#hnnhhghghgh fluffy brainrot

[lamen-trash]

Sweetheart - Modern Lamen AU

When Laurent opened the door to his apartment after a long day at work, he breathed in deeply. The soft scent of home was overwhelming in its familiarity, and he couldn’t help but smile. There was a certain quality to the scent of the apartment he owned with Damen that spoke to something at Laurent’s core. Maybe it was the hints of jasmine and linen in the air, or maybe the smell of Damen cooking dinner in the kitchen, or maybe just the assurance that Laurent was safe surrounded by the familiar cream walls of their home. Whatever it was, Laurent knew he belonged there. A smile bloomed on his face.

“I’m home,” Laurent called out, hanging up his coat on one of the hooks Damen had installed by the door. He ventured farther into the entryway until he came upon the kitchen where Damen was just turning away from a pot on the stove. 

“Sweetheart,” Damen responded, and his smile was filled with warmth. He immediately walked over to Laurent and took him into his arms, burying his nose in Laurent’s hair and breathing in deeply, something he did every night when the two men were reunited. 

“Hi, honey,” Laurent responded, laughing a little. It had taken him a while to work up to pet names; Laurent had been shy about it, not used to open affection and uncomfortable with putting his feelings out into the open. Damen, on the other hand, had no such qualms. A week into the relationship he’d been calling Laurent “sweetheart” and “baby” and sometimes things like “sugar plum” just to annoy the hell out of Laurent, who was never able to hide his blush fully. It took Laurent about a year before he mumbled his first pet name while they were cuddling in bed one Sunday morning. He’d felt awkward as the word had left his lips, but it was made up for by Damen’s over-the-top reaction. Damen’s eyes had gone comically wide, with a blinding smile adorning his awestruck face, and he’d peppered Laurent’s face with countless kisses while Laurent yelled that it wasn’t a big deal.

Of course it’d been a big deal, though Laurent would never admit it. Damen brought out the softest part of Laurent when they were together – a part of himself he hadn’t even realized existed before meeting Damen, and one that Damen treated so gently it sometimes made Laurent want to cry. 

“How was your day at work?” Damen asked, refusing to let go of Laurent and contenting himself with running his hands up and down Laurent’s back. Laurent’s grip around Damen tightened, and he breathed in deeply. 

“It was good,” Laurent said into Damen’s chest with his eyes closed. “Torveld officially signed his contract with us – the one we’ve been working on for awhile, so everyone’s relieved. I think I even saw Jord shed a tear.” 

Laurent felt Damen’s laugh rumble through his body from where they were pressed together. Damen pulled back with his hands on Laurent’s shoulders so that they could look each other in the eye, and he reached up to brush a thumb across the apple of Laurent’s cheek. 

“I knew you could do it, love. If anyone can get an author to sign, it’s you,” Damen said. 

Laurent rolled his eyes. “As if you have any professional experience in publishing to say that.” 

“I don’t need to have any experience to know you’re damn good at what you do,” Damen replied with a furrow in his eyebrows. 

“Yeah, yeah, enough with the flattery,” Laurent somehow always found himself blushing in Damen’s presence, even after seven years together. He shoved lightly at Damen’s chest. “How was your day?”

“I’m exhausted, but I enjoyed myself today. I got to make that new dish we added to the menu, so a change of pace was nice. People seem to love it.”

Damen worked as a head chef at a four-star restaurant nearby, which had been his dream job since he and Laurent met in high school. Back then, Laurent had been as prickly and lovely as a flowering desert cactus, and Damen could look nowhere else (even now, he still struggled to tear his eyes away from his lover for more than a second). 

“You mean the dish with the –”

“The one with the balsamic glaze, yes,” Damen finished for Laurent with a cheeky smile, proud that his suggestion for the dish had been approved by their management. Laurent made a mental note to go in and surprise Damen one day at work so that he could try the new meal and tell Damen of his thoughts. 

“What’s for dinner?” Laurent asked, eager to eat after a strenuous workday. 

Damen walked over to the stove and lifted the top of one of the pots there to show Laurent. “Lemon salmon with orzo and sauteed veggies.” 

“Mmm, perfect,” Laurent looked up to smile at Damen when he caught Damen already staring at him. The light in the kitchen caught Damen’s eyes, transforming their usual hickory brown to a soft caramel that emerged whenever the light hit Damen’s face just right. Some of Laurent’s fondest memories of Damen involved that sweet shade of brown – Damen smiling at Laurent from over his shoulder as he ran into the ocean, pulling back from a kiss in the park and drowning in Damen’s gaze, tears falling from those eyes as Damen knelt on one knee in the same library section where they met. 

 “What?” Laurent asked after a moment, not unfamiliar with Damen’s stares but curious nonetheless.

“I just… you’re so beautiful. I don’t think I’ll ever get over it,” Damen said, leaning his forehead against Laurent’s and running his hands through Laurent’s hair. 

Instead of replying with words, Laurent stood up on his toes, looped his arms around Damen’s neck, and pulled him down for a kiss. Damen responded immediately and settled a hand around Laurent’s waist, pulling the blonde’s body firmly into his own while his other hand stayed tangled in golden hair. Damen loved to touch Laurent’s locks, and in response his lover would turn into the touches like a flower angling toward the light of the sun. 

They kissed in a slow-building rhythm, as if time did not exist for them. It didn’t, really – Laurent looked at Damen now and felt just as stupidly enamored with the man as he had from day one.  It was the same for Damen, too, Laurent knew. 

Damen coaxed Laurent to open to him so that he could deepen the kiss, and Laurent responded dizzily, lost in the heady thought that this all-consuming feeling was his and always would be. Damen swept his tongue across Laurent’s one more time, and then pulled back, grinning like an idiot. 

“I think you’re due for a post-work massage, Mr. DeVere-Akielos,” Damen teased, tugging on Laurent’s hand to lead him back to their bedroom, where they shared every secret together. “I’ve been told I have very capable hands.”

Laurent laughed as he let himself be pulled along. He could do nothing else in that moment but follow the one person who made it all worth it in the end – his best friend, his love, his future. 

Read it on AO3.