“Eh.” Jem shrugged. “Wouldn’t it have been worse etiquette to keep me from my nap?” Plus he got an orgasmandgot to play in River’s kitchen. “Besides, I’m not here to interrupt your creative process.”
“Nah. You’re good for it.” River pushed his notebook aside and closed it. “I do feel bad I keep running out on you, though.”
“Hmm. Yes, it’s a terrible burden to have a man so obsessed with me he can’t stop making art about it.”Especially considering I was passed out at the time.
River ducked his head and his ears went pink around the top piercings. “I guess you heard that?”
Jem’s eyes darted to the notebook. Suddenly he desperately needed to know what River had been writing. “Uh.” Nowhewas the one blushing. “I was teasing, actually. But you… really?”
Maybe hewasthat good with his mouth.
“Jem.” River captured Jem’s right hand between both of his own. “I simultaneously can’t stop writing music you inspire and hate that it means the night’s almost over and I barely got to spend time with you. I’m plotting how to get you to call in sick tomorrow.”
“I used up all my sick days,” Jem admitted. Stupid broken foot. “But….”
With a renewed smile, River pulled Jem’s hand close to his chest and pressed a kiss to his knuckles. “But? I like buts.”
“Yeah, I noticed,” Jem said wryly. “After our phone call this morning, I maybe optimistically packed an overnight bag, just in case.” It had seemed presumptuous but not unwelcome. They were still feeling each other out, but Jem enjoyed being optimistic about his life for once, so he leaned into it.
River threw his head back in a dramatic swoon. “Careful, sunshine. If you’re too good to me, I might never let you leave.”
The words were delivered lightly, but Jem didn’t think he was joking, which was kind of nuts.
It was also probably kind of nuts that he opened his mouth and said, “I mean, I’d have to go home after work tomorrow and get a few more things. If you want.”
“Yeah?” Jem didn’t think he’d ever get over the way River’s eyes crinkled up at this particular smile. “You wanna play house with me?”
His stomach fluttered. “I mean, I made you dinner. I think we might already be doing that.”
“This version is a lot more fun than what I played as a kid.”
“Messier too.”
Like last time, they cleaned up the kitchen side by side. But tonight, after starting the dishwasher, Jem went out to the Subaru and got his bag, then joined River in the library, where he’d put on a classical record.
“Not what I expected.” Jem settled on the floor in front of the coffee table to do his lesson planning.
River stretched out on the couch, set one foot on the floor, and propped a pillow on it so Jem had something to lean against. “Didn’t want to interfere with your work.”
At this point in his career, Jem didn’t need to devote that much brainpower to a kindergarten lesson plan; he was mostly looking over his notes from last year and making sure he had the materials in the classroom. But it was sweet anyway.
When he finished, he packed his work bag again and leaned his head against River’s thigh. “So are you gonna play my songs for me now?”
“Yoursongs,” River repeated. He tilted his head on the pillow and reached down to tug a strand of Jem’s hair. “Youthink they’re all about you just ’cause they’re inspired by you? Pff. That’s not how muses work, sunshine.”
Jem pouted. “That sounded like a no.”
River poked him. “It’s anot tonight. You want to watch TV?”
“Nah, I’m good.” He wanted to stay here on the floor and shoot the shit while River listened to Glen Gould on vinyl. “I like this. Just doing nothing together. Underrated.”
A soft laugh. “I think I’ve only ever done that with Eric and Ward, usually while we’re touring.”
“What, seriously?” Jem turned and rested his chin on River’s knee. “Not even with, like, your mom?”
He shook his head. “No, like—I guess a little, when I was older? It’s kind of cult-kid-related. ”
Jem tilted his head. “Kind of?”
