Sweaters & Cigarettes (37 page)

Jesus, he has missed this. He wants
Max so badly, so badly it
hurts,
and all he can think about is making him
moan like this, making him breathe his name, making him come, with that
expression that Theo loves, and he keeps touching him, slowly and with hard,
practiced determination. And Max moans, one hand absently touching Theo's arm,
the other gripping the edge of the couch, mouth half-open and eyes closed, and
Theo can't stop watching him, watching him as he gets closer, and closer―

The sound of a key in a locked door
has never been more unwelcome, and Max seems to notice it almost before Theo
does.

He groans, a drawn-out, pained
sound that sounds almost like a sob, and Theo automatically whips his hand
away, at the interruption. Max frowns, eyes still closed.

"Oh, you have
got
to be
fucking
kidding
me," he practically hisses through gritted teeth,
before covering his face with his hands, another anguished groan escaping his
mouth.

Theo can't do anything but
silently, and frustratingly, agree with him.

It's after a moment of panic that
Theo realizes that his hard-on can't be seen, thanks to Max's head resting in
his lap, and that Max's is hidden, as well, thanks to his jeans doing a pretty
good job of keeping it down, and he tries to relax―and think of anything,
other than the sounds Max was making, just moments before their untimely
interruption.

Theo looks up as he hears someone
step into the living room, and is relieved to see who it is.

"Hey, guys," Riley says,
seeming a little surprised, and Max drags his hands down over his face, so he
can see him properly.

"Hi, Riley," he says,
with a sarcastic and cheeky smile on his face, no doubt channeling his
frustration at being interrupted. "Whatcha doin'?"

Riley hesitates, just stands there
for a moment, before figuring that he probably did just interrupt something. He
narrows his eyes.

"You guys weren't doing anything
weird, were you?" he says, and Max flops his hands down on the couch.

"You know," he says
lightly, "we were just about to bang, on this couch."

Riley makes a disgusted face.

"Gross," he says, but Max
is unfazed, simply pointing a finger gun at him and winking, making a clicking
sound. And Riley looks at Theo, keeping his expression, but Theo just raises
his eyebrows at him, turning back to the TV. He's not sure he would be able to
lie, and he definitely isn't sure he would be able to admit to Max's words
being almost entirely true.

"Whatever," Riley says
with a small shudder. "I'm going upstairs."

"Hey, Riley," Theo calls,
and his brother looks at him. "How did it go?"

Riley frowns.

"How did what go?" he
asks, and Theo gives him a pointed look.

"New Year's," he says.
"Ellie was there, right?"

And suddenly, Riley is practically
blushing, glancing away and avoiding Theo's eyes, at any cost.

"Yeah," he mutters.
"So?"

"And," Theo says, drawing
out the word. "How did it go?"

Riley looks up at him again,
frowning, and Max lets out a sigh.

"What my beloved is trying to
say," he says, making Theo's heart skip a beat at the endearment,
"is, did you get any New Year's action?"

Riley looks away again, and Theo
knows they've hit home.

"Did you kiss her?" he
asks teasingly, in a big-brotherly way, designed to make Riley as uncomfortable
as possible, and Riley actually blushes properly, now.

"I might have," he
mutters, clearly embarrassed. "She sorta kissed me."

Theo gives him a genuinely
impressed look.

"Nicely done, little
brother." He smiles. "How was it?"

Riley glances at him.

"It was fine," he says,
shrugging. "I mean, it was good."

Theo and Max give him matching
looks of encouragement, and Riley sighs.

"Okay, it was really
good." He looks at the floor, clearly uncomfortable. "Can I go
now?"

Theo gives him a formal nod.

"You may," he says, and
Riley practically runs up the stairs, leaving Theo with a big grin on his face.

"Aww," Max says.
"Good for him."

Theo is so used to hearing sarcasm
from Max, that he doesn't immediately pick up on the sincere undertone of the
statement.

"Yeah," he says, thinking
about how that was probably Riley's first kiss, as far as he knows.
"Finally."

There's no point in picking up
where Theo and Max left off, after that. Instead, they learn, after twenty
minutes of trial and error, that they need to actually sit with a pillow
between them, lest they make out some more and probably rip each other's
clothes off, right there. It's not as fun, granted, but with Riley home,
neither of them wants to risk it. Not to mention the fact that Theo's parents
could come home, any minute, and they're really not in the mood for that.

It's horrible, though. Theo can
barely glance at Max, without thinking of just what they could be doing, right
now, and he's painfully, irritatingly reminded of just how long it has been
since they could really
be
with each other. He can practically feel his
body screaming to press up against Max and do all kinds of dirty things.

Max eventually leaves, before
Theo's parents get home, and their goodbye kiss in the hall is so much more
charged than it should be.

"You do realize," Max
murmurs against Theo's mouth, as his hands slip into the back pockets of Theo's
jeans, "that we might die, if we don't do something about this?"

Theo groans, while uselessly, and
only halfheartedly, trying to pull away from Max, as those hands pull him
closer.

"I'm pretty sure it isn't
fatal," he says, and Max makes a small noise of doubt.

"I don't know," he says,
giving Theo a light kiss. "I feel like I'm going through withdrawal."

"I know what you mean."
Theo keeps his hands firmly planted on Max's waist, resisting the urge to move
them to more inappropriate places.

Max doesn't seem to care, though,
and he moves in closer, practically grinding against Theo, kissing him more
deeply than a moment ago. And Theo groans, pulling away.

"No," he says, and Max
gives him a kiss.

"Yes," he purrs, and Theo
has to use every ounce of restraint he has, to pull away from Max properly and
take his wrists, only to pull those eager hands out of his back pockets.

"Max, no," he says, a
small smile on his face, and Max practically pouts, as Theo takes Max's wrists
and press them against his chest. Max looks down at his trapped hands.

"So cruel," he says,
looking back up at Theo, who just raises his eyebrows.

"Another time," he says,
giving Max a light kiss. "Alright?"

Max seems to consider that for a
moment, before he rolls his eyes.

"Fine," he says,
exaggerating the petulant tone, making Theo's smile widen.

"Okay," Theo says, and he
actually turns Max around and pushes him gently toward the door. "I'll see
you soon."

Theo opens the door, and when Max
is outside, he turns around.

"Love you," he says,
giving Theo a kiss, and Theo wonders if he'll ever get tired of hearing that.

"Love you, too."

Chapter 24

Release

"Best night
ever.
"

Cassie enunciates every syllable, as
she leans across the table toward Theo. Her hazel eyes are wide, and he raises
his eyebrows at her.

"Sounds like someone got
lucky," he says, and Cassie gives him a cross between an embarrassed grin
and a sly smile.

"I don't get lucky," she
says. "I'm just that good."

Then she looks a bit sheepish,
though, and revises.

"Well, actually," she
says. "I'm not that good. Stuff like that never happens to me."

She cocks her head.

"So, yeah, guess I got
lucky."

Theo just chuckles, shaking his head
as he stabs some peas with his fork, trying to drown out the school
cafeteria-chatter around them, as Cassie tells him about her New Year's Eve.

"So, what happened?" he
asks, looking up at Cassie, who gets a slightly dreamy look on her face.

"Well," she says,
"we talked all night. We kissed, at midnight. And she walked me
home."

She glances down at her food,
following Theo's example of stabbing some peas, while he eats his.

"And she kissed me
goodnight," she continues. "And we exchanged phone numbers."

She looks up at Theo, cocking her
eyebrows, as she moves the fork-impaled peas to her mouth.

"Her name's Emma," she
says, smiling. "And she's amazing."

She chews on her peas, and Theo
gives her an encouraging look.

"Are you gonna see her
again?" he asks, and Cassie shrugs.

"Well," she says,
mysteriously. "We've texted a lot, and we're hanging out tomorrow. So...
Yeah."

Theo gives her a nod, eyebrows
raised.

"I'm impressed," he says,
before looking down at his plate and continuing, in an undertone.
"Slut."

Cassie looks indignant, but smiles
as she scoffs in offense.

"Excuse you," she says.
"We have done nothing questionable."

"Yet," Theo points out,
eating some peas, and Cassie folds her arms.

"I'm a respectable lady, I'll
have you know," she says. "It's gonna take more than a date to get in
my pants."

"But she will get in your
pants," Theo says, mouth full, looking at her and pointing with his fork.

"Hopefully," Cassie says,
and Theo cocks his head.

"So," he says, chewing.
"Slut."

Cassie just glares at him, but when
he grins at her teasingly, she can't help but shake her head and smile back.

It's when Riley passes by near
their table, that Theo straightens in his seat.

"Riley," he calls, and
his brother stops, turning to him.

"Yeah?" he says, tray of
food in his hands.

"You seen Max?" Theo
asks, and Riley cocks his head toward the general direction of the cafeteria's
entrance.

"Yeah," he says.
"He's at the nurse's office."

Theo frowns.

"What?" he says.
"Why?"

Riley shrugs, clearly not the least
bit worried.

"I think he hurt
himself," he says, and although Theo hears the complete ease in his tone,
it doesn't seem to matter. Instead,
hurt
is the only word he manages to
register, and before either Riley or Cassie can stop him, he has gotten up from
the table and left the cafeteria.

It's not far to the nurse's office.
It barely takes five minutes before Theo is there, and the first thing he sees
is Max. He's sitting on a gurney, legs dangling over the edge, holding something
up to his face, and Theo doesn't linger in the doorway for more than a split
second.

"Max!"

Max looks up at the sound of his
voice, and almost sheepish expression mixed in with the surprise, almost as
though he was hoping that Theo wouldn't actually hear about this and come find
him. The expression disappears almost immediately, though, and Theo doesn't
make much of it.

"Hey, babe," Max says,
cocking his head suggestively. "'Sup?"

But Theo isn't having it.

"What the hell happened?"
he says, making his way into the room. Max half-shrugs.

"I ran into Luc," he
says, head tilted back, and he says it with such glee that Theo can't actually
tell if he's being sarcastic or not.

"Luc?" he says, frowning,
confused, and Max just half-shrugs again, almost as though he's hoping that's
the end of it. But it isn't, of course, and Theo just looks at Max, who
eventually sighs.

The nurse glances between the two
of them, before pointedly steadying Max's hand, as it holds a small, slowly
reddening cotton ball up to his nose. Then she turns around and leaves them
alone, walking into the other room.

Max looks at Theo, head still
tilted back.

"I went outside for a
smoke," he explains, sounding bored, more than anything. "Luc was
there, for some reason. He saw me, and long story short, apparently felt like
punching me again."

Theo sighs.

"Jesus," he says, carding
his fingers through his hair in an anxious gesture.

"Don't worry," Max says
dryly, removing the cotton ball from his nose and glancing at it, before
putting it back in, the bleeding apparently still not halted. "Some guys
stopped him, and he's still suspended. He wasn't even supposed to be here. And
you'd think he'd be over that whole emasculating-thing I did. I mean, come on,
it was weeks ago."

Theo doesn't reply. Instead, he
just drops his arms to his sides and looks at Max, letting out a heavy exhale,
lips pressed together. He reaches out to take Max's chin, gently.

"Let me see," he says,
but Max just pulls away softly.

"It's fine," he murmurs,
and Theo frowns at him.

"Max, you're bleeding,"
he says sharply.

"It's a nosebleed," Max
points out. "Doesn't count."

"Max―"

"I'm fine, really," Max
says, both his voice and expression trying to be reassuring. "I can take a
beating, it's okay."

"Yeah, you said that, last time,"
Theo says, frowning, sounding almost annoyed, as he remembers how those were
Max's almost exact words, outside the principal's office, back then. "What
does that even mean?"

Max sighs quietly then, pressing
his lips together, as though instantly regretting saying that. Then he relents.

"It means that Luc isn't, by
far, the first one who hasn't appreciated my charming and unique self," he
says. He takes out the cotton ball from his nose again and looks at it. It's tainted
with his blood, and he lowers his chin, as he continues in a murmur. "And
kids can be real assholes."

Theo blinks, taking it in, before
realizing what Max means.

"Wait, you were
bu―?" he starts, but Max immediately cuts him off.

"Please, don't say 'bullied',"
he says, looking positively appalled, and Theo pauses.

"Why not?" he asks,
hesitantly.

"Because the word implies that
I'm a victim," Max replies. "And I'm not. Never have been."

He shrugs, glancing at the bloody
piece of cotton in his hand, before looking back at Theo.

"I mean, sure, I used to get
beat up every now and then. But
victim
?" He scoffs and tosses the
now apparently redundant cotton ball into the trashcan beside the gurney.
"Fuck that."

Theo isn't quite sure how to respond
to that. He's honestly kind of surprised; he can hardly imagine anyone having
the balls to pick on Max, who could level your self-confidence to the ground
with just a condescending smirk. Not that he ever really does that.

Then again, maybe Max wasn't always
like that, wasn't always like
this
. Maybe he's like this now, simply
because other people made him this way. Theo knows that being picked on and
bullied (despite Max's apprehension at the word), really affects a person, and
it can turn out one of two ways; either it hardens you, or it breaks you.
Clearly, Max went for the first option.

Max sighs, as though he's just had
a refreshing nap, rather than a punch in the face.

"I'm starving," he says,
and he looks up at Theo, as he hops off the gurney. "What's for
lunch?"

Theo just looks at him, unfamiliar
with the somehow hard expression he can feel on his face. It seems to be enough
to make Max feel just slightly uncomfortable, though, as he stands in front of
Theo.

"What?" he says, and Theo
pauses.

"Were you gonna tell me?"
he says, voice subdued, rather than annoyed, and Max glances away for a moment.

"I guess," he says,
half-shrugging as he looks back at his boyfriend. "Just never came
up."

"What about today?" Theo
asks. "Were you gonna tell me about that?"

Max sighs then, glancing up at the
ceiling. It almost looks like he's rolling his eyes.

"Maybe not," he admits,
and Theo bristles.

"Why not?" he says, and
Max looks at him.

"Because it's not a big
deal," he says. "And I knew you'd react this way, and I didn't want
to get you into trouble again."

"What's that supposed to
mean?" Theo says, frowning. Sure, he appreciates Max's honesty, here, and
Max is right about Theo most likely having done something stupid to Luc, if he
had been there (like hitting him again). But still.

"Look, I'm sorry, okay?"
Max says, a bit softer, and Theo is entirely sure that he means it. "I
just―"

He throws up his hands lamely.

"It's not a big deal."

"Yes, it is," Theo
retorts, his voice slightly raised, and when the school nurse actually glances
over at them from her desk in the other room, he lowers his tone,
self-consciously. "It is a big deal, alright? I don't want you to get
hurt. And if I do get into trouble because of that, that's on me, not
you."

Max just looks at him, an
unreadable expression on his face, and then he sighs, taking Theo's hand.

"Fuck, you're way too good to
me," he says, looking down at their entwining fingers, and Theo shakes his
head.

"I'm really not," he says,
and when Max looks up at him again, he gives him a soft smile.

"You know," Theo
continues, a lighter tone to his voice. "I bet you could get a note, and
go home early."

Max quirks a small smile.

"Where's the fun in
that?" he says, and Theo cocks his head.

"I could go with you," he
says, and Max's smile widens.

"You'd do that for me?"
he asks, and Theo gives him a soft kiss.

"You know I would," he
replies, and Max narrows his eyes.

"Alright," he says,
eyeing Theo up and down. "Come on then, you little rebel."

It's not that hard to get out of school, Theo has
realized.

Max does indeed get a note from the
nurse, and Theo manages to get a hold of Cassie, asking her to cover for him,
and she agrees to it (while rolling her eyes). After that, Theo just gets his
stuff from his locker, and as everyone else gets ready for class, he meets up
with Max, and they make their way home.

Max's parents have left for work,
already, both of them working late today, so the moment he and Theo step inside
the front door of Max's house, Theo knows he's done for.

The door has barely shut behind
them, before Max is pulling Theo to him, kissing him fiercely, and Theo barely
even hesitates, before getting caught up in the sheer urgency of it, tugging at
Max's coat pointedly. Max takes the hint, and it's in a series of awkward,
fumbling, multi-tasking moves, that they manage to get their jackets and stuff
off―lips barely ever leaving the other's―and make their way into
the living room.

The choice of room is mostly out of
convenience, but Theo isn't about to complain. Not when Max practically shoves
him down onto the couch and climbs on top of him, pushing his tongue into his
mouth, making Theo inhale deeply, sharply, closing his eyes.

Those hands are everywhere, within
seconds, and it doesn't take long before Theo is groaning into Max's mouth,
pressing against his back with his hands, slowly moving his hips against Max's,
as he grinds down against him. The way Max tugs on his bottom lip gently with
his teeth is enough to make his head spin, and he moves one hand down over
Max's ass, pressing the two of them even closer together. He feels, with some
satisfaction, that Max is already as hard as he is.

"Maybe we should move,"
Theo says, barely able to articulate, through the heavy breathing and the
intoxicated haze, and Max groans.

"No time," he says,
punctuating his words with a particularly deep kiss that makes Theo lose his
breath for a second.

"Let's just go to your
room," Theo insists, using all the self-control he has to form words.
"I think that might be a good idea."