"Let's go back to the apartment," he suggests, petting Apricot's head on their way past, too.
"I don't want to be interrupted." It's Duplicity, so this could have a distinctly suggestive tint to it - and it doesn't not, honestly - but it's not foremost, either.
He leads the way back, quiet through the darkened house once more, and reaches down to scoop Nibbles up to keep him from running out the door as they come back through.
"Nothing special." He's forgotten next week is significant in any way. He shuts the door to keep Nibbles in and sits on the bed. "Did you want to do something?"
K has gotten much more comfortable with Nibbles over the month they lived together, and he tucks him close against his chest both to keep him warm and to scratch idly along the side of his head and ear - which masks the slightly deeper breath he takes as he tucks one leg under him to sit on the bed across from Jesus, facing him.
"I talked to some people," he starts, calm, but that's deceptively easy for him. "Vrenille is willing to let us use the Manor, and Barry will help me cook, and Sara has cleared all the rules I had there for a minute, so - if you wanted to. If you still want to. I thought we could have a Thanksgiving meal just a bit early."
In all honesty, Jesus had forgotten he'd ever mentioned Thanksgiving to K.
Though K hides it well he saw that quick intake of breath, and he realizes there's just a touch of nervousness in his friend right now. It melts away any apprehension he has about the holiday. He looks down, letting himself just feel the startling strength of affection it brings on.
"Yeah," he says, emotion thick in his voice. "I'd like that."
K is confident in his ability to read people, and he remembers how Jesus had reacted to even the suggestion that they could maybe try to do something here. He's sure he saw what he saw, and in the reactions of the people he's asked since he's seen similar - it'll be good for everyone, he still believes. What he's less confident in is if something may have changed since then, or if he missed something.
K had intended to lean heavily on V at the time, of course, so that's one aspect that changed - but he's watching Jesus's face until the moment he looks away, and that faint tension lifts from him on an exhale.
"Yeah?" he echoes, lips tugging. "You can invite anyone you want. I haven't given any firm details to anyone so we can still change anything, but - I was clear that no fighting will be allowed."
That's what brings his eyes back to K. He remembers now telling K that was why he didn't celebrate; holidays were a tense time for him, full of a lot of angry, hurting boys seeking to take it out on each other, and a lot of staff who would rather have been with their own families instead.
He reaches up to cup K's face and just kisses him, and then just keeps kissing him.
K hadn't bothered trying to anticipate how Jesus would react; he had hopes, of course, but he'd already decided that if Jesus balked then that was that. No harm, no foul.
This is much better. He smiles as soon as he feels Jesus's touch on his face, and leans forward into the kiss; Nibbles slides out from between them and he lets him go, shifting forward a bit to be closer, taking his time with the kiss, too.
"I do," he admits the next time they break for breath; he does want that, he wants Jesus close, he wants to know what happens next after whatever that is he saw briefly on the other man's face in the half-light of the room.
"Is that okay?" Whether they do this, or more, or less. He just wants him to stay.
"This is where I want to be." And he would want to be there even if K said no, even if this moment he had to pack up Nibbles and go. This is where he's wanted to be for a few days now.
"Then stay with me," he says, warmly; the backs of his curled fingers trail lightly along the shape of Jesus's jaw through his beard, smooth carefully around the side of his neck to cup there when he leans his forehead close.
This time he doesn't kiss him as long, because then he's pulling K towards the bed, urging him to sit so Jesus can straddle him and give him full attention.
Jesus has seen a glimpse of how strong K is; he's the only one in Duplicity, besides the guards that didn't even know K's name or his serial number, how he wouldn't be able to move K if he didn't want to be moved, if he didn't allow it.
But for Jesus, he twists and bends and settles at a touch. Jesus barely has to pull at his hand before K is following him, barely has to turn back towards him before he's sitting and reaching to rub his hands up Jesus's back, pulling him close where he settles in turn.
Something has changed about how he says it though - resigned more than resolved, duller than before. He doesn't want to hurt Jesus, hurt Sara, be hurt.
K doesn't rush him. When he'd been sitting alone in a cell he'd found that he'd missed this, with someone he chooses to be near him anyway, with someone who chooses to be here. He strokes his fingers gently along the back of Jesus's neck and lets him stay there as long as he will.
"She needed a win," is the first thing that comes out of his mouth. She'd been upset with him in prison of course, but there was nothing any of them could do about that, not without signing a formal contract; and that was... before.
After all the grief from the pit, after Donna disappearing though, K had looked at Sara and seen something different. Something he could do something about.
"And I needed... something. Some space. Some room." Some time.
"I wish I could give you that." He breathes in the scent of him, K's skin and his sweat and the fabric of his clothes and the tobacco. He's missed this. "I used to be really good at finding people safe places to be."
"My job was dangerous," he says after a moment, voice low. "I rarely closed a case without being injured in some way, and I accepted that. I accept that. I'm not afraid of pain."
He could have taken fewer risks, been hurt less, but he always wanted the replicants he tracked down to have as much of a choice as he could.
"But this place goes after something else, and it doesn't fight fair. I don't think any of this is safe."
"I know." This place prioritizes the sorts of relationships Jesus studiously avoided having during the fall. The type that he has consciously chosen not to pursue.
"None of it is safe. But no relationship ever is, K."
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"Talk about what?"
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"I don't want to be interrupted." It's Duplicity, so this could have a distinctly suggestive tint to it - and it doesn't not, honestly - but it's not foremost, either.
He leads the way back, quiet through the darkened house once more, and reaches down to scoop Nibbles up to keep him from running out the door as they come back through.
"Do you have any plans for next week?"
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"I talked to some people," he starts, calm, but that's deceptively easy for him. "Vrenille is willing to let us use the Manor, and Barry will help me cook, and Sara has cleared all the rules I had there for a minute, so - if you wanted to. If you still want to. I thought we could have a Thanksgiving meal just a bit early."
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Though K hides it well he saw that quick intake of breath, and he realizes there's just a touch of nervousness in his friend right now. It melts away any apprehension he has about the holiday. He looks down, letting himself just feel the startling strength of affection it brings on.
"Yeah," he says, emotion thick in his voice. "I'd like that."
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K had intended to lean heavily on V at the time, of course, so that's one aspect that changed - but he's watching Jesus's face until the moment he looks away, and that faint tension lifts from him on an exhale.
"Yeah?" he echoes, lips tugging. "You can invite anyone you want. I haven't given any firm details to anyone so we can still change anything, but - I was clear that no fighting will be allowed."
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He reaches up to cup K's face and just kisses him, and then just keeps kissing him.
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This is much better. He smiles as soon as he feels Jesus's touch on his face, and leans forward into the kiss; Nibbles slides out from between them and he lets him go, shifting forward a bit to be closer, taking his time with the kiss, too.
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There's innuendo in there, but there's also not; they've spent nights where this was all they did and he's enjoying this.
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"Is that okay?" Whether they do this, or more, or less. He just wants him to stay.
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But for Jesus, he twists and bends and settles at a touch. Jesus barely has to pull at his hand before K is following him, barely has to turn back towards him before he's sitting and reaching to rub his hands up Jesus's back, pulling him close where he settles in turn.
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"How long do you have with Sara?" Before the contract runs out.
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"A couple weeks. I have to go back to the Down December 1st."
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Something has changed about how he says it though - resigned more than resolved, duller than before. He doesn't want to hurt Jesus, hurt Sara, be hurt.
He just also doesn't see a way around it.
"I don't know what else to do, sweeting."
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"I do too. I wish any of this made sense."
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After all the grief from the pit, after Donna disappearing though, K had looked at Sara and seen something different. Something he could do something about.
"And I needed... something. Some space. Some room." Some time.
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He could have taken fewer risks, been hurt less, but he always wanted the replicants he tracked down to have as much of a choice as he could.
"But this place goes after something else, and it doesn't fight fair. I don't think any of this is safe."
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"None of it is safe. But no relationship ever is, K."
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