that perhaps a few more details might give him a bit of insight into what had possessed Lee to even come up with the idea.
"Here."
Richard laughed. One glance at Lee's face, however, wiped all humour from his face. "You're serious?"
Lee nodded with no small amount of enthusiasm.
"You can't even fit yourself in here."
His concern was given a mild shrug and a smile. "We'll get rid of a few things. It'll be fine." When Richard merely continued frowning at him, he said, "It'll be very temporary. You don't even have to live here for long, it's not like you'll sell your house before we have our eyes on a new one already."
Richard made an unhappy noise at the back of his throat. He dropped his gaze back to his plate as he said, "I'll need some time to think about it."
One of the many things Richard appreciated about Lee was that he was very good at giving him space when he needed it. It was several weeks before he broached the subject again, with a bit more positivity this time, and hinted that he might be willing to consider selling the house if they found one that was just as good, if not better.
"I can look around and narrow down some choices," Lee had replied, when Richard said that he didn't have time to look at real estate himself any time soon. "Ian doesn't have me on anything too taxing this month."
Lee took the house hunting very seriously. It occupied even more of his time than his actual job (which must have vexed Sir Ian to some degree, but Lee had just waved away his concern). Two months later, Lee had excitedly demanded that Richard free up his entire Saturday so he could bring him to the house he'd found, which was "just perfect,""wait 'til you see it," "I can't wait to show you."
His enthusiasm had been infectious. Saturday rolled around, and Lee drove Richard to somewhere close to the outskirts of the adjacent city. Richard wasn't thrilled with the distance, but it wasn't too bad of a drive. The environment was a pleasant mix of greenery and suburban structures, and the location even required them to park their car several meters away from the actual house.
If it could be called that. Lee had brought him to a sorry-looking, two-story structure in dire need of repairs, with tall weeds covering what must have once been a well-kept garden.
Lee seemed to have entirely misread the reason for his speechlessness. "I couldn't believe it, either. How perfect is this? It's going to be such an amazing house."
"When it grows up?" Richard weakly asked.
Lee rubbed the back of his neck, a small smile playing on his lips. "It doesn't look like much now, but I consulted with two architects, and they both said the foundations are still intact and in great condition. It just needs a bit of rebuilding." He looked at Richard and grinned. "We're two smart, successful men. I'm sure it's nothing we can't handle."
"Lee..." Richard breathed out, trying not to let the slow build-up of panic overwhelm him just yet. He tried to find the words, but just threw his hands up in a helpless gesture and looked to Lee for understanding.
"It's not rocket science," Lee said, laughing. "Have you never worked on a house before?"
"You have?"
"Few times, mostly just helping friends out. Oh, and I built my own tree house when I was ten."
Richard stared at him.
"It'll be fun!" Lee said. Despite Richard's lukewarm reaction, he had to admire the way Lee's excitement hadn't diminished a single inch. "It'll be ours. Please. Take all of today to think about it."
It was sort of unfair, the way Lee captured his hand while he said the last bit. Richard felt his resolve crumbling.
He must have said something of a sort-of-maybe-I'll-think-about-it nature, because Lee was smiling brilliantly at him a moment later. That smile that always took Richard's breath away whenever it was aimed at him.
The next hour was spent exploring the area, but all that did was make Richard miss his un-foliaged bed and utterly functional indoor plumbing. Lee was happy enough to relay what he'd learnt of the place - it had been an old bed-and-breakfast, but the owner had sold the land off when it didn't do very well, and the new buyer had neglected the place and merely waited for its resale value to rise before putting it up on the market again. The cost Lee cited was rather lower than Richard expected, which did make it a little tempting. Even with reconstruction costs, they might be able to spend far less than they would on a well-furnished house with a smaller average square area.
"Can't you just see it, though?" Lee asked, sneaking up behind him and wrapping his arms around his middle. "Shingled roof, romantic balcony on the second floor, big, gorgeous garden with a small pool in-"
"No pools."
"Hm. Okay." He tightened his arms around Richard's waist and hummed against his neck. "But you'll have to tell me why later. Anyway, where was I? Right - big, gorgeous garden with a four-meter trampoline-"
Richard burst out laughing. "No trampolines!"
"I'm going to have to fight you on that one. What else? The exterior walls maybe peach? White? Roof, a strong, gunmetal blue-"
"Red."
"...Blue."
"Red."
"This isn't over."
And so it went. A week later, Richard asked for Graham's advice on the whole thing, and while Graham perpetually wore that disgusted expression he often did whenever the subject involved Lee (Richard was definitely going to have to work on that), he'd been rather surprisingly agreeable to the whole venture. Even going so far as to recommend reliable contractors to handle the roof and plumbing, and offering his own help in case Richard wanted it. (He did. Lee would just have to deal.)
After three weeks, his house was put on the market. He'd thought it would be hard to say goodbye to it, but it had felt oddly liberating. The most difficulty he'd had was trying to negotiate space in Lee's cramped apartment for his things. That had been an adventure on its own, as he'd had his own set of anxieties regarding living in so small a space with someone he cared so much about. His fears that it would drive them apart turned out to be unfounded, and while he sometimes chucked Lee's scattered articles of clothing at his head whenever he encountered one on the floor, or sometimes accidentally botched their individual dry cleaning instructions, the small space provided them with a bubble that had every inch of intimacy he never even knew he wanted with another person.
Richard wouldn't admit to it easily, but he found he quite liked living in Lee's cramped flat. If Lee had asked, he wouldn't have minded staying there indefinitely.
This house, this project, however, felt entirely too loaded for his liking. It was such a risk, both monetarily and emotionally. On the other hand, he felt that whatever had drawn Lee to that house was the same thing that had drawn him to Richard and, faced with that troubling analogy, he couldn't help but think that, perhaps, the house might be worth a second look after all.
Working on the house had been more fun than he cared to admit. He actually looked forward to heading there straight from work, continuing the flooring they'd started the day before, or laying swatches across the newly-cemented walls to help decide on which color to go with once the primer had dried. They'd mapped out all the rooms already except for one, a fairly wide space that Richard was desperate to turn into a yoga/reading/recreation room, but which Lee was equally desperate to turn into an indoor kennel. (Lee already had his eye on a labrador puppy rescue from the local animal shelter, which Richard refused to visit, because two pairs of puppy dog eyes begging him to relinquish his plans for the one peaceful area in the house that he could enjoy was too much.)
They'd made mistakes, as he'd feared, but the consequences he was afraid would follow never did. Botched panelling was easily replaced. Even the haphazard job they did the first time they patched up a broken wall was torn down by Graham's contractor and summarily fixed - with a lengthy lecture on where they went wrong, and what to do next time.
It was only then that Richard started breathing easily, thinking back on it. There was a strong support system in place that he never realized he had until that point - Graham made sure there was something to catch him if he ever fell, and Lee made sure he was never alone when he did.
Then Lee's birthday had rolled around, and all Lee wanted was for them to spend their first night in their half-finished house, where their bedroom would be.
He sighed and slipped an arm around Lee's waist, wincing a little as body parts that shouldn't be sticking together were, but he was feeling far too maudlin to care at the moment. Everything about Lee had scared him shitless at first - and continued to do so, apparently, with the house and all. But as works in progress went, he was slowly starting to see how their relationship was forming a sort of happy-ever-after - or as close to it as he'd ever be able to manage.
Well. Lee had seen it all along, he supposed. But that was all right - Lee had the patience of a saint, and Richard was enjoying every day he spent trying to catch up to him.
\\\End///