A/N: yup, another chapter in just two days. Pretty good I'd say. Tin Man and all the characters and such belong to…some company thing. Not me in any case. Either way, you could like, totally stop reading this now and read the actual fic……………you're still reading aren't you
Oh, and I almost forgot, this chapter starts off where the last chapter left off, and then moves on a bit later. And this chapter also is where it earns its 'M' rating, if y'know what I'm saying ;)
"Goddamned head case and his experiments. He can't wait 'til after dinner?"
Cain kept up this mantra to himself while he walked down the hall to Glitch's temporary lab at the Summer Palace. He didn't mean all of it. He just wished that Glitch would let him know he was leaving, or maybe spend a little more time out of the lab. He could've joined Cain in the bath, but no…he had experiments.
He took a deep breath, prepared to yell at Glitch as he knocked on the door.
Before his knuckles even grazed the wood, a muffled explosion was heard, as well as Glitch employing some of Cain's choice curses.
Cain wrenched open the door to find Glitch sprawled on the floor, furiously pulling off his goggles. His work shirt was nearly singed off, and his chest, arms, and face were covered in soot.
"Care to explain? Ambrose?" Cain offered a hand to help Glitch to his feet.
"Trust me, that was supposed to happen. I just didn't think it would happen so big," Glitch's eyes gleamed and he seemed so bouncy and energetic. Well, more so than usual. He always got like that if things went good in the lab; happy, over exuberant, and hot for Wyatt.
Which left Cain thinking maybe the lab wasn't so bad after all.
"So what was with the rather colorful language?" Cain asked. "I said I didn't expect it to be so big. So I didn't expect to be thrown on my ass onto the hard unforgiving floor. It hurt quite a lot Wyatt," Glitch gave him a pouting look. "Can you make it better?"
Cain wanted to make it better. He really did. But, he highly doubted DG would let them both skip dinner, especially as it was their first one at the Summer Palace. He couldn't very well say "Hey kiddo. Glitch fell on his ass, and I'm needed to make it better. So we'll be skipping our first dinner here."
Glitch agreed reluctantly, and just as reluctantly changed. However, he wasn't so reluctant in following his Tin Man out of the room and down the stairs, never tiring of the back view Wyatt so freely offered. Although, Wyatt made him walk in front when Glitch tripped and nearly tumbled headlong down the stairs.
"I'm serious Wyatt, you should charge people to view you from behind. You'd make a fortune. Although, I'm not sure how I feel about sharing," Glitch rambled as they entered the dining room. "Sure Glitch, I'll keep that in mind," Cain muttered, rolling his blue eyes.
"Glitch, why is your face all dirty?" DG asked as they sat down. "It is?" he used his spoon as a mirror. "Oh! I forgot to wash my face then," he wiped at his face with his napkin until his cheeks were red.
"I had a breakthrough," Glitch explained, setting down his spoon. "An explosive one," Cain muttered. "I said that was supposed to happen," Glitch retorted. "Boys, play nice. You're setting a bad example for the kids," DG giggled. Wes and Wren snickered. "Fine, fine," Cain waved it off.
Dinner was served shortly thereafter, amid chattering and the slight clatter of forks and knives on plates.
Glitch sighed, still wanting to be locked in his lab with Wyatt. He glanced around carefully, seeing if anyone happened to be looking his way. No, he was in the clear.
Cain barely startled, just suddenly aware that there was a hand sneaking up his thigh. He ignored Glitch with control that only a Tin Man can posses. Glitch sulked momentarily, before moving his hand up even further, starting to fumble at the belt buckle.
Instantly, Cain's blue gaze snapped onto Glitch, and he gave him a look that translated into "Take that hand away now or I'm gonna stab it with my fork." Glitch hastily withdrew his hand, giving Cain a look in return that said, "You owe me Wyatt."
Finally dessert was done with, the plates off pies and cakes and puddings being cleared off the table. Wren was dozing off, her head nodding onto Wes's shoulder. Wes meanwhile was close to falling face first into a plate covered in piecrusts crumbs and pudding that had yet to be cleared.
DG, smiling softly, gently shook her daughter's shoulder. "Wren, wake up sweetie." Wren bolted awake. "What?" That was enough to send Wes tumbling into the plate. He sat up with a yelp, his face smeared with food. "Go to bed. Both of you," Blake advised. "M'kay daddy," Wren mumbled sleepily. "Yeah. G'night everyone," Wes added.
"I myself am thinking of going up to bed. I'm a bit tired," Glitch made a show of yawning and stretching. He trudged up to the room he and Wyatt shared, changing into a pair of loose pants, and hiding until Wyatt came up.
As he'd hoped, not five minutes later the door creaked open and he heard Wyatt's coat landing on a chair. In a flash, he leapt up and bound into Wyatt's arms, leaning in and kissing him hungrily. He'd waited far too long for that in his opinion, what with the whole journey and then all that day…it wasn't fair.
However, he was smart, and could think of plenty of ways to fix it. He grasped two handfuls of Wyatt's shirt and pulled it apart, buttons flying. Wyatt gently pushed him off. "Another shirt Glitch?" "You've got more. Lots more. I steal them all the time. Now, less talking if you please."
Before Cain could protest about Glitch stealing his shirts, the remains of the one he was wearing were pulled from where it had been tucked neatly into his pants, and pushed off him. Glitch ran his hands up every inch of Wyatt's chest, and then moved onto the belt buckle. He fumbled with that, muttering little sounds of distress when it wouldn't readily unbuckle. Glitch crouched down to be able to work better.
Wyatt glanced through half lidded eyes at him, struggling with brows drawn together. It was a sight both endearing at how he approached a stubborn buckle like an equation, and increasingly hot.
"Ha!" Glitch finally succeeded in getting the buckle undone, and drew the leather out from the metal loop. He gazed up at Wyatt through eyes gone dark with desire. Still keeping eye contact with Wyatt, Glitch peeled his pants down his hips, until they were bundled down around his ankles.
Glitch quirked an eyebrow at the fact Wyatt was already hard. But who was he to complain? Slowly, he drew the swollen tip into his mouth, swirling his tongue. Wyatt stifled a groan, his eyes sliding shut, falling back against the wall. His hips, held onto by Glitch, twitched as a shudder ran through him.
Wyatt balled his hand in Glitch's curls as Glitch bobbed his head, humming low in his throat. Glitch looked up, smirking at how quickly Wyatt lost all sense of dignity and propriety and begged for him. "G-Glitch. Sweet Gayle, hurry," his breath came short. He was close, so damned close.
And as suddenly as Glitch had him, he was gone. "Head case?" Wyatt's voice came out rough and hoarse. Glitch was sitting up on the desk, one eyebrow raised, still smirking, legs open wantonly. In essence, the very picture of "Come get some Cowboy."
Cain didn't even trip on his pants in his dash to Glitch. He tossed away the tin cotton pants he wore, not caring where they landed. He slid his arms under Glitch's legs, thrusting his way into Glitch's entrance, distracting from the slight pain by kissing along his jaw line.
Glitch arched up, fighting gravity as it tried to pull him back, his legs tightening around Wyatt. Wyatt bucked his hips forward, his pace erratic as he lost the little control he had. Stifling his yell, Glitch buried his face in the crook of Wyatt's shoulder, his muscles clenching, sending Wyatt over the edge, and the both of them falling back against the desk, scattering papers.
Cain backed up until the back of his legs hit the bed. He sat, pulling his pants the rest of the way off, while Glitch pushed himself up, trembling a little. "Not that I would ever dream of complaining, but what the hell was that?"
"What?" Glitch jumped off the desk to mould himself right next to Wyatt on the bed. "I just barely closed the door, and my pants were suddenly at my ankles and my shirt was ripped. You pounced, that's what."
"Oh. That," Glitch giggled. "I was waiting for that since my lab exploded." "Still riding the wave of being right yet again then?" "That, and I missed you," Glitch rested his chin on Cain's chest, Cain once more privately marveling at how well they fit together.
Cain ran his hand lightly down Glitch's arm, skimming over the faint scars. Scars from Zero and his renegade Long Coats, from when they had abducted Glitch for their own nefarious purposes. The wounds had healed, but he still bore faint scars. Cain shook his head; chasing away the anger the memory of what Zero had done to Glitch stirred up.
"You missed me?" he murmured instead. "But I've been here." "You know what I mean Wyatt. I mean, I hardly had you all to myself, what with the trip over here and all. I was all lonely feeling," Glitch snuggled closer. "It's like when Wes was little, and you'd go off on trips to train up the Tin Men."
Cain understood of course. He'd missed Glitch during those times as well. "I'm sorry sweetheart. But, y'know, I'm staying here now," he squeezed Glitch's arm. "I know," Glitch yawned widely. "I was thinking of more, but I'm just tired now." "Can't imagine why," Cain chuckled. "Shut up Wyatt." "Yea, love you too head case."
Glitch wasn't in bed when Cain woke up. This in itself wasn't unusual. Every morning, his head case would wake early and dash off to his temporary lab to get in a few hours work before breakfast. He'd been doing it for the past week they'd been in Finaqua.
Cain just learned to deal with it. That was the most time he spent in the lab anyway. After breakfast Glitch spent the rest of the day with him, mostly outside enjoying the cool temperatures.
As usual, he washed and dressed alone and went into Glitch's lab.
Where there was no Glitch.
Instead, Cain found a note written in Glitch's hurried, but neat cursive.
Morning Tin Man. Bet you're wondering where I am right? Well, for a bit of fun, if you catch my drift, and I hope you do, I'm hiding. I've got a surprise for you if you can find me. Just follow the clues. Love, your head case.
Cain sighed, feeling both annoyed and affectionate towards Glitch. He flipped the note over. There, scrawled across the back was his first clue.
I'm not going to go too easy on you Wyatt. I will however start out easy. You're next clue is in the one place I spent most of my time when I was pregnant, if I was mad at you.
Cain snorted. That was too easy. Glitch, when angry at him when he was pregnant, found solace in cookies and cakes. Which were in the kitchen. Crumbling up the note, he tossed it out and hurried down to the kitchens.
On the counter was a plate of warm chocolate chip cookies with a little note laying on top, covered in crumbs with a smear of chocolate.
Congrats Wyatt. You found the next clue. Help yourself to a cookie. The next clue is in a place you can see spots, chestnuts, and maybe even Saturn. Hope this isn't too hard for you.
Spots? Chestnuts? Saturn? Glitch had made it too hard, not realizing that not everyone was as smart as him. He helped himself to a cookie while he thought.
Spot and Saturn struck a familiar note with him, but why?
Then it hit him. Obviously. His horse's name was Spot. And DG's was Saturn. The stable. And Wes's horse was a chestnut by the name of Rex. Grabbing another cookie, he raced down to the stables.
Spot whinnied a greeting to him, and nosed a piece of paper stuck to his stall. Cain rubbed Spot's nose as he read the note.
So you figured that out? Very, very good Wyatt. If you can get that, it will a-MAZE me if you don't figure out this one.
"That's it?" Cain tossed the paper aside angrily. Spot nuzzled at his shoulder, almost reassuring. Then he got it. Maze. The bloody hedge maze. "Head case, this better be worth it," he muttered, going out into the maze.
Luckily, Glitch had left little notes of encouragement and direction, and he made it out in a short while.
And was stunned momentarily.
There, sitting on DG's swing with a picnic basket, was Glitch. He was smiling proudly at Cain.
"You found me."
"Yeah. Care to explain all this?" Cain strolled up.
"I need a reason?"
"Glitch, you're known to be spontaneous at times, but this is a bit much," Cain gestured to the spread.
Glitch grinned sheepishly. "Well, I might've wanted to celebrate that I've finished my vacation inventions." "What, the inverse thing?" "No, Wyatt. That's back at the palace. No, I just finished a sort of watch, which works with both suns and moons. And some other little knick knacks."
"Oh. And I know by now how you get after proving yourself right." "Exactly Wyatt. Only this time, it's so nice out, I figured we could spend the day outside, or in the woods, or wherever," Glitch smirked seductively at Cain, looking more attractive than he had a right to in his baggy pants and t-shirt.
Cain sighed, hating to be the voice of reason. Well, hating that his voice of reason was drowning out the little voice that was saying "Hell yes! Right here, right now!"
"Glitch, head case, sweetheart. I really, really appreciate this, but don't you think DG would be a little made if we…um, defiled her special swing?"
"Good point," Glitch frowned. "First free room in the palace then?" "Most definitely. C'mon," Cain offered Glitch his back, taking the basket himself. Glitch leapt on and they ran, laughing, into the palace and the first empty linen closet they found.
Glitch had just gotten the buttons undone on Wyatt's shirt, when the door behind his back was pulled away. They fell to the floor, in the hall, looking up at Wes and Wren.
"Dad?" "Hi son," Cain said, trying to play it off like he wasn't sprawled on Glitch.
"The linen closet? You couldn't wait until you got to your own room?" Wes asked. "Like you're one to talk son. You and the princess thinking of making use of this closet?" Cain noted how Wes and Wren were holding hands.
"Maybe we were," Wes flushed, not wanting to explain himself. "Uncle Wyatt, Uncle Glitch, I think you two should go to your room," Wren said in her best princess voice. They stared at her. "Please?" she added.
"Wren, you may be princess, but I'm still the grown up here. And in charge," Cain said. "Grown up? Really?" Glitch snorted. "Don't encourage them head case. Either way, don't try and boss around someone who changed your diapers. Either of you." Wes and Wren's smirks faded.
"Now, if you'll excuse us, we have…business," Cain started down the hall, Glitch capering after him. Wes and Wren waited a minute, before starting for the linen closet.
"And don't even think about using that closet Wesley!"
A/N: well, yet another filler before I really get the plot going. Which I think will be the next chapter. Could I persuade you to review in the meantime? Pretty please?