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Water runs from the kitchen sink, dish ware and utensils clink and clatter as they are scrubbed and placed to dry on a nearby dish rack. Thad continues this pattern, slowly, as the evening sun shines in through a nearby window. The whole world seems sleepy, even time seems to be taking longer to pass as gold rays shift to oranges and reds and dusty pinks. He takes things slow because he wants them to last.
The peace, the calm, the distinct lack of urgency…it was so different than his youth.
As he sets the first of the dishes on the rack and grabs for a nearby dish towel he hears Match’s bare footsteps against the tiles and soon enough he feels his solid warmth as he presses up against his back. His arms circle around his waist. His larger body encompasses his own so fully that he’s like a blanket. Match’s lips press against the back of his head, kissing him, and groggily mumbles, “Babe” as he buries his face against his blond hair and holds him close.
Water continues to run, but the speedster is stopped by that one simple word, and with no response, Match nuzzles against Thad’s head, mussing up his hair, breathing in deep the scent of shampoo and sandalwood cologne, before he ducks down, his lips brushing against the side of his forehead, “Darling.” He murmurs with a kiss to his temple and hears how Thad’s heart begins to race beneath his chest.
“Hon.” He speaks against his cheek and drags his lips lower peppering him with kisses on the way down.
“Love.” He mouths at the point of his throat beneath his ear, “My love,” he nips at the point lightly with his teeth. Earning a squeak from Thad that breaks his silence and his stoicism and nearly causes him to drop one of the plates in the process.
Thad’s ears burn, they always burn in moments like these as the blood rushes throughout his body and a deep warmth rises from his core and washes over him. Despite their years together the intimacy of it all still makes Thad melt. It felt new and surprising each time, but he didn’t shy away from it in the least. At least he didn’t now.
When they were first dating it was another thing entirely. He felt stiff and scared that he was acting cold. He distinctly remembered his fear over how he didn’t know where to put his hands when he was with Match. They had shifted from a platonic friendship to romance and he didn’t know how to act in the least. Was it okay to touch him? To hold his hand? To lean in so close to him when he never had before? Thad overthought affection to a fault, but he learned with time. He learned with Match, they took their time, and not everything in their lives had to be fast or end all be all.
The patience, the love, the fondness, and being with Match of all people despite their respective pasts, despite how their lives had drifted in different directions once before only to find each other again by the slimmest of chances…Thad was certain he was the luckiest man alive.
“Dear. ” Thad says looking up at Match, and there he sees his scruffy mussed up bed head with his hair going in all sorts of different directions and the sleepy look in his boyfriend’s eyes still clearly exhausted from his latest mission. Match had been gone for a month, but being away from Thad felt like a lifetime all he wanted in this moment was to drag Thad back to bed with him, to climb under the soft covers of their bed together, and to curl up together and soak in his boyfriend’s warmth, his scent, everything that he had missed this last month.
“Let me finish this up first.” Thad says and there’s a small growl from the back of Match’s throat in response that vibrates against his skin and leaves a tingling sensation in its wake. It was an old habit from their Titan’s East days when Match had been less conversational and dealing with his deteriorating condition, but Thad had understood. They might have been indistinguishable to anyone else on their old team, but Thad had always took the time to understand him. The world moved so fast for him, but the speedster slowed down to his pace for him.
And with this rumble from his throat Thad knew exactly what Match was saying: ‘The dishes could wait.’ And if he had his way they would.
“Alright, alright. I get it.” So there they stood in the kitchen together. Thad leans back against Match letting his weight fall and rest against his chest, and places his hands over Match’s own. He soaked in his warmth as he felt Match’s chest rise and fall with each breath enjoying their moment together. With Match it felt like time stopped. He didn’t notice the second tick by, he didn’t mind the slowness or the march of time. There was just him and Match. “I’ll meet you there, okay?” Thad says, but his eyes fall back to dishes in the sink.
But Thad was stubborn.
“Just give me a second, okay? I’ll be there. Promise.” Thad says as he slips from Match’s grasp and leans over the sink to reach for a glass.
And Match was stubborn too.
“Hey!” Thad laughs as a brush of telekinetic energy slides across the back of Thad’s hand and plucks the glass dripping with water he’s holding right from his fingers and places it on the nearby dish rack.
“What?” Match chuckles, “I’m just helping .” He murmurs with his chin resting atop of Thad’s head as he hugged him tighter, unwilling to let him go this time, and though Thad couldn’t see it he could hear that smirk on Match’s face. He knew he was absolutely satisfied with himself.
Thad tries to move, but he’s pulled back into Match’s grip, his arms encompassing him fully, once more nuzzling at the back of his boyfriend’s head, trying to entice him with comfort, warmth, and himself. Didn’t that sound better than dealing with some dirty dishes they could leave till the morning?
And for a second Thad eases into Match’s hold on him
They were both so stubborn.
Thad tries once again to walk back toward the kitchen sink expecting Match to let go, but again he’s pulled back into Match’s arms.
“Alright, cute. Real cute.” He chuckles as he shimmies and stretches toward the sink, but still Match holds him tight, “Come on. Seriously . I’ve really got to put these away.” He laughs.
Thad could hear the little chuckle that escapes Match and with a moment of thought Match cedes and lets go of Thad with a groggy, “ Fiiiiine, ” letting him get back to the dish rack.
Thad reaches for the plates and glasses that had been left to dry.
But before he could get to them, suddenly some of the plates, forks, spoons, knives, glasses, and even the towel used to dry them all rise up into the air gently. With his speed Thad tries to snatch for the floating kitchenware, though just barely missing as Match’s telekinesis pulls them out of his grasp and flying through the air of the kitchen.
“Match! ” Thad laughs trying to snatch another, “As cute as this is you’re going to get water everywhere!” But just like how the old nursery rhyme goes, forks were running away with the spoons and knives as they were organized in the air and guided back to their proper drawers with a rhythmic clinking and clatter with the rest of their cutlery. One by one cabinets are opened with a gentle ease as the dried plates and glasses were stored away with just as particular a touch as Thad had organized them from the start.
But that wasn’t it as Match reached around Thad with both of his arms, pinning him between himself and the counter to pick up the last of the glasses, “More fun than doing it by yourself, huh?” Match smirks as he dries the glass and puts it on the drying rack.
“I guess.” Thad teases as he hands Match another glass and they settle into a rhythm, “Alright, alright. Very. ” He couldn’t help the smile on his lips as rinsed off the last of the plates and handed it to Match to dry, “Helpful too.” Spending time with Match, doing anything with him was a pleasure.
“Maybe I should help around the kitchen more often then?”
“I’d like that." He smirks, "I’m certainly not complaining about this position.” He says. There was a lot he liked about being this close to his boyfriend, the brush of skin against Match’s own, the warmth he exuded, how he felt surrounded by him. His heart even raced a tick faster at it all and this increased attention.
Match lets out a chuckle.
“And…”
“‘And? ’”
“Well, don't get me wrong. I like this. It’s just that, you know, you’re never this clingy.” Match was touchy, more so than Thad was especially at the beginning. He had always been comfortable expressing his affection, wrapping his arms around him, kissing him on a whim, but never to the point like this, “Not that it’s a bad thing, of course. I like it.” He says brushing up against Match as he leans back against him and looks up at him. “I really like it. I just want to know if something was up?”
Thad pauses and then adds looking up to Match, "You know you can tell me anything right?"
And Match did. He shakes his head, his bed head bouncing with each movement, “No, no, it’s nothing. It’s just,” Match says, “It’s ‘cause I missed you. That’s all.” It might have just been a month with the Squad, but not seeing Thad, not hearing his voice, his scathing remarks that made him laugh. He felt as if something was missing in his life
“Oh.”
“Yeah, I missed you a lot.” Match says pressing his forehead to Thad’s head. It was simply the truth. After all of the time he had wasted in his life with his own grudges and confusion about who he was and what he wanted in his life, whether he wanted to be a villain or a hero, all Match wanted to do now was grab what he knew he wanted and loved with both hands, and hold on for as long as he could.
He wanted Thad.
He wanted to be with him for as long as time allowed them. He wanted to change the tenuous nature of what they were in title. And he knew now he wouldn’t regret it for a second.
“I…” Match begins, but stops as Thad turns to face him.
Thad rises on the tips of his toes and encircling his arms around M he presses a kiss to his lips, “I missed you a lot, too…. So ,” He slips from Match’s grip once more as it eases and grabs his hand, “Come on. I made a promise didn’t I?” And he pulls his boyfriend with him in the direction of their bedroom.
Match holds his words and smiles. He would have to get a ring first before he got ahead of himself. “You did.”
And so Match clasps his hand, almost eclipsing that slender calloused hand in his own, and with a smile he allows himself to relax, to be pulled in, one step at a time they each took at a leisurely pace, making the last minutes of light last before it turned to dusk.
“I love you so much, Thad.”
“I love you too.”
Never had either felt this way before, never had they felt love that was so unconditional and all encompassing. At least not before each other.