It was a Monday morning in the middle of June (seven thirteen in the morning, precisely) when Edward Cullen found himself alone—and naked—in Jacob Black's bed.
He hears the rotating tires crushing gravel outside the window as the aforementioned man pulls out of his driveway and onto the main road; the hum and groan of the old pickup's engine was enough to wake even the soundest of sleepers from their earlier morning slumber. But within seconds, the sound disappears, the beat up truck merging onto the main road and traveling away from the house.
The sudden space of silence left by the retreating vehicle momentarily unnerves Edward. Suddenly, everything at that point, that moment, felt that much more real.
Although, he supposes, it doesn't get much more real than lying nude in the bed of his affirmed enemy.
Like most of their previous encounters, it had to do with Bella.
Except this time, it wasn't an intense, testosterone-ridden stare down turn physical altercation over the mousy girl's affections.
Because Bella left Folks eight months ago, with a new dream in her heart and newer ring on her finger.
His name was Kyle. He was sweet, strong, caring, considerate, and so remarkably human. It hurt Edward's pride, if nothing else.
Edward, I'm so sorry. I just-
The leaving of the girl created an absence between the two boys who constantly vied for her love; the timelessly trapped seventeen year old boy and the now twenty-one year old man. It was an understood, almost conspicuous gap they tried to ignore, and even disputed its existence if ever brought up (it was never brought up). But, no matter how much they wanted to believe it was only a flicker of an inane thought, it was there, easily as effectual as bringing them destructively together as she was.
So Edward decided to do something about it.
The charade of his family continued on each year, though it was went a little deeper in its concept than any of the Cullen children would have liked (with them receiving the acceptance letters from their "first choices," again, and walking across the stage for the 28th time). Still, it was familiar monotony, something they all could follow without fail. So understandably was the harmonious exclamation the children gave when their adopted parents sat them down with an unprecedented question.
"Wait, hold on. Clarify?" Rosalie unhelpfully supplied.
"Well, we would like to know if you all would like to stay in Folks with us, or continue on somewhere else?"
Edward glanced at Alice out of the corner of his eye. She was nibbling softly on her plumb lip.
"We're breaking up?" Emmett said in his naturally ludicrous way. Edward didn't check if he was smirking.
Carlisle chucked regardless. "No, not so much that. Your mother and I, ah, we believe that due to certain circumstances, if might be good to give you all the opportunity of finding your own way, in so many words."
The Cullen-Hale children looked at each other, perplexed.
"But why? Do you believe it to be safe?" Jasper asked, whose stake in that question was much higher than his siblings, and his wife. Edward tried to read Alice's mind again, then, but it was all white noise, a trick she employed when she didn't want him prying.
"We do," Esme took over. "Things with the Volturi have reached an agreeable…conclusion at the moment, with the current development of…Bella." She managed a small wince on her beautiful face. Edward snorted.
She cleared her throat."Carlisle and I have decided to stay. Folks still holds something for us, something we want to continue to see it through. However, we feel like we all have been granted a rare opportunity to see much more of the world without having to run in fear or routine."
"We want you all not to feel so trapped. We understand the tediousness of our lives isn't anything we've voluntarily-asked to be apart of, and you all have been very accommodating to the rules we've had to abide by." Carlisle got up then as he spoke, standing by Alice and in an unusual display of fatherly affection, wrapped an arm around her.
"We trust you all not to expose or to bring unnecessary attention to yourself. So what's the harm? Should we all not have the opportunity to live as close to the lives we've all envision as possible?"
Edward wondered if Carlisle had alternative motives then, as with his strange suggestions came a relaxation he hadn't see in the man before, at least not recently. It was only a little later when he visited the hospital that some of the truth was brought to life: The small emergency room where Carlisle worked depended greatly on his vast medical knowledge, and the medical staff were never ashamed to guilt the elder vampire with that information every time he even hinted at any type of departure for the town.
It made Edward laugh; circumstances as they were, Carlisle seemed to had fallen prey to the stout nurses who motherly tones guilted everyone into submission.
As for Esme, Edward wouldn't have guess it himself, but she loved "small" town living. Folks acted as an oasis for her: they were isolated well enough from humans to be able to live as freely as their needs relied them to, but still close enough might they want the interaction. Because while she adored her un-dead family, Esme craved the small moments that came with chatting with the checkout girl who rang up the food she couldn't even eat, or laughing with the other parents in the PTA meetings she didn't need to attend. It was her reminder of life outside of theirs, outside the realm of monsters and demons.
The Cullen-Hale children were suddenly left to their ultimate decisions after their parents left the room. The five looked at each other, displaying an unusual open hesitance they hadn't shown in decades. Questions were unspoken between them, and Edward felt unnecessarily human when his probing power were left useless, the white noise and commercial jingles keeping him purposely out of his siblings' head.
"So," Alice says, a sense of expectance in her voice. "What now?"
Rosalie, with her otherworldly beauty and enormous enjoyment of the exorbitant things in life, was, predictably, the first to decide to depart. She left shortly after graduation and their catalytic conversation. But what did come as a surprise to everyone was her declaration to move to New York, much closer and accessible than the European fashion capital Edward might have idly thought she'd move to. Her facade was strong, but her resolve to stay at least somewhat near her family was evidently stronger.
Emmett tried to be content, because despite his booming voice and bulging muscles, he liked Folks too. But the prospect of being away from Rosalie cut at him deeper than he'd thought. Four months after his wife's leaving, he packed up what he had, jumped into his favorite Jeep and was off. Whenever Edward talks to Rosalie on the phone, he hears Emmett's loud raunchy music and has to pause their conversation every couple of minutes just for the current argument between the two to died down. It makes Edward feel like nothing's changed.
Alice and Jasper were the wild cards, sitting on the fence with the issue the longest while trying to decide what would be best for their relationship. Surprisingly, the once inseparable pair decided to uncouple. A month after Emmett, Alice was flying her way to Paris with a promise she return in a year's time. Jasper stayed in Folks, still not completely confidence in his ability to be alone. But as the days continue to go pass, Edward notices Jasper's attempts to control his thirst completely: meditating, taking trips into town alone, and even answering the door when there's a package to sign for (sometimes Edward is convinced he orders things just for the practice).
He tried to hesitate into prying into his brother's mind after Alice left, but when the thoughts got too loud to ignore, Edward always hears the phrases, get stronger…for Alice…one day I will be enough, I will leave too.
And that left Edward once again with the decision to stay or go. To leave the unfinished space between he and Jacob Black alone and never look back, or to find a way to ignore it while being so close to the shifter's presence.
This time, he stayed.
He didn't know why he felt the need to make things right between them. The adrenaline created in their heated arguments and fights always left Edward irritable and hostile, but it also breathed a sadistic pleasure of life into him like no other. Edward hated to admit it, but being pitted against Jacob gave him almost as much of a rush of feeling and joy as Bella did when she told him she loved him. But now she was gone, leaving Edward selfishly hoping that he could find something similar to that same spiteful passion between the two men as before—the one in Jacob's dark eyes whenever they encountered each other—to make his dead, cracked heart feel like it was beating once again.
So, eight months after his beloved left, a year after they called their engagement off, Edward squared his shoulders, put on his Sunday's Best, and made his way to the unseen border between their territories.
If only he knew what was to happen, he wouldn't have worn so many garments with buttons on them.
(The wolf cared very little for the latest of modern fashion, it seems.)
Edward settled against the two pillows he propped up, staring ahead at nothing.
Nothing…just like his resolve last night with the shifter's lame one liners...
…That was a horrid comparison even for you, Edward.
But that wasn't the point! Edward was mad! Angry! Infuriated! How dare that-that mutt! That horrible wolf, con Edward into bed with him! Because that's what this was, a trick! The manner in which he spoke to him, and the way he touched him…
…Surely, regardless of whatever Edward might have said or did, surely it wasn't his fault that what happened last night, happened. No, of course not! It was Jacob, all Jacob! With his incessant apologies and mending over past misgivings, and his damn come-ons and his stupid, deep voice and his wide, warm hands and-
Edward's explanations were getting him nowhere (nowhere he'd like to be, in any case). In the end, with a very exaggerated humph!, the vampire decided resolutely it was Jacob's fault. It will always be Jacob's fault.
Always.
Edward rolled his tired shoulders back, craning his head to the side and stretching his neck. Somewhere off to his left, his once beautiful blazer, an Ozwald Boateng original, laid with a ripped collar and a few pulled stitches in the right sleeve.
The vampire sighed, already predicting the incessant fuming of Alice, once she return to find her "New York Fashion Week 2010, one of a kind, do-you-know-how-many-strings-I-had-to-pull-in-order-to-get-this?" gift in near disarray. She wouldn't let him hear the end of this…She wouldn't let him hear the end of questioning the reason why it was like this in the first place. Questions he would never, ever answer, ever.
Not like that would even matter. Alice would just "see" his disappearance and infer the answer like she always did. She would soon figure out that…he and Jacob…
Ugh.
Edward was frustrated.
…He should go, he should go. Why was he still here to begin with? Why did he stay the night? Why?
He pinched the bridge of his nose, a figuratively headache coming on.
...Well, he didn't mean to stay the night. It just…happened. When he and Jacob…finished their activities, he was going to grab his clothes and run home, diverting any and all questions of the inquisitive smells his family would no doubt be curious about with "We got into a fight."
It wasn't a complete lie.
But then, as the afterglow begun to wear off and the vampire turned to move away, Jacob started to ask him things about his vampirism, about his family, about his past. Edward decided to indulge him (foolishly so! present-Edward thought, admonishing his past self) and stayed to answer the many inquiries, but soon it became apparent that it was less of Edward giving in and more of the vampire wanting to know about shifter and his life too. Questions flew out of their mouths like rapid gunfire and soon they were chuckling at their own fervor. But as the night sky began to fade to the morning's dawn, changing to a soft, grayish blue that blanketed the western side of the world, Jacob stopped asking so many questions and just…fell asleep.
Just like that.
And his arms were wound around Edward, one under his cool neck and the other situated perfectly on his waist. Edward was going to move him, going to get his clothes and go home. But, as redundant and obvious as the fact was, Jacob was just so…warm.
It fascinated him.
Edward listened to his dreams through his slumber (which were just as bright and beautiful as Jacob was…um…) and they gave him a tingly, silly, addictive feeling in his stomach that was akin to hearing the most sweetest of secrets.
Soon, he found himself unable to pull away.
Just a little more, he thought, touching his forehead to the shifter's sometime around sunrise (this is was Edward's guess; the curtains were closed). Hours passed like minutes to the vampire and before he knew it, Jacob was awake and scrambling out of bed, grabbing some clothes and nearly incoherent as he tried to tell Edward he was supposed to meet Quil and Seth for some important reason about thirty minutes ago.
"But please…stay. Wait for me."
It was the only thing Edward didn't need to listen to his thoughts to comprehend; it also was the only thing that left Edward speechless that morning. In a daze, he only nodded in reply before Jacob smiled and ran off, his car roaring to life only moments later, the tires screeched slightly on the gravel before the sound of rumbling engine got farther and farther away.
And this is where he found himself, in this current predicament.
It was only after when the surprise of just…everything…wore off that Edward tried to calm himself and began to think, berating himself over his mistake. He attempted to scan the minds of anyone in the surrounding area, searching for any being not as kind to the undead as Jacob was to him.
He was both relieved and disconcerted by the hollow silence that greeted his search, but he didn't question it. Rather, he fell back against this bed he didn't even need to be in (that smelled like musk and sex and Jacob, Jacob on him, kissing him, touching him, loving him) and found himself worrying and overanalyzing (As usual! the little Alice in his head chided) over his currently acknowledged mess .
…He promised himself, after Bella, that he wouldn't get this way: this…compulsive, obsessive nature of his that takes over whenever he's…dare he say it…happ-.
No! Conned! Tricked! That was all this was!
...It was difficult for him to accept things how they were, simply how they were. He simply could not wrap his head around this bubbly feeling in his tummy and write it off as-
Edward smacked his lips in mild disgust. He was very much old enough not to get giddy or upset over trivial things like this. He wasn't some juvenile teen who got the girl in the end of the film only to awake in her bed the next day, frozen in disbelieving, blissful shock as he realized it wasn't all a dream.
He was a hundred and twenty-two years old, dammit! This stuff wasn't something he just started figuring out; he has been through this!
The vampire, flustered, frustrated, and feeling lighter than air, stood up in a huff, a pout Jacob would have surely kiss right off adorning his handsome face. He was clad only in his black boxers, and while the chilly morning air did nothing to his frozen body, Edward felt uneasily exposed without proper clothing on. He glanced around at the skew of clothes that were toss this way and that last night, trying to find the shirt he had worn yesterday. But to his dismay, he couldn't; instead, the only shirt he could find was Jacob's.
It was once white, he surmised, but all the wearing Jacob did of it turned the coloring to that of a bleached grey. There were tiny specks of dirt that marred it surface, and strands of hair that tangled into the cotton. At the collar, there was a faded oil stain that only proved the shirt's many usages for its owner. Edward's lip curled in distaste at the state of the garment, yet he still found himself instinctively reaching for it.
He slipped it over his head and pulled it down his torso, and it was immediately evident then that it had been tugged on and stretched to the point that the ends of it hung around his hips instead of snugging tightly to his body, as the tag suggested.
And its smell…Edward wrinkled his nose and suppressed a cough. The pungent odor of wet dog, motor oil, mud, and general stink filled his nostrils. The vampire could only envision the fireplace he wanted to toss the shirt into.
And yet, through all the disgust, there was a distinctive Jacob-ness about the item. From the fill of its form to the sliver of his scent—a pine, earthy thing—that seemed to persevere through the funk.
He then remembered too, the way it shifted and moved against Jacob as he backed them into his room, holding Edward by the hips as he licked and sucked at is neck…
The vampire shoved the heels of his hands into his shut eyes.
Dammit! This wasn't happening again.
He wasn't…attracted to that dog, that non-vampiric creature he had no right to be acknowledging, let alone LIKING.
Why he couldn't just find a lover similar to that of his own condition and just be normal like the rest of his family? Why did he have to be so…so strange?
Edward removed his hands, taking in his reflection in a floor length mirror tucked conveniently in a corner near the bed.
There his was, an admittedly attractive, but pale sort of thing; an anomaly of sorts in this world of mortal, perishable things, wearing an oversized, stained shirt in his boxers, standing in the middle of a shapeshifter's messy room.
Some days he felt less and less like an actually conscious being, and more of an insane fantastical creation of someone's daydream.
"Enough," he suddenly grunted. He took off Jacob's shirt, and with much less care than he was feeling for the item, tossed it back on the floor. With his vest in shambles and his button-up useless, Edward groaned in annoyance before diving into Jacob's drawer. With a few shifts and the occasional grunt of disgust at the man's lack of taste, he found a shirt that he could almost explain to be his own. He quickly slipped it on before grabbing his pants and doing the same. He was running fingers through his hair when he heard a truck entering the driveway. Perfect timing.
He really didn't want to just up and leave, but who were they deluding? Nothing was going to transpire from this. All he wanted to do was come over and apologize for past misgivings. He didn't expect a…relationship with the wolf; Hell, reluctant acknowledgment was where he'd preferred their status to stay. Obviously Jacob would come to the same conclusion when he entered his home to see the vampire gone. This was a slip up, but hopefully it did the job that words failed to do last night.
…Right.
He was at the door, shoes in his hand seconds later when I heard the annoying jingle Alice programmed to his phone before she left—
Wait, that wasn't coming from his pocket…His phone was still in the room.
"Dammit!" Why couldn't just leave this horrible place! In a literal flash, he was back in Jacob's room, tossing clothes here and there in search for the ringing device. He could just leave it, but then he would have to return to this place and possibly have a…repeat of last night's activities. And heaven forbid if Jacob found the phone and returned it to his home (which he would! The boy had no shame!)
He had sunken down to hands and knees, and with a few grasp under the bed, Edward grabbed the device before it finished its jingle. He meant to turn it off, but after properly looking at the phone, he realized it wasn't an alarm as he presumed, but a phonecall. He didn't recognize the number, but regardless, he would call whoever it was back later. A moment later, the ringing stopped.
Forget it, I'm using another method, Edward thought as he pushed the window open. He was risking his presence being detected by the other shifters (at this point, he could hear the stray thoughts of Jacob's pack awakening to the new day), but it would be something he just had to risk.
Most of his body was out the window when his phone began to ring again, with the same number flashing on the screen. In his near frantic insanity, Edward answered it.
"What?" Edward hissed, a mere leg away from leaving the horrible dog's house for good.
"Don't you dare leave, Cullen."
Edward froze, nearly falling off of the roof. Jacob's voice was firm, strong, and if there was an ounce of his own blood left in his body, the vampire was sure all of it would be in his face.
"W-what? How did you—"
"I could see you climbing out the window from the car. Geez Ed, I'm no bloodsucker but I'm not stupid."
Edward grunted, body still in an awkward position when he turned his head towards the driveway. Sure enough, Jacob's truck had the perfect view of the window he was trying to climb out of. But the wolf in question was gone.
"Come back inside, Cullen."
"I will not!" Edward answered, affronted, climbing completely out and onto the roof. "Look, dog, there's nothing left to be said. I-"
"Oh, there's plenty to be said, leech," Jacob fired back, though any heat behind the words was gone. "And unless you want about ten angry wolves standing between you and your way home, I suggest you climb back inside."
Edward growled, but the mutt was right; he was rather not too inconspicuously standing on top of his rival's home, in the middle of the enemy's territory.
"I could make it, outrun your pack," the vampire spat with arrogance, though he still hadn't move from his position. "I've done it before."
"Hm, true. But we've gotten some new blood since last you saw us. Trained them better, more strategically. Who knows, they might actually catch you this time. Besides, doing all that would just upset treaty regulations. And no one wants that."
To his credit, Jacob didn't even sound insulted by Edward's threat. If anything, he sounded…amused.
"And anyway," the man continued with a breathy sigh that sounded strangely like a laugh, "we've still got some things to talk about. I think we need to go over what we discussed last night a little more thoroughly."
Edward tried to suppressed the shudder that went down his spine. What had happened the innocent (albeit annoying) fifteen year old Jacob who could barely look Bella in the eye? Or the sixteen year old so gun-ho that his emotional maturity was reduced to that of a five year old's? Who was this smooth talking man that spoke with so much confidence and surety, it left Edward, Edward, stuttering like an embarrassed school girl?
"I-I'm not—"
"Ed, please."
This time, he couldn't stop the slight tremble that made his toes curl. With another growl and a huff, and a little more finesse than what he displayed before, he climbed back inside. He hadn't realize he still had the phone to his ear until he heard the echo.
"Thank you, Edward."
The vampire's head snapped up, taking in the figure that leaned languidly against the doorframe, one hand pocketing the phone. Jacob smiled, a big, warm one that just made him angrier.
"You horrible mutt!" Edward shouted, ending the call and stomping right up to the other. "You miserable wolf! How could you—"
"Is that my shirt?" Jacob interrupted again without missing a beat, ignoring bewildered look Edward gave him.
"Well…you destroyed mine! I had nothing to wear! It was $4,000 original, I may add!"
"My bad," the wolf said without a hint of remorse. "Got too excited, I guess. You know us dogs, how we get when we're a little…excited."
"You can say that again." Edward snapped back, ignoring the flips his stomach were suddenly doing.
The vampire then realized how close they were, breaths between the space they currently shared. Jacob reached out and easily slipped him into his arms, his hands clasped behind his lower back. Edward stiffed in the embrace—his nerves a bunch of frazzled, taunt messes—but did nothing to pull away. The shapeshifter then began to hum a tune, letting it play along in his head. He swayed their bodies to and fro, creating an impromptu dance in the stillness of that moment. Edward allowed himself to be gently pulled along, listening to the soft melody.
Neither said anything for what felt like eons.
"…I could make it up to you. The shirt, I mean." Jacob's warm, deep eyes were half-lidded as they stared into Edward's. The wolf slowly pulls the vampire closer until they were flushed against each other, skin shifting against the other's and igniting the ghost of flames along their bodies. Edward's mind was screaming at him to leave, to get out and forget all this ever happened (surely being enemies was better that this! This twisting feeling that left him figuratively breathless each time…). But then his head dipped a little and he could feel the breath, so wonderfully warm, on his neck. He could physically feel his resolve breaking.
"Jake…we can't…" Edward tried, desperately trying to keep his own sanity while reminding Jacob of his. This wouldn't work; why put off the inevitable?
"Edward," Jacob groaned, pulling back a bit, looking the other straight in the eye. "Listen…do you want me to stop? Say the word and I'll move out your way."
The haze of the moment suddenly nullified, the vampire stared wide-eyed at the man, baffled, before his face screwed up in a scowl.
"Don't you dare place this on me, mutt! It was you—"
"I mean it, Ed. If you don't want to do this, we don't do this." Jacob's face reddened a little then, driving the vampire even crazier. "I like you…a lot. A lot, a lot. Don't ask me why, shit I wish I knew, but I do. And not that I didn't have fun last night, but if you aren't comfortable with this, or this is some pity shit you got going on, I don't want—"
"Will you stop interrupting me?! Jesus! You horrible dog!" Edward shouted. Jacob looked insulted then—finally—and open his mouth to say something (something lazy and derailing, he already knew), but it was then the vampire's rationality suddenly snapped in two. With a growl, Edward surged forward, and before the wolf's mouth could fully formed around another word, Edward's cold lips was on his, tongue thrusting into his mouth.
Finally, you shut up, Edward thought, as his arms wrapping around the man's neck, drawing him in as closely as he could. Asshole wolf.
His insults weren't even making sense anymore.
Jacob groaned pleasantly at the sudden change of development, tightening his grip on the vampire's waist as he began to slowly grind his hips into the other's. Their tongues prodded and pushed at one another, licking and tasting what they had consumed only hours before. The wet warm and softness of Jake's mouth was sending Edward into another frenzy as his mind fell into a fog, thoughts suddenly coming up short as to why he should leave this man's embrace.
"Mm…And I'm the rude one..." the wolf chuckled, pulling away and planting soft, long kisses along the vampire's jaw and neck. When he reach the protective marks that blessed Edward with his cursed existence (and an endogenous zone he refuse to tell anyone about, until that anyone's head was planted in his crotch and licking away like it was their last meal), Jacob gave a long, loud suck, nearly causing Edward to topple over.
This was insanity, truly, utterly, and by textbook definition.
"S-shut up…ah…Jacob!" Edward cried out, hands tangled in the man's short locks as the shapeshifter began to match his sucking with his grinding, his hard cock rubbing against the vampire's in too nice of a rhythm. He was sure he was nothing but oversensitive muscle at this point, bones apparently leaving his body when he needed them the most.
Jacob chuckled with a leer. "That's the first time you've said my name since last night. Why don't we see if you can say it louder?"
Edward groaned, both at the horrid come-on and the biting Jacob suddenly took up along his jaw. He then curled his fingers into the man's shirt, and with a new bout of strength, spun and tossed the wolf onto the bed. The shifter bounced once before sitting up on his elbows, him a picture of hot and horny exasperation.
"Hey! The fuck, man?" He bit out. "Why—"
"No more talking," Edward growled, leaning over the man, towering over him, his shadow creating an eerie darkness on the planes and curves of slight fat that still rounded his face, and the small folds that splayed on his too tight of a shirt (of which Edward just notice, to which made hime more annoyed because damn if this man didn't look good in that shirt). His hands on either side of the Jacob's body, trapping him and making his dark eyes glow to a frightening degree. The space between them was heavy and full, and the pheromones jumping off both of them was driving the other wild. Edward was practically salivating at the smell Jacob was giving off, and it took all the little control he had left not to hump himself to orgasm on the shifter's leg.
"Ed…fuck, you're driving me crazy. Do something," The shifter groaned and fell back, throwing an arm over his face, his entire body a whole other shade red, nearly causing Edward to revert to the blood-sucking mindless monster he always feared, and always tried to keep at bay.
(Though, a piece of him, deep down, was touched by the lack of defenses Jacob put up with his body at Edward's mercy)
The wolf was practically buzzing with energy and anticipation, thrusting up shallowly and erratically, indicating he wanted more, more friction, more skin, moremoremorepleaseEdmore.
"No more talking," Edward quietly repeated, crawling up and straddling his hips. He grabbed the edges of Jacob's shirt and peeled it off himself, giving Jake a pleasant peep show of taut muscles and the delicious, pale skin stretched over them.
"Aw…alright. But y'know, you looked damn good in my shirt, Cullen," Jacob grinned before wiggling his hips, an action that cause the vampire to moan. "Too bad it looks even better on my floor."
"Mutt!" Edward roared, diving down and silencing Jacob's uproarious laughter with a kiss.
Edward knew they've broken the bed. It felt weird on his side, and there was a strange dip on the edge of the bed that he knows wasn't there before. But any guilt he might have felt for the ruined furniture was completely erased by the wide smile plastered on Jake's face, and the destroyed pillow's feathers that litter his hair.
"That was…really great," Jacob whispered lazily, his eyes still closed as his thumb continued to stroke circles on Edward's neck. "Really, really great. And the third time wasn't half bad either."
The vampire chuckled despite himself. "You're insatiable."
"Hey, I'm pretty sure it was my legs over your shoulders that last time." Jacob croaked, his voice rough and hoarse.
Edward tried to mask his groan with another laugh, but he couldn't deny the image of Jacob, red, sweating, begging him to move faster, wouldn't be forever etched his mind.
"Mm, in any case," he gave a polite cough before continuing, "it was you who insisted we'd keep going."
"Yeah, yeah," Jacob responded before turning onto his back, a hand behind his head in all too satisfied a gesture. "It was me, the sex-hungry Native."
The response startled Edward. "Jake…I didn't mean-"
"You're supposed to say thank you, by the way."
"Huh?"
The shifter looked at him them, eyes bright and electric, a grin nearly splitting his face in half. "when someone compliments you, you're supposed to say thank you. Gosh, don't they teach you anything at Leech Camp?"
Edward stared back, confused, but found himself reaching for Jacob's hand anyway, twisting his thin fingers between the thicker ones. He couldn't stop himself from planting his lips on the man's shoulder, hoping to suck in any warmth he came upon.
"I'm sorry, thank you," he echoed lamely, his eyes focused on the many hairs that stood proudly up from Jacob's skin. He wished he could stop the way his toes curled when Jacob squeezed his hand.
"So what now?"
The question had been bugging him since last night. Hell, it had be bugging him since he first rang the doorbell to the Blacks' home, and Jacob open the door and stood there, alive and buzzing with excitement of secrets plans and hopeful understandings.
"…I don't know." He didn't know who said that at this point, or if it was a thought produced by his overworked mind.
"Should we tell everyone?" That was Jacob, and it nearly frightened the vampire then how young and unsure he suddenly sounded, much opposite from the confidence he exuded earlier.
"Why?" Edward retorted without even realizing his mouth was moving. "Who cares what they think? This isn't anyone's business but ours."
The response sounded juvenile in his ears, but it felt like he actually said what he was thinking for the first time in a very long time.
"Look at you, Mr. Rebel," Jacob replied with a barking laugh, masking the nervous thoughts of 'What now? What should we do? What should I do' ringing over and over in his head. "Soon you'll be telling me to ditch study hall to go make out with you behind the bleachers."
The vampire looked up into his eyes then, and saw the delicate fear clouding the joy Jacob so characteristically, unabashedly showed.
He took pity on him then, reaching up and bring the wolf down for a soft, gentle kiss.
"Would this be before or after Leech Camp?" Edward asked when they finished. Jacob's eyes went wide before he broke out into a snicker, relaxed and distinctively his.
They tucked into each other at that point, silent, listening to the other's breathing, before Edward guessed it was around an hour later.
"I should go," he whispered into Jacob's hair, trying to untangle their clasped fingers.
"Mm, I kinda don't want you to?" the shifter responded. He sat up anyway. "What if you like, lived here forever?"
Edward felt dizzy at the suggestion, sitting up as well. "What would you want me to do, hide in your closet? I don't thing your father would be too welcoming, coming back home to me as a new tenant."
"We could get him to warm up to you, with a little work." Jacob groaned and stretched, popping overworked bones and muscles. He looked over Edward's shoulder to the lights squeezing out of closed curtains. "How are you going to leave anyway? It's almost noon. I can definitely said most of the pack is up now."
"Drive me home?" The vampire smiled. Jacob laughed again, and the memory of the his head thrown back, body shaking with unbridled happiness, might be Edward's favorite of all they've made together.
"Okay."
They manage to sneak Edward into Jacob's truck without much difficulty. The vampire was shoved in a hoodie (disgusting, smelly, like everything this man owned) to hide his scintillating skin, before being pushed into the red pickup. There was a breath-holding moment of panic when Seth arbitrarily appeared and called out from behind the vehicle seconds before Jacob put his key into the ignition, suddenly having a question of the upmost importance.
"Yeah?" Jacob called out, quickly shoving Edward to the floor with a heavy blanket tossed over him, before the teen appeared at the window.
"I asked if you still wanted to hit up the movies tonight?" Seth asked. "Remember? That horror movie?"
"Yeah yeah, for sure. I just gotta do something first," Jacob responded hastily. To his credit, Edward thought he was doing well pretending to be a random, human shaped object ("This floor is filthy! Jacob, would it kill you to vacuum?")
"Oh okay, no prob." Seth shifted then, a little uncomfortable. "Dude, are you okay? You look kinda nervous."
"Fine! I'm fine! Just gotta do something, real quick," said the shifter with unconvincing surety.
Seth quirked an eyebrow. "Okay then, I'll let you go." The teen's eyes lost focus then, before he raised his head and sniffed the air several times. His faced screwed up into a grimace.
"Dude, have you been, like, having sleepovers at the Cullens' lately? Your car reeks of them! Mostly Edward though."
Jacob rolled his eyes. "No man. Look, Bells left some of her shitty ex's stuff over my place, and I had to return them. I don't need any reminder of that bloodsucker in my place."
"Hmm," Seth started, "but—"
"How do you know what Ed— What that leech smells like anyway?" He turned an accusing eye on the Seth. "Got a crush?"
"What? Ew, no! He just use to be the one I saw all the time! Can't help it if I remember!"
He does kinda smell nice though, I like the soap he uses Edward hears the quiet thought from Seth's mind. He stifled a snort.
"Mmhm, sure dude. Look I'll be back in a sec. Tell the others I'll be right back." Jacob started the car, the old engine roading to live a second time that day. Seth backed away, an unanswered question evident on his face.
"…Jacob?" he called over the loud engine. "Just be careful, yeah? I know things have been weird but…"
The older shifter sighs before sparing the teen a genuine smile. "It's all good, Seth. Promise. I'll be back and we'll go see your shitty horror movie."
"Woah, Insidious 4 is not going to be shitty. Patrick Wilson is back!"
"Yeah yeah, supporting your husband's movies, I get you. Bye dude."
Jacob drove off, merging onto the road, not looking back at Seth shaking his head. The truck went on for several minutes, making a couple of turns and stoping once.
"You can get up now."
Edward got up, pushing the blanket off of him in disgust before sitting down. "You honestly need to drench this entire car in bleach and soap."
"Hmm, that's a funny way of saying 'Thanks for making sure I don't get found out in enemy territory, my gorgeous Jacob. What would I do without you?'"
"Please, you made it a production," Edward deadpanned. "'Shitty ex?'"
Jacob shrugged, looking endearingly awkward. "When I was, uh, kinda realizing I had a thing for you, around the time you and Bells were splitting up, I had to double down on the insults to make sure no one suspected nothing. And for my own sanity. Sorry."
The vampire buckled himself in, tucking himself more into the jacket he wore to prevent his glowing skin from striking Jacob in the eyes. His hand drifted to the other's again, loosely grasping it.
"I was pretty shitty," he replied, starting outside at the passing trees. Jacob didn't say anything.
Thirty minutes of silence and a blessedly empty highway before Jacob veered left, off the road and stopping in a small clearing. Both men got out of the car.
"Oh wait," the shifter said before moving behind the back of his truck. He emerged again, a tote bag in his hand.
"Here. I know it probably can't be sewed up or nothing, but I am sorry. Just in case." He handed the bag to Edward, and a quick peak revealed his tattered clothes.
"A memento to remember you by? Tacky," the vampire retorted with a smirk. The shifter grinned and punched him in the arm.
"Shut up."
The two of them made their way deeper into the forest, walking in silence, deep in their own thoughts. Several times Edward wanted to suggest an impromptu race between the two of them, to help evaporate the thickness of tension that suddenly materialized, but each time he looked toward the other, Jacob's hard stare ahead made him rethink the idea. Instead, he drifted closer and closer to the younger man, letting their shoulder brush against each other.
Minutes later, they could see Edward's home come into view beyond the evergreens. They approached a river bank when Jacob stopped.
"So, yeah," he supplied. He rocked back on his heels. "Guess I'll see you?"
Edward sighed—he really isn't good at goodbyes. "Yes, I suppose."
Both men stared at each other, neither making the move they wished the other would. When minutes began running into each other, Jacob turned away, hands in pockets.
"See ya, Edward."
It was then the vampire had a startling revelation: He was tired. Tired of people leaving, and tired of leaving them. But most of all, tired, exhausted, and utterly over being scared of making the first move.
"Jake," he called. The man halted, turning around.
"Yeah?"
Edward dropped the bag, took the eight steps the separated them, and wrapped his arms around the other's neck.
"Miserable wolf," he said with a smile before kissing Jacob, soundly, and without question. The wolf moaned, enfolding the vampire in his arms, pulling them together again, akin to the manner he did that morning. But instead of the shameless grinding of before, Jacob clutched to Edward desperately as if he was going to disappear into nothing. The giggles and silliness of their earlier activities seemed to expire, giving way to a bleaker reality neither one wanted acknowledge. However, regardless of what their futures held, Edward wanted to make sure this thing—whatever it might be—ended with pleasant memories for them both.
"I'll have to give you back your clothes," he responded as he finally pulled away. The words fell out of his mouth and seem to surprise them both.
"…Yeah." There was that grin, threatening to split the shifter's face again. "I really, really like that hoodie, and that shirt."
"Hmm, then I guess I'll have to return them to you," Edward smirked, whispering. "Of course, when I'm all done with them, naturally."
Jacob's eyes slowly widened to the point of worrying. He cleared his throat.
"If you give me like, five minutes, I can go get that blanket. Like, maybe less than that. And we can do it here."
The man looked so serious then, his expression all negotiable and open, that Edward couldn't help it: he burst into laughter.
"You idiot!" He howled and hung onto the man. "What did I do without you, all this time?"
"A question for the ages, I'm sure," the wolf answered sarcastically, bringing Edward's face back to his. "I was serious, y'know.."
"I know, pervert."
Edward was pulled into another kiss. He hummed and smiled—this was becoming an unsettling habit, letting this man make him happy.
There that word was again. It made him feel good acknowledging it, finally.
"Jacob!" Edward cried out when their was a sharp pinch on his butt.
"I can't help it! I've got a sickness! I'm addicted!" Jacob mockingly exclaimed. He did pull away then, finally granting a space between them. "You should indulge me."
"I think I've done enough of that," the vampire answered. Grabbing his stuff, He stepped back over the river bank, never taking his eyes off of the other.
"Goodbye, Jacob Black. I feel like it is guaranteed I will see you again."
"Yeah, um, actually," his nervousness returned, but this time, it was the shifter's shyness that left Edward trembling slightly. "Do you wanna catch a movie in a couple of weeks? Like whatever you want. We can see a horror movie, I don't hate them, just Insi-"
"Are you asking me on a date, mutt?" Edward replied. "Even after all we've done?"
"Well I'm not the type to hit-and-run, if you catch my drift. I can be gentlemanly, sometimes.…Are you saying yes, bloodsucker?"
Edward crossed the bank once more, kissing those full lips and praying that, beyond hoping he could sneak around his family today with too many questions and that their current tryst was not liable for a full-blown war between their family, he would remember to wear clothes he didn't care about the next time they met.
"I suppose I am."
End.