The sun sank behind buildings and bled out across the ocean. As its light left the sky, pale arms folded around honey rich skin. When Angel opened his eyes he found he was entangled, half laying on what the raven had become. His body didn’t hurt as badly as it had, but it still gave him a twinge when he tried to shift his hips. He could feel the blanket low around his waist. Fingers smoothed his hair out of his face. Dallieh knew he was awake. Angel didn’t want to move. If he just lay there, he wouldn’t have to think. He felt the ribs within his embrace expand as soft skin brushed against his forehead.

“You had a nightmare.” Dallieh’s voice was a gentle purr into his hair. Angel always had nightmares when he slept. This time had been no different from any other time... but someone else had been there to make a note of it. One of Dallieh's hands traced the line of his cheekbone and smoothed down his jaw while the other pulled him closer in an embrace. Now Angel moved but it was to wriggle in closer. He hadn’t meant to. He’d meant to only embrace him back and release him. What was the matter with him? He didn’t want to move.

Finally he let out a big sigh and crossed his wrists over Dallieh’s chest, resting his chin on them and meeting those ocean eyes. Dallieh smiled at him, a smile that held a little bit more mischief than Angel was prepared for. In that moment Angel slowly became aware of the fact that all that separated them was a pair of threadbare knit pants that Dallieh had thrown on just before he’d joined him in the bed, before he changed.

“Well good morning, beautiful. Do you feel better?”  

He did feel better. Trapped in that expression by those eyes, he felt like he could forget anything. How did he do that? Angel smirked and squinted at him, half afraid to say anything. 

Dallieh’s gaze shifted down to his wrists and then back to his face. His expression changed just a little, became perhaps a bit more feral. “If you’d like, I can eat him for you?”

Angel cocked his head and furrowed his brow which made Dallieh giggle and grab his face in both his hands, tip his forehead to his lips, before laughing again.

“Come on, I gotta make you something to eat. I was afraid you were starting to get the idea I was a chicken with how much your stomach was growling.” Dallieh’s tone was playful and he crinkled his nose as he spoke, letting his smile once more affect his speech. Angel blushed as Dallieh carefully disentangled himself and sat on the edge of the bed, stretching. Had he missed something? Dallieh hadn’t said this much to him at once in months unless he was reading to him. What had he meant by... eat him?

Angel watched him cross the room. He had marks from the blanket all across his skin and his pants were riding too low around his hips. He raked his hand through his hair as he settled in front of the cabinets and opened one with his other hand. He was craning trying to see something and then fishing, trying to reach just a little further than he was tall enough to. There wasn’t anything up there. If there had been Angel would have known. When he pulled his hand out with a little canister in it, Angel’s brows rose in surprise. Angel recognized it before he’d even set it down on the counter.

“I had coffee? Why didn’t you tell me I had coffee?” Angel’s bemused tone made Dallieh turn around with a big grin, obviously quite pleased with himself.

“You have it now. I’ll make you some.” 

Who the hell was this ridiculously adorable man in his house? Hiding coffee in his own damn cabinets. Shameful behavior! What else had he stashed that Angel hadn’t found? 

“You need music.” It was almost an afterthought Dallieh added, as he once more turned back to his task. Angel still wasn’t over the secret stash of coffee. What did he mean, he needed music? He opened the refrigerator and Angel could almost hear the beat Dallieh was moving to. Something in his head was dictating his motion. If he moved like that in silence, what would it be like if there really was music playing? Angel had a radio. He thought for sure that Dallieh must have seen it. He was still rummaging around in the refrigerator. He had more stuff in his hands. Even before he turned around Angel knew what he was going to say.

“We’re gonna have to go out later, if you feel up to it. I want to get a few things and... if it’s alright with you we can pick up this little system I have that I think will work. It’s all wireless so you won’t short-cord yourself. It works off a satellite so you won’t need anything else with it, and... it already has a bunch of stuff on it because I had it linked up to my computer. It’s not much, but it’s better than just the radio. You can download anything you hear that you like too. That’s what I liked about it. If something plays on it, you can just push a button and add it to the songs that are already saved.”

That wasn’t what he thought he was going to say at all. Who the hell was this imposter?! Angel just blinked. For once he was the one who had been struck mute. Dallieh continued to chatter while he cooked, occasionally hiking his pants up. Even without the blanket marks, his pale skin looked so inviting. Angel sighed and settled down onto his wrists with his head canted to the side so he could watch him. What had he meant by eat him? His eyes strayed across the blankets and then to his own fingers. He looked back at Dallieh and propped himself up on his elbows. Only then did he see, when he had crossed his wrists and rested his chin upon them, he had revealed the bands that encircled his arms like cruel bracelets. Every place the rope had pressed into his skin was now discolored. Angel scowled and pulled the blanket over himself. He had seen, perhaps not the worst of it but he had seen and was still across the room cooking food for them. He had called him beautiful. He had smiled. At least now Angel knew that Dallieh was probably talking about whomever had caused the bruises when he asked about eating someone, but he hadn’t acted offended by Angel at all, just the act that had been committed against him.

He was brought out of his thoughts when coffee appeared in front of him. Dallieh scowled when Angel tried to move with the blanket. He could tell this just wasn’t going to work even before the coffee was placed on the table a few steps away and Dallieh returned and knelt in front of him. There was so much concern in his eyes.

“Angel, stop. I don’t see anything you don’t want me to see.” What was he saying?

“I don’t have anything to hide.” Angel’s tone was defiant but his voice cracked.

“No, you don’t.” Dallieh smiled and tilted his head to the side just a little. “Come on. Let’s get you dressed. Breakfast is almost ready and then... we can do whatever you want so long as it involves stopping by a store that has food and getting music. The rest of the night is yours.” 

Angel didn’t even have a chance to argue before Dallieh opened the closet. His hips swayed, almost imperceptibly as he leafed through its contents. Angel wanted to die in the blanket. Instead he got up and walked over to join him with it pulled tightly around his shoulders. Quick as a bird Angel reached past Dallieh and grabbed a couple things and ambled back to the bed.

He heard the closet door close but hadn’t expected him to be right there behind him. He hadn’t expected arms around him when he dropped the clothes on the bed and found himself just staring down at the hands that crossed over his chest.

“Angel, if you wear that it will hurt you.” Dallieh was right but he had little other choice unless he was going to wear something he wouldn’t be caught dead in when they went out. Dallieh seemed to pick up on that thought and tipped his chin forward. Angel could see he was smiling. “Think I’ll fit in them? We’re switching.”

Dallieh turned him around and sat him down on the bed, still securely folded in the blanket. Then he handed him the coffee. Angel looked up at him with raised eyebrows when he snatched the clothes he’d picked off of the bed and clasped them to his chest. Dallieh turned around, swinging his hips a little bit more than he should have, and then stopped stone still.

“Oh damn. How bout we each enjoy a little modesty before we start this adventure, huh? I don’t know about you, but I’m not wearing any underwear.”

Angel just about choked on a sip of coffee and finally couldn’t help but giggle. Dallieh had turned around with a very shocked look on his face holding his pants away from his hips while the other hand demurely held the clothes Angel had picked for himself against his chest. When he dropped the waist of his loose pants, they almost fell clean off of him anyway. Angel forced his eyes away from the exposed line of flesh before him, up the curve of the torso to look at his hands as Dallieh leafed through the clothes he held against his chest. His expression lightened and he extended his hand towards Angel with balled up black material in his fist. “Here.”

Angel watched with one eyebrow raised as he tiptoed over to the stove to check on what he was cooking and then disappeared into the bathroom. Finally, Angel relaxed his death grip on the blanket and obeyed, putting his coffee down only long enough to pull his underwear on before grabbing it back possessively. How had Dallieh known to make it just right? He’d never made Angel coffee before. What had come over him? What had he meant by switch? It was obvious he was not giving him his clothes back and he was probably right. The waist to most of his pants would sit right around an area where the bruises were darkest.

The bathroom door swung open and Angel had to put his hand over his mouth so he didn’t spit coffee all over the room. Dallieh had emerged but he still held the clothes tightly against his chest. The only thing that had changed was now, instead of wearing the loose pants he’d slept in, he was only wearing a pair of skin tight boxer briefs. He looked down, then looked up at Angel with a shocked expression on his face again.

“Ooops, forgot a step.” His voice sounded sheepish even though Angel knew he had done it on purpose. He blinked twice and then lost it, Angel just about died laughing. Between the look on his face and his inability to process exactly what he thought of Dallieh standing there in only his underwear he couldn’t help himself.

“D, are ya tryin’ta kill me?” 

Now Dallieh got a sheepish expression that went with the tone in his voice. Angel would have been happy if he’d thrown the clothes on the floor and just climbed back into bed with him. There was something so inviting about the sight of his skin.

“Let's see if this all fits, shall we?”

He walked into the middle of the room and let the clothes flop next to his feet. Now when his hips canted off to the side Angel had to check himself and force himself not to squirm. Did he have any idea how beautiful he was? Gracefully he bent forward and grabbed the pants. He didn’t look at Angel at all, just slipped one foot in and then the other, smoothing them up lean lines of muscle until he finished buttoning the fly closed at his waist. The material clung to him showing off everything Angel wanted people to see when he wore them. Now on Dallieh... Angel flushed. It was like a reverse strip tease. This was the first time Angel had seen Dallieh in anything other than nondescript, loose, black. He pulled the shirt on and posed with a smile that could have paled the sun.

“So?” 

Angel let his eyes stray up and down the man before him slowly. He had woken up... in those arms. This person was the one that listened, for whatever reason, listened to him. He was, in that moment... perfect. How could he tell him that? He couldn’t, but it didn’t mean he couldn’t have some fun. He got an evil little smirk over the edge of his coffee cup.

“If I tell ya I hate it... will ya takem’ all off again?” 

Dallieh walked over to him. He put one knee between Angel’s knees and the other to the outside of his legs, drawing him back into his embrace. Angel turned his head so his cheek rested against the smooth line of his belly and closed his eyes. Why did it feel so good? He had so many questions. Maybe now... maybe now he could ask some of them. Cool fingers tipped his head back so that their eyes met.

“I’ll tell you what, if you really hate it, you can take them all off of me when we get back. I’ll wander around in nothing but my skin if it keeps that smile on your face.” Dallieh had said it seriously, somberly, and Angel could see the lingering touch of concern in his eyes. Angel didn’t know what to say. Dallieh walked back across the room to check on the food and Angel fought to find where all his sense of reason, or ability for thought, had vanished to.