Sweaters & Cigarettes (10 page)

Max simply walks up to them, puts himself
between Theo and Hannah, Michael standing right next to them. He then glances
at Hannah briefly and hands her his notepad, practically pushing it against her
chest, making her simply catch it in her hands, in surprise. Meanwhile, Theo
just stares, eyes slightly widened in confused surprise, as Max turns to him.
But then, those dark blue eyes focus on his, and the smallest, mischievous
smile shapes those lips, before Max simply puts his hand by Theo's face, and
kisses him.

Theo barely has time to react. He knows
that he should be surprised and uncomfortable, somehow, but he isn't. Instead,
he just feels a rush of warmth and shivers, as his mouth recognizes Max's, and
he closes his eyes, reciprocating the kiss.

Max pushes against him slightly, just
enough to softly press Theo's back against the locker behind him, and Theo puts
his hands by Max's waist, pulling him closer, Max's free hand slipping into his
back pocket. That tongue slides into his mouth, metal stud hard and warm, and
Theo forgets how to breathe for just a few seconds.

Because that's how long it lasts, just a
few seconds, before Theo opens his eyes as Max pulls away. He feels dazed and
light-headed, and he watches those blue, black-lined eyes as they refocus on
him; they're filled with amused excitement, and Max smirks as he removes his
hands from Theo's body. Then he turns to Hannah, who's clutching the notebook
against her chest, eyes wide and mouth half-open. Max glances at her, pierced
eyebrow raised, before grabbing his notebook and pulling it out of her grip.

"Thanks," he says, giving her a
smile that's like poisoned honey. Then he turns to Theo, expression softened. He
gives him a quick, chaste kiss. "Later, babe."

Theo doesn't answer him, simply nods
weakly, and Max gives him one last, amused smirk, before turning around and
simply walking away.

Nobody moves for several seconds, but
finally, Hannah speaks.

"What the hell was that?" she
says, sounding angry, rather than confused. Theo doesn't answer her, still
staring after Max, who is just disappearing from view.

"Theo," Hannah insists, sounding
appalled. "Listen to me. I don't know what he's done to you, but this is
not okay. He's gross―"

"Shut up, Hannah." Theo says it
with a low voice, sounding bored, more than anything. He's too annoyed and too
happy to care about how he's saying anything like that to her for the first
time ever, and he doesn't even turn to see her expression. "Just shut
up."

It turns out that speaking up like that might not have been the best
idea. At least, it didn't have quite the effect Theo expected.

Hannah basically just huffed indignantly,
shocked at Theo's comment, and she pretty much stormed off, Michael in tow.
Theo was surprised, to say the least, both at what he said, and at her reaction
to it, but he didn't think about it, at the time. Instead, he was just
happy
.
Happy about what Max had done, and happy about how it was simply out there,
now. The whole thing had pretty much saved him from a painfully awkward and
judgmental conversation with his friends, and he was just too blissfully high
from that kiss that he couldn't think about the consequences.

Said consequences came later.

For the first time in the past year or so,
Theo is sitting alone at lunch. He hasn't always been friends with Michael and
Hannah and the rest; it was something that just sort of happened. Theo and
Michael were paired up during class once, and Michael sort of took him under
his wing, after that. And because Michael is fairly popular, Theo's social life
significantly improved, because of it. Hell, before that, he barely talked to
anyone, really.

But now, Theo is learning the hard way
that the small social status he actually had is crumbling pretty fast, and all
because of what he did earlier, just a couple of hours ago.

At lunch, he entered the cafeteria and
searched the room for his friends, as usual, but when he spotted them, Hannah
gave him such a venomous glare that he felt physically repelled, and Michael
didn't exactly reprimand her for it. So Theo quietly made his way over to an
empty table across the room, where he sat down with his lunch.

He's been sitting there for about ten
minutes, eating, thinking about the whole thing. He doesn't really mind sitting
alone; honestly, he's used to it. He was always alone before he became friends
with Michael and Hannah. But still. It feels unusually cold, now that he knows
what the warmth of company feels like.

"Hi, Theo."

Theo looks up at the sound of someone
speaking, right next to him, and he relaxes a bit when he sees who it is.

"Hey," he says. "Cassie,
right?"

Cassie nods, a tentative smile on her
face.

"That's me." She glances around a
bit, as though hesitant. Then she turns back to him. "You look like you
could use some company."

Theo sighs quietly, glancing around at the
empty table. Then he nods, a small, tired smile on his face, as he looks up at
her.

"Yeah," he says. "I'd like
that."

Cassie smiles properly, this time, and she
sits down opposite him, with her lunch.

"I know I've said this before,"
Cassie says after a little while, "but don't mind them. They're
idiots."

Theo frowns slightly.

"How do you know―"

"I heard what happened," Cassie
interrupts him simply, with a sympathetic look. "Actually, I'm pretty sure
everyone's heard."

Theo just stares at her, blinks, trying to
determine what she means.

"You and Max," Cassie explains,
as though a little bit amused at Theo's confusion. "The whole
public
display of affection
."

She says it tentatively, as though not
sure how to put it, and Theo actually blushes a bit, looking down at his food.
He hadn't thought about that. It didn't occur to him for a second that the
hallway wasn't exactly empty when Max did that, and that other people, besides
his friends, were bound to have seen it. If he's surprised at anything at all,
it's that Cassie―or everyone, as she says―already knows about it,
just hours after it happening. Then again, he shouldn't be surprised. This
isn't exactly a huge school.

"For the record," Cassie says,
"I think it's really cool."

Theo looks up at her, hesitantly.

"Really?" he asks, and Cassie
shrugs.

"Yeah," she says. "I mean,
it's nice that you two have found each other. Unexpected, and a bit weird, but
nice."

She pauses.

"I mean," she adds, unsure.
"It is you two, right?"

Theo nods.

"Yeah," he says. "I mean, I
think so. We kind of decided that, recently. It just sort of happened."

Cassie nods, looking oddly pleased.

"So, you've been seeing each other
for a while?" she asks.

"Yeah." Theo nods, poking at his
food with a fork, looking down. "You could say that."

"And you're finally out with
it?" Cassie continues. "Okay with the whole public-thing?"

Theo frowns at his food, then looks up at
her.

"Yeah," he says, a bit confused
at her question. "Why?"

Cassie half-smiles.

"Because he's coming over here."

Theo nearly jumps and looks over his shoulder,
just in time to see Max come up behind him. He stops dead, and Theo has to lean
his head back and look straight up to see his face. Then Max smiles wickedly
and leans down, smoothing his hands down over Theo's chest and tilting his head
slightly to kiss him on the mouth, and in the midst of the pure, pleased
surprise Theo feels at the action, he also feels uncomfortable.

"What are you doing?" he asks
when Max pulls away from his mouth about an inch or so.

Max raises his eyebrows, his expression bored
and amused, all at the same time, not to mention currently upside-down.

"Saying hello," he practically
purrs, and Theo shifts slightly in his seat.

"Yeah, well, there's people
everywhere," he mutters, and Max cocks one pierced eyebrow.

"You mean, they might see us and draw
all kinds of conclusions, based on the physical proximity of our
greeting?" He leans in and kisses Theo on the mouth again, before adding
in a murmur: "I think we're pretty fucked in that department, don't
you?"

Theo has to admit that he has a point, and
he doesn't object when Max gives him one last, quick kiss, before pulling away
and sitting down on the chair beside him, instead.

Theo just looks at him, follows him with
his gaze, and Max does the same, their eyes not leaving the other's for a
moment, really. And as he sits down, Max smoothly takes Theo's hand and laces
their fingers together, holding their hands underneath the table. It takes
several seconds of silent staring, before Max suddenly turns to Cassie.

"I've seen you before," he says,
and Cassie nearly flinches. It's obvious from her expression that she's
intimidated by Max, both by the way he looks, and by the way he practically
exudes confidence.

"Uh, yeah," she stutters, and
Theo remembers her mentioning that she has talked to Max, once or twice. Max
frowns, thinking, eyes narrowed. Then he tilts his head.

"Cassie," he says, and her hazel
eyes widen, clearly surprised.

"Yes," she confirms, and Max
nods.

"Thought so," he says.
"Good to see you."

He smirks, but in a way that looks more
amused than mean, and Cassie half-smiles back, clearly a bit more relaxed.

"Thanks for keeping him
company," Max says, cocking his head toward Theo, eyes still on Cassie.
"Seeing as how his so-called friends are assholes."

Theo opens his mouth to object, but then
realizes that he doesn't really want to. They
are
assholes. Friends
don't just up and abandon you for being with a certain person, after all.

But he says something anyway, as though
automatically defending them, even though he knows it's not right.

"It's fine," he says, looking
down at his food, and he can practically feel Max bristling.

"You do realize," Max says, and
Theo looks up at him again; those blue eyes are slightly narrowed. "That
they have
literally
distanced themselves from you?"

He pauses, eyes on Theo.

"Like,
physically
," he
says, making a pushing motion with his hand. "They have actually,
deliberately, made you move away from where they are, and are currently
ignoring you. Just because you're with me."

He cocks his head.

"So I'm sorry, but I really don't see
the point in giving an ounce of a shit about calling them something like
that."

Theo is shocked at the sheer gratitude and
affection he suddenly feels for Max, at the way he so fiercely comes to his
defense, just like before. He's struck by just how determinedly Max just came
up to him earlier, in the hallway, and kissed him, in front of Theo's friends
and in front of everybody, claiming him for his own for them all to see.

And Theo swallows hard, oddly overwhelmed,
and he squeezes Max's hand gently under the table. Max squeezes back.

Chapter 8

Warmth

You would think that Theo would have paid attention to pretty much every
part of Max by now, but no.

He hasn't before noticed or paid attention
to the tiny, barely noticeable scar he has on his chin, or the way cricks his
neck a bit, every time he straightens up.

Or his habit of quirking a tiny smile to
himself, whenever he manages to solve something―Theo noticed that the
last time they actually studied together. It doesn't happen often, and when it
comes to math, for instance, Max is definitely on a whole other level.

But it does happen, and when it does, Theo
always finds it hard to focus on his homework, when Max is so much more
interesting to watch. Because when he works, when he's thinking, it's just
fascinating, somehow, how he gets so into it and looks so pleased when he gets
it right.

Tonight, though, Theo is paying attention
to something else about Max.

They're sitting on the couch in Max's
living room (his parents are out, as usual), watching
Buffy the Vampire
Slayer
reruns, and although Theo loves this show, he's having a hard time
paying proper attention to it, right now. Instead, he glances as Max's profile,
on his left, as they sit next to each other, watches him watch the screen.
Theo's gaze skims over his face and his neck, until it lands on his ear; both
Max's ears are pierced, but his right one has a black earring that fits the
stretched earlobe perfectly, and Theo is paying attention to that, this time.
He has no idea why. Maybe it's just that it's part of
Max
, and that
makes it interesting.

The piercing isn't that big, not big
enough to really look twice at if you just glance at it. It kind of looks like
a black button, the earlobe only stretched out a little.

Theo shifts a little bit closer to Max's
side. He touches Max's ear, then, and Max raises an eyebrow at him.

"What are you doing?" he asks,
but Theo isn't fazed.

"Did this hurt?" he says, and
Max glances at Theo's hand, realizing that he's talking about his piercing.

"Not really," he says. "You
sort of just work your way up to the size you want, little bit at a time."

Theo nods, fiddling with the black, round
piercing for a moment, before trailing his fingers softly up along the shell of
Max's ear. He can practically feel Max shiver at his touch, and it makes him
smile; he still can't get over the fact that he affects Max that way.

"Stop that," Max murmurs after a
little while, and Theo glances at his face. Max is looking straight ahead,
absently fiddling with his lip piercing, using his tongue and teeth, while he
watches the TV, and Theo pauses for a moment. But then he starts again, slowly
moving his fingers along Max's ear and up to the metal stud pierced at the top
of it, to the dark metal ring even further up. And Max shivers again,
noticeably, eyelids fluttering just the slightest bit.

"Theo," he says warningly, but
Theo can't help but smile slightly, as he watches Max's face, his reactions.

"Yes?" he says, and he can tell
that Max is slightly surprised at his bold tone.

"Don't do that," Max says, the
tiniest smile quirking at the corner of his mouth, eyes still fixed on the TV.

"Why not?" Theo moves his
fingers back, slowly pulling them through that black, messy hair. And Max
actually closes his eyes for the briefest moment. He sighs.

"Because it does weird things to
me," he says, that raspy voice low, and Theo licks his lips. He suddenly
feels oddly brave.

Max nearly flinches when Theo leans in and
plants a kiss against his neck, but in a way that's more surprised, than
anything. Theo can tell, because a moment later, Max is relaxing against the
couch, inhaling slowly. And Theo takes that as encouragement, kissing him
again, slowly moving his lips along his throat, up to the curve of his jaw, and
Max lets out a deep, slow breath.

Theo doesn't say anything, and neither
does Max. Instead, Theo just keeps kissing, slowly, softly, fingers pulling
through Max's hair, while his other hand slowly smoothes over his chest. And
Max lets out the smallest, barely audible, moan. Theo is shocked at how good it
feels to hear it.

It spurs him on, though, and Theo finds
himself moving. He's not sure who's more surprised, him or Max, but before he
knows it, he's suddenly sitting on Max's lap, straddling him, and Max just
looks up at him, wide-eyed.

"Well, look at you," he murmurs,
and Theo is pretty sure he would be smirking, if he weren't so shocked.

Theo doesn't answer him, instead just
looks at him for another moment, before leaning down. He doesn't kiss him,
though, not right away. He simply hints at it, that metal ring brushing against
his bottom lip, and he can both hear and feel Max breathing heavily, hands
sliding up to Theo's hips, tentatively, greedily. Theo slips his tongue out,
touches Max's lips lightly, making him tense up underneath him. And Max
swallows hard.

"What are you doing?" he
breathes, but Theo doesn't answer him, just slowly tightens his grip on Max's hair,
his other hand smoothing up along his neck. He doesn't answer, because he
doesn't know what to say. He doesn't know what he's doing. He has never done
anything like this before.

Theo wants to kiss him, he really does.
But he also loves this, loves being just on the brink, Max moving just the
slightest bit underneath him. So Theo starts moving, too, just a little bit.
Just enough to grind slightly against Max, who immediately tightens his grip on
Theo's hips, exhaling slowly, heavily.

The TV is still on, but Theo barely hears
it. Instead, all he hears is Max's breathing, the way he moans quietly, as he
gently pushes Theo's hips down against him with his hands, moving their bodies
together. And Theo closes his eyes, leans their foreheads together, trying to
breathe slowly, but to no avail.

Theo didn't mean for this to happen. He
only meant to tease a little bit, maybe kiss Max, innocently enough. But it's
like he can't keep his hands off of him, and he's vaguely aware of how shy and
uncomfortable he was about all of this just a few weeks ago. He never would
have done something like this. He barely let Max do it, and now, he's the one
straddling him, grinding against him with gradually more pressure and more
determination, fingers digging into his hair, feeling those steady hands on his
hips.

Theo is surprised, but at the same time
not at all, when he feels the fabric of his jeans suddenly straining over his
unexpected hard-on; it was bound to happen, he supposes. He's a bit more
surprised, however, to feel that Max is having the same reaction, and that Max
is the one pressing their bodies together, seemingly doing everything in his
power not to kiss Theo, right now, keeping his eyes closed and taking heavy,
shuddering breaths. He sounds like he wants to say something, but he doesn't,
his body arching against Theo's, as Theo presses down against him, harder.

It's only a matter of seconds, really,
before it becomes too much. Theo still isn't used to this, and he's still not
good at the whole endurance-thing, and he can feel it building, already. And
they haven't even done anything, haven't even taken a single layer of clothing
off. They're not even
kissing
, for god's sake. But it's still happening,
still building, and for a second, he starts slowing down; it would simply be
too ridiculous and too embarrassing for him to come, right now.

But then, Max kisses him, out of nowhere,
and it's like pouring gasoline on a fire.

Theo hears himself moaning against Max's
lips, surprised and pleased, all at once, and he tightens his grip on Max's
hair, when he feels Max slip one hand underneath his jeans and grab his ass.
Shit
.
This isn't working, he's not going to last.

But just when Theo is about to actually
pull away―to avoid any embarrassment that he knows will come if they keep
going―Max stops him. He places one hand firmly at the back of Theo's
head, the other still on his ass, pressing their bodies together, kissing him
deeply, claiming his mouth with his tongue, and Theo moans in surprise at the
sheer intensity of it.

Damn it. Shit.

Max lets out a deep, pleased groan, and
that's it. That's all it takes for Theo to tense up and squeeze his eyes shut,
body shuddering with the untimely orgasm he has tried to contain for the past
couple of minutes. And although it feels so amazing he might just pass out,
it's almost immediately overshadowed by an intense sense of embarrassment.

Shit
. He can't believe that just happened. He
feels like such a
virgin
that it's not even funny.

Max doesn't seem to notice, though. He doesn't
seem to notice, because only a second or so later, he completely stops moving,
muscles tensing up, pressing Theo and his mouth so close against him that it
almost hurts. The piercing is hard against Theo's lips, and he notices a low,
choked moan coming from Max, before, a second later, Max relaxes again
underneath him.

And it takes another second, before Theo
realizes what just happened, green eyes widening slightly. He pulls away a bit.

"Did you just―" he says,
unable to string together a coherent question. But the way Max is breathing
heavily, blue eyes dazed as he looks up at him, is answer enough.

"I mean," Theo says, almost
stuttering, disbelieving. "Did I just make you―"

"Come?" Max says, cocking his
eyebrows, looking oddly exhausted, practically panting. "I think that's
the word you're looking for."

Theo just stares at him, mouth falling
open, as he tries to wrap his head around it.

"Really?" he says, dumbly, and
Max does some tired cross between an eye-roll and a smirk.

"Yes, really," he says. His
hands are still on Theo, one in his hair and the other on his ass. He frowns.
"And honestly, I'm as surprised as you are."

He swallows dryly.

"I mean, don't get me wrong," he
says, cocking his head. "It was amazing. But
damn
."

He leans his head back against the
backrest of the couch, exhaling loudly, and Theo moves his hands down to smooth
them over Max's chest. He can feel Max's heart beating frantically, under his
palm. And then it sinks in, and he can't help but smile.

He did this. He made Max come. And he
didn't even take his clothes off, barely even touched him. And suddenly, he
feels oddly pleased, and oddly proud.

"I didn't mean to," Theo says,
and Max looks up at him. He licks his lips.

"Well, fuck," he says, narrowing
his eyes. "That just makes it worse."

He pulls Theo's face down to kiss him,
slowly and deeply, before pulling away again.

"If you weren't even trying," he
says, "how am I gonna survive, when you actually do try?"

Theo feels himself blushing, ridiculously enough,
and Max smiles as he sees it.

"God, I love it when you blush,"
he murmurs, moving one hand up to smooth over Theo's cheekbone with his thumb.
And for a few seconds, they just stare at one another, valiantly ignoring the
sticky discomfort they've caused in each other's underwear, Theo absently
deciding that it's not important, right this second.

"You wanna come over, sometime?"
he suddenly asks instead, surprising himself, and Max gives him the smallest
frown, which makes Theo clarify. "To my house. Just hang out, or
whatever..."

He trails off, suddenly feeling very
silly, under the intense gaze of those dark blue, black-lined eyes, and simply
considering the whole situation they're currently in. It's all rather
ridiculous, really.

But then, Max smiles.

"I'd like that," he says, and
Theo noticeably relaxes. He lets out a breath, smiling back.

"Okay."

♦

It's not like Theo has suddenly decided to drop this bomb on his
parents―no way. It's more a matter of wanting Max to see his home,
his
room, seeing as how he has never actually been there, before.

And they have been together for over a
week, now, after seeing each other for the past month or so. It seems only
appropriate, like it's about time. At least, that's how Theo sees it, after
spending so many hours at Max's house.

It has taken a few days to find the
opportune moment, though; Theo's parents are rarely away from home any longer
periods of time, but tonight, there's an exception. Both his mother and father
are away together, at some dinner party with friends, at the edge of town, and
seeing as how both Riley and Theo are old enough to look after themselves,
their parents are staying with their friends for the night, rather than driving
home. And this means privacy, which isn't something Theo is about to turn down.

"Do mom and dad know about
this?" Riley asks, sitting at the kitchen table, doing his homework, while
Theo absently finishes up the dishes (it's his turn, as he and Riley do them
every other day).

Theo sighs, pulling the plug in the sink,
after putting away the last, cleaned plate.