tinstar | Malcolm x Raylan: Cowboy Surprise

Malcolm x Raylan: Cowboy Surprise

Art was suspicious right off the bat when Raylan took a week off with the express note that his phone would be Out Of Order til the next Monday, but the Chief Marshal wasn't going to look gift horses in the mouth. Not when it suggested he'd have a few days of peace, until Raylan caved to turning his phone back on again. Still, he watched the younger Marshal walk out of the office and promised himself to check into the state of Harlan within 3 days to make sure that the place wasn't on fire. The smoke would reach him before he called, he was sure.

But Art didn't have much to worry about - Raylan had no plans on staying in the state for his vacation, beyond one day spent closing up Arlo's and securing it the best way he could before getting on a plane to New York City. He wanted to surprise Malcolm - it'd been near two months since they'd last seen each other and frankly, Raylan was tired of missing him. They'd called and texted, stayed in a fairly consistent, if odd houred, touch but it wasn't the same.

Once he landed, Raylan rented a car and navigated his way towards Malcolm's apartment, stopping to grab a bouquet of flowers. It was.. Extra, but Raylan didn't want to show up empty handed, just in case. Thirty minutes later, Malcolm's door buzzer was being hit, like Raylan was here to deliver something. Well, he was, but that was half the fun.

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Malcolm wasn't pointing fingers; this was all too good to be true and he intended to hold onto it if he possibly could.

If he had any say in it.

He nodded; he heard that note in Raylan's voice. He liked it. He wanted Raylan to feel at home in his apartment. He wanted to be Raylan's home. He wanted to be Raylan's port in a storm as much as Raylan was his. And he couldn't deny that he was. He felt noticeably calmer when the Marshal was near.

He flagged a taxi as they stepped to the curb and, once he'd given the driver his address, he pulled out his phone. "What sort of food do you feel like?" he asked, scrolling down the screen.

As much as Raylan wanted Malcolm to be a permanent port, the fact that he had to go back out into the storm with no real sense of when the next reprieve was coming had him being a little cautious about sinking into it with a full tilt. It would make going without Malcolm harder and Raylan wasn't into setting himself up for heartache, if he could help it.

Humming thoughtfully as the taxi pulled away, Raylan leaned over to peer onto Malcolm's screen. "Got any shitty, fully American Chinese food? I could do with something that has noodles. A lo mein or something."

Still, he wasn't above sinking into Malcolm's everything when the chance was there. Right now, it all felt like a sweet day dream but how solid and far they'd actually get remained to be seen. He'd been burned too many times to be overly naive about it, as much as he would have liked to. Things were sometimes easier that way.

"Lo meeeiiinnnnn," Malcolm hummed as he punched an order in through an app on his phone. "I could probably stomach some steamed rice," he admitted, ordering that too. Scrolling through the menu, he shrugged and ordered some beef and broccoli and some lemon chicken too. They were leftovers he could easily give away if Raylan didn't want them.

"It'll get to the apartment shortly after we do," he said, tucking his phone away again. He looked at Raylan. "Did you have a good time today?" he asked, hoping everything was at least what he expected.

Raylan sat back, pleased, and slid a hand over to rest on Malcolm's thigh, thumb brushing back and forth a few times as he watched the lights zip by the window. The question brought his attention back and with a broad smile.

"Best day off I've had in a long time, if I'm honest. Couldn't tell you how long it's been since I've taken a day off that wasn't mired in hillbilly bullshit." He got to do things he normally didn't, batting included - unless it was late and he was aiming to get drunk and unfrustrated, and doing them with Malcolm had only made it all better. He liked Malcolm's enthusiasm, even about a sport he wasn't particularly into himself.

"Though I'm not gonna lie and say I'm not lookin' forward to lazin' around your apartment most of tomorrow. Since we're indulging." And that's really what all this felt like. An indulgence. Something that he wasn't going to get often or so freely as he'd gotten it this time.

They were lucky his phone was off and even then, there was a chance he'd turn it on to 20 missed calls or more.

"I'm looking forward to it too," he said happily. Happy Raylan wanted to just spend time with him, happy that his big baseball day of fun had gone well. Happy in general, for once. "Gonna give yoga another try?" he asked with a grin and a cocked eyebrow.

"What, with the way it ended last time?" he asked with an innocent look over. "Of course. At least for a few minutes. Might have to stretch first though."

Was he joking? He wouldn't tell or crack until the AM if he could help it, just for a little fun.

"Don't wanna throw my back out."

"I would be happy to... keep an eye on your back," Malcolm offered, with an innocent look of his own.

As the taxi pulled up in front of his building, he handed some money to the driver and got out, leading the way in, unlocking one door and then the other, hanging up his coat, putting the crackerjacks on the counter.

"Mmhmm," was the amused reply that came in turn.

Sliding out of the taxi after Malcolm, Raylan followed him upstairs and hung his hat on the rack before shrugging off his jacket. But as soon as all that was done, Raylan was striding forwards to slide his arms around Malcolm and draw him in. Didn't matter which way the man was facing, Raylan just wanted to get his hands on and around him again.

They'd had a lot of fun, but he missed this, even with all their soft contact over the day.

"Thank you for takin' me out," he said quietly, happily.

Malcolm grinned up at him.

"Out to the ballgame?" he joked lightly, sliding his arms up around Raylan's neck. He pressed a kiss to his mouth. "It was my pleasure," he said happily.

"Mm, it'll be your pleasure," he promised, leaning in to start a deep kiss that was, after only a few long seconds, interrupted by a knock on the door. Raylan groaned tightly, sighing softly as he turned and let Malcolm go and get the door.

"You weren't kiddin' about delivery time, were you." He was hungry, so he wasn't mad about it, but he was surprised. While Malcolm got it all in and sorted out, Raylan pulled out some forks for them both and started a pot of water before getting himself a tumbler and some scotch.

Malcolm also huffed a little as Raylan let go of him, then unpacked the food at the island while Raylan moved around the kitchen.

It was only the second night of a week and Malcolm watched Raylan move around the space like he was at home in it. It made his heart swell. He almost dropped the lid from the rice by setting it too close to the edge of the counter in his distraction and had to fumble to catch it.

"Oops," he said, glad Raylan's back had been mostly turned when the fumble occurred. Maybe it wouldn't be obvious why. "Got it," he declared, setting the lid back on the counter properly.

He didn't catch all of it, but he caught the catch and the almost sheepish look on Malcolm's face. "It get away from ya?"

The scotch was left out and Raylan slid back onto the stool next to Malcolm's with a sly pull of his lips. "You alright?"

It wasn't obvious why; Raylan wouldn't ever really think he had that much or that kinda power. Mainly because nothing in his life had ever proven as such.

"Slipped. ...Condensation." He huffed a laugh. "And I might have been distracted. You were... around." He pressed his lips together and poked at his rice, looking sidelong at Raylan. "Maybe I was considering what it would be like if you were.... around more."

He didn't bother to dig in just yet, keeping the full power of his attention on the man next to him that continued to make little corners of his life better and brighter than he ever thought it could be.

"Back home we call that daydreaming, though it is gonna happen if I have anything to say about it." Assuming things didn't.. fall apart somehow in the meantime. Raylan didn't think they would fall apart, at least not for a while. It always happened after a While.

"You know I even do dishes," he said, like he was somehow sweetening the pot. Raylan glanced around the apartment before finally looking at and digging into his lo mein. "I was uncomfortable here, the first few nights. Even after.." He glanced over and then back to his food. "Like I was a foreign object. A.. contrasting disruption," he finished more confidently.

Take those words, Harvard boy.

"But I've gotten used to it. How things'll be here."

Malcolm's eyes stayed on him as he explained, his smile twitching up a little at 'contrasting disruption'. He always appreciated Raylan's turns of phrase, but the little unexpected ones were the best.

"'How things will be here' is sure a phrase about the future," he noted happily. He leaned over and pressed a kiss to Raylan's shoulder. "I like how that sounds."

It was. Raylan couldn't argue the semantics of the underlying point, but the kiss to his shoulder brought a broad closed smile as he leaned a little into the retreating kiss.

"You're gonna have to teach me how to make your tea," he said softly, eyes meeting Malcolm's. He wanted to know so he could bring Malcolm tea like he brought Raylan coffee. "And when you're most likely to take it. So I can bring you some while you're pouring over a file or something. That's my daydream."

If Malcolm was curious.

Malcolm was curious and the revelation made his eyes widen slightly.

"I like coffee in the morning," he said. "First thing in the morning. Herbal tea after that." He took a bite of rice. "Too much caffeine or caffeine too late in the day ramps my anxiety." He looked at Raylan. "I can show you how to make it after dinner. It's nice after dinner."

"After dinner," he agreed with a soft smile as he took a bite of the lo mein and started digging in. For a man as lean as he was, Raylan had always had the ability to eat, by and large blamed on his very active lifestyle, and since he normally ate alone, he didn't have to even think about how it looked.

But it only took a glance over to Malcolm's almost demurely small bite and careful attention that he paused to take a breath and consider not eating so ravenously.

"I wanna have a library wall somewhere. In Miami. To match your weapon wall in New York."

"I love a good library," Malcolm said happily. A great idea.

He didn't expect anyone to eat like he did. He wished he didn't. He rather enjoyed how heartily Raylan dug into a meal. Malcolm gestured towards his lo mein when he paused. "Is it okay?"

It was something he'd wanted since he got into reading but Arlo would have torn it down and mocked him, and it wasn't worth it. Someday he wanted to just sit down and enjoy a book again. Maybe he could do a little of that tomorrow while they laid around.

"Hm?" He glanced at the food and huffed a smile. "Yeah. Great. Of course, if I wake up tomorrow with food poisoning, I will retract that statement. You just kinda remind me that I should probably not eat as quickly as I do. Helen used to tell me it'd give me a stomachache but it never did."

His mother had told him the same thing but Raylan just.. couldn't talk about her that casually.

"Give you a stomachache?" Malcolm questioned curiously. "Based on what?" A beat. "Well. It gives me a stomachache," he conceded, "but that isn't normal."

"Just based on eatin' fast. I saw other kids get it. Fat kids mostly," he admitted with a half huff of a breath that might have suggested humor but he wasn't making jokes. "Never me though, no matter how quickly I scarfed something down. Still, I try to make it look.. respectable in public."

"You're not in public," Malcolm pointed out. "You're at home."

"Yeah," Raylan agreed with a half pull of his smile. "Doesn't mean I shouldn't take it easy once and a while." And, as though to show that he wasn't put off from it by the conversation, Raylan took another bite.

"Why'd you order so many plates though?"

Malcolm glanced around at them.

"I don't know. I guess I figure you might want some variety. Or something later. Or something in the morning." He shrugged a shoulder. "I don't really keep food around. There should be something around, right?" He pointed towards the beef and broccoli with his fork. "And I am giving serious consideration to a piece of broccoli."

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