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Seeing bright blinding light filter in through his eyelids quickly disturbed him of his sleep. Suddenly Sniper’s face felt too hot and his eyes stung the second he opened them a small fraction.
As if sensing a disturbance, a hand came up and quickly closed the skylight above his bed with a dull thud before dropping down over his scarred chest and wrapping around his torso. He tensed as he felt himself be pressed against a body and suddenly a wave of hot damp air washed over his neck.
“Relax, mate, it’s me,” his partner grumbled as he pressed himself closer, wrapping a long leg around him.
Releasing a long withheld breath, Sniper let his body relax. He wiped the sweat off his face, wiped the sweat off his hand on his bedsheets and returned a now dry hand to the side of Tavish’s face. It was also slightly damp with sweat.
“It’s noon?” Sniper’s gravelly voice sounded. He cleared his throat afterwards.
Tavish hummed in affirmation.
He huffed. “Ya coulda woken me up.” When the other man didn’t say anything, Sniper tilted his head slightly to try and get a good look at his face. It was well hidden in his neck and he was not flexible enough to crane it any further. “What’s gotten inta ya? Y’alright?” He kneaded his thumb into his cheekbones and embedded his knobbly fingers into the back of his hair.
“Just fine, dear,” Tavish mumbled before pressing a lazy kiss to his neck and just leaving them pressed there.
The lanky man mentally fought the fogginess away from his brain. “Ugh, let me see you,” he complained as he pushed himself up to roll half way on top of the other. Tavish groaned as he had no way of hiding his face.
“Hey, pretty boy,” Sniper looked down at him. His hair immediately took to dropping in front of his face.
He heard the other start chuckling weakly before he felt hands bury themselves into his hair on either side of his head, effectively pushing it out of his field of vision. “Ye really need a haircut, doncha, love?”
The rifleman huffed once again as Tavish worked to pull the bulk of it around one side, “Just another inch couldn’t hurt.”
“Yer just too lazy to get it cut. What happens if it gets in the way of ye snipin’, ay?” When no answer came, Tavish smiled warmly and continued. “I could just do it fer ya. Another day though.”
“Ya never answered me question.”
“Heh?”
“Are you alright?” Sniper drawled out.
Tavish looked to the side at that, in a position in which he couldn’t just lie. “I… I dunno. I already took care of me chores and cleaned the camper. I dunno… I wanna do nothin’ today.” His face was read as one filled with guilt, but also pleading, as evident with his brown eye glittering all pretty at him.
“Didja take care of everything so I wouldn’t have to get up and I could just lie here all day with you?” Sniper asked after a moment, the left side of his lips twitching up in a smirk.
The other man looked a different direction before meeting his eyes, “I brought ya lunch, too.” He nodded towards the plate on the counter next to the sink, closest to the bed.
Sniper turned his head towards the direction and once he looked back down at Tavish, they both started chuckling lightly. “Coulda jus’ asked, sweetheart. Ya know I’d say it’s fine anyday,” he leaned down to fully flush his chest against the other’s and pressed a kiss to the side of his mouth.
“Yea, yea,” Tavish turned his head slightly and pursed his lips, to which Sniper rolled his eyes and pressed his own against them. “It’s not like yer so good at asking fer things yerself, love.”
“Hey, I-“
“I have ta pry it out of ye!”
“I’m working on it!”
“I know ye are.” He reached up to start messing with the other man’s longer hair, his fingers gently pulling apart knots.
“Wanker,” Sniper rested his cheek on his peck. After a minute or two of silence and the other playing with his hair, he asked, “Did you need anything?”
Tavish hummed.
“Didja eat?” Mick tried again, shifting his cheek enough so he could see his face. He didn’t look back.
“Ye. Breakfast and lunch.”
“Drink water?”
“Ye.”
“Take a shower?”
“… Nae.”
“It’s okay, we can do that later.”
“ We?” Tavish finally met his eyes, picking his head up just a fraction with an eyebrow raised and a look in his eye.
Mick’s smile widened. “ We ,” he emphasized, “can do many things later. But for now , I’m gonna eat me lunch.” He raised a hand to pat the other side of his chest. He allowed himself the thought of how big and cushion-y it was.
“Aye,” the other replied simply, moving his hands to rest behind his head as the rifleman lazily peeled himself off his partner and slowly made his way towards the ladder.
The rifleman cracked his ankles down to the counter, mildly surprised when the bottoms of his feet hit the cold hardboard. Walking up to the counter there was just a burger, probably left over from the night before’s barbeque put on by Truckie. It was kind of dry, being microwaved probably, but it was still good. It coming from his partner made it more bearable.
As he was making his way through his burger, he turned back to the elevated mattress to tease Tavish about not loving him enough to make him something fresh, his mouth only remained frozen open when he saw Tavish staring him down. It burnt harder into his forehead than any laser he’d find on the battlefield - not like they actually burnt, the panic that startled in him made it feel that way, though.
Except he was probably not looking at his forehead. His lips were stretched into a sleazy smile, his eye hooded, and his cheeks a little flushed. Mick felt his cheeks burn in return - just now realizing how little he was wearing thanks to the New Mexico heat - though he couldn’t help the smile that crept up on his face ever so slowly. He knew they weren’t just going to be laying about today.