Thank you for the reviews, mummacass, vivalavidaa, daxy and wolfsong98 (FanFiction)
Thank you for the review, scripps (LiveJournal)
This is the second installment of the 2009-2010 holiday season ficlets. Five ficlets, three universes.
This is from the same universe as "Apples".
This was written for the first day of winter
I do not own or claim to own CSI: Miami characters. This is fanmade and I make absolutely no profit off of this. I do this for my own amusement.
***
Snowball
Horatio stood outside of the Miami-Dade Police Department, watching as a once kidnapped child ran to the loving arms of his mother. They stood there holding each other in the brisk Miami breeze, repeating the words "I love you" over and over again. He smiled, leaning against the railing and watching the scene.
Horatio was quite well known around the department for being incredibly good with little kids. They would spill their hearts out to him and they trusted him more than any other cop on the force. The redheaded lieutenant sighed, wishing that he could have that sort of connection with his own son.
Suddenly, and from out of nowhere, Horatio felt something hard and cold crash against his back, exploding into little tiny fragments on contact. He arched his back, in attempt to escape the cold and wet sensation that had now overtaken it. Confused and irritated, Horatio spun around and saw… actually pretty much what he expected to see.
Rick Stetler stood a good 15 feet away with a huge grin across his face. He was holding a gray insolated lunch bag with both hands.
"What the hell did you throw at me, Stetler?"
"One of these," Rick smirked.
He pulled a perfectly round ball of shredded ice from a snow cone out of the bag and chucked it at Horatio's chest. It landed with a little "piff" right in the middle of the redhead's white shirt. He quickly brushed it off and shivered as the little crystals of ice that clung to the fabric melted, soaking it.
"Really mature, Rick".
Piff. Rick had thrown another, this one landing on Horatio's stomach. A huge smile crossed his face as Horatio's shirt just got wetter and wetter.
Horatio growled low in his chest, wanting to smash one of those cold little ice balls on Rick's smug little face. But before he got the chance to…
"Lieutenant Caine?" a woman's voice called, a slight giggle detectable in her tone.
"Yes madam?" he answered turning around, hoping that her conversation will stop the attack long enough for Rick's ammunition to melt.
"My son, Kevin, tells me how you saved him and made him comfortable while he was questioned and waited for us. I can't thank you enough for how much you have done for our family".
"Well, he made my job easy m'am," Horatio chuckled lovingly, "He's such a brave little guy, aren't… you… Kevin…"
Horatio's voice drifted off as he noticed that Kevin was busy laughing and making faces with Rick. Kevin shrieked with laugher, clapping his hands and jumping up and down.
"You're funn-ee," he giggled, pointing up at the IAB sergeant.
Grinning, Rick dug into the bag and pulled out another "snowball", chucking it at Horatio. Piff. This one hit his shoulder. And as much as the lieutenant wanted to snap at Rick, he knew that it would kill the kid's fun. He just brushed off the little ice shards and feigned a playful attitude.
"What are those tings and why are you towing tem at Ho-way-tee-o?" Kevin asked, rocking back and forth on his heels.
"Well," Rick smiled, crouching down next to Kevin, "Today is the first day of winter. Where I come from, in the winter it would snow, like it does in the mountains. When I was your age, my friends and I would make little balls out of the snow that fell and we would throw them at each other. They don't hurt, and they're lots of fun. Wanna try it?"
"Yeah," Kevin grinned, about as wide as Rick was grinning.
"How about it, H?" Rick chuckled, "would you let Kevin throw a snowball at you?"
"Oh lieutenant!" Kevin's mother squeaked, obviously overcome with the cuteness of the situation, "Please? Oh, I hope you don't mind".
"Not at all," Horatio said through gritted teeth.
Rick handed Kevin a little ice ball.
"It's cold!" Kevin noted, almost dropping it.
"It sure is. Now throw it at him".
Piff. The little snowball crashed into Horatio's knee, moistening his pant leg.
"Good shot!" Rick smirked as Kevin shrieked with joy.
"Come on, Kevin," his mother smiled warmly, "we have to get you home now, I'm sure grandma and grandpa will be very happy to see you".
"Gamma! Gampa!" he cheered as he ran towards the car.
"Thanks again, Lieutenant Caine," she beamed, "and you…erm…"
"Sergeant Rick Stetler," Rick smirked, taking her hand and lightly kissing her ring, "It's been a pleasure".
She giggled and waved goodbye as she scampered off to her car to take her son home. Horatio rolled his eyes and shook his head at Rick.
"What?" Rick smiled innocently, "you're not the only one here who could be good with kids, you know'.
"Yeah yeah, whatever. Good for you," Horatio grumbled, "just tell me that that was the last of your cursèd little snowballs".
Rick dove his hand into the bag, only to find himself wrist deep in melted ice.
"Crud," he grumbled, pulling his hand out and wiping it off on Horatio's jacket, "well… it was fun while it lasted".
"It's not done yet," Horatio smirked, pulling the bag from him.
He wanted to soak Rick to the bone, but his adversary was significantly more evasive then he expected. As Horatio attempted to dump the water on him, Rick jumped about a yard back. However, his thigh still got in the way, it got completely drenched.
Grumbling, the two quite damp men trudged into the Police Department, marching towards the locker rooms to dry off.
***
Horatio and Rick stood alone in the locker room; Horatio had already pulled off his shirt and jacket, letting them dry under two of the stationary hairdryers. Rick had stripped out of his trousers and boxer shorts, he leaned half-naked against the wall. Horatio quickly averted his eyes as he removed his own pants.
"Jesus Christ, Rick. Cover your shame".
"You know what, Horatio? Maybe you should have thought about that before you felt like dumping a bag of water so high up on my thigh".
"I was aiming for your head. If you would have held still then you- Will you at least censor yourself?!"
"Why? Are you jealous, Caine?"
"No!" Horatio lied, blushing furiously.
The two men leaned against a row of lockers, Horatio trying not to look at Rick. In the meantime, Rick smirked to himself as he scanned over Horatio's practically nude body. He struggled to clear his mind from his thoughts, which were becoming increasingly filthy by the second. Horatio began blushing as he realized that Rick was slowly invading his personal space.
"Rick. What are you doing?"
"Oh how quickly we forget," Rick smirked.
"What are you talking about?"
"Do you honestly think I'd forget about our little rendezvous back in September?"
"I thought that we agreed that that never happened".
"Oh, but it did, Horatio. You wanted it to. You wanted it to so... badly".
Horatio finally turned to see that Rick was mere centimeters away from him. He blushed as he realized how much he was struggling not to let his eyes wander downwards.
"Let me alone, Rick".
"Admit that it happened".
"Fine," Horatio grumbled, "It happened"
"What happened, again?" Rick teased, moving so that they were face-to-face.
"I… I let you kiss me".
"And you'd let me kiss you again".
"mayb- mmph!" Horatio tried to say as his mouth was covered by Rick's.
Rick gently pinned Horatio against the lockers, grasping onto his bare shoulders. The redhead shivered as he felt Rick stroke his arms.
"You like it," Rick purred, breaking the kiss, "and you want more".
He bumped their arousals together, making Horatio gasp.
"Stop, Rick".
"Why? It feels wonderful and I know I'm not the only one who thinks that".
"But it's wrong".
"There's nothing wrong about this, Horatio," Rick cooed, kissing and nipping up along Horatio's neck and jaw line, "It is perfectly natural to need a sort of... stimulation, everybody knows that. There's nothing wrong with it".
"But this is fraternization on MY part; I'm your superior officer".
"I'll make sure that IAB turns a blind eye to this".
Horatio wanted to retort, but the feeling of Rick lightly nibbling on his earlobe was driving off higher thought. He turned his head and their lips met again, quickly parting to let their tongues massage each other. Rick pulled off his tie and unbuttoned his shirt, revealing his chest, covered in a dark brown fur. Horatio couldn't stop his fingers from running through the soft curls, rubbing Stetler's full chest.
"Why Horatio, I'm not turning you on, am I?"
"Can we move this to the lavatory?" Horatio blushed, wanting to put as many doors as possible between his affair and the rest of the department.
"Of course we can," Rick smirked, walking in the direction of the bathroom door, pulling Horatio along with him.
***
Horatio's soft, pale wrists were roughly pinned to the wall of the bathroom next to the sinks. He shivered as his arms and back came in contact with the cold, tile surface. His entire body had become quite flushed, his cheeks especially. His mouth had been captured by Rick in a bruising kiss, taking all the air from their lungs.
"So beautiful…" Rick whispered before he sucked Horatio's lower lip into his mouth to lightly nibble at it.
The redhead moaned and whimpered in pain as Rick's sharp canine tooth ripped into his flesh. Then, just as loving as he was rough, Stetler brushed his tongue over the wound and lightly sucked on it. The taste of blood was in both their mouths as the gash quickly clotted.
After a long moment, Rick finally pulled away and gazed down into Horatio's soft blue eyes.
"How vampiric of you," Horatio noted.
"I'm sorry, I should have asked first," Rick shyly admitted, "But I know you would have declined. Then you never would have known how much you could have enjoyed it".
"Well," Horatio thought, his tongue lightly exploring the little shallow hole that was now in his lip, "I can't say that that wasn't incredibly hot… but I also can't say that I would want to do that again".
"I'm sorry".
"No, it's alright".
Horatio looked away; hardly able to believe that he just had that conversation with Stetler (of all people). He wasn't quite so sure how he could describe this relationship. Were they lovers? Beaus? He would say that they were friends with benefits, but they weren't exactly friends. Whatever it was felt like it was being driven completely on impulse, although he wasn't about to deny the fact that Rick was helping it along.
In fact, at this point, Horatio wasn't sure of his sexual orientation. He was 99% certain he was straight. But… perhaps these moments of uncertainly made him bi-curious. But that curiosity has been fulfilled… so why was he making out with Rick now? He could be bi… but no… it can't be. Not when he's 80% certain that he's straight. He could just be doing this for Rick, because he wants it so badly. But "Straight-except-when-Rick-wants-to-play" isn't really a label. Why was he even worrying about a label? He shouldn't have to feel he must re-assert his sexuality, not when he was 68% certain that he's straight… erm… make that 65%... no… 50%. How was Rick doing this to him? It's ridiculous.
"Woah," Rick suddenly murmured into Horatio's neck, "calm down, lieutenant".
Horatio blinked his bright blue eyes, which glazed over as he became lost in thought. It was then that he had realized what he had spent the past minute doing. His brain screamed as it came to realize that he had been unconsciously humping away at Rick's leg, getting more and more vigorous with each stroke.
"Oh God," Horatio gasped, "I… I'm sorry".
"There is absolutely nothing to apologize for," Rick smirked.
"There isn't?"
"Of course not," Rick smiled, "I'm just as willing to take this relationship to the next level as you are".
As he spoke, Rick slipped his thumbs under the elastic band of Horatio's boxers and lightly tugged downwards.
"Stop!" Horatio gasped as the boxers reached his mid-hip, "Wait... Rick... I have to think about this".
"Take your time," Rick smiled gently.
Horatio stood there, his chest heaving and his heart pounding. What was scaring him was that the more he thought about it, the more he doubted that he would regret it. Was this really happening? Did he really want Rick? Was he right to fight it? How long had he been fighting it?
Neither of them got to think too long on the dilemma, because in the next moment they heard the locker room door open.
"Shit," Horatio swore, realizing that he and Rick were standing nearly naked in each other's arms and that someone could walk in on them any second.
He shoved Rick into a bathroom stall and quickly followed him in, locking the door behind them.
"Horatio?"
"Shh! Do you know what would happen to me if anyone finds out about this?"
"No".
"Neither do I, but I don't want to find out"
"Well, I know that I could be fired, so-"
"Shh!"
Someone was approaching the bathroom, right outside the door.
"Quick! Get to another stall," Horatio ordered.
"What? Why?"
"They can't see two feet in the same-"
"-too late!" Rick gasped.
He quickly grabbed onto Horatio's thighs and lifted him off the ground as they heard the bathroom door open. Obediently, the redhead locked his ankles behind Rick's hips and rested his back against the stall door. Horatio wrapped his arms around the back of Rick's neck, making himself comfortable as the sound of footfalls echoed on the tile walls and porcelain fixtures. The newcomer hummed as he walked over to the urinals to do his business.
Horatio looked into the soft chestnut eyes of the man who was holding him. They stood there in the silence, knowing that with one false move they could be caught. The element of danger aroused them further. Well… it aroused Rick further. Horatio blushed as he realized that if it weren't for the thin layer of fabric his boxers provided that he would have been impaled by now.
"I'm sorry," Rick mouthed silently, obviously a little embarrassed at his own eagerness.
Horatio smiled leaned forward and brushed their lips together lovingly. The two of them fought back the urge to moan or whimper, keeping the kiss as quiet as they could.
Rick smirked to himself. It was so close to happening. He and Horatio were almost nude and in each other's arms. There they were, in their own private world inside one of the stalls; forgetting the past and not giving a damn about the future. Now this was living. The only thing that would have made the moment more perfect would be if Horatio wasn't quite a bit heavier than he looked.
Rick's legs quivered and quickly locked under Horatio's weight. The redhead's bright blue eyes widened as he felt Rick's legs twitch beneath him. Taking a little step forward, Rick pinned the lieutenant against the stall door, hoping that that would relieve his legs for a little while. Horatio wanted to brace himself against the walls, but he was too afraid of falling to let go of Rick's neck.
Suddenly, Rick's right leg gave out. He was able to buckle his knee back up before Horatio could fall, but not until they both released a quiet whimper of dread.
"Fuck," Horatio mouthed quietly as they heard the humming stop.
"He didn't hear us," Rick mouthed back.
"Yes he did".
Rick's right leg twitched violently again. Both men biting their lips to keep from repeating the whimper.
"Sit down," Horatio ordered silently.
"I… can't… move…"
The two of them heard a little creek.
"What was that?" Rick asked.
Horatio shrugged in response. The footsteps came back from the urinals and up to the sinks. As much as he wanted to tighten his grip on Rick, Horatio's arms were getting really tired. He rolled his shoulders as he rested his weight against the door.
The creek repeated, a little louder this time.
"What the hell is that?" Rick wondered again.
His question was soon answered as the door gave out behind Horatio. The two men crashed down onto the cold tile floor. Horatio landed flat on his back, Rick tumbling down on top of him. The redhead winced in pain, the wind knocked out of him.
"What the hell?" a familiar voice exclaimed.
"It's not what it looks like," Rick said automatically, looking up at Detective Frank Tripp.
"What just happened, Horatio?" Frank demanded.
Horatio couldn't answer. He could hardly breathe. He just whimpered in pain.
"Uh… could you give us a moment," Stetler requested gently, "I think he's hurt".
"o-…kay," Frank uncertainly agreed, walking out and wondering why a half-naked Horatio and Stetler just tumbled out of a bathroom stall.
In that moment Horatio was able to collect himself. As he did a wondrously confused look crossed his face. All thoughts were cleared as six words crossed his mind.
What the hell am I doing?
"H, are you okay?" Rick murmured, climbing off of the redhead.
"Leave me alone," Horatio grumbled, curling into a ball and rolling onto his side, exposing the crisscross pattern the tile floor imprinted on his back.
"Oh God," Rick gasped, reaching out and stroking the imprint, "that looks bad".
"Don't touch me," Horatio groaned, "just leave me alone, Stetler".
"I'm sorry, Horatio".
"… go away".
Sadly, Rick looked back at the redheaded lieutenant, walking out of the bathroom and leaving him there alone.
With a wince, Horatio straightened out, arching his spine as he hoped that he wouldn't be too sore the next day. What came over him? What was that spell that Rick was able to put on him? What made Stetler's (of all people) lips feel so soft and full and warm? Why do they always end up holding each other so tightly? Why were his hands unable to resist the sweet feeling of Rick's warm body under them? Wait. What? Damnit! He was doing it again.
"Horatio?" Frank called, poking his head into the bathroom.
"Yeah, Frank?"
The older man watched as the redhead lifted himself onto his hands and knees, then slowly to his feet. Horatio arched his back, wincing as he heard a series of little cracks come from his spine. But he was really just happy that he was able to move.
"What's going on with you and Stetler?"
"We got into a snowball fight".
"Do all snowball fights end with a make out session in the locker room?"
"We weren't making out," Horatio said sternly, his face flushing as he did.
"Then what were you doing?"
"Hiding… from you… because you would think that we were making out".
"Why would I think that?"
"Frank… have you ever been in a snowball fight?"
Frank stopped to think. Horatio was right; he hadn't ever been in a snowball fight. Back in Leesville, Texas, where he grew up, it never snowed. His parents didn't have enough money to go on many vacations. In fact, he didn't see real snow until he was in his mid twenties and traveled to Chicago with his then fiancé. That was his first snowfall, and he certainly didn't have the chance to play in it.
"No… but I've seen them in movies".
"Then you don't really know what it's like to have one".
Well, Frank couldn't argue with that; and that was exactly what Horatio was banking on.
"But Horatio-"
"Frank, can you save it for later?" Horatio groaned, staggering towards the door that led to the lockers, "I kind of just fell flat on my back. This hurts a lot more than I'm letting on".
Horatio and Rick exchanged a glance as they met up in front of the hairdryers. Rick was pulling his dried boxers and slacks back on. The redhead dragged himself into his shirt and pants, groaning softly whenever he had to move his back. Feeling responsible, Rick helped Horatio into his jacket and helped him out of the locker room.
Frank was just left there staring after them. It took him until he had opened up his locker and pulled out his gun cleaning kit, when the realization hit him.
Wait… snowball fight?
