Lee shook her head slightly when Tarin told her how he might have reacted had she decided to go looking through boxes right then.

"Why would I want to get up right now?" Lee asked. "You're here, and I'm here, and your arms are around me. That's just about as close to perfect as there is."

As she lay there, Lee's hand started running along Tarin's collar bone, then tracing the muscles of his shoulder.

"Well, they aren't as distracting as your abs," Lee said as her fingers continued to glide along Tarin's shoulder, tracing around and over his muscles. "But I'm sure your shoulder here can keep me occupied for at least five or ten minutes."

Something that had happened multiple times since he and Lee had gotten together, and was probably going to keep happening as time went on was that Tarin kept having to redefine what the perfect day looked like.

The first night at the bar made an excellent run on perfect, but besides that, early on the bar had been kind of low. The time Robert had punched Tarin in the face on his birthday had still been a pretty much perfect day because he and Lee had gotten to spend the whole day together. They’d ran and they’d grabbed lunch and taken a shower and watched baseball…it really had seemed perfect.

Then there’d been the day at the park when Kevin’s powers had manifested. The whole experience had been incredible. Just watching Kevin learn what he could do in such a safe and supportive manner had made Tarin think that maybe that was perfect.

The weekend they’d spend together after Kevin left for Texas. The date to the rooftop bar. Lee admitting that she kind of liked baseball. Going on runs together…all of those things got very close to perfect.

And then there were the times when they were like they were now. Surely this was perfect. Lee echoed the sentiment and the thought that she didn’t want to get up and those words combined with the way Lee’s fingers trailed over his collarbone and shoulder made Tarin shudder again as goosebumps followed her tracing.

She kept talking though and Tarin could feel the heat in his neck and face again as she once again detailed how distracting he was.

”Keep it up and my ego is gonna get so big I won’t be able to get off this couch…” he said, voice low, ”And that’s only five or ten minutes out of the whole rest of the day…you’re usually a much more meticulous planner…”

This really was kind of perfect, Lee thought as they laid there on the couch. They'd watched baseball, the Mets not only won, but made the playoffs, and now they had the rest of the day to themselves.

But really, Tarin and her had a lot of these moments, these days. Sometimes they were something special, like when Tarin took her to the rooftop restaurant followed by a walk in Central Park. And sometimes there was nothing special about it except the fact that they were together.

And while there were still not great and bad things that seemed to keep happening from time to time, they generally weren't on the disaster level that a lot of things in her past had been.

Lee's fingers had continued moving as she thought, but Tarin's voice brought her back to the moment.

"I guess we'll be stuck here, then," Lee said as though that should be obvious. "And yes, that's only five or ten minutes, but it's also only your shoulder. Then we have your arms…" as she spoke, less fingers moved off of Tarin's shoulder finally and moved to his upper arm.

"And your pecs…" Lee's hand moved up and over again, onto Tarin's chest. "Your abs…" as her hand moved lower, onto Tarin's stomach, she bit her lip. His abs really were distracting, and she paused there longer as her hand lightly moved over the muscles on his stomach.

"I'm sure we can figure something out after that if we need to."

Whatever it was that Lee was thinking about so thoroughly did not distract her from continuing to run her fingers over his shoulder. It was a simple thing, idle even…but it made goosebumps rise and spread down Tarin’s arm.

Lee didn’t seem concerned about Tarin’s ego and that was probably a good thing because she wasn’t done.

Why…Tarin wondered, did he always try to play games he could not win? Was it because in most of those scenarios losing was every bit as good as winning?

Maybe?

Lee spoke, her fingers moved down his arm, and Tarin squirmed slightly. Her hand continued to move over his chest and Tarin was sure Lee could feel the way his heart was suddenly thudding against his ribs.

Lower went Lee’s hand, over his stomach, and Tarin wondered if human spontaneous combustion was a thing that actually could happen on this side of the rift. It definitely seemed possible at this exact moment and Tarin took a slightly shaky breath.

”This is exactly why I let you do all the planning…” Tarin managed to say, leaning down for a slow and thorough kiss.

Lee smiled when Tarin squirmed under her as her fingers traced along his arm.

Turning her head slightly, Lee looked at Tarin, that same smile on her face as her hand progressed lower. Was that his heart pounding in his chest she felt under her hand? From just this?

Then again, it sometimes took only a touch to make her heart pound or her breath catch in her throat. And that was when both she and Tarin were fully clothed.

But before Lee was able to say anything about him letting her do all the planning, Tarin was leaning in to kiss her.

Returning the kiss, Lee's hand moved from Tarin's stomach up to his cheek as the kiss continued.

When the kiss finally ended, Lee looked at Tarin, the smile still on her face. "Any input before I come up with a plan, then?"

And then they were kissing again…they were kissing again for quite a while and it was absolutely delightful. As they kissed, Lee moved her hand and Tarin thought it was probably for the best because the things she’d been saying and the slow way her fingers had trailed down his skin had a Tarin feeling some kind of way all over again. Funny how little that took sometimes.

Eventually though the kiss ended and the way that Lee was smiling at him and the way she asked if he had any input he wanted to give made all the words dry up in Tarin’s mouth and he just shook his head for a moment, an answering grin firmly in place.

“All of your ideas are good…” he finally said, “And I am completely at your disposal until around 10 tomorrow morning.”

For what felt like a long time, Tarin's only response was to shake his head with a grin on his face. When he did finally answer, Lee's smile widened.

"Completely?" Lee asked, an eyebrow raised in question. "If that's the case, what to do with all that time?"

As she lay there with Tarin, Lee made a show of thinking about this, and her fingers started trailing along Tarin's skin again.

"You know," she ended up saying after a few moments. "I have been thinking about changing the livingroom around a bit. I have a few ideas, but I'm not sure if I'll actually like those ideas, so I haven't done it yet. But it is easier with help."

"Though if I don't like it, we'll have to move it all back around."

”Completely…” Tarin said. Thinking that he really liked this idea already…and the smile that was still on Lee’s face that just seemed to be getting more bright by the moment.

What was she going to do with all of that time? Well, Tarin didn’t know, but he was wildly curious to find out.

Lee was really thinking too, or at least playing at really thinking about it and Tarin shivered slightly as her fingers started to move again. She thought like that for a few moments and Tarin nuzzled into her head a bit, silently cursing the lack of space on the couch and the fact that Lee had his arm pinned.

When Lee spoke, Tarin found himself with a decision to make. Pretty much every single time he called Lee’s bluffs at times like these, she went right along with it. If he played along, Tarin ran the risk of finding himself actually moving furniture…which was fine…but….

“We can definitely do that if you want.” Tarin said, deciding to play. If he knew anything about the two of them, they’d end up right where they were supposed to be eventually.

”Sounds kind of fun actually…what did you have in mind for when we do this hours from now?”

Tarin had to be playing along, Lee thought when he said he liked the idea of rearranging the living room. That it sounded fun. To be honest, it didn't sound fun to Lee. But playing around about it right now was.

"Well, the living room and dining area just seem…jammed together," Lee said as she came up with this off the top of her head. "But the TV and windows could be difficult."

"Wait," Lee said as the last part of Tarin's sentence clicked in. "What do you mean 'hours from now'?"

The living room and dining room were kind of jammed together, but this was New York City and one did what one could with the space they had.

Tarin had always thought that the living room was laid out pretty nicely.

Lee asked what he meant by hours from now, but Tarin was thinking now…

”Could put the TV where the desk is…then the back of the couch would face the table and it would be more separate…” Tarin mused quietly as they laid there, momentarily distracted by the thought that Lee had put into his head.

”But it would block some of the light…and it might be too bright sometimes with the sun behind…” No, that arrangement probably wouldn’t work.

”If we flipped the TV to the opposite wall, we would be in the same boat, just flipped around….” it was a conundrum.

”And I meant hours from now when we start moving furniture…but if you meant right now I think I see your shirt somewhere over there…” he said with another grin.

Lee was the one making the plans after all.

Tarin actually started listing out ways that they could try switching things around in the livingroom. With a couple very viable options.

If it wasn't for the window.

And Tarin had meant that they'd be moving the furniture around hours from now. Unless she had been talking about getting up and starting the rearranging now.

He even went so far as to point out where her shirt was.

Lee didn't even turn to see where he was referring to.

As she lay there looking at Tarin and his grin, Lee thought that she might have actually lost this time. Which, considering she had started this, was not good. At least not in her mind.

Well, either lose or her livingroom was going to look different by the morning. "I guess later would be better," Lee ended up saying. "It'll give me more time to ponder layouts."

Was…was he actually going come out on top in this little game? Tarin knew he was going to have to proceed very carefully. The Mets had done it earlier, on a national stage… surely Tarin could close out this little game.

Lee wasn’t grinning any more though and Tarin had really liked that grin.

A moment later, Lee suggested that later might be better and her reasons why. Tarin nodded thoughtfully, ”I’ve definitely read that this was one of those things that you should think on before making a decision.” he said levelly.

That settled, with Tarin wondering if at some point in the next 18 hours he was going to end up moving furniture…he sighed just a little, ”But now we are all the way back at square one with nothing to do.”

Tarin sounded so serious as he answered her. Lee simply nodded her head as she lay there silent for a moment.

"Well, you're the one who goes down all the reading rabbit holes," Lee ended up saying. "So I'll bow to your knowledge and make sure I think it through before we start moving things."

Lee was not conceding. She was simply saying that she would think about it more before things got moved. Not that she was really wanting to move furniture, other than the fact that there really was no separation between the dinning and living areas of the room, things worked well how it was.

Lee had thought that the idea of moving furniture around, possibly multiple times would have been enough to get Tarin to cave in this little game. Apparently not.

But she wasn't conceding.

"I suppose that's true, isn't it?" Lee asked before biting her lip in thought.

"Though," she said after a moment, her eyes moving from Tarin's face to his shoulder. "I didn't actually get to have my ten minutes of being distracted. And I'm sure your abs could be at least 30 minutes…"

”You’ll pick the right layout…” Tarin said confidently when Lee ceded that single solitary point to Tarin. What was funny was that he’d read very very little on interior design. He had read some books on big decisions though…and had completely ignored all of their advice every time he’d had to make one.

Tarin did notice that Lee didn’t officially concede the win in the little game they’d ended up playing. That was okay though, Tarin didn’t mind, he didn’t need to win because like he’d thought before, there really wasn’t a loser in this scenario…unless they’d ended up moving furniture…

All of this not moving furniture did leave a gap in time and as she looked up at him she bit her lip and Tarin sighed just a little bit because here, in this situation, when she did that it made him think all sorts of things.

Then she spoke and Tarin stopped thinking about anything other than what she was saying.

”I mean, I did say I was completely at your disposal…” he said far more casually than he was feeling. ”Got a timer on the watch and everything, wouldn’t want you to feel cheated…” he teased, unable to help himself.

Did Tarin know that she has been joking about rearranging the living room? He wasn't claiming the win, wasn't even really smiling at the moment, nevermind grinning. Just saying he was sure that she would choose right.

Or had he gotten that good at playing the game?

When she pointed out that she hadn't gotten her ten minutes, Tarin reminded her about being completely at her disposal.

Then even mentioned that he had a timer on his watch.

"A timer?" Lee asked, laughing softly. "I love you," she continued as she leaned in to kiss him, her hand bypassing his shoulder to come to a rest on his cheek again.