Rich

This kiss is as sweet as their first one, but deeper. Not just lips. Tongue, teeth, longing. Jake's fingers leaving his hair to creep up his chest.

When they pull away, Rich barely has enough air to think.

Jake smirks at him, and Rich sighs in contentment and lets Jake pull him closer. "Was starting to wonder when you'd open your mouth."

Rich wraps his arms around Jake's neck, the warm skin pressing against his own. "I was kinda afraid to, I guess, because-" he halts, laughing nervously. "I've imagined it so many times, you know, but I never imagined stopping, so what if, like, I can't stop?"

Jake grins wider, pulling Rich closer. They're sitting side by side on Jake's couch, homework forgotten on the coffee table. "I wouldn't mind."

Rich blushes at the low roll of Jake's voice, the insecurity in him washing away for a moment as Jake holds his waist in firm hands.

Jake's fingers send fire down Rich's spine as they move over his shoulder blades and return to the edge of Rich's shirt. Rich doesn't know what to do with his hands, so he just uses them to tug up Jake's shirt until Jake lets him take it off.

Jake pauses and Rich freezes, terrified. Too far? He's never done it with a guy before. He's only ever really wanted Jake. "You really imagined-?"

Rich is so relieved, he laughs and kisses Jake until he's out of breath. "You have no idea."

Grinning, Jake's hands shift so one is on the small of Rich's back and one's buried in Rich's hair. "You act like you're the only one with an imagination," he laughs softly in Rich's ear, the warm breath ghosting over Rich's skin.

Hell, it feels incredible. Rich can't help letting out a few embarrassing sounds as Jake leans them both over and Rich feels the pillows of Jake's couch press against his back as he allows himself to be lowered. He misses Jake's old living room, but he's hoping the memories made in the new one will be better than video games and talking about girls he's not actually into.

When Jake's hands catch at Rich's shirt, however, Rich can't stop the plummeting of his heart and the cold that spreads to his toes. He stops the hands with his own without a thought.

"Sorry," Jake pulls his hands back immediately, eyes frightened.

Rich looks away, although with Jake over him like that, there isn't really an away to look. "It's not you," he mumbles, "But I- what exactly did you imagine?"

Jake

Jake blinks, trying to figure out why…? "I can show you," he offers easily, nuzzling Rich's jaw and smiling when Rich squirms.

"It's not-" Rich swallows and Jake can't help tracking the movement. "What was I like?" His voice is tight with forced casualty and Jake curses himself.

Oh. Oh.

"Not nearly as good as in reality." Jake winks and Rich flushes a deep red. "Seriously. Rich. I want you, not…" he scrambles for the words. "I don't want… this because of how hot you are, I want it because I want to- to- I want it because it's you."

Somehow Rich gets it, even though Jake is 90% sure he's terrible at articulating his feelings, and Jake's heart leaps when Rich raises his arms.

How could Rich ever believe he isn't enough?

Jake pulls at Rich's shirt. "But also you're really hot."

Rich's voice comes out breathy and light. "Shut up." He's letting Jake continue now, but he doesn't quite look as if he believes Jake truly wants him.

"Hey," Jake murmurs against Rich's neck, wrapping Rich in his arms and holding him close. "Do you remember my SQUIP goal?"

Rich's brow wrinkles and the smaller boy in Jake's arms turns his head a little, as if to stare at the ceiling above Jake. "You said the person you like?"

"Mmm," agrees Jake. He looks up to meet the darkened brown eyes, grabbing Rich's hand. "That would be you."

"M-me?" Rich's hands, warm and strong, slide into Jake's hair as Jake moves to reclaim those perfect, perfect lips with his own.

"Two years, Rich," he says against Rich's lips, "Two fucking years. I want this."

Rich's smile could put the sun to shame.

Rich leans up to catch Jake's lips. "Me too."

Jenna

Christine looks like the human embodiment of a cupcake. Jenna loves it. Her smile is like pure light.

"So." Jenna doesn't know what to say when you see your girlfriend.

Christine jumps onto the bench, peering down at Jenna. "So?"

"What are we doing?" Jenna asks lamely.

"I really don't care." Christine smiles, sliding down to sit beside her and lacing their fingers together. The spaces between their palms tingle and Jenna swears she can feel lightning there, like magic at her fingertips where their skin touches.

"You don't?" Jenna stares at their laced fingers, Christine's just a shade darker than hers, thinner, and painted with random colors, mismatched and perfect.

"Nope!" Christine beams and kisses Jenna on the lips, quick and fast and with a teasing smile, and the world stops for a moment, bright and shining, sparkling like snow under a clear winter sun. Soft and sweet, the simple moment sends her heart racing, and she wants more so bad, she nearly pulls Christine into her lap. "As long as I'm with you-"

"Don't finish that." Jenna laughs and then tugs on Christine's shirt, and Christine takes the hint to shyly slip onto Jenna's lap, curling into her.

"Why?"

"Because it's cheesy." Jenna smiles anyway, feeling faintly like an idiot for smiling so much, but she can't seem to stop. She is trying, but Christine. Her Christine. Christine who has a million sharp words and looks thrown her way- they tell her stop dreaming, they tell her you sure you're all there? they tell her calm down, jeez, or kindly shut up and her eyes never stop sparkling anyway, her voice never drops quieter.

Christine opens her mouth to respond to that, but Jenna scoops up her courage like gathering Easter eggs from a tree a little high up and kisses Christine- a real kiss, not the fleeting press of lips on lips, but the more needy type of kiss, her heart pounding in her chest.

She slips one hand through Christine's hair, twisting the shoulder-length strands around her fingers as she tries to match Christine's rhythm and tries to quell the fire erupting in her veins.

Christine's probably better than Jenna at kissing; she's had more a boyfriend or two before, but she doesn't seem to be complaining. Jenna's heart beats out of her chest, sending her somewhere up into the clouds.

Kissing, Jenna decides, is the only thing worth her time- it's fucking amazing. The firm press of Christine's lips, the faint strawberry of her own lip-gloss that has come off on Christine's lips and then back, the gentle push and pull between the two of them.

Christine's soft lips pull away, and Jenna's eyes fly open as she makes a small noise of protest. Christine just smiles disarmingly innocently, and swings one leg over so she's got one leg on either side of Jenna and Jenna lets out a small, "Oh." She wishes they weren't out in a park. Preferably that they weren't out at all. Ideally, in a bedroom, maybe.

"Wait," Christine murmurs, still inches from Jenna's mouth, "I don't like shopping though."

Jenna's eyes fly open. "You don't? Shopping is my jam!" She pulls Christine's body into her anyway, her curves pressing against her own. She can feel Christine's heartbeat, the shape of her hips, the dip in her dress's neckline when Christine leans forward.

Christine just makes a face, looks as if she's considering saying something, then goes back to kissing Jenna.

Everything is new- the feel of Christine's hand cupping the back of her neck, the feeling of being able to kiss the girl she likes no matter who's around-

"Yo lesbos!"

Jenna and Christine yank apart to see a couple of white men watching them with leering expressions. They look to be in their late twenties, maybe. "That's hot!"

"Yeah man, that's kinky, don't stop the show on account of us," the other agrees.

Jenna can feel Christine go tense in her lap, like a rabbit ready to spring. She can't take the tremble in Christine's fingers. "Yo pervert!" she yells back, "Lesbians want you even less than straight girls! Go fuck yourself!"

The two men glare, but they stumble away.

"Damn," Christine murmurs into her hair, "You're fucking hot."

Jenna raises an eyebrow, but she's not very good at it, so she lifts the second and Christine laughs and kisses her on the nose. "Since when do you swear like that?"

Christine pecks Jenna on the cheek. "You were doing that new thing called standing up for yourself so I tried a new thing called cursing."

Christine

Jenna's smile is worth the time it takes to say the words instead of spending that time doing other things, like kissing, but still. Kissing. Very good idea. Such a good idea, in fact, that Christine is having a hard time thinking about anything other than Jenna's mouth, at the moment.

"You- uh-" She stares at Jenna's full lips. "Kissing?"

Jenna laughs, not high the way Christine's is, but full and rich in a way that fills the air. "Let's not stop on account of them," she says, and Christine swoops in again.

Again, the slide of their mouths, the easy push of their lips, the tiny hints of tongue that grow not so tiny until Christine begins to struggle to keep her hands to herself. She runs her hands through Jenna's hair, feeling the sound Jenna makes in her mouth.

"This is new," she remarks when she finally pulls away, breathing heavily.

Jenna opens her eyes and looks at Christine, who is only a tiny bit above Jenna because she's in Jenna's lap. "What is? I thought you and Jeremy-"

"I- we kissed, yeah. But…" Christine tries to pin the feeling down. "Wanting to do it, for one. Doing it with someone I really like-" She winks, enjoying Jenna's flush (she's rather red herself, she's sure)- "Doing it with a girl, and um."

"Um?"

"Um," Christine confirms bashfully, and doesn't say anything else. Instead, she looks at her hands, one on Jenna's breast- when did that get there?- and the other on the back of Jenna's neck.

Jenna lets out a small little breath that brushes Christine's lips. "Wanting to do more?"

Christine grins. "I think taking it slow might be a good idea. A responsible one."

Jenna shakes her head. "Really?" Christine opens her mouth- "No, you're right, I guess."

"Well…" Christine hesitates. "Or."

"Or?"

Christine stands, fire rushing in her veins, drunk and intoxicated, high on nothing but Jenna Rolan. "Or not. Do you wanna hang at my place?"

"Hang?"

Christine flushes, feeling the heat rise to her cheeks and down her back. "Shut up, you know what I mean."

Jenna slides her hands off of Christine's hips. "Let's go be irresponsible."