Dated to June 2nd

[thewordofweb]

My day hasn't exactly been anything incredible thus far. I'm not sure exactly what I expected of twenty-four. There's no great milestones that come with this day and I'm not getting large checks from my family nor am I getting a large celebration of any kind, which is for the best because large crowds still make me entirely too uncomfortable. My nose is in a book as I push my way into the back of the Homestead and head into our room, dropping the clothes I've laundered down and still reading while putting graded papers on the desk and turning to hang up my light coat.

It's just another day. That suddenly I'm older does mean something. It means I'm grateful to be alive in order for it to happen, but I never did expect fireworks. Eventually, I mark the place in my book and duck into Joe's room to check my hair in his small mirror, fixing it with a wrinkle of my nose at my distaste over the way it's been curling in the heat.

Comments

[soldier-singled.livejournal.com]

Joe's been busy. He's spent the day cooking, getting things sorted, and then he'd taken a shower and actually gotten dressed in something presentable, shirt and tie, vest. Everything's ready by the time he hears Web come in through the door.

Perfect.

"Happy birthday, baby," he says, sticking his head through the door between the adjoining rooms.

"You hungry?"

[thewordofweb.livejournal.com]

I glance up at Joe and open my mouth to comment that I'm starved, which tends to happen when I forego lunch for chores. Except that I'm stuck when it comes to words as I'm struck speechless by how he looks. It's definitely not an everyday look and my eyes have gone wide and my mouth open as I stare. "Yeah," I eke out eventually, blinking rapidly and wetting my lips. "Wow. I definitely feel like a slob, now."

[soldier-singled.livejournal.com]

"Fuck it. It's your birthday." Joe grins toothily, leaning against the doorframe, arms folded across his chest.

"C'mon, dipshit. I cooked."

[thewordofweb.livejournal.com]

I approach and wind my arms around his waist to pin him up against the doorway and press my hips against his as a lazy trap, sulking only mildly (lips arranged in an artful pout). "If people didn't know better, they'd think we were some abusive couple," I mumble, brushing my lips lightly against his to catch a kiss before easing back and eyeing him considerately. "Twenty-four," I say aloud.

"I don't feel it."

[soldier-singled.livejournal.com]

Comfortably pinned, Joe traces both hands up Web sides. He leans in for another kiss, grinning the whole time.

"Y'know, I don't feel it either."

[thewordofweb.livejournal.com]

I can't help my laugh, giddy as I can be as I lean in for another kiss, then another, and then find another, pressing my body against his. "Can I at least change so I stand up to how absolutely gorgeous you look, lieb?"

[soldier-singled.livejournal.com]

"Fuck it. You ain't gonna be in whatever you're wearin' very long," says Joe, pressing and then pushing with both hands, making enough room to squirm out from between Web and the door.

"Come on. Everything'll spoil."

[thewordofweb.livejournal.com]

Well, at least we're being candid. I grin slightly as I take two long steps out of the way and then follow him to whatever he's set up for me. "Seven years between us isn't much," I rationalize aloud as I trail him, my head tipped ceilingwards. "I mean, it's not exactly symmetric and normal, but it's not bad, right?"

[soldier-singled.livejournal.com]

"I only just found you and already, I gotta tell you to shut up?"

Joe grins at him over his shoulder. He's managed to scare everybody else out of the kitchen for the evening, so it's dim and still, candlelit, dinner already set out, nothing fancy, not really. Fresh pasta, salad, fresh bread. Good stuff.

The stuff that they were missing in the war.

[thewordofweb.livejournal.com]

I follow after him and nearly open my mouth to make a retort about the fact that if Joe thinks I'm ever going to shut up in his or my lifetime, he's really done a number in deluding himself on that score. I just smile softly as I stare at the set-up and turn to him with gratitude evident in every feature. "Joe," I exhale in amazement, wandering to sit at the table and to stare at what he's cooked up.

"If you want any of this, you'd better sit down before I devour it whole," I warn, already leaning out of my seat to eagerly heap whole forkfuls of pasta and salad onto my plate.

[soldier-singled.livejournal.com]

Joe grins, arms folded across his chest and watches as Web tucks in. He made probably double the food they need, but, at this rate, Web's gonna finish it on his own.

"You eat what you want. I'll make do."

[thewordofweb.livejournal.com]

I swallow a mouthful of food before leaning up over the table to yank Joe over to my side and extend a piece of bread out to him, pressed up against his lips. "I have sixty pounds on you, Joe," I point out. "It wouldn't kill you to overeat once in a while and put some weight on that frame."

[soldier-singled.livejournal.com]

Joe bites into the bread and, he's gotta admit, it tastes pretty fucking good.

"You won't be sayin' that when you've got a fat fuck in bed with ya."

[thewordofweb.livejournal.com]

"You do know that's my plan, right?" I say, not making it evidently clear at first whether I'm joking or not. "Get you so absolutely healthy looking with meat on your bones instead of wasting away. Make you so ridiculously svelte that no one will have you," I note with heavy sarcasm, settling back in my seat and returning to eating, looking up at Joe.

"Are you at least going to sit?"

[soldier-singled.livejournal.com]

"You're an ass," says Joe, leaning in over the places to graze his lips against Web's cheek before he slides into his seat.

"It's a good thing I fuckin' love you, Davey."

[thewordofweb.livejournal.com]

I lean in to press my cheek to his harder against the kiss and close my eyes to indulge in the intimacy, letting out a quiet sound of pleasure. "Joe, I love you," I say, more seriously as I settle in the chair and lift my glass to him. "It means I love you no matter what you look like." I pause. "It'd just be nice if you maybe put a little more weight on."

[soldier-singled.livejournal.com]

"I love you too," says Joe, utterly sincere. "But I have not the faintest fuckin' idea why you're obsessed with gettin' me fat."

[thewordofweb.livejournal.com]

Sometimes, it genuinely perplexes me as to how Joe sees himself. I take another few bites and swallows of food before getting up from the table to lean around him and top up his drink, brushing my lips against his cheek, forearms resting on his shoulders. "Because you're a skinny bastard," I exhale in a slightly wry voice. "And I get you, so I get you how I like you. Besides, you don't let me grow my hair or a beard. That's irrational, too."

[soldier-singled.livejournal.com]

"I have to kiss you," points out Joe, leaning his head back against Web's belly to look straight up at him.

"Which is why you're not growin' a beard. And I got through thirty-two years being this skinny. I think I'll be okay."

[thewordofweb.livejournal.com]

I idly keep Joe's head where it is, though I stand up straight and let my fingers drift idly into his hair to push forward and stroke my thumb thoughtfully around the shell of his ear, distracted while I lean my weight forward. "I have to sleep with you," I echo his tone before sitting back down in my place. "And your elbows can hurt when they dig into my body."

I'm well-done dinner by now, having devoured it in one go as if the food was going to vanish in the blink of an eye.

[soldier-singled.livejournal.com]

"Mmhmmmm."

Joe rolls his eyes and leans in across the table to kiss Web again, full on the mouth this time.

"Fine. No birthday sex for you."

[thewordofweb.livejournal.com]

I let out a whine of a sound against Joe's lips when he says that and press in harder than before, nipping at his lower lip before slowly drawing away. "I didn't say it was during sex," I point out pedantically, arching my brow.

[soldier-singled.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, but if it happens in your bed, maybe I oughta stay out of it all together," says Joe, tracing his tongue against his bottom lip and leaning up to press a kiss between Web's eyebrows.

"Play it safe."

[thewordofweb.livejournal.com]

There comes another little sound from me, this time of desire and whining and I ease back and look at him with a pleading look in my eyes. "Joe," I protest. "What if I told you how much your elbow-marks on me turned me on?" I ask, maybe a hint of desperation in my voice, but who cares?

[soldier-singled.livejournal.com]

Joe snorts.

"It's your fucking birthday, Webster. Of course I'm gonna let ya fuck me."

[thewordofweb.livejournal.com]

I falter only slightly because the truth is, I'm not sure when Joe's mercurial moods are going to sneak up on me. "You're so selfless, lieb," I deadpan, starting to clean up the dishes so no one stumbles onto a mess and then decides to interrupt while we're preoccupied with more important things.

[soldier-singled.livejournal.com]

Automatically, Joe starts helping, gathering plates, putting away left-overs.

"Any way you want," he says, blithely, lightly, like it's the most innocent thing int he world that he's talking about in the kitchen.

[thewordofweb.livejournal.com]

I bite down on my lower lip while my hips rock forward slightly, pressed up against the counter at four words that Joe's said, innocent as you please. I take a deep breath to try and calm myself down, but it's not working so much. "I want you to fuck me," I say, head bent down, hands scrubbing the dirt from the plates.

[soldier-singled.livejournal.com]

It's sort of funny how they're having this conversation, straight faced in the kitchen like they're talking about the price of tea or somethin'.

"I'll do that any way you want too."

[thewordofweb.livejournal.com]

I can't help my small smug grin and I set the plates in the sink to soak, pouring some water in from the creaky pipes before turning to glance Liebgott over, leaning back against the counter. "I kind of want to do it here. What would you say to that?"

[soldier-singled.livejournal.com]

"I'd do it happily if I didn't think Trisha'd walk in any fuckin' time." JOe grins at him. "Try again, buddy."

[thewordofweb.livejournal.com]

I let out a rueful laugh, but I'm grinning like mad as I study Joe and lean against him with my hip nudging against his, the warmth of his body impossible to ignore the way we're standing. "How about..." I start thoughtfully and bite down on my lip while I look him over. "You bend me over the desk and learn something new?"