Fragile Threads [boyxboy]

Chapter 9

Ethan tapped his finger against the top of his knee as he waited in a desk after school. He felt a wide hand glide over the back of his neck. “How have you been doing?” He pressed a brief kiss to the back of Ethan’s head.

Ethan grinned to himself and closed his eyes. “Better.” But even with things looking slightly up, he still craved the touch and company. “Sorry I haven’t been around.”

Ethan felt fingers cup his chin and pull his face up into a kiss. Ethan craned up into the touch and tried his best to do what he was hoped was good kissing. Even though they’d had sex he was still a bit stiff and nervous when it came to this.

But then at what point did Ethan actually figure out who he was doing this with? Ethan drew back slightly, but slid his hand up His forearm to maintain some sense of touch. “You okay?” He asked Ethan.

Ethan bit his bottom lip. “Fine,” he decided. He didn’t actually want to know—it would take away his safety; his safe person. “I don’t figure we can go back to your house?”

“Ha, sorry,” He chuckled. “My brother is home from college right now.” He let out a sigh and stroked back Ethan’s hair. “I know it’s hard for us to get time,” he admitted. “Maybe we should go to more parties, eh?”

Ethan laughed. “Maybe, if you’re there.”

He pressed a kiss onto Ethan’s forehead before sitting in the desk next to Ethan. “So then. Catch me up?”

“Um, I played kind of real sports for the first time yesterday,” Ethan said. “I didn’t think I was any good, but I guess I was. So that was nice.” He couldn’t help smiling again. “Aside from getting knocked on my ass by Ari, but Landon says if I can work on my speed I can do a hell of a lot better.”

“No getting concussions out there,” He chastised, rapping His knuckles on Ethan’s head.

“That’s football. No way am I playing football. I would get crushed and die by some four hundred pound guy,” Ethan complained.

“We’re in high school, the most any player is going to weigh is like high two hundreds. Be realistic,” He teased. “What else, then?”

“I don’t know. Landon is kind of cool I guess. Nice. And Brent isn’t as bad as I thought either. He’s a jerk sometimes yeah but I think it’s because no one’s ever taught him how to act otherwise, you know?” Ethan shrugged. “What about you, though? I don’t really know that much about you.”

“Well my dad got a gift card to a bookstore, so I ‘inherited’ that and got some new books. Mostly just the popular, run of the mill teen fiction. I’m pretty excited. I already finished one last night and stayed up later than I should have… high light of my week, I guess.” He said. “I can lend you some if you’re interested.”

“Yeah, totally. I haven’t gotten new books in a while either. What kind of work outs do you do?” Ethan asked.

“Work outs?” He echoed. “I do arms, then core and abs, then legs. If you work out the upper body too much, you’ll look like those really buff arm and chest guys with the teeny tiny legs. You have to keep it balanced.”