on most nights, during the nuzzling and the cuddling, sam sleeps. soundly, softly, with no invasive horrors from days past. but this time? this time he's living it all. thousands of dead, pokémon and people alike. thousands of screams, both races. fighting, surviving. bombings, plundering. governments turned savage and rockets turned horrified.

in the end, nobody will win. one side will always be deemed a villian. and harmony? it's not possible.

but the horrors of the past leak into the present within his dreamscape. the abuse. the horror. the fear. the anger. his own rage. it boils and seeps and that look, that horrified look in knox's eyes...

but it's interrupted. by what? a smell.

food.

what he smells, what he craves, food.

the smell of it drifts into sam's nose and pulls him from the horrific lull of his sleep. a gasp through his nose and the snapping open of his eyes indicate it. there's a racing heart inside his chest and he doesn't know how to calm it; until the soul who called his name finally registers to his brain and anchors him harshly into reality.

"hey... sorry," he shifted in the blankets, not truely registering knox's words. "i didn't slee-"

sleep well, he didn't sleep well, that's what he was going to say. but something smelled good and his boyfriend looked very chipper.

"what's that smell?"

knox prescott

"yeah, you nearly beat the shit out of me while you were sleeping," knox says with a grin on his face. he peppers kisses over sam's nose and his cheeks and blows his minty breath over his lips to help bring him closer to the waking world. anything to chase away those terrors of his. 

even if he could have stayed in bed. then, perhaps, sam would have stood a better chance.

his own nose twitches and his stomach growls hungrily. "birthday breakfast," he says simply and then clambers off of sam so the boy can see the smorgasbord of food laid out behind him. 

"planned some stuff for today. i know. me? planning?" he winks. "i think you're gonna like it though."

samuel carter

☉

had he really though? would knox still be placing all of these kisses if he'd nearly beat the shit out of him in his sleep?

yes, he would. they're dysfunctional but sam's happy so he refuses to find the motivation to complain or worry and instead, allows knox to have his way with him before he gets up and off of sam. like a magnet, sam follows the energy and tries to will it into his own body to fuel him into movement.

getting out of bed, for a start. he's used to spending his birthday doing ... well, work. but here knox is, refusing him that.

and he finds himself smiling at the notion of breakfast.

"you didn't have to put yourself through the trouble. but i'm happy to see something has you motivated."

truthfully his birthday present was just waking up to knox. everything else? bonus stage.

"this smells amazing," to show what he means, he moves to wrap his arms around knox from behind, giving him kisses along his shoulders and the nape of his neck. "but all i needed to wake up to for it to be a good birthday was you."

the disgustingly cute thing about that is, he's honest. he means it. from the bottom of what little heart knox has found within him, he does mean it.

"is that oatmeal and coffee?"

ah, but he is hungry.

knox prescott

okay, maybe he was exaggerating a little bit (as knox prescott is want to do). sam had been tossing and turning enough to wake knox up and no amount of spider-monkeying around him had been enough to still the boy in his sleep. so that's when, after some kisses to his forehead, he'd decided to scour local breakfast places for delivery. 

the fruits of his labor seem tempting enough for sam, too. helps that sam is likewise completely smitten with him as well. 'cause though the feeling might still linger, all knox can see in his eyes are gratefulness. and adoration. and is that a little something more?

no, that's just knox, 'cause it certainly feels nice when his boyfriend kisses him in his favorite spot. he shivers a little bit and then decides he'd rather have sam look at him like that, and not the prospective oatmeal and coffee, so he climbs back over him again and hunkers down with a devilish grin. 

"yes, it is. and you'll have to pass me before you can claim your prize."

samuel carter

☉

"oop--"

suddenly he's pinned down to the bed, there's a knox above him, and he smiles. he quite likes this position. this, and when he straddles knox. because he can see every expression knox makes and it always makes sam feel good in return.

service switch anyone? sorry, he's taken.

"oh, i see... well," his shrugs his shoulders and lets his hands begin to glide up from knox's thighs, up to his ribs, and then around his chest, lingering around certain curves until they find his neck and jawline. "tell me, my knox, how would you like me to pass today?"

then, he leaned up a bit to start giving knox's jawline a few kisses.

"should i use my imagination and surprise you?" then his lips found knox's ear, his hand resting on knox's hip, a whisper against his ear. "or do you have a specific request?"

being with knox had made sam hyper aware of the fact that he did, in fact, like intercourse... or perhaps he just liked doing things with knox and knox liked intercourse.

eh; tomato, potato.

knox prescott

it's still new to him, still so wild to him, that he's with sam. and that sam knows all the right places to touch him, to make him shiver with a want that's cloaked in familiarity, a sensation he's never really experimented with before. even ollie had never known him like this. all of his curves and his bumps and his ridges and that sweet spot right on the slope of his - fuck. 

he tightens his legs and curls into sam as the boy's warm breath tickles his ear, the side of his neck. he'd had it in his head that they'd have breakfast and knox would tell him his plan and they'd have a wonderful day of it and la la la la la

this is much better. "you're the birthday boy," he says with a grin, one that sam will feel against his shoulder as knox presses kisses against his skin.

"so what do you want?" knox? relinquishing control? in bed? 

completely unheard of. 

samuel carter

☉

"oh, uh..."

sam had yet to be given control like that over knox. not really. it's why he purposed to surprise knox with picnics under the starlight and other random things. like a necklace with a beautiful gem in it, something like a mystic water item without all the properties cause i'm pretty sure that's against the rules... who knows.

but this? a true gift.

sam smiles into the attention being given to him and caresses each and every spot he knows makes knox wiggle with delight.

"i'm not sure what your body's prepared for or not," sam admits, lips mumbling the words against knox's skin gently. "whether i can take you, or not."

with that, he creates distances, looking in knox's eyes with a soft smile.

"equality is something we strive for in our relationship and... that would give us ultimate equality. if you're not comfortable with it, then i'll choose something else but. if you're asking what i want, i already have you, but equality in our sex life would be nice as well."

but was that too much to ask?

knox prescott

he continues his kissing, only half listening at first, mostly leaning into the feeling of sam's body on his own, on the way they fit together so snugly and how he really wants to shuck off sam's pants and give him his birthday treat a little early, and maybe blow off the rest of the day and - 

oh? 

he draws back, cheeks a little flushed from the warmth of their closeness, lips still parted with heady affection. he tilts his head because he's just a little lightheaded from it all, a little bit drowsy, but he laughs when sam finishes and he shakes his head. 

"you can absolutely have me," he breathes. he simpers, a little teasing, and adds, "i'm usually a bottom, y'know. i mean, i was. before us. you." he blows some air out, deflates, and then reaches up to run his fingers through sam's hair. 

"you can have me any way you want."

samuel carter

☉

"oh... i didn't realize. you know how to top so well."

was that really the point? no, but that was what sam figured. having read up a bit on being a top, to make sure he did it right if ever there was a moment when knox would want it, and come to find out it was something knox had definitely wanted.

the thought of it has him smirking, a little cocky. which is a big deal for sam, given he's rarely so haughty about anything. always cautious, always taking it slow. biding his time. waiting, then striking.

but perhaps he's waited for this with knox for long enough. perhaps he's ready to take it that far, and knox is ready as well it seems.

so he eagerly grips knox and shifts their positions. it's not hard, given that sam's good with leverage and often gives knox piggy back rides for the hell of it. he's used to moving knox's body about. and now? he'll be used to supporting knox's weight in this way as well.

"how flexible are you?" sam asks as he hovers over knox and then gives him a kiss, leaning up enough to mess with his own pants for the purpose of untying and removing them.

"i want to see you as i take you."

knox prescott

he laughs. he's flattered, clearly, and his ego balloons, though it's hard to believe it could get any bigger. he cocks a brow at sam and reminds him, "i used to be a whore, sam," but it really doesn't feel so past tense. not with sam grabbing him and turning him around without warning. he resists, only briefly, and his cheeks warm, brain doing that scrambling thing when sam has the gall to ask him how fucking flexible he is.

and regrettably, he's not very. sam's insisted he start yoga alongside his walks. something about exercising the body to exercise the mind. (and help keep it off the urge to use again, obviously.) he's stuck with the walks, but most of the yoga has just ended up with him in child's pose, having fallen asleep.

he twists his upper half and looks at sam with both admiration and bewilderment, lips still tingling from his kiss.

"now?" he says, a bit dumbly. "you've been awake for five minutes and you want...you're already..."

his gaze wanders down to sam's waist, where the boy is already tugging down his pants.

"you are so ridiculous and hot and ridiculously hot and i love you and i'm flexible enough for this, gods."

samuel carter

☉

sam is pretty sure whatever rambling just fell out of knox's mouth was literally just knox's version of the blue screen of death. it has sam smiling, fondly. he pauses and places his hands on knox's hips, hands slowly sliding from there down.

all while his lips praise the body above the waist. his ribs, those pale pecs, the tender pink circles attached; wouldn't wanna use the word they're actually called and get banned.

"i was thinking missionary..." the position he was thinking about is whispered while he kisses along the pale body before him.

truthfully, he adores knox. he hopes it shows in the way he's treating him. sure, sam could go any way that knox wants. soft and tender or the complete opposite.

"so i can see you blush, and the expression you make when you ***."

that's naughty kids, stop stalking.

knox prescott

never in his life, cross his heart and hope to die, would he have thought that some guy saying i was thinking missionary so contemplatively could drive him fucking bonkers. he bites his lip while looking up at sam's thoughtful face and he resists every urge to grab those cheekbones and yanking the boy on top of him. 

which he should have done, really, because knox is left completely and utterly without any words. and sam might not have meant to, but he manages to get half of what he wished for right then and there, because knox's face goes scarlet. 

rather than sexily pull sam on top of him and wrap his legs around him like he'd considered doing only moments before, he raises his hands to his own face to hide himself. 

"fucking gods, sam."

samuel carter

☉

sam sees just how he's managed to get knox, of all people, to blush and it's oddly... satisfying. why does he like it so much?

instead of figuring that bit out, he'll leave that for his therapist to figure out, he instead focuses on the fact that he very clearly stated that he wanted to see the blush and now knox is covering it! no no, he can't have that.

so without a second thought, he snakes his palms and fingers up knox's body, up the sides of his torso and up to his arms and wrists. he holds gently, but pull knox's hands off of his face and hovers over knox, pinning his hands above his head.

"i said i want to see you blush, knox."

knox prescott