The purpose of a day off from work was pretty much defeated when you found yourself spending said free day watching your crackhead kitten destroy the pieces of paper you threw on the floor for it.
Jay sighed and tossed his notebook onto the coffee table, wishing with all he had that something fascinating would happen. Maybe an alien abduction or earthquake would cure his boredom, not that lower Toronto was really known for either event. Still, he could hope.
It was a sorry reflection of his social life when he was awake at one on a Saturday afternoon, his greatest source of entertainment coming from his hyperactive cat. His mother had called a couple hours earlier to 'catch up', her not-so-secretive way of finding out if he was dating anyone, if he needed money, and if he was ready to move back home yet. Without an event to look forward to that night, Jay was bored senseless and that certainly didn't seem likely to change anytime soon.
To make things worse, he hadn't heard from Adam since he'd been more or less kicked out of the house the night before. That would explain why he almost fell off the couch when the apartment buzzer rang. He sprang to his feet, an act that made him gracelessly fall to the floor when he tripped over a misplaced shoe, but to his credit he reached the mounted phone before its fourth ring.
"Yeah?"
There was a pause, then the familiar sound of cars passing on the street. A throat cleared before a voice was heard. "Jay?"
To save himself further embarrassment, Jay checked the relieved sigh that threatened to escape him. "'Bout time you decided to let me know you were still alive!"
"Sorry." Another silent moment. "Can I make it up to you?"
"Depends. Do you have Cindy Crawford with you?"
"Um . . . no."
"Useless prick," Jay grumbled, pulling the blanket he was using as a curtain from the window closest to him and spotting Adam on the street. "Wow. You look really tiny from up here."
Adam looked up and waved. "You could always invite me up . . ."
"Yeah, I could, huh?"
Adam sighed and shifted his weight restlessly from one foot to the other. "I'll spring for lunch. I mean, if you wanna go and all."
"You mean I don't have to kill Ash for food?"
"Not unless you're into Chinese."
"Awesome. I'll be down in a few minutes."
Jay flinched, realizing for the first time how bored and utterly desperate he sounded. Small matter, though. He was going to check on his friend and get a free lunch to boot, so obviously there was a plus to having practically no social skills.
Changed into a pair of beaten up jeans and a longsleeved Pearl Jam shirt that had been gathering dust in the back of his closet, he gave Ash a bowl of fresh water and headed out the door. Adam was, to say the least, quite surprised to see Jay almost hyper once he stepped out of the apartment complex's main door.
"You're . . . chipper."
"Bored, more like it," Jay corrected, squinting and sliding on a pair of dark sunglasses. Met only with quiet regard, he took the opportunity to do a quick once-over of Adam. A small cut stood out just above his left eye and he seemed to be suffering from a lack of sleep, but otherwise looked to be in decent shape.
Adam guessed what Jay was thinking and immediately began walking to the car. "I'm fine," he answered the unasked question presented by Jay's knitted brow. "Tired, though."
"I can tell."
Once they were on the road, Adam seemed to be content to act as if nothing at all had happened and play with the radio dials instead. Irritated when all he could find were oldie and pop stations, he pushed a CD through the slot it was already halfway in and smirked at Jay's lifted eyebrows as the first few notes of a KMFDM CD began playing.
"You don't strike me as much of a fan of theirs," Jay noted after a brief moment of stunned silence. Adam shrugged.
"There're a lot of things about me you'd never guess."
"Okay, let's not start getting cryptic."
Adam gave a wicked grin and turned the volume up. "Jay, I . . . I'm really sorry about last night."
"What are you apologizing for? You didn't do anything."
The red stoplight became an object of great fascination to Adam, making him stare at it intensely while he sought for an good response. "I didn't want you to see all that."
"Is it always like that?"
Adam didn't answer at first, taking the next couple corners wordlessly. "Not always. Some nights are worse than others. That one, uh, fell into the 'worse than others' category."
"I'd hope so." Jay turned his attention to outside the window, watching the people along the sidewalk as they passed. "I don't know how you put up with that crap."
"I'm just cool that way."
"I'm not joking," Jay shot back, growing angrier every second that passed when he remembered holding Adam and trying to convince him that life wasn't really as bad as it must seem.
Wisely deciding it was best to let the conversation die, Adam pulled into the parking lot of a small Mexican restaurant, much to Jay's chagrin.
"What? You don't like Mexican food?"
"I didn't survive through eleven years of school cafeteria food to die of food poisoning."
Adam chuckled, turning the car off and stepping out into the lot. "This place is great. You'll like it, trust me."
Jay was nothing if not skeptical, as evidenced by his pursed lips. "I try to make it a point never to eat anything I can't identify."
"Stop bitching and pick a table," Adam laughed, making a wide arc-like gesture meant to indicate the picnic tables set up alongside the building. Jay cursed his luck; of course Adam would take advantage of the unseasonably warm weather and want to stay in public, thus practically guaranteeing Jay wouldn't have a chance to interrogate him about just what had happened last night.
Nevertheless, he picked a table without complaint and waited, albeit anxiously, for Adam and lunch to show up.
Almost an hour later, he was pushing a piece of lettuce around his tray with a plastic fork, wishing fervently he hadn't agreed to take the restaurant up on its free second helping policy on garden salads. The waitress had been cute, though, and he gave in, something Adam was taking great pleasure in teasing him about.
"Oh, God," he moaned, letting his head drop forward and hit the table. "I think I'm dying."
"Poor thing. You'll live," Adam encouraged mockingly, prying the lid off the cup his drink had come in so he could get to the ice and munch on it. "But hey, at least you'll die on a full stomach."
"Maybe. I just hope someone doesn't decide to do an autopsy on the body or they're gonna get a surprise."
"You didn't even eat that much. Stop complaining."
Jay raised his head enough to get his chin level with the edge of the table, glaring balefully at the boy across from him. Plastic trays and bowls were piled everywhere, most having come from the other side of the table. Adam had been the proverbial train wreck that was fascinating unwittingly. If Jay hadn't been too busy trying to keep track of how many burritos Adam was inhaling he might have been disgusted to the point of not being able to finish his own meal.
"So says the guy with the cast iron stomach."
Adam grinned impishly, crunching noisily on a piece of ice. "Food and I have a very intimate relationship, or at least that's how I like to look at it."
"No, *you* like to eating enough to make a sumo wrestler intimidated." Jay paused, arching an eyebrow. "Not that you could tell it, skinny as you are."
"Whatever. You're just jealous."
"Of what? That I can't eat my weight in rice?"
"That, among other things."
Jay rolled his eyes and let his head drop back down onto the table to the sound of Adam's laughter.
Casting a quick look to his car, Adam fished his keys from his pocket and swung them around his index finger. "Jay?"
"What?"
"You ever driven a Jag before?"
Jay slowly raised his head back up, eyes wide, if confused. "You're shittin' me." Adam only gave a wry little grin and pointed his finger at Jay, letting the keys dangle from it. With a strangled yelp, Jay jumped up from his seat on the bench and grabbed the keys, throwing his garbage into the trash can on his way to the parking lot.
"Hey!" Adam called, digging through his wallet in search of something he thought would make a suitable tip. "You're supposed to be sick, remember?"
"It's a miracle!" Jay called back, running loving hands over the car's smooth surface. Adam caught up with him a few seconds later, happy to see Jay was happy but obviously having second thoughts. "Don't worry. I have my license."
"It's not that. It's just . . ." Adam shook his head and got in the car. "Never mind."
"Just what?"
"Look, you can total the car for all I care, just, please, I'd like to live to see my eighteenth birthday."
Jay let a hand fly to his heart. "What, you think I'm a bad driver?"
Adam remained quiet and buckled his seatbelt. Had he been of the religious variety, he might have said a prayer to go along with it all, too. All rational thoughts were lost as soon as Jay was out on the road. The entire situation was rather surreal, with Jay practically flying above the ground and Adam gripping the dashboard for dear life, all to the tune of industrial rock playing from the car's expensive speaker system. That was while they were still in town. Adam groaned and almost wet himself when he saw Jay was heading for the highway where he would undoubtedly go as fast as he thought he could before the force of gravity made their heads implode.
"Hey, there's no use in havin' a fast car if you don't go fast," Jay reasoned when he saw Adam's frightened expression. "Don't tell me you've never floored this thing."
"I . . . actually, no, I haven't."
Jay shook his head in disbelief, going a little faster just out of spite. "You're missing out!"
Adam closed his eyes and began to mentally plot out his will. His video games would go to his cousin Josh. The CDs would go to his cousin Liz.
"Make sure the coroners see I'm an organ donor," he announced suddenly through gritted teeth. Jay laughed and took a curve hard enough to send Adam sprawling over the armrest between them. "Have I ever mentioned I get car sick?"
"Then you'd better find a barf bag."
"You insensitive bastard. I hate you."
Aside from the CD in the stereo system and Adam's frequent weak groans, the rest of the ride was made in silence. After joy riding for well over an hour, Jay finally drove atop a steep hill and parked the car, drumming the wheel excitedly.
"Wow. We gotta do that again."
Adam pried one eye open, then the other. "Give. Me. The. Keys."
"You liked it, admit it," Jay grinned, handing over the keys anyway. Adam stuffed them into his pocket with a shaking hand, the other already reaching for the door handle. "Besides, you're the one who was talking about eating a bullet last night, remember?"
"It doesn't count," Adam started, "if it's at someone else's hand."
Despite wanting to continue the discussion, Jay shrugged and walked to the edge of the hill. It had been a favorite spot of his since he was a small child, a spot relatively private that overlooked the city and provided a breaktaking view of the sunset in the summer. He couldn't really be sure what had possessed him to go there now, but Adam seemed happy just to still be in one piece, so maybe it was all for the best.
Jay slid to the ground, resting his back against a large pine tree and thanking whatever deity was watching over him that he didn't sit on a pine cone. Adam made his unsteady way over to join him, deliriously happy to be seated. The ground was cold, hard, and not really comfortable at all, but Adam was delighted for the simple fact it wasn't moving.
"I get the impression you don't like my driving."
Adam grunted an unintelligible reply and let his head fall back against the tree.
The two sat in companionable silence a few minutes longer, broken only when Jay sighed contentedly and drew his knees to his chest. "Nice view, huh?"
"Yeah," Adam agreed without protest, having to admit that for all Jay's reckless driving, the means might very well have justified the means to get this incredible view. Not that he'd admit it, of course.
"Did he hurt you?"
Adam blinked, not comprehending the question at first. "Huh?"
"Your father. Did he hurt you last night?" Adam shook his head, though he stopped when he noticed Jay glaring at him. "I heard you yell before I left. What was that all about?"
"Nothing." While Jay knew it was much more than 'nothing', the perfunctuary tone in his friend's voice kept him from commenting on it further. He couldn't really do any commenting at all, in fact, thanks to Adam pressing his mouth against Jay's, beginning a soft and timid kiss just to see how his friend would react. He pulled back after a moment, searching Jay's face for the slightest hint of what he felt or maybe just to know when to move away so he didn't get punched.
Adam darted the tip of his tongue out, licking his lips nervously from habit. Jay was really providing no clues about what was going through his head. His eyes were wide and his mouth was still open, but Adam had grown so used to Jay's gawky surprised look he didn't find it strange in the least now.
"I like you," Adam murmured quietly, running a finger along Jay's cheek and making him jump. "I mean, I know you're prob'ly about as straight as Jesus, but I . . . I can't help it."
Jay gulped. "Er, uh . . . well, everything can be bent a little, y'know." He paused, brow narrowing. Had he really just said that? Why hadn't that been cleared with his brain before his mouth blurted it out? Nevertheless, it was Adam's turn to look surprised.
"Can it?"
Might as well bite the bullet now, Jay reasoned with an inward sigh. "I-I guess so, yeah. But," he amended quickly once he saw Adam's satisfied grin, "this might not be such a good idea."
"Mmm?"
Jay whimpered softly, losing his confidence and all other rational thought as he felt a pair of warm lips trailing down his throat and fingers moving up under his shirt. Adam wasted no time, apparently wanting to seize the moment before Jay could come to his senses and change his mind. Jay, for the most part, couldn't say he was entirely angry about the opportunist actions.
"W-Well, your da...father doesn't really seem like the most tolerant person around. He could disown you or something if he finds out we're doing . . . uh, this."
Adam looked up from where he was trying with little success to unbuckle Jay's belt. "Nothing's worth loving if you aren't willing to make sacrifices for it."
Jay arched an eyebrow; every sarcastic response that sprang to mind was vanished as quickly as they came with the new sensation of his shirt being pulled up over his head. He couldn't be altogether certain what shocked him more, the cool air that hit his bare chest or the fact he hadn't resisted the disrobing at all. That was something he'd have to dwell upon later. For the moment it was all he could do to close his eyes and lean back against the tree, shivering from Adam's curious fingers rather than from the gentle breeze blowing.
It was almost laughably ironic to him that, with another man's mouth against his collarbone and moving steadily downward, he should be finding himself thinking prominently of his ex-girlfriend. His sweet Elizabeth -- Lizzy, as he'd affectionately taken to calling her against her will -- had never said she loved him. Not when he spent an entire month's paycheck to treat her on her eighteenth birthday. Not when he'd dressed in black tights and a white poet shirt he prayed never to see again and recite scenes from Romeo and Juliet beneath her window when she caught the flu last winter. Not when they'd made love and spent the night in each other's arms with him whispering in her ear over and over again that he loved her. And yet, here was this person he'd known for not even two weeks who was already professing his endearment to him.
There was something wrong with this entire picture.
Jay gasped sharply, feeling a pair of hands making identical treks up his thighs and stopping to grasp his hips. No, Lizzy had never done anything to cause him to make that little mewling noise that seemed to serve only to drive Adam insane. There was definitely something wrong with this picture, but Jay would be damned if he could figure out what it was.
Jay sighed and tossed his notebook onto the coffee table, wishing with all he had that something fascinating would happen. Maybe an alien abduction or earthquake would cure his boredom, not that lower Toronto was really known for either event. Still, he could hope.
It was a sorry reflection of his social life when he was awake at one on a Saturday afternoon, his greatest source of entertainment coming from his hyperactive cat. His mother had called a couple hours earlier to 'catch up', her not-so-secretive way of finding out if he was dating anyone, if he needed money, and if he was ready to move back home yet. Without an event to look forward to that night, Jay was bored senseless and that certainly didn't seem likely to change anytime soon.
To make things worse, he hadn't heard from Adam since he'd been more or less kicked out of the house the night before. That would explain why he almost fell off the couch when the apartment buzzer rang. He sprang to his feet, an act that made him gracelessly fall to the floor when he tripped over a misplaced shoe, but to his credit he reached the mounted phone before its fourth ring.
"Yeah?"
There was a pause, then the familiar sound of cars passing on the street. A throat cleared before a voice was heard. "Jay?"
To save himself further embarrassment, Jay checked the relieved sigh that threatened to escape him. "'Bout time you decided to let me know you were still alive!"
"Sorry." Another silent moment. "Can I make it up to you?"
"Depends. Do you have Cindy Crawford with you?"
"Um . . . no."
"Useless prick," Jay grumbled, pulling the blanket he was using as a curtain from the window closest to him and spotting Adam on the street. "Wow. You look really tiny from up here."
Adam looked up and waved. "You could always invite me up . . ."
"Yeah, I could, huh?"
Adam sighed and shifted his weight restlessly from one foot to the other. "I'll spring for lunch. I mean, if you wanna go and all."
"You mean I don't have to kill Ash for food?"
"Not unless you're into Chinese."
"Awesome. I'll be down in a few minutes."
Jay flinched, realizing for the first time how bored and utterly desperate he sounded. Small matter, though. He was going to check on his friend and get a free lunch to boot, so obviously there was a plus to having practically no social skills.
Changed into a pair of beaten up jeans and a longsleeved Pearl Jam shirt that had been gathering dust in the back of his closet, he gave Ash a bowl of fresh water and headed out the door. Adam was, to say the least, quite surprised to see Jay almost hyper once he stepped out of the apartment complex's main door.
"You're . . . chipper."
"Bored, more like it," Jay corrected, squinting and sliding on a pair of dark sunglasses. Met only with quiet regard, he took the opportunity to do a quick once-over of Adam. A small cut stood out just above his left eye and he seemed to be suffering from a lack of sleep, but otherwise looked to be in decent shape.
Adam guessed what Jay was thinking and immediately began walking to the car. "I'm fine," he answered the unasked question presented by Jay's knitted brow. "Tired, though."
"I can tell."
Once they were on the road, Adam seemed to be content to act as if nothing at all had happened and play with the radio dials instead. Irritated when all he could find were oldie and pop stations, he pushed a CD through the slot it was already halfway in and smirked at Jay's lifted eyebrows as the first few notes of a KMFDM CD began playing.
"You don't strike me as much of a fan of theirs," Jay noted after a brief moment of stunned silence. Adam shrugged.
"There're a lot of things about me you'd never guess."
"Okay, let's not start getting cryptic."
Adam gave a wicked grin and turned the volume up. "Jay, I . . . I'm really sorry about last night."
"What are you apologizing for? You didn't do anything."
The red stoplight became an object of great fascination to Adam, making him stare at it intensely while he sought for an good response. "I didn't want you to see all that."
"Is it always like that?"
Adam didn't answer at first, taking the next couple corners wordlessly. "Not always. Some nights are worse than others. That one, uh, fell into the 'worse than others' category."
"I'd hope so." Jay turned his attention to outside the window, watching the people along the sidewalk as they passed. "I don't know how you put up with that crap."
"I'm just cool that way."
"I'm not joking," Jay shot back, growing angrier every second that passed when he remembered holding Adam and trying to convince him that life wasn't really as bad as it must seem.
Wisely deciding it was best to let the conversation die, Adam pulled into the parking lot of a small Mexican restaurant, much to Jay's chagrin.
"What? You don't like Mexican food?"
"I didn't survive through eleven years of school cafeteria food to die of food poisoning."
Adam chuckled, turning the car off and stepping out into the lot. "This place is great. You'll like it, trust me."
Jay was nothing if not skeptical, as evidenced by his pursed lips. "I try to make it a point never to eat anything I can't identify."
"Stop bitching and pick a table," Adam laughed, making a wide arc-like gesture meant to indicate the picnic tables set up alongside the building. Jay cursed his luck; of course Adam would take advantage of the unseasonably warm weather and want to stay in public, thus practically guaranteeing Jay wouldn't have a chance to interrogate him about just what had happened last night.
Nevertheless, he picked a table without complaint and waited, albeit anxiously, for Adam and lunch to show up.
Almost an hour later, he was pushing a piece of lettuce around his tray with a plastic fork, wishing fervently he hadn't agreed to take the restaurant up on its free second helping policy on garden salads. The waitress had been cute, though, and he gave in, something Adam was taking great pleasure in teasing him about.
"Oh, God," he moaned, letting his head drop forward and hit the table. "I think I'm dying."
"Poor thing. You'll live," Adam encouraged mockingly, prying the lid off the cup his drink had come in so he could get to the ice and munch on it. "But hey, at least you'll die on a full stomach."
"Maybe. I just hope someone doesn't decide to do an autopsy on the body or they're gonna get a surprise."
"You didn't even eat that much. Stop complaining."
Jay raised his head enough to get his chin level with the edge of the table, glaring balefully at the boy across from him. Plastic trays and bowls were piled everywhere, most having come from the other side of the table. Adam had been the proverbial train wreck that was fascinating unwittingly. If Jay hadn't been too busy trying to keep track of how many burritos Adam was inhaling he might have been disgusted to the point of not being able to finish his own meal.
"So says the guy with the cast iron stomach."
Adam grinned impishly, crunching noisily on a piece of ice. "Food and I have a very intimate relationship, or at least that's how I like to look at it."
"No, *you* like to eating enough to make a sumo wrestler intimidated." Jay paused, arching an eyebrow. "Not that you could tell it, skinny as you are."
"Whatever. You're just jealous."
"Of what? That I can't eat my weight in rice?"
"That, among other things."
Jay rolled his eyes and let his head drop back down onto the table to the sound of Adam's laughter.
Casting a quick look to his car, Adam fished his keys from his pocket and swung them around his index finger. "Jay?"
"What?"
"You ever driven a Jag before?"
Jay slowly raised his head back up, eyes wide, if confused. "You're shittin' me." Adam only gave a wry little grin and pointed his finger at Jay, letting the keys dangle from it. With a strangled yelp, Jay jumped up from his seat on the bench and grabbed the keys, throwing his garbage into the trash can on his way to the parking lot.
"Hey!" Adam called, digging through his wallet in search of something he thought would make a suitable tip. "You're supposed to be sick, remember?"
"It's a miracle!" Jay called back, running loving hands over the car's smooth surface. Adam caught up with him a few seconds later, happy to see Jay was happy but obviously having second thoughts. "Don't worry. I have my license."
"It's not that. It's just . . ." Adam shook his head and got in the car. "Never mind."
"Just what?"
"Look, you can total the car for all I care, just, please, I'd like to live to see my eighteenth birthday."
Jay let a hand fly to his heart. "What, you think I'm a bad driver?"
Adam remained quiet and buckled his seatbelt. Had he been of the religious variety, he might have said a prayer to go along with it all, too. All rational thoughts were lost as soon as Jay was out on the road. The entire situation was rather surreal, with Jay practically flying above the ground and Adam gripping the dashboard for dear life, all to the tune of industrial rock playing from the car's expensive speaker system. That was while they were still in town. Adam groaned and almost wet himself when he saw Jay was heading for the highway where he would undoubtedly go as fast as he thought he could before the force of gravity made their heads implode.
"Hey, there's no use in havin' a fast car if you don't go fast," Jay reasoned when he saw Adam's frightened expression. "Don't tell me you've never floored this thing."
"I . . . actually, no, I haven't."
Jay shook his head in disbelief, going a little faster just out of spite. "You're missing out!"
Adam closed his eyes and began to mentally plot out his will. His video games would go to his cousin Josh. The CDs would go to his cousin Liz.
"Make sure the coroners see I'm an organ donor," he announced suddenly through gritted teeth. Jay laughed and took a curve hard enough to send Adam sprawling over the armrest between them. "Have I ever mentioned I get car sick?"
"Then you'd better find a barf bag."
"You insensitive bastard. I hate you."
Aside from the CD in the stereo system and Adam's frequent weak groans, the rest of the ride was made in silence. After joy riding for well over an hour, Jay finally drove atop a steep hill and parked the car, drumming the wheel excitedly.
"Wow. We gotta do that again."
Adam pried one eye open, then the other. "Give. Me. The. Keys."
"You liked it, admit it," Jay grinned, handing over the keys anyway. Adam stuffed them into his pocket with a shaking hand, the other already reaching for the door handle. "Besides, you're the one who was talking about eating a bullet last night, remember?"
"It doesn't count," Adam started, "if it's at someone else's hand."
Despite wanting to continue the discussion, Jay shrugged and walked to the edge of the hill. It had been a favorite spot of his since he was a small child, a spot relatively private that overlooked the city and provided a breaktaking view of the sunset in the summer. He couldn't really be sure what had possessed him to go there now, but Adam seemed happy just to still be in one piece, so maybe it was all for the best.
Jay slid to the ground, resting his back against a large pine tree and thanking whatever deity was watching over him that he didn't sit on a pine cone. Adam made his unsteady way over to join him, deliriously happy to be seated. The ground was cold, hard, and not really comfortable at all, but Adam was delighted for the simple fact it wasn't moving.
"I get the impression you don't like my driving."
Adam grunted an unintelligible reply and let his head fall back against the tree.
The two sat in companionable silence a few minutes longer, broken only when Jay sighed contentedly and drew his knees to his chest. "Nice view, huh?"
"Yeah," Adam agreed without protest, having to admit that for all Jay's reckless driving, the means might very well have justified the means to get this incredible view. Not that he'd admit it, of course.
"Did he hurt you?"
Adam blinked, not comprehending the question at first. "Huh?"
"Your father. Did he hurt you last night?" Adam shook his head, though he stopped when he noticed Jay glaring at him. "I heard you yell before I left. What was that all about?"
"Nothing." While Jay knew it was much more than 'nothing', the perfunctuary tone in his friend's voice kept him from commenting on it further. He couldn't really do any commenting at all, in fact, thanks to Adam pressing his mouth against Jay's, beginning a soft and timid kiss just to see how his friend would react. He pulled back after a moment, searching Jay's face for the slightest hint of what he felt or maybe just to know when to move away so he didn't get punched.
Adam darted the tip of his tongue out, licking his lips nervously from habit. Jay was really providing no clues about what was going through his head. His eyes were wide and his mouth was still open, but Adam had grown so used to Jay's gawky surprised look he didn't find it strange in the least now.
"I like you," Adam murmured quietly, running a finger along Jay's cheek and making him jump. "I mean, I know you're prob'ly about as straight as Jesus, but I . . . I can't help it."
Jay gulped. "Er, uh . . . well, everything can be bent a little, y'know." He paused, brow narrowing. Had he really just said that? Why hadn't that been cleared with his brain before his mouth blurted it out? Nevertheless, it was Adam's turn to look surprised.
"Can it?"
Might as well bite the bullet now, Jay reasoned with an inward sigh. "I-I guess so, yeah. But," he amended quickly once he saw Adam's satisfied grin, "this might not be such a good idea."
"Mmm?"
Jay whimpered softly, losing his confidence and all other rational thought as he felt a pair of warm lips trailing down his throat and fingers moving up under his shirt. Adam wasted no time, apparently wanting to seize the moment before Jay could come to his senses and change his mind. Jay, for the most part, couldn't say he was entirely angry about the opportunist actions.
"W-Well, your da...father doesn't really seem like the most tolerant person around. He could disown you or something if he finds out we're doing . . . uh, this."
Adam looked up from where he was trying with little success to unbuckle Jay's belt. "Nothing's worth loving if you aren't willing to make sacrifices for it."
Jay arched an eyebrow; every sarcastic response that sprang to mind was vanished as quickly as they came with the new sensation of his shirt being pulled up over his head. He couldn't be altogether certain what shocked him more, the cool air that hit his bare chest or the fact he hadn't resisted the disrobing at all. That was something he'd have to dwell upon later. For the moment it was all he could do to close his eyes and lean back against the tree, shivering from Adam's curious fingers rather than from the gentle breeze blowing.
It was almost laughably ironic to him that, with another man's mouth against his collarbone and moving steadily downward, he should be finding himself thinking prominently of his ex-girlfriend. His sweet Elizabeth -- Lizzy, as he'd affectionately taken to calling her against her will -- had never said she loved him. Not when he spent an entire month's paycheck to treat her on her eighteenth birthday. Not when he'd dressed in black tights and a white poet shirt he prayed never to see again and recite scenes from Romeo and Juliet beneath her window when she caught the flu last winter. Not when they'd made love and spent the night in each other's arms with him whispering in her ear over and over again that he loved her. And yet, here was this person he'd known for not even two weeks who was already professing his endearment to him.
There was something wrong with this entire picture.
Jay gasped sharply, feeling a pair of hands making identical treks up his thighs and stopping to grasp his hips. No, Lizzy had never done anything to cause him to make that little mewling noise that seemed to serve only to drive Adam insane. There was definitely something wrong with this picture, but Jay would be damned if he could figure out what it was.