becoming us (12 page)

Bryce wasn’t giving it back. He gave Zac a lofty look and, as they’d stepped out onto the back pathway to the orange lot, he explained, “I’m trying to be chivalrous, dude. You know. For the getting lucky and all.” There was a little smile tugging the corner of his mouth.

Zac laughed and shook his head. “I’m pretty sure you don’t need to work that hard at it.” It was nice, though, and Zac let him carry the bag the rest of the way to his car.

Bryce hit the remote to unlock the doors so Zac could get in, then tossed their stuff in the trunk.

At this hour, at the end of campus away from the main buildings and residences, it was pretty empty and quiet. Bryce slid into the driver’s seat and looked over at Zac. “Hi.” His voice was really soft.

“Hey.” Zac smiled at him and reached over to lace his fingers with Bryce’s. “You look really good.”

Bryce flushed at that. “Thanks. So do you. You usually do.” He leaned over and kissed Zac on the mouth, just a gentle kiss at the corner, and squeezed Zac’s hand. “Ready for me to kick your ass at pool?” His grin was there, but there was softness in his eyes.

It was the first time Bryce had kissed him outside the swim house. Zac couldn’t help his smile and the warmth in his cheeks, but then he laughed and shook his head. “No way, man, but I’m ready to kick
your
ass at pool.”

“You’ll be too busy
watching
my fine ass to win at pool,” Bryce said. “I know your type.” Zac groaned softly and turned his head to catch Bryce’s mouth in a kiss. “You do have a very, very fine ass,” he murmured, reluctantly drawing away from Bryce’s mouth. Bryce had an ass that made Zac want to do things that were probably illegal in twenty states and would get him arrested for doing them in a car even if they weren’t.

“You keep that in mind before you decide to try and beat me at pool, dude.” Bryce pulled away to start the car and gave Zac a wicked grin. Some things did
not
change, one of which was that Bryce played dirty pool. Apparently,
very
dirty pool.

The evening went really well, as far as Zac was concerned. Bryce seemed to be having a great time. While Zac lost every single game of pool they played, he was having a good time, too.

Becoming Us - 60

Every time Bryce took a drink of beer, Zac’s dick twitched in his jeans as he remembered Bryce sucking him off. Every time Bryce bent over to take a shot, Zac’s dick got harder as he was reminded all over again that there was nothing under Bryce’s jeans.
Fuck
.

Bryce seemed happy as a clam the whole time, seemingly unaffected by Zac’s afflictions. He was his old self, all the way through. It was kind of surprising and good to see at once. He hassled Zac something fierce over losing at pool and said next time they came, they were going to have to play some betting games, because Zac would be cleaning toilets at the house for the rest of the
year,
the way he played. He was merciless and unflirtatious, unless you counted an affectionate headlock and noogie as flirtation. It was good, for some value of it, to have
Bryce
back.

“I wouldn’t have lost if you’d worn something under those damn jeans,” Zac protested. He’d waited until they got back to the car to say it, but it was true. Or, at least, he’d have stood a better chance of winning.

Bryce laughed at that, and then looked at Zac. The flicker across his face was a clear message that he hadn’t been really sure Zac was serious about that until just that minute. His eyes widened and his expression softened and he reached over to stroke Zac’s thigh before starting the car. “Let’s go home,” he said quietly.

“Yeah. Home sounds good.” Zac really wanted to be somewhere he could kiss Bryce again. Even if kissing was all they did.

On the way home, Bryce reached over and took Zac’s hand in his, winding their fingers together.

Somehow, he managed to shift gears without really letting go, keeping contact all the way home.

“I had fun tonight,” Zac murmured as Bryce pulled into the orange lot by the field house. It was even emptier out here now. “Thanks for suggesting it. It’s been a while since we’ve been out to play pool.” He leaned over to kiss the corner of Bryce’s mouth. Bryce kissed Zac back, still chastely, on the lips.

“I thought, you know... we should do stuff together,” Bryce said shyly. Even in the diffuse light of the streetlamps overhead, Zac could see Bryce blush. “I mean... after we talked last Saturday.

And. You know. About being together. It seemed like we should. Because. We’re still us, right?

Just. More us.”

“Yeah. We are.” Zac smiled and squeezed Bryce’s hand. “It was a good idea. We should do it again soon. Maybe we could go see that new sci-fi movie, the one with the teleporting and the dragons?” He was reasonably sure neither Steve nor Kaede wanted to see it.

“Yeah.” Bryce grinned at him; they always loved the sci-fi and adventure and even horror movies that no one else wanted to go see. “We have to go see that one.” His grin faded to a soft smile. “There’s lots we could do. We’re never bored.” They weren’t, even when they weren’t doing anything at all. It was one of the things that made it so easy to stay friends for so long.

Becoming Us - 61

“I’ll figure out when it’s playing.” Zac leaned over and kissed Bryce again, then let go of his hand so he could get out of the car. “C’mon. Let’s go home.” Bryce locked the car up and got their bags out of the trunk, then they headed for their little shared house on the edge of campus. It would have been nice, but unwise, to hold hands. Bryce let Zac unlock the door and dropped their bags as soon as Zac had locked the door behind them.

The house was silent.

“Sounds like everybody’s out,” Zac said, turning around to face Bryce. He curled his fingers through one of Bryce’s belt loops, but he didn’t pull Bryce closer. He didn’t want to be the one to make the first move, here.

There was no hesitation. Bryce cupped Zac’s face in his hands and kissed him with a lot of heat and tenderness at once, teasing his tongue into Zac’s mouth to kiss him thoroughly.
Oh, yeah
.

That was exactly what Zac needed. He kissed Bryce back, opening up and licking at Bryce’s tongue, but he let Bryce take the lead.

Bryce pushed Zac’s coat off, then let his own fall to the floor. He took Zac in his arms, taking advantage of his greater height and strength, and pulled Zac close for a passionate kiss that almost took Zac off his feet. It was a kiss from a lover, hungry and naked and hot.

Zac wrapped his arms around Bryce and held on, moaning softly into the kisses. “Bryce,” he managed between kisses. “Fuck, Bryce...”

Kisses might have been the extent of Bryce’s true comfort zone right now, but he knew how to kiss. And he knew how to grope Zac’s ass, fingers almost sliding between Zac’s asscheeks, how to get a hand on the back of Zac’s head and tilt it back as he lavished hot kisses and bites all down Zac’s neck before returning to his mouth, again and again. Bryce’s breath got ragged, but he wasn’t losing any focus; they’d only gotten a couple feet inside the door, only gotten their coats off, and he was spending one long, long minute after another working at driving Zac insane without any hint that he might want anything else right now.

Eventually, Zac had to pull back. God, he loved the way Bryce kissed, but they had to get out of the entryway. Not that he expected anyone else to come home, but he wanted a little more privacy than this, even so. “Upstairs?” Not bed. Just inside one of their bedrooms. Just upstairs.

“Yeah.” Bryce bent to help gather their things. Leaving them spilled all over the entryway would be a little suspect. He headed for his room; the bed there was a little bigger and, as Zac liked to point out, had more pillows. Also, the bed usually had Bryce in it. And Bryce’s ass. “This okay?” Bryce looked over his shoulder at Zac to check.

Zac almost missed the question; he was busy watching Bryce’s ass again. “Wh-- Yeah. Yeah, this is good.” He smiled sheepishly and followed Bryce into his room.

“Dude, you were
not
looking at my ass.” Bryce hung his jacket over the back of a chair and opened up his swim bag to pull out his wet suit. He sounded disbelieving, not offended.

Becoming Us - 62

Zac dropped his bag and jacket on the floor and walked over to put his hand on the ass he wasn’t supposed to have been looking at. “I wasn’t?” God, Bryce had a great ass. Zac rubbed it a little, following the curve with the palm of his hand, getting a little distracted about what he was supposed to be saying.

“Maybe you were.” Bryce turned from hanging up his swimsuit and slid an arm around Zac’s waist. “Zac...” His expression was tentative, his teeth sinking into his lower lip.

Zac pulled his hand away and shoved it into his pocket so he wouldn’t screw this up again.

“Yeah.” He tilted his head back so he could see Bryce’s face. “Sorry.”

“I just...” Bryce looked painfully uncomfortable. “I don’t want this to go wrong tonight. I want it to be good. I want us to work.” He was so very serious and managed to keep talking even though his cheeks were bright red. “Just. Maybe just touching. No matter how good it was to suck you off, I just... maybe it would make me think of last time and wreck everything. Okay?” His expression was worried and sad.

Zac nodded. He certainly wasn’t going to argue about it. “Sure, Bryce. I don’t wanna...

Touching’s fine. I want to touch you. So.” He smiled tentatively and reached up to touch Bryce’s cheek. “That kinda works out.”

“I’m freaked.” The words came out as Bryce made an obvious effort not to pull away. Now that they were back where it had happened, he wasn’t quite as eager to get going. “God, I’m such a fucking pussy.” He pushed away from Zac and stripped his shirt off on the way to throw it in the laundry hamper. “I don’t want to feel like that again, though. It’s just... fucked.”

“You’re not--” Zac reached out and got hold of Bryce’s arm. “Stop being so angry at yourself, Bryce. It’s not easy, any of it. Not for anybody.” He was still kicking himself for having made such a mess of things last time. He’d made things so much worse for Bryce. “You can’t expect to just... not worry about any of it, or anything. We’ll be careful, but don’t beat yourself up about it if you need more time.”

“It should be easier than this. But the more I try and make it seem easy, the harder it gets, man.” Bryce bent to get rid of his boots and socks. “I’m trying, but I keep thinking ‘what if I freak out over something,’ and I just go cold. And what if it gets worse?”

“Bryce... What if you do freak out over something?” Zac shrugged, trying to make it seem simple. “What if you do? What then? We take a few steps back, take some time to talk about it, and try again later. It’ll be okay.”

Bryce sat down on the edge of the bed and looked up at Zac, his expression miserable. “I just want this to be happy, Zac. I don’t want anything bad touching this. Us. This already scares the hell out of me for so many reasons, but I can’t say I don’t want you. I really do. You know it, right?”

Becoming Us - 63

“I know.” Zac came over to stand in front of Bryce and petted his hair back from his face. “I know you do. And I want you, too, but that doesn’t mean we can’t take things slow. I don’t want to screw this up by rushing anything.” He wanted Bryce like crazy, wanted to touch him and kiss him and show him all the ways he could make him feel good, but after last time, he knew better than to push.

“I just want to forget everything but us.” Bryce stood up and unbuttoned his jeans, biting his lip, looking down between them for a long moment. “Take me to bed?” He looked at Zac from under his lashes, unguarded and open. “I trust you. Just. Take me to bed so I can be with you and forget about everything else, and maybe we’ll get lucky and make it all the way to morning. Please?” In some ways, that trust was like a weight on Zac, the knowledge that if he screwed up, he was betraying that trust. But it was something special, too, because he knew that Bryce didn’t trust anyone else like that. “Yes.” Zac leaned up on his toes to kiss Bryce on the mouth and, at the same time, skimmed his hand down Bryce’s bare chest to get him out of his jeans.

Bryce helped Zac undress him, then tugged back his covers and sprawled in the sheets to watch Zac undress. His eyes were intense, wide and dark, fixed on Zac. He wasn’t relaxed; tension was written in the lines of his body, even though his dick was still half-hard from when they’d been making out in the hallway.

Zac shed his clothes into a pile on the floor, his eyes on Bryce. He didn’t want to draw it out and risk giving Bryce’s nerves enough time to flare and ruin Bryce’s mood entirely. Naked, he crawled up on the bed beside Bryce and trailed a hand from Bryce’s hip to his shoulder, fingers spread wide to cover as much skin as possible. “You look so good, Bryce,” he murmured, leaning over to kiss Bryce on the mouth, just lightly. Maybe he could tempt Bryce into kissing him like before.

As long as Zac had known him, Bryce had been a sucker for any kind of physical contact. He took the kisses Zac was offering and his body arched toward Zac’s, getting as close as he could.

Unlike last time, though, he was keeping it slow. Slow was a good idea. Pushing things had made them both miserable last time.

Zac stretched out next to Bryce, half on top of him, one leg slung between Bryce’s legs. As they kissed, he traced the lines and curves of Bryce’s chest, just exploring what Bryce’s body felt like.

The kissing and touching relaxed Bryce until he was supple under Zac’s body. He still had little shudders when he inhaled, like he was trying not to cry, but his body was so responsive. It didn’t take long for him to get mostly hard, just from kissing and touching. He traced Zac’s face with his fingertips, stroked the back of Zac’s neck and shoulders, just keeping contact.

“I like how you kiss me,” Zac whispered, between kisses. Bryce deserved to hear it. He deserved to hear all the compliments Zac could think of. He was so nervous about what they were doing and about doing something wrong, and Zac wanted to reassure him that he was doing everything right. Zac petted the hollow of Bryce’s hip and skipped past his cock to trace delicate patterns over his thigh instead. He had muscular thighs, swimmer’s thighs, strong and solid and smooth.