Page 5 of Homesick, Lovesick
He showered as quickly as humanly possible, mourning that the space was too small for shared showers, then grabbed his towel and fled back to the relative safety of the cabin."So this is hell on earth."
"No, it's not," Match said as he climbed off the bed and stripped for his own shower."That's going to be next week when you have to shower in a freezing cold creek."
Ronan closed his eyes and whimpered."I'm too spoiled and entitled for this shit."
Match giggled before kissing him briefly.As much as Ronan loved having a naked Match pressed up against him, it was getting chilly, and it was nearly midnight at this point.So he stole another kiss and reluctantly let him go, then pulled on sweats and a t-shirt before locking the door and double checking the two small windows.Not that windows and a door would do much if they were attacked by grizzlies in the night, but swords and magic would handle that, though he wasn't actually in a hurry to hurt any bears.They weren't doing anything wrong in their eyes, after all.
He climbed into bed, sighing at the hard mattress.At least the blankets were nice and heavy, though they smelled of those shitty laundry beads.Another thing Match would address with vigor at some point.There'd be lavender and rosemary sachets everywhere.
"There's no heater that I can see," Match said as he slid into bed."This room is going to turn into an icebox without a heater."
"I'm sure they'll provide space heaters once the chill really sets in.Probably from the 1930s with frayed wires."
Match laughed, rolling over to half-sprawl across him."Hopefully we'll get tomorrow to make this place a little better, so we don't dread the breaks between rounds of hiking.I'm starting with that damn fake scent."
Ronan caressed his back idly, kissing him softly, until Match drifted off with a soft sigh.
He stared up at the ceiling, where he could just see a fat spider weaving a web in the corner of a pair of rafters.
After all of this, if he didn't get to propose in front of a beautiful waterfall in a field of flowers, he was gonna burn the forest down.
Ronan grunted in annoyance as he was rudely woken by someone knocking on the door.He peeled his eyes open, fumbled for his phone, and saw it was barely seven in the morning.What in the justified homicide?
"Got it," Match said, rolling out of bed and walking stiffly to the door still rubbing sleep from his eyes.He pulled it open, and the most ridiculously pretty man Ronan had ever seen stepped inside.
He had that white skin that was almost translucent, probably turned tomato red after two minutes in sunlight.Midnight dark hair that fell to his ass, and delicate pale blue eyes, the kind of sharp features that belonged to an anti-hero in a videogame.He was wearing stupidly tight black jeans and a bright blue muscle shirt.
On his right arm was the sword tattoo of a paladin, but where Ronan had the snake and star crest of his family at the base and a moon to signal he was a dark paladin at the point, Pretty Boy had a rose and thorn crest and…a moon.Great.Pretty Boy was the same specialty.
"Good Morning," Pretty Boy said."You must be John Willow."
"I prefer Match.You're Lynwood Mackenzie, right?"
Smiling like he was at a photoshoot, Lynwood replied, "That's me.Lyn is fine if you prefer.Sorry, it sounds like you had a lousy trip.We could have sent someone to drive you."
Ronan bristled."It wasn't the driving that was lacking.It was construction, and someone leaving nails across the road."
Lynwood shifted his gaze, and Ronan didn't think he was imagining the look of irritation that flashed across his face before he was smiling with all the life of week-old vanilla pudding."I didn't realize you'd brought a friend."
"I mentioned it to Minerva.She was more than happy for my boyfriend to join me," Match said icily."He's my paladin."
Smiling all nice again, Lynwood said, "My apologies, of course.I must have forgotten with one thing and another.Now you'll have two paladins along for protection.Breakfast is at eight, but I thought maybe you'd like to see some of the camp before that, since you didn't get a chance last night."
"Sure, we're awake now, may as well.Give us ten minutes.We'll meet you outside."
"Of course."
He left, closing the door behind him.Ronan huffed and threw back the blankets.Striding over to his dresser, he pulled out clothes and yanked them on.T-shirt, his favorite zip-up hoodie that was black and covered in glow-in-the-dark stars, though they were mostly worn off and faded now, a pair of jeans that were actually functional because they weren't practically painted on.
Lacing on his boots, he shoved all his necessaries in their various pockets.He fiddled with his nose ring while he waited for Match to finish gathering his things, as no respectable witch went anywhere without the tools of their trade.Match's bag of tricks was, near as Ronan could tell, unmatched.
As Match joined him by the door, Ronan drew him into a soft kiss."Gonna make this place smell like lavender later?"
"Of course, with rosemary and mint.Come on, let's go socialize, I guess."
Outside, Lynwood was standing entirely too close to the Challenger."Your car?"he asked, barely looking at Ronan.
"Yeah."
