#fitzstaticquake

( that was in the memories he wanted to forget, too, the hiding. the sound of footsteps on the other side of the thin wooden door that acted as his only line of defense growing loud and dangerous. the wiggling knob, the straining lock, the smell of beer through- )

Except he wasn't there, anymore. He wasn't with the person from those memories, and he never had to be again. Lincoln didn't drink at all and Daisy had never once come home smelling of beer. The worst thing that the apartment had ever smelled like was weed, and even that cleared as soon as they opened the kitchen's small window and took the brownies out of the oven.

He was a little late, but he was safe. He had to remember that.

Taking a deep breath to try to make himself relax, Leo moved slowly, focusing on lifting one foot at a time. He shrugged his bag from his shoulder and set it down next to his shoes when he kicked them off, his shoulders tense and his neck sore while he continued toward the living room with socked feet. The sight of two familiar heads over the back of the couch was normally enough to calm him after the most stressful days, but his stomach was twisted up in knots and the urge to hide behind a locked door was still itching at the back of his mind. When one of them turned, and he was faced with his girlfriend's soft gaze, gentle and warm and not at all the harsh glare he was anticipating, his breath caught in his throat.

"Hey, you're home! We saved you lots of dinner, extra bread and everything." She was smiling, and he was trying to wrap his mind around the domestic scene around them. The relationship wasn't exactly new, and they'd been living together since the start of the term a few months before, but he wasn't quite used to it, yet. He wasn't used to kindness in the face of his mistakes. "And then we were going to turn on a movie, but since none of us have class tomorrow, we aren't in any hurry to start it. Eat as much as you want!"

Leo swallowed an anxious gulp of air before slowly nodding his head and glancing toward the kitchen. It did smell good, and his stomach growled in response. Walking across campus hadn't done anything at all to help his already bottomless appetite, and food was so close...

Before he could turn to go and prepare a plate, he was stopped by another voice, just as familiar as Daisy's. "Are you okay? You look tense. Did something happen in class?"

Lincoln was only older than him by two years, but when combined with the fact that their girlfriend was even younger than both of them and he was the only one in the apartment who wasn't an undergrad, he had taken up the unofficial position of mom friend. If they had an issue with an assignment, or another student, or just a bad day, he was the one who offered to take care of it, even when he didn't need to. He was protective of the people he cared about, especially knowing about the childhoods they'd had, and normally that was welcome. Having a caring, protective force in his life was something that he appreciated more than words could convey, but this night was different. This night, the gruff tone that bordered on frustration was enough to make Leo flinch.

"What...? No, no, it's... no, I'm fine."

He was far from fine, his shoulders hunched up near his ears while he kept his body aimed toward the couch. If he turned his back, he could be caught off guard, and that could make the entire situation worse. If he wasn't watching, and he was in trouble, he might miss his last chance to run.

The couch let out a creaky whine when the cushions moved with the shift of weight, and he was all too aware of the slow pace at which his boyfriend walked across the carpet. It was quiet, and timed so he could watch every small movement from where he was. It was almost routine - between his own raging anxiety and Daisy's occasional panic attacks and Lincoln's nightmares, everyone in the home had learned to tread lightly at some point or another. It was necessary to avoid old, mended cracks shattering all over again.

Once he was a few feet away, just out of arms' reach, Lincoln met his gaze and spoke again, quieter. "Leo, we need you to tell us if something is wrong so we can try to help."

"I'm late for dinner..." The words came out in a scratchy whisper and Leo shifted his weight, taking a small step back only to squeak with fear and surprise when his back hit the wall. It was enough to push his anxiety up to the surface again, and then the words wouldn't stop. "I said I would be home right after class, but I forgot that you both finish before me on Fridays, so I wouldn't have a ride back across campus, and I had to walk and it took so long, and now I'm late, and you're mad-!"

"Hey, hey, hey...!" Lincoln held his hands up in clear view to show that he meant no harm and stayed right where he was, not pushing himself into his space. "We don't look mad, do we? I'm happy you made it home safely, and we knew you would have to walk when you didn't text us. Getting home a little late is okay. You don't even like walking alone, not all the way home like this, but you did it, and I'm really proud of you."

Biting his tongue, Leo tried and failed to keep his fingers from twitching, watching hands stretch toward him slowly. There was a silent question in the gaze that met his, and he answered it with a nod, instinctively leaning into the touch when gentle hands came to rest on his shoulders. "It's not even that dark yet, but I tried to use my phone as a flashlight, because I thought I saw something, and then I dropped it in the grass, and then..."

He let himself be pulled into a gentle hug, squeezing his eyes shut while he hid his face in Lincoln's chest. He was warm, there, protected from the shadows out of the corner of his eye as much as he was from the ones that lived in the back of his mind. For the first time since leaving his final class of the day, he was able to actually take a deep breath and relax, the tension from the last hour leaving his muscles sore and tight.

There were footsteps nearby again, and he tensed for a moment when he felt a hand come to rest at the small of his back. As soon as he heard Daisy's voice, just as bright and lively as he was used to, he was able to relax again. "Leo, baby... we're not mad. It's okay. Breathe, baby."

He was aware of Lincoln's fingers sliding up into his curls, and the soft kiss to the back of his neck. Knowing their girlfriend, there was probably a smudge of lipstick left behind, but he didn't care, not when it gave him something to focus on. It was something solid to pull his thoughts back to the surface, to pull him out of the spiral he'd started in on. And he listened, and he took a deep breath, and maybe the day really had been harder than he'd thought, because it was all too easy to let himself relax and be held upright by his partners. For the first time since he left bed that morning, all three of them were together, and it was enough to slow down his pounding heart.

( "make him a plate? we can keep it warm or microwave it and the rest of the leftovers can go in the fridge."

"of course. are you going to be getting him comfortable?"

"yeah. meet us in the bedroom?" )

The conversation seemed to be happening from far away, like he was under water or behind glass, and he lifted his head when the hand disappeared from his back. Daisy was moving toward the kitchen, presumably to make him a plate from dinner, and his mind was struggling to come up with why they would already be going to bed if there were still plans for him to eat-

Oh.

When Leo looked up into his boyfriend's eyes, he knew what was coming. The tone was gentle, like everything else that had been said all night, but slightly different, just a bit lower, deeper. It only came out on special occasions, and it never failed to make him shiver with anticipation. Presumably, it did the same to Daisy, but he never had the presence of mind to ask when it came up.

"We did make plans to surprise you when you got home, baby, but you're a little later than we thought you would be." Fingers were still woven through his curls, gently holding his head still and keeping his gaze right where it was. It wasn't something they got up to often, playing roles and giving up control, but when it did happen, he only knew it to be wonderful. He'd been talking to Daisy about giving Lincoln a night off from being the boss in those situations, but there hadn't been a chance, yet, and he wasn't sure he could do anything but fully submit to his partners just then. "I think you've earned your surprise, after getting yourself home all on your own, but are you feeling up to it? We can always wait until tomorrow, if you need the night to take a break."

Leo took a slow breath and shook his head slowly, not enough to shake the hand away. "I want it. Please...?"

There was a soft kiss to his forehead before he was given a bit more space to move. "Go get in bed, baby. I'll help you get comfortable while we wait for Daisy to join us."

He was the one to lead the way into the bedroom, shedding clothes as he went. There was a process to these nights, a routine, rules to follow. His jacket and shirt ended up on the floor of the living room, and he kicked off his jeans while trying not to trip his way into the bedroom. By the time he made it all the way to their bed, he was bare, crawling up to lay on his back with his hands at his sides so that he could hold onto the blankets. If he was supposed to be getting comfortable, there was a good chance he wouldn't be allowed to do much touching of his own.

Lincoln took his time tugging his own shirt off and discarding it on the floor, climbing up onto the bed to lay over him without quite touching. It was almost torturous, feeling the warmth of another body so close but not being able to appreciate it properly. He was still on edge, his anxiety simmering just below the surface, his thoughts spinning not much deeper. He itched to be held or reassured or even just properly kissed, but he knew the rules - he could ask, but there was no guarantee he would get it, or that he would be able to get enough of it.

Regardless of the logic and the fact that he certainly hadn't been told he had permission to do such a thing, Leo moved his hands when his finger twitched. He reached out and fiddled with the button of his boyfriend's jeans, only stopping when fingers wrapped around his wrist and gently pulled him away.

"What do you think you're doing, baby?" The movement was gentle, only loosely pinning his arm down into the blankets again while the body over his shifted. It didn't change much, only putting Lincoln further into his space, skin brushing skin and breath teasing his lips. “Are you really trying to touch right now? No, I’m supposed to be making you feel good. Believe me, Leo, we’ll make sure you get to touch plenty, just as soon as we’re done with your surprise.”

He shivered and lifted his chin, seeking out a kiss that was only a breath out of reach. And it stayed that way, so close but too far for him to properly chase, while the bed shifted with new weight. Daisy wasn't as close, but it was still just as torturous, knowing that his partners were near, that he could see them and feel the evidence of their presence, but he wasn't allowed to touch.

"Please...?"

When the quiet little plea escaped him, Daisy smiled and shifted closer, still fully clothed. He could feel the brush of fabric over his arm when her hand was on its own way, fingers gently moving his skin to make him look over at her directly. It was hard to keep himself from trembling under the intensity of her gaze, as if they'd done anything more than get him to lay down so that they could start on whatever they had planned.

"Please, what, baby? You have to use your words, you know. What do you want?"

Leo let out an eager whine and resisted the urge to squirm, all too aware of how every touch left him feeling warm. There was a coil of heat in his stomach that had stirred as soon as the plans for the night became clear, a burning at his wrist where it was still held down, and what had started at his chin had spread up to color his cheeks in one direction and down his neck in the other. He hadn't even realized how easy it would be to make him need them until he was faced with the possibilities. And then, he didn't even know what he wanted to ask for. "Erm... kisses, please...?"

A different kind of warmth started in his chest when he saw her smile, and he didn't have to wait much longer to feel the press of lips to his. While he was caught up in the feeling of finally having the kind of touch he craved, there was another set of lips that started at the side of his neck. Daisy, more than capable of holding his attention, kept him distracted with her tongue and the pleasant little bites at his lip between eager kisses, and Lincoln had another destination in mind than just his neck. He trailed his own kisses over warm skin, slow and gentle and featherlight enough that he was practically undetected until there was a gentle nip to the skin near Leo's hip.

The only reason that the Scot was able to keep quiet was the kisses still distracting his mouth. They managed to muffle his reaction into gasps and delightful little moans even while the kisses to his skin continued, but not when he had to pull away to breathe. It was a movement that timed up all too easily with hands finding hips to hold them in place, a gentle kiss to the head of his cock, and then the absolute bliss that came with having their boyfriend's mouth on him.

( afterwards, when they were curled up together, sweaty and spent, Leo was too dazed and comfortable to move his head from where it had come to rest on Daisy's stomach. he still had the taste of her on his tongue, combined with the salt of sweat and his own tears from when his orgasm was more than he'd been expecting. scattering soft kisses over her skin, he only relaxed further when she ran her fingers through his hair.

"we really should do this more often..." she was all but limp under him, still catching her breath from the last round. "i really like that thing you do with your tongue...? you know, the one when you're-"

"oh, yeah, when i'm...?"

"that's the one. i might have you do it again before we actually go to sleep. but, right now, Leo, you're on my bladder."

he made himself roll off of her and onto his back in the blankets, smiling when an arm wrapped around his waist and pulled him close. once he could pillow his head on Lincoln's chest, he let his eyes slide closed. "this was a nice surprise... all because i was an adult and walked myself home?"

"no." the chuckle was enough to shake them both, and he let his smile soften. "we were going to do this, anyway."

"good, because i'm never doing it again." )