Author: jenoofer
Rating: NC:17
Summary: following on from ‘Like the movies’, ‘Replay’ and ‘Sort of’. Kenny and Larry grow closer following their night in a gay bar, but will it last? Damn, this is a cheesy summary!
*****
Sometimes he thinks going to the club was not one of Larry’s better ideas. Things have definitely changed since then, Kenny’s sure.
Larry touches him more.
No, not like that. More like, an arm around his shoulder, or a hand on his arm when he wants Kenny’s attention. At school, they eat lunch together outside, sitting close enough that their knees and shoulders bump together. A couple of times they’ve even dozed off on the couch together in the middle of a movie.
It ought to be great, but Kenny knows what it really means. It’s Larry’s way of saying, I know you’re not going to hit on me. That might not be what Larry’s thinking on a conscious level, but after that night at the club, when they slow-danced and shared a taxi home, Larry must have assumed that Kenny had no intention of making an advance. Why else would he be so comfortable with Kenny sitting next to him on his bed when they study? If Larry thought even for a second that Kenny might want more, he’d be out of the room in an instant.
Because Larry’s straight. He’s never used that word before, as far as Kenny can remember, but now he says it just as easily as he can say ‘gay’ so it must mean something.
Plus, Larry says things like, “Don’t you wanna go back to the club?” Or, “So, is there anyone at school you’ve got your eye on?” He says all this with a smile, to prove that he’s completely comfortable with Kenny being out, but Kenny’s finding it harder and harder to come up with excuses. I don’t want to stay out late tonight. I don’t like the music they play. The guys there are a little too old for me. Larry’s only trying to be supportive, trying to make sure Kenny’s happy.
Thing is, he could probably come right out and say, “I’m happy enough just spending time with you,” and Larry would think it was all perfectly innocent and smile and hug him for that.
They hug a lot now.
It’s not like they never hugged before, but now it’s all, see ya later – hug. Thanks for helping me with my homework – hug. Hey, I haven’t seen you for two hours – hug. Sooner or later Larry’s going to hold his arms out for a hug and Kenny’s either going to scream or else plant one right on his lips.
He reads somewhere on the ‘net that everyone needs about five hugs a day to stay sane; to bond with other people and know they’re accepted. Since Larry’s not getting his daily dose from anywhere else, it makes sense that he’ll take any chance he can get for a bit of human contact, and Kenny’s only too happy (desperate, pathetic) to oblige.
All of this might just, just be bearable, if it weren’t for the fact that Larry’s still going on about girls. Girls at school, girls on TV, imaginary perfect girls he makes up when no one else has caught his eye lately. And then he wonders why Kenny doesn’t say the same kind of stuff about guys, like, why aren’t your hormones as crazy as mine?
They are. They’re just a lot more focused than Larry’s.
But he’s held them in check for years. He hopes he can keep it up.
Funny, but the hardest times are when Larry’s talking about girls. Those are the times when he thinks, shut up and notice me! It’s easier when they’re just together, watching TV or studying or reading comics. Then he can remember that Larry’s his best friend, first and foremost, and he’s lucky just to have that.
But then they spend an evening cramming for a history test, side by side on Kenny’s own bed, elbows brushing as they turn pages and share a bag of Doritos, leaving orange fingerprints on the pages of their textbooks. The conversation slows, drifts eventually beyond school to their plans for the weekend, then plans for after graduation, two years away still but wouldn’t it be great if they were roomies at college, and then Larry’s slumped sideways with his head on Kenny’s shoulder, breathing deep and slow, and Kenny can’t even keep his eyes open to look at him.
He doesn’t remember moving, but when he wakes up with the room washed out with grey dawn light, he’s laying on his side with his face smooshed against Larry’s chest. His History book is heavy on his legs and he’s cold wherever his body isn’t touching Larry’s. He lifts his head enough to see the little wet stain on Larry’s shirt where he’s drooled in the night, but that takes effort, and he’d much rather lay back down and throw an arm around Larry, trying to keep them both warm.
Kenny dozes until the first shafts of real light hit the bed, and he realises he’ll have to get up soon to pee. But not yet. He’s far too comfortable on the bed, even with Larry just beginning to wake up, snuffling into the bedspread like he’s trying to burrow his way into it.
When he opens his eyes properly, he realises three things. First, that they fell asleep in their clothes, which his mother always told him not to do. Second, that his arm is still wrapped loosely around Larry’s middle, and pretty soon Larry’s going to ask him why, and third, that just beyond his arm is Larry’s morning erection, constrained inside his jeans so that Larry must be really uncomfortable.
“Hey...time is it?” Larry’s voice is thick and rumbles in his chest, so that Kenny feels the vibrations against the side of his face. He feels Larry shift, trying to sit up, but can’t bring himself to move. If he unwraps his arm from around Larry, it’s going to brush against Larry’s jeans right where they’re so obviously tented.
“Kenny?” Larry’s trying to lift himself up on to his elbows, evidently failing because Kenny can’t seem to move his head off of Larry’s chest. All he can do is stare at the straining zipper of Larry’s jeans and picture himself sliding it open, relieving some of the tension and discomfort Larry must be feeling. “Kenny, we have to get up for school.”
“In a minute.” He’s surprised that words actually come out of his own mouth, because he’s more preoccupied with the slow drift of his own hand over Larry’s stomach towards the waistband of his jeans, where his fingers fiddle with the button until it pops open. The zipper begins to slide down all by itself as if glad to stop trying, but Kenny decides to help it the rest of the way. He hears Larry making uncertain noises, like he’s building up to saying the actual words, but before he can, Kenny’s worked a hand inside his jeans to lay his palm flat over the length of Larry’s penis.
It’s hot, and already starting to peek out from beneath Larry’s underwear, so he fidgets with the fabric until he can get a hand wrapped securely around it. Larry’s uncertain noises end abruptly with a strangled ‘nghh’ sound and a sharp hiss of breath. He holds on, feels the pulse of blood under his hand and the rapid rise and fall of Larry’s chest under his head.
Unable to hold back a small laugh of delight, he begins to move his hand. It’s his left hand, and the angle’s all weird, so it’s kind of surprising when Larry begins to pant after a few seconds and suddenly there’s come dripping over his fingers into the palm of his hand, and Larry’s head falls back so that the bedsprings creak a little.
For a moment, he can only grin in disbelief, until the mess in his hand threatens to spill over, and he moves quickly to keep from getting any on Larry’s clothes. The first thing that comes to mind is wiping his hand on the bedclothes, but then he’d have to explain the marks to his mother, and that’s a coversation he never wants to have. So he settles for sticking out his tongue and lapping over the base of his thumb.
“Ew!” When he turns to look, Larry’s staring down at him, his face all flushed and his hair sticking up in clumps. His nose is wrinkled at the sight of Kenny licking up the mess.
“No, it’s okay.” To prove it, he offers his hand to Larry, cupping his palm to keep the last of it from dripping on to the sheets. Larry frowns and watches him, like he’s waiting for the joke, but Kenny just keeps his hand steady. So Larry gingerly takes Kenny’s wrist with one hand and raises his head enough that he can stick out his own tongue and lick the last of it.
Kenny smiles as Larry winces and swallows.
“That was...different.” Larry smacks his lips a couple of times, his nose still screwed up in disgust. Kenny turns so that he can rest his chin on Larry’s chest and just watch him. He tries to think of something cool and knowing to say in response, but all he can focus on is how cute Larry looks when he’s uncomfortable.
Eventually Larry shoves his shoulders and he gets the message; he sits up and lets Larry do the same. His head feels disconnected from his body and his belly is all fuzzy like he’s just gone down the first drop on a rollercoaster.
“So, do you want me to, you know. Do you?” Larry gestures at Kenny’s jeans, where his own erection is pushing up. Huh. He’d barely even noticed it before. He wants to laugh, wants to push Larry down on to the bed and kiss him silly, but then Larry keeps talking. “I’m supposed to return the favour, right? I should do you.”
The fizzing in his belly turns sour, and suddenly he has to move; he scrambles off the bed and stands up.
“No, it’s okay. You don’t have to.”
Before Larry can question him, he leaves the room and heads to the bathroom, locking the door. He jerks off. Cries a little. Washes his face until the redness around his eyes fades, then makes his way back to his room.
When he opens the door, Larry’s packing his textbooks back into his backpack.
“I should probably head home. I didn’t tell my folks I was staying here. I mean, we didn’t plan - ”
“It’s okay,” he says, a little too loudly. “I’m sure they know where you are.” He folds his arms over his chest. “You can, uh, stay for breakfast if you want.”
Larry slings his back pack on to his shoulder.
“Mind if I pass? I really should get home.”
Kenny just smiles and shrugs.
On his way out, Larry hesitates by the door, not quite meeting his eyes. He gets the feeling that maybe this could be the last time he ever speaks to Larry, and thinks he ought to say something meaningful, but then Larry’s right in his personal space, hugging him.
He doesn’t have time to respond. Larry’s saying something about seeing him at school, then he’s out the door and slipping quietly down the stairs. A moment later, he hears the back door open and close.
When his mother gets up, Kenny tells her he has a stomach ache. She lets him take the day off school, provided he asks Larry to tell him what the day’s homework is as soon as he gets in that afternoon. Kenny doesn’t argue with his mother.