Unveiling

[Existentially Odd]

"Don\'t open that," Tom said hastily, slightly freaked out that he\'d come upon Reed just as he was about to open the basement door and find the coffin within.  He wasn\'t ready to share that yet, there was still a lot of settling in he intended for his buddy to do before they crossed that threshold.

He\'d got up, thrown dirty clothes in the hamper and pulled on a pair of underpants and jeans quickly before he\'d come looking for his partner.  He didn\'t want to admit how concerned he\'d been that the mortal might have decided he\'d go off and explore the city before night fell (because it was safest) and leave him to wake up alone.  It was bad enough facing an empty bed after what he\'d experienced in it the night before.  Even though the brunette was close to the basement, it was far preferable to him being gone; Tom strode quickly up to stand near him, hooking thumbs through two loops in his jeans.

"How long have you been up, sticky beak?" he asked Reed curiously, voice light with teasing as he lifted his chin and tilted his head, looking down at the shorter man from beneath lowered eyelids.  A grin he hadn\'t planned on split his full lips, evidence of the affection that surged quietly through his chest as he looked into shiny brown eyes.

[Trillian]

Don\'t open that?
 
Curiosity was piqued, springing to a level a couple higher than his original bored interest. He turned his innocent gaze onto Tom and watched as the other approached, a warm feeling in his chest that was reciprocal (without his knowledge) of the one Tom had. Why not? he was about to ask, but Tom\'s next question beat him to the punch.
 
"I don\'t know, a few hours," he guessed, unaware it had been a little over four hours that he was up but not really needing to be accurate. A dumbass grin broke his face in response to the one he received from Tom and he reached over to put a familiar hand on the vampire\'s chest, splaying his fingers and letting them fall down Tom\'s cool flesh to hook into the top of his jeans, tugging slightly. "What\'s in there, lover?" he asked, using the endearment calculatingly, wondering if Tom would pull a stunt of misinterpreting Reed\'s asking about the door for describing what was in his jeans.

[Existentially Odd]

Tom was shocked by Reed\'s forwardness and by what he innocently took to be a come-hither question. As much as he was okay with what had transpired the night before, he wasn\'t ready to go back for more, yet. What he needed was time spent with Reed in the easy, jibe-delivering manner they usually associated with each other; he needed reassurance that what they\'d done didn\'t change anything and that his friend still accepted him. He didn\'t want sex or anything exceptionally meaningful so soon, and he wasn\'t sure how to tell Reed any of that, so he followed his instincts.

Swiftly, he plucked the mortal\'s hand away from his pants and swung it behind him, capturing his other hand with his free one and doing the same thing, at the same time. Gently, he pinned them in the small of Reed\'s back and was forcibly pressed up against him when he stepped in to achieve this, their arms tangled and a knowing grin - that was, thankfully, completely natural - on his face.

"Nothing that there\'s any time for right now," he chastised mildly, his nostrils flaring as he hovered so close over Reed and got a strong delivery of his familiar scent. "Not if we want to get to the shops before they start closing, anyway. I want you to pick a bed for the spare room, remember? Some furniture too - and yes, before you even say it, I do want you to always stay in my bed whenever you visit but if you arrive unnannounced, I can\'t guarantee it\'ll be empty so I\'d just rather have a backup plan. Besides, I like the idea that you\'ll have an influence in my place for all the time you\'re not here," he smiled affectionately into brown eyes, truthfully warmed by the idea that Reed would have picked furniture out to add to the decore of his house and left a personal touch behind.  He would need that, if they didn\'t see one another for months.

"And I figure that when you are here, I need to entertain you and I can\'t be fucked hiring so we need to get some adventure equipment, too. Some chutes, harnesses, abseiling rigs, diving stuff... that sort of thing. I\'ve got somewhere to store it now, so I may as well own," he shrugged, feeling he\'d presented his argument logically. "Sound alright?"

[Trillian]

Nothing that there\'s any time for right now
 
It was a sentence that worked well enough for a closed door as much as it worked for rejecting a sexual advance.  Reed had meant his question for the door and believed that Tom had understood it as such, especially when the phrasing of the answer worked so well with the correct asking of the question.  There was no need to doubt it.
 
I can\'t guarantee
I do want you to always stay in my bed
it\'ll be empty
if you arrive unnannounced
 
Reed blinked.  Had Tom just told him that he was going to be fucking other people?
 
Women, he won\'t give up his women
No commitment
Fuck that he\'ll choose you over them
Not in bed
 
The mortal grinned and he shoved at Tom the only way he could, with a thrust of his hips while the muscles in his shoulders twitched in an attempt to free himself from Tom\'s hold.
 
"Sounds great," he replied, "now let me go or you\'ll be in for a world of hurt," he threatened jovially, attempting to get a knee up.

[Existentially Odd]

Tom snickered, looking Reed over skeptically.  His hold on the mortal loosened, making it clear that he could pull away if he wished, but that the vampire was enjoying holding him close.

"You think you\'d have a chance?" he challenged, knowing that Reed had nowhere near the speed needed to get a groin kick in, before he blocked him.  "Even if you were a vampire, you\'d be hard pressed to land anything dangerous, let alone drop a world of hurt my way."  The redhead smirked, vaguely excited by voicing the reference to Reed being a vampire, even though it wasn\'t anything direct.  It was enough that he knew what was coming.

[Trillian]

"I can sneak one in," Reed smirked, "like in the middle of the day, fuckhead," he said with a laugh, backing up and pressing himself against the door that was taboo.  He wasn\'t thinking of the door now, however, for he was watching Tom in a predatory yet playful fashion.
 
He might be vulnerable to Tom now, but he had his advantage during the daylight hours, when the other was lethargic if not sleeping.  Reed kissed his middle finger while his eyes sparkled, looking like an overgrown kid (which was, in fact, a very accurate rendition).

[Existentially Odd]

The vampire pulled a face as if deeply offended by both the insult and the insinuation.  "Low blow!" he declared, a fist snaking out and grasping the hand that was displaying the bird, curled fingers and all.  He implied that he could crush it by giving it a gentle squeeze, but not enough to hurt the mortal.

It was enough of an insult that he was left with his middle finger raised and stranded outside of an enclosed hand, not allowed to wriggle out.  Tom grinned, the rest of his long body swaggering over to close the gap that Reed had put between them, when backing up to the basement door.  He liked the feeling of being bare-chested and looming over his friend, relishing the heat undulating towards him.

"Maybe I don\'t want you in my bed where you can hurt me after all!  Maybe I need to get a lock on my door, too.  Or... I guess I could just even the playing field and turn you into a vampire."  His grin was knowing but there was such a great amount of hope swirling through him as he tested these waters, that he couldn\'t sustain the arrogance for too long; he was dizzy, waiting to see the reaction he\'d get.

[Trillian]

The first comment had slipped by, but not without Reed\'s notice.  He\'d not paid attention to the comment because he\'d believed it just a flippant remark.  For Tom to say something along the vampire lines twice meant that there must\'ve meant there was something to it.  Reed didn\'t know how seriously Tom was considering such a thing, in fact he didn\'t believe that Tom would even offer, but Reed was still sensitive to the fact two comments had come out, very close to each other.  Was Tom curious about how Reed felt about his vampirism?
 
With his hand still in Tom\'s grasp but his middle finger bent and out of the way as much as he could make it, Reed watched Tom with a little more intensity than usual.
 
"Bored with being a vampire?" he asked, his chosen words too carefully selected to come off sounding as casual as he\'d intended.

[Existentially Odd]

Tom blinked, then snorted a laugh, releasing Reed\'s hand in favour of lightly running the backs of his fingers over the mortal\'s sternum.  His other hand was hooked into Reed\'s shorts pocket.  The mortal\'s suggestion was so preposterous that it was easy not to give his thoughts away and to maintain his sense of humour - though he was now aware that he was laying it on a bit thick.. for not being ready to say anything at all.

"Don\'t be ridiculous.  Why - if I was sick of it - would I joke about making you one? Think I want to trade places with you, then off myself do you?"  He laughed warmly, genuinely amused by such a stupid notion.

[Trillian]

Reed smiled when Tom laughed, liking the initial direction of his answer; amusement.  Then when a certain phrase came out of Tom\'s mouth, along with a specific word
 
would I joke about making you one?
joke
 
Reed relaxed visibly.  He\'d entertained the idea that Tom was serious and his initial reaction to the offer had been... numbing.  Now his fingertips tingled with relief and he was free to poke Tom harshly in the gut.
 
"Then let\'s get some equipment and find something fucking insane to jump off," he said with a wild grin.

[Existentially Odd]

Tom agreed heartily, pleased to have got away with his insinuations but concerned on a very private level at the way Reed had got serious so quickly.  He tried not to think about it as they got dressed and went out into the night, but it was extremely difficult not to.

Apparently, the question he really wanted to ask was going to be the big deal he\'d been doing his damndest to convince himself it wouldn\'t be... and he had no clue how he might therefore broach the subject without a fight and procure the answer he wanted.  Reed had seemed pretty damn tense about the whole not being a vampire (or was it being a vampire?) deal, and reluctant to discuss it.

Tom, it seemed, would have to give the matter some very serious thought over the next couple of weeks.