Chapter Text
“Fu- uck”, Jacobi pants, gripping the headboard so tight his knuckles whiten. Kepler tightens the hand buried in his hair and snaps his hips harder, gratified at the broken groan ripping out of Jacobi’s throat. “L-like that, yeah, f-fuck, perfect –”
His head thrown back, Jacobi shifts, freeing one hand to jerk himself off with frantic motions. Kepler pulls his hair harder, heat pooling low in his belly. His balls tighten when Jacobi clenches around him, meeting his thrusts as he pumps his cock faster, the slick sounds mingling with the slap of skin on skin.
Closing his eyes, he digs his fingers into Jacobi’s hips. His thoughts are splintering, losing all coherence as the world shrinks to the two of them.
“Turn over, baby, I wanna see you, wanna see you come –”
Jacobi’s thrusting into him, kissing him, holding him, stroking him kissing him fucking him fingers in his mouth moving deep in him –
Biting down hard on his lip, Kepler chokes back a cry when he tips over the edge. Jacobi has no such self-restraint, barely muffling his own shout in the crook of his arm. Kepler fucks him through it until his legs give out, and he collapses over Jacobi’s back, bringing them both down on the bed.
Resting his face between Jacobi’s shoulder blades, he tries to catch his breath. Blood rushing in his ears, all he can hear is his own heartbeat, thundering against his ribs. His lips brush over Jacobi sweaty skin as he breathes, and the impulse to kiss him that wells up is so strong that it knocks the air right back out of his lungs.
Channeling it into a sharp bite to his shoulder instead, Kepler heaves himself up. Jacobi whines when he pulls out, but immediately flips over and stretches, groaning.
“You’re heavy.”
Kepler grins at him. “Was that… an insult to a superior officer I heard?”
“Ugh, no. Awww, did someone get his feelings hurt?” He reaches up to flick Kepler’s nose. Kepler catches his hand halfway, squeezes it before dropping it back in his face.
“We’re leaving in twenty.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. Dibs on the first shower.”
All traces of languorous afterglow gone, he disappears into the bathroom. Kepler hears the shower turn on. An image of Jacobi in there flashes across his mind, tantalizing in its vivid details.
Scrubbing a hand over his face, Kepler shakes himself. Then he gets up, and starts looking for clean clothes to wear for the drive home.
*
At the office, he rations his touches carefully. Jacobi never initiates anything there. He always looks away first when Kepler’s eyes linger on his for too long.
While in the field, they both know the order of priorities. The job always comes first, any stolen moments for the two of them is a lucky bonus. Several hours unaccounted for, to spend in a hotel room however they see fit, is a luxury.
Kepler arrives at work each morning hoping for a new manila folder on his desk, signifying a new assignment for them. In the meantime, he claps Jacobi’s shoulder when he passes by his desk in the outer office, and looks away when he catches him eating lunch, shoulder to shoulder with their newest recruit. She laughs at something Jacobi said. He wonders what it was.
“Hi, boss!”
“Jacobi. Maxwell. I'll be expecting both of you at the gym later.”
“Yes, sir”, they answer in chorus, waving absentmindedly at him, already reabsorbed in whatever they did before he interrupted them.
He waves back, but doubts either of them see it.
*
“Those blathering idiots –!”
Kepler massages his temples, pacing back and forth over the same five square feet of carpet as he has for the last ten minutes. It’s simply unbelievable what a low bar the rival company they’re set to prime for Goddard absorption has set for their scientist, that’s obvious even to a layman as himself! It’s –
Jacobi groans, louder than before.
“Kepleeeeeer. Come here, sit down. I can see your headache, it’s making my head hurt.”
He holds out his hand, and Kepler glowers at it for a moment, then relents, sinking down on the bed beside him. Jacobi hums, and swings his leg around Kepler’s back, bracketing him between his thighs. The first gentle touch makes him flinch, but Jacobi just whistles quietly.
“Jeez, man. No wonder you’re so grumpy.” He digs his fingers into the knots in Kepler’s neck. “One more day of making nice, then we’ll go back and you can ask Cutter very nicely to just let us steal their secrets instead, so you’ll never have to deal with them again.”
He kneads at a particularly tense spot, his strong, dextrous hands just as skilled at this as wiring a bomb.
“Hhhnnnnn….”
“That good, huh?” Jacobi chuckles, and does it again. Kepler moans. “Wow, you like this. Heh, you know what you could do instead? Angle your pitch to Cutter so they end up on Rachel Young’s plate. It might turn into a hassle for us anyway, but it’d be funny to watch.”
“Jacobi.” Kepler gropes for the words, his mind growing fuzzy under the warm hands working the muscles in his shoulders. “Shut up.”
“Sure thing, sir.”
Kepler glances at the clock. Just over two hours until their dinner reservation, that’s plenty of time. The tension is already melting out of him, the heat of Jacobi’s hands flowing down from his shoulders to pool in his chest, in his stomach, in his groin. Sitting snug between Jacobi’s legs, he can feel it’s getting to him, too.
Breathless, he waits for the deft hands to creep forward. For Jacobi to unbutton his shirt, unbuckle his belt, to kiss him with a quip about scientifically proven stress release… It doesn’t come. Jacobi just keeps kneading his shoulders, digging his thumbs into tight spots on the back of his neck, his thigh muscles flexing when he shifts to get a better grip.
Kepler could make a move, of course. Turn around, twist away to – to –
He slumps, his eyes slipping shut. Jacobi’s hands are strong, and firm, and so, so warm, his breaths hot and steady against his ear. All Kepler wants is to lean into him, sink down on the bed, and sleep without having to let go. Screw the business dinner, it’s a lost cause anyway. They could…
Jacobi's lips are soft and dry, the kiss featherlight and chaste. His hands have slowed to a much softer caress, and his nose tickles Kepler’s hairline as he kisses the nape of his neck again.
Soapy suds running down his body, Jacobi’s caressing him, holding him, kissing his neck…
Kepler’s breath catches.
“You have to forget this ever happened.”
As if he ever could. As if Jacobi was the one who needed the warning most.
Kepler shivers, goosebumps breaking out in the wake of Jacobi’s lips. Daniel. Daniel. His heart thuds against his ribs. Daniel. He wants – he wants –
He can’t.
Twisting, he frees himself from Jacobi’s gentle grip. Pushing him back onto the bed, Kepler climbs on top of him, swallowing his noise of surprise. When Jacobi tries to wrap his arms around his neck, Kepler pins his wrists over his head, and wedges his knee between his thighs. Fifteen minutes, he decides. Fifteen minutes to make Jacobi forget all about tenderness. Then they’ve got a business meeting to plan.
Jacobi licks his lips, his cheeks flushed and his chest heaving.
“Whoa, you good there, sir?”
Kepler answers by kissing the smug grin off his face.
*
The rival’s younger representative flirts shamelessly with Jacobi all the way through dinner, from the appetizers until the last spoonful of dessert. Kepler grits his teeth and ignores it.
Afterwards, they stop outside of the door to Kepler’s hotel room. Jacobi leans on the wall, pouting.
“I don’t remember my contract saying that ‘flirting with morons’ was part of my job description.”
“It falls under potential unusual assignments.” Kepler takes out his keycard. “If that was all…”
“But you could’ve rescued me! Saved me hours of –”
“Hours of… what, exactly?”
“Ugh, I dunno.” Then, presumably noting the look on Kepler’s face, he straightens up and smiles, wide and fake. “Always happy to do my job, sir! So… you’ve got any plans for ton-”
“Goodnight, Jacobi.”
“Oh. Uh… goodnight, Kepler. See you tomorrow.”
“Breakfast at 6.45. Don’t be late.”
“Duly noted, sir. Bye.”
He walks away with his hands in his pockets, his shoulders slumped. Kepler hurries to unlock his door, before he caves to the impulse to call him back.