by Max Hudson
Adrian actually laughed—short and clipped, but it was a laugh. “Yeah, Minnie said pretty much the same thing. Sorry. It’s sort of defensive mechanism. Usually backfires, but I never seem to learn.”
Simon shook his head, baffled and sort of stalled in place. He felt like maybe he should do something. Say something. But he didn’t know what. Every jolt, every touch, every conversation they’d had in the last twenty-four hours or so was playing through his head and he desperately tried to dissect, look for moments where he’d thought he’d felt something but hadn’t been sure.
Simon groaned and dropped his head into his hands. “I hate you,” he muttered.
Adrian laughed again, mirthless. “Yeah, I know—”
Before he could get anything else out, Simon had twisted, grabbed the front of his shirt, and jerked him forward into a quick, fierce kiss.
Oh my God, what am I doing?!
Adrian seemed to be thinking something similar, because he gave a sharp noise of surprise and went very still. Simon had just enough time to start to pull back, flushed and cursing his own stupidity, when suddenly Adrian had grabbed his face and pulled him back in.
The second kiss was rushed, almost desperate and a little clumsy. Simon had to grab for the back of the couch with one hand to avoid toppling off balance, but he managed to snake his other arm around Adrian’s waist, cautiously pulling him closer. Then Adrian’s bottom lip slanted across his and Simon found himself clutching at his hip, pressing close. The simmering heat that seemed to have been building between them from the moment they left the police station—maybe longer, if he was being honest with himself—suddenly surged to the surface, burning under his skin.
They broke apart abruptly, on some sort of unspoken cue that Simon wasn’t entirely sure who had given, and just stared at each other, equally wide eyed.
“That, um…”
“You…”
Silence. More staring.
Then, slowly, Adrian’s lips began to curve up on the sides into that infuriating smirk—except for some reason it wasn’t quite so infuriating this time. Maybe it had something to do with the sudden gentleness in that light behind his eyes.
“Hate me, huh?”
Simon tried to glare at him, but it was rather hard to maintain the expression. “Shut up,” he muttered.
Adrian’s smirk widened. “Make me—”
He cut off in a laugh that was correspondingly muffled into another kiss as Simon surged forward again to do just that. His hands dragged down Simon’s back to settle at his hips, and he shifted slightly on the couch so that he could sort of rise up on his knees. The change in position forced Simon to tilt his head back in order to maintain contact, and he found himself pressed up against the back of the couch as Adrian’s hands moved to his shoulder and the back of his neck.
“Hold on.” He turned his head to break the kiss, flushed and breathing heavier than normal. “We, uh—this is…”
Adrian, sort of arched over him, also seemed to be panting slightly, and was evidently at the same loss for words that Simon was. “Look, Dove…” He paused, licked his lips, exhaled sharply, then continued, “Simon. If you don’t want—”
“I don’t know what I want,” Simon cut him off, earning a quick blink and a slight expression of surprise. Barreling on before he could second guess himself, Simon continued, “But I know I don’t really wanna think about it right now.” Irresponsible as hell, but fuck it. He’d been the “responsible one” pretty much his whole life.
Didn’t he get to have one moment of impulse?
His hands skated down to rest lightly on Adrian’s hips, the touch almost cautious—a sharp contrast to what had just been happening. “Can we just…not think? Just for a minute?”
Adrian tilted his head at him, seeming to consider. Then, slowly, he smiled.
“I might even be able to manage more than a minute,” he murmured, leaning down until their lips almost brushed, but were not quite there. Simon arched up into him unconsciously, and his fingers curled a little tighter over his hips.
“Promise?” he muttered, voice low and rough.
Adrian laughed, and then his mouth was on Simon again. A hesitation that Simon had not even realized was there before had fallen away. It was probably one of the most intense kisses he had ever experienced.
Adrian shifted against him again, now essentially straddling his lap, and Simon allowed himself to lean further back into the couch as Adrian’s hands cupped his face and tilted his head back to deepened the kiss. A quiet groan caught in his throat and once again he could feel Adrian’s soft laughter rumbling through both their bodies.
The sound was more than a little breathless, which he noted with the tiniest flash of satisfaction.
Fingers tangled in his hair and Simon arched his back, his own hands moving to press against Adrian’s back and hold him closer as the kisses evolved slowly from intense to desperate, and then just plain hungry. Any semblance of rational thought was slowly beginning to trickle away, and rather abruptly he found himself growling into the kiss as one hand slid down to grab firmly at Adrian’s rear.
With a slight start, Adrian broke away from his mouth long enough to look down at him and quirk his lips up into a playful smirk. “Little eager there, Dove?”
Simon was sort of frozen, caught between backing out and just saying fuck it and barreling forward.
As if sensing his dilemma, which probably was not all that difficult, Simon figured the other man could read his every emotion clearly on his face. Adrian’s smile widened just a bit and he very, very slowly rocked his hips forward, almost testing.
Simon’s breath caught. If his pants hadn’t been tight before, they certainly were now.
Sliding his hand back around from the nape of his neck to cup his cheek, Adrian leaned in again until Simon could feel his breath on his lips and murmured, “I didn’t say it was a bad thing.”
Not entirely sure what came over him, Simon curled his lips up in a slanted, answering smile and replied, “All right then.” His voice was lower and rougher than he had intended, but he didn’t really give it much thought. “Should I take that as a keep going?” He tightened his grip for a moment, pulling Adrian’s hips sharply against his and eliciting a quickly muffled gasp. He tried to smother a flash of pride at that but wasn’t sure he completely succeeded.
“Yeah.” Adrian answered quickly, his voice a little too breathy to be as casual as Simon was sure he was aiming for. “Yes. Do that.”
It was Simon’s turn to chuckle, tilting his head slightly so he could skim his lips over Adrian’s jaw before planting a light kiss to the soft skin beneath his ear. He did not bother to answer verbally, instead opting to drop his other hand to Adrian’s ass and pulling him forward, surprisingly gentle, until they were pressed tight together.
He turned the focus of his mouth to Adrian’s neck, kissing and even nipping once, lightly, before he gave a cautious roll forward with his hips. He felt Adrian’s chest hitch against his, his hands dropping to Simon’s shoulders and gripping tightly, and for the barest moment they both went still.
Then they were both moving again, harder and faster, any hesitation swallowed up by a building, frantic need. Their hips rocked together and Simon groaned quietly against the curve of Adrian’s throat. In between heavy breaths and near desperate kisses, he slid one hand back to grasp Adrian’s hip, then allowed his fingers to trace just barely along the dip toward his pelvis before stopping. Head tilted back as Adrian all but attacked his throat with harsh kisses and soft little nips, he managed to gasp out, “Do you want me to—?"
Adrian had grabbed his hand before he had fully managed to get the question out and pressed his palm firmly over the bulge in his pants. “Yes,” he hissed against his skin, his other hand clutching at Simon’s shoulder. “Yes, I do, yes.”
Simon tried to swallow back another groan as he ground the heel of his palm down and earned a sharp gasp in his ear from Adrian. His own breath border
ing on “panting”, he tilted his hand so he could cup him through the fabric of his slacks rather than just press against him. His other hand slid up to grasp the back of his neck lightly, tilting his head so he could claim his lips in another harsh, near desperate kiss.
Adrian moaned against his mouth and the sound alone was enough to make Simon clench his eyes shut and force himself to breathe as he strained against the confines of his own jeans. Slowly, checking with a soft kiss and a murmured question with almost every new move he made, he slid down Adrian’s zipper and tucked his hand almost cautiously inside his pants.
Adrian gasped and Simon’s eyebrows arched up as skin met skin. Despite everything, Simon found himself smiling crookedly as he blazed a quick trail of kisses to Adrian’s ear and murmured, “You always go commando?”
“We were in a hurry this morning,” was the journalist’s gasped reply. “Come on, Dove, I’m dying here.”
Simon chuckled again and tilted his head to seal his lips against the column of his throat for a moment. “Well, if it’s a matter of life and death,” he muttered, and moved his hand in a firm stroke upward.
Adrian’s hands grabbed at his shoulders, fingers digging in, and he tilted his head forward to press a few kisses of his own up along Simon’s collar to the hollow of his throat, where he lingers. His hips rocked forward insistently, and Simon answered with another quick stroke, then settled into a rather soft rhythm of pumping his hand along him.
“Okay.” He felt Adrian swallow thickly, rocking against him again, and had to exert no small effort of will to keep his own hips still beneath him. “That’s, ah—r-really nice.”
Simon smiled against his neck, pressed a quick kiss to the curve of his shoulder, then rather abruptly slid his other hand down to find and cup Adrian’s sack firmly while his other hand continued to work along the length of him. Adrian almost yelped—he could feel the way his breath hitched and heard him swallow back the sharp sound—and his hands quickly dragged down Simon’s back, nails digging in through his shirt.
Simon hissed a sharp breath through his teeth, heat flashing through him for that, and Adrian paused. “Sorry?” he managed to gasp out, starting to pull his hands back.
“No.” Simon shook his head, his cheek brushing against Adrian’s as he did. “No, I liked it.”
Despite how ridiculous and illogical it was in their current situation, he felt his cheeks color slightly for the admission. Pushing passed it, he added with a low, playful growl, “As I gathered you liked this.” He gave a firm twist of his hand to indicate this and actually earned a real yelp from Adrian this time.
“God! Uh, yeah. Yep. You could say that,” Adrian panted out, rolling his hips forward against Simon’s hands and brushing against the front of his jeans again in a way that made Simon bite his lip. “Could definitely say that,” he sighed, and his head dropped onto Simon’s shoulder.
Then Adrian’s hands on his back suddenly tensed, gripping tightly at the small of his back, and he gave a few sharp, seemingly instinctive rocks forward against him. “Oh, wow, I—I, um…”
Simon’s eyebrows crept up as he realized what was happening. He continued to stroke, increasing his pace slightly—which earned another shaky breath—and murmured, “Do you want me to keep…?”
Adrian nodded shakily, eyes shut. The movement of his hips became steadily more insistent until he was essentially grinding against Simon’s front as his hands continued to work him. “Yeah, that. Just—just keep doing that…”
Simon nodded, then Adrian’s lips came crashing down on his again and his hips slammed forward and he drew Simon’s bottom lip between his teeth with an almost delicate shiver that rippled through his whole body.
Eyes a little wide, Simon slowly drew his hands back as he felt him finish. Suddenly not quite sure what to do with them, he let his hands rest gently against the small of Adrian’s back as the other man just sort of slumped against him.
Very, very aware of every last inch that they were pressed together, Simon let his head fall back onto the couch and breathed out slowly, trying to establish some control back over his body.
He felt Adrian’s soft chuckle as much as heard it. Then a feather-light kissed brushed against his cheek. He cracked one eye open to find Adrian smiling at him sort of crookedly as he started to sit back.
“It’s been longer than I care to admit,” Adrian murmured as he settled back slightly onto Simon lap. “But that was…well. Thanks?”
Simon snorted quietly and opened the other eye, raising his head. “You don’t have to thank me, I was…” He glanced down, flushed slightly, then looked up again and said with a shrug. “I wanted to.”
“Ah. Right. Yeah, well…” Adrian glanced down as well. That one eyebrow arched up and his lips curved slightly at the corners. “Well. I don’t have to thank you, but I want to. And I think I’ve got an idea about how to do that.”
He shuffled back off of Simon’s lap and was quite suddenly kneeling in front of the couch, between his legs. Simon sat up quickly, then winced. He was almost painfully hard at this point.
“Er, yeah, I mean… If you want?” He winced again at the sudden nerves in his own voice.
Adrian just smiled, head cocked to the side for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah. I do.” He paused, hands settled lightly on Simon’s thighs, then quite abruptly pushed himself up to press a quick, light kiss to his lips. “Relax,” he breathed as they parted, smiling. “Just tell me what you like and what you don’t.”
He kissed him again, longer this time, and Simon’s eyes slid closed with a soft exhale. Then shot open again as Adrian’s hand moved to his zipper, then the hem of his pants, sliding down both jeans and boxers deftly.
He shifted slightly on the couch as Adrian pulled back and sank back to settle between his legs. He almost felt like he didn’t know where to look. This was…different. He could be more confident when he was helping Adrian along, or when they had been grinding together like that and grabbing for each other, but this was…
Different.
Swallowing a little thickly, he glanced down and met Adrian’s eyes. Adrian was smiling—not smirking, actually smiling. Simon let out a long, slow exhale and tried for a smile of his own, his stomach already tight with a combination of the sudden influx of nerves and the sharp pang of desire that had been building from that first kiss.
“It’s okay, Simon,” Adrian murmured, almost whispered, and Simon felt a slight shiver ran through him at the use of his first name. Adrian’s hands rubbed soothingly up along his legs as he leaned forward. Simon winced and shivered again as he felt his breath was over him.
“Like I said, just tell me what’s good,” Adrian breathed.
Then it wasn’t just his breath. It was his lips and tongue and Simon had to clench his eyes shut and set his jaw against an embarrassingly sharp moan.
It had been longer than he’d like to admit too since he’d been with someone, and whatever tension had been building and crashing between him and Adrian felt like it suddenly broke with that first contact, and it was intense. Simon took a careful breath in through his nose before he risked opening his eyes again and glancing down.
“Oh God.” He swallowed. Adrian was looking up at him, lips wrapped around his shaft and blue eyes peeking up through thick lashes—how had he never noticed those before? Maybe they were too blond to really notice unless you were looking right at them.
Adrian gave a deft flick with his tongue and pretty much all higher functioning thought shut down. Simon’s head fell forward, hands gripping the edge of the couch cushions tightly and eyes sort of fluttering shut as he just focused on breathing and allowing himself to feel.
He lasted maybe a few minutes longer before his peak came crashing over him with a shudder and a gasp. When he came back to himself, he realized he’d sort of curled forward over Adrian and had the fingers of one hand tangled in his hair.
Carefully, he leaned back and attempted to retract his hand, but Adrian caught
it and held it for a moment, looking up at him. Neither said anything—Simon wasn’t really sure if there was anything to say.
On some unspoken cue they both let go, leaning back from each other just slightly, both flushed and eyes bright.
After a long moment, Simon murmured, “Well…”
He trailed off, and Adrian cocked his head with a tiny, crooked smile. “That happened.”
Simon laughed quietly, startled and still a little breathless. “Uh, yeah. Yeah, it did.”
More silence. Seemingly at the same time, they both began pulling themselves together, adjusting their clothes and running their hands through their hair—for his part, Simon wasn’t even entirely sure why he was so worried about it, it wasn’t like they were really planning on seeing anyone who might notice a little bit of sex hair, but he found himself doing it anyway.
In a matter of minutes, it was almost like nothing had happened. At least, there was no physical evidence, save for the very slight heat in Simon’s cheeks that refused to die down.
“All right.” Adrian had straightened himself up and collected their gathered evidence once again, flicking through papers while Simon had ducked into the bathroom for a few minutes to better pull himself together.
“All right?” he repeated, moving up behind the smaller man to peer over his shoulder.
Adrian nodded. “Minnie’s then, yeah? Because I’ve really got nothing about any of this.” He waved the papers he was holding broadly to indicate this. “So, we should go back and make sure we haven’t missed anything. Like we said earlier.”
“Yeah. Right.” Simon blinked down at the papers, feeling rather suddenly baffled.
So, we’re just not gonna talk about that?
Evidently that was the plan, or Adrian’s plan at least, because Adrian scooped up his car keys and made for the door, grabbing a small knapsack off one of the hooks near the front door that Simon had before assumed were for coats.
“Well, are you coming?” Adrian asked.