Chapter Text
S1E5 continued
Gamby needed to see Lee, he had to tell him his feelings and how he didn’t like being replaced by Seychelles. Ms. Swift said she hadn’t seen him when he asked at her desk. Gamby sighed because he was possibly ignoring him, he didn’t want that. He called Russell’s phone but noticed that it went straight to voicemail. Gamby felt uncomfortable visiting his family but it was an emergency and he needed to fix what he did wrong. Now wasn’t the time to tell his wife about their affair. He couldn’t wait any longer, hopping into his car and pulling from his new parking space, he sped off.
By the time Gamby turned around the corner and pulled into the street that’s Russell’s neighborhood he parked his car in front of his home. He prepared to confront the man when he heard slamming across the street. Neal looked over to see Lee thrown into the driveway and kicked relentlessly. Without another second he reached into his glove box pulled out the confiscated brass knuckles and exited his car. He armed the weapon in his fist getting ready to defend Lee, he hid his hand behind his back and marched to the large neighbor. He heard the man yelling at Lee and Gamby felt pure adrenaline take over.
“Hey! Hey! That’s enough right there! Step away from Mr. Russell! Leave him alone right now!” Gamby felt his fist shake as he clenched the weapon in his hand hoping it wouldn’t slip. As he approached the man’s property he heard a faint weak ‘Gamby’ from Russell and his heart fell from his chest.
“Who the fuck are you? His boyfriend?” Jackie turned his full attention to the vice principal trying to calculate if he could take Neal. Which he was confident he could.
“Yes, his partner! If you keep kicking him then you and I are going to have to talk it out.” Lee laid back down defeated knowing that Jackie could beat the both of them to death. He didn’t want Gamby to be hurt in the process. The neighbor sniffled his nose and spit on Lee showing his dominance and ownership of him.
“What are you gonna talk to me about, motherfucker?” He turned his body and started to charge towards Neal. The man prepared his fists to punch the smaller of the two men. Gamby took a deep breath and watched as time slowed down for him. He clenched the brass in his hand and calculated where to hit…
“My feelings.” He struck him in the temple with the brass knuckle and watched the over six foot man crumble. He put the weapon in his pocket and rushed over to his bleeding friend. He whispered out his name seeing him clinging to the concrete. It made Neal’s heart sink seeing his face covered in blood and holding his injured stomach from the brutal kicks. He knelt to see if the vice principal was alright.
“Holy shit, Gamby.” Russell said as Neal grabbed his arm and lifted him from the floor. His eyes were glossy and wild from the shock pulsing through his veins. His ears rang and his legs were like jelly when he tried to stand. His body felt like pure shit but he was overjoyed to see Gamby that it made the pain more tolerable.
“You okay?” Gamby grabbed at both his shoulders seeing how unstable his composure was.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m okay.” Russell could feel the wetness of blood across his face and he tried to clean up the best he could with the back of his hand. He looked Gamby in his worried brown eyes. He felt like bursting into tears from the pain and the relief of being saved by his friend.
“I owe you an apology. Maybe I haven’t been the best business partner.” He brushed the foreign debris from Lee’s vest to clean him better. But his hands stopped and grabbed onto Lee’s clammy soft hands. He held them in his palms just as he envisioned.
“Business partner?” Lee asked, confused.
“You know, partner in the partnership. You know what I’m trying to say… I’m willing to try harder. It’s just been a long time since I’ve been in a partnership of any nature with anybody. And I’ve forgotten how to do it.” He looked down at their interlocked hands and rubbed the back of Lee’s bloodied hand with his thumb in a caring gesture. He looked back up into Lee’s glossy hazel eyes.
“I-I don’t want to take Belinda Brown down by myself, I don’t think I even could.”
“To be honest Gamby, I had all my own shit going on over here, and it’s just been fucking me all up. I lashed out at you before I knew your comfort in a… business partnership. And I’m sorry…” Russell wiped the trailing blood from his soaked lips. The metallic taste seeped into his mouth as he licked what remained blood. He returned his hand into Gamby’s warm grasp.
“What about Seychelles?” Neal asked, making sure that their partnership was secured.
“Oh please, fuck that fucking fruitcake.” He spitted blood as he wiped away more from his covered lips.
“Fuck that whole Fines Arts department.” He said laughing through his statement.
“Fuck the Fine Arts department.” Russell tried to put his hands on his hips but flinched in pain returning to his relaxed state. The two chuckled in agreement.
“Partnership back on?” Lee asked shyly looking into Gamby’s brown eyes.
“Re-engaged.” The two men shook on it and firmly held the seal of approval. Lee looked into the other man’s eyes and felt those same fluttering butterflies return. He wanted to kiss him at that moment, it felt right. He leaned forward close to Gambys face but hesitated from his nose blood. Neal saw he was covered, but didn’t care. He connected their lips and kissed through the blood. He deepened the kiss and savored the unique taste. Strangely he wasn’t grossed out at the taste but welcomed the warm liquid into his mouth. Gamby nipped gently on the other man’s bottom lip. The two looked at each other, blood smeared on their lips, eyes wild, and their breathing growing raspy. Neal could see Lee’s tongue peek out and lick the remaining blood on his lips. He went back in and kissed him once more before breaking away forgetting they were standing next to an unconscious man. Lee tried to take a step closer but hissed out in pain and latched onto Neal’s shoulder.
“Fuck! I’m fucked up Gamby!” Lee started to rest his weight on his shoulder and groaned out in pain. Gamby swung the injured man’s arm over his shoulders and wrapped his arm around his thin waist. He could easily drag Lee around because of their size comparison.
“Just a few steps to your house, Lee.” The man protested saying he didn’t want to go to his home, but Gamby’s instead. Lee said he didn’t want to worry his wife and also if the cops came they would be there. Gamby nodded in agreement walked Lee over to the passenger side of his car and gently let him collapse on the leather.
…
“Let’s get you cleaned up before you make yourself comfortable in bed.” Gamby still holding Lee by his waist, walked them inside the bathroom. The two barely could fit but Lee slithered his way down onto the lip of the tub and made himself a seat. He groaned, placing his head in his hands trying to ignore the pulsing pain from his nose and abdomen area. Gamby gave the other man a worried look, multiple times on the drive to his place he asked Russell if he needed to go to the hospital which Lee protested.
“Here take this.” Gamby handed a bottle of extra-strength ibuprofen and a glass of water. The injured man gladly took a couple of pills and chased them with water hoping they’ll perform a fast miracle. He groaned looking at the glass of water now turning into a faint pink color from the blood on his face. Gamby took the glass from him and prepared a warm wet washcloth with little soap.
Lee looked up at Gamby, his mouth hung open since his jaw was killing him. The bleeding from his nose stopped but the throbbing pain of being punched in the head was unbearable. Gamby sat down on the closed toilet seat beside Lee. With the lightest touch, Neal pressed the washcloth to Lee’s face hoping to rehydrate some of the dried-up blood along his jawline. He used small circles to gently remove all the dark red blood from his face and clean up the dirt that stuck to his sweat. He rinsed out the cloth and added more water to the towel. He returned to continue cleaning up any other missing spots when his hand was stopped by Lee’s. The older man took the same washcloth and wiped away the blood remaining on Gamby’s lips and mustache. He made sure to get every bristle he could find tinted red. Once cleaned up he tossed the washcloth in the tub and wrapped his arms around Neal.
“Lee, are you okay?” Gamby asked, returning the hug. He wrapped his strong arms around Lee’s weak frame and kissed his temple. The older man leaned back to look at Gamby, he caressed his jawline and guided Neal’s lips to his own. The two kissed tenderly, the younger man didn’t want to hurt Lee so he gently kissed him not wanting to cause pain. The kiss was short and sweet, Gamby was the first to pull away. He offered Russell his hand to help up shuffle to Neal’s bedroom.
“Did you want to sleep in your clothes or did you want to wear one of my T-shirts?” Neal asked if Russell would be comfortable changing but was surprised Lee accepted the t-shirt. Lee started to pull the hem of his vest up when he groaned out holding his shoulder. The larger man stood up and delicately pulled the smaller man’s cotton vest from his body. Next was his bow tie and button-up short-sleeved shirt. This was going to be the first time Neal saw Lee shirtless.
“Did you still want me in the room?” Gamby asked while not making direct eye contact with Russell.
“Stop being a little pussy.” Lee said as he finished unbuttoning his shirt. Gamby made a nervous laugh and crossed his arms over his chest. Neal didn’t want to be rude to look at Lee shirtless and give him privacy, but as Lee said ‘Stop being a pussy’. He swallowed the lump in his throat and glanced at the other man. He didn’t want to stare, but to his surprise, Russell was toned for being a vice principal. Gamby couldn’t help but trail his eyes over his body, he was much more defined than he imagined. His abs carved shadows into his body, his collarbone was pronounced, and his V-cut was visible. Along with his physically fit body was bruising that came from the trauma from his neighbor. Patches of purple and red blossomed along his lower abdomen. Neal felt concerned about the injuries, but he said he was okay.
“What? You want a picture or somethin'?” Lee smiled as he sat down on the bed. Gamby scoffed a small ‘no’ and shook his head.
Russell started to undo the clasp on his belt and shimmied out his skin-tight skinny jeans. Eventually, after 10 minutes of undressing, Lee relaxed in bed in a baggy Warriors t-shirt and pastel blue boxers he had worn previously. He curled up in bed and rested his throbbing head on the pillow, he groaned out and tried his best to sleep. He sighed a big relief as the feeling of drowsiness washed over him.
“Goodnight Russell.” Neal whispered as he closed the door to his bedroom and went into his living room. He reclined his lazy boy and took a quick cat nap till dinner.
…
When Gamby woke up and looked at the time, an hour passed from when he napped. He got up from his chair to see if Russell was awake. He walked over to the doorway and peeked through the threshold. Lee was sleeping soundly with the blanket barely covering his body. His long legs looked elegant and wrapped around the loose blanket. His eyes traveled to his exposed thighs seeing how soft they looked. His boxers were of a luxury brand that Neal hadn’t seen but the fabric looked comfortable so he thought maybe it was worth it. He saw his shirt riding up on his stomach fully displaying his protruding hip bone and thin waist. Gamby quickly glanced at the bruising on his stomach but didn’t have the heart to stare since it made him feel devastated. Lee's breathing was slow and sound. He continued to admire his muse and took note of his sleeping. Lee was sleeping on his side with one arm tucked under the pillow and the other draped over the bed.
Gamby watched as the other man slept. He released all the nervousness in a shaky sigh and took his remaining courage to comfort the other man. He walked over to the bed and sat down on the mattress. He saw Lee shift in his spot and slowly lay beside the other man. He moved closer and experimentally wrapped his arm around the smaller man’s body which Lee didn’t jerk away. The two men lay intertwined in a spooning position. One sleeping soundly and the larger man was nestled against the other. Neal released a held-in breath enjoying the feeling of finally not laying in bed alone, but with someone he cared about. The two rested together but before Neal could shut his eyes he felt Russell’s fingers entangle around his own. His mustache curled into a smile and he dozed off.