A/N: This takes place after the end of the main story but before the epilogue. It's sometime in the fall of their final year at college.
Thanks to Mss Dare and Donnersun for pre-reading and typo checking. Any remaining mistakes are mine. Also thanks to Pete and the boys at Corbin Fisher for blanket fort picspiration (check CF_Pete 's twitter photos).

Today sucks.

I knew I'd fucked up the midterm for my English Lit course, but I still hoped that I'd scrape a pass-apparently not. I went to see Mrs. Halliday after class and she was pretty cool about it, but she basically told me what I already knew. I need to work my ass off for the rest of the semester and ace the final if I want to pass the course.

Even though I don't have any classes this afternoon, I still have this stupid paper to finish and hand in later today. I'm in such a shitty mood, all I want to do is go home and sulk and I can't even do that.

I text Riley from the library.

I failed, life sucks. I hate everything.

He replies immediately.

Aw baby, I'm sorry. Are you coming home soon?

Paper to finish :( 3-4 hours work

:( k cu later, text me when you leave

will do x

xOx

When I finally finish my paper and get it submitted, I text Riley again as I leave the campus to walk home.

Heading home, back in 15ish

He just replies with a smiley face and a kiss-which is exactly what I'm hoping to be greeted with when I get through the door. I fucking need it after the day I've had. I put my head down, shove my hands in the pockets of my jacket and pick up my pace. I'm so done with today.

What I'm actually greeted with is a kiss-of course-and Riley grinning from ear to ear. He bounces on his toes as he slides his hands into my hair and pulls me down so he can reach my lips.

"Hey, baby." He whispers the words between kisses. "I'm sorry your day was crappy. I've got a surprise for you. But first you need to go and get changed into something comfortable-for chilling in."

"Okay." I'm intrigued, and a little excited. Riley's surprises are usually fun. I wonder if he's got us some new porn. That's usually guaranteed to put a smile on my face.

He pulls me down the corridor and pushes me in the direction of the bedrooms. "Go. Find sweatpants and then come through to the living room."

I find my sweatpants in Riley's room, and I strip out of my jeans and pull them on. I swap my sweater for an old hoodie that belongs to Riley. It's frayed at the cuffs and bobbly from washing ad it's a little small for me, but it smells of Riley as I slide it over my head so I don't care that it's snug around my shoulders.

I pad down the hallway in socked feet to find the living room door closed. I pause and tap on the door, not sure whether I'm allowed in yet or not. "Ri?"

"You can come in," he calls.

I open the door and pause in the doorway to take in the scene before me. The sofa has been pushed to one side and the dining table has been dragged parallel with the back of it. Between them, Riley's draped some bed sheets to make a roof, and beneath the tent created by the fabric he's made a nest of blankets and pillows. He's even got some LED Christmas lights from god-knows-where and had strung them along the back of the sofa to light up the cozy little space.

A grin stretches across my face as warmth unfurls in my belly. "You made a fort."

"Yep." Riley beams at me. "I made you a blanket fort. Blanket forts are the best medicine for a bad day." He takes my hand and pulls me toward it. "Come in and snuggle."

"It's awesome." I really want to snuggle, but I'm hungry. "But I need to grab a bite to eat first."

"I'm on it." He tugs harder, then drops to his knees crawling in ahead of me. Damn his ass looks fine in sweatpants. "I already ordered pizza, it'll be here soon. Now get in here."

I follow him in, crawling into the fort and lying on my back beside Riley. "This is really cool." I turn my head to face him and we smile goofily at each other. "Thank you, baby."

He wriggles closer and throws an arm over my torso. His breath is warm on my lips as he murmurs. "You're welcome." And then he kisses me, slow and soft, and as I slide my hands into his silky hair and kiss him back, suddenly my crappy day seems a whole lot brighter.

The buzz of the doorbell interrupts us and we break apart, flushed and a little breathless from the kiss we'd just lost ourselves in.

"I'll go, you pick a movie to watch while we eat." Riley crawls out of the fort and goes to pay the pizza guy.

I slide carefully out too, and peruse the choice of DVDs that line the shelf next to the TV. I know exactly what I want to watch to cheer me up. I need something sweet, cheesy and unashamedly romantic. The best part of dating Riley is that he never judges me for liking cheesy movies because he likes them just as much as I do.

By the time he comes back with two pizza boxes and a six pack of beer the credits are already rolling and I'm back in the blanket fort stretched out on a pile of pillows with a blanket pulled over me.

Riley chuckles as he joins me. "You're so predictable."

"Dirty Dancing cures all ills." I grin, and reach for a pizza box. "Pepperoni with extra chicken?"

"Of course." He passes me a beer.

"You're the best boyfriend ever," I mumble around a mouthful of pizza. Goddamn that's delicious.

"Yep." Riley opens the other box and I can see that it's ham and mushroom, just like always.

We settle down under the blankets and I let the stress of the day slip away from me as I lose myself in cheesy pizza, cheesier romance and the warm reassurance of Riley's body pressed up against mine. Once we're done eating, we push the boxes aside and Riley curls up beside me with his head on my chest and his hand splayed flat on my belly. I bring my hand up and lay it on top of his, stroking his skin with my fingertips where it stretches tight over his knuckles.

Everything is warm and safe and perfect and although I love Dirty Dancing, I've seen it a million times before. So when I feel my eyelids start to droop I don't fight it, and I let myself slide into sleep, lulled by the sound of the TV and the solid weight of Riley in my arms.

xOx

I'm woken by Riley's hand stroking my belly.

He's moved his hand lower and pushed up under the hoodie and my T-shirt to find skin. He's stroking me slowly in tiny, almost imperceptible movements, but it's just enough to lure me into consciousness. I emerge slowly from sleep, gradually making sense of the touch of Riley's hand on my belly and the dim canopy above us. His breath is warm on my cheek as I crank my eyes open and turn my head to face him.

"Hey," I say, still sleepy. "I'm sorry I crashed. Did I miss all the good parts?"

"It's over." He smiles and his hand slips a little lower, his fingertips skim down to find the top of my underwear. "But you know what happens anyway."

"Yeah." I reach for him and meld our lips together in a kiss, then pull back to murmur, "they live happily ever after."

He breaks away, and slips his hand into my boxers to curl around my cock as he slides down my body and pushes up my clothes to bite sucking kisses into the soft skin of my stomach. My dick flexes in his hand, already hard as he teases me, licking down the vee of muscle on each side before he finally parts his lips around my cock and draws me into the wet heat of his mouth.

He sucks me slowly, running his tongue around the head of my dick as I gasp and lift my hips, eager for more. But Riley won't be rushed. He keeps it lazy, pulling off to lick down my shaft and nuzzle my balls, then licking back up to dip into my slit before sucking on me again. One of his hands is on my balls, stroking and squeezing gently, and the other is clutching my hip. I reach for the hand on my hip and take it, lacing our fingers together and stroking his palm with the pad of my thumb as he finally takes me deep and makes me moan.

"So good, Ri." My voice is still hoarse from sleep and it cracks as he sucks again. "Don't stop." I reach down with my free hand and tug on his hair, encouraging him to keep moving.

He squeezes my fingers with his own as if to reassure me that he's not going anywhere. He keeps going, bobbing his head as he sucks me down over and over until I'm panting and cursing and completely incapable of keeping still and being patient. He pulls off when he knows I'm close and finishes me off with the tight grip of his fist, forcing the come out of me with perfect pressure and grinning as I shoot, mostly all over my belly but a little on his hoodie.

"Damn, you look good covered in jizz." He grins at me as he releases my cock and pushes his sweatpants and briefs down just enough to free his dick.

"Come here." I take his hips and guide him, making him shuffle up so he's straddling my hips, then I reach around and grab his ass in both hands, squeezing and stroking as he jerks himself off over me. "In my mouth." I pull him closer still, wanting to taste him, knowing he won't take long.

Riley's head is pressed up against the roof of our fort, and he looks down at me as his cock slides between my lips. His eyes are huge and dark in the dim light and his lips part as he throws his head back. "Fuck… Em."

I can't reply with my mouth full of his dick, so I squeeze his ass cheeks and let my fingers dip into his crack and open my throat as he thrusts. He comes with an incoherent cry, bracing himself against the pillows behind my head as his body jerks uncontrollably and he spills, hot and salty on my tongue.

Afterwards we mop up my jizz with paper napkins from the pizza box and Riley lies back down beside me. I turn on my side and stare at him in the dim light. His eyes glitter where string of lights on the back of the sofa catch them.

"Feeling better?" He asks.

"Feeling awesome." I grin. "Thank you."

"Blanket forts make everything better." His hand curls around the nape of my neck, fingers rubbing over the clipped-short hair there.

I chuckle. "Blow jobs help too."

"Well of course." Riley's lips curve in a smile. "It's the perfect combination."

A/N: I also write original m/m romance. If you like my words, please consider checking out my books. You can find out about them at jaynorthcote dot com.