[ he sleeps through most of the night, but wakes up a few hours before naomi should really be up. that leaves him with a few hours to knock out some chores, take a shower, and start the coffee maker so when she's ready to get out of bed, there'll be hot coffee waiting for her. if this were any other morning, he might get breakfast for her too.
but it's not any other morning. this is the morning after the night she told him she loved him. ( try saying that ten times fast and keeping is straight. ) raleigh's got different plans.
after waving yancy off to the bus stop, he crawls back into bed. carefully, he brushes the hair off naomi's face and presses a soft kiss to her temple. then her shoulder. across her collarbone, down her sternum until he reaches the hem on her collar. slowly, he rucks up the bottom of her shirt until he can press gentle kisses to the skin of her stomach. ] Naomi, babe... [ he kisses her hipbone right above the waistband of her pj pants. ] Time to wake up.
[ she is having the nicest dream. it's hazy and the shapes and whatever else is going on slip away quicker than she can grasp onto them, but the sensations are solid. they make her shift and sigh.
a kiss on her temple, another pressed to her shoulder. a trail across her collarbone and down just a little over her heart. it makes her fingers twitch, prompts her arm to lift just a little before it settles back into the sheets because she wants to say stay, wait, come back. she's still got one foot in dreamland though, and it's not easy to leave. when the kisses move over her stomach, her hips move and she exhales a breath, one more step towards full wakefulness. she's finally aware of the ceiling and the slant of the sun when her ears catch the way raleigh murmurs her name.
oh. is that his mouth pressing against her hipbone?
naomi breathes in deep and angles her head so she's sort of looking down in his direction, teeth catchin on her lower lip. her cheeks feel warm and she quietly thinks so it wasn't a dream and she finds it hard to resist smiling when she murmurs: ] Good morning. [ ( Why did you stop? )
she looks... rumpled. sleepy eyes, one hand trying to smooth out her hair, and maybe just a little bit shy. she hasn't forgotten about last night. but she also wants to pinch herself because after falling asleep on it, she's a bit nervous that it might have been just her imagination. ]
[ he laughs quietly at the tired, shy look on her face. it's really kind of adorable. but he doesn't say that for fear of making her even more embarrassed.
raleigh presses his lips to her hipbone one more time before he kisses his way up her middle. he pauses to nip lightly at her collarbone before he kisses her neck, her jaw, and finally her lips. while he'd like to make it a long, slow thing, his head is still a little preoccupied, so after a moment he pulls back, gently tugging on her lower lip with his teeth. ]
I love you. [ he kisses her again. ] I love you. [ another press of his lips to her throat. ] I love you. [ he can't help another giddy laugh as he looks back up at her. ] And I'm pretty sure you made me the happiest man in the world last night. Just so you know.
[ that stupid, beautiful smile on his face is because of her. the realization makes her light-headed, like the time she hung upside-down from the monkey bars as a child before the fear finally kicked in and she'd cried out for her sister kara, kara i don't know how to get back up.
her hands come up to skim fingers under his jaw then, her mouth fitting snug over his, teeth catching on his lower lip, her tongue dipping into his mouth as she leans her weight onto him until his back is flat against the bed. ]
Love you. [ breathless, maybe a little desperate. ] I love you. [ the words a hush against his mouth. ] I love you so much, Raleigh. [ her heart pounding in her ears, how did this happen. ( help. help, oh god, i don't know how to get back up. ) ]
[ the way she kisses him and says love you makes him think that he could stay in this bed for the rest of his life and be a very happy man. she loves him and she's pressing him into the bed and god he loves her so much.
but as she repeats the words over and over again, he picks up on the anxiety and desperation in her. one of his hands rubs her back in circles as the other pushes her hair away from her face. he kisses her softly and murmurs a quiet, ] It's okay, [ against her lips. ] It's okay, I got you.
[ falling is a terrifying thing - not because of the impact, because you expect that - but because of the fall itself.
she'd gone cliff diving with some friends after graduating university. she would have said no to a roadtrip to virginia because her daughter needed her first, but when a group of ten offers to take turns watching their favorite sunshine girl, how could she say no?
she'd jumped because one of the guys had threatened to pick her up and jump with her in his arms ( he'd been interested, she hadn't, they're still friends and he's getting married in the fall bring your plus one, i know you have one, i've seen pictures on facebook, meems ) and she'd decided that if she was going to fall from fifteen meters up in the air, she wanted to do it of her own volition.
there's a moment in between the leap and the plunge that you actually have time to wonder what's taking the water so long to come rushing up at you. it's plenty terrifying and it's kind of like the way she feels right now, her eyes searching raleigh's. ] How'd you sneak up on me like that?
[ sure they've been physical, have been incredibly fond of each other for a long, terrible while now, but love? it's such a loaded word. ]
[ raleigh has always given his heart away fairly easily. maybe a little too easily in some cases. he was always the sweet boy who somehow ended up much more invested in his relationships much quicker than his girlfriend. it ended up with him getting his heart broken a few times, but that didn't keep him from being interested in having a relationship eventually.
that was one of the big differences between him and yancy. raleigh was a relationship guy, yancy preferred flings most of the time. yancy threw an arm around raleigh's shoulder and commiserated when his little brother got his heart broken, raleigh steered clear of their room whenever yancy seemed interested in someone so he'd have some privacy.
so it's easy for raleigh to say i love you and mean it. but he gets why it's not always that easy for other people. he looks up at naomi and everything he feels about her is clear on his face. the love, the amusement, the way he thinks the sun would rise and set at her command if she wanted it to. ]
Guess I'm just stealthy like that, [ he murmurs as he leans in to kiss her against softly. ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
but it's not any other morning. this is the morning after the night she told him she loved him. ( try saying that ten times fast and keeping is straight. ) raleigh's got different plans.
after waving yancy off to the bus stop, he crawls back into bed. carefully, he brushes the hair off naomi's face and presses a soft kiss to her temple. then her shoulder. across her collarbone, down her sternum until he reaches the hem on her collar. slowly, he rucks up the bottom of her shirt until he can press gentle kisses to the skin of her stomach. ] Naomi, babe... [ he kisses her hipbone right above the waistband of her pj pants. ] Time to wake up.
no subject
a kiss on her temple, another pressed to her shoulder. a trail across her collarbone and down just a little over her heart. it makes her fingers twitch, prompts her arm to lift just a little before it settles back into the sheets because she wants to say stay, wait, come back. she's still got one foot in dreamland though, and it's not easy to leave. when the kisses move over her stomach, her hips move and she exhales a breath, one more step towards full wakefulness. she's finally aware of the ceiling and the slant of the sun when her ears catch the way raleigh murmurs her name.
oh. is that his mouth pressing against her hipbone?
naomi breathes in deep and angles her head so she's sort of looking down in his direction, teeth catchin on her lower lip. her cheeks feel warm and she quietly thinks so it wasn't a dream and she finds it hard to resist smiling when she murmurs: ] Good morning. [ ( Why did you stop? )
she looks... rumpled. sleepy eyes, one hand trying to smooth out her hair, and maybe just a little bit shy. she hasn't forgotten about last night. but she also wants to pinch herself because after falling asleep on it, she's a bit nervous that it might have been just her imagination. ]
no subject
raleigh presses his lips to her hipbone one more time before he kisses his way up her middle. he pauses to nip lightly at her collarbone before he kisses her neck, her jaw, and finally her lips. while he'd like to make it a long, slow thing, his head is still a little preoccupied, so after a moment he pulls back, gently tugging on her lower lip with his teeth. ]
I love you. [ he kisses her again. ] I love you. [ another press of his lips to her throat. ] I love you. [ he can't help another giddy laugh as he looks back up at her. ] And I'm pretty sure you made me the happiest man in the world last night. Just so you know.
no subject
her hands come up to skim fingers under his jaw then, her mouth fitting snug over his, teeth catching on his lower lip, her tongue dipping into his mouth as she leans her weight onto him until his back is flat against the bed. ]
Love you. [ breathless, maybe a little desperate. ] I love you. [ the words a hush against his mouth. ] I love you so much, Raleigh. [ her heart pounding in her ears, how did this happen. ( help. help, oh god, i don't know how to get back up. ) ]
no subject
but as she repeats the words over and over again, he picks up on the anxiety and desperation in her. one of his hands rubs her back in circles as the other pushes her hair away from her face. he kisses her softly and murmurs a quiet, ] It's okay, [ against her lips. ] It's okay, I got you.
no subject
she'd gone cliff diving with some friends after graduating university. she would have said no to a roadtrip to virginia because her daughter needed her first, but when a group of ten offers to take turns watching their favorite sunshine girl, how could she say no?
she'd jumped because one of the guys had threatened to pick her up and jump with her in his arms ( he'd been interested, she hadn't, they're still friends and he's getting married in the fall bring your plus one, i know you have one, i've seen pictures on facebook, meems ) and she'd decided that if she was going to fall from fifteen meters up in the air, she wanted to do it of her own volition.
there's a moment in between the leap and the plunge that you actually have time to wonder what's taking the water so long to come rushing up at you. it's plenty terrifying and it's kind of like the way she feels right now, her eyes searching raleigh's. ] How'd you sneak up on me like that?
[ sure they've been physical, have been incredibly fond of each other for a long, terrible while now, but love? it's such a loaded word. ]
no subject
that was one of the big differences between him and yancy. raleigh was a relationship guy, yancy preferred flings most of the time. yancy threw an arm around raleigh's shoulder and commiserated when his little brother got his heart broken, raleigh steered clear of their room whenever yancy seemed interested in someone so he'd have some privacy.
so it's easy for raleigh to say i love you and mean it. but he gets why it's not always that easy for other people. he looks up at naomi and everything he feels about her is clear on his face. the love, the amusement, the way he thinks the sun would rise and set at her command if she wanted it to. ]
Guess I'm just stealthy like that, [ he murmurs as he leans in to kiss her against softly. ]