No Strings Attached - Riley Tags Stephen

[Stephen Gage]

Stephen met Riley's confused gaze with what he thought was the proper glint his eyes to convey the proper message of "Yes, that was an invitation to go on another date." The faint grin was there, the slightly raised eyebrow, all of the conscious and unconscious bodily signs of interest, and yet Riley was still confused. Once the older man stammered his answer and turned away, Stephen took the brief reprieve from his surveillance to send his eyes skyward shortly. How long had it been since Riley had last been asked out on a date? Sure, the older man was the one to initiate this one, but that had only come at some very poorly-hidden prodding and gesturing from Stephen. This was almost like being 16 again at Hammel. Sad. Endearing, but sad.

Riley asked a question and din't bother waiting for an answer, scurrying off into the kitchen. Stephen let out a quiet, exasperated sigh once Riley's back vanished down the hall, deciding that the time for subtlety was over. Riley was a turtle. Slow, steady, and horrifically either blind or in denial about Stephen's advances. He was previously claimed territory, but Dead Guy was, as dead guys often are, dead. Sad, and there was likely some baggage, but Stephen wouldn't be trespassing on some holy matrimony that still had to wait till death for the two to part. Stephen felt some pangs of guilt for laying siege to claimed territory, but that shame could be put aside from a time. Riley was adorable, like a shy and curious bear cub. And Stephen couldn't resist adorable things. Hell, he'd spent a good ten minutes coaxing and subsequently petting a woodland creature that had climbed into the staff lounge. What a strange squirrel that had been, actually. There were rumors it was a shifter, and that certainly would've cleared things up.

But that was neither here nor there, and neither was Riley, because he'd left for the kitchen. Bother. Stephen stood up. Time to drag the turtle out of its shell. Riley's place was neat and clean, and thus easy to move around in. Stephen had more or less caught up to the older man by the time Riley's question resounded through the kitchen. "Semiformal-ish? Tends to waver somewhere around there. I'll wear a tie if I feel like it, almost always a jacket. It gets a little less uh," he snickered, shaking his head slightly as he entered the kitchen, walking towards Riley's back and craning his neck to see what Mr. Adams was doing, "[/b]formal, as the night goes on.[/b]"

Meaning there was drink. One of Stephen's favorite distractions. But the drink at the party wasn't in the kitchen. Riley was in the kitchen. And Stephen had to make his intentions clear. Stephen sidled up behind Riley, placing his hand on the older man's shoulder. He pulled gently, trying not to be forceful, until he'd turned Riley around so that they could face each other. Stephen's smile never faded, speaking purposefully clear. Enough of the subtle wordplay. He kept his hand on Riley's shoulder for the moment. "You're coming with me to the party. As a date. Sound good?"

Given the slightest moment to think about it, Riley would have undoubtedly foreseen some hideously unlikely turnout of the entire ordeal and called it off. So Stephen didn't offer him such a luxury. Instead, he brought his hand from Riley's shoulder to the side of the man's face and went in for the kiss.

Mmm. Apple pie.

[Riley Adams]

As he was cutting up the pie, he was a little surprised when the voice that answered was a bit too near for it to be coming from the living room. Riley turned slightly and saw Stephen approaching the kitchen. Riley gave the younger man a small smile before turning back to the pie, nodding as he spoke of the dress code.

Semiformal-ish. He could do that. He had a striped dark blue shirt and dress pants he could pull out of storage. And he could definitely shave for once. Riley grinned at Stephen's description of what he might be wearing. A jacket would be a nice touch to the whole look, thought Riley, but all his jackets were either leather or corduroy. He highly doubted that counted as "semiformal-ish". And as for a tie, no...he didn't own ties.

The voice sounded a little closer which was why the hand on the shoulder didn't quite make him so jumpy but as he dropped the knife by the side of the plate of pie, his heart hammered as Stephen outrightly asked him out this time. With that smile. Damn that smile. Gulping inaudibly, Riley noticed how close they were and two thoughts ran through his mind. Stephen was clearly violating his personal space, and all Riley wanted to do was pull him closer.

Riley's mouth went dry when he felt the hand previously on his shoulder move to the side of his face. He went stiff when the other man's lips pressed against his tentatively, as though asking for permission. For awhile, Riley just stood there, not knowing what to do with his hands. Why of all times did he suddenly forget what his hands were supposed to do?

But the moment didn't last too long before Riley's hand moved up to grab the front of Stephen's shirt, clutching it tightly while the other hand moved to mimic Stephen's touch. Muscle memory moved Riley's head slightly to the left to deepen the kiss and Riley noted his stomach doing flip flops when he did so.

[Stephen Gage]

See? Wasn't this easy to understand? How the acknowledge of this this particular moment as one of Stephen's goals evaded Riley up to this point, the recruiter would never know. Perhaps he'd suffered brain damage as a kid. Perhaps he had some sort of disorder. Perhaps his sex drive had died alongside the guy in the picture.

Oh, that last one was just rude. Stephen chided himself for allowing the slightest echo of that thought into his mind, and sought his forgiveness by allowing Riley to put his hand wherever he liked. Turns out that was on his shirt. Not Stephen's preferred place, but certainly acceptable. The brief but noticeable moment of hesitation between Stephen's instigation and Riley's acceptance was met with no small amount of humor, but the recruiter's appreciation of Riley's hilarity fell to the wayside for a while. Because it seemed rather certain, at least as Riley's hand found its way to Stephen's cheek, that the man's sex drive had not in fact, perished, but just needed a healthy starting push.

Stephen would oblige it. He leaned against Riley, his hand dropping from the older man's face and falling to the counter-top around the man's back. His right rested against Riley's hip as Stephen tasted the remnants of dessert. Man. That was good pie. His fingers pressed lightly into Riley's waist as he balanced himself against the counter and Riley himself, Stephen's left arm straightening for support.

Right onto Riley's plate of pie. He'd avoided the food itself, but the light clinking of porcelain on formica informed him that he'd nudged the plate slightly. And that brought him back to reality, away from Riley's surprising and much-appreciate receptivity. He found what he assumed to be his plate (the weight seemed to be similar to it when there'd been a slice on it prior) and gripped it, maintaining the kiss all the way through. If anything, he deepened it momentarily. Further distraction.

And then he pulled away, pulling from the seeming void of Riley's back the plate of pie, complete with fork, and gripping the utensil. He sliced off a piece quickly and popped it into his mouth, casting a playful wink at Riley. He spoke with his mouth somewhat full, walking backwards. "Told you it was good pie. I'm going back to the couch. It's comfy."

Stephen cast him another smile before disappearing down the hall. He'd been blunt enough just a few moments earlier. He'd allow Riley the luxury of figuring out those last words on his own.

[Riley Adams]

He didn't know exactly when but in the middle of being pressed against the younger man, Riley found himself closing his eyes to fully enjoy the kiss, something he hadn't done in quite awhile. Thoughts of Michael were practically non-existent at that point as his back pushed against the counter behind him, edging the plate of pie back slightly.

The hand on his hips did things to him he hadn't felt in...awhile. How he managed not to feel all this for close to ten years now he had no idea. But Stephen managed to bring it all back in a matter of seconds. The hand clenching Stephen's shirt unclenched and dropped down to his hips, pulling him closer.

Obviously unaware of what Stephen was doing behind him, Riley only concentrated on the kiss deepening, letting it wash over him. His body tingled with anticipation of what was to come. But...what was to come? This was their first date. What was he expecting to happen? Stephen grabbing the plate of pie and backing away was definitely not it. Riley almost huffed petulantly but Stephen had that grin on his face as he remarked on the couch.

Riley took deep breaths and tried to contain his own grin as he took the fork from behind him and joined Stephen on the couch. He stole a piece of Stephen's pie and not long after he swallowed, he put the plate down and inched closer to Stephen on the couch before using one hand to turn the younger man's head to face him. Without a word, Riley leaned forward and captured the recruiter's lips with his own. The hand on Stephen's face moved to the back of his neck, toying with the ends of his hair.