for george

[atehimrightup]

There's a food truck festival in Petros Park that night, and Lee takes George mostly so he can see his face while trying new things, like squid balls and deep fried cheesecake. It's a good time and once they're full, neither of them are ready for the night to end so they wind up at a bar not far from George's place.

It's sort of mid-tier, not super nice but not a total dive, either. They get a few rounds at the bar, leaning against each other and laughing, and Lee realizes that he's drunk sort of all of a sudden, like it snuck up on him. It makes him more handsy, makes him bite at George's shoulder through the sleeve of his shirt. It makes him notice how many eyes are on George all the time.

The bartender brings them a round of tequila shots on a little tray complete with a salt shaker and lime wedges, and Lee looks up at him questioningly.

"We didn't order this," Lee tells him, and the bartender waves him off and tells him someone asked for them to be sent over. "Who?"

The bartender just shrugs and turns away to help a group of rowdy young women, and Lee glances at the shots before looking around the room a bit suspiciously. "Hm."

Comments

[atehimrightup]

Lee huffs a laugh and gets the lotion out of the drawer. It smells like menthol and he gives it a deep sniff before spreading it across his hands as George settles.

“It’s pretty red. More little welts ‘cause of the whip,” Lee admits, but he doesn’t feel quite as guilty as he did last time he saw George’s burning skin. This is what George wanted, and he seemed to enjoy himself plenty. And now Lee gets to take care of him, and that’s pretty nice, too. “This stuff helped last time, right?”

He starts just below the charming dimples at the small of George’s back and works his way down, gently rubbing the cooling lotion into his skin until he reaches the lowermost splotches of red on his inner thighs.

[gallowseyes]

"It definitely seemed to," says George, luxuriating in the gentle, thorough way that Lee is touching him. "I could sit down the next day, at least."

[atehimrightup]

“Good. I’ll put some more on when you get up,” Lee says with a nod, adding a little more lotion to his hands to work it into George’s neck, where the collar bit into his skin. If it’s the same as last time, these marks will be gone by morning.

But the bite mark on his shoulder won’t. Lee stares at it, feeling somewhat guilty but also feeling something a little like pride, maybe. Like he’s marked his territory. It’s an ugly, animal thought, but he can’t help it.

He rubs what’s left of the lotion across the mark and then puts the bottle away before turning off the lights and crawling into bed next to George, laying on his side and curling his hand around the back of George’s arm. “Go to sleep.”

[gallowseyes]

"I'm already way ahead of you," says George, still on his belly with his face turned towards Lee. He's always preferred falling asleep knowing that there's someone at his side.