CHAPTER 8: RELIEF

Awkward was the only way to properly describe the meeting of Toki's parents. Pickles was courteous enough, or at least he tried to be, but this proved to be a formidable challenge against the likes of the twins Askel and Alrek. They continued to antagonize their cousin even as they all met up in the kitchen with Anja and Aslaug. "Hei, far. Det er godt å være hjemme." Toki said, ignoring his cousins jests.

Askel went over to one of the chairs that were around the small, wooden kitchen table, and sat down leisurely. Oddly enough the two brothers seemed to be more comfortable in the house than Toki himself. That's why Alrek had no problem saying in his native tongue, "Ja, Aslaug, den jævel er hjem."

Aslaug's face remained stony and emotionless, but Askel laughed. "Ja, and he brought a stupid-looking friend." Toki's father only now seemed to take note of Pickles' presence; he addressed his son, who was standing awkwardly in the center of the small room.

"Du brakt en gjest?" he demanded, narrowing his eyes at his son.

The Norwegian bowed his head and said, "Ja, han er min venn." Now Pickles wished desperately that he was able to understand the language, but he had learned enough from school to gather little bits of the conversation. It was nothing unexpected—Toki's dad was being a heartless bastard, like he probably always was, and Askel and Alrek were continuing to tease their cousin. Although this made him infuriated, he knew that the best thing for him to do was be to stand there and behave himself, so he did. Toki just pulled him close and said in English, "He ams my best friend, dad."

He glanced over at the American and shook his head. "Son," he said, "I will say this in his language-" he spat the world 'his' out hatefully, "-so that your 'guest' fully understands the punishment he's given you."

"But dads, I-"

"Don't go easy on him, uncle!" Alrek bellowed from over in his corner.

Aslaug ignored this insistent chanting and said to Toki, "Tomorrow you'll spend the day in the kitchen making dinner for when I come back from church, and during the night you'll do all of your daytime chores double-time, do you understand?"

Toki looked down at the floor, submitted instantly to his father's will. "Ja, dads, I understands."

"And there will be no slacking or I'll punish you."

He nodded. "Yes sir."

Askel let out a cheer and got up. He went over to his younger cousin and punched him hard in the shoulder, making him let out a whimper of pain. Aslaug frowned at this and snapped at his son, "Don't be so weak! We have no patience for that here."

By this point Pickles was biting his tongue not to say anything that might worsen his friend's punishment, but he found this hard, nearly impossible. As Toki lead him out of the room and up the narrow flight of squeaky stairs that lead to his bedroom, he could feel his hands shaking with the effort of not hitting something—a wall, anything. Finally they completed that seemingly endless trek up the stairs and came to a battered, crooked wooden door. "This," Toki said, indicating the door, "ams it—my whole stupids life pretty much happened here." and he opened up the door and allowed Pickles to venture inside.

It wasn't as bad as he'd thought—for all he could imagine, the Norwegian's harsh parents had him sleeping on a bed of straw, but there was a thin mattress lying in the middle of the cozy room, just barley big enough for one person. He frowned and went over, fingered the thin, wispy covers that were haphazardly strewn about the floor. It was then, as he looked around and saw the pure minimalism of the room, that he actually realized just how fortunate he himself was to have a good bed to sleep on with actual pillows. Toki's bedroom had no television, only a beat-up old stereo that wasn't even plugged into the wall. C.D.s were lying on the floor, scattered in all different directions, some safe in their cracked, see-thru plastic cases, but most just collecting dust on the cold wooden floor. He read the titles of some—they were mostly odd, foreign names, but some American ones, too.

Nirvana, the Beastie Boys, Iron Maiden, Alice In Chains, and Soundgarden. He walked around the tight, cramped room, observed every little detail, right down to the scratches and paint-chips in the wall. There were stains upon the peeling, white wallpaper. Black ones, as if someone had dumped a bucket of paint on the wall; he glanced over at Toki and grinned. "S'nice, I like i-"

"Don'ts lie." he said, ashamed of his living arrangements. "Nots even I likes my room, so why woulds you?"

"'Cause it's...well, I can't explain it. I like it 'cause..." it's YOU. It was difficult to explain, but in a way Pickles truly did love the cozy room because it was so much like Toki—unselfish, minimal, and also warm and inviting. Despite all of the cracks in the floor and the squeaking planks of wood that he walked over occasionally, he actually liked the place.

Toki clearly didn't understand this, because in a moment he was unpacking his few belongings and saying, "You can just throws your stuff on the bed, I guess. I don'ts really care."

In the end Pickles just ended up throwing his one suitcase full of clothes and, of course, a bottle of whiskey, into a corner; he plopped himself onto Toki's thin, small bed and relaxed on it. He took his shoes and his jacket off and stretched out. "Your dad," he said casually, "he said you gatta stay inside and cook tomorrow. That's not so bad of a job, right?"

He laughed and shook his head. "Nos, nots to us, but to him it ams supposed to be a horribles punishment—women's work." he smirked to himself and sat down next to the redhead. "If you really wants to know the truth, he kind of likes treating me likes I'm a girl—Askel and Alrek tease me abouts it all the time, and he laughs with them."

"Fuck them." he said firmly, shaking his head in disgust. "They're the most miserable fuckers I've ever seen."

"But this ams their house. We're only guests." the Norwegian pointed out.

"Yeah," he said with a sigh. "I guess we are."

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Dinner wasn't any better. Toki got sent to his room for being rude to Askel. "Suts up, you stupids prick!" he finally exploded. His cousins had just been in the middle of mocking him again.

Aslaug seized this opportunity to punish his son—plus Pickles—and had said with gusto, "To bed, the both of you!"

And so they'd gone, just like that. They sat together and talked until the dinnertime chatter that had echoed from downstairs for so long finally died out; after a while slow, steady footsteps replaced the talking. Toki's eyes grew wide and his whole body tensed up. Pickles nudged him and asked worriedly, "Hey, you okay, dude?"

"M-My dads," he whispered, terrified, "he ams coming."

"So what? What's the big d-"

There came a horribly loud knock at the bedroom door, and Toki raced to open it. Once he had, a hand reached in and took his sleeve. "Son, I need to speak with you for a moment."

"O-Okays, dad." he followed his father solemnly out of the room. He was lead into the now empty kitchen and made to sit down.

"Listen here," his father began harshly, "you are an idiot to bring that boy here to our home. You didn't even ask permission."

Toki looked away. They were talking in their native language, so he knew that even if their voices traveled upstairs and Pickles heard them, he wouldn't know what they were saying, but still...he felt uneasy as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Wells, I didn't ask because I knew that you'd say no."

"Then why did you bring him?"

"Because he ams-"

"Nothing but a disgusting little Americanized bastard who you're no better than." Aslaug spat out hatefully, lashing out and slapping his son in the face. Toki reeled back, tears in his eyes, but he didn't back down.

He just sniffled and insisted, "He ams my best friend, dad. I-" he stopped himself just short of admitting, I love him so much.

His father just sneered at this petty display of emotion and said ruthlessly, "He will do chores around here just like you; he will earn his supper and the roof that we put over his head. If he chooses not to or if he does something that I don't like, I will kick him out. Do you understand?"

"Ja, buts-"

"I said do you understand, you idiot?"

Toki bit his lip and nodded. "Good," Aslaug continued, turning away from the teenager. "and you'll also account for each and every one of his mistakes—when he messes up, I'll make sure that you pay for it, and trust me, he will make many mistakes."

The boy's face paled when he realized the trap that he'd fallen into. There was no turning back, though; if he didn't agree then Pickles would be kicked out and he'd be beaten right then. The least he could do was to give the redhead a good home for a few nights and receive his beatings later, when it was time to pay for his mistakes. Yes, that was okay. At least he'd have someone to confide in...no, that wouldn't do, he decided as he was allowed to go back up to his room. He couldn't let Pickles know just how cruel his father was, because that would place an unnecessary burden on the other teenager. Still, hadn't he told Toki that he'd protect him? No, it wasn't his business, it wasn't his right to know. Toki let out a deep sigh as he went back up to his room. Before opening the door he paused and let out a deep, troubled breath. He couldn't do this. He couldn't let someone else see how he lived, how he'd come to act so pitifully timid and useless...

All at once he felt like crying. It was the only thing he could think to do at that point, but ultimately Pickles himself ruined this plan by opening the door and ushering him in. A look of concern flashed across the redhead's face when he saw what an emotional wreck Toki was, but the Norwegian simply said, "I just wants to go to bed now, please."

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"Wake up, wake up, wake up, you sorry fuckers!" Askel cried as he came into Toki's room early the next morning. He and Alrek began kicking their young cousin in the stomach, trying to awaken him.

"C'mon, little jævel, time to wake up and fix us breakfast like the little bitch you are!" When Toki just let out a tired little moan and pulled the covers up to conceal him more, Alrek continued with, "Hey, jævel, wake up! Your dad says that you're fixing us food today, so wake u-"

"Shut the fuck up!" Pickles exclaimed, sitting up from his sleeping spot on the floor. He'd let Toki have the bed after their long day yesterday, and as soon as he moved he regretted his decision—he was aching from head to toe. This was only made worse as Askel gave him a deadly look and walked over to him and kicked him lightly in the ribs.

"Hey, American jævel, wake Toki up for us and make sure he's down in five minutes to make us breakfast."

"We have to get to work early," Alrek added as he and his twin brother walked blissfully out of the room, "and since Toki's the only bitch in the house, he has to cook today—his dad said so."

Pickles wanted to say something back, but he knew that doing so would be futile and might even get his friend in trouble, so he just gave up and crawled over to where Toki was sleeping. "Hey," he whispered, shaking the other teenager's shoulder lightly, "you gatta get up, dude."

"Whats? Why?" he asked groggily, shaking his head. "I don't wants to."

"You gatta make some food, your cousins said so."

He sat up and ran a hand thru his messy hair. Although he still looked quite tired, Pickles still thought he was a welcome—perhaps even beautiful—sight to behold. "I really don't feels like it."

"C'man," Pickles insisted, giving him a charming smile, "do it for me; cook me somethin'?"

Toki stretched, yawned, then pulled the blanket over his naked torso. He rose to his feet slowly and followed the redhead out of the room. "Only fors you, 'cause you ams hungry." he murmured sleepily, walking blindly down the stairs. Once they arrived in the kitchen, Askel greeted them by throwing a raw egg at Toki. It missed him by an inch and splattered against the wall.

Anja, Toki's mother, frowned at them and instructed, "Clean it now-"

"But auntie," Alrek protested, "it was an accident!"

"-Toki." she completed, taking her seat at the small dining room table. She watched as her son drowsily got down on his hands and knees with a towel and mopped up the mess, then went over to the sink and washed his hands.

Pickles just stood by his friend's side, begging to help him. "What can I do? Can I get you somethin'?"

"You can gos sit down." he said, pulling his blanket a little tighter over his bare shoulders. "Otherwise I thinks you'll just makes me mess up."

"Why would I do 'dat?"

Despite his state of exhaustion, he was still able to smile and whisper to him, " 'Cause sometimes you makes me nervous, no just gos sit, please. Try to makes sure that Askel and Alrek leaves me alone."

"You gat it." he went, pushed past Alrek, and took a seat. In a while the Norwegian had successfully managed to cook a full breakfast for the whole family—minus himself. He just didn't have the energy to make himself another omelette, so he just went, poured himself a large cup of black coffee, and sat down across from Pickles. His pale eyes were halfway closed and his hair hung in loose, lifeless strands around his gaunt and exhausted face; he allowed himself to rest his head on his head and, in a pitiful display of weariness, gulp down his scalding coffee without even blowing on it. Askel watched him and laughed joyously.

"Stupid jævel, and just think that tomorrow you get to wake up and do it again!"

Alrek nodded as he quickly devoured his food. "Ja, your dad invited us over for breakfast tomorrow. Isn't that great?"

"Ja," he said dully, taking another sip of his coffee. "greats."

"Hey, Toki?" Askel asked innocently.

His cousin peered up from over the rim of his coffee cup and asked, "Whats?"

"Don't spill." he lashed out, pretended like he was going to hit Toki, and laughed when the Norwegian flinched back and spilled some of the steaming coffee on his bare torso. After that Askel and Alrek finished their food, kissed Anja Wartooth on the cheek, made one last snide comment to Pickles, then left for work, wherever that was. Once they had left, Anja rose to her feet and said, "Toki, your father is out today and he won't be back until tonight."

He nodded and responded, "Ja, sures."

"Do your chores and don't dawdle." she got up and went out into the living room area, where she picked up a book and began reading. Toki finished his coffee and then looked over at Pickles, a small smile on his face.

"He ams not here today—he's gone!"

"That's good?"

"That ams the best thing that could haves happened!" he announced, rising up from his chair. He reached to pick up his friend's plate, but Pickles resisted this and instead picked it—along with the empty coffee cup—up himself and carried them over to the sink.

"Dude, I'm gonna help you, alright? I didn't come just to fuck things up, I wanna help."

He smiled at the redhead and said sweetly, his eyes radiant with affection, "You already haves helped me, Pickle." More than you'll ever know.

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Somehow Toki managed to fix an elaborate supper and complete all of his outside chores before his father came home. Once Aslaug learned of this he said disapprovingly to his son, who seemed quite proud of himself, "So that's it, then? You're satisfied?"

"Ja, I guess sos."

This earned him a slap in the face and his father's reprimand of, "The mark of a true man is never just being satisfied—you must try harder, do more! Go and sweep the house."

He didn't protest, but instead completed this as soon as he could. Unfortunately, this meant that he worked all thru supper, with Pickles right there sweeping by his side. The redhead couldn't stand it; he was starving, he was humiliated, and he was pissed. Toki didn't seem to mind it that much, though. His problem was that he took every little thing anyone said to heart—whenever his father talked to him like that, his eyes would always shine brightly with tears and his face would immediately lose all emotion in favor of an internal battle between his senses of self-loathing and sorrow.

Pickles wondered if anyone else could see this besides him. Either way, it didn't matter because soon he was laying down on the floor of Toki's room in a bundle of blankets, sleeping soundly. The Norwegian himself was outside still doing chores by the time midnight rolled around. He'd told Pickles that it was okay, that he could handle it himself, no, of course it wouldn't take long—thirty minutes, an hour tops. That had been a lie. Now he stood in the darkness of a velvety dark sky, under the neon cover of the full moon, panting with the effort of working so hard.

He could barley breathe he was so exhausted—his stomach ached from lack of food, and every movement he made made his head pound painfully. He tried to ignore the headache, but only got worse until he couldn't take it anymore. There his body finally failed him and he collapsed onto the cold ground and waited for his father to find him. He knew that his father was watching him, that he'd been awaiting for this moment, the moment his son finally fell, to punish him. Toki tried with all of his might to get up when he heard the sound of approaching footsteps, but he was just too exhausted. His father's cold hand grasped at his shoulder and shook him hard.

"Toki, are you awake? Toki, get up you miserable idiot."

"I..." he was breathing hard, fighting to stay conscious, "I can't..."

"I said get up!" with one magnificent display of strength, Aslaug hauled his son to his feet and glared down at him. "What is wrong with you? I said that if you wanted your friend to be here, you'd have to stay up tonight and do your chores. Are you stupid, are you deaf? Didn't you understand me when I said-"

"...breathe," Toki whispered in agony, fighting back tears, "I can't breathe, I'm so tired."

"Toki," his father said, narrowing his eyes at his son, "you're honestly the most pitiful, worthless person I've ever seen—I don't know why God has cursed me with you, made me feed you, clothe you, keep you warm, but I swear that as long as you live under my rules, you will not give into your petty weaknesses. Now, tell me what exactly is wrong."

He knew that he was falling into a hopeless trap, but what could he do? Taking a deep breath, knowing that at any moment it could be his last, the teenager answered, "I'm so hungry, father. I'm tired, too. Can't I please just go inside and sleep for a while?" he thought back to Pickles, to how snug and cozy he'd appeared to be nestled in all of those blankets, and immediately he felt his heart fill with envy. Aslaug just laughed at this and allowed his hands to curl into cold, iron fists.

"Toki," he said, "I will teach you to appreciate what's really important."

"What's that?" he asked fearfully.

"Just the fact that you are alive."

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Lust, so fucking hot, so delicious...no matter what, no matter how much he tried to ignore it, there was a passion there, an unyielding, impossible passion and attraction that existed between him and Toki. He knew he wasn't gay, but he couldn't help it—he wanted to kiss him, to slip his tongue into the Norwegian's mouth, to feel every part of him...he wanted to get him naked and panting, begging and crying out in ecstasy as he fucked him...

Pickles smiled in his sleep and let out a moan. He knew it wasn't okay to think of all of these things, much less dream about doing them, but when he was in his own world of nighttime slumber, it was okay, he supposed. It was fine just as long as when he woke up he wasn't still dreaming of doing it. The way he figured it, his attraction to Toki could easily be explained—in short, he wanted to protect the Norwegian in ways that he himself hadn't been protected. Toki was young, he was innocent, much like Pickles had been before he'd found out about the real world and all of its troubles. As long as he could he would protect him from this, the truth of the world. He would-

The door to the small bedroom squeaked open, and immediately woke Pickles from the dream he'd been having. He sat up, scratched his head, and asked, "Hey, who's there? Toki, is 'dat you?"

"Ja," he whispered back, "I-I'm fines." he didn't sound fine. His voice was weak and broken, and as he stumbled into his bed and collapsed, Pickles could hear him panting very heavily. His heart filled with a dull, pounding fear as he went over to the bed and tapped the other teenager's shoulder gently.

"You're nat okay, are you?"

Toki bit his lower lip and shook his head. "N-Nos," he said wearily, "maybe I'ms not..."

"What happened?"

"My dad."

"Oh. Comere, lemme see." Unfortunately the only light in the room was provided by several short, fat candles, so Pickles had to get up, get a couple, then place them next to the Norwegian. He observed in the orange, flickering candlelight the severity of his injuries—marks lined his back, trailed up and down his spine, making gruesome, ruby swirls that almost seemed artistic. The cuts were deep, oozing with blood and staining the sheets of the bed. Pickles' emerald eyes grew wide; he took Toki's hand and asked quietly, "What he'd do, dude?"

"Beats me."

"Why?"

He paused, then finally allowed himself to dissolve into tears. "I-I was tired and I fell."

Pickles didn't say anything else as he placed a careful hand on Toki's back. He felt the stickiness of blood coat his palm and leaned in close to his friend. "S'nat so bad...does it hurt?"

He said nothing, only trembled and continued weeping. The redhead's reaction to this was to finally let his guard down and lay down next to the Norwegian; he carefully wrapped his arms around him, pulled him close. "It's gonna be okay, I swear. We're gonna leave tomorrow, and-"

"It hurts so fuckings bad." he whispered, sniffling. "I've never really saids it before or thought about it—I try to pretend likes it doesn't happen, but it does, and every time I say it doesn't hurt but it does, and Gods, it hurts so damns bad!" he resumed his crying, allowed Pickles to run his fingers thru his hair. Just feeling the other boy's touch brought him immense comfort, so he hugged Pickles so close that it was almost painful.

"Dude, I—well, I think that I kinda wanna kiss you," Pickles confessed, swallowing back his nervousness. "And...well," just talking one look at Toki's pure, shining eyes, which where boring into him so horribly made his confidence melt. "If you wanna kiss me back, that would be great, but I'm just gonna—I-I'm gotta kiss you now, okay?"

He said shakily, "O-Okays. I-"

Pickles slowly leaned in, parted his lips, and kissed him, but only for a precious moment before pulling away and then repeating the process. On the third joining of their lips, finally Toki loosened up enough to allow himself to deepen the a few minutes of this experimentation Pickles was on top of him, snaking his tongue into the Norwegian's mouth. To his surprise, the other boy actually began to kiss him back, but ultimately he was the one who pulled away and shook his head. He was blushing horribly and his eyes were full of tears of shame as he confessed, "I don't think that this ams right, Pickle."

He licked his lips and asked quietly, "Why don't you think it's right?" when Toki gave no answer, Pickles let out a sigh and sat up, mumbling to himself, "I know what's wrong—it's me."

"No," he hurriedly said, sitting up as well, leaning close against the redhead. "it's just...I've never...don'ts really know how to..."

"Yeah you do." he assured Toki, giving him a little smile. "Trust me, you do."

"Buts how do you know?"

He shrugged. "I just do, now come here for a minute." he pulled the Norwegian closer to him and whispered, "Let's try it again, okay?"

He nodded and breathed, "Okays."

"Kiss me back."

"I-" their lips met again, fused together, and this time Toki did kiss back more than he ever had before. Pickles was taken aback by this, but he didn't let it deter him. Instead he pushed the Norwegian onto the floor and did what he'd wanted to do for so damn long—he touched him. His hair, his hands, his stomach; it was as if everything that he'd been holding in for the past few weeks was finally being let out at that moment, and he almost lost himself in how badly he wanted this to progress, but reality set in. At any moment Aslaug or Anja could walk in, and that would mean more trouble for the Norwegian—more hurt and pain. Pickles couldn't imagine causing him any more of this, so he kissed Toki's cheek and murmured, "I'm not spending the night here."

He gasped. "But Pickle-"

"And neither are you. C'man, we're leaving." when Toki showed no sign of movement, only stared at the him with eyes full of bewilderment, Pickles reached down and took his hand. "You really wanna stay here? Dude, nobody loves you here."

"You..." he seemed to be struggling to take everything in. "...loves me?"

Pickles faltered. "Well I—look, I'm not gonna let you stay here with your dad, so come on." The Norwegian rose to his feet and followed the other teenager over to his bedroom window.

"How ams we gonna-"

"You act like I've never suck out of a house before." he said, grinning broadly. In an instant he had the window open and he was peering out at the ground below. "Hmm...that's kinda high."

"Nots that much." he said, leaning out the window. Pickles caught him and pulled him back.

He went first then watched as Toki wriggled out of the window and clumsily fell down to the ground below. Once they were both out, Pickles took the Norwegian's hand and they began walking in the direction of the road that had lead them there. Although neither of them were really sure where Lillehammer was, Toki assured the other teenager that if they followed the road they'd be okay, so they did because the really couldn't think of any other way to get home—back to school.

As they walked in the cool night Toki couldn't help but turn to Pickles and ask meekly, "Do you still wants to kiss me?"

"Huh?" he turned to him, completely stunned by this ridiculous question. "Yeah, of course I-"

"Then you shoulds dos it right now." he suggested, blushing.

Pickles gave him a sly smile. "If you want one so bad, then why don't you kiss me for once?"

"I can'ts."

"Why nat?"

"I just...I can'ts."

"Idiot." he muttered, pulling Toki close. He pressed his lips to the Norwegian's and then said, "You can do that any time you want, alright?"

"Okays."

"Good, now c'mon."

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"I don't wants to go back to school." Toki said once they reached Lillehammer. They now sat on a bench on the sidewalk, and Pickles had been half asleep when his room mate had spoken; he tried to shake his sleepiness away, but this did little good.

"Dude," he said tiredly, "we gotta go back."

"But we can gos somewhere—anywheres else, Pickle!"

He shook his head and let his hand fall on the small of Toki's back. He encouraged him to scoot closer, to give him more warmth. "No, 'cause you belong there."

"And wheres do you belongs?"

He thought for a moment. Normally he would've given an immediate response of, 'Nowhere,' but now all he could come up with was, "With you."

Toki snuggled closer to him, hugged him tightly. "So do we haves to-"

"Yeah, we do."

"Buts-"

"Just trust me, it's gonna be okay."

He didn't seem convinced, but he made no further argument as they finished the trip home. Soon they were sitting back in their old dorm room, both staring up at the ceiling. It was an odd thing, but since the kiss nothing much had seemed to change—or at least that's what Pickles thought before the first night they were together. As he watched Toki lay down in their bed shirtless with those damn tight, skinny jeans on, he felt that old desire and lust flaring up inside of him again. Immediately he pulled the Norwegian down onto the bed and began touching him. As his hands ran up the warm skin of the other boy, a little panicked squeak could be heard.

"Pickle, what ams you-"

"Ssh." he whispered, kissing Toki's stomach.

"Buts—that feels good." he lost a little bit of his normal shyness as Pickles' hand traveled up his thigh.

"I wanna-" Pickles pressed his lips to the other boy's cheek and began to undo his belt, "-do so many fuckin' things-" he ripped the belt away and unzipped Toki's pants, "-to your hot little body right now."

"Ams you talking about me?" he sat up a little and gave the other teenager a confused look. This made the redhead laugh and push him back down. He kissed him deeply and hotly, made love to his mouth, and when it was over the Norwegian's eyes shined with a whole new understanding. It was as though with every moment he spent with the redhead, Toki was becoming more himself, more confident and purely happy. He smiled then and pulled Pickles into another kiss, one that full of just as much lust as the previous one.

"I loves you." he said, letting Pickles' hands travel lower and lower, down his back and to his ass.

"Mm-hmm." he responded softly, gently nipping at the Norwegian's pale skin. He tasted good, he felt wonderful, so God damn fuckable. Pickles realized that he wanted it more than anything in the world—that he needed it right then or he might just die. He couldn't stand just having Toki lying in his arms like this and not at least feeling him come. He cupped Toki's ass, felt the other boy's whole body tense up beneath him, and smiled. "You've gat a nice ass." he accepted the Norwegian's kiss then continued with, "Do you wanna be a virgin forever, 'cause I could fuck you so easy right now."

"I...I don'ts..." he shook his head and tried to pull out of Pickles' embrace. "I can'ts dos it, not tonight. I'm too scared."

"What?" he smiled and felt the Norwegian's ass again. "You think that I'll hurt you?"

"Nos, but-"

"Y'know, there's more than one kinda sex. We could always just do something else..." his hand trailed down to the zipper of his jeans and he tugged at it. At the inquisitive look on Toki's face he repeated with emphasis, "Something."

"Likes what?"

"I can't do this," he explained, sitting up and removing his belt. "I can't just sit here and kiss you and fuck with you and—I'm hard."

"I..." he swallowed and blushed. "I ams too, I guess."

"Then lemme suck your dick."

Toki looked astonished that Pickles had even suggested this. "Whats? You wants to—but how? Does it feel good?"

"Lemme show you." he made a move to unclothe the other boy, but Toki squirmed with discomfort so he immediately stopped and backed away from him. "Sorry." he mumbled, sitting up. "I didn't mean it."

"I'ms just not-"

"You don't have to explain, I know." he assured the Norwegian before rising to his feet and stretching. In a second he was making his way over towards the bathroom, already pulling down his pants. Toki frowned at this and got up to follow him.

"What ams you-"

"I'm hard," he explained tirelessly, closing the door in the other teenager's face. "and it won't go away an its own."

"Buts-"

"Just gimme a little while, okay?" he requested kindly, going over and sitting on the edge of the tub. Without thought he pulled down his pants and roughly stroked himself. He would've nearly climaxed right then if the bathroom door hadn't opened up a crack. Pickles' eyes grew wide and he hurriedly covered himself up with the nearest towel. "Toki, what the fuck are you-"

"I was just thinkings and...well..." he walked over, knelt in front of the redhead, and laid his head in his lap. "I'm sorrys."

He was completely stunned by this. "For what?" He just slowly pulled the towel away from the other boy's lap and swallowed; Pickles turned a deep shade of red. "Dude, you don't have to-"

"I knows," he said, smiling up at him. "that ams why I want to dos it." then he raised a hand and carefully began stroking Pickles' cock. "Ams this good?"

He let out a deep sigh and nodded. "Fuck yeah, just like 'dat." He felt himself beginning to lose control, which, for what seemed like his whole life, had been the only thing he'd managed to keep a loose grip on. Now it was being stripped away from him by some kid that was younger than him. It seemed impossible that he would allow anyone to do this to him, but as Toki looked up at him with his piercingly beautiful eyes and asked, "Whats now?" he just smiled down at him and took his erection in his own hands. Slowly he guided it to the Norwegian's lips and whispered, "Suck it a little for me, babe."

"Hows do I-"

"Just do it." he encouraged, slipping the head of his dick into Toki's mouth. At first he seemed rather hesitant to do as he had been told, but as Pickles grew harder and stiffer, he sucked in deeper, more forcefully. "Yeah," he urged, placing a hand at the back of the other teenager's head, "just like that...suck it harder." he began thrusting his hips forward, forcing more of himself into Toki's full mouth. The Norwegian just blushed and peered up at him, his mouth stretched and full, his eyes livid with a kind of impossible admiration for Pickles. I love you, he seemed to say as his tongue rolled over the head of the redhead's dick, I love you so fucking much...

"Toki, I-" he was cut off as a surge of pure, agonizing pleasure ripped thru him. He was left to sit there gripping the Norwegian's shoulders tightly, panting and urging him on. "I'm gonna cum..." he whispered, kissing the top of his head. "I...Gad, I l-" and that was it, as Toki began stroking the underside of his stiff erection, he came. Quickly the Norwegian placed his mouth over the head of Pickles' cock and swallowed all of the liquid desire, hid the evidence forever from anyone else.

He was panting, hugging Toki to him unbelievably tight. "You're amazing." was all he could manage to say. This was it, he was weak with desire, tired of wanting someone so badly, someone that he knew he could never have, but this was it...maybe after tonight Toki would let Pickles have sex with him.

The Norwegian just smiled and said, "So I dids it right?"

"You're perfect."

"You..." he paused before working up the nerve to ask, "you loves me?"

"I...well...sure." Still, even after that he couldn't manage to say those simple words, those words that would bring Toki so much happiness...didn't he deserve happiness? Pickles knew that he did, but still...saying these things was much more complicated in reality. He just sat there and kissed him, let his thoughts roam to what they would do together tomorrow, in detention.

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**A/N**

Yeah...I lied. Sorry about that. I thought I could really squeeze everything else into this one chapter, but I thought that it would be a little much, a little rushed. After all, Pickles and Toki still might have sex, and if I would've put that in this chapter, along with the ending, that might've been pushing it...anyways, hope you liked it. Thanks for reading and reviewing. I appreciate it.

PEACE & LOVE