Title: Couch Cuddle
Author/pseudonym: Juli
Fandom: Diagnosis Murder
Pairing: Jesse/Steve
Rating: PG-13
Status: New, Complete
Archive: Yes, to BBQ Bob’s and Steve & Jesse’s Abode
E-mail address for feedback: challisgal@yahoo.com
Series/Sequel: None
Other websites: None
Disclaimers: "Diagnosis Murder" and its characters belong to Viacom and CBS. This story is written purely for entertainment purposes. No money is being made from it and no copyright infringement is intended.
Summary: For a successful detective, Steve Sloan has an unusually short attention span.
******************************

“Jesse, I’m bored.”

The young man in question glanced up from his own reading over to the other side of the large couch he currently shared with his lover. Steve Sloan had tossed aside the magazine he’s been perusing and was looking at Jesse, a woebegone expression on his face. Still distracted by the article he’d been focused on, the young doctor bent his head back to his own journal. “I had a feeling you’d get through that Sports Illustrated way too fast. Why don’t you try TV? Maybe there’s a game on.”

Steve sighed in disappointment. Normally, he was understanding of how very seriously that Jesse took his work as a doctor, proud of his lover’s dedication to the healing profession. Steve had a similar commitment to his own work and, also having been raised in a family headed up by a physician, was prepared for the amount of time that Jesse’s responsibilities as Doctor Travis would take away from their relationship. His own obligations as a big city detective ate away at their time too, after all, and he couldn’t really blame Jess when duties pulled him away.

Most of the time, Steve was understanding. Other times, like now, he found he craved more attention. No doubt, if he phrased it that way, Jesse would drop the medical journal he was studying and apologize profusely for neglecting his lover. Although that tactic would work, it wouldn’t really be fair to his lover, who really was devoted to their relationship. Besides, he wanted an amorous Jesse, not a contrite one.

Not to mention that it would be a lot more fun to tease Jesse into losing interest in the magazine rather than guilting him into it.

Steve obediently picked up the television remote and surfed until he found a football game to his liking. Then, the tall detective settle back into the sofa’s soft cushions, arranging the blanket stretched out to cover both men loosely over his legs. With the volume of the television set so that the sounds of the game were a soothing background drone and his eyes half closed in concentration, a casual observer would have thought the older man was totally immersed in what he was watching.

Earlier that morning, Steve and Jesse had taken a long walk by the beach, coming back to the house only when an unexpected rain shower drove them in. The two had wet feet and so had taken off socks and shoes before curling up on the couch. The blanket was to ward off the chill brought about by the damp weather. Rather than snuggling together, the men sat facing one another with their feet meeting in the middle. This was so that they could each take advantage of a nearby lamp, needing the light to read by in the dismal light of a rainy day.

Seemingly involved in the game, Steve slowly stretched, one foot inching up the inside of his lover’s denim-covered thigh. Still absorbed in his reading, Jesse didn’t comment, just shifted his body to accommodate the other man’s change in position. Without Jesse really knowing how it got there, Steve’s adventurous foot ended up in the doctor’s lap, the agile toes curling up against the doctor’s groin and beginning to massage the smaller man’s crotch.

Despite the importance of the medical information he was reading, Jesse slowly became aware that he was flushed and becoming aroused. Normally, that didn’t happen when he was reading about new techniques to flush out a patient’s colon. Looking up, he saw that Steve’s face was turned towards the television set, the detective concentrating on what appeared to be a college football game. His lover’s foot, however, was firmly trenched in Jesse’s groin, doing a sinuous dance against the cloth that cover his rapidly hardening cock.

“Ummm... Steve?”

“Yeah, babe,” The older man looked over from the game. “Do you need something?”

Jesse considered at his mate, unsure if Steve was teasing him or if he really was unaware of the new home his foot had found. When Steve continued to look at him blankly, the doctor caved. “Your foot...”

“Oh,” The detective seemed startled to realize where his toes were buried. Sheepishly, Steve started to draw back. “Sorry about that, babe. I guess my feet are still cold from getting wet.”

The younger man’s first inclination was to believe his lover, but something in Steve’s expression struck him as a bit too innocent. “That’s okay,” Jesse said. “You know, if you’re watching the game, you don’t really need your own lamp. You want to snuggle?”

“Absolutely,” Steve said, grinning. “C’mere.” Opening his arms, the bigger man invited his lover close.

He didn’t need ask Jesse twice. The doctor gladly scooted over to the other side of the couch, bringing his magazine with him and squirming until he was nestled between Steve’s long legs, his back resting against the detective’s chest. “Sharing body heat should warm you up in no time.”

Steve bent down to nuzzle his lover’s hair. “Hmmm... better already.”

Jesse hadn’t been born yesterday and could easily hear the smug undertone to his lover’s voice. Well, the magazine article was important... but not all that important. If distraction was the name of the game, two could play. The young doctor balanced so that he was holding his medical journal with one hand, which conveniently left the other free to trace delicate patterns on one of the legs cradling him close. Seemingly idly, Jesse trailed his fingers up and down Steve’s thigh in ever widening circles, loving the way his mate’s powerful muscles quivered under the light caresses.

Above and behind him, Steve smiled. He let the doctor pet him for several minutes, then twined his legs with Jesse’s rubbing his bare feet along his lover’s. The skin on skin contact aroused the bigger man further and, unconsciously, he lifted his pelvis slightly, his hardening cock brushing up against his mate’s tantalizingly close ass. Jesse, clutching his magazine firmly in one hand, instinctively ground himself back against the heat that two pair of jeans, his and Steve’s, couldn’t quite mask.

Steve groaned and buried his hands under Jesse’s butt cheeks, teasing at the crack between the firm mounds. Reaching down to nip at the nearest ear, he whispered a comment. “You’ve been reading the same page for five minutes.”

Jesse gasped at the sensation of Steve’s breath tickling the back of his neck. “You don’t even know what teams are playing in that game you’re supposedly watching.”

The doctor gasped as the warm breath on his neck turned into a playful bite.

“What do you say,” Steve managed to suggest, having difficulty getting words out past his own arousal, “that since we’re neither one being productive here, that we move this into the bedroom?”

“I dunno, Steve,” Jesse teased. “I really *do* have to get this article read, you know.” When his lover growled at him, the doctor laughed. “I suppose I can study it later.”

“Do that,” Steve said as he got up from the sofa. Then, taking no chances, he pulled Jesse up by one hand, bending down at just the right moment to hoist the smaller man over his shoulder.

“Hey!” The impact of Jesse’s protest was lessened by the fact that his voice was choked with laughter.

As his lover carried him towards the bedroom, Jesse briefly thought back to Steve’s comment, the one that had started this whole thing. Someday, the doctor reflected, he’d have to teach the detective the difference between “bored” and “horny.”

Someday... but not today.

~the end~