Work Text:
“Four percent.”
“I’m at three.”
“We need to get up.”
“But I don’t wanna.”
Clay was lying on top of Apollo on the couch, and had been for a while. They were both on their phones, and had been for a while. Each phone’s battery was in the red, and had been for a while.
“If our phones die, we’ll just be lying here,” Apollo said.
“And that’s a bad thing… why?”
Apollo nuzzled against Clay. “It’s not. But you’ll get restless and make us get up anyway. We should rip off the bandage now.”
“We won’t, though.”
“No, we won’t.” Apollo was at least pleased Clay didn’t deny the inevitability of his getting bored and ending the cuddle. It was the duality of Clay – he would enjoy this moment, he would think of it and moments like it as one of those moments worth being alive for (as Apollo silently agrees), but the instant any shred of boredom crept in, he would just as surely bring it to an end.
There was nothing mysterious about what happened next. Their phones died. Clay bounced to their room. With a sigh, Apollo got up and followed him. It was almost bedtime, anyway, but sleep just wasn’t quite the same.
He was pretty sure this was the fourth time in a month. Not that he had been counting.
***
Apollo’s work day was a stressful one, although thankfully it was one without any harm being inflicted on him by an opposing prosecutor, and without a loved one being arrested or in mortal peril. So, all things considered, better than average.
And he arrived home to the sounds of Clay doing some engineering in the kitchen.
“Dare I ask?” he said as he walked in.
Clay was soldering a wire casing. By itself, not so noisy a process, but Clay had a distinctive set of mouth sounds for when he was working with his hands.
“Fixing our shit.” Clay smiled up at Apollo. “Check it out.” He ran his fingers along part of the length of the wire he was working on. “Long phone charger for both of our phones. Long enough to actually reach the couch.”
Apollo gave it a cursory inspection, and it appeared to be exactly as Clay described. “Is it safe?”
“Should be.” Clay got back to work. “I’ll be bringing it to the space center for a final review, I know of at least three qualified coworkers who are getting paid to do nothing right now. And then we can, yknow, give it a try tomorrow evening?”
“You’re asking me on a cuddle date? When we haven’t even been together for a full decade?”
“I know, I move fast. I’m the peregrine falcon of romance. A veritable Usain Bolt with a jet engine, I am.”
“Well, we’re lucky you’re so cute, or I’d ask you to slow down.” Apollo decided he’d make himself some tea in the meantime. “Casanova’s swept me off my feet once again.”
“Nice. Next stop, holding hands.”
Clay worked in silence for a few minutes as Apollo fixed his tea. When it was brewed, poured, and steaming in Apollo’s mug, he sat across from Clay and watched as he continued to work.
“You’re aware, of course, that this is ridiculous, right?” Apollo finally asked.
“Of course.” Clay didn’t even look up. “Not normal at all. But it’s our life we’re building together, and I’m gonna make it better, my way.”
“Okay. You made it sound sane.”
“Don’t lie to me.”
“You made it sound well-adjusted.”
“That’s better.”
***
“Gahhh…” whined Apollo into Clay’s shoulder.
“Uuuuuugh…” called Clay to the open air.
The two had cuddled their way onto the wrong end of the couch.