Malcolm x Raylan: Cowboy Surprise

[tinstar]

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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[abrightboy]

"Just a Xanax," he said. "Alprazolam. It's a benzodiazapine. For anxiety and panic attacks." He looked over. "Having both right now."

He put a hand over his chest and took a breath, blowing it out through his mouth.

"It'll pass."

[tinstar]

Raylan slid behind him and slipped his arm around Malcolm's waist to hold him again.

"Let's go lay down then. Maybe that'll help." He was happy to lead them but he wanted Malcolm to say okay and go of his own free will. That felt important, for some reason, when you slept in chains.

[abrightboy]

Malcolm nodded and turned around in his arms so he could lean up and claim a chaste, almost desperate kiss.

"I love you, Raylan. I'm sorry about all the trouble."

[tinstar]

Raylan hummed a little note into it and shook his head at the apology.

"It's not trouble. You're worth all of it anyway. A hundred times over." Kissing him again, Raylan pulled back, slipping his hand into Malcolm's and heading towards the bedroom. Once there, he turned down Malcolm's side before going to turn down his own and crawl in.

"Do you think you're going to be able to sleep?"

[abrightboy]

He nodded.

"We got... what, about three hours on the couch? I've been up for a couple of days. Didn't get much in between there. Had a head injury... I guess it was the day before yesterday now. Just took a central nervous system depressant. I'll sleep. For a few hours. Then wake you up again, probably. Maybe we should have soundproofed the whole apartment."

He climbed into his side, picking up the cuff closest to the edge of the bed and worked it onto his wrist.

"Though I guess it wouldn't have helped. We were outside."

[tinstar]

That meant that Raylan didn't get to hold him exactly the way he wanted to but more sleep for the guy who'd been up for 48 hours was a good thing, so he wasn't going to complain.

"Few more hours then," he said, scooting to snuggle up as close as he could once Malcolm was strapped in. "We can apologize to the neighbours later.. I love you too." The kiss into Malcolm's shoulder following that was mandatory.

[abrightboy]

Malcolm was still too emotionally piqued not to well a little at that and he twisted to find Raylan's lips with one more good night kiss before settling into his pillows.

For the moment, he stared at the chair in the corner, listening to Raylan breathe.

[tinstar]

Raylan met it, reaching up to cup Malcolm's face as he did, both to touch him and help with the twist before settling back down into the sheets, arm secure over Malcolm's waist. He wasn't letting Malcolm go anywhere and in the future, he'd be quicker to react. Quicker to understand.

Would Malcolm be mad at him over the coming days for having been sharp? He'd have to see.

But for now, the man he loved was in his arms, he was in bed, and it was quiet. For now, it was all that he could ask for. It took about 45 minutes before Raylan finally slipped off, breathing going shallow and even.

[abrightboy]

Malcolm had been startled by the sharpness, but never mad. If anything, he'd have understood an angrier reaction than that.

He knew better.

It took him longer to fall asleep, he was so wound up, but the xanax did its work and slowed his internal buzzing and he finally drifted off. The sun was already coming up by the time he began to stir.

[tinstar]

It didn't matter that it had only be a couple of hours, as soon as Malcolm started to stir, Raylan woke up, never having really gone into a deep restful sleep. It was a bleary kind of awake, but one ready to sharpen if he judged it necessary.

"You okay?" It was an automatic response, an at the ready gauge of how alert he needed to be. He wasn't even sure if Malcolm was awake.

[abrightboy]

Malcolm was not awake. He stirred fitfully, finally pulling at his restraints.

"No! Let me go!" He pulled he other way. "LET ME GO!"

[tinstar]

"Malcolm," Raylan started as he shifted onto one elbow so he could reach over with his other hand, having well gotten his answer, to shake Malcolm. "Malcolm, you're dreaming again. Wake up." The shake turned into a sliding hand up to his face. "Baby c'mon," he followed, a bit louder and firmer than before.

[abrightboy]

"No..." A choked sob as he was shaken. "No..."

But at 'Baby c'mon' he jolted slightly, straining against the far restraint a moment before blinking awake, glancing around - almost frantically at first - but then he saw Raylan's face.

Restraints jangled as he scrubbed a hand over his own face.

"Hi," he said softly. "What time is it? Did I wake you up?"

[tinstar]

Oh good, Raylan thought to himself, no early morning slaps.

He gave Malcolm a soft smile and sighed with a little shake of his head. "Sometime after dawn. Hi." Swiftly unbuckling Malcolm's closest hand, Raylan dropped himself back into the pillows with another breath and rolled over to pull his watch into view.

"Six thirty," he elaborated. "Later than I thought." Earlier than he'd hoped.

[abrightboy]

"What time to do you have to get up?" Malcolm asked, unbuckling his other arm. "Do you want me to let you sleep some more?"

[tinstar]

"An hour, thereabouts," Raylan sayd, rolling back over to drape an arm over Malcolm's center and try lazily to drag him close. "I just want you to lay here a minute."

He was still tired, but he'd find a way to deal with it. Coffee and movement would help. Last night's events, if he could even call a few hours before 'last night', had left a tension in him he could still feel.

"I think you might have accidentally gotten five or six hours."

[abrightboy]

Malcolm was happy to be dragged close and he nuzzled Raylan's jaw with the tip of his nose.

"Five or six hours? Wow. That's two or three nights' worth," he joked softly, hand coming up to rest on the arm draped across him, not noticing the purple bruising on his wrist in the daylight creeping through the window, his eyes closed as he pressed his forehead to Raylan's cheek.

[tinstar]

Raylan hummed softly at the brushing, smiling crookedly at it all and the weight of Malcolm's head on his own. "Maybe we'll add a few more tonight, get you built up for the week."

He took another deep, contented breath.

"You feelin' any better this mornin'?"

[abrightboy]

He smiled languidly, pressing a kiss to Raylan's neck.

"Mm. How could I not? It's warm here and you smell good."

[tinstar]

Like scotch and sweat and warm man, he imagined, smiling more broadly as he shifted his head to give Malcolm a little more room, hand sliding down his back to settle with an idle threat of going further. What could he say, he was that kinda guy in the morning, when given the chance.

"Clearly that means we need to stay here more often. Waste a day in bed or something. I'm sure we can find a way to amuse ourselves."

[abrightboy]

Malcolm lifted his head to look at him with a sly smile.

"...Did you say you had an hour...?" he asked innocently, shifting to slide his hand just under the edge of Raylan's undershirt. "Because that's plenty of time to waste a bit of today in bed and still get some coffee in you before work..."

[tinstar]

Raylan cracked open an eye at Malcolm, lips curling into a broader smile as he shifted his hips a little with a gentle tug of Malcolm's shirt. His off hand was pinned by the situation, but once Malcolm had been urged on top of him, he could do the same and slip his hands under Malcolm's shirt, fingers playing with the waistband of his sweats.

"A whole hour," he replied with a grin as he started pushing Malcolm's shirt up and off him. After last night, if there was one thing Raylan could use, it was some good old fashioned physical reinforcement. "What ever shall we do with it?"

[abrightboy]

On top of Raylan was always a pretty exciting place to be. On top of tousled Raylan in the first light of morning was a damn hot way to celebrate not being a sidewalk pancake.

He tossed his shirt aside, then kissed him eagerly, letting the heat build.

"I've never been bored in your company," Malcolm said breathlessly as it broke, actively pushing his undershirt up.

[tinstar]

Raylan hummed shortly into the kiss, greedily running his hands up Malcolm's shapely back as he was kissed, drawing a sharp breath through his nose as he lifted his head into while it broke away. Yes, this was definitely better than the alternative of the night before.

What would he do without Malcolm?

"Good," he breathed as he lifted his shoulders to help peel off the shirt and toss it to the side, one hand reaching up to draw Malcolm back down into a deep kiss as his other slid back down to grip his hip with a faint lift of his own. "I'd hate for you to get bored," he managed roughly when it broke.

[abrightboy]

The most of an answer Malcolm could muster was a breathy, incoherent noise before he dove into another, hungrier kiss, his hands sliding down Raylan's sides to find his waistband. Pants needed to be off. He pushed at them blindly, unwilling to break the kiss to manage it more easily.