krempuff | (no subject)

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The trouble with planning to not have plans was that, inevitably, it left Krem feeling like he ought to make plans anyway. He'd settled on making the barest plans that he could comfortably suffer while still calling the whole thing an act of relative spontaneity. They had, after all, planned the time together; they'd made sure their schedules were free of work or other obligations, had told their other friends they would be otherwise occupied, and promised each other the time. Neither of them were known for their ability to suffer idleness well, so Krem knew there would be at least one outing. Structured spontaneity. That sounded quite good.

So, he came with a small overnight bag, since they had discussed that option briefly and he liked that potential, the learning of being in Thomas's space for that long--but, more importantly, it had his running shoes in it--and with a large box full of a myriad variety of Chinese foods because he felt that a lie in was obligated to have food that they didn't really have to clean up after.

He'd texted Thomas to let him know that he was on his way after he'd picked up the food, and--grateful that there were no more animals loose in the streets--he headed there presently.

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Thomas kept his apartment sparsely decorated though he'd been gaining more and more things the longer he was here. There were shoes by the door, small decorations that Noah and given him here and there and books on the table.

When Krem's text had come in, Thomas had been clearing things out of his refrigerator and he threw the last of the old stuff away before going over and unlocking his door.

After that, he just sank down on the sofa and turned on the television, waiting for Krem to knock so they could have a day or a day and a night of doing absolutely nothing.

It was kind of a thrilling thing to think about, actually.

When Krem arrived, he ended up having to knock with his foot for having the box of food in his hand. He shifted it to his hip anyway, just to give himself a little extra leverage. It wasn't a particularly heavy box, there just happened to be a fair number of take away boxes. He'd found he liked to have a variety of things, and he wasn't sure if Thomas had tried Chinese food, so he'd gotten most anything on the menu that had seemed appealing.

"Hey, open up, it's the fun authorities," Krem said in his most strict voice. He contemplated checking the door to see if it was unlocked, but after their brief bout of embarrassment the last time there had been a door between them, he decided against it.

Strict or not, Thomas knew that voice and he couldn't stop the stupid smile that appeared on his face. He managed to wipe it away before he opened the door.

"There's a fun authorities in this city?" he asked, reaching out to take the box from Krem so he wouldn't be so laden down with things anymore. "Won't that be like your fifth job or something?"

He stepped aside, giving Krem room to step inside his apartment.

Krem could still see the mirthful twinkle in Thomas's eyes when he opened the door, and he matched it with his own, having effectively schooled his expression otherwise. It was hard not to break into a charmed smile most times that he was around Thomas.

He let Thomas take the box and set down his bag while he closed the door. Toeing off his shoes, he gave a lazy sort of shrug. The gesture no longer pulled at his tattoo, which he was grateful for.

"I've got to keep busy. Besides, the fun authorities are here to make sure that you have an appropriate level of fun. It's for your benefits."

Comfortably divested of shoes and bag, Krem took the box back, but leaned up to give Thomas a swift, tender kiss. There was something extra thrilling about it this time, even if it was still just chaste, to be shut away from the world with just each other and sharing a kiss. "Hello."

Thomas was still holding onto the box and he regretted that because it meant that he couldn't reach out and hold Krem during the kiss. He leaned into that kiss as best he could and sighed when it was over.

Thomas had found that kissing, as new as it was, was something he enjoyed doing it. It made him shiver but it made him warm too. It was a sensation he'd grown to like.

"Hey, shank," Thomas returned, licking his lips and grinning. "How are you? You avoided those animals, I hope?"

"For the most part," Krem said, and took the box from Thomas to take it to the kitchen and start unloading the take away packages. He'd mostly forgotten when he'd gotten, though he did remember that he'd gotten a pretty even distribution of the available meats.

"I fought a bear? After the first day I just started wearing my armor while I was out--good thing too, since. Bear." He rolled his eyes. "You?"

"You fought a bear?" Thomas repeated, following him into the kitchen and trying not to gape. The weird thing was that Krem was not the first person he'd heard of to fight a bear. He'd seen Derek do it in wolf form a few months back.

"I...mostly tried to stay out of the way," he admitted. "Got attacked by some birds. Derek's little puff thing cornered me before he showed up and the puff bit him instead."

Thomas leaned a hip against the counter and shook his head. "Sounds like you had more fun."

"It's not like it's the first time I've fought a bear, just the first time here in Darrow," Krem said, and shrugged a little. "Much easier here, actually. Unfortunately, someone else from home is here, so that was--well, I guess not unfortunate, but."

He shrugged a little bit. Cassandra's arrival had been a mixed bag; it was good to have more people from home, but it was also disheartening and a bit strange at the same time.

"You're alright from the birds? Staying out of the way was probably the best idea, honestly." Krem smiled and reached over, smoothing a hand down down Thomas's arm casually. The mention of Derek's puff just reminded him of Derek showing him one of the pictures he had of it, and the strange moment of seeing someone with Thomas's face who hadn't been Thomas. He didn't want to think of that.

"I don't know if I equate bears with fun, really. I'm glad it's over with, at least. And now we have an overabundance of Chinese food. I wasn't sure if you'd tried it, but I rather fancy it myself, since I can't have things with cheese?"

"The birds did nothing more than peck me and scrape me up but I'm fine," Thomas said, smiling at Krem, at the touch, at the whole situation. It felt nice. Quiet and content but with a hum of anticipation that pushed away feelings of restlessness that usually licked at his heels.

"I've had some Chinese food but not a lot," he said, looking over at the box. He usually defaulted to pizza when he was ordering out because it was easy and he knew he liked it. Krem's spread was immense and it smelled spicy and savory and sweet. "What's wrong with cheese?"

"Good, I'm glad I went with it then." Krem picked out a piece of sweet and sour pork from the container it had come in and ate it just like that, humming contentedly for a second. "Do you want to just eat from the containers, or should we get plates?"

He sucked a bit of the sauce off his thumb. "Nothing's wrong with the cheese, I guess. I just get a bit ill after I've eaten it. Milk, cheese, anything like that. We didn't have a lot back home, not like it is here, at least. Sad fate for me. Pizza's delicious."

But he was smiling a little bit, shrugging it off. It was just a simple thing he had to live with, like so many other simple things he had to live with. At least he could make a lot of foods himself, or otherwise there were plenty of options to pick from.

"Live wild, go with the containers," Thomas decided after a moment. He had plates but they were disposable and Thomas figured that just eating from the containers would be less waste.

He reached for the box again. "I've got some silverware in one of these drawers here. We can just take this out to the living room and sit on the couch there. Be more comfortable than standing here."

He didn't wait for Krem to reply since he'd already decided that was what he wanted to do. "Pizza is delicious," he said over his shoulder. "I eat that more than I should."

Krem laughed and grabbed the utensils for them. He grabbed two spoons, one for each of them to use in the soup, and then a fork each. It didn't seem to make sense to worry about cross contamination between the food, really, or anything else. They shared kisses; Krem doubted Thomas was going to care if he used the same fork to eat from each of the containers.

He trailed Thomas back out to the living room, pulling the coffee table close to the couch so that they would be able to curl up on it and reach the box once it was settled. The last time he'd been here, they'd curled up together on the couch as well, but this already seemed a much better memory, much warmer and more tender.

"Pizza is delicious, and sometimes I don't care that I feel a bit like I'm suffering afterwards." It did sound good that Thomas had his little indulgences though.

"Someone tried to convince me that pineapples on a pizza was a good thing and I had to disagree pretty intensely," Thomas said, settling the box carefully on the coffee table and reaching for a container at random.

"Fruit doesn't belong on pizza. Fruit belongs as a fruit and maybe in those yogurt things I've seen at the store," he added, settling back with a container and one of the spoons.

"Sorry it makes you suffer, though," he continued, frowning. "I didn't even think that could happen. I don't know a lot about the sicknesses and stuff here."

Krem wrinkled his nose a little bit. He liked pineapples, quite a bit, the way they made his mouth sting a little bit when he ate too much and the tanginess of the juice. He could see the appeal of them with meat--he used them like that sometime--but not with the other parts of pizza. So he nodded along with Thomas's assessment.

"You've clearly got some sort of iron constitution," Krem said, and shrugged, digging into a box as well.

He shifted, now that they had both settled onto the couch, so that he was curled up against Thomas, tucking in against him comfortably and taking up a good half of the couch so that Thomas had the other half. It was easy and natural to fall quiet while they ate, though he was more than happy to comment on what he liked and didn't like about each of the dishes, hoping to encourage Thomas to do the same as well.

"This one's hot," Thomas said suddenly, waving his hand in front of his mouth and blowing out a few breaths. The temperature wasn't hot but whatever he'd just eaten definitely had some spice in it and his mouth had not been prepared for it.

"Good but I'm still not entirely used to how hot some things are," he said, licking his lips and eating some rice to try and soothe his mouth and tongue and lips. "Wow."

Krem laughed a little at Thomas's reaction, watching him flail in reaction to the heat of the dish. He took the container from him, tasting the contents and humming a little as the spices overwhelmed him comfortably. It wasn't spices he was familiar with, but the heat was a burn he knew how to handle a lot easier than Thomas.

"Put you off the spice? I kind of like it. It's a different sort of spice than home, but it's still good."

"No, it's good," he promised, still fanning his mouth with his free hand and nodding. "It's good, it's just different. We lived off granola bars and water back home. Frypan occasionally got creative with the meals in the Glade but nothing like this."

Even months on in Darrow, he still found things that were new and different. It was exciting but it left him flailing sometimes, feeling like he was still trying to catch up to the level where everyone else was.

Krem kept gently laughing at Thomas's continued attempts to cool his mouth down. Except for the rice, there probably wasn't much that would do anything for it. He couldn't even jokingly suggest a kiss to make it better, since he'd also ate some of the spicy dish, so now his mouth was spicy as well.

Instead, he tucked the spicy box off to one side, and tried another one. "Here, this one's not spicy."

He speared some meat and vegetables on his fork, holding it up for Thomas to sample as he curled into his side contentedly.

The burn in his mouth had subsided though Thomas could still feel the tingle on the tip of his tongue and his lips. The food had been good but he guessed he just needed to eat more spicy foods to get his body used to the strength and heat.

Thomas leaned forward to take the offered food from Krem's fork, idly making a note that that was the first time he'd ever done that. He had a long list of firsts in his head, a tally of memories he wanted to make sure he remembered.

While he chewed, he shifted his leg, tried to tangle one of his feet with Krem's down on the floor below them.

Krem smiled, a pleasant little warmth running through him as Thomas wrapped their feet against each other. Again, there was a companionable silence, filled only by the quiet background noise of Thomas's television. Krem wasn't really sure what it was that Thomas had on; he wasn't sure Thomas was sure either, but it was nice to just sort of have a noise to fill the spaces in between them, though the silence wasn't unpleasant at all.

They worked steadily through the food, until Krem had to push the box gently aside, sighing gustily.

"I think I ordered too much." He eyed the box speculatively for a moment. "At least there's more for later? Or if you're going to keep eating."

Thomas's stomach had started to protest about three bites ago but he'd pushed on to at least finish the container. There were one or two broken noodles left so he was going to call that finished.

"No no, I like to eat but not too much," he said, blowing out a breath and leaning back. Big meals were becoming more and more familiar and he was learning how to not gorge but it was still a struggle when he remembered how scarce food was back home.

"I think it can be saved for later or something," he agreed, looking over. "A snack or another meal or something. I don't know if I'll be hungry for a few days after that."

Krem hummed a little bit. They'd made a sizable dent in the food, and he was also feeling more than pleasantly full; but his experience with Chinese food was that it tended to fill you up quickly and burn off fairly rapidly.

With the food pushed aside for now--he'd get up and put it in the refrigerator in a moment--Krem curled in even more against Thomas. It was not quite how he'd imagined a lie in, sprawled on the couch and only nominally paying attention to the television when there was a warm body tucked close to him.

He reached for Thomas's hand and tangled their fingers together, the way that their angles were wrapped against each other, and sighed softly. A content smile spread over his face.

Thomas curled his fingers around Krem's watching the differences in their skin before he looked up at Krem, re-familiarizing himself with the features of his face.

"I had no idea you were so lazy," Thomas said, lowering his voice even though it was just them in the apartment. They had their privacy, they didn't need to talk low to keep a conversation quiet. "I had no idea I was such a good pillow either."

He didn't mind it, not right now. Thomas tucked himself further back against the corner of the couch, letting Krem lean more against him and warming him up where their bodies touched.

"It's a new trend," Krem said, equally soft and close. It felt nice just to speak softly even if they didn't have to, perhaps more because they didn't have to. As Thomas shifted, Krem lifted up a little, just long enough for Thomas to arrange himself, and then he draped comfortably across him.

He pillowed himself against Thomas's body, doing his best to not put too much of his heavier weight on him. With his head tucked in close to Thomas's neck and their fingers still tangled together, he sighed contentedly.

"Not a bad pillow, certainly. I've had worse. Sleeping on the ground, for instance."

"I'm a step up from sleeping on the ground," Thomas said, snickering and glancing down at the top of Krem's head. "That's certainly a new compliment."

It wasn't one that he even minded. He'd slept on the ground and he knew that anything, a balled up jacket, someone's arm, a patch of grass, anything, was more comfortable with that. He'd gotten spoiled in Darrow, having a bed and a couch and other things to laze around on.

"Do I get anything for being a good pillow? Pat on the back? Thumbs up?"