Prompt: Nate and Elena have to be responsible adults after a crazy night.
Inspired by this prompt on tumblr: "Imagine the OTP having some incredibly wild sex one night. The next day when they wake up, they're both sore and everything aches. Person A suddenly remembers that they were supposed to hang out with some friends later that day. For the rest of the afternoon, A and B try to pretend that nothing happened in bed last night. Their friends eventually find out what happened anyway."
Also - I just wanted to say thanks a bunch for all the lovely reviews, faves and follows this story has gotten so far - they make my day!
Usually, when her and Nate had the luxury of sleeping in together, she woke up with her head resting on his shoulder, or at least on his pillow, with one of his arms curled around her.
This morning they were both sprawled out on their own sides of the bed—one of her legs were thrown over his, but other than that they were totally separate. She sighed and sat up, then winced at the result. Not only did her whole body feel stiff, but she reached up and rubbed at her sore throat. She hoped to god she hadn't lost her voice. Otherwise this is going to be a very awkward dinner with my parents—not that that's anything new.
Elena looked over at Nate, then bit back a laugh. He'd tangled the blankets in a twirling mess around his legs, and his hair was a shock of cowlicks and whorls—such a disorganised sleeping position was generally reserved for nights of heavy drinking or really long, tedious jobs with Sully—not that he did those anymore.
Although we were pretty drunk last night.
Then she spotted the small, red marks going down the skin of his neck and marking up his collarbone, and her grin widened.
They hadn't had sex like that in… well, a while. Mostly because he had to get up for work really early in the mornings and also because it tended to result in a great deal of muscle soreness. They definitely weren't in their twenties anymore.
She huffed and gingerly got out of bed, trying not to wake Nate, and limped over to the bathroom to brush her teeth. Little bit saddlesore, too. Ow. A warm bubble bath would fix her problems, but she'd wait for Nate to wake up and join her.
She also calmed down her own mess of hair while she was up, untangling knots and extracting any stray bobby pins she hadn't removed the night before. Elena then slipped on a pair of shorts and an old t-shirt that were lying on the top of her hamper and looked fairly clean. When she looked a bit more presentable, she moved back into the bedroom, and saw Nate was awake and discovering his own aches and bruises.
"Hey," she said, standing in doorway of the bathroom as she watched him. He sat up, and ran a hand through his disheveled hair.
"Hi," he replied, frowning. He coughed and rubbed at the back of his neck, rolling his head to work out some kinks. "Jesus."
"Yeah, I'm sore too."
"And hoarse."
"Yeah."
He grinned, reaching out a hand for her to come sit next to him, and she happily complied.
"Well worth it, though," he continued. When she sat down on the bed, he pulled her close and held her against his chest. "Might need a massage to work out all the stiffness."
"I was thinking a bubble bath," she said, resting her head on his shoulder.
He hummed in agreement and kissed the top of her head. They laid there in content silence for a few moments. They both smelled like sweat and wine and last night's festivities, but she was too comfortable for now to immediately worry about it.
Then Nate started squirming. She looked up at him; his eyes were closed, and there was a slight smile on his lips, but he wouldn't sit still.
"Something the matter?"
"I have to pee, but I don't want to get up," he explained.
She laughed. "Well we have to get up soon anyway."
He opened his eyes and his smile disappeared. "What? Why?"
"My parents are coming over, remember?"
He groaned and fell dramatically back onto his pillow. "Can't we cancel?" he asked, an arm draped over his eyes.
"They flew in from Florida for this dinner; I can't cancel on them last minute."
He let out a heaving sigh. "When are they showing up again?"
She glanced at the clock. "In about four hours."
"Then we can still sl—"
"There's no food prepared," she interrupted him. "And I have to go out and get some wine, since we kinda drank the two bottles last night."
Nate grinned at that. "Yeah, we did."
She patted his leg. "Come on. Bath, and then we should start getting ready."
He unhooked his arm from his eyes to look at her from under his bicep. "Long bath?"
"You really wanna do it again? I'm still pretty sore." She smoothed a gentle thumb over a rather impressive bite mark left on his upper bicep. A bath might sting a little.
He frowned, his brows drawing together. "We can take it slow."
She looked at the bedside clock again. "Well we've got… half an hour, give or take."
He nodded, trying his best to remain serious. "We can definitely work with that." She saw him formulating a plan of attack in his mind, and rolled her eyes. Sex with a time constraint was about the only thing Nate made a concerted effort to plan out—wouldn't want to waste valuable time, of course.
The outcome is usually pretty great, though.
