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“Oh, damn.
Oh, damn.
Oh, damn.”
Sam drew in a breath.
“I’m so perplexed.
With just one breath, I'm locked in.”
His hands ran their course down the length of Rafe’s neck, thumb rubbing over where the other man’s pulse sped.
“Oh, damn.
Oh, damn.
Oh, damn.”
Rafe felt hot under his palms, sweaty from hours of dancing in a crowd, but the heat did nothing but mark the way down his collarbone to his broad chest. The black shirt he wore stuck, not drenched, though it was getting there, and..
“I'm so perplexed
On that, it's almost shocking.”
Admittedly, Sam wanted to get rid of it. His palms itched to touch more of Rafe, his skin, the warmth coming off him in waves, and something about the way Rafe leaned into the touch told him he wanted him to too.
“I know,
I know you know,”
“You’re scared--” With his head falling forward, Sam buried his face into the crook of Rafe’s neck while he continued to map his body out. He stopped at his hips. Another deep intake. Beneath all the sweat mixed in he still smelled that strong cologne Rafe wore for him. Just for him.
“ Your heart .” Gripping-- “ Your mind .” --fingertips slipped into belt loops--“ Your soul .” -- with Rafe rolling his hips right as Sam’s leg slid into place between his thighs, and--“ Your body. ”--as Sam picked his head up he felt more than saw Rafe turn his face towards him.
Their lips barely met.
“They won't,
they won't,
they won't..”
Yet, it already felt as though they were kissing.
“Be careful.”
For a moment, or two, Rafe watched Sam through hooded eyes.
“ But I guess that, ” It was a look that touched his soul, “ you don’t know me .”
He had to look away.
“Cause if I want you, and I want you, babe. .”
There were several things the older Drake could bear in Rafe’s presence, but that look with such longing was not one of them.
“Ain't going backwards, won't ask for space”
They were close enough that the shorter man could feel Sam’s heart thud against his back as they swayed to the beat. So, incredibly close that when the next set of lyrics began to fill the room Sam felt himself grow timid.
“Cause space was just a word made up by someone who's afraid to get too…”
It was Rafe who rolled his hips, Rafe who reached behind him and threaded his fingers into his hair, Rafe who--
“ Close ! "
--mouthed words into his neck while Sam kept from meeting his gaze.
“Oh, so close, ooh
I want you close, ooh.”
I love you.
And as if some part of him (that he didn’t even know he was fighting) was beaten by this simple action, Sam freed himself from the other man’s hold.
He kept his head low, shuddered when fingers untangled from his hair, and pressed Rafe that much closer now with them facing each other.
The surprised gasp that came seconds after was not lost on him.
“Cause space was just a word made up by someone who's afraid to get close, ooh!”
In fact the sound alone was what brought his gaze upward once again.
Brown eyes searched the depths of Rafe’s stare, wavering when that longing would not die out but continue to burn the longer they stayed together chest-to-chest in the sea of writhing bodies.
“ Oh .”
They touched one another.
“ Close ”
Mapped along each other’s sides with nimble fingers.
“ Oh.”
It was always different - no matter how many times they did this.
“I want you close.”
Being in public, open; there was a thrill to what they did.
“Oh, I want you close, and--” Sam wound an arm around Rafe, guiding him along as he brought them low and sideways by his waist. His free hand found one of Rafe’s, the one not running away from his side to trace patterns down his spine, and locked their fingers together. “--Close ain’t close enough, no.”
He bumped noses with Rafe, almost laughed with joy when he felt more than saw a smile press against his lips, and thanked every second of this song for how intimate it made the both of them.
How silly it was to be anxious moments ago… There was nothing to be afraid of.
“Oh, man.
Oh, man.”
Contentedly, Rafe sighed.
“I am not really known for ever being speechless.”
His breathing gradually quickened as he rocked back and forth on his feet, letting himself be swept away by Sam as if he was a leaf caught in wind.
“But now, but now--” With all his might, desperately, Rafe squeezed their joined hands-- “Somehow--” He held onto him for life, “--my words roll off my tongue right onto your lips…” Hoped Sam wouldn’t notice how that one particular night they shared together came rushing back as they danced...
“I’m keeping cool while you keep smiling.”
At the same time, though, it would be perfectly alright if Sam did. As long as Sam was here with him, this club was home too.
“Saying all the things I’m thinking.”
Finally, he kissed Sam.
A chaste brush, nothing more or less, of his lips to Sam’s.
Still, goosebumps broke out and color bloomed across his skin, warming him - if that was even possible at this point - because even the chastest actions between them could set him on fire.
“Oh, man.
Oh, man.”
Rafe grew weak-kneed, but Sam was there to hold him up.
“I am like you so I want proof--”
He rested his head on him.
And tried, for what felt like the millionth time, not to give into such a vulnerable state that came and went the deeper he fell in love with Sam.
“I’m what you’re feeling.”
The hold at his waist fell loose until nothing was there to keep Rafe on his feet.
“Cause if I want you, and I want you, babe”
Normally, this wouldn’t have bothered him.
“Ain't going backwards, won't ask for space.”
Rafe wasn’t so fragile, not publicly at least. This time though.. this time was different. He was going to say something about the loss of Sam’s arm around him (because Sam anchored him in more ways than one to this world and the next), but as his mouth opened he was silenced before he could vocalize his concerns.
“Cause space was just a word made up by someone who's afraid to get too…”
There at the nape of his neck, clenching fast and tightly similar to their joined hands, Sam held Rafe’s head to his chest - directly over his heart.
All the worry drained from Rafe in that instance.
He knew.
Knew Sam was saying that he loved him too and wanted him..
“ Close. ”