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Tossing the shirt by the basket he looked at Tucker before taking a seat next to him on the bed. He looked at the marks and the hair and gave a sly smile as if amused by his work.
Dark brows arched at that smile before following his line of sight as it slid down from the mark on his neck to the marks on his thigh. He touched one of the scratches carefully, lips tugging up on one side. "See something you like?" It was faintly teasing, baby blues flicking back up.
"I do." He leaned in to place a kiss on his shoulder before settling back. "Do you want to stay or do you have to rush off somewhere?"
The smile grew into a full grin before Avery was leaning in to brush lips against his shoulder. It softened guarded features, so did the invitation to stay. "I can stick around for a while."
If you want me to.
"Good." Avery pressed a quick kiss to his forehead. "Did you want to get under the covers or still too warm?"
It was an unexpectedly tender gesture that had Tucker blinking up at him in surprise, resisting the sudden temptation to reach up and touch the spot. Instead he tried to focus of Avery's question. "Under, I think." And he slid to the edge of the bed to swing his legs offer to plant his feet on the ground. Not that standing yet was a good idea. He's legs felt unsteady, hips and thighs a little sore. In the best way.
Nodding, Avery got to his feet, slowly, his muscles still arguing in protest at not being anything other than horizontal on a soft surface. He offered a hand to Tucker if he wanted it.
In almost any other situation stubbornness would have insisted he ignore that offered hand, but he didn't want to, this time. He reached out to lay his hand in Avery's and pulled himself up on legs that felt a bit like Jell-O.
He held Tucker's arm as if to either keep him close or to keep his knees from buckling. With the free hand he pulled back the covers to plain white sheets below and let him sit down first if he wanted.
He locked his knees, it helped, but he didn't try to slide his arm from Avery's loose grip. Justed waited, gaze flicking down the other boy's back as he pulled the blankets down, then sat when the chance was given. "Do you have to go anywhere later, or..?" He wasn't sure what time it was, but it had to be after six by now.
Avery shook his head sitting down as well. "Nah, I am usually doing classwork until I doze off."
A dark brown arched, his head tipping to the side as he looked up at the bigger man. "Am I keeping you from any important homework if I stay?"
"Not really, not anything I can't do tomorrow instead." He pressed his shoulder to Tuck's. "You?"
He shook his head, leaning into Avery after the other man hand initiated contact. Every touch was a reassurance that he was wanted there. "No, nothing pressing."
Avery grinned before patting the bed as a gesture he could lay down. "Just let me know when you do have to leave."
Tucker glanced down at the bed as if considering it, and then turned as he rose up on his knees. He put his hands on Avery's shoulders to push him down first so he could crawl up to lay on top of him.
Avery rose a brow for a second before realization washed over him and he laid down with Tuck's push. When Tuck was settled he languidly ran his fingers up and down on his back.
He folded his arms across Avery's chest and lay his cheek against them, eyes half closing as he looked lazily around the room. "Were you serious before,” he asked after a few moments, tone careful. Like he'd been mulling over the question. "About wanting more than just a quick fuck?"
"Yes." His own eyes closed as he continued to draw lazy circles and lines along this back. "But you won't hurt my feelings telling me you don't want to."
The fingers on his right hand spread against tanned skin, nails running lightly along his chest in tickling lines. A reassurance. "No, it's not-" he bit off the protest, started over. "I'm just trying to figure out how much I should let myself get used to this, and to you."
There was a hint of goosebumps across his skin as he tickled nails along his skin. "You can tell me how much or how little you want me to be in this relationship. Set whatever boundaries."
The word
relationship made him twitch, head turning to press his face into his arms. It made his voice come out muffled. "I don't think I know how to do that. I've never really..." He huffed a sigh. "You don't even really know me, why do you want to be with me?" He sounded confused, cautious.
"Or acquaintances, whatever you want to call this." He opened an eye and tilted it to look at him. "I know what it is like to enjoy something while you can."
He didn't know how normal relationships worked. After a moment he lifted his head so he could see Avery's face again. He seemed so patient and understanding. "What's your last name?"
"Keane." He replied without hesitating, it was the most current last name he had.
His lips twitched, almost a smile. "Mines Williams." If they were going to do this then they needed to know more about each other. "I get bad anxiety sometimes, I smoke to keep it in check, and I get stupidly into games on my phone."
"Mm." He murmured as if he was memorizing it all before giving a soft smile. "I have a temper at times so I play rugby to let it loose, I am pretty competitive no matter what little game it is and I don't tend to live in places too long."
"Are there plans to leave anytime soon?" He settled his chin on his arms again, features relaxing again finally as they talked.
"And try to get into another university? No thanks, this was pain enough." He snorted rather jokingly on the matter. "The most is maybe dorm rooms."
Tuck smiled, stroking his thumb along Avery's collarbone. "Good."
"What sort of job do you want when you graduate?" It was an easy sort of question, but he was curious.
His shoulders moved in what was meant to be a shrug but didn't quite work with how he was laying. "I don't know, I haven't thought about it as much as I should be." Didn't
like thinking about it. "Somewhere that pays well, that has good hours, I guess."
"Fair enough, are you going to keep playing soccer?" He didn't seem bothered at all by the vague answer.
"I'd like to." Another small smile. "I'd jump at a chance to try out for the USA team." It didn't sound like he thought it was a possibility, despite how well he played.
"I am sure you could do well if you tried." He ran his fingers along his arm, shoulder. "Would be amazing."
Baby blues turned thoughtful, like he was gauging how truthful Avery was being. "It'd be nice. I won't know until next year if I qualify though."
"A year to train, does that mean you will be putting in extra hours?" It was a fair question, if he was he would be panicking too.
"Not quite yet. I'll wait to see how this year goes." To see if he even had a chance of making the cut. "I think I'd want to wait until after I knew I had a degree under my belt, just in case."
"Safety is always good, not that I would want you to injury yourself but that seems to be the fate of any athlete so a backup plan is wise." He wouldn't want anyone to be injured and lose something they enjoyed doing but it was realistic.
"Are you going to try to keep playing rugby?" Were there leagues outside of schools? He didn't know. "After you graduate, I mean."
"I will probably join some local team, more of a hobby but I guess it depends on the job I take." It was more of a question if he stayed in a place long enough to be on a team.
He hummed thoughtfully, fingertips tapping along Avery's collarbone before he smoothed his fingers along it. "I don't know a lot about rugby. I might have to swing by practice sometime, see what it's all about." If it was before soccer he probably had time to catch the beginning, if nothing else.
"I would like that." It wasn't often he had anyone there really to watch anything he did at rugby.
This was...new. Different, in a good way. Tucker felt warm and comfortable laying against Avery's chest and he let out a content little sigh as he relaxed a little more against him, legs shifting to straddle his hips.
Avery closed his eyes, his hands still drifting over bare skin, letting the silence fall contently.
Tuck let it stretch for a while longer, one arm stretching up to drape over Avery's shoulder so he could slip his fingers into the soft, multicolored hair. He could feel the big man's heart beating against his chest, every long breath. He liked it. "We can see where things go, at least," he said after a while, eyes closed, voice drowsy.
"Yes..." Avery replied, his hands moving slowly and his own voice drowsy or at least miles away as if dozing himself. It was rather comfortable having the smaller man draped across him, and warm. A missing feeling for a while.
It wouldn't hurt to fall asleep like that, right? Tucker's fingers moved lazily in Avery's hair as he weighed the pros and cons of letting himself fall asleep like that. In the end, he didn't even make a choice, his body made it for him. Breath evening out as he drifted off, warm and comfortable.
He didn't know when he stopped running his fingers along Tuck's skin, or when he wrapped his hands loosely around his waist but he drifted off without a worry.
