Who: Kingsley Shacklebolt and Richard Scrimgeour
What: Borrowing a cookbook
Where: Kingsley's flat
When: Saturday morning [02/28/04]
Rating: NC-17

Thinking about...things

Richard spent a busy morning. Fishing That out of his hair upon waking and out of his breakfast later on was simply part of his daily routine. Both puffskeins knew to stay out of the way when he worked out, but his desk was always fair game. Richard's mother had given him a locking rolltop desk and it received a lot of use.

Cleaning the flat and taking care of his laundry left him at loose ends. He hadn't lived in London long enough to have accumulated any clutter and while he was in the middle of an investigation, there was only so much that could be done. He didn't have the recent local knowledge to let him pry easily yet.

Richard checked the time. It wasn't time for lunch yet and he needed something to occupy his mind or, like Kingsley, he would end up again at the office. Thinking about his friend reminded him that he had been going to pick up a cookbook from Kingsley in order to make his friend a 'home' cooked meal.

If he went out now and got the book, he'd have time to do some reading and shopping and offer Kingsley dinner tonight. Richard smiled at the thought. Kingsley had always been a few years ahead and the hero worship that had shaded their early friendship had been inevitable. Kingsley was tall and fast, intelligent and one of the best aurors there had been. It was his voice that always made Richard smile, though, a deep, rich rumble that demanded attention and respect.

Richard had missed his friend more than he'd realized, perhaps because the last few years had been so hectic. Now that he had the time, he found himself wanting to spend it with Kingsley. With a sigh and a resigned smile, Richard found his cloak and herded This and That into their cage. Leaving them with a generous helping of food and water and setting the small magical toys they preferred in the bottom, he headed out.

The morning was uneventful for Kingsley. Work was hounding him, things were jumping and he was feeling a bit out of sorts for being at home instead of at the office.

However, Richard was right in his constant chiding about getting rest and taking time off once in a while. Leaving instructions at the Ministry to contact him if anything should come up, Kingsley agreed to stay at home for the weekend.

That staying at home of course didn't mean that he left work at the office. The contents of a file currently spread on the low coffee table in his living room, he padded through his flat in bare feet, dressed only in his soft cotton pants, sipping a glass of orange juice and settled down on the sofa to make notes.

It wasn't far to Kingsley's place. Richard had been pleased to discover how close they really were. He wasn't certain Kingsley would actually be at home, but as the older man had promised to at least try to stay at home, the gamble was worth it.

Finding the building, he tapped his fingers against an unlabeled plate inset in the wall. He found himself hoping that Kingsley was at home, wanting to see his friend relaxing for once.

The buzzer startled Kingsley from his reading. A quick glance at the clock had him wondering who would be out at this time. Setting this paperwork and glass aside, he went to the panel by his door and punched the button.

A deep, scratchy voice drifted out of the tinny speaker. "Yes?"

"It's Richie, Lee. I came to see if you had a cookbook for me." Richard grinned at the metal plate, knowing that Kingsley couldn't see him. "If you do, I was going to invite you to dinner tomorrow night."

"Come on up," Kingsley's voice sounded pleased to hear from his friend. A buzz and a ca~latch had the door unlocked for Richard to come up.

Walking to Sullivan, slipping the leather glove on his hand, he gathered the falcon up and placed him in the aviary that took up one corner of his living room, locking the cage door.

Taking the few dirty dishes he had leftover from breakfast to the kitchen bough him enough time for Richard to get up the stairs and to meet the man at his front door.

Richard bounded up the stairs, grinning. The day had started well and continued to look up. He needed something to do in order to keep from thinking about work and a little shopping and some cooking would be just the thing.

Seeing Kingsley as well was a bonus and he was looking forward to it. You'd think that I don't see him every day as it is.

Kingsley opened the door to his flat and left it cracked for Richard to find easily as he moved through the living room to pick up any stray clothing, books, papers or final dishes so that he didn't look unkempt.

He wasn't really. Kingsley Shacklebolt was a neat man by most standards. But weekends were usually his slack day, Sundays being reserved for cleaning. Since he hadn't been expecting company, he hadn't picked up. Fortunately there wasn't that much to do, since he really hadn't been home much in the past couple of weeks to do more than sleep, shower and change.

Stopping in the middle of the room, his hands rested on his hips and he had to chuckle. Here he was, rushing around to clean up for a man he had known for more than half his life. Still, the thought of Richard seeing his flat in such a mess...bothered him. Bothered him that the younger man would suddenly think less of him.

Richard found the door ajar and pushed it open, smiling broadly as he stepped into the flat. "Hey Lee, I...."

There had never really been any question of denial. Richard had found Kingsley incredibly attractive from their first meeting. By then, however, Kingsley had already been a full auror and Richard had just been beginning his training. Richard had always been two steps behind and had always been perfectly content to remain there.

They'd spent almost ten years as the best of friends. Working together and sharing the occasional drink. It had never gone any further. Despite Richard's undeniable attraction to the older man, he'd always been perfectly happy to be the one Kingsley counted on.

Several years of separation made all the difference. Richard found himself staring at the bared, muscular back of his best friend and the immediate reaction was anything but friendly. The cotton pants hung low on Kingsley's hips and Richard heard his own voice trail off as his train of thought was simply lost. All he could think about was the feel of those muscles underneath his hands just a few short days ago and he could feel himself flushing.

He couldn't look away and for the first time couldn't stop himself from wishing that things were different.

He turned to the sound of his friends voice. "Richie. Come on in." Waving the younger man in, he crossed the floor to close the door behind him and take his robe. Kingsley paused at the look on Richie's face. He couldn't quite place the expression but it seemed to be one of surprise.

Hanging the man's robe up, he pointed to a chair. "Can I get you anything to drink?" Kingsley moved back in to the living room proper and started to put away the work he was doing. "I have water, juice, coffee, tea..." his lips pursed in thought. "Alcohol, but it seems a bit early to start drinking just yet." He flashed Richard a white, toothy grin. "Or at least I learned my lesson when we were in Wales on the hiking trip."

Richard blinked at him, fighting down the involuntary flush and trying as hard as he could not to continue to stare. "Um. I'm sorry. What did you say?"

Kingsley shoved the file to one side of the table and straightened, his head tilted to the side. "Something to drink?" his eyebrow rose, but he was still smiling.

He noted the distracted looked on Richard's face. "Is...everything alright, Richie?"

"Yes. Fine." Richard pulled himself together a little. The ache somewhere in his stomach refused to fade so he tried to ignore it. "Tea."

Words of more than one syllable would probably be a good idea. Can we try for a real sentence?

"I'd like some tea, please." Richard smiled and fought to focus.

"I'm surprised to see you out and about today. But it's a welcome surprise." Kingsley's voice drifted out of the small kitchenette. The sounds of a clanging kettle and running water echoed out and into the living room followed by silence before he re-emerged.

"Should be ready in a few." Wiping his hands on a towel before tossing it onto his shoulder, he motioned again for Richard to sit. The expression on the man's face was something he couldn't shake. Richard had never had that look before, not that he could ever remember. If he didn't know better, he would think that Richard was looking at him strangely. He certainly had the look of being caught off guard about something, that much was clear.

"I didn't have anything in particular to do so I thought I'd see about offering you a home cooked meal." Richard finally managed to drag his eyes off of Kingsley's chest.

Kingsley had his share of scars, they all did. Richard knew about most of them, even if he'd been careful not to look too closely before now. He'd noticed a new one when he'd walked through the door, even if it hadn't registered until after Kingsley had actually been out of sight. A puncture wound, ugly and torn in the back of his left shoulder, less visible from the front but still noticeable. It wasn't as immediately jarring as some of the others but Richard knew the stories of most of them and had even been there for a few.

Richard realized that his mind had been wandering and that he'd been staring again. "I'm sorry. Did you say something?"

Kingsley laughed out loud and shook his head. "I said...the water should be ready in a few. Richard..." he propped his hands on his hips again. He was going to say more but decided against it. "Let me go get the book. She sent it to me the other day with some spices that are hard to get a hold of here in England."

Reluctantly, he started to his bedroom, his eyes not leaving Richard's eyes, which he noted was not looking at his face, but his body. A hand raised to touch his left shoulder, the pads of his fingers touching the round scar. That must be what Richard noticed. He had gotten that within the last five years and his friend wouldn't know about it.

Digging the book out, he entered the living room again and noted that Richard still hadn't sat down yet. Moving to the end of the sofa, he sat and extended the book out such that Richard would have to move from the spot he seemed rooted to and would take the hint to sit...down.

Blinking, Richard again dragged his eyes away and looked at the book. That's safe, anyway. He walked to the couch and dropped down beside Kingsley and took the book. As he flipped it open he could feel himself flushing again. He could feel the other man's body heat and smell the tang of cigars.

Okay, bad idea again. Richard, if you start drooling on him he's going to think you've lost your mind. Think about food. Think about cooking. Think about a really cold shower as soon as you get home.

Kingsley took that opportunity to study Richard up close. He was just as physically attractive as he remembered. Very glad the man came back to England, he was just as glad they were able to pick up their friendship as easily.

Richard was a smart man. Driven, dedicated, discerning...he was sharp eyed and sharp minded. Even his bouts into being a bit...scattered were endearing to Kingsley. It was what he liked most about the man. Kingsley missed him terribly when he was gone.

His eyes pulled over the younger man to end up on the book. With a smile, he gestured to it. "My mother marked some of the better recipes, ones she makes all the time."

Richard flipped through the pages, trying to concentrate on what he was looking at. It was difficult, particularly with that bass rumble beside him. After several minutes he realized that he had no idea what he had just looked at.

Sighing softly, he closed the book. "Lee, I'm sorry. I can't concentrate right now."

Settling back on the sofa, Kingsley crossed his arms. "Is something the matter, Richie? I've noticed you've been distracted since you got here." He ducked to look Richard in the eye. "Care to talk about it?"

Honesty is the best policy, Richard.

Richard met Kingsley's eyes. "I'm having some problems today, that's all. I think that it might be easier to concentrate," he paused to take a deep breath, "if you put on a shirt."

Kingsley knew he must have had a weird expression on his face with Richard's request. "Put..a shirt..." Trying not to smile, it failed because he could feel his face pulling into one anyway. "Do the scars bother you?" He looked down, his hand raising to smooth over the scar that started over his stomach and wrapped around his back.

He stood, his hand still resting on his stomach. "I'm sorry, Richie. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. I'll be right back."

Richard took another deep breath and fixed his eyes on the book in his lap. "It's not the scars and I'm not exactly uncomfortable. I'm sorry. I'm having problems," he paused again to swallow uncomfortably, "problems keeping things platonic."

It took a few tries for Kingsley to register what Richard said. With the admission, however, everything fell into place. His heart took off at an incredible beating rate at the realization of what this could mean. It could mean something that he had wanted for a long time but thought that Richard wasn't even remotely interested in.

Reaching down, he cupped Richard's chin and tilted it so he could look at the younger man. Meeting the brown eyed gaze with a soft expression of his own, his thumb traced along Richard's bottom lip. "And what would you say if I told you, I don't want you to keep things...platonic?"

Looking up at Kingsley, Richard blinked several times, the touch against his lip and the low rumble of Kingsley's voice temporarily off-setting his ability to think.

"I," he didn't know what to say. Richard stared upward, body already responding to Kingsley's proximity. He licked his lips reflexively, tongue brushing the thumb resting there. "I didn't think..."

Kingsley sat back down next to Richard. Not relinquishing his hold on the man's face, he pulled the book from his hands and tossed it on to the table. Allowing his hand to slide around, his fingers cupped the back of Richard's head, his thumb stroking along the strong jaw. "I guess we both didn't think," he whispered.

Shaking himself out of the near stupor that had held him since walking through Kingsley's door, Richard brought his own hands up to close around the oldest man's wrists. "Lee, I think I'm confused."

When Richard's hands grasped his wrist, he stilled and didn't move. "What are you confused about?" Now Kingsley was confused as well. He couldn't be sure if he now had just misinterpreted what Richard said. His brows wrinkled in his concern that he may have pushed too fast for something that wasn't wanted.

"This non-platonic thing. How long has it been going on?" Richard bit his lip.

"I...can't answer that...I guess a while now." Kingsley dropped his hand and sat back. "I really didn't think much about it until you came back to England. I realized when I saw you again...that I missed you. Very much." He sighed and rubbed his hands over his head. "It's just..when you said it...everything fell into place."

Richard looked down at his own hands where they'd fallen to rest in his lap. "I see. I have a confession to make then, I suppose." It was a moment before he lifted his head again, giving Kingsley a somewhat embarrassed smile. "I've never had this much difficulty before. I think you're right about the distance. I've been having, um, thoughts for about... 17 years or so."

He looked at Richard for some time, a feeling of dumbfoundment that must have been written all over his face. "Richie...why didn't you say something?" Kingsley straightened up, trying hard to suppress a laugh that threatened to bubble out. The laughter was more in reference that it seemed they had been dancing around each other for far longer than was necessary. He shook his head and smiled, tilting his head to look at the other man. "Seventeen years?"

Richard shrugged, looking embarrassed. "It was just a crush. You were a real auror, someone I looked up to. By the time we became friends it just seemed too far-fetched."

Kingsley shook his head again, the smile on his face softening considerably. Scooting a little closer to Richard, he cupped the man's chin again, holding him still. "Richie..." his voice dropped to a whisper as he looked into the big brown eyes that he found captivating from the day he first looked into them.

"Is it too far-fetched now?"

"I guess not." Richard admitted, lips curving into a smile. "I feel like a fool."

A smile. That was what Kingsley wanted to see and he matched it with one of his own. He released Richard's chin and combed through the man's hair, feeling the silkiness slip through his fingers before his hand rested on the back of his neck.

He pulled Richard towards him and leaned in as well until their lips just barely grazed in soft brushes. Kingsley paused to see if the younger man had any final objections.

It was a strange feeling, sharing the briefest of kisses with his oldest friend. Strange and entirely arousing. Richard didn't kiss a lot of men. It felt a little like betrayal somehow. It wasn't that he'd carried a torch for Kingsley or anything so pointless. Richard was an auror - and somehow it just didn't feel right to become involved with someone who didn't know what they were getting into.

The brush of lips turned into something more as Richard pursued the kiss. He wanted more. This chance to touch something he'd thought always out of reach was making his breath come faster.

First, a smile. Now, a response. Very pleased, Kingsley invited the responsiveness and greeted it with his own. Pressing further, he opened his mouth, his tongue tracing Richard's bottom lip in an entreaty for entrance.

His free hand rested on Richard's forearm, palm warm as it slid up the arm to cup the younger man's face. With a tilt, Kingsley covered Richard's mouth in a kiss that was rapidly becoming much more heated than the innocent one started.

The emotional tangle that Richard had been carrying for almost twenty years was suddenly almost by the wayside. It was Lee's hands on him now. Lee's mouth asking for more.

The emotional charge was enough to make him forget everything else. Richard's body was humming with tension and his hands shook a little as he placed them on Kingsley's bare flesh. He spread his fingers and felt the scarring as he accepted the increased intensity of the kiss.

Kingsley gently guided Richard back to lean into the sofa, following close behind as he pressed into the warm body next to him. Sitting side by side, while very nice, was making it awkward for getting any closer. Not one to be daunted, Kingsley shifted again, turning to sit on his hip as his arms drifted easily around Richard's body to pull him close.

Cotton pants have their advantages...and disadvantages. While comfortable, easy to get into and out of, and perfect for not binding when sitting for lengthy periods of time, they are at their most disadvantageous because, unless wearing underwear, they tend to show...everything.

As Kingsley hadn't been long out of the shower and was planning on spending the day lounging and reading...alone, he hadn't bothered with any underwear, a fact that was becoming more noticeable the longer he touched Richard Scrimgeour.

Richard let Kingsley guide him back against the cushions. He turned a little himself and echoed Kingsley's embrace. The throb of his heartbeat found its echo in the tightening of his body. The taste of Lee's mouth and the smell of his skin brought a dizzying intensity to everything and he shifted again.

Pressed against Kingsley, he suddenly wished that there was a way to discard some of his clothing without actually letting go.

Hands roamed over the tight body, not able to stay still. Kingsley wanted to touch, to feel every curve and swell of muscle, to touch and taste Richard's skin. His mouth, hungry for more, plunged further along the kiss now moving from heated to devouring. Passion was dictating now, not logic or rational. Desire flared within him and Kingsley knew he had to have Richard. One way or another, he needed to feel the man at least once.

Fingers gripped the sweater in his way, handfuls lifting and pulling, pushing it up the man's chest. Feeling another layer, he pulled at it as well, intent on making as few motions in getting rid of clothes as possible. Kingsley kept his movements slow and deliberate If Richard at any time decided to change his mind, he wanted to give the man an opportunity. Although, he wished very hard that it wouldn't happen.

He slipped the sweater and shirt off, breaking their kiss long enough to remove Richard's glasses and toss them on the coffee table. The clothing was pulled on until it cleared Richard's head and dropped to the floor. A hand slid up the bared chest and across one shoulder to cup the his face again, urging him back into a deep kiss.

The layers that Richard wore against the chill of the British winter weren't even missed. The heat of Lee's kiss and the warmth of his skin were more than enough to keep away the cold.

Years ago he might have worried about propriety or about the risks in sleeping with his superior. But this was Lee. The desire he'd always tried to keep to one side had been replaced by a fire and a need that would not let him think about anything other than how much this was what he'd always wanted.

Unable to keep his hands still, once more they traced over Richard's body, his fingers skimming along the waistband of his slacks. The cool of the buckle changed the course of his direction from touching to more uncovering. Going by sound, the metal jingling of the belt as it fell open was followed by the rent of metal in the silent living room as he lowered the zipper.

Kingsley's breath hissed in through his nose when the backs of his fingers brushed over the hard flesh still encased in cloth. He palmed over it, the cloth of Richard's boxers warmed against his hand as he stroked and squeezed his erection, feeling the dampness of precome as it was absorbed by the cloth.

More. He wanted more, needed more. It pulsed through his body like an electric jolt. Kingsley shifted, pushing Richard to the side so that the man would lie flat on the sofa cushions. Positioning between Richard's legs, he aligned their bodies, erection to erection, rocking his hips to feel the delicious friction of clothing still in the way as hardness slid across hardness.

The pulsing throb of his body was broken by the feel of Kingsley's hand. Richard's own hands were drawing lines against the dark skinned body above him and they froze as Kingsley rocked his hips.

A choked gasp was torn from him as his head fell back. Richard's own hips moved at the stimulus and his fingers tightened against Kingsley's muscled back. "Lee." The name fell from his lips without any conscious thought. It was a plea.

His name on Richard's tongue thrilled him more than words could possibly have described. Sure he had heard Richard call him 'Lee' for many years. But, when he said it, just then, Kingsley thought he would explode from the need he heard lancing through it. It caused a groan to rumble from deep within his chest.

He lifted his head to look down at Richard, darkened eyes taking in the other man pinned beneath him. "Richie..." his voice husked out. "Here or in the bedroom?" There was no other choice at this point for Kingsley. He was firmly convinced now he would have Richard, he could hear it in the man's voice, feel it in the tension in his body.

"Bedroom." Richard managed. He didn't want to get up, not really, but there wasn't really enough room here for what he wanted. "Now. Please."

Fingers combed through the brown hair, a small mental comparison to his own bald head before he looked back into Richard's eyes. "Bedroom it is," he agreed and shifted to his knees before stepping off to stand next to the sofa, his hand extended down to help Richard up.

Richard took the offered hand and let Kingsley pull him to his feet. He'd never been so hard and wanting before or at least it felt that way. Licking his lips and showing a mere flicker of tongue, he let Kingsley guide him.

Kingsley squeezed Richard's hand before dropping it. He backed away with a smile and started towards his bedroom, casting a glance over his shoulder to ensure that Richard was indeed following. At the bed side table, he turned on the small lamp which gave off a soft glow throughout the room.

He turned to face Richard, his hands cupping the man's face again and kissing him gently. Tipping Richard's head to the side, Kingsley let his lips slide along the ridge of his jawline and down his neck to suckle on the join of throat to shoulder. Broad hands slid over Richard's back, taking in the feel of skin over muscle as the young man shifted. Sweeping down, his fingers dipped beneath the waistband to skim along the swells of Richard's ass and to push the clothing off his hips.

Hands untangled the clothing from Richard's cock, pulling the fabric away and down as Kingsley dropped to his knees. His tongue lapped out to lick at the head, taking up the precome that leaked in invitation. A hand pulled around his shaft to expose his head and Kingsley sucked the end of Richard's cock. His head bobbed slowly, taking the time to feel the flesh against his tongue and lips, to memorize the unique taste, while his hands worked at getting the rest of Richard's clothes and shoes and to bare his young friend of many years before his eyes.

Richard stood where he was as his knees threatened to buckle. His hands clenched on Kingsley's broad shoulders as his body responded to the slow and deliberate workings of Kingsley's tongue and mouth.

He'd just come for a cookbook and the sudden, completely random thought almost made him break down into helpless and inappropriate laughter. Richard had never believed that he'd find himself bared and nearly mindless with want in front of his best friend.

"Lee." The word was almost lost in a nearly breathless moan. He didn't know what else to say. Richard's hands moved with a restless, echoing rythym as he lost the last of his clothing.

Nursing on Richard, Kingsley heard his name again. The same reaction before pulsed through his body again. He would never tire of hearing Richard whisper his name, and before the night was over, he hoped that he would hear him shouting it. Tipping onto his toes, his hands hooked under the waist band of his pants and pushed down as he rose to stand again, the fabric whispering quietly to a puddle around his feet to be kicked away.

Standing in front of Richard, both of them bare, they were a study in contrasts. Richard with his dark, full head of hair that felt like silk in his hands, and pale skin, and he with his dark skin and head devoid of any hair at all.

His hand slid around Richard's waist and he pulled the man flush with him. Dipping down, he crushed his mouth against Richard's guiding the man backwards towards the bed.

It felt strange to be crushed in the arms of taller, broader man. Richard was six feet tall and had the body of a man whose life sometimes depended on his strength and speed. He wasn't used to being overshadowed and Kingsley's greater size and strength were suddenly given an entirely new dimension.

Richard wanted to lose control. He wanted to give Kingsley everything that he had and was. He already trusted Kingsley with his life and extending that trust to his body was easy enough to be almost frightening.

He moved willingly at Kingsley's direction and tried to express his want as he opened beneath the hungry kiss.

Easy encouragement moved Richard onto the bed. Kingsley guided him to lie back and slid in between his legs once more. Braced over Richard Kingsley kissed him again, his mouth hot and devouring.

To have Richard naked and pinned beneath him was something that until this moment, Kingsley thought would never be a reality. His hips rocked gently, rubbing their bodies together. Hands traced over Richard's skin, pulling down his sides in a caress. Desperate to feel...to touch the man, wanting desperately to remember everything about this day.

Breaking their kiss, Kingsley lifted up to look down at Richard, his fingers combing through his hair. "When was the last time you were with someone Richie?" He didn't ask it to pry but to know how to proceed. Kingsley was a vigorous and energetic lover and he knew it. The last thing he wanted was to hurt Richard in any way.

Richard looked up at him, lips twisting wryly. "I've been living with my grandmother, Lee. It's been a little while."

Shifting to his nightstand, he dug around in the drawer for a tube, his large hand closing around it and moving back to look down with a smile. He placed the lube to the side so his hands were unimpeded as they moved over Richard's body once more. "I just don't want to get too rough, that's all." Kingsley captured Richard's lips in another kiss, this one long and leisurely before he broke away his mouth demanding hungrily once more as his teeth scraped against the skin on Richard's shoulder.

Hands stroked across broad shoulders and traced the lines of Kingsley's skull. Kingsley's mouth and the heated movement of lips and tongue were already an addiction. Richard recognized the logic behind the question and was glad to hear it.

He didn't think about it for more than a moment. His attention was on the muscled body against his own and the growing passion.

Kingsley reluctantly pulled away, his hands moving Richard's leg into a position to allow him unimpeded access. Fumbling with the lube, he spread some generously on his fingers and tossed it to the side for the moment. He leaned on Richard's leg, lifting it higher while his fingers sought their target. Coolness spread around the outside of the muscle before his fingers dipped in to prepare Richard to receive him. One finger, then two, another generous application to help ease the way as he probed and stretched.

He kept his eyes on Richard's face however, watching for signs of discomfort. Turning his head, he placed a wet kiss on the inside of Richard's knee, his eyes flutterning closed on occasion as his fingers felt their way along, waiting for muscles to feel loose and coated enough.

Taking his time, when he felt Richard was as prepared as he could be, Kingsley withdrew his fingers and swiped at his own cock with the slickness. With a smile, Kingsley shifted between Richard's legs, lifting one over his shoulder. A deep breath was followed by a gentle nudging as Kingsley started his slow descent into Richard's body.

The care and attention paid were just a part of Kingsley. He'd treat anyone with the same consideration and desire and Richard knew it. That didn't make it any less arousing.

He wanted this so badly that it was a taste thick on his tongue and he could smell it with every breath. As Kingsley pressed against him the ability to breathe was suddenly suspended. Shallow, rapid breaths were all Richard could manage as his body responded to Kingsley's invasion. His hands closed on the coverlet of the bed, knuckles whitening as he adjusted to the heavy length.

This is what he'd wanted so badly and the sheer intensity was enough to force his back to arch as he looked for more.

Richard arching upwards was all the justification Kingsley needed to keep going. The heat that slid down over him was searing to his cock. It was the juxtaposition of lube over his flesh and the heat of Richard's body that contrasted so divergently and threatened to take his control from him.

Once fully buried within Richard, Kingsley fell forward, bracing on his hands as he waited patiently for Richard to adjust before he moved. His body screamed against the delay, threatening total revolt against his own mental wishes to wait for Richard. Still, he was able to keep his control and was still until given the indication Richard was ready for him to move.

Richard's head was thrown back as he fought for breath. To have Kingsley joined so closely and to know that there wasn't anything left that his best friend hadn't seen and touched made it hard to keep any control at all.

Relaxing, accepting Kingsley entirely, Richard loosened his grip on the coverlet. He reached up, hands stroking against Kingsley's throat and pulling him down for a probing kiss.

Resolve dissolved in the kiss Richard initiated, and Kingsley's hips moved of their own accord. Unable and unwilling to stop at this point. The thrusts started slow. They weren't deep and long strokes, Kingsley was still trying to keep in control, to make it last, to keep from losing the battle against his own body.

All three things slipped through his fingers when Richard's mouth covered his, their tongues sliding over one another and mimicking what they were doing. Attention was slowly diverted away and Kingsley lifted from the kiss, his eyes closed against the heated stimulation that slid over his cock. A low groan expressed itself as his head dropped forward and his desire glazed eyes opened to focus on Richard in heavy, slow blinks.

With not enough friction to do more than tease his throbbing erection, Richard heard his own voice give a faint, low moan. He moved beneath the shallow, testing strokes that Kingsley gave him as his hands slid against the scarred torso.

The world and its problems were suddenly something from another lifetime. Reality was Kingsley's heavy body and the hot, spreading tension that it caused moving against and inside his own. More speed, more force and more intensity. Richard wanted it all.

Encouraged by Richard's responses, Kingsley repositioned himself to gain more leverage. His hips pulled farther, plunged deeper, moved faster as the intensity quickly built to a barely controlled frenzy. The room was filled with sounds of their bare flesh connecting with wet slaps, the groans not only from the two bodies on the bed, but from the bedframe itself as it creaked beneath their combined weight and the energy of their coupling.

The control that kept Kingsley so tightly wound together through his day to day activities slipped further and further out of reach with every plunge into Richard's warm and welcoming body. Depending on Richard to tell him when it was too much, Kingsley finally cast off the last shreds of control and let his body dictate the direction they headed in.

All he knew is that he was headed straight up and teetered precariously at the edge.

Heavy, almost brutal thrusts and Richard felt it in every nerve. A hand dropped to his own cock, closing around it and tugging almost frantically as his body finally slipped from his control.

Stripped down to his core, Kingsley couldn't hold out any longer. The heat, the moans, Richard splayed beneath him, the look on the man's face as his hand pulled on his cock...all conspired and succeeded in removing the dam to him cutting loose.

Hissing breaths sucked in through clenched teeth were the only warning Richard had before Kingsley plunged in hard with a grunt, followed by a half hearted thrust again, and another soft wordless sound as he plunged over the edge and released in almost painful throbs, into Richard's body.

It was only a moment or two later when Richard's own muscles locked, his hand slipping in the sudden slickness. His breathing came harshly as his body began to slowly relax. Reaching up, he pulled on Kingsley. He wanted to feel the other man's full weight and to hold the reality of what had just passed between them.

Gasping, Kingsley let Richard pull on him until he was resting full out on the man beneath him. Blood thundering in his ears, he rested his forehead on Richard's shoulder as he tried to calm his breathing to a level that didn't sound like he was heading for a heart attack.

It was a welcome feeling as endorphins began to fade and his body adjust. Lee's weight and bulk combined with the cessation of tension to make him feel utterly at peace.

Peace and an underlying thrill that refused to fade. It was Lee in his arms. Lee who had just taken him into his bed. Lee who had given him muscles that would be sore in the morning and the feel of which would probably keep him smiling for the entire day. He let his hands smooth across the muscled back, lingering a little as he memorized the moment. And it's not even noon.

With a groan, Kingsley let Richard's leg slide off his shoulder, catching in the crook of his elbow before easing it to the bed. Raising up to look down at Richard, he placed a gentle kiss on the man's lips before pulling back. A smile was on his face and he blinked slowly, a very sated air was hanging about him. "How are you feeling? Is everything alright?" His free hand slid down to stroke along Richard's hip and thigh.

"I feel," Richard took a deep, slow breath. "I feel good. Really good. Thanks, Lee."

Kingsley nodded. "It was my pleasure." He wanted to say more, but knew there was a time for everything and this wasn't the time to be bringing it up. Taking a deep breath, he lifted his hips, his cock soft enough to not cause much discomfort. He still winced as the slid out of Richard's body and shifted to the side to lie next to him, his hand resting on Richard's stomach and stroking over his skin.

After a long pause, he nudged Richard gently. "Can I interest you in a shower?"

The feel of Kingsley's hand against his skin was something to be savored and Richard let his eyes close with a sigh. "A shower sounds really good."

"That would necessitate getting up, something I'm unprepared to do at this exact moment." Kingsley pulled and scooted until he was spooning Richard from behind and placing open mouthed kisses along his exposed shoulder. "I can't believe we waited this long..." he whispered.

"If you hadn't answered the door without a shirt," Richard said, leaning back against his friend, "I'd still be waiting. I'm such a fool."

Half rising to look over his friend's body and to tilt Richard's head to look up at him, Kingsley shook his head. "Not a fool." He paused, his eyes focused on Richard's lips before claiming them in a kiss.

Breaking away slowly, Kingsley settled back down behind Richard once more, his hands idly stroking whatever bare flesh happened to be available.

Leaning back against Kingsley's warmth, Richard sighed. He let the breath simply run out of his body as he relaxed. Kingsley's touch was still addictive and the feel of those capable hands against his skin was good enough to be criminal.

Richard wasn't the sort of person who could normally lie idle for more than a few minutes without becoming restless. In Kingsley's arms he had no desire to get up or even to move beneath the gentle attention. Sooner or later he'd have to get up, take the offered shower and face the world. With all his heart, he wanted it to be later.

Kingsley allowed himself the luxury of just holding his best friend. He had no idea where this would go, if it would go anywhere. There was a part of him that did want it to go farther. But he wasn't one to push, so he wouldn't.

As their bodies cooled and a chill shivered through his body, he placed a wet smacking kiss on Richard's neck. "How about that shower now before we catch cold."

"All right." Richard was feeling very relaxed and still not terribly enthusiastic about moving. However, if Kingsley was going to get up and move, Richard was damned if he'd be left behind. He remained perfectly still, selfishly wanting to hold the moment.

Reluctantly, Kingsley left the warmth of the body beside him and rolled out of the bed, to stand next to it. Waiting for Richard to get up as well, he led him to the bathroom and started the shower, turning the water to a pleasant temperature of hot.

He gestured for Richard to go on in. Kingsley stepped back out into the small hallway to retrieve two towels and a small bottle of shampoo.

Richard leaned against the wall of the shower, relaxing into the hot water. Reality was the job and having to eventually go home to feed This and That.

It's hard to be a realist when your inner teenager is shouting 'I just had the most incredible sex with my best friend'.

Lee's arms around him and the remembered ache in his gut were reality too. When Kingsley returned to the shower, Richard was standing under the spray, eyes closed and wearing a broad smile.

Kingsley stepped into the stall to watch Richard. Leaning back against the tile, the bottle of shampoo forgotten for a moment in his hand, he allowed his gaze to run unashamedly over the man's lanky, and finely muscled, body.

It was the expression on his face that stole Kingsley's breath away, however. He hardly remembered seeing Richard smile so...beautifully. It was amazing to watch. Unfortunately it had a very deliberate affect on his body. "I'm jealous of whatever you are thinking about to cause you to smile so," he said softly.

"Pointless," Richard told him, not bothering to open his eyes. "I'm thinking about you."

If Kingsley could have turned beet red, he would have. As it was, his face just heated. His mouth wouldn't work since his stomach managed to become infested with butterflies who decided to start kicking up sand all at once. "Me..." he finally breathed out.

Clearing his throat, somehow his voice managed to sound a bit strained anyway. Fighting many emotions at once, the least of which was the rising desire in his body for Richard once more along with the thrill to know that it was he who made the younger man smile like that. "I brought you...some shampoo..." Kingsley's voice trailed off. The shampoo really seemed irrelevant at the moment, as he was rooted to the spot by the water sluicing over Richard's pale skin.

Opening his eyes, Richard held out a hand for the promised shampoo. "You. Who else would I be thinking of at a time like this?"

"I..." Kingsley stopped. Handing the bottle to Richard, he leaned back against the tile once more to watch the man wash his hair.

He had been bald for a very long time, not wanting to make the effort to maintain hair at all. As a result he vaguely remembered what it was like, so Kingsley took the opportunity to live vicariously through Richard.

Richard didn't mind the attention, lathering his hair and letting the hot water play across his hands as he rinsed the suds away. He could almost feel Lee's eyes on his body and the rush of pleasure that he felt knowing that Lee wanted to look was enough to make him draw out the process for as long as possible.

Unable to keep his hands off any longer, Kingsley stepped forward to brush body against body. Hands rose to bury in the wet hair, arms winding around Richard, his fingers aching until they could touch the softness as water rinsed away the soap.

"You have the softest hair, Richie," Kingsley whispered, his mouth close to the other man's, watching up close the expressions that moved across Richard's face as he scrubbed gently across the man's scalp. A pleased murmur was the only verbal response. Richard kept his eyes closed against the fall of water and soap, concentrating on the hands tangled in his hair and the closeness of Kingsley's body to his own. It was greed that made him lean forward, seeking to taste Lee's mouth again.

He couldn't resist. Richard was leaning forward, and Kingsley with whatever little resolve he had in just keeping this as a shower, shattered. Slanting his mouth over Richard's, he possessed the man once more in a kiss that was nothing short of devouring. Skin scrubbed clean had a distinct taste that was sharp and sweet on the tongue. Perhaps it was a combination of the water chemistry with freshly washed soap against the skin as the dead cells are sloughed away to leave new, fresh skin exposed.

It was a taste Kingsley felt on his tongue as his mouth moved down over Richard's neck to suck gently at the join of his shoulder. Arms closed like steel bands around Richard's body and he pressed the man against him, his flesh beginning to stir once more.

I did that. Richard's broad smile was back as he savored Kingsley's reaction. Tilting his head to allow better access to his throat, he closed his own hands over Kingsley's hips. Relishing the closeness and the strength of the arms around him, he let go of any thought of restraint and leaned into Kingsley's muscular bulk. He'd tasted what Kingsley had to offer and his body was already clamoring for more.

A moan echoed sharply off the tiled walls, Kingsley felt it vibrate not only in his own chest, but it seemed to bounce off his skin as well. His hand slid down between them to cup Richard gently, his fingers kneading and palming the soft globes that hung between Richard's legs. Lifting and pressing the soft sac against Richard's body, Kingsley palmed them gently before his hand slid back up between their bodies to grasp the younger man's cock, giving it slow, even pulls.

Hands slipped a little in the streaming water and Richard leaned one shoulder against the tiles to help him balance. He didn't think he'd be able to keep his feet for long if he didn't. The hand wrapped around him was demanding his entire attention, but he wasn't ready to give in just yet.

Richard hadn't managed to explore Kingsley's body as thoroughly as he'd liked. Although Lee had looked his fill, Richard had been more distracted and his opportunity to play voyeur had passed while he was thinking of other things.

White hands against a dark chest, flicking at the pebbled nipples before moving downward. The water gave a strange extra dimension to the feeling of skin on skin and Richard followed the flow until his palm brushed against heated flesh.

Everything I've wanted and more.

The heavy length in his hand brought another of those pleased smiles to his lips and a soft gasp as his body again responded sharply.

Just Lee.

Kingsley's breath caught in his throat, but he refused to relinquish the prize he had held with his mouth. If anything, he became more demanding in the kiss. Desperate to taste more, he deepened it for just that. His hand tightened on Richard's cock, the strokes along the hard flesh determined to feel the man's body tighten again, to watch the flush of coming as it would spread across his face.

For many long years Kingsley had wanted to have this, to have Richard, but early on learned to push it to the side so it wouldn't ruin their friendship. Although it would be very easy to beat himself up for not taking the chance sooner, in a way, Kingsley decided, this was the best way it could have happened. Both of them older and better able to appreciate each other now. He couldn't be sure they would have been able to earlier in their friendship.

All of that mattered little at the moment. The only thing that mattered to Kingsley was that he had Richard, it was in the present and the man felt very good to his touch.

The onslaught of physical and emotional sensation was too much to resist and Richard's body took him by surprise, reaching a second abrupt climax with almost no warning.

Richard's coming again caught Kingsley as much by surprise as it apparently caught Richard himself. He eased off the kiss until their lips just brushed against each other and he smiled. "Very nice," Kingsley's voice purred just beneath the sounds of running water.

Rinsing his hand, Kingsley picked up the washing cloth and soaped it into a full froth before swiping it over Richard's body to wash away the semen. He took his time and made sure to wash and rinse every available surface on Richard.

Leaning back against the tile, Richard absorbed the attention. He felt so good. So completely comfortable here with Lee. He also felt more than a little weak at the knees.

Not a man to resist an impulse, he waited until Kingsley moved to rise the cloth before leaning heavily against the larger man and sliding to his knees in truth. Again, pale hands against dark skin and the feel of muscles beneath skin. Richard let out a soft, contented sound and pressed his face for a moment against Kingsley's thigh.

Water sluicing down over both men, Richard had to close his eyes against the falling water. Pressing his mouth against wet skin, he let his sense of touch guide him, hands finding Kingsley's cock and closing again around it. He leaned forward, mouth following the path of his hands, tongue dragging against drenched skin before finding quite another taste. Closing his mouth over the head, flicking his tongue against it for a moment, he smiled.

Watching his friend go to his knees was nearly enough to send Kingsley off right there. He blew out a breath, his head tilting back. The warmth that swallowed him, being very different from the warmth of the water, caused his hips to flex. Kingsley wanted to thrust with abandon, to shed the building desire that gripped him in an instinctual need to move.

His hands went to Richard's shoulders to steady him. Looking down and watching his cock disappear into his friend's mouth was a picture he wasn't soon going to forget. Kingsley returned Richard's smile, his eyes blinking slowly as he allowed the sensations to carry him off into a floating good feeling of contentment.

Richard slid one hand to rest on Kingsley's hip, the other still wrapped around the cock that he was slowly devouring. Lee made him feel like nothing else mattered, as if there was no world outside this time and space, and it was a feeling that he wanted to return.

Suction and slow movement as he adjusted to the heavy length, taking it in and savoring the taste and the feeling. There was a possessiveness that he could feel, long denied desire and emotion combining as he moved his head, dragging his tongue against the underside of Lee's cock. He had Lee now, no more need to turn his mind to other things.

Every sense was filled with his best friend and Richard stopped thinking of anything else.

Richard's movements were slow and deliberate, which only added fuel to Kingsley's burning fire of need for the man. It wasn't just his hot mouth, but it was who's mouth it was that sucked along his length that sent his nerve endings in search of a place to explode.

"Richie..." Kingsley's voice nearly growled out in warning. His sac tightened and pulled against his body, hips rocking slightly, unable to stop. "I...can't...hold..." his throat became tight and strained as he fought against the rising tide of his orgasm that was intent of happening, whether he wanted it or not.

Head falling back, his breathing became erratic as it rasped in the moist heated air of the shower. His fingers combed through Richard's hair, hand becoming tense as it rested on the back of his head.

He tried to fight the impulse to pull Richard's head down onto him in a gruff motion. Hips flexing twice before a strangled grunt echoed through the bathroom when he came and filled Richard's mouth.

Richard's fingers tightened for a moment as he swallowed, eyes still closed and sodden bangs falling into his eyes. He remained on his knees, letting the hot water wash against him as he cleaned everything away. Pulling away, letting Kingsley's cock slide off his tongue, he pushed his hair out of his eyes and smiled up at the older man.

Several deep breaths were necessary to his head clear and to prevent loss of muscle control in his legs. When Kingsley was able to breathe again without having to think about it, he pried his eyes open. Still quite blurry from having come, he looked down and smiled at Richard. "Thank you," he whispered over the shower spray.

He reached down and hooked a hand under Richard's arm to pull the man to his feet. Not giving his friend time to get steady standing, Kingsley covered the man's mouth in a kiss and tasting himself on Richard's tongue.

Trusting Kingsley not to let him slip, Richard leaned into the kiss. So strange to find himself here and feeling Lee’s mouth on his, a heavy weight of satisfaction and contentment spreading through him. It was like having just enough to drink, knowing that you’re drunk but not caring and all’s well.

A slight cooling of the water went ignored as Richard closed his eyes again and let his senses stay focused solely on Lee.

Finally pulling away, the cooling water not going unnoticed by Kingsley, he slid his arms around Richard and held him close. "I suppose we should get out of the water." Fingers pushed Richard's hair out of his face and pulled down the side of his cheek, eyes watching their path with intense interest.

Richard had always been attractive, but as the years went on, the man seemed to just get better with age. There was a maturity to his features. The small signs of stress were beginning to show around his eyes. Stress from responsibility or from his job, it was difficult to surmise. Kingsley found himself not caring. The man was still incredible in his eyes.

Reaching around, Kingsley turned off the water and snagged the two towels for them to dry off. "I don't have a hairdryer. Sorry. Sullivan decided years ago he took offense to being hair dried when I would spritz him for a bath."

Richard laughed. Taking the towel and working the water out of his hair, he imagined Sullivan's reaction to a hair dryer and couldn't help it. "I don't use a dryer anyway," he admitted. "It just slows me down."

Eventually managing to dry off to his satisfaction, he wrapped the towel around his hips and smiled at Kingsley. "Still interested in talking about cooking?"

With a chuckle, Kingsley went back into the bedroom to pull his soft pants back on, discarding the towel at the foot of his bed. "Does this mean I still have to put a shirt on?"

He stood in the middle of his bedroom, hands on his hips, knowing he needed to remember something, but couldn't place it readily. Sighing, he decided to make...tea! Racing out of the bedroom, Kingsley dove towards the kitchen to save his teapot which was beginning to glow red as the water had boiled out already and was beginning to turn the pot into a glowing mass of metal.

An embarrassed smile covered his face as he walked back into the bedroom, the cookbook in hand. "We may have to forego tea today. Or at least..." he gestured out to the kitchen, "wait until the teapot cools."

"You don't have to put on a shirt," Richard told him, laughing. "Without my glasses, you're just a very large brownish blur."

Hunting somewhat aimlessly for his glasses, he added, "we can wait for the tea." Turning to look over his shoulder he grinned wickedly. "I'm not in any hurry."

It took Kingsley a moment to remember where he had seen Richard's glasses last. He wandered out into the living room to pick up Richard's pullover and shirt, the glasses reflecting the light as they sat right where Kingsley had placed them.

"Found them." Kingsley shouted out as he walked back once more to the bedroom. He handed them to Richard and laid out the man's clothes on the foot of the bed so they wouldn't wrinkle before he collapsed onto the bed to sit against the headboard. Flipping open the cookbook, Kingsley thumbed through the pages to see some of the recipes that his mother had bookmarked.

Richard retrieved his glasses, trying to comb his wet hair out of his face with his fingers. The wicked grin returned as he moved to the side of the bed. Crawling onto the bed he moved to Kingsley's side and leaned heavily against him, pinning one of the older man's arms to his side and resting his chin there as he read over Kingsley's shoulder.

Feigning interest in the book for several pages, Kingsley nodded thoughtfully as he flipped through the cookbook. Clearly however, his mind was not on what he was looking at, but the warm body pressed against him. With a snap, he closed the book and tossed it onto the bed by his hip. "Right, then."

He shifted, slouching down to recline more than sit. With a swing, he lifted his arm to wrap around Richard. His head rolled as it rested against the back and he regarded Richard with a smile. His free hand, slid over Richard's side and up his arm, coming to rest on his bicep.

His eye was drawn towards his hand. Kingsley rubbed over the skin with his thumb, tracing over the tattoo that wrapped around Richard's upper arm. "This is new, isn't it?"

Richard relaxed against Kingsley, pushing his glasses slightly askew. Richard was very fond of bare skin and close proximity and he was feeling very smug. "If by new you mean 'since I saw you five years ago', then yes. I went out with a few friends of my uncle's one night and they decided I needed to be inked."

"In some ways that five years seems like such a long time, in others it hardly seems any time has passed at all." Kingsley didn't meet Richard's eyes, keeping his focus on the inked skin. He hadn't expected to feel the pang of loneliness to hit him quite so hard, but in that moment, it did.

His thumb gently stroked over it, half expecting to feel something different about it. "It suits you." Looking up then, he gave Richard a smile. "I wouldn't think it would, but it does."

Richard smiled sleepily back at him. Lee's hands on his skin felt very, very good. He'd missed Lee's company during the second war and the months that had followed, but that was in the past. Here and now was all about bare skin and the improbable discovery of himself in Lee's bed.

"I'd never thought about it. It's a Muggle thing, after all. My Uncle is a crazy French artist and he spent a little too much time in America, I think." Richard looked down at the thumb caressing his skin. "I'm pleased that you like it."

Kingsley shrugged and allowed his head to drop back again to rest against the headboard. His hand slid back down the arm to grasp at the hand. He pulled it to wrap around him and scooted closer to Richard, if it were possible to get any closer to the man. "It's very...you," he said.

"It'd better be," Richard told him, turning as Kingsley pulled on his arm and leaning even more heavily against him. "It's not as if it will wash off if you get tired of it."

"Very true." With a laugh, Kingsley turned his head to raise an eyebrow at Richard. "It doesn't appear that we are getting much of the cookbook looked at." His hand waved towards the closed book by his leg. "So did you have any other plans for the day?"

His voice grew low and soft. "I could do with some lunch. I seem to have exerted myself this morning and now feel a bit peckish."

"Seeing you and getting a little shopping in so I could cook," Richard answered. "That was all."

The note in Kingsley's voice made Richard smile. "Food sounds like a great idea."

"Don't you need a shopping list?" Kingsley shifted enough to snag the book with his fingertips and pulled it into his lap. He flipped it open and looked at the pages at random. "Of course we could go to lunch at the Leaky Cauldron and talk about it, if you are inclined. Make the list there and then we can head out to get the ingredients."

Richard turned and pulled the book out of Kinsley's hands. "We'll bring it along, take a few notes." He sat up, turning again and looked down at Kingsley for a long moment. Leaning down, he caught at Kingsley's ear with his teeth before murmuring, "and after we're done with lunch and the shops, I'll have to go back to my flat and feed the puffskeins."

Once empty, dark hands slid up the bare skin at the edge of the towel. A low, throaty moan vibrated through his chest with the touch of Richard's teeth, the waft of his breath, the closeness of his body and the heat of his skin. "Can't have This and...That...starving now, can we...?" Kingsley's voice caught in time with his fingers curling against Richard's sides.

Turning his head, Kingsley brushed his cheek against Richard's, keeping his voice low to speak into his ear as well. "So...a late lunch then? We can avoid the rush."

"A marvelous idea." Richard pulled slowly away and got to his feet. "I should probably get dressed first."

Kingsley whimpered softly, his eyes blinking slowly before he could focus on Richard. Already he missed the body heat that was so tantalizingly close. "Well, I suppose."

If Kingsley Shacklebolt were the kind of man to pout, that would have been the closest he would come to it. With a sigh, his hand passed over his lap and the slowly reawakening hardness. If he thought about other things, it would pass.

Things like the paperwork currently spread over his coffee table, or ...Richard spread over the work on the coffee table...

Kingsley frowned, he would have to do better than that. But seeing the focus of other things on Richard's face as he started gathering his clothes, there would be no getting the man back into bed at this point. With a heavy sigh, Kingsley rose off the bed and padded over to his closet to find clothes to wear as well.

It took Richard a few minutes to make himself look presentable. There was little hope for his hair. Unbrushed, it persisted in falling forward into his eyes despite his glasses. Finally finishing pulling his clothes on and hanging the towel neatly in the bathroom, he returned.

Richard scooped up the cookbook and flipped through it one final time. "The Leaky Cauldron, then?"

For Kingsley, it was by design that he no longer had to worry about unruly hair. Pulling on some casual clothing, he nodded absently at Richard's question. "Unless you had somewhere specific you wanted to go."

"The Cauldron will be fine." Richard grinned at him. "Just fuel to be getting on through the day with."

Kingsley nodded as he gathered up the work on his coffee table and placed it in the safe in his bedroom. Setting wards against intrusion, possibly more than were really necessary, he slipped into his shoes and gestured to the door with a smile.

Richard quit the apartment, cookbook tucked under one arm, and waited for Kingsley to finish setting his wards and guards. He enjoyed watching Lee work, whether it was magic or investigation. Unlike his own sometimes narrow focus, Lee always seemed to be aware of what was going on around him. The energy and intensity made the older man an imposing character, although Richard almost never thought of him in that light. It had never been difficult for him to separate Lee from the Auror, Kingsley Shacklebolt. Perhaps that was why nothing really seemed to have changed....

Heading down the stairs and out to the street, Kingsley stretched in the sun and sighed. "Mind if we walk? It's not far." He pointed down the street back in the direction of the Ministry. "It's such a pretty day..." his voice trailed as he started to walk towards the Leaky Cauldron.

"Walking is good for you," Richard laughed. "And pleasant days at this time of year are to be savored."

It was a beautiful day and Richard wore a broad grin as he walked. Despite the workload, the questions and the uncertainty, he was absolutely content.

The walk was short and pleasant, made in a comfortable silence as the two men simply enjoyed each other's company. They entered the Leaky Cauldron and were seated quickly. The lunch crowd had indeed already thinned by the time they arrived.

Kingsley spent a great deal of time in the Cauldron, due to his not having any time to cook for himself. The waitress took their orders with a smile and left Kingsley and Richard to their drinks.

Gesturing to the cookbook he grinned. "So...when can I expect my first culinary experience from you?"

"That depends on how you feel about chocolate sauce," Richard told him, flipping the book open again. "All I've got at home right now is dessert fixings. I tend to buy just enough for a few meals and use it all up or it rots in the back of the cooler."

Kingsley pulled the book so that they both could look at it from the side and he started to flip through some of the pages. "My mother makes a really good stew that comes from out of here. Or Ogi, Dundun and Tuwo Rice," he flipped to the pages that were marked. "Puff Puff is really good, along with Ewa or Akara..." he tilted his head to look closer at the recipes, "those are bean balls and really good."

"Tell me what you're in the mood for," Richard said, making mental notes as the pages turned. "We can do something tonight, if you'd like."

"Sounds good." After thinking for a moment, Kingsley flipped it open to the stew recipe. "My mother also sent some spices that would be hard to get a hold of. And we can do without the FuFu, I think we might need to get some of that sent as well. I think fresh bread will be alright." He looked at Richard with a raised eyebrow to gauge if the fresh baked bread might be too much.

"Seeing that it's just after noon there's enough time to allow it to rise," Richard allowed, doing the calculations in his head. "All right. I think I have a pretty good idea of how this will go."

With a smile, Kingsley leaned back and watched the other man across the table from him. Although Richard's focus took him along other lines of thought, it was sheer joy to watch the man absorbed in them. He was still silent and watching as the waitress brought out their lunch.

Once he settled into eating he waved a chip at Richard. "So. We head back to my place to get the spices, head to the store to pick up the rest, then to your place to feed the mouths and start the bread?"

"Sounds like a plan." Richard grinned broadly as he dug into his own meal. "You can stand around and hand me things."

"That I can do. I'm good at standing around and handing things. It's all mother would allow me to do. Naomi is just as bad now." Kingsley remembered with a smile. It had been almost a year since he had last seen his family and he was starting to miss them.

He resolved that if they could ever get the Death Eater business under control, he would go see them. But he knew how that went. At this rate it would be a while before he could.

Richard frowned a little, watching the expression change on Kingsley's face. "Do you want to make this a working lunch, Lee?"

He waved at Richard. "I...don't want to ruin your weekend, Richie." Kingsley was sincere that he didn't want to drag Richard down with him to work over the weekend, but this whole Death Eater affair was beginning to wear down his patience.

"It can't hurt. I'm not like you, Lee. No one expects anything of me other than carefully organized reports. I'm not looking at the pressure that you are. I have a job and I do it. I'm not responsible for anything but the tasks you give me." Richard rested his elbows on the table and leaned forward slightly. "I don't carry the weight that you do. Give me something to work with, Lee, and I'll do my best . You're not putting anything on me that I'm not willing to take."

Kingsley smiled. "Thank you, Richie. I...appreciate it. I really do." He sighed and leaned back in his chair. "Let's leave it for later. When we go back to my apartment for the spices, I'll grab the folders and we can work at your place for a while, if that's alright."

"We'll have plenty of time while the bread rises," Richard told him. "Don't worry so much, Lee. I know it's been hard since Amelia died, especially because you're doing her work on top of your own, but those of us who are left will keep going. You can rely on us to do the best possible job. Always."

" 'Don't worry'." With a laugh Kingsley reached out to tap lightly on the back of Richard's hand. "You sound like my father." The slow, deliberate motion held his attention as he avoided looking at Richard. Stroking his finger one final time down the center, he pulled away and started to eat again, looking to change the subject for the moment. "Should we get the two bottomless pits something before we leave? Will they be insulted that you went to lunch without them?"

"That will try to chew holes in my socks, probably while I'm still wearing them. This will either sulk or simply hide under the furniture Monday when I'm trying to leave for the office." Richard made a face, allowing the turning of the subject. "I'll pick something up for them at the market."

Kingsley grinned. "Well, since I will be witness to their behavior I think I can cover for you if you are late." waving at the waitress to bring the check, he started to pull out money as he finished his water.

"Good to hear," Richard retrieved the cookbook and rose to his feet as the waitress arrived. "Back to your place then. Are you going to need to feed Sullivan?"

Leaving the money with a sizable tip on the table, Kingsley nodded and started for the door. "Just need to make sure he has food and water and the door to his aviary is open so he can go in and out."

The trip back to Kingsley's flat was just a quick. After getting in the door, the wards disarmed for the moment, Kingsley moved efficiently through the rooms pulling together what he would need for the rest of the day. Work from the safe, spices, food and water for Sullivan all were done quickly. Richard wasn't even given time to sit down before Kingsley was ready to go once more.

Warding one final time, he turned to Richard with his armload of stuff. "Next stop, the market I think."

Richard was laughing as they left the flat. "They should call you the human whirlwind. It's been a long time since I've seen you move that fast. What did you have with your lunch, espresso?"

"Oh...the energy came long before the lunch." Kingsley looked at Richard with a meaningful glance. "Besides, I don't want to be the one to explain to your puffskeins why you were late getting back to them. I thought I would save you the aggravation of having to soothe ruffled fur."

Richard turned a look on his friend that could only be described as smug. "Is that so? Good thing I'm naturally a morning person, then. As for This and That? They'll make a fuss anyway. They tend to get their fur ruffled when I bring people into their home."

If Kinglsey could have blushed, he would have. But he did turn a big grin on Richard instead. "Morning person...I see. Well...that is something we'll have to test later then, won't we?" Turning down a street, he headed towards the market. "You never did write up that list. Know what you need?"

"I memorized the page numbers," Richard told him. "And you're in charge of finding the stuff that I can't pronounce."

They walked through the doors and Kingsley looked around to get his bearings. "It's all in the spices...I think." He liberated the book for a moment to check the list of ingredients. "Right. All in the spices. Want to split up and meet here when we are done or stick together?"

"Split up, probably. I can remember what I need, I think." Richard grinned wryly, as he looked over Kingsley's shoulder. "I want as much time as possible for this."

As Kingsley wandered off in a direction, his attention high on the signs to find the aisle he needed to head down, he nodded absently. "I'll meet you up front then, when I'm done."

Long experience guided Richard's footsteps. A few necessities and the items that he needed for Kingsley's dinner took him a relatively short time. He knew that he was grinning, couldn't help himself and didn't really want to. His inner teenager was gloating happily and it showed.

Kingsley's own short list took him little time as well. Where he couldn't find an exact item, he found ones that would be good substitutes since the important part...the spices, were already taken care of. Wrapping up, he made his way to the front of the store to wait for Richard.

Apparently the younger man had finished before he had and was waiting for Kingsley before they moved to check out. "I think we have the good makings of a meal here, Richie." Kingsley paused and looked at Richard with a critical eye. "Are you sure you don't mind doing this?"

"The sheer, unadulterated hardship of having you help me make dinner is incredible, but I think I can bear up." Richard smirked. "I'm sure it will all prove worthwhile."

Shaking a finger at Richard for his snark, Kingsley put on his best stern face. "You just remember that when I start to get underfoot." With a smile, he unloaded Richards arms and waited patiently to pay for their items and be gone.

Once out the door, he and Richard both loaded down with bags and files, Kingsley gestured for Richard to lead on. "I have no idea where you are holed up these days."

"Two streets from you," Richard told him, turning to the right and starting off. "A pleasant surprise, I hope."

It was a very short walk and Richard escorted Kingsley into his small, ground floor flat with a flourish. This and That greeted their entrance with enthusiastic growls that turned quickly to complaints as they spotted the intruder. Familiarity apparently counted for little on their home ground, and they promptly formed one ball of fur and growled softly as Richard put down the shopping and went to release them from their cage.

"Pleasantly surprised, yes...very." Kingsley smiled and walked with Richard to his apartment. Hearing the growls from the cage, Kingsley couldn't help but laugh. It was quite comical that two very small puffskeins could pose such an ominous threat, but they did try, to give them credit.

"Oh how fickle is your friendship, This and That, that you would greet your good friend Kingsley thus." He looked around briefly and spotted the kitchen. Heading towards it, he scooped up the other bags to take them in as well, setting them on the counter.

Upon being freed, This immediately disappeared under the nearest piece of furniture and That attached himself firmly to Richard's ankle, which occasioned much French profanity from the auror.

Watching from the doorway of the kitchen, Kingsley crossed his arms and chuckled at the sight. "If my being here is too disruptive, we can try another time."

"If you try to walk out of this apartment after causing this chaos, I will hex you," Richard threatened, finally managing to pry That off of his sock. "Let me take care of the bread and you can set up your paperwork over there."

With a crooked grin, Kingsley retrieved his files and went to the coffee table that Richard had gestured at and set up. At first he sat on the edge of the sofa, but eventually ended up sliding into the floor, his legs tucked under the table as he sorted through the files trying to find the pink paper that had their 'list' with notes scribbled in the margins.

A soft, crumpling noise drew his attention downward to reveal This, just barely visible beneath the edge of the couch, tiny teeth and paws entangled in the edge of a piece of lacy pink paper.

Kingsley sighed and looked at This has he held the one thing that was needed to get any work done. Now he was caught in a conundrum. If he took the sheet of paper, This, who already hated Kingsley, would be even more difficult. If he let This keep it, then their list would disappear, and it had important notes on it.

He settled on a compromise. Ripping the paper just below the last item, they were both able to get what they wanted.

Sort of.

This retreated all the way beneath the couch, growling softly. As he disappeared, the sudden rush of tiny feet heralded That's arrival, just before he leaped straight into Kingsley's lap and bounced off his muscled chest with an almost audible 'thump'.

Picking That up, Kingsley watched the space where This used to be and listening to the soft growing noises that could still be heard. "So was that a charge against the evil dragon or are you just happy to see me?"

That proceeded to gnaw on Kingsley's fingers, making a sort of low, purring hum.

"I'll take that as a 'happy to see me'." Kingsley rested his hand on the table, palm up, with That still nestled and chewing happily. With one hand, he began to shuffle through the papers, trying to get organized for when Richard would be out and they could talk.

It was a quarter of an hour before Richard reappeared. He had a light dusting of flour on one elbow and on his pant legs, but seemed none the worse for wear after his activities in the kitchen. Biting back laughter, he scooped up That and dropped to the floor beside Kingsley. "So what do you have for me, Lee... and where's the rest of my notes?"

"This is currently making any last minute notations under the sofa." Kingsley turned to smile at Richard. "I was able to salvage the full list. He just has some blank bit of it. I didn't have the heart to just take the whole thing from him."

"I'm sorry about that," Richard apologized, foiling That's attempts to escape and return to his newest chew toy. "So, show me what you have."

...fade to black in a flurry of paper work.