After stopping to pick up a pizza, Oliver and Shawn arrived at the apartment a little after 10. Faye and Ran sat on the couch, watching TV. Ran’s face brightened at the opening door, then fell when his eyes landed on Shawn.
“What’s he doing here?” Faye asked scornfully.
“Nice seeing you too.” Shawn carried the pizza box to the kitchen.
“He’s staying the night.” Oliver closed the door behind them, and walked after Shawn. “Long story.”
Ran followed him into the kitchen. “Where’s Jyri?”
Oliver frowned. He thought Jyri would’ve been home by now. “We bumped into Jessica at the bar. He ditched us to hang out with her and her friends. He said she’d bring him home.”
“Did he say what time?”
“No. But probably soon. Want any pizza?” Oliver gestured towards the box, which Shawn had set on the kitchen table.
Faye appeared out of nowhere to snatch a slice, then disappeared just as fast. Ran helped himself to a slice as well, and slumped out of the kitchen.
After piling slices of pizza on a couple of plates, and grabbing a bottle of water each, Shawn and Oliver retreated to Oliver’s bedroom. They sat cross-legged on the floor, their backs against the bed as they ate.
“Do you want to talk more about it?” Oliver asked, chewing on one of Shawn’s offered crusts. “Or want a distraction? Or space to think?”
“I don’t know. All of the above?” Shawn’s knee brushed against Oliver’s. A natural action that normally wouldn’t have any affect on Oliver. However, his stomach did a strange sort of twist this time.
Weird. Maybe he should cut back on the pizza. “Want my last slice? I’m full.”
“Sure.” Shawn held out his empty plate, and Oliver put his slice on it. He watched Shawn bite into it, studying his clean-shaven jawline. An urge to run his fingers along it struck him. His stomach twisted again. Good thing he chose not to get a second drink, if just one whiskey had this affect.
Except he was mostly sobered up. Right? Oliver took a long swig of his water and checked the time. It was almost 10:30. He recalled how they used to stay up until 3 in the morning, playing games and watching movies. No problem back then. But now? He was already feeling tired.
Shawn finished the slice. “I’m sorry if this makes me a buzzkill, but I just want to go to sleep. My head is still killing me, and all that excitement has me drained.”
Oliver sighed in relief. “Good, because I’m tired too. I haven’t pulled an all-nighter in years.”
“To think. We used to do that all the time.” Shawn took a sip of water. “One small problem though- I don’t have anything to wear to bed.”
Oliver’s stomach twisted a third time as thoughts of Shawn naked in his bed filled his body with desire. He rubbed his eye, wondering what was wrong with him.
“If you don’t have anything, I could just wear these clothes. But they’re dirty and I know how you feel about wearing dirty clothes in bed. I also feel like I need a shower. Bars are gross.”
Oliver agreed with that statement. “I do too.” He stood up and walked over to his dresser. He dug through one of the drawers, pulling out a pair of old sweatpants. “They might be loose on you.”
“That’s okay.” Shawn took them.
Normally, Oliver would dig out a clean shirt for him as well. But an idea made him hesitate. If he didn’t offer up a shirt, Shawn very well might sleep without one. The thought filled him with pleasure.
Oliver went straight for his drawer of old t-shirts, scolding himself for even entertaining such a thing. He grabbed a blue one, and tossed it to Shawn, who caught it.
“Cool. Got any clean underwear?”
Oliver tried not to blush as he looked at Shawn, who grinned at him.
“Just messing with you. I was gonna go commando anyway.”
If Oliver wasn’t blushing before, he definitely was now. Shawn laughed as he left the bedroom for the bathroom, fresh clothes in hand. Leaving Oliver alone with his confusing thoughts.
Maybe this new desire for Shawn would go away after a good night’s sleep.
It took Oliver a long time to fall asleep. His bed was large enough for both of them to fit, but small enough where they only had an inch of space between them. Oliver laid on his back, careful to leave enough room for that one inch of no-contact. Shawn, however, didn’t care about such things. Lying on his side, Shawn shamelessly nestled his head in the crook of Oliver’s neck, one hand over his chest. Under normal circumstances, Oliver wouldn’t care. Physical contact was nothing new. Shawn had always been touchy around Oliver, which he didn’t mind. In fact, Oliver himself would probably wrap his arm around Shawn’s shoulder in this case. He’d be happy about having a friend he could be this close to. But his feelings of joy ended there.
Until now.
Oliver spent half the night trying to ignore the feelings of excitement and desire transpiring within his body. The warmth in his chest. The heat in his pants. Struggling to slow his breathing. Trying to ignore the scent of pizza and alcohol coming from Shawn’s open mouth, his breath tickling his neck. It was no surprise that, after finally falling asleep, he still woke up before Shawn.
He turned on his side to watch Shawn sleep. At some point in the night, Shawn had rolled over to his side of the bed. Now, he laid on his back with the blanket down to his waist. Had Oliver not offered up a shirt, and he had gone shirtless, his bare chest would have been exposed. A small part of Oliver regretted giving him one. Shawn’s hair was down for a change, and he longed to run his fingers through it.
These new feelings clearly hadn’t gone anywhere.
Someone pounded on his bedroom door, startling Shawn awake. Oliver quickly looked away, rolled out of bed, and opened the door.
Ran stood on the other side, wild-eyed and clutching his hair. “Jyri never came back!”
“What time is it?” Shawn sat up, rubbing his eyes.
“7:48,” Ran answered. “I thought you said he was coming home last night. What if something bad happened?”
“I’m sure he’s fine,” Oliver said. Though it was strange. Had he spent the night somewhere with Jessica?
“Do either of you have Jessica’s phone number?” Ran asked.
“No!” Oliver scrunched his nose.
Shawn did the same. “Why would we?”
Ran let out a whimper and walked away. Shawn got out of the bed and raised his arms to stretch. The shirt, already short on him, rode up, exposing the area below his navel. Although it only lasted a few seconds, the sight took Oliver’s breath away.
Shawn pulled up the sweatpants. “I wonder why Jyri never came back.”
“I’m not too worried. He’ll show up soon enough.” Oliver’s stomach growled. “I’m gonna pour myself a bowl of cereal. Want some?”
“Sure.”
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Shawn, Oliver, and Faye sat on the couch with bowls of cereal. Ran sat on the floor, not eating. He kept wondering out loud about Jyri. Oliver hoped Jyri would show up soon, if only to shut the man up. Faye, on the other hand, showed no emotion. If she was worried, she was good at hiding it.
The doorknob jiggled. Everyone perked up to see Jyri walk in.
“Jyri!” Ran leaped to his feet and tackled him into a hug. “Where were you?”
Jyri returned the hug. “With Jessica. Didn’t Oliver tell you?”
“All night?”
“Yeah,” Oliver said. “You spent the night with her?”
Jyri closed the door behind him. “It was raining hard, and she had a migraine. We decided it would be best if I stayed the night.”
“And where was her boyfriend during all this?” Shawn asked.
Jyri scowled at him. “Why are you here?”
“I invited him to sleep over,” Oliver said. “Seriously though, where was he?”
“Out camping with friends. He comes back tomorrow.” Jyri walked towards the bathroom as everyone followed. He turned around. “I slept on the couch, and she slept in her bed. Nothing happened.”
“I find that hard to believe,” Shawn said.
“It’s more believable than whatever happened with you and Oliver,” Jyri spat. “While we slept in separate rooms, you probably slept in the same bed.”
“It’s true,” Ran said. “I saw them.”
Oliver and Shawn shared an embarrassed look.
“As I thought,” Jyri said. “Shawn finds out he likes men, and it awakened a sexual desire between you two. So you spent all night romping about in bed together.”
The accusation left Oliver and Shawn speechless and flushed.
Jyri held his head high. “Yeah. Doesn’t feel so good when you’re on the other end, does it?” With that, he slammed the bathroom door shut in their faces.
The group dispersed back to the family room, leaving Jyri in peace. Oliver found himself feeling slightly guilty for jumping to conclusions. And didn’t Jyri mention not being interested in any gender last night? He’d forgotten about that part. “What do you think?” He directed the question towards Faye and Ran, who knew Jyri well.
“About Jyri spending the night with Jessica?” Faye asked. “He had a good enough excuse.”
“I understand why he did. I just wish he would have told us,” Ran said. “I keep telling him to get one of those phone things, but he hasn’t.”
“I meant, could there be more to Jyri and Jessica than just friendship?” Oliver asked.
Ran shrugged. “I doubt it. He’s never been interested in girls. Anyone, actually.”
“It’s still possible,” Faye said. “There was one girl he was interested in, but it turned out magic caused it.”
Shawn straightened with sudden interest. “Magic?”
Faye bit her lip. “Um, yeah. Magic. But, not like that. I mean… what’s the word?”
“Figuratively,” Ran blurted out. “She didn’t mean actual magic. That would be weird.”
Oliver frowned at the two. Were they actually from somewhere where magic existed? But how would that be possible? Maybe it was more cult stuff.
“Regardless, I believe him,” Faye said.
“Me too,” Ran said.
“Okay.” Magic. Oliver looked at Shawn, who looked back at him.
“I should get home soon,” Shawn said. “Valerie will be wondering about me.”
Oliver nodded, though knew part of it was so they could discuss this new bit of information in the privacy of Oliver’s car. “Now’s a good time.”
After Shawn changed back into his clothes from the previous night, and Oliver changed into clean clothes, they got in Oliver’s car to go to Shawn’s house. And, more importantly, discuss Faye’s offhand comment.
“What the hell was that about?” Shawn sat in the passenger’s seat, watching Oliver drive. “Someone used magic to make Jyri fall in love with them?”
Oliver still wondered if it could possibly be cult-related, but knew Shawn would shut any cult theories down. “Maybe witches are real. Or there was a potion and it was a placebo effect kind of deal.”
“Or they came from somewhere that has magic,” Shawn said.
“What place has magic?”
“I don’t know. But she’s gotta mean actual magic.”
Surely Shawn didn’t believe magic was real. “Seriously?”
“Remember awhile back, when Jyri shredded your inventory papers?”
Oliver had forgotten until that moment. The papers were shredded, then they weren’t. And Jyri said Faye fixed it. “You think Faye used literal magic to put the shredded papers back together?”
“How else could she have done it?”
“So you think she’s a witch or something?”
“Either that or some other being capable of performing magic spells.”
Oliver stopped at a red light, and stared at him. “You’re saying she’s not even human?”
Shawn raised an eyebrow. “Remember those ears?”
Those pointed ears. Oliver chewed his lip. Fantasy races weren’t real. “This is crazy. You can’t honestly believe-”
“I’m telling you! She’s some sort of fantasy creature from God knows where.”
“There’s gotta be a reasonable explanation for all this.” The light turned green, and Oliver continued driving. He tried to think of a logical, realistic reason. And had to admit it was difficult.
“Can’t think of one, can you?”
“No, no I can’t.”
They arrived at Shawn’s apartment. Oliver pulled into a parking spot to let Shawn out. After exchanging goodbyes, Oliver watched Shawn walk into the apartment complex, and out of his sight, wishing he could’ve stayed longer.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWsACD0Z1z7
and then Add to home screen.