heartbeat ~ a f t g

Andrew

The heat was stifling.

Andrew watched Neil with a shuttered expression as the taller man stumbled over his words. His hand was still wrapped around Andrew's wrist, and the contact was doing wonders for Andrew's concentration.

Neil gave up on words, and took a step forward. There was a comfortable inch between them, but the closeness on its own was enough, it seemed. They stayed like that for a while, and Andrew listened to their heartbeats pounding not quite in sync. Neil's was slightly faster, and when Andrew looked up and met his eyes, twin pools of melted sapphire stared back at him. He placed a hand on Neil's neck, directly over his pulse point, and murmured, "You are the martyr that no one wants. You will get yourself killed with that mouth one day, and there will be no one to mourn you." Drum beats ricocheted of his bones when Neil hummed a response, licking his lips instinctively.
Andrew slid the hand down to his chest, directly over his heart, and walked them both back into the wall. He found himself thinking of a song that Nicky had showed him a long time ago, and the words circled his head like a halo.

There's a drumming noise inside my head, it starts when you're around.
I swear that you should hear it, it makes such an almighty sound.

"Yes or no?" The words floated in front of them, suspended in the space. He watched Neil inhale them the same way that he inhaled cigarette smoke. Andrew's own cigarette was still in his hand, burning down into his fingers. He stubbed it out on the beside table.

There's a drumming noise inside my head, it throws me to the ground.
I swear that you could hear it, it makes such an almighty sound.

"Yes." Neil's eyes were wide and bright with desire and curiosity. Andrew couldn't hear anything anymore. It was just him and Neil, Neil and him. Andrew's hands on Neil chest, the other tucked behind his neck. Neil's hands cautiously weaving themselves into Andrew's hair.

Louder than sirens.
Louder than bells.
Sweeter than heaven.
Hotter than hell.

And then Andrew's lips were on Neil's. And Neil tasted of smoke and salt and adrenaline and a foreign substance that Andrew knew he would never find anywhere else. Teeth and tongues clashing, and when Andrew pulled away, years had passed. He cupped the taller mans face in his fingers and trailed kisses down his jaw line, feeling a rush building in his stomach and surging up into his face.

They stood like that for a millennia, neither wanting to be the one to pull away first. "I guess I'm not the only one with a death wish," Neil murmured against his mouth, and Andrew tightened his grip to shut him up. But there was a strange feeling in his chest, the same feeling he'd refused to acknowledge for weeks. The feeling that had been there since Neil had shown up on the doorstep.

Louder than sirens.
Louder than bells.
Sweeter than heaven.
Hotter than hell.

And quite suddenly, life was worth living.