Work Text:
"see? it doesn't work like you said it would. well this is disappointing." he huffed, lighting up a cigarette for himself, after leaving a puff of smoke into the cold night air, he leaned down to look back at the decrepit piece of explosive in the other's hands.
jacobi smiled as he watched kepler fiddle with it. "it's alright sir, i don’t think it would've worked from the start. let's just leave it."
the other hummed. "sure." then took out a cigarette from his own pocket and fumbled around for the lighter, shifting the packet of groceries from one hand to another. "i think i left my lighter at your place. can I have a light?"
jacobi raised an eyebrow, "you never forget your stuff around." he shook it off and leaned down to light up the cigarette’s end for the other man.
he watched kepler’s face in the mellow glow of the small flame. he looked cold and rigid, even in the warm hue spreading across his face.
"thank you, jacobi."
"you're welcome sir.", he replied, a little snark in his tone. "so, what now?" he added as he looked up at the light flakes of snow drifting from the sky downwards.
"let me get my lighter first.", the other replied.
"something tells me this isn’t really about the lighter.", he smiled, looking away from him, "so what, is that a euphemism or something?"
"are we heading back or not." he demanded, taking a puff from his cigarette.
"you know we could have shared a cigarette, anyways, i wasn’t going to finish mine."
"well, then you can get rid of it if you want."
the streets were quiet at this time of the night, everything was dark and cold and dry.
it was snowing. jacobi knew kepler didn't like snow, so he made a hurry with his pace, almost passing farther than him.
"hey you need to hurry up if you don't want to get drenched, i asked you to grab a thicker coat."
"you don't tell me what to do," he said, there was no bite in his words, so jacobi laughed a little, he would have chuckled even if he meant those words.
they walked a little in silence.
“tell me sir,” jacobi said absentmindedly, kepler hummed.
“why do you not like the snow?” he asked as he turned back to face him, now walking backwards.
“who told you that?”
jacobi grinned . “i just guessed, i have a feeling i’m right too.”
kepler stared at him, jacobi looked soft, his silhouette framed by the snow, the streetlight shining behind him, his nose a little red too. kepler almost fought back a smile.
he quickened his pace to catch up with him.
“it doesn’t do good to my hands, they get colder when it’s snowing.”, kepler answered, glancing at his hands, moving his fingers a little as if to fight back the numbness settled in them.
“i wouldn’t know how that feels because i keep my hands warm.”, jacobi chuckled as he watched the other man wiggle his fingers.
"here, see?”, he held up his hand in front of kepler to check the temperature.
kepler narrowed his eyes slightly, debating whether to hold up his hand too.
“oh bring it here.”, jacobi smiled as he grabbed a contemplating kepler’s hand, “oh man that’s cold.”, he whistled as their skin made contact, he folded their fingers together and placed the entangled limbs into his jacket’s pocket.
“what are you doing?”, kepler grumbled under his breath, making zero effort to move their hands from jacobi’s pocket. his hand was warm and soft to the touch and he didn’t want to admit it so he just didn’t move his hand at all.
“warming it up a little, i don’t think having cold-ass hands must be a good thing. isn’t it numb already?” jacobi asked, a little concerned, rubbing his thumb over the back of kepler’s hand.
kepler hummed.
the sound of the key in the lock was loud and it echoed into the quiet of jacobi's front porch.
"are you holding the eggs properly, i swear to god if you cracked any of them.", jacobi's voice trailed off into his living room as he rushed to put the groceries in his hand on the kitchen counter. "the eggs are fine jacobi, i carried them more carefully than you could ever have.", kepler said as he rushed to switch the lamp by the sofa.
"lemme see them.", jacobi came back from around the counter and caught the bag of eggs from kepler's rather careful grip. "phew. okay, they're alright.", he sighed as he looked over the bag, placing it beside the rest of the groceries.
"give me that coat, you'll drench my rug.", jacobi said as he got up to take the coat off the taller man. kepler hummed in response.
kepler had come over jacobi's place a few times. he'd also found out that he was the only other person that had ever stepped into his home, the thought made him feel nice about the whole ordeal. kepler was yet to invite the other man over, though. he'll take the chance as he finds it to let him over his place.
kepler glanced down at the maroon sofa, and grimaced as he felt very much like a school girl looking to invite her boyfriend over for the first time. he was a grown man for god's sake.
was jacobi his... boyfriend, though?
well, now he was just being absurd.
"what you thinking about so hard? you're going to burn holes into my sofa dude.", jacobi laughed as he perched onto the sofa, perched was a nicer word, more like, splayed onto the sofa, taking up kepler's field of vision.
he walked off into the kitchen, "do you have anything to drink?", he asked from over cabinets.
"might have some beers in the fridge, i dunno.". jacobi shrugged as he leaned forward over the switched open laptop. "god this is so much work!", he rolled his eyes over the form on the dim screen.
"did you really think you'd only have field work to do, mister jacobi?", kepler walked behind the sofa, his voice coming from above jacobi's head.
"that's what i was told though!"
"well better luck next time, i guess.", kepler chuckled as he took another sip from his beer. he looked over at the clock on the wall ticking away into the silence of the room.
"how much more of those forms is left?", he asked, walking back into jacobi's kitchen.
"i don't want to say it out loud or i'm definitely bashing my head into this coffee table, sir.", he replied, barely looking over from the screen.
kepler glanced over at the kitchen, it was clean enough for one person using it, the tiny jars of condiments placed, surprisingly, neatly away into their shelves.
then he looked over at the sink, then sighed. then got to putting the apron on, and looked over the counter that divided the kitchen and living room.
he looked at jacobi, his concentration deep on the dim blue light of the screen, kepler noted how the cold light made him look stern and rough, his own expression softened. "i'm doing the dishes then.", he called.
"i was going to do them in the morning but suit yourself i guess.", jacobi replied, typing away on his laptop.
"if you talk to me like that i'm not going to do them.", kepler said, voice stern. and turned back into the kitchen to get to the chore.
"yeah, i'll do them in the morning, sir.", jacobi smiled. then shook his head upon hearing the familiar clacking of dishes.
one thing kepler liked about jacobi (or, one of the many things he likes about jacobi; he doesn't want to admit it), is that he was defying, always looking for ways to show his disobedience through a snarky comment or a retort followed by a smile. kepler didn't tell him that though, he felt stupid just even thinking about it.
he knew jacobi would never go over the line for him, and he understood that it was just a coping mechanism for jacobi. he knew what those can be like.
he dried his hands off and walked back into the dimly lit room.
"done yet?", kepler asked.
"nowhere close.", jacobi made an annoyed sound.
"you should take a break. coffee?"
"i don't know about a break but coffee sounds awesome right now.", jacobi smiled at kepler who was standing over him, still drying his hands off completely. his eyes roamed over the rolled sleeves of kepler's shirt and the exposed skin of his forearm, he quickly busied himself with the work.
kepler smiled as he walked back into the kitchen to prepare two cups of coffee. while he waited for the coffee to brew, he walked into jacobi's bedroom and grabbed a blanket from the bed and put it over his shoulder and sauntered towards jacobi and placed the two cups on the coffee table.
"thank you!", jacobi exclaimed a little child upon seeing his cup.
"yeah." kepler replied mindlessly and sat down beside jacobi, putting the blanket over his shoulder. "it's cold, you'll be cold."
"nah i'm fine with a little cold haha", jacobi said looking at kepler sat beside him. he watched as kepler sipped on his coffee in somewhat a hurry. he looked back at his screen.
"you can stay over," said jacobi. then continued, a little quieter, "you should stay over."
kepler slowed down, "are you going to ask me to do your work?", he asked warily with slight mirth in his tone.
"yeah i'd know better than to ask that of you sir.", jacobi shook his head with a smile.
"bingo.", he relaxed into the sofa, it was way more comfortable than his own, he noted.
"thanks for the blanket.", jacobi mumbled, focused on his screen.
"hm."
"should i light the fireplace up?"
"if you want to."
"never mind.", he said as he realised he was quite comfortable with the warmth of the yellow lamp lighting up their spot.
"scoot a little closer sir." jacobi asked as he lifted his laptop, kepler did so mindlessly, "what is it?"
jacobi leaned his torso against kepler as a reply. kepler almost made a surprised little noise. "what...", his surprise trailed off as he watched the other man settle on his side, the blanket still over him.
"god you're cold." jacobi said as he went to grab kepler's unattended hand and squeezed it lightly, feeling the cold permeate his own.
"here, come under here." he said, lifting the blanket on his side for him. kepler sat stiff thinking it over, and over.
"oh for god's sake!" exclaimed jacobi, pulling kepler over to his side and plopping the blanket on his shoulders. "come here.", he whispered at him, shaking his head.
kepler immediately softened at the gesture, it wasn't a careful one but it was a nice gesture, his chest filled up with a warmth on the inside, almost matching up with the warmth of the cup in his hand.
he smiled over jacobi's head as he watched him fill out the 20-something paged form on his screen.
"you shouldn't be working like this, you know.", he remarked, taking another sip of his coffee. "you'll be ready to fall asleep any moment."
"oh you're watching over me sir, how could i ever slack off? plus i'm more efficient working this way", he wiggled his eyebrows at him, kepler rolled his eyes.
"oh that's a typo, right there.", he pointed at the screen.
"i'm going to edit this later, sir." jacobi shook his head on kepler's shoulder.
a few good long minutes of silence went by like this. jacobi curled up on kepler's side while kepler with his head leaned back on the sofa, later leaning it over jacobi's head. he was warm. it felt nice. he didn't say anything about it.
"thanks for doing the dishes." much much later came a small whisper, kepler opened his eyes and glanced at jacobi's screen. "and for the coffee, and the blanket.", he paused as if wanting to say something more, "and for being here today." he added, after a few more breaths.
it was as if he was talking to the filled out forms on his screen, staring at them so intently, kepler was sure he was talking to someone else if not for he was saying.
his voice was soft, and ardent. it carried a gentleness that kepler had never heard before. kepler almost teared up at the words. the words themselves weren't so foreign on jacobi's lips, but it was the way they were said that got kepler thinking a mile a minute.
he knew jacobi on the mission that week wasn't a jacobi he witnesses often, even his snarky remarks didn't have the same bite to them as they usually do. so, kepler took it upon himself to pull up at jacobi's front gate that evening and offer to have dinner with him. he had also figured out that jacobi wasn't up for going out to eat, so he offered to prepare the dinner himself.
it was jacobi's own idea to go grocery shopping, though, and kepler couldn't refuse him (because of the snow) no matter how much he tried to say his refusal out loud. he just couldn't say no to daniel.
kepler didn't know how to react. he figured that maybe jacobi had thought he'd fallen asleep. he hadn't though, and he had listened to all of it.
what was kepler to do with this man?
he let out a soft breath, ruffling jacobi's mess of hair. jacobi almost shook violently.
"look at me, daniel.", kepler said, raising his head and straightening up a bit. "here.", as he said it, he made jacobi turn around a little, by his chin.
jacobi's eyes were wavering, the light in them was shaky, he was vulnerable under kepler's scrutinizing gaze.
kepler's expression softened immensely as he watched jacobi fight the wetness out of his eyes.
he kissed him lightly, leaning down to peck his lips, they were warm against kepler's slightly cooler ones.
jacobi let out a tiny sob and leaned his head down to hide his expression. kepler lifted his face slightly and half leaned his own head down to look at jacobi's face. he rubbed a thumb on his cheek.
he kissed his forehead and put his arms around jacobi's slightly shaking frame.
jacobi felt the pair of lips graze over his forehead and almost cried over how gentle they were on his skin. the hug after was sturdy, and comforting, grounding him into the spot. he relaxed on kepler's torso. his arms lazily wrapping around kepler's waist. he breathed in the comforting scent of kepler's light perfume, his breathing going back to normal.
kepler ran his fingers over jacobi's hair, pecking the top of his head while he's at it. he didn't want to hold any sort of ministrations back, he didn't even think about where any of this would put them.
"anytime, daniel." he whispered back.
jacobi's grip around kepler tightened upon hearing the address of choice.
"yeah." he closed his eyes, staying in the position a little while longer.
"i have to get back to work.", jacobi said into his chest.
kepler hummed; they had been sitting in the same position for a while now, neither of them wanting to move away from the other. in fact, they'd gotten even more comfortable in each other's arms like that.
"yeah okay. this is nice." jacobi smiled and looked up at the taller man. then pecked his lips and pulled back, watching his face carefully to see what his reaction would be.
kepler instead pulled his face closer and finally kissed him properly, jacobi smiled into the kiss then sat upright.
"okay, now work, i have to fill these in before cutter comes in to kill me personally.", he said as he moved to place the laptop on his lap, back in his position by kepler's side from before.
"hmm, sounds like a good argument.", kepler said, now looking over at jacobi's shoulder.
"finish this page up and go to sleep. i'll fill the rest of it up."
"you've never offered to help before.", jacobi narrows his eyes back at him.
"just give it to me okay?", kepler rolled his eyes. "you should sleep. it feels like you don't know how to take breaks."
"of course, sir. whatever you say.", jacobi laughs, immediately hurrying to finish his part of the work.
"okay now, go to bed." said kepler as he handled the laptop from his hands.
jacobi just turned around and laid head over kepler's shoulder and wrapped his arm around his side in a slight grip.
"i'll sleep way better over here."
"whatever suits you best.", kepler makes a gesture of clearing his throat and focuses on the screen in front of him.
it was... distracting, to say the least. but it wasn't like he minded it, plus he felt warmer than he'd ever felt in a good while. he laid his head over jacobi’s.
"plus you can just pick me up and put me to bed when you're done, i think." jacobi pretends to think harder.
"just close your eyes now, god."
"good night, i guess." he said as he felt himself drift into sleep, "also your lighter is in my bedroom."
"yeah.”