hannigram oneshots

spacedogs - after work

Adam walks himself up the stairs of his apartment building, three stories until his floor. He's exhausted, but the excitement of seeing his husband conflicts with his tiredness as it always does. The dim hallway brings him a breath of warm, familiar air - no matter how dingy it may be. As he reaches his door, the light that flows out and into the hall from underneath it makes him smile. 

He opens and shuts the front door softly and leans his head against it. He hears Nigel in the distance, whistling a sweet song, but he doesn't have the energy to figure out where in the house he is right now. "Where are you?" he asks as loud as he can manage without any initial greeting. He knows Nigel won't mind it. 

"I'm in the kitchen," Nigel calls with his gravelly voice. "Come in here."
Adam sighs and smiles to himself again. He was so glad to be back home after the day he just had. The scent of mac and cheese made its way to his nose as he got closer to the threshold between the living room and the kitchen. He lets himself sink against the door frame for a brief second before speaking up, saying "it smells good." 

Nigel looks up from his spot in front of the stove, eyes softening when he sees Adam's messy curls. "Thank you, Star," he says, the nickname falling fondly from his mouth. He sets the wooden spoon down on the counter next to him and walks the short distance between them to engulf Adam in a warm, tight hug. If he really thought about it, the way Nigel acts around him would make him laugh. Here was this big, strong man who swore every two words and sold drugs for a living melting by just looking at him. 

"Is it mac and cheese?" Adam asks quietly, his words getting trapped in the cotton of Nigel's shirt. He smelled like cigarettes and cologne, the most soothing scent in Adam's world. 
Nigel laughs, the vibrations rumbling through Adam's skin and going straight to his heart. "Why would it be anything else?" Nigel questions rhetorically, his tone teasing but light. They always had mac and cheese for dinner; it was the one thing that Adam could keep constant in his life. It brought him unsurmountable comfort to be able to come home from an unpredictable day full of stress at work and have the same meal at the same time with the same person that he loves so dearly. When they first met and Nigel would ask him questions that he wasn't supposed to answer, it would upset him - how was he supposed to know that answering a question was wrong? - but over the years he'd grown to love every word that Nigel said, rhetorical or not. Adam smiled again.

He detaches himself from Nigel's arms to look at him. He rarely made eye contact with anyone because of how uncomfortable it made him, but with Nigel it was different. With Nigel, it put him at ease. "How was your day?" Adam asked gingerly, never knowing how Nigel's job would go from day to day. It was scary thinking that he could get hurt doing what he does, but he knew that Nigel was well respected and looked up to in his community. 
"It was good." Nigel says. He's vague, but Adam can understand it. He's the same way when dealing with his own stress. "Glad you're home, though." He adds on a bit quieter. 

"I am too," Adam agrees, thinking back to earlier and the group of elementary students he had to lead around the planetarium where he works. The tension he feels building up even thinking about it is almost enough to make him want to crawl out of his skin. 
"Long day?" Nigel assumes. He didn't really have to ask, but he did anyways. He liked to reassure Adam that he was attentive and that he cared about what he was saying since Adam couldn't tell on his own. 

"Yeah, but it's over now. I missed you," he says, smiling once more. He was so happy to be home. Nigel always made him feel so happy.

Nigel returns his smile wholeheartedly, then musses up his hair. They both laugh when Adam crinkles his nose and grabs his hand away from his head. "I missed you too, Adam." He thinks to himself how lucky he is to have him.