17. Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Seventeen
Drew
Drew woke the next morning with a weight on his shoulder and draped across his abdomen, and it took a moment for the sleep to clear from his mind and the flood of memories from yesterday to replace it. He shifted slightly so he could look down at Zach, who was still sleeping soundly, curled up and wrapped around Drew. His face was so peaceful in sleep, no anxiety to be seen, and his features...
God, seeing his beautiful face first thing in the morning was indescribable. His heart squeezed hard, the feeling so profound that it was a bit hard to breathe. But it was more than a dream come true. He hadn’t ever allowed himself to have a dream like this—waking up in the arms of a man he loved and trusted, having made love the night before and having fallen asleep whispering sweet and silly nothings to each other.
He’d only ever let his mind wander to moments like this when he was watching TV or reading fanfic, when he could safely live out such fantasies. Waking up with his boyfriend in his arms, having breakfast in bed with his lover, or... going on a honeymoon with his husband. Not that—this was not that. But he couldn’t deny it was something he’d think about, something he loved to read about or watch play out on TV and then, on the rare occasion, let himself imagine his own place in the story.
This was different though. Because Zach was real and amazing and was really here, asleep in his arms. Drew really couldn’t have asked for a more perfect morning. Except, maybe... that it could be more than this, whatever this was. But the second his mind started down that path, he felt a rising panic that he didn’t want to deal with. He didn’t want to think about the what ifs. Not yet. He just wanted to stay in this happy, perfect bubble of theirs.
The thoughts kept threatening, and his heart only clenched again when he stared at Zach’s perfect face. He needed to get up. Do something. Something that would keep his mind occupied until Zach woke up. As gently as he could manage, he slid out from underneath Zach’s head and arm, disentangling their legs as well, and he pulled the covers up to keep Zach warm.
After using the bathroom and wrapping himself up in one of the two luxury robes the hotel had provided—standard with the Presidential Suite, he assumed—he grabbed his phone from the nightstand and padded out to the main living area, closing the door softly behind him. He scratched at the back of his neck and stared across the massive room.
Right. Coffee.
Coffee, and Janice at the front desk yesterday had said they’d comp breakfast as well. Drew smiled, the idea of a fancy, private brunch for two forming in his mind, complete with mimosas and fresh fruit, along with a selection of other fare. It sounded like the perfect morning to him.
Drew set about brewing himself a cup of coffee and ordering breakfast, and it wasn’t until he was settled at the dining table and checking his phone for the first time that morning that he realized it was almost 9 a.m. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d slept past eight in the morning, and he smiled at how relaxed and rested he was feeling.
While he sipped his coffee and waited for room service to arrive, he decided to check in and catch up on the scroll from his friends on the Discord server. He grinned, chuckling at their antics and the slew of memes people had shared, and he raised his eyebrows more than a few times as he skimmed a particularly heated debate on whether Superman really could travel faster than the speed of light and how that could possibly even make sense, no matter what the comics had said. The science was baffling to Drew, way over his head, but he delighted in the fact that the debate existed at all.
Mild-Mannered1022 hey, speaking of travel. Wasn’t @NotPeterParker supposed to be back today? He usually checks in after business trips.
OGJimmyOlsen Dunno, man! But there was that massive snowstorm that closed a few airports.
Clark&Lois4Ever ahh, that bites if he got stuck. Hopefully he’ll send us proof of life soon, lol
LeapTallBuilding52 Snowmaggedon! Where’s Supes when you need him, eh?? lol!
He loved that they kept tabs on each other, and as he skimmed through the rest of the scroll—smiling at the playful teasing and conversation and @Farmboy1993’s plea for help troubleshooting something and @MadDogLane jumping right in with answers—he found he was more sad than he normally was to have missed it all, to not be more a part of things. With his job, it wasn’t as easy to check in as often as he wanted, but today, it was hitting a little harder for some reason.
Drew smiled again, wistfully this time, as he tapped out a message letting everyone know he was fine, stuck in Pittsburgh for another day at least, and that he’d catch up more later. He watched for a minute as the reaction emojis started popping up under his message and a few people responded with messages of their own, and his heart surged with warmth and affection for his pocket friends.
After not too much longer, the room service arrived, and he’d just finished painstakingly setting everything up on the large dining table when Zach emerged from the bedroom wearing the other luxury robe. He was bleary-eyed, scratching the back of his neck, and his hair was mussed from sleep. Still, seeing him somehow stole the air right out of Drew’s lungs. So it was at least a second before he could clear his throat and say anything.
“H-hey, good—good morning,” he stammered. He was struggling to breathe evenly, especially when Zach’s eyes finally seemed to focus on him and a bright, gorgeous smile spread slowly across his face. God, he was handsome.
“Good morning,” Zach said, his voice a bit husky, maybe from sleep. He made his way over to the dining table, padding across the room barefoot.
Drew’s pulse kicked up a notch as he took a step toward Zach. God, he needed to get a grip. It wasn’t like the man was going to put on shoes first thing in the morning. But damn, there was something about bare feet and wearing nothing but a robe and that smile that was intimate in a way he’d never known before .
Zach’s gentle touch on his face startled him out of his daze, fingers scratching lovingly at his beard. “Where’d you go just now?” he asked.
“Ahh, nowhere. I just . . .”
“Got lost in my eyes?” Zach quirked another grin at him, this one softer but teasing.
Drew laughed lightly. “Something like that.”
Zach’s hand settled against his neck, and he drifted in closer, stretching up to brush his lips against Drew’s. “Good morning,” Zach said, his thumb dragging roughly against the facial hair low on Drew’s cheek.
“Didn’t we already say that?” Drew smiled, bringing a hand up to Zach’s face and tracing his fingers along Zach’s jawline and over his lips.
Zach shrugged. “It’s a really, really good morning. Probably deserves saying twice.”
“Well, in that case...” He leaned in to kiss Zach’s cheeks and jaw and then his lips, and between kisses, he said, “Good morning... good morning... good morning.”
Zach deepened the kiss, tugging Drew just that much closer. It was slow but not absent of heat, though Zach kept it brief. “Upping the value, are we?” he asked, his lips still brushing against Drew’s.
Drew nodded. “Yeah. Mm-hmm.” He pressed his lips to Zach’s again, reveling in the warmth of the touch and the slightly minty taste from his toothpaste.
“You taste like coffee,” Zach said, then kissed him again, sweeping his tongue lightly through Drew’s mouth.
“I’ll make you your own, you know?”
“Mmm...” Zach pulled away slowly. “I’ll take you up on that. It does taste amazing this way, but I don’t think there’s enough caffeine to wake me up. ”
Drew chuckled and, though he was reluctant to leave Zach’s touch, stepped away toward the wet bar area to make Zach some coffee.
“I see you ordered up a feast for us again. Can I look?” he asked, his fingers hovering over one of the domed, stainless-steel plate covers.
“Of course,” Drew said. “I wasn’t sure what you liked, so I got a variety, plus mimosas—if you don’t mind that with your coffee.” He laughed lightly and then listed off the items he’d gotten as he finished preparing Zach’s coffee to order.
By the time Drew was done, Zach had settled in a chair and started uncovering everything, making sounds of delight that were all too reminiscent of the sounds he’d been making last night during their other activities. “Oh my god—quiche! I’m in love!”
Drew knew he was talking about the quiche, but his heart went on and pretended Zach had meant something else anyway, a pleasant tingle fluttering through his body. “Is that so?” he asked. He set Zach’s coffee mug in front of him and leaned down for a kiss, their lips meeting briefly before he took the seat next to Zach.
“Mm-hmm.” Zach pulled the plate closer to him, hungrily eyeing the two generous slices of quiche lorraine atop a bed of crisp lettuce, and then took a sip of his coffee. “You know, quiche has been in my top five favorite foods for, like, at least two decades, yet my mom never remembers. We even have monthly brunches at her house—and she actually can make a mean quiche—but still no monthly quiche for Zach.” He said the last part pouting, and he looked over at Drew with those sparkling blue eyes of his.
Drew gave him a sympathetic frown. “Noted. Keep Zach adequately supplied with quiche.”
Zach scrunched up his face. “Hmm, adequate might not be... adequate.”
“No?” Drew chuckled. “Abundantly supplied? ”
“Now we’re talking.” Zach grinned, his eyes dancing.
Drew’s pulse started racing slightly. God, he was gorgeous. Drew cleared his throat and picked up his fork to spear a halved strawberry from the bowl of fresh-cut fruit. “So, what are the other four in your top five list?” he asked, then ate the strawberry.
“Let’s see...” Zach put his fork down and made as though he was thinking really hard. “Stuffing. Strawberries. Ice cream, especially mint chocolate chip. And New Mexican food.”
Drew couldn’t keep the laugh in. “New Mexican food is a type of cuisine, a whole entire classification of several food items, not a single favorite food!”
“Were you born and raised in New Mexico?”
Drew shook his head and bit his lip to keep from laughing.
“Then you have no vote on this topic.” Zach’s expression was all business, but Drew didn’t miss the twinkling in his eyes or the minute twitch at the corners of his mouth that looked like a smile trying to break free.
“Is that so?” Drew challenged.
Zach gave him a decisive nod, his arms crossed.
“So if I look up the definition of cuisine—”
“Are you trying to lawyer me?” Zach huffed with mock-indignance.
Drew sputtered with laughter. “Having an accurate definition of something is not equivalent to a winning legal defense.”
Zach was having trouble holding on to his serious face, and it was fucking adorable. Drew was so distracted, looking forward to whatever Zach came up with next, that he was wholly unprepared for Zach’s lips to collide with his own. It only took him a second, however, to fall into the kiss. Drew had to work to fight back his smile, though, because, as they’d found out yesterday, it was really hard to kiss sitting next to each other like this .
Ultimately, he lost the battle anyway when Zach pulled back, gave Drew what was maybe supposed to be a forlorn look, and asked, “What’s so funny?”
“You,” he said softly. “You’re silly and adorable and smart and gorgeous.”
“Oh.” Zach blushed, which only made him more attractive. “You are too. All of those things. But also maybe wrong about New Mexican food.”
Drew laughed again and just decided to pull Zach back in for another kiss instead of trying to defend himself any further. The distraction was short-lived, though. Given their positions in the chairs, they couldn’t get too carried away, which was probably a good thing. They still had to eat, after all.
So he gave Zach one more quick brush against his lips and then grabbed the bottle of champagne to pour them each half a glass. As he reached for the carafe of orange juice to complete their mimosas, he smiled warmly at Zach. “So tell me more about your family.”