Casual, Apparently
Noah had spent enough of Wednesday night wondering whether Thursday would feel different that he almost expected it to. Ryan had kissed him. Noah had kissed him back. They had spent considerably less time wearing clothes than either of them had probably intended when they opened their laptops.
Then Noah had gone home.
Now it was Thursday.
Callum was already halfway along their usual row with his laptop open and a coffee beside it. Noah sat down on the empty chair next to Callum. The fabric of his jeans brushed against his cock with every movement.
“Morning.”
Callum looked up. “You’re walking normally.”
“Thank you.”
“Marcus finally stopped trying to kill you?”
“I recovered.”
“That seems optimistic.”
Noah pulled his laptop from his bag. A minute later someone dropped into the empty seat on his other side.
Ryan.
Dark T-shirt. Chinos. Silver chain visible at the collar. Backpack already sliding from one shoulder as he sat down. Noah’s eyes dropped briefly to the front of the chinos.
“Morning.”
Noah looked at him. “Morning.”
Ryan opened his laptop as though this were where he normally sat. Callum watched the entire process. Then glanced across Noah at Ryan.
“Oh, we’re expanding?”
Ryan looked over. “Apparently.”
Callum nodded once. “Okay.”
Noah tried not to smile. Ryan smiled. Nothing else happened. That was almost the strange part. Noah found the lecture slides. Callum began complaining that the coffee downstairs had somehow become worse since Tuesday. Their knees occasionally touched beneath the narrow fold-down desks, but Ryan didn’t move his away and neither did Noah. The contact was deliberate enough that Noah’s cock shifted inside the jeans.
Wednesday existed. It just did not seem to have broken Thursday.
Callum was halfway through describing his report when the lecturer arrived. “Eleanor wanted to compare every calculation.”
Ryan glanced across Noah. “How’d that go?”
Callum made a face. “That depends.”
“On?”
“Whether you think recalculating an entire column because I rounded one value too early counts as a productive use of an afternoon.”
Noah smiled. “Was she right?”
Callum became noticeably less enthusiastic. “That isn’t relevant.”
“So yes.”
“She was technically correct.”
Ryan laughed. Callum pointed at him. “Don’t encourage him.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You looked supportive.”
Noah opened his notebook. “I feel supported.”
“You shouldn’t.”
The lecturer called for attention before Callum could elaborate. For the next fifty minutes they talked about sequence databases, protein families and the basic logic behind comparing biological sequences. Noah liked it more than he expected. There was something satisfying about the idea that a string of letters could carry enough information to connect organisms separated by millions of years. Beside him, Ryan actually took notes. Noah noticed that too - and noticed the way Ryan’s thigh stayed pressed lightly against his own.
At the end, the lecturer reminded them that the afternoon practical would be held in the computer laboratory rather than their usual teaching space. Ryan shut his laptop. “No station twelve.”
Noah looked at him. “Disappointed?”
“Obviously.”
Callum stood. “I’m not.”
Neither of them asked why.
The computer laboratory was arranged in shared tables, each with four computers, which meant their practical groups ended up less separated than usual. Noah and Ryan took two computers beside each other. Callum and Eleanor sat directly opposite. Eleanor gave them a brief wave.
“Did you two finish the report?”
“Mostly,” Noah said.
Ryan nodded. “Needs references.”
Callum nodded sympathetically. “We finished ours.”
Eleanor looked at him. “Eventually.”
Callum sighed. “She made me redo a spreadsheet.”
“Because it was wrong.”
“One cell.”
“One cell that affected seven calculations.”
Callum looked at Noah. “You see what I deal with?”
Noah nodded solemnly. “You’re very brave.”
Eleanor rolled her eyes and opened the practical instructions. Their task was simple enough in theory. Each pair had been given several unknown protein sequences. They had to search the sequences against a database, identify likely proteins, compare similarities between organisms and produce a short interpretation of what the results suggested.
Ryan copied the first sequence into the search field. Noah looked at him. “What?”
“You read the instructions?”
Ryan paused. “Some.”
“Ryan.”
“I’m learning.”
Across from them, Eleanor laughed. Callum leaned around his monitor. “He does this in wet labs too?”
“Constantly.”
Ryan looked betrayed. “You’re meant to be my partner.”
“I am. That’s why our experiments survive.”
Their first sequence returned dozens of matches. Ryan leaned closer to the screen, shoulder brushing Noah’s. “Enzyme.”
“Very specific.”
“You like enzymes.”
“I do.”
“I remembered.”
Noah glanced at him. Ryan was still looking at the results, but the corner of his mouth had curved. Something small and warm settled beneath Noah’s ribs.
Across the table, Callum suddenly made a noise. Not quite a gasp. Close. Everyone looked at him. “What?” Eleanor asked.
Callum stared at his screen. “No.”
Noah already knew. “Reptile?”
Callum turned the monitor around. “Monitor lizard.”
Ryan looked at Noah. Noah nodded. “There it is.”
Callum ignored them. “Look at the identity.”
Eleanor leaned closer. “We are supposed to identify the protein, Callum.”
“I know. But look at the species distribution.”
“You can do that afterwards.”
“This is relevant.”
“It absolutely is not.”
Callum looked genuinely wounded. Noah tried not to laugh. The practical continued like that. Their groups were still separate. Noah and Ryan generated their own results while Callum and Eleanor generated theirs, but sitting together made the whole session feel more social than the previous labs had.
At one point Ryan leaned towards Noah to compare two alignments. Their shoulders touched. Their thighs pressed together under the desk. Noah noticed the heat of Ryan’s body and the soft shift of fabric against his own bare cock. Ryan noticed too. Neither reacted. That was new. Wednesday had not made every touch enormous. It had simply changed what they knew about each.
A little later, Ryan nudged Noah’s shoe beneath the table. Noah looked over. Ryan spoke quietly enough that Callum and Eleanor couldn’t hear. “You okay?”
Noah knew what he meant. He smiled. “Yeah.”
Ryan watched him for another second, eyes dropping briefly to Noah’s lap. Then nodded. “Good.”
That was it. Ryan turned back to the screen. Noah did too, cock half-hard inside the jeans from the sustained contact and the memory of Wednesday night.
Marcus messaged shortly before the practical finished.
Gym?
Noah looked at the notification. It had been nearly a week since the last time. He typed:
After uni?
The response came immediately.
Five.
Noah considered the soreness that had followed their previous session. Then:
Fine.
Ryan caught him smiling at the phone. “Me?”
“No.”
He looked offended. “Marcus, gym?”
“Yeah.”
Ryan nodded. “Thoughts and prayers.”
“You’re incredibly supportive.”
“I’ve seen you after leg day.”
“That was one time.”
“Several days.”
Noah put his phone away, the residual heat from Ryan’s thigh still lingering against his own.
Marcus had apparently decided that because Noah’s legs had recovered, his upper body should suffer instead. By the third set of bench press, Noah was reconsidering every decision that had brought him there.
“One more,” Marcus said.
“I did one more.”
“That was the previous one.”
“Same thing.”
Marcus stood behind the bench, hands hovering near the bar. “No.”
Noah pushed. The bar moved slowly. Marcus’ fingers came beneath it without taking the weight, warm and firm, brushing Noah’s knuckles. “Keep going.”
Noah got it into place and immediately let his head fall back against the bench. “I hate you.”
“No, you don’t.”
Noah looked up at him. Marcus smiled, standing over him, forearms tense, the sleeveless shirt clinging to his chest with sweat. The words landed differently than they would have a week earlier. Not because of Ryan. Marcus had existed before Ryan became anything more than a profile and a laboratory partner. The attraction had never disappeared. If anything, Noah understood it better now.
Marcus was broader than Ryan. Stronger. More physically imposing. Sweat darkened the collar of his sleeveless shirt and ran along his temple. Standing above Noah like this, spotting him, he looked unfairly good. The thin gym shorts sat low on his hips. Marcus noticed Noah looking. He always did. This time Noah did not immediately turn away. His own cock thickened inside the soft black shorts under the open attention. Marcus held his gaze for a second, eyes dropping deliberately to the front of Noah’s shorts. Then nodded towards the bar. “Rest.”
Noah sat up, the soft fabric of his shorts tenting slightly. “You say that like you’re doing me a favour.”
“I am.”
They moved through rows and shoulder presses before Marcus finally declared the session acceptable. By then Noah’s arms felt approximately decorative.
The showers were quieter than they had been Saturday. Only one other person was there when Noah and Marcus walked in, and he left a few minutes later. Noah stood beneath the hot water and let it run across his shoulders and down the length of his cock, which was already thickening again. Marcus took the shower beside him. Neither spoke. They never really did in here.
Noah washed slowly, aware of Marcus without making much effort to pretend otherwise. When he eventually glanced across, Marcus was already looking. His gaze moved over Noah’s chest, lingered lower on the growing hardness between his legs, then returned to his face. Noah looked back. Marcus had been soft when they walked in. He wasn’t anymore. Neither was Noah. Both of them were half-hard under the open spray, cocks thickening further under the mutual attention.
The awareness between them had started to feel almost familiar now. Water, steam, bare skin. The same looks repeated often enough that pretending they meant nothing was becoming increasingly pointless. Marcus turned beneath the spray, presenting Noah with the broad line of his back and shoulders. Noah watched the muscles shift as Marcus ran a hand through his hair, then lower, soaping across his chest and stomach with deliberate slowness. Marcus glanced over his shoulder. Caught him. This time Noah didn’t look away. His cock was fully hard now, standing out under the water. Marcus’ was the same - thick, heavy, the head emerging as the water ran over it. Marcus’ mouth curved slightly. Almost a smile. Noah returned it. Nothing happened. They stayed like that for another long minute, both hard, both looking, the steam thick between them. Eventually they shut off the water and headed back into the changing room.
Noah dried himself beside the lockers while Marcus did the same a few feet away. Neither said anything at first. The silence felt different after the shower, though. Marcus had looked. Noah had looked back. Both of them had been openly hard. Neither of them had bothered pretending otherwise. Noah stepped into his soft black shorts and pulled them up. The thin fabric clung immediately to his still-half-hard cock, outlining every ridge. Marcus glanced across.
“You know, it’s pretty obvious.”
Noah looked at him. “What is?”
Marcus gave him a look. “You know.”
“I really don’t.”
Marcus’ mouth curved. He nodded towards Noah’s cock, still clearly outlined and half-hard against the soft fabric. “That you’re not wearing underwear.”
Noah looked down at himself, then back at Marcus. “You’ve noticed?”
Marcus laughed, low. “Mate. You wear gym shorts.”
Noah raised an eyebrow. “So, you’ve been looking.”
Marcus met his eyes. There was a brief pause. “Hard not to.”
That answer was considerably more direct than Noah had expected. He leaned back against the locker, smiling slightly, cock giving a slow throb under the open admission. “I’m not exactly hiding it.”
“No,” Marcus said, eyes dropping again and lingering openly on the thick shape pressing against the shorts. “You’re definitely not.”
Noah held his gaze. “Should I?”
Marcus looked at him again. Not the quick glance from before. This time his eyes dropped openly, lingering for a long moment on Noah’s cock before returning to his face. “Definitely not.”
Noah felt the smile before he could stop it. Heat flooded him. “Good.”
Marcus smiled too, slow and deliberate, and reached for his shirt. That was apparently the end of the conversation. He pulled the shirt over his head, shoved his towel into his bag and zipped it closed. “Same time next week?”
Noah laughed, still half-hard inside the soft shorts. Marcus looked over. “What?”
“Nothing.”
“You coming?”
“Probably.”
“Good.”
Marcus slung the bag over his shoulder and headed towards the door. Noah followed him out, the soft fabric brushing against his bare cock with every step. The exchange had been brief, but something had shifted. Until now, everything between them could still technically have been explained away. A glance in the shower. A hand lingering during a correction. Bodies reacting in a room where everyone was already naked. Not anymore. Marcus had noticed. More importantly, he had admitted that he noticed - and that he liked looking. Noah still wanted to look at him. Marcus apparently wanted to look back. And somehow knowing that did not make Noah feel as though anything had to happen next. For the moment, knowing was enough.
Claire was at the house when they got back. She and Liam had taken over one end of the lounge. Claire sat sideways with her legs across Liam’s lap while they watched something on the TV. Sophie was at the kitchen table with a bowl of something Noah couldn’t identify and three different tabs open on her laptop. Marcus dropped his gym bag near the hallway. Sophie looked up. “You did this voluntarily again?”
Noah pointed at Marcus. “He manipulates people.”
Marcus opened the refrigerator. “He asked me what time.”
“Under duress.”
Liam looked away from the television. “This is why I stopped going with him.”
Marcus glanced over. “You went twice.”
“And learned.”
Claire laughed. Noah went to the sink for water, still aware of the residual hardness and the way Marcus’ eyes had lingered. On the television, someone was being chased through what appeared to be an abandoned hospital. Claire reached into Liam’s bowl without looking. He immediately moved it away. “Get your own.”
“You said you didn’t want them.”
“I said I didn’t want all of them.”
“That’s different?”
“Yes.”
Claire stole another anyway. Liam stared at her. She smiled. He gave up and put the bowl between them. The whole exchange looked practised. Comfortable. Noah found himself watching for a moment before Sophie interrupted. “How’s the report?”
“Almost done.”
“With Ryan?”
Noah looked at her. Sophie’s expression was neutral. Entirely neutral. “Yes.”
“Good.”
That was all. Noah narrowed his eyes anyway. “What?”
“You’re doing the thing.”
“What thing?”
“The face,” Sophie said, like everyone would know what she meant.
Marcus opened one of his meal-prep containers. “You do have a face.”
Noah turned. “You’re not involved.”
“I live here.”
“That apparently qualifies everyone.”
Claire smiled from the lounge. “I feel like I joined this series halfway through.”
“You did,” Liam said.
Noah pointed at him. “Not helping.”
Liam smiled and turned back to the TV. Noah drank his water. For a moment everything felt remarkably ordinary. Claire stealing Liam’s food. Sophie pretending to study. Marcus reheating something that probably contained more protein than necessary. Noah standing in the kitchen after the gym, thinking simultaneously about Ryan and the fact that Marcus had just admitted he looked - and liked looking. His life had become complicated remarkably quickly. He wasn’t entirely sure he minded.
Friday felt quieter without Ryan on campus. Noah noticed that before he wanted to. There was no station twelve. No silver chain several rows ahead. No message arriving from someone sitting twenty metres away. Just lecture. Tutorial. Callum. They bought lunch after class and took it outside. Callum had chosen something wrapped in enough paper to suggest structural instability and was attempting to eat it without losing half the filling. He failed. A piece of lettuce landed on his notebook. Noah looked at it. Callum looked at it. “Don’t.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You were about to.”
“I was going to ask whether that counts as field sampling.”
Callum removed the lettuce. “I regret becoming friends with you.”
“No, you don’t.”
“Unfortunately.”
Noah smiled and went back to his lunch. They ate in silence for another minute. Then Callum said, “So…”
Noah looked up. “That sounded dangerous.”
“Ryan sat with us yesterday.”
“He did.”
Callum waited. Noah waited back. “He doesn’t normally sit with us.”
“Maybe he likes your company.”
Callum gave him a look. “He barely spoke to me.”
Noah laughed. Callum picked at the edge of his wrapper.
“Maybe he wanted a better view of the lecturer,” Noah said.
“He sat next to you.”
Noah looked at him. Callum looked back. “What?”
“Nothing.”
“Callum.”
“I’m just saying.”
“Saying what?”
Callum hesitated, apparently deciding how directly he wanted to ask. “Did something happen?”
Noah stopped. “Between you and Ryan,” Callum added.
“I understood the question.”
“Good.”
Noah looked down at his lunch for a moment. Callum didn’t push. Eventually Noah said, “Yeah.”
Callum blinked. “Yeah?”
“Something happened.”
Callum nodded slowly. “Okay.”
That was unexpectedly simple. Noah studied him. “That’s it?”
“What else am I supposed to say?”
“I don’t know.”
Callum considered that. “Was it good?”
Noah smiled despite himself, the memory of Ryan’s mouth and the cum on both their faces still vivid. “Yeah.”
“Then good.”
A beat passed. “Do I need details?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Excellent.”
The relief was immediate enough that Noah laughed. Callum pointed towards a tree beyond the path. “Also, there’s a magpie-lark over there.”
Noah followed his gaze. “You changed topics very quickly.”
“You specifically said no details.”
“I did.”
“I respect boundaries.”
Noah smiled. Callum squinted towards the tree. “Actually, there are two.”
“Of course there are.”
Callum brightened. “Do you know how to tell the males and females apart?”
Noah looked at him. “I have a feeling I’m about to.”
“The throat markings are different.”
“There it is.”
For some reason, Noah felt lighter.
At 3:41, Noah finally hit submit. He watched the confirmation appear, then took a screenshot and sent it to Ryan.
Mine’s in.
Ryan replied almost immediately.
Finally.
Noah smiled.
Fuck off.
Mine went in twenty minutes ago.
You said your references were a mess.
They became less of a mess.
Impressive.
Thank you.
A few seconds passed. Then:
What are you doing later?
Noah looked at the time.
Nothing.
Hungry?
Usually.
McDonald’s?
Noah smiled, heat already settling low.
Sure.
They met a little after six. Ryan was already inside when Noah arrived, sitting in a booth with his phone on the table and one foot stretched beneath the opposite seat. He looked up as Noah approached, and smiled.
“Late.”
Noah checked the time. “It’s 6:03.”
“Three minutes.”
“You seem to have survived.”
“Barely.”
Noah dropped his bag onto the seat. “Have you ordered?”
“No.”
“You waited?”
Ryan stood, eyes lingering on the front of Noah’s shorts. “Don’t make it weird.”
Noah smiled. “I asked a question.”
“And I’m hungry.”
They went to the ordering screens. There was nothing particularly remarkable about the evening. No plan beyond food, nowhere they needed to be afterwards. They ordered burgers, chips and drinks and carried the tray back to the booth themselves. Around them, a group of teenagers argued over something on a phone. Someone’s child had abandoned three nuggets beneath a highchair. The fluorescent lights were too bright, and the table had been wiped recently enough to still feel slightly damp beneath Noah’s arm.
Ryan unwrapped his burger, eyes flicking to look at Noah. “How exciting was your Friday?”
“Lecture. Tutorial. Callum dropped lettuce on his notebook.”
Ryan paused. “Big day.”
“You missed a lot.”
“Clearly.”
Noah took a drink, aware of the way Ryan’s foot had stretched farther under the table, brushing against his ankle. “What did you do?”
“Slept in.”
“Of course.”
“Went shopping.”
“Productive.”
“Bought toothpaste.”
Noah nodded. “Huge.”
“Thank you.”
They ate for a while, conversation moving easily between university, the report and whatever else occurred to them. It felt different from Wednesday only because there was no laptop open between them and nothing due at four. Ryan reached across the tray and stole one of Noah’s chips, fingers brushing Noah’s.
Noah looked at him. “You have your own.”
Ryan ate it, eyes dark. “Yours looked better.”
“They came from the same place.”
“And yet.”
Noah reached over and took two from Ryan’s carton, deliberately letting his fingers trail across Ryan’s wrist. Ryan stared at him. “That’s excessive.”
“Consequences.”
“You took two.”
“Interest.”
Ryan laughed and pulled his chips slightly closer to himself, but his foot stayed pressed against Noah’s under the table. Noah smiled and went back to his burger, cock began to thicken under his shorts.
They talked. Mostly about nothing. Ben apparently claiming that his headphones had not been sufficient protection from Wednesday’s “biology session.” Ryan groaned when Noah laughed. “He mentioned it again?”
“This morning.”
“What did he say?”
“Asked whether my dataset had recovered.”
Noah nearly choked on his drink. Ryan stared at the table. “I’m moving.”
“You said that Wednesday.”
“I’ve started looking.”
“No, you haven’t.”
“No.”
They stayed after the food was gone. Neither seemed particularly interested in leaving. Eventually Ryan pushed the empty tray away. “Walk?”
Noah shrugged, heat already low in his stomach. “Sure.”
The evening had cooled enough that the air coming off the water felt good. They followed the path away from the shops, past the brighter stretch of foreshore and towards a quieter reserve where the lights became farther apart. They had no destination. That seemed to be the point. Ryan walked with his hands in his pockets, but every few steps his shoulder brushed Noah’s, or their hands touched, or their thighs grazed. The contact was never accidental.
After a while Noah said, “Marcus said something yesterday.”
Ryan glanced over. “Gym Marcus?”
“There’s only one.”
“What did he say?”
Noah hesitated, the memory of the shower making his cock throb. “He noticed I don’t wear underwear.”
Ryan laughed, low and interested. “I’m shocked.”
“That wasn’t really the point.”
Ryan looked at him again, eyes dropping to the soft shorts and the clear outline there. Noah kicked lightly at a loose stone on the path. “He basically admitted he’s been looking.”
“Basically?”
“Close enough.”
“And?”
“Nothing happened.”
Ryan nodded. “Okay.”
Noah waited for something else. It didn’t come. No question about whether Noah wanted Marcus. No shift in Ryan’s expression. No sudden awkwardness. Ryan just kept walking beside him, close enough that their arms brushed with every step. After a few steps he said, “Is he good looking?”
Noah turned. Ryan shrugged. “What?”
Noah laughed. “Yeah.”
Ryan nodded once. “Good.”
Noah looked at him. “Good?”
Ryan bumped his shoulder against Noah’s, lingering. “Means you have standards.”
Noah laughed, but the sexual tension between them had thickened. They kept walking. The path curved through a stand of trees before opening onto a smaller grassy reserve above the water. One bench faced the dark line of the ocean. They sat. For a while neither spoke. The sound of traffic was distant here. Someone walked a dog along the lit path farther back. The dog stopped approximately six times to investigate the same patch of grass. Ryan watched it. “Very efficient.”
“Maybe it’s doing fieldwork.”
“Callum would approve.”
Noah smiled. The dog and its owner disappeared beyond the trees. Silence returned. Ryan looked at him. Noah felt the shift before anything happened. There was no report between them now. No laptop. No reason they had to be together. Ryan leaned closer. This kiss was nothing like Wednesday’s first one. There was no careful beginning. No pause to work out whether it was happening. Ryan’s hand came to the side of Noah’s neck and Noah kissed him back immediately, turning towards him on the bench. Their mouths met harder the second time. Ryan laughed softly when Noah caught his lower lip between his teeth. “Hi,” Ryan murmured.
Noah smiled against his mouth. “Bit late.”
Ryan kissed him again, deeper, tongue sliding. Hands moved under shirts. Across backs. Waists. Noah’s pulse climbed quickly, his body responding with considerably less hesitation than it had two nights earlier. The confidence surprised him. Or maybe it didn’t. He knew Ryan now. Not completely. Enough. Ryan’s hand slid down and cupped the hard outline of Noah’s cock through the soft shorts, squeezing once. Noah made a low sound against his mouth.
A pair of voices approached along the path. They separated immediately. Ryan looked towards the trees. Noah tried not to laugh, still hard and aching. Two runners passed without glancing at them. Ryan waited until their footsteps faded. “At least Ben can’t hear us.”
Noah stared at him. “That was your solution?”
“Seems effective.”
Noah laughed. Ryan kissed him before the sound had completely disappeared, hand returning to the front of Noah’s shorts, stroking the thick shape through the thin fabric. They eventually moved away from the bench, farther into the darker edge of the reserve where low shrubs and a broad tree screened them from the path. The risk of being interrupted sharpened everything. So did knowing exactly what they wanted. There was less fumbling this time. Less uncertainty. Kisses became rougher, hands more confident, clothing shifted only as much as necessary.
Ryan went first. He dropped to his knees on the grass in front of Noah, pushing the soft shorts down just enough to free Noah’s cock. It sprang out hard and already leaking. Ryan wrapped a hand around it and stroked slowly, thumb spreading the wetness at the head, watching Noah’s face. “Fuck,” he murmured. Then he leaned in and took Noah into his mouth. The sudden wet heat made Noah’s hips jerk. Ryan sucked him with deliberate focus, one hand stroking the base in time with his mouth, the other resting on Noah’s thigh. Noah gripped Ryan’s shoulder, head tipping back against the tree. The wet sound of Ryan’s mouth, the soft pull of his lips, the way his tongue worked under the foreskin - it built fast and intense. Ryan looked up once, checking. Noah nodded, breathing hard. That was enough. Ryan took him deeper, working him with hand and mouth until Noah’s thighs tensed. “Ryan…” Noah came hard, pulsing thick ropes into Ryan’s mouth. Ryan stayed, swallowing most of it, then pulled off and let the last few pulses land across his lips and chin.
Noah dropped to his knees in turn, taking Ryan’s cock into his mouth, sucking him with the same focused intensity Ryan had given him. Ryan’s hand settled in his hair. Noah worked him with mouth and hand, tasting the salt of precum, until Ryan’s breathing turned sharp. “Noah…” Ryan pulled out at the last second, stroked himself hard and fast, and came across Noah’s face - thick ropes landing on his cheek, his open mouth, his forehead, and into his hair. Noah stayed still for it, eyes half-closed, tongue catching what landed near his lips.
By the time they finally stopped, both of them were breathing too hard for people who had supposedly only gone for a walk after dinner. Noah pulled his shorts properly into place, cum still cooling on his face and in his hair, and sat back on the grass beneath the tree. Ryan dropped down beside him, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. For a little while neither said anything. Their breathing gradually slowed. The ground was cool beneath Noah’s hands, and somewhere beyond the trees the water moved quietly against the shore. Ryan leaned back on his elbows. “That was good.”
Noah looked at him, tasting Ryan on his lips. Ryan was smiling. “Very insightful.”
“I’m processing.”
Noah laughed. Ryan glanced towards the path, then back at him. “We should go for walks more often.”
“Is that what this was?”
“Started as one.”
“For about ten minutes.”
“Still counts.”
Noah shook his head, smiling, the residual taste of Ryan still on his tongue and the cool night air against the drying cum on his face. Ryan stretched his legs out across the grass. “I’m serious.”
“About walking?”
“Maybe not specifically the walking.”
Noah laughed again. Ryan’s shoulder settled against his. Neither of them moved away. They sat beneath the tree for a while longer, not talking about what any of it meant and apparently in no hurry to go home.
