Chapter Text
Chuck heard the murmur of activity and excitement before he saw it, and he groaned as they neared the pack of students gathered outside his dorm. “Fucking hell,” he said, “Newt figured out Max can do tricks, didn’t he.”
When they got close enough, Hermann stood from his seat apart from the pack and limped over. “I tried to stop him, but he was adamant that you would not be upset by his abduction of your dog.”
“It’s good,” Chuck said. He peered over the crowd. “Crap, he found a ball. S’all over now.” Max could bounce a rubber ball on his nose for a pretty long time. Girls loved it. Chuck wasn’t above using that to his advantage.
“Max does tricks?” Raleigh asked, trying to squirm in to get a view of what was going on. This was a fantastic development. He had thought Max was just adorable and lumpy, content to squeak his pig toy and get cuddles. “How come I never saw his tricks?” He pouted, slightly.
“Max,” Chuck called, but the sound was lost in the din. “Max!” He pursed his lips, then put his fingers to his teeth and let out a piercing whistle that carried easily.
A few seconds later, Max had wriggled his way through the crowd and was on a collision course for Chuck’s knees, if Chuck hadn’t dropped down and opened his arms to catch him. He let Max lick his face for a minute before looking up at Hermann with a broad, dimpled grin.
“S’nice of you to stay with him, you didn’t have to do that.” He rubbed Max’s chin. “Thanks.”
Hermann looked pleased, with a quiet sort of surprise. “Yes, of course,” he said.
Raleigh looked between the two of them - this appeared to be progress. There was truth to the whole therapy dog thing, probably. He sat down next to Hermann and rubbed at Max’s ears. The dog issued a low, contented grumble and then crawled into Raleigh’s lap slightly to lick his face.
Then Raleigh looked up at the crowd around them, who seemed disappointed that they had taken the dog back from them. “Hello,” he said, amicably.
“You can’t just steal my dog, Newt,” Chuck said in the general direction of Newt. “But, uh -” He whispered something to Max and pointed, and Max trotted off to go retrieve the ball. Chuck took it from his mouth and threw it, and Max lumbered after it, tongue lolling out of his mouth with a blissed-out expression on his face.
Chuck stood. “Go crazy,” he said to the gathered people, and went to sit on a bench, gesturing for Raleigh to join him.
Newt came and sat next to him. “I wasn’t gonna do anything,” he said. “Just -”
“You can’t just steal my dog,” Chuck said, rolling his eyes.
“He’s used to it,” Raleigh said, sitting down next to Chuck. “Everyone tries to steal Max. Some people have more, uh, elaborate plots than others. And more successful plots than others.” He wondered if Herc had ever told Chuck about that.
“Max is the best, and everyone wants him.” Chuck said it so matter-of-factly. “And yeah, he does tricks. I don’t show ‘em off because he’s not a bloody show pony, but he knows a few.”
Newt leaned over Chuck to address Raleigh. “Did you ever steal Max?”
“I attempted to, once, while stoned,” said Raleigh. “But Chuck yelled at me. And he said he would give him to me, but...he didn’t really mean it.” Raleigh narrowed his eyes. “Mako stole him, though. It was after a social at camp last year - she took him back over to girls camp with her. Herc made us all search the woods for an hour, convinced he’d been eaten by the bear, until someone called over from girls camp. They were all sitting around in a circle fighting over who got to pet him.”
Chuck looked at him, frowning. “He never told me that story,” he said. He shook his head. “I’ve been too nice to Mako - she acts so bloody sweet, but… Devil woman.”
“She just loves him,” said Raleigh. He sighed as Max played with his ball, a girl throwing it for him and Max contentedly retrieving it. “She is very cunning, though. Smart. It’s why she was the only one to successfully pull it off.”
“Mate, I love him, but you can just pick him up and walk off with him and he won’t do anything. He has no standards. Any random shithead can just rub his belly and he’ll do tricks for him,” Chuck said.
“Hey!” Newt said, recognizing this for the insult it was meant to be.
Chuck smirked, then said to Raleigh, “He’s smarter than he looks, but that’s not saying much. He can sniff out drugs, though, we weren’t lying about that.”
“I didn’t mean on Max’s end,” Raleigh said. “Normally your dad is really careful about where he is, at camp, especially after he thought that bear ate him. Which was a different time. Mako somehow managed to slip past him, though.” Raleigh paused. “He never did tricks for me.”
“Max is pretty tough. ‘m not saying he could take down a bear, but he’s tough.” Chuck rubbed his jaw. “He fought off a dingo, once. Couple years back, when I was camping with him. Runs like a rabbit if he sees spiders, though.” His voice was fond. “Wussy little bastard.”
“That’s really adorable,” Raleigh said. “The bear hadn’t gone anywhere near Max, he had just gone off after a rabbit or something…Max might have been able to take him. It was a baby bear.” It was pretty cute that they were both afraid of spiders. Or maybe that was just transference.
Chuck nodded. “He did tell me that story. And, uh, did you ever try to get him to do tricks?” He looked over, eyebrows raised. He’d never seen Raleigh attempt any, so it wasn’t a surprise that he hadn’t seen them.
“No,” Raleigh said. “But...I don’t know what tricks he does, so how am I supposed to ask him to do anything? All I ever saw him do was squeak the pig and drool.”
“Well…” Chuck shrugged. “If you never tried, can’t really blame him for not showing them off.”
Newt nodded. “I just ran through a list, tried all the ones I could think of. I like how he doesn’t know the basic ones like ‘sit’ and ‘speak’ but you can get him to roll over and turn around in a circle.”
Chuck laughed. “Those are boring. I wanted to have fun with it,” he said.
“I don’t understand dogs,” Raleigh said, carefully. He shrugged his shoulders while Max demonstrated his spinning skills for one of the other girls in the circle.
He turned his head, slightly - there were an awful lot of girls around. Because girls liked dogs, right? Right.
“I would love to have a dog I could really train,” Chuck said, a bit wistful. “I love Max, but he’s a brawler. Be great to have a collie, or German Shepherd, or cattle dog.” His eyes widened as he realized what he was saying, and he added, “I mean, in addition to Max, not like, instead of him.”
“Labradors and golden retrievers are supposed to be the easiest to train,” said Newt.
“Don’t,” Raleigh said. “Don’t even.” He did his best to glare at Chuck, but suspected it was probably as successful as all his other attempts at glaring.
Chuck covered his mouth with his hand, though it did nothing to contain the laughter that shook his shoulders.
“What?” Newt said, looking back and forth between them.
“Nothing,” Chuck said, shaking his head, still chuckling. “I don’t need another golden retriever, is all.” He ruffled Raleigh’s hair.
Raleigh rolled his eyes and smiled at Newt. “I have been told,” he said, as Chuck started laughing again, “that I am like a puppy. Or am a puppy. Or a dog. You know, loyal, adventurous, nice and generous.”
“Oh.” Newt squinted at him. “Yeah, I can see that.”
“I still don’t get why - um,” Chuck said, and stood up. “I’ll be right back.” He walked forward, intercepting a girl who’d been walking towards them, catching her outside of Raleigh’s and Newt’s earshot. He slipped his hands in his pockets, rocking back on his heels as he talked to her.
Newt winced. Couldn’t blame her, really - they looked like any three guys hanging out, nothing indicating anyone’s dicks would be in anyone else’s mouth in the very near future. Or ass, or hand, or whatever.
He coughed. “So, um. Awkward, huh?”
“Why?” Raleigh asked, and then looked at the girl and at how tense Chuck’s shoulders were, the awkward way that he had his hands jammed in his pockets and was rocking on his feet. He couldn’t see what Chuck was saying but the girl was getting more animated - and Raleigh couldn’t tell if she was pissed off or flirting or both. “Um,” he said.
And he felt a surge of...he’d never done anything like this before, but instinct sort of took over and he stood up, walked over to Chuck, and wrapped his arm around his waist. Whatever. Chuck had been handsy with him at Amherst, too. “Hey,” he said. “Everything OK?” He grinned at the girl, who was… probably hot. She certainly had her tits out, at least.
Chuck gave a jolt of surprise when Raleigh touched him out of nowhere before he relaxed into it. “Christ,” he said under his breath, then, louder, “Uh, Laura, this is m’boyfriend, Raleigh.”
“Oh!” She looked at Raleigh, lips parted in shock. Then back at Chuck, seeming to ask with her lifted eyebrow, should I lie?
“No, it’s - we were, uh, on a break?” Chuck scratched his neck. “It’s fine, he’s cool about it. But yeah, I guess I’m… off the market?” What a dumb phrase. He wasn’t a bloody hunk of meat, and he wasn’t for sale, but… Seemed to be the most concise way of putting it.
“Ok,” Laura said, and smiled, though it was small and uncertain. “Um, it’s nice to meet you, Raleigh? I’ll just…” She pointed over her shoulder and backed out of the conversation.
Chuck couldn’t blame her. If he had that option, he would have taken it too.
“Sorry,” Raleigh said. “She just looked...kind of pissed off? I thought maybe you’d welcome the, uh, assist?” Goddamnit, he thought. If you’re going to act like a caveman, have the balls to carry it the whole way. Toss him over your shoulder, shout mine! and drag him off for sex.
He pulled his hand away from Chuck’s waist and put his hands in his pocket.
“It’s okay,” Chuck said, though he wasn’t entirely sure it was. It’d be hypocritical to have a problem with that, with the way he’d acted at Amherst, but - felt like there was a difference, somehow. Maybe just that…
At Amherst, he’d been the target of those accusatory stares. Felt like he was already on the defensive from the get-go. He wasn’t sure what Raleigh was defending against here.
He turned and looked up at Raleigh, a strange blend of amusement, confusion, and irritation in his expression. “You know I would have taken care of that, right? I was gonna tell her anyway.”
“Yeah,” Raleigh said. “I do. I just...I don’t know.” Decided to piss on you and claim you as my own? “Might not have thought that through as much as I should have.” He glanced down. “She just looked really flirty.” And the tits. There were an awful lot of tits.
Chuck thawed. Couldn’t stay mad at that face. Damn devil powers, Raleigh had. He tipped Raleigh’s face up with two fingers under his chin, kissing him - and if a few of the girls stared and whispered among themselves, he hoped Raleigh didn’t notice. “Yeah, I get it.” He smiled wryly. “Shockingly enough, I can get pretty possessive too.”
“Noo,” Raleigh said, grinning back at Chuck. “I never have noticed that and I never would have guessed that. Especially - Newt is trying to steal Max,” he said, and pointed. Newt had Max in his arms, Max’s legs dangling at an awkward angle, and was headed away from the gathering.
Chuck’s head whipped around. “Son of a -” he said, and started to chase after him - but turned to say, “But, uh, we’re not done here, by the way,” before sprinting after Newt, who thankfully couldn’t move very fast with a very roly-poly bulldog in his arms.
Oh, shit, Raleigh thought, because he thought they were done here. Chuck had kissed him, and sort of made a joke, Raleigh had made a joke, and… was what he did really so wrong? Or not necessarily wrong, but wouldn’t Chuck have done the same thing? He saw a girl checking him out and licked his neck, for fuck’s sake.
He sighed. He was still a little drunk from the wine and had wanted...horny drunk wine sex. Looks like that wasn’t going to happen, though.
Interestingly, Chuck returned without Max, and shook his head when he walked up to Raleigh. “He’ll meet us for breakfast tomorrow, return him then. Pointed out that we might want the night - I’ve just got the one room, so…” He shrugged. “Little bastard’s not wrong.”
“Oh, that’s a good point,” said Raleigh. He hadn’t even considered that. “Well, I am sure they will have a nice time getting to know one another.” Newt, Hermann and Max, he thought, and shook his head.
Chuck laughed, picturing it. “What I’d give to be a fly on the wall,” he said, leading them up to his dorm room. He reached out and took Raleigh’s hand as they walked.
Raleigh squeezed his hand back and gave him a slight smile, though he still felt nervous about Chuck’s comment. He followed Chuck into the room and then raised his eyebrows at Chuck, bracing for impact.
Chuck led him to his bed and sat him down on it, standing between his legs. He set his hands on Raleigh’s shoulders. “I’m only gonna ask you this once, and I’m gonna trust you no matter what you say. But Raleigh, I need to know.” He squeezed down. “I’ve never seen you like that before, and I’ve gotta figure… Are you actually okay with me having fucked other people?” Specifically in the month-long period they were split up, but the rest of his slut phase counted too.
That wasn’t the behavior of someone who was comfortable with their boyfriend being an enormous slut - or whatever politically correct term Raleigh had for it, with his gender studies.
Raleigh met Chuck’s eyes and sighed. “Um, generally, I honestly don’t care,” he said. “It’s just…” He wanted to phrase this right, so he bit at his lower lip slightly. “I really am OK with it. And if it were someone from before we’d met, I don’t think I would care, just...it’s a little different when it’s right there in front of you, you know?” He met Chuck’s eyes again, wondering if that was enough of an explanation. Something told him no, but he didn’t want to say the wrong thing, here.
So stupid, he thought. You should have just sat there and let her...whatever she was going to do. Of course Chuck would have handled it.
Chuck drew away, frowning. He leaned against his desk and crossed his arms over his chest. “I just… I need to know that this isn’t going to fester, you know? I fucked a lot of people.” He said it plainly, no shame, no reservation. “And if that’s going to become an issue, you need to tell me, instead of letting me think everything’s okay and then expecting me to somehow know.”
Projecting, you’re projecting, he thought. This wasn’t Raleigh’s problem, Raleigh didn’t have a history of this. But Chuck had never been in a relationship where this didn’t become a problem at some point, no matter how ‘okay with it’ all his girlfriends and boyfriends claimed to be.
“I know you’ve fucked a lot of people,” Raleigh said. “I really don’t care...I...just, that was one who you fucked between me and, uh, me, if that makes sense, and she had her tits out and was flirting and I just thought...like, mine. Like how you licked my neck. I just didn’t want - I don’t know,” he said. “She just seemed so...tits.”
“That’s not why I licked your neck,” Chuck said in a detached murmur, so distant it wasn’t clear that he was aware he had spoken. He shook his head. “I hate to tell you, every girl I’ve fucked has had tits. And for some reason, they still exist, and many of them will be looking for second rounds. You gonna - piss on me every time they do? And then tell me - oh, but I’m okay with it? I’m not sure I buy it.” He raised his eyebrows.
“I’m not doing it because - I’m not allowed to be jealous?” Raleigh asked. “And...I mean, I don’t know, it’s kind of intimidating, you know? Or...aaah,” he said, so frustrated, because they were not talking about the same thing at all - they were each coming at this with very different issues behind their actions. “Then why did you lick me, anyway, when that girl was checking me out?”
Chuck waved his hand, impatient. “We’ll get back to that,” he said, because he wanted to clear the air of this issue once and for all. “I guess I’m confused, then. When you say you don’t care - I reckon jealousy counts as caring, but that’s clearly not part of your definition. Fine, whatever, I can get past that. I just need to know - is this gonna be something you resent me for? When Laura, and Isabelle, and Markella, and Lena, and Jessie - when they all come up to me and pretty much beg for my dick, you’re not gonna start to hate me for it, eventually?”
“No,” said Raleigh. Though there were several things there that he found - beg for my dick? Yeah, Chuck was good at sex, but...he pushed that aside. Also, those were all girls. “No, I’m not. We weren’t dating then, I don’t care what you did. But we are now, and it just…” He waved his hand. “Hell, I didn’t even know if you knew her. I just saw her flirting with you.”
Chuck couldn’t comprehend how Raleigh’s mind worked - and it was weird, because usually he was the irrational one. But it didn’t make sense to him. How could Raleigh claim that he didn’t care that Chuck fucked a girl, and then get weirdly jealous of that same girl, in one breath? Jealousy must have meant something different to Raleigh, he thought.
But he had said that he was going to trust Raleigh’s answer at face value no matter what it was, and dammit, but he was sticking to that. If Raleigh said he didn’t care, then he didn’t care. It wasn’t Chuck’s job to analyze the sincerity of that. He’d done his part.
“If some guy came up and just started flirting with me, you wouldn’t get…” Raleigh looked at Chuck, “possessive, or jealous? Or want to let them know, sorry, this one’s mine?” He was careful not to bring exes into it at all, trying to illustrate his point.
Well, yeah, but…
Okay, Chuck was starting to get his point. “So you’re saying,” he said slowly, working this out in his mind, “you’d have gotten jealous regardless of who it was flirting with me, and whether I’d fucked them before or not. Because it’s the fact that they’re flirting with me now that matters, not the fact that we screwed then.”
“Yes!” Raleigh said, though this appeared to be progress. Which was a good thing. “Like the licking thing, or whatever.” He hoped, at least. Or whatever. He didn’t care why Chuck had licked him, at this point, he really didn’t want to be doing this.
Though it was going to have to happen at some point - and Chuck clearly had some issues with the whole slut thing. Raleigh was willing to bet it had been a point of consternation in past relationships. Just like...well. He sighed.
“Christ, that’s not why I licked you,” Chuck said tightly, growing increasingly irritated. It wasn’t as obvious as Raleigh was making it out to be, and he didn’t like being made to feel slow and stupid just because it had taken him some time to figure out. He didn’t just invent this whole resentment thing on the fly, other girlfriends and boyfriends definitely had some fucking problems with his many sexual encounters. Other people weren’t like Raleigh.
It wasn’t fair. Chuck was trying to preventatively solve future problems in their relationship - was trying to fix them before they happened, and Raleigh was acting like he was some kind of dumbass for even worrying about it. Fuck him. He turned his face away, scowling darkly. Fuck him.
“OK,” Raleigh said, and he closed his eyes, because he had - welp, fucked that one up again, dumbass. “Look, I’m not…” He was about to say something and stopped, because it sounded condescending. “You’re obviously worried about it and so I shouldn’t have been so...to act like it wasn’t a legitimate thing to worry about, and...fuck,” he said, and just put his head in his hands. He should just stop talking. “I’m such a fucking idiot.”
Chuck took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. He turned towards his desk, away from Raleigh, and set his splayed hands on the surface.
“I licked you,” he said quietly, “because that girl was looking at me the way Tendo was looking at me - the way every fucking person on your swim team was looking at me. Like, nice job fucking up, you asshole, can’t wait to see it happen again - because it’s going to, they know it, I’m going to, I’m gonna fuck this up, and - and I wanted to prove, like, you picked me. You wanted me even though I’d fucked it up, and even though everyone knows I’m gonna… But you picked me.” He bowed his head.
Fuck, he sounded half-hysterical. What kind of blithering imbecile was he?
“Of course I picked you,” Raleigh said. He wanted to assure Chuck that that was not what everyone was thinking - Tenley was definitely perving on him, as was her history - but now was not the time. “And I don’t care what everyone thinks, I care about what I know about you and how much I-” He stopped himself. “How much I like you, and...I didn’t realize that was what was going on at all,” he said. “Tenley’s been after me since she was in my orientation group freshman year, so I just assumed that she was…Chuck. Of course I want you.”
He wondered if he should stand up and touch him, considering last time it had blown up in his face. He figured he’d try half way - so he stood, and headed towards Chuck, but cautious, though trying to signal that if Chuck was OK with it then…
Chuck turned to face him. He wore a smile, but it was humorless, almost malformed. He didn’t know how to speak his thoughts (It’s not an of course, Raleigh, and from the beginning everyone’s just been waiting for it to implode and I care what everyone thinks) without sounding like a huge fucking wuss, so he just shook his head.
“You’re too optimistic,” he said, reaching out to tug Raleigh in by the hem of his shirt. “But… hell, maybe I could use some of that.”
“Maybe,” Raleigh said. He didn’t really like the smile on Chuck’s face, how oddly contorted it was. “But then you’d…” He tried to think about what Herc had said earlier, about telling Chuck he liked that he was… “You wouldn’t be you, who I like very much. I liked you from the first time I saw you on that boat, and then even more when I tried to talk to you and was a complete failure at it, and…” He shrugged his shoulders.
Chuck laughed, and if it was small, at least it was genuine. He tangled his fingers in the fabric of Raleigh’s shirt. “Yeah, that was a pretty poor showing.” He pulled Raleigh closer. “But I wasn’t making it easy for you, in your defense. Course, you didn’t really get any better at flirting, but, A for effort?”
“I was trying,” Raleigh said. “I really wanted you to...I still do, Chuck, I like everything about you and…I’m sorry I fucked up, and…” He wanted to address the thing about people thinking Chuck was going to fuck up again, but he wasn’t sure how.
Chuck shook his head. “You didn’t fuck anything up, Jesus.” He rubbed his eyes. “And you don’t like everything about me, don’t even - that’s just creating unhealthy standards that I can’t fucking live up to. You’re allowed to not like things about me.” He moved forward, tucking himself under Raleigh’s chin, arms tight around his torso.
“I like the whole Chuck package,” Raleigh said. He rubbed slow, smooth circles at Chuck’s back. “I like how you make me feel...and, you know, not everyone thinks that...Bruce and Trevin like you, and-” he wasn’t exactly sure how to phrase this, “-Paul was like, you guys looked so natural together, I see why you were sad about not having him.” He sighed. “And I’m not saying this to be, uh, condescending or whatever, but, it’s different contexts, you’re just meeting people and I’ve got friends, so…” He kissed the top of Chuck’s head.
The weird thing was, Chuck wasn’t normally insecure. Not even about fucking up with Raleigh, because he wasn’t convinced that breaking up had been so irrational and cruel, not when it had been his choice to make for his own happiness. But something about the way other people looked at him brought all the anxiety bubbling to the surface, and Raleigh didn’t really get that.
Still, it was nice to hear that he had some support from Raleigh’s friends. He nodded, tipping his head up to kiss the underside of Raleigh’s jaw. The conversation itself wasn’t getting him horny, but he was ready for some fantastically slow sex where Raleigh lavished attention on him and basically worshipped him with hands and teeth and tongue. Only he didn’t want to say that, so he hooked his fingers in Raleigh’s belt loops and waited for him to figure it out himself.
Raleigh may have been a bit on the obtuse side about other things, but sex he usually got.
“Mmmm,” Raleigh murmured, and turned Chuck’s jaw so he could kiss his mouth, slow and long, relieved because he could do this better than he could talk. He tangled his tongue in with Chuck’s and ran his fingers through his hair. He trailed his other hand down to Chuck’s ass and cupped it there, moaning a little bit into Chuck’s mouth.
Then he put a hand to Chuck’s chest and undid some of the buttons on his shirt, pressing a little closer into him and trailing his mouth down his neck.
Chuck had to be thankful, actually, for how in tune with Chuck’s sex drive Raleigh was. He hoisted himself up so he was sitting on the desk and wrapped his legs around Raleigh’s waist, cradling him tight and snug between his thighs. “Yeah, shit, make it last,” he said, as Raleigh sucked a mark in his neck - though not too high up, because Chuck wasn’t that showy.
He pressed his own lips to Raleigh’s neck when he had the chance, and murmured against the skin, almost too softly to be heard, “I really don’t want to fuck this up.”
“I don’t want to either, love,” Raleigh said, and slowly moved back up Chuck’s neck to his mouth again, taking the kiss slow, languid and soft, before he slid his tongue into his mouth. He put his hands on either side of Chuck’s hips and gripped them, ran his hands down his strong legs.
He wondered if he could pick Chuck up - probably best not to attempt that, and, instead, he slid back and undid some of the buttons on his shirt before he sat down on the bed and smiled at Chuck. He wanted to take him in, his hair mussed and the mark on his neck, the way his legs were spread.
Chuck gave a breathy laugh, leaning back on his elbows so his half-undone shirt was pulled taut over his chest. He rucked up his shirt with his hand, spreading his fingers out over the bare skin of his lower belly, and let his legs fall into a wider sprawl.
“You want a picture?” he asked, meaning it. “Something to remember me by?”
“No, I just like...you look so good,” Raleigh said, and he took his shirt off and leaned back so that Chuck could get a view, if he wanted - he seemed to really like looking at Raleigh’s body, so. “Come here?” he said, giving Chuck a sly smile, and then he pressed his palm against his cock and ground his hand, hard.
“Fuuuck,” Chuck groaned, moving toward Raleigh like he was being dragged on a leash. He practically fell onto him, pushing him onto his back and climbing up to straddle his thighs. He finished unbuttoning his own shirt, then Raleigh’s, and sat back on his haunches to appreciate the view.
“No pressure, but if you ever decided to film yourself jacking off, I wouldn’t mind.” He said it lightly, wanting Raleigh to know that it was like, 90% a joke.
‘Yeah?” Raleigh said, and he leaned back farther, placing his back against the wall. He put his hand down his khakis and rubbed at his cock, aching for the touch. “Like this?” he asked, and then used his other hand to slid his pants and boxer briefs down. He kicked at them, a bit, and Chuck pulled them the rest of the way off. Raleigh wrapped his hand around himself and stroked, slowly, held Chuck’s gaze as he did it. “You want to see me like this?”
Chuck wasn’t often stunned into silence, but right then, he was rendered literally speechless with want. He chewed on his lower lip, eyes dark and yet feverishly bright at the same time. Unzipping his own slacks, he slid his hand down the v of his zipper to wrap around his cock. “Fuck, yeah. First time I jacked off thinking about you, this was what I pictured.” He traced his hand down Raleigh’s abs. “Don’t think I gave you enough credit in my mental image, though.” But like, how could he have seen that coming, right?
“Mmm, me too,” Raleigh said, sliding his hand against himself a little faster. “In the shower, at night, thinking about how fucking broad you are, what your chest would look like, your cock…” He licked at his lower lip and moaned, slightly. “Thought about you on top of me, fucking me, how good it would feel…”
“Fuck, yeah, wanted to see your face when you had my cock in you, the way you would moan for me,” Chuck said. He wormed his pants down around his thighs to free up his cock, twisting his hand over the head - and then pulled his pants off entirely so he could settle against Raleigh, pressing their cocks together. And oh shit, that was nice. Hot and silky and hard, and he wrapped his hand around both of them. “Can we - like this? Just wanna watch you lose it.”
“Fuck, yeah,” Raleigh said. “Just get some…” he reached and grabbed, guessing Chuck would have some in his bedside table drawer. He squirted it into Chuck’s hand and then leaned back as Chuck very slowly moved his hand over both of them. “I didn’t think you would be like this,” he murmured, and ran his hand through Chuck’s chest hair. “You know how hot that was, seeing that? Didn’t know I could want you more…”
Chuck cocked his head to the side, curling his hand over both their heads and rubbing them together, moaning at the play of sensation over his hypersensitive foreskin. The addition of lube made things even better, slick and good. “Didn’t think I would… have body hair?” he asked, confused.
“Oh, I knew you would, just not this...hot,” Raleigh, and leaned forward so he could rub and then twist Chuck’s nipple. He moaned as Chuck’s cock rubbed against his, the smooth, silky feel of it against his own. “It just...guh,” Raleigh said, as Chuck rubbed his sensitive tip. “Fuck, that’s so good, Chuck, make me feel so good.”
Chuck laughed, the sound hoarse, almost gravely. “God, when’s the last time I… I feel like it’s my first time again, trading handjobs in the back of my old man’s Jeep.” Slight editorializing, but ‘the back of a car’ sounded better and less slutty than ‘the back of a movie theater.’
He grinned, leaning down to nuzzle Raleigh’s neck, tracing the faded hickeys from last week with his tongue. Being with Raleigh felt so carefree and easy, no bullshit posturing or trying to impress him. Just the simple pleasure of touch, with his ridiculous puppy of a boyfriend.
Raleigh grinned back and began to work his hips against Chuck. “I know,” he said. “I never did that, though, but...this feels so good, Chuck,” he said. He grabbed onto Chuck’s shirt and tugged him a little closer, wanted Chuck on top of him.
There was a slight melancholy, though, because he could tell Chuck was sensitive about the whole slut thing - something was lurking there that hadn’t been resolved. He pushed it aside, though, and moaned as Chuck’s hand worked him a little bit faster. “So gorgeous, Chuck.”
“You’re telling me that?” Chuck murmured, because - Christ, Raleigh’s face, when his lips were all slack and his eyelashes fluttered from the overload of sensation. Hands down the hottest person Chuck had ever seen in real life, and he wasn’t saying that just because Raleigh was his stupidly cute, almost unbelievably sweet boyfriend.
He rested his weight over Raleigh, which had the effect of trapping their cocks between their pelvises a bit, though he had just enough room to work his hand. Also gave him the position to kiss Raleigh, biting at his lips, messy and breathless and fun.
Raleigh kissed Chuck back. “Love you on top of me,” he said, voice husky when Chuck slid his lips to his neck. “Love how big you are,” he said. “How good you feel.” He was such a stereotype. He didn’t care. Chuck’s cock felt amazing against his and his hand was stroking harder. “You are gorgeous,” he said, and kissed Chuck’s plump lips. He looked so good like this, long eyelashes hooded over those pretty, strange light green eyes. “God you feel so good Chuck.”
Chuck laughed with amusement and joy and sheer delight. Raleigh’s penchant of narrating how good he felt was… funny, but also sweet. It made it so Chuck never worried about disappointing him, because Raleigh kept him well-informed on how well he was doing.
And his voice - Raleigh could have been reading a phone book and it still would have sent shivers down Chuck’s spine. Low and husky, honeyed whiskey over gravel… Which sounded weird and didn’t do his tone justice, but Chuck couldn’t think of a better way to describe it when his mind was clouded and hazy with arousal.
“You’re so pretty like this,” he said, sucking at Raleigh’s neck under his ear and then moving up to nibble at his earlobe. “Missed this, over the last week. Kept thinking of how good it was finally be, when I finally got my hands on you.” He moaned, hips starting to lose their rhythm. “Worth waiting for.”
“You too, Chuck,” Raleigh said, and Chuck’s hand was stroking him faster. He hitched his hips into it. “I’m gonna...I’m so close, Chuck,” he bit at his lower lip and groaned, then kissed Chuck hard before sliding over to suck on his ear lobe, just as Chuck had done for him. “You feel so amazing, I…” his breath hitched, and Chuck was this big, pleasant weight over top of him and he felt safe and secure and also...he was Chuck’s, possessed, held, and it was so fucking good.
Warmth pooled and tightened and his cock was leaking with need. “Chuck, I-”
“Yeah, yeah, love,” Chuck said, pumping his wrist steadily, twisting it so precome slicked their cockheads. “Yeah, fucking come for me, sweetheart, I wanna feel it, wanna see you.” He had to kiss Raleigh, at that moment, had to feel those lips on his, feel so close to him they may as well have been fused together.
Raleigh kissed him, hard, whispered. “Now, now, Chuck,” and then pulled away from him, arched his back so Chuck could see his face as his eyelids fluttered and his mouth and jaw worked. His orgasm was consuming and bright, sending a gorgeous shiver down to the tips of fingers and toes. “Chuuuuck,” he groaned, then latched himself onto Chuck’s neck as Chuck came as well, spilling even more between the two of them.
He pulled Chuck sideways and curled into him. “Gonna have to snuggle tonight, babe,” he murmured. “Bed’s pretty small.” He still felt warm all over, contented - like a dog that had just got a good belly scratch. “You’re amazing,” he said.
“You are…” Chuck said, and combed his fingers through Raleigh’s hair as he tried to come up with the words. But how - how could he possibly -
He kissed Raleigh’s forehead, and smiled at him, probably goopy and mushy and lovesick, but, well, who the fuck cared. “You are my favorite Becket, and also my favorite Raleigh, and also my… favorite.” He ducked his head, pressing it into Raleigh’s neck. Okay, he cared a little bit, and that was just… teeth-rottingly sweet, ugh.
Raleigh sighed as Chuck combed his hair - his weakness. Didn’t matter. He was comfortable and content, well spent from the orgasm, taken care of. He could lay like this forever.
He kissed Chuck on the lips and nuzzled his nose. “You’re my favorite too,” he said.
Chuck grinned. “Yeah,” he said. “I know.”
Fuck what anyone else thought. Fuck everyone who was so sure he was gonna mess everything up. As far as he could tell, he was doing just fine.
Raleigh laughed and smiled. They were good, he thought - they had talked. They had fucked, and it was...they were good, and they were going to be good.