Lewis Ficlet: Morning After

[kat_lair]

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Title: Morning After
Author:  kat_lair / Mistress Kat
Fandom: Lewis
Pairing: Lewis/Hathaway
Rating: PG
Word count: 425
Disclaimer: Not mine, only playing

Summary: “Pliant the morning after, aren’t you?” Robbie observes, grinning at him. “Not that I’m complaining, mind.”

Author notes: Written for lewis_challenge Summer Challenge 2018. The prompt was "The morning heat had already soaked through the walls, rising up from the floor like a ghost of summers past." (Erik Tomblin, Riverside Blues)



James wakes up sweating, sheets tangled around his limbs, sticking to his skin unpleasantly. The air is thick, late morning sun pouring through the window unobstructed by curtains, turning the bedroom into a sweltering box of heat and light and James gasps for breath, staring uncomprehendingly at a ceiling that isn’t’ his, his middle weighted down by an arm that isn’t his either. For a moment he panics, the feeling of suffocation overwhelming as he flails, trying to free himself.

Then the arm around him lifts off, Robbie’s face swimming into focus above him. “Hey,” he says, voice sleep rough but kind, unbearably kind. “You’re alright. Hold on, let me…” And then he’s pulling the covers off, tossing pillows and rumpled sheets right to the floor without a moment’s hesitation until there’s nothing but the mattress touching James’ overheated skin and he can breathe.

“Slept in, didn’t we?” Robbie notes, though he doesn’t sound slightest bit upset by it. He gets up to open the door and window both, sitting on the edge of the bed afterwards. He lays a careful hand on James’ thigh, squeezing gently.

“Better now, lad?” Robbie asks and James nods, his throat clicking audibly as he swallows. The room is still hot but now there’s a soft breeze from the outside and the air is free to circulate.

“Good.” Robbie smooths a hand down James’ leg, then up again, all the way to his side, fingers petting idly before curving around ribcage, slotting into the slight hollows between the bones like they were made to fill the empty spaces in James’ body.

“How about some breakfast?” Robbie asks. “You’re far too skinny.” He pokes at the dip below James’ ribs where skin is stretched taut, sloping toward his stomach.

James nods again mutely, still trying to process the situation, including the fact that they are both naked and his body is too sluggish – shagged out, his brain helpfully supplies – to feel even a little self-conscious about it.

“Pliant the morning after, aren’t you?” Robbie observes, grinning at him. “Not that I’m complaining, mind.” He leans over to drop a brief kiss on James’ slack mouth before getting up.

“Makes up for the rest of the time,” he adds cheekily from the doorway and disappears down the hallway, presumably in the direction of the kitchen.

James tries and fails to muster up energy to voice his indignation. It’s too warm and he’s far too content, lying in Robbie’s bed, the distant humming and clatter of dishes lulling him back to sleep.
 

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Comments

[margaret_r]

Oh yes! I really like this - well I liked all three - but there is something about a rumpled and unsure James being reassured by a caring Robbie that is just so appealing.

Loved the fingers petting idly before curving around ribcage, slotting into the slight hollows between the bones like they were made to fill the empty spaces in James’ body it's so evocative!

[kat_lair]

Aww, thank you so much. The heat was inpirational, I wrote all three pretty much in one afternoon.

I think this is a situation that Robbie is much better equipped to deal with than James, who would've (at least subconsciously) been half expecting to be kicked out...

So pleased to hear the line resonated with you!

[divingforstones]

This is really beautiful in the best Lewis-ways.

I loved this:

Then the arm around him lifts off, Robbie’s face swimming into focus above him. “Hey,” he says, voice sleep rough but kind, unbearably kind. “You’re alright. Hold on, let me…” And then he’s pulling the covers off, tossing pillows and rumpled sheets right to the floor without a moment’s hesitation until there’s nothing but the mattress touching James’ overheated skin and he can breathe.

And also the part in the lovely heated, James-berry-stained-lips-focused wine drinking in the back garden ficlet where Lewis sees he's stretched then and shoos him out the back garden, lobbing the sunscreen after him.

I love how you just neatly capture Robbie Lewis' effortless unselffocused mastery in your writing, most especially as applied to Hathaway. Thanks for these!

[kat_lair]

Awwww thank you so much for your detailed comments! *cuddles the feedback* Lewis is such a grumpy caretaker dom in my head that it comes through even in fics without any overt power dynamics :D And James is kind of bristly about it unless he's suitable tires, stessed or shagged out to accept it... Works out. Thank you very much for taking to time leave a note and point out the parts that you liked!

[divingforstones]

Lewis is such a grumpy caretaker dom in my head that it comes through even in fics without any overt power dynamics :D And James is kind of bristly about it unless he's suitable tires, stessed or shagged out to accept it

!

*suddenly finds time in the day to wander off and peruse your back catalogue*

I may be gone some time.

BTW, it was a lovely surprise to see you show up in Pros - gorgeous fic!

[kat_lair]

Ahahaha, peruse away! In general I seem to have a modus operandi of getting into a fandom, wanting a really specific d/s dynamic fic, finding it either doesn't exist or there isn't enough of them, then writing several thousand words on the theme myself, and then moving on to the next fandom. A 'hit, dom, and run' if you will. I don't think I've properly done it in Lewis though, but the power dynamics creep in at times :D

And yeah, Pros... I'm not reeeeeeeeeeeally in that fandom. I think all the fics I've written have either been to margaret_r or moth2fic because they really are in that fandom and I'm willing to have a go at most fandoms for my friends :D