Disclaimer: All characters belong to Universal. I make no profit from this and write fanfiction without their knowledge and/or approval.
..
"Hey, man. Thanks for the ride."
It was hot, so hot that Roman's battered air conditioning didn't stand a chance. Humidity soaked the air, making the heat worse.
"No problem." Rome just wanted to get rolling, put the windows down, and make a good breeze. Brian looked comfortable, resting against the seat back. Rome could have strangled him.
"Still haven't gotten the air conditioner working right, hunh?" Brian rolled his head on the headrest, causing Rome's stomach to do a sudden awkward jump.
"Yeah, someone said they were gonna help me, right before they got all gaga over some girl."
Brian's blue eyes flicked to the road. "We gonna sit here all day?"
"Right." Roman stepped on the gas.
Sometimes he could kill Brian.
Like right now, when the kid was leaning back, no seatbelt, his gym bag between his ankles, not even sweating although Rome's shirt was sticking to his back.
"So what's this year's tryouts gonna be like?" Every year, Brian tried out for the swim team. And every year, something happened to make him late—either Brian's lazy-ass schedule or a girl or a good surf he had to catch.
"They are so completely mine, man." Brian turned his head, following the scenery as it went by. "Even though we just missed our turn and we're gonna be late."
"I didn't miss the turn. Seatbelt."
"Oh. You got the parts you wanted?"
"Ohh yeah." Rome shot him a smirk. Brian's answering grin was a sudden spike in Roman's internal thermometer.
The beat-up car roared onto the wide street, putting the lie to its delapidated exterior. Roman switched off the faulty air conditioner and accelerated.
He had less than a minute to pull this off.
"So what's with Cindy?"
"We have a date tonight."
Roman turned his head, catching Brian's gaze. Sweat trickled down his neck. Hot air and grit washed through the window. "Tell me something."
"Hey, eyes on the road at this speed."
"Am I hot?" He would have been blushing (and Brian would have seen) but he was sweltering too much for it to show anyway.
"Roman, there's a stop light ahead." Brian looked away. Rome accelerated, yanking those blue eyes back to him. "Jesus, Rome!"
"Am I hot."
"Shit! Roman, it's yellow!" Time was stretching out for him, and probably Brian, but it was already worth it because Brian was starting to sweat.
There was no good answer for that when you were doing better than a hundred, although he wasn't sure how much better, because he wasn't looking at the speedometer.
"Yes!" Brian blurted.
His marker came into view past Brian's shoulder. Roman braked. The car came docilely to a stop, and when Roman let himself look, they were behind the white line. He choked off the urge to whoop. He was playing it cool.
"So," Roman said into the silence, "I figure we should forget the tryouts, cause you're never gonna get to meets on time anyway, and go to my place because the ol' man's out of town, and make out. And then you call Cindy and blow her off, and we fix my air conditioning before I melt."
Brian was grinning that crazy grin he reserved for the really exciting shit, which was good.
"Sure," he said, which was better. Rome glanced up, saw a green light, and took the left turn away from the school and towards his house.
"So what if I'd said no?"
"You would have been on time for the meet, and I would have beaten the shit out of you if you'd talked trash about me."
"And instead, you're gonna be up all night." Brian dropped his voice and leaned in. Rome kept his eyes locked on the road for a minute, to be sure he wouldn't wreck them, then shot him a sideways glance.
Brian's grin shone like chrome in the sunlight. "Cause you're teaching me how to do that."