Fandom: Backstreet Boys
Pairing, etc: AJ McLean/Howie Dorough
Prompt:032. Sunset
Word Count:751
Rating: PG-13 (Just mushy slash love)
Author's Notes:Title taken from a PointZeroOne song.
It's still light out when Howie climbs out of the shower and towels himself dry with one of AJ's over-sized black towels. He holds a corner of the towel up to his nose and inhales deeply, and wonders when AJ started using fabric softener. He smiles slowly and shakes his head at his silly thoughts because he highly doubts AJ's taken to doing his own laundry still. He uses the same corner of the towel to wipe a wide circle in the dew-encrusted mirror and then lifts a finger and gently prods at the puffiness beneath an eye. He sighs in dismay, turns his gaze away from the mirror and rifles through a drawer of the vanity for AJ's deodorant. He lifts that up to his nose too and nods the slightest nod of appreciation at it's scent; a very AJ scent.
He leaves the towel and his dirty clothing on the floor and pads across AJ's polished wood floor to his canopied bed. He fingers a sheer curtain before parting it and pulling back the bedcovers. He'd only seen this bed on television and he'd thought it was very AJ at that time. He sighs softly as he crawls in between the sheets and wishes once again that he'd come sooner, more specifically, like, last year when AJ had called him, bubbling with pride over this bed and it's ethereal atmosphere once the candle is lit. He settles back against a pillow and glances up to the candle fixture that hangs from the ceiling and he tells himself that if he wasn't so exhausted he'd climb right back up, stand on the bed and light that orange candle, even if it probably wouldn't have the same affect as it would were it beyond sunset already.
Howie furrows down deeper into the bed, turns his back away from the light of day that's grinning at him through the large window and he pulls the covers up to his nose. And it's then that he finally can smell the true essence of AJ. With a shiver of admission and accomplishment, he lets the old tears of exhaustion, apprehension and longing flow, belatedly and freely.
* * * * *
The bedroom is bathed in a warm orange glow when his lashes flutter open as sleep leaves him and he senses a warm body pressed up against his shoulders. He snuggles back instinctively and reaches his hand down to entwine with the hand on his bare belly.
"You should've told me you were coming." AJ says softly when he feels that Howie is awake enough. He presses a tender kiss to Howie's cheek. "I would've made sure I was home."
Howie rolls to his back, turns his gaze up to AJ and shrugs. "I didn't know when... if I was coming." He lifts AJ's hand to his lips and kisses a tattooed knuckle and amends his response. "I've been wavering... wandering. Trying to figure out if this was best for you."
He rolls even further so that he's face to face with AJ and AJ tugs him closer, presses a kiss to Howie's nose and then rubs a thumb gently over his cheek. "You should've come sooner. You should know I've been waiting for you. Waiting for you to change your mind." He hesitates and Howie can read the uncertainty in AJ's eyes. "You left her?"
"No." Howie answers truthfully, and closes his eyes as he brushes his lips across AJ's. "She left me. A couple months ago. She said I was ridiculous to think I could go on without you." His eyes open and his gaze roams AJ's face, and his breath hitches. "She said I'd wasted too much time... my own, yours, and hers. Have I? Wasted your time?"
AJ's eyes fill and his throat feels thick. He shakes his head, smiles softly at Howie and then kisses him, just as tenderly as Howie kissed him a moment ago. "Are you here to stay? Are you done wavering and wandering and figuring?"
Howie nods, his heartbeat quickening because AJ is never this cautious. "Yes."
AJ shimmies down so that his bare legs can curl with Howie's. "I haven't wasted a single moment then."
A tiny sob catches in Howie's throat and he presses his face against AJ's neck. "I love you."
AJ tightens his hold on Howie and inhales deeply as he buries his nose in Howie's soft curls. "I know... I've always known. I love you too."
