Chapter 6
Edd lay in the crook of Kevin's arm, despite being the taller. Kevin smiled contentedly. Edd's lips were pressed to his neck and his hand lay on his chest, lightly tracing circles into the sensitive flesh between his pectoral muscles. He didn't want to bring it up, but he knew he had to.
"Hey, Edd?"
He nodded to indicate he was listening, pushing his lips further into his neck.
"Okay, don't take this the wrong way but can we keep this…quiet?"
The boy pulled away slightly and looked at him with concern.
"It's not that I don't like you, because I have for years now, but—my place on the team. I need those scholarships to stay here and athletics aren't the most accepting places for, well, couples like us. If the guys found out—"
"They can't kick you off the team; that would be considered prejudice based on sexual orientation and you could sue for much more than the sum of your scholarships if they did."
"No, I know that. They wouldn't kick me off the team but the guys could make life hell until I quit. Or until I made a mistake that got me kicked off for another reason, or hurt. You know how people can be. If it weren't for the scholarships it wouldn't matter, but if I lose those—"
He settled back into his arm. "I understand." He was quiet a moment. "You used the term 'couple.'"
He felt heat flush his neck and up to his cheeks. "Did I?"
Edd nodded. "Is that what we are?"
"I don't—I mean I didn't really think about it. If you'd rather take it slow before using the word, easing into it, I get it."
He shook his head. "I like it. And if we're keeping things quiet, it doesn't much matter what term is used."
"Just for now. Once my place on the team solidifies, it won't be as big a deal. But as one of the new guys…."
"It's fine. Why don't we worry about terminology if and when the time comes?"
Kevin looked him in the eye. "It will come." He felt guilty as hell for bringing it up now, but he knew it was a matter of staying at school or being forced home to community college. Edd had received an academic scholarship, they couldn't take that away unless his grades slipped or he got into serious trouble; they both knew that wouldn't happen. If Kevin were forced off even one of the teams he had received scholarships for, he would have to drop out.
To try to suppress the guilt he pressed his lips to the boy's. He seemed to stiffen in surprise again before softening into the kiss. Kevin teased the closed seam of his lips with the tip of his tongue. When Edd complied and opened his own mouth a little, Kevin nipped at his bottom lip, eliciting a groan he had wanted to hear for too long. He dragged his mouth and tongue down Edd's neck, kissing and nipping at the sensitive flesh, breathy moans escaping Edd occasionally. When he worked his way back up to his ear, taking the tender lobe between both teeth and sucking lightly, Edd let out a groan Kevin had only heard in his most explicit dreams. He smiled and kissed the dork on the mouth again. If an earlobe could do that to the poor kid, he couldn't wait to find out what other noises he'd make.
He could feel Edd's length press against his hip but tried his best to ignore it, wanting to afford him the opportunity to set pace. As it was the boy seemed shaky and out of his element; Kevin slowed himself and let Edd take the lead. Edd's kisses were softer, less sure and more experimental. He teased Kevin with his tongue but never tried to fully French kiss him; the tease was maddening. He nibbled Kevin's lip, small bites across the lower lip that actually started to arouse him more than he would have expected. With a shy smile he followed Kevin's own path down his throat, stopping to spend time at the collarbone and the junction of his shoulder and neck. His hands explored his torso, gently kneading muscles and heating the skin over them. Kevin felt the boy grind his pelvis into his hip and nearly lost control.
"Edd—" he said, voice ragged and uneven.
The nerd looked up, eyes wide but not entirely innocent. "Yes?"
"I—I need you to stop for minute or I'm going to lose control and jump you."
He gave a coy smile but stopped his ministrations to his throat and let his hands lie still on his ribs. "Might I ask one thing of you?"
"Anything," he responded, slowly regaining control over himself, his mind clearing of the lust that hazed his vision earlier.
"No more girls."
"What?"
"Well, if we're to—that is if we're a couple as you stated earlier, there shouldn't be any other people intruding on our…relationship, I suppose you could say. So I guess I should say no other boys either but I thought that went without saying."
Kevin nodded. "That'll be harder to explain to the guys, but I'll think of something."
"Truly?"
"Yeah. You're right." If he were to be honest he hadn't thought of it, mostly because he hadn't wanted to be with those girls in the first place. Each time he'd taken a girl home, whether in high school or college—it made no difference—he'd had to be drunk or high. His body's response to Edd had been much different than the forced kisses with the others.
Edd kissed him deeply in reply, eliciting the new and exciting response again.
"Oh my god. What is that?" Wilhelmina stopped Edd while they were walking away from their biology lab, pulling the collar of his t-shirt over to get a better look at the purple-red mark at the juncture of his neck and clavicle. "Is that a hickey?" she hissed.
Edd turned bright red in reply.
"It is!" She hugged him. "Finally told him then?"
"I might have. But please don't say anything to anyone else."
They were walking to his dorm before lunch in the cafeteria. Edd scanned his ID to access the building and they entered the elevator alone.
"What do you mean don't say anything to anyone else?"
"He's here on an athletic scholarship. Without it he wouldn't be able to afford the tuition. He's afraid of what his teammates might do if they were to discover the truth."
She nodded in understanding. "Fair enough. Not like I have anyone to tell anyway. Can't exactly tell Elle. She's really the only one I'd have mentioned it to anyway. 'Hey remember that guy you hooked up with? Yeah he's gay for his roommate.' That conversation would go over about as well as North Korea's nuclear testing. But you gotta spill."
A smile tugged at his cheeks. When they got back in the room, Edd told her what had transpired the night before, or at least the basics of what had happened. He didn't think she needed all the intimate details.
Kevin walked in just after Edd finished telling her what had happened.
"Hey, Edd. Hey, Willy."
She gave him a pointed look with a smirk.
"You told her, didn't you?" he said. There was no anger in his voice and only a trace of accusation.
"I figured it out on my own. If you're going to leave love marks on a kid who supposedly isn't dating, you might want to hide them a bit better."
Kevin blushed a little but nodded. He mumbled something about things getting a little out of control and not meaning to leave it, which earned him a raised eyebrow from Wilhelmina.
"I might buy that excuse from him," she jabbed her thumb over at Edd, "but you, sir, have more experience than that."
"Not experiences that I actually, you know, liked."
She shrugged. "Even still, I'm sure you know how to not leave a hickey. Or at least to leave them where he can cover them."
He nodded.
"I'm just saying if you want this whatever you're calling it to remain secret, you might want to do a better job of hiding the evidence, or it's going to get out quickly. It happened yesterday and I figured it out."
Edd looked at her. "Do you think anyone else will have?"
She pursed her lips and tapped a finger against them. Finally she said, "Probably not. If anyone asks, I gave you that, okay? But make it clear that it was a onetime thing. No offense or anything, but when I'm single, I like to reap the benefits of singledom."
Edd nodded in understanding. "Did you want to get lunch still?"
She checked the alarm clock perched on Edd's desk. "Yeah I've got time. You going to come with, lover boy?"
"Yeah, all right."
They ate trying to ignore the mark peaking out of Edd's shirt. Wilhelmina smirked, catching Kevin eyeing the bite. The sight of it gave Kevin a deep sense of satisfaction, as did the matching mark Edd had left on the right side of his chest, which he had seen while brushing his teeth that morning.
After eating Wilhelmina made an excuse about class or a project she was working on and left Kevin and Edd to walk back to their dorm with a wave. When they arrived in the room and the door shut, they felt suddenly shy.
Edd cleared his throat. "How was class?"
Kevin's eyes were still pinned to the hickey when he answered, "Fine. Pop quiz in Statistics. Think I aced it though."
"That's very good," Edd said, stepping closer. He had a couple inches on Kevin, looking down at him when they were nose to nose, but not so much that Kevin had to step on his toes to reach him.
Kevin placed his hands on the boy's hips and hauled him closer. "How were your classes?" He buried his mouth in Edd's neck, carefully not leaving marks.
Edd's gasp made Kevin smile. "It—it was most enjoyable." His voice crept high at the end when Kevin bit down lightly on his collarbone. "We did a lab on ocean currents today."
"Is that so?" Kevin nudged Edd backward, lips still tracing his neck and chest, until he reached the bed. He felt Edd nodding. "You done for the day now?"
"I have one more lesson at four-thirty."
"Lucky me. That's three hours to kill."
"You don't have any more classes?" he said, seemingly trying to stay casual and failing.
Kevin shook his head slowly. "I managed to get all my classes between eight and twelve-thirty on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays."
"And you've done your homework?"
Kevin pulled back and gave him an odd look. "Yes, Mother I've done my homework," he bit off the words sarcastically.
"I didn't mean it like that. I just wouldn't want either of us to fall behind in class due to the attentions of the other. Education is of the utmost importance."
"I've been balancing a social life and my school work on my own for a while now and managed good grades. Don't worry about it. Just kiss me now, Dork. Please."
"Well since you asked so nicely." Edd leaned down and kissed Kevin gently.
Kevin reached under the boy and lifted him on the bed, crawling up on top of him an instant later. He propped his body up on his elbows while he kissed Edd, holding most of his weight off him. Kevin kissed Edd fiercely, until his phone started buzzing in his pocket. He tried to ignore the ringing buzz between his leg and Edd's.
"Kevin, perhaps you should answer that."
He sighed and rolled off the boy to answer the call. "Yeah?"
"Dude, slip n' slide on the quad. Get out here!"
"Nah man, I can't."
"What do you mean you can't?"
"I'm working with my lab partner for chemistry. I'll have to meet up with you guys another time. I'll see you at practice." He hung up the phone before his teammate could argue.
"Chemistry, huh?"
Kevin shrugged. "It's not a lie, just not the chemistry work they'll be thinking of."
Edd smiled and his gap showed.
Kevin put a hand under Edd's chin and pulled him forward gently. He answered the question that had been plaguing him for months by kissing the boy. He worked his tongue into his mouth and gently felt the gap in his teeth, slightly sharp at the corners and slick across the surface. Edd kissed him back, his hands working his way onto Kevin's shoulders.
"Don't go," Kevin said, still lying on Edd's bed, lips bruised from kissing.
"I have class. And you have soccer practice in twenty-seven minutes."
"Skip it," he said huskily.
The tone of his voice made Edd blush. "I have to go. I'll see you when you get back from practice." He bent down to the boy sprawled across his bed and brushed a kiss over his lips. "Do behave yourself."
Edd hurried to class, nearly late due to Kevin's arduous attentions. He appreciated Kevin's efforts to go slow, despite physical evidence that he wanted to speed things up. Edd figured that Kevin knew that his experience with sex of any kind or with either gender was nonexistent and the effort he put in to keep things in Edd's comfort zone did not go unnoticed. In an effort to express his gratitude toward his roommate he tried to learn all of the ways Kevin enjoyed being touched, whether by lips or fingertips thus far. He had compiled an extensive list in his head and added to it on his way to class.
He turned in his history paper and took notes as best he could, but when the professor detailed the pilgrims' and early Americans' exploration of the "New World" his mind slipped back to the boy on his bed, his lips puffed and pink, and the feel of him stretched out next to him. The hair that trailed down Kevin's stomach and disappeared beneath the line of his belt was a "New World" Edd thought about exploring. He wasn't sure when, but he knew he wanted to.