Something short and sweet for Valentine's Day


'Johnny...' Eli's voice was a masterclass in seduction.

'Oh, Johnny...'

'Johnny!'

The sound of breaking glass made Johnny Gat roll his eyes. 'The fuck do you want?' he shouted, not taking his attention from the martial arts movie on the flatscreen TV.

'Come in here and I'll show you,' Eli said from the kitchen.

A smile curled the corner of Johnny's mouth. 'I'm busy.'

'You've watched that damned film twenty times.'

'And I've seen your dick a thousand times, so what?'

There was a pause. It was a pouty pause. Johnny took another swig of beer. 'That is what's goin' on here, right? You got bored and you got naked. I'm right, ain't I?' he said.

Silence.

'...Eli?'

Johnny shifted uncomfortably, but was determined not to be the first to crack. Even if he had a sneaking suspicion he could now smell smoke...

It was a typical lazy Sunday afternoon with the boss. They had spent the previous day canonising some new recruits, and were taking the day off.

Just as Johnny was about to break his resolve, Eli wandered into the living room, fully dressed, carrying a plate. The boss sat down and threw his long legs over Johnny's lap. With an air of calculated nonchalance, he took a large bite of a delicious looking hero sub. He held Johnny's eye.

'That burning smell is the one I made you, love. I know how you like your lettuce extra crispy,' he said after he swallowed.

Once the smoke had cleared and the fire alarm had been crushed under his foot to stop it from squawking, Johnny tilted the charred remains of his lunch into the trash along with the smashed tumbler Eli had thrown on the floor. Eli was watching him from his perch on the worktop.

'I'm hurt you think I only ever want you for one thing, Johnny,' he said. 'I was just trying to do something nice for you, seeing how it is Val-'

'Yo, I thought we were gonna ignore what day it is?' Johnny snapped, looking gloomily in the fridge for something else to eat. There seemed to be a lot of beer, tonic water, pickles, and not much else. He huffed and twisted the cap from another beer and turned to find himself alone.

For a big guy, the boss could move like a goddamned cat.

Johnny made his way back to the couch and the last ten minutes of his movie as Eli emerged from the bedroom, holding his hands behind his back.

'See, when you said that, I didn't think you meant it so...' Eli held out a large oblong box, untidily wrapped in black paper with a crushed purple bow. The sheepish little look on his face was possibly the most endearing thing Johnny had ever seen.

'You shouldn't have,' he mumbled, taking the slightly battered present. The paper hung loose at one corner. The fact that Eli had tried to pin down his five-second attention span to even attempt to wrap the gift meant more to him than whatever was inside.

'I wanted to,' Eli said with a shrug.

Johnny put the box down on the couch. 'Sit down and close your eyes.'

Eli did so without hesitation. There was the implicit trust here that, A: Johnny wouldn't do anything bad to him, and B: if he did, the boss would kick his ass.

Johnny went to collect two boxes from the back of a drawer in his bedside table. One was about the size of a book, the other was much smaller. His hand hovered over the smaller one until he internally called himself a pussy, grabbed it, and pushed it into a pocket.

Eli was fidgeting but his eyes were still closed when he returned. 'Were you getting naked?' he asked as Johnny sat next to him. A tattooed hand snaked to where he guessed Johnny's crotch would be, and a frown creased his forehead as it brushed fabric.

Johnny took the hand that was starting to tug at his fly and put the first present into it.

'You can open 'em now,' he said.

Eli blinked and grinned. 'I knew you didn't mean it.' He shook the box next to his ear. 'Hmm, it's a bit small to be a yacht...'

Johnny started to unwrap his present, which didn't take long as the paper was only held together by two pieces of sticky tape. Inside he found a 12-Gauge shotgun, with a custom thumbhole stock carved from American walnut. 'Hey, thanks, man,' he said, looking up.

Eli was flipping the butterfly knife Johnny had given him with practised ease. It whirred in his hands, a flash of purple enamel and polished titanium death.

'Thank you for this, pet. The balance is perfect, and the colour… I love it.'

Johnny felt the edge of the other gift press into his leg. 'I- there's something else too.'

The blade stopped. Eli turned his sea-coloured eyes on him and Johnny felt his palms grow damp.

'Check it out, it ain't what you think it is but… ah, fuck it. Here.' He pushed the small box into Eli's hand.

Eli raised his eyebrows. 'And what would I think it is?' He held the little cube lightly between thumb and forefinger.

'Just open it,' Johnny muttered.

Normally, whenever Eli sensed an opportunity to make someone squirm he jumped on it like a rat on a doughnut. Not today, however. He quietly opened the box, and tipped the ring out into the palm of his hand.

'Johnny, I-'

'Look, this ain't a proposal or nothing. It was my grandfather's… I want you to have it. You don't even have to wear it, I just-'

Eli closed his hand around it and leaned in to kiss him hard. Johnny relaxed against his boss and returned the kiss, wondering why he'd been so nervous about-

'I love you,' Eli said, pulling back.

Johnny froze.

That was why. He would die for Eli without a moment's hesitation, but any mention of the L word and he shut down. Eli could throw it around with wild abandon but Johnny had only ever said it once, and that person was now dead. It might be bullshit superstition but he couldn't make himself say it again.

The boss was watching his face, and gave him a small smile. 'They're only words,' he said.

'But you know I do, right?' Johnny said.

'Of course, my sweet. Everything you do tells me. The way you put up with my… with me,' Eli said. The almost shy smile broadened into his more recognisable devilish grin. 'The way you kill for me, the way you scream my name when you come...'

'Yo, I do not fuckin' scream,' Johnny insisted.

'Is that a challenge?' Eli's honeyed voice was low. His lips pressed to Johnny's. The boss slipped the ring onto his finger and pushed his hands under Johnny's shirt.

Johnny broke away just long enough to move the beautiful shotgun that was digging into a kidney carefully to the floor, then Eli's mouth covered his again. He pulled off Eli's t-shirt and threw it to the side, the rest of their clothes following shortly.

Eli sucked his neck, his shoulder, down his chest. Johnny was breathing hard as the warm mouth moved lower. His cock twitched as Eli swirled his tongue across his stomach, and paused to nip lightly at the V of his hips. Rough, calloused hands stroked up his thighs, and Johnny moaned as Eli slipped lower still between his legs.

'Oh, fuck...'

Eli took Johnny's cock in his warm, wet mouth and bobbed his head in a wonderfully lazy rhythm. He'd pause at the top to lick along his cock with the very tip of his tongue, before taking as much of him as he could back into his mouth and laughing softly at Johnny's hisses of pleasure.

Johnny swore through his teeth as Eli worked a finger delicately into his ass and his other hand moved to stroke the length his cock as his mouth concentrated on the head, licking and sucking as Johnny groaned and arched his back, writhing and pushing himself harder onto Eli's finger.

God, he was close. One glance down at the boss, who was watching him with hooded eyes, hips grinding into the couch as he sucked, and Johnny teetered over the edge.

While he didn't exactly scream the boss's name when he came, he certainly added a few creative expletives to it in a loud shout.

Eli licked his lips and crawled up the couch to nuzzle against Johnny's chest. As usual, his fingertips traced the deep scar on Johnny's stomach as he sighed contentedly.

'Happy Valentine's Day, love,' he purred.

Johnny tried to get his breathing back under control. 'Fuck, Happy Valentine's Day to you too, boss. Jesus.'