When September Ends

Chapter 10: A Place For Them Alone

"Harry."

Tom's voice purred directly into his ear, his hot breath wafting across the back of his neck. Harry groaned and burrowed deeper into the covers of their bed.

"Come on, love. It's five AM. Time to get up."

"Bloody out of your mind." Without lifting his head the raven swatted clumsily at him, missing and grumbling something unintelligible under his breath. "Five AM. Out of your mind!"

His husband chuckled, running his fingers through his black hair and grinned widely when Harry started to make a sound similar to a cat's purr.

"Have you forgotten what day it is?"

"Remind me at nine."

"Doll, if I remind you at nine we would have to leave at nine and then we wouldn't have the proper time left to do anything once we do get up to our cabin."

It was a lucky thing that Tom had the reflexes he did, because otherwise Harry's forehead would have knocked his teeth out as he bolted upright and, fumbling for his glasses, tumbled out of the bed with a thump.

"We're going to the cabin? The road trip! That's today?" he shoved his glasses artlessly onto his face and focused on the hand which Tom had reached down to help him back up.

"Yes, my love. The road trip is today and we're going to the cabin." The brunet drew his much smaller form in close and bent to kiss him, chasing the last bits of drowsiness away and not caring that he hadn't had the chance to brush his teeth yet. "Now, you are packed aren't you?"

Harry nodded.

"Good. I'll go and load up the car while you take a shower and get ready; we should be able to hit the road by six."

"How long will the drive take again?" he asked. "I can't remember."

"Well, the most direct route takes about three hours to get out to the area, and then another thirty to actually reach the cabin. Of course we'll be taking a route that is a bit more scenic and should reach the cabin at around noon with all of the stops included." Tom kissed him again, this time on the tip of his nose, before stepping back again. "Go on love."

"You don't want to come with me, Tom?" he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, or at least as suggestively as he could manage. "Though it seems as if you've already had one. It shouldn't be too hard to get you dirty again."

"We won't have the time to do what I'm hoping to at the cabin if we spend time together in that way now." He cupped his cheek, gently rubbing his thumb along the curve of his jaw. "With how long it's been I can barely restrain myself, but I think it will be better to wait until tomorrow. On our anniversary. Perhaps I'm just being a hopeless romantic but..."

"No. You're right. It's better to wait. It'll be...more special that way." Turning his head before Tom could react to pull away he pressed a kiss to his palm before bounding away into the bathroom.

The mirror was still steamed up from the shower that the brunet had taken before him. Harry quickly stepped out of the night clothes that he'd been wearing and jumped in, turning on the hot water and grabbing the bottle of shampoo that he normally used before putting it down a moment later and picking up Tom's instead with a small smile.

He dried himself quickly with the towel that hung on the rung, brushed his teeth, threw on clothes and ran outside after only just barely bother to take a brush to his hair.

As Tom lifted a bag of unrecognizable outdoor equipment into the hatchback of the blue SUV Harry hadn't realized had even been in the garage the skin tight T-shirt that he wore over a fitted pair of blue jeans rucked up a bit and revealed a flash of his wash board stomach. His air dried hair shown a glossy brown in the soft grey light of early morning, the gentle curls and waves of it lying perfectly in place without any effort put into it all at. Meanwhile his stuck up in every direction, giving him the appearance of a poodle that had stuck its tail into a light socket.