The Friends You Make Here… by BymagaJones 3/?
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
He’d been going over it in his mind in what seemed like a continuous loop since the party. Maybe he’d read it wrong; maybe Nick was just interested in being friends. After all, Monroe’d learned that Nick had dated Juliette once upon a time. But then again, Monroe himself had dated Rosalee, so it didn’t necessarily have to mean anything.
Maybe it was about the food. Monroe might not’ve tasted Hap’s super nachos, but he’d never heard anything less than rave reviews, and he knew from experience and feedback that the rest of the appetizers and desserts he had made for the party had all tasted delicious.
Of course, Monroe rationalized, food didn’t really seem like enough of an incentive to flirt with someone. But then again, he reminded himself, they were in college, and the importance of food found itself possibly tied only to sex in life’s most important matters.
So he’d go teach Nick how to make some food and maybe leave with a few more memories of Nick looking at him underneath those long lashes. Because really, that is all this could ever be. Nick was human, which meant that he was off limits. So even if he were to ignore his goal of keeping everything basic in his life, Monroe wouldn’t - couldn’t - just hitch up his horse to a human. That would only end badly for both of them. Monroe chose to ignore the fact that he had to keep reminding himself about that.
“This is stupid,” he muttered, starting to turn away when the door opened.
“Hey!” Hank smiled as he and Wu almost ran into Monroe as they exited the building. “Nick’s waiting for you upstairs.”
“You’re leaving?” Monroe hoped the slight panic he felt wasn’t revealed in his voice.
Hank’s smile widened like he saw something Monroe would rather keep to himself.
“Yeah, we’re meeting friends at the Rat.”
“But you should stay, be our taste testers.”
Wu looked like he was considering it for a second but then sighed. “He practically shoved us out the door. There’s no way he’s letting us back in there right now.”
Monroe opened his mouth, but Hank clapped him on the shoulder and pushed him through the doorway. “Have a good night.”
“Don’t do any - oomph!” Wu said as Hank covered his mouth and shoved him down the sidewalk.
Monroe looked up the stairwell, knowing that he should leave but also knowing that he really, really wanted to go up there. Straightening his shoulders, he reminded himself that he’d made worse decisions in his life. And after all, it was just one cooking lesson. Adjusting his grip on the bags, he took a deep breath and started up the stairs, attempting to convince himself that they were just two guys hanging out.
G R I M M G R I M M G R I M M G R I M M G R I M M
As he changed his shirt for the fourth time, Nick found himself grateful that he’d already forced Wu and Hank out of the apartment. They’d teased him when he’d spent more time than usual in the shower, grinned the first three times he’d changed his shirt, and rolled their eyes at him when he’d forced them to raise their legs so he could clean in front of the sofa with the vacuum he’d borrowed from Mrs. Finch next door.
He was in the bathroom, giving himself one last look-over and breath check when he heard the knock on the door. Shaking his head at the excitement unfurling in his chest, he opened the door and smiled.
Monroe’s hair, which had been a riotous mess both times Nick had seen him, looked to have been wrangled into some state of order, and Monroe had forgone his flannel for a long-sleeved blue button down collared shirt, curiously with a matching vest. The evidence that he’d taken pains with his look as well made Nick feel much better about the evening.
“Hey, c’mon in.” He opened the door wider so Monroe could enter with his paper bags. “The kitchen’s over there.” He pointed in the general vicinity of the living room. The apartment was small enough that the kitchen was pretty easy to scope out. The four closed doors were the three bedrooms and the bathroom, so Nick didn’t really feel the need to pretend that Monroe needed a tour.
Monroe passed him, and Nick spotted the backpack, nicely showing off the expanse of Monroe’s shoulders. He followed, quietly enjoying the view until Monroe turned around, placing the bags on the kitchen counter and examining the small space.
“Yeah, we really don’t do much in here except use the microwave,” Nick explained apologetically, scratching self-consciously at his cheek.
“You’re in college,” Monroe said, shrugging as he pulled off his backpack. “I figured you wouldn’t have much, so I came prepared.” Unzipping it, he pulled out few pieces of paper. “Here are the recipes for what we’re making tonight and for some of the stuff we had last week.”
Nick took the pages. “Are Hap’s Nachos in here?”
Monroe nodded.
“Sweet!”
Monroe reached back into the backpack and pulled out a cutting board and a bolt of cloth that he unwrapped to reveal a row of sharp knives.
“Wicked,” Nick said, automatically reaching for the largest one.
“Nope,” Monroe said, slapping gently at Nick’s hand. “Did you not learn from the other day?”
After a second, Nick remembered. “Wash my hands?”
Monroe beamed like Nick was suddenly his favorite student, and Nick felt himself preening a bit - suddenly even happier that his best friends weren’t around to see.
Nick made a show of looking around Monroe. “No flannel apron tonight?”
“That’s my formal apron; I only break that out for special occasions,” Monroe answered without so much as a pause.
A few seconds later, they laughed, and Nick was reminded how much fun Monroe could be once he relaxed. “So what’re we making?” He asked, letting Monroe wash his hands first in the kitchen sink.
“Veggie Quesadillas with Black Beans.”
Nick must’ve looked a little wary, because Monroe gently nudged him with a shoulder. “Don’t worry; it’s easy.”
“Easy for you and easy for me are two totally different things,” Nick reminded him.
“No, seriously. You can totally make this.” Monroe pulled out some green peppers, an onion, some tomatoes, a glass container, a few baggies, and a couple of bottles from the bag. He looked around. “You said you had a pan?”
“Right,” Nick said, happy to be contributing something to the party. He wished he’d remembered earlier about bragging about the pan at the party. He would’ve liked to have had it on the stove already, maybe like they actually used it for more than an extra plate when their other dishes were dirty. He had to look in a couple of cupboards before finding it holding a bag of chips that they must’ve forgotten about, because they totally would’ve eaten them around 3am if they’d remembered about them.
Monroe simply shook his head, making a bit of a production, in Nick’s opinion, about washing it before sticking it on the stove. He looked doubtfully at the dials. “We’re not going to blow up the building if I turn this on, right?”
“Of course not!” Nick huffed, discretely reaching into his pocket to make sure he still had his phone. Just in case.
Monroe didn’t seem convinced, but he took a breath and turned one of the dials. “So we’re preheating the oven to 350 degrees.”
Nick nodded, making a mental note.
Monroe handed Nick one of the containers and instructed him to pour the contents into the pan. “These are precooked black beans. Mine are organic, but you can just buy a can of them or refried beans at the store.” One of the baggie’s contents followed the beans. “This is my homemade taco seasoning, but you can buy a package of this at the store too.” He looked up at Nick. “Can you grab a large spoon?”
Glad that he could find it quickly - large spoons were easier to dig out frozen ice cream than smaller, bendier ones - he held it up proudly.
Monroe obviously held back a laugh and tilted his head toward the pan. “The stove’s on medium heat, so be careful. You just want to mix up the beans with the seasoning. You’ll cook it until the beans are completely heated, usually about five minutes or so.”
Nick stirred for a minute, peered into the pan, thinking that everything was probably mixed enough, then rethought it and swirled his spoon around a little more. “How do I know if it’s mixed enough?” He looked back at Monroe, who was leaning against the island, small smile on his face. Nick couldn’t help but smile back. “What?”
“Nothing,” Monroe said, blinking as he pushed to standing and peered over Nick’s shoulder.
Nick took an unobtrusive breath, enjoying the mixture of some sort of woodsy scent and another, mildly spicy smell that he was coming to recognize as inherently Monroe’s.
“That looks good,” Monroe said, clearing his throat as he stepped back, and Nick thought that maybe he wasn’t the only one who liked getting a little closer.
Monroe talked Nick through the rest of the meal, and in about fifteen minutes, they were sitting down on the sofa, plates in their laps.
“Sorry we don’t have a table,” Nick said, picking up his spoon. He’d never even thought about getting one until he looked around, seeing the place through Monroe’s eyes. Now he noticed how threadbare everything looked, from the scratches on the chair to the dents on the desk and the tuffs escaping from different parts of the sofa.
Monroe shrugged, hitching his plate a little higher on his lap. “You haven’t seen my place. Hap’d be happy with just a mattress on the floor.”
Nick smiled. “The only thing in the entire apartment?”
“Well, he’d probably have a keg too,” Monroe said with a snort. “And he’d need a refrigerator for his beer.”
“Isn’t that why he has the keg?”
“There are times when he needs his beer cold,” Monroe informed him dryly, making Nick laugh.
The rest of the evening went really well. Nick had bribed Rosalee with a much-needed dose of caffeine to pick her brain about Monroe, and he’d bought a fruit salad for desert.
Rosalee had given him great advice, and he sat there after dinner, watching Monroe wax poetic about the different fruits.
“… and this strawberry? It’s too ripe for them to have trucked it in.” Monroe took another bite, surprisingly delicate for someone of his size. He held up and considered the remaining piece - how he managed to get three bites out of one strawberry was pretty impressive. “It didn’t come from that hydroponics place out on route one.”
“How do you know that?” Nick didn’t really care, but he liked watching Monroe suck at the fruit, the way he closed his eyes and moaned when he found a particular piece that he really enjoyed. Nick was half hard, and they hadn’t even kissed yet.
“Despite what some say,” Monroe’s face took on an annoyed glare, “hydroponic strawberries don’t have the same robust taste as ones grown in the ground.” He finished the strawberry and started on a piece of peach, licking a stray drop from his bottom lip before Nick gave into temptation and licked it off himself. “Seriously, where did you get these?”
“Wu has a cousin who owns a small greenhouse a few miles outside of town,” Nick confessed.
“I think a couple of GN grad students have been working out there,” Monroe said.
Nick thought he heard a tone and couldn’t help but investigate. “That sounds like something you might be good at.”
Monroe shrugged, his eyes focused on the bowl of fruit in his lap. “The Fruit and Vegetable Management majors get first dibs at things like that. Besides, I’m busy being Chief Gardener on campus.”
“That sounds pretty impressive,” Nick said, finally taking his first bite of fruit. He was distracted for a moment, because Monroe had been right - it was really good.
He tuned back in quickly and caught the tail-end of Monroe’s next sentence. “ -ounds more impressive than it is, really. It is just a work-study thing.”
“Here,” Nick said, forking over half of his fruit into Monroe’s empty bowl.
“Are you sure?”
Nick wanted to say that as good as the fruit was, he would much rather watch Monroe eat it, but he simply smiled and said, “Just eat the fruit.”
Monroe gave him a large smile and dug right into it. “Just amazing.” He turned toward Nick abruptly. “Did you try one of the strawberries?”
Nick shook his head.
“Seriously. Eat one. I thought I’d never use the word ‘succulent’ for a strawberry, but this - ” he stabbed one with his fork and held it between them, “ - has totally changed my mind.”
Nick bent forward, sliding the piece of red fruit off the fork and letting the flavor burst on his tongue. He savored the taste as he observed Monroe’s stare, the hungry look now turned toward him, and he continued to hold Monroe’s gaze as he chewed.
“You’re right. These are fantastic.”
Monroe continued to stare, fork hovering in midair.
Nick slid a little closer, gently pulling the fork from Monroe’s fingers.
Clearing his voice, Monroe whispered, “This is a bad idea.”
“No, this is a fantastic idea,” Nick whispered back before leaning forward and capturing Monroe’s lips.
And it was good, better than Nick had imagined, and he possessed a fantastic imagination.
He’d expected the scratchiness of Monroe’s beard, but he hadn’t planned on the friction against his cheek to raise the goosebumps in his arms.
His mind barely registering the ‘thunk’ of their, thankfully, plastic bowls hitting the floor, Nick’s focus remained on Monroe’s pressing against him until they were lying on the sofa, Monroe on top of him. It took him a little while to notice that Monroe was using an arm to hold himself off of Nick, and he found that he didn’t like that idea at all.
G R I M M G R I M M G R I M M G R I M M G R I M M
Monroe’d been so focused on the fruit, each bite smelling almost as good as it tasted, that he’d somehow completely missed the smell of Nick’s arousal until Nick had wrapped his lips around the fork, slowly sliding the strawberry into his mouth, humming softly as he focused on Monroe.
And Monroe felt his control slipping. He tried to remember why this wasn’t a good idea, but everything flew out of his mind the moment Nick kissed him. And suddenly he couldn’t get close enough.
He pressed Nick down against the sofa, using an arm to prop himself as he concentrated on delving back into Nick’s mouth, which tasted even better than the fruit.
Using some sort of weird arm movement, Nick dislodged Monroe’s arm, and Monroe almost fell on top of him, barely catching himself.
“You won’t crush me,” Nick whispered against Monroe’s ear.
“So you say, until you can’t breathe.” Monroe pushed himself back up, looked into Nick’s large grey eyes, and promptly forgot what else he was going to say.
Nick sighed. “Fine.” He wiggled from underneath Monroe and flipped them until he was the one on top. “Better?”
“Mmm,” Monroe said, cupping the back of Nick’s head, pushing gently until their lips met again. He felt Nick’s smile as he plundered, all of his focus on the man whose weight his body seemed to recognize and welcome.
Then Nick moved.
Or, rather, he undulated, pressing against Monroe in all of the right places, and Monroe felt the growl press out of his chest when their erections rubbed together.
He’d put himself on self-imposed exile for so long that he was almost undone right from the start. His tight rein on himself started to loosen, and he felt the shift begin. Some lone strand of sense shot a warning to the rest of him that woging in front of Nick would be a really, really bad idea, and with great effort, he gently pushed Nick’s torso off of his. “We need - ” he groaned as Nick used that as an excuse to grind against him. “We need…” What was he going to say?
Evidently, Nick had his own ideas. “I have everything we need in my bedroom,” he whispered as he tilted his head down and took Monroe’s lips again. He reached down, cupping the throbbing bulge in Monroe's pants and squeezing, and all thought completely left Monroe’s head.
He wasn’t sure how long it took for him to register the vibrations from his phone. Even then he wanted to ignore it, but he managed to tear his lips away from Nick and gasp out, “Wait a second. My phone.”
“Ignore it.” Nick suggested, nipping at his neck, something Monroe had never found so arousing before. “That’s why we have voicemail.”
Something tugged in Monroe’s mind, slowly niggling its way forward. “Hap… It might be Hap.”
Nick gave him a look.
“He calls me to check in when he goes out,” Monroe explained, closing his eyes a moment when his movements to get to the phone resulted in other… sensations as he rubbed against Nick.
It’d taken so long that Hap’d left a message.
“Dude, I’m calling like I promised. It’s all good. I’ve been drinking, but I’m gonna stay here at Mark’s tonight. So you just have all the fun you want with your new boy, and I’ll see you tomorrow.” Hanging up, Monroe found that Nick had used the time to free his hands, and he gave Monroe’s butt a giant squeeze.
“Hey now!” Monroe shot to his feet, running a hand over his beard.
“I won’t squeeze your butt anymore if you really don’t like it,” Nick said.
“I liked it way too much,” Monroe mumbled, hazarding a look at the younger man.
Nick lay boneless on the sofa, lips swollen, pupils blown. Monroe could smell the attraction, and it took everything he had to stop himself from grabbing the younger man and taking him right there in the living room.
But it had been too long, and Monroe knew he wanted it too much. He’d end up losing control, and there was no way that was going to work out. At all. “I have to go,” he forced out.
“What?” Nick slid into a sitting position. “What did I do?”
“Too much - well, nothing. I mean I can’t - it is been too long, and I am.” Monroe forced himself to shut up and took a breath. “It’s nothing you’ve done, okay? In fact, you did everything right. Too right.”
Nick’s confusion turned into something that resembled a pout. “Let me guess. It’s not me, it’s you.”
“I’m not good at this stuff,” Monroe tried to explain, waving a hand between them.
“You seemed to be doing quite well,” Nick said.
Monroe groaned, rubbing a hand over his face. “I have to go right now before - ”
“Before what?” The anticipatory look was back on Nick’s face, and it looked way too good on him.
Monroe groaned again and tried not to run for the door. “Thanks for everything. Um, the dinner and the fruit.”
He was down the stairs and out of the building seconds later. He knew it was the coward’s way out, but sometimes the cowards were the only ones left standing in the aftermath.
He didn’t remember that he’d forgotten his stuff until he was back home.
Chapter Note: Veggie Quesadillas with Refried (or whole) Black Beans: http://pickyeaterblog.com/healthy-easy-meals-great-for-college-students-or-busy-professionals/
On to Chapter 4
Chapter 3
He’d been going over it in his mind in what seemed like a continuous loop since the party. Maybe he’d read it wrong; maybe Nick was just interested in being friends. After all, Monroe’d learned that Nick had dated Juliette once upon a time. But then again, Monroe himself had dated Rosalee, so it didn’t necessarily have to mean anything.
Maybe it was about the food. Monroe might not’ve tasted Hap’s super nachos, but he’d never heard anything less than rave reviews, and he knew from experience and feedback that the rest of the appetizers and desserts he had made for the party had all tasted delicious.
Of course, Monroe rationalized, food didn’t really seem like enough of an incentive to flirt with someone. But then again, he reminded himself, they were in college, and the importance of food found itself possibly tied only to sex in life’s most important matters.
So he’d go teach Nick how to make some food and maybe leave with a few more memories of Nick looking at him underneath those long lashes. Because really, that is all this could ever be. Nick was human, which meant that he was off limits. So even if he were to ignore his goal of keeping everything basic in his life, Monroe wouldn’t - couldn’t - just hitch up his horse to a human. That would only end badly for both of them. Monroe chose to ignore the fact that he had to keep reminding himself about that.
“This is stupid,” he muttered, starting to turn away when the door opened.
“Hey!” Hank smiled as he and Wu almost ran into Monroe as they exited the building. “Nick’s waiting for you upstairs.”
“You’re leaving?” Monroe hoped the slight panic he felt wasn’t revealed in his voice.
Hank’s smile widened like he saw something Monroe would rather keep to himself.
“Yeah, we’re meeting friends at the Rat.”
“But you should stay, be our taste testers.”
Wu looked like he was considering it for a second but then sighed. “He practically shoved us out the door. There’s no way he’s letting us back in there right now.”
Monroe opened his mouth, but Hank clapped him on the shoulder and pushed him through the doorway. “Have a good night.”
“Don’t do any - oomph!” Wu said as Hank covered his mouth and shoved him down the sidewalk.
Monroe looked up the stairwell, knowing that he should leave but also knowing that he really, really wanted to go up there. Straightening his shoulders, he reminded himself that he’d made worse decisions in his life. And after all, it was just one cooking lesson. Adjusting his grip on the bags, he took a deep breath and started up the stairs, attempting to convince himself that they were just two guys hanging out.
G R I M M G R I M M G R I M M G R I M M G R I M M
As he changed his shirt for the fourth time, Nick found himself grateful that he’d already forced Wu and Hank out of the apartment. They’d teased him when he’d spent more time than usual in the shower, grinned the first three times he’d changed his shirt, and rolled their eyes at him when he’d forced them to raise their legs so he could clean in front of the sofa with the vacuum he’d borrowed from Mrs. Finch next door.
He was in the bathroom, giving himself one last look-over and breath check when he heard the knock on the door. Shaking his head at the excitement unfurling in his chest, he opened the door and smiled.
Monroe’s hair, which had been a riotous mess both times Nick had seen him, looked to have been wrangled into some state of order, and Monroe had forgone his flannel for a long-sleeved blue button down collared shirt, curiously with a matching vest. The evidence that he’d taken pains with his look as well made Nick feel much better about the evening.
“Hey, c’mon in.” He opened the door wider so Monroe could enter with his paper bags. “The kitchen’s over there.” He pointed in the general vicinity of the living room. The apartment was small enough that the kitchen was pretty easy to scope out. The four closed doors were the three bedrooms and the bathroom, so Nick didn’t really feel the need to pretend that Monroe needed a tour.
Monroe passed him, and Nick spotted the backpack, nicely showing off the expanse of Monroe’s shoulders. He followed, quietly enjoying the view until Monroe turned around, placing the bags on the kitchen counter and examining the small space.
“Yeah, we really don’t do much in here except use the microwave,” Nick explained apologetically, scratching self-consciously at his cheek.
“You’re in college,” Monroe said, shrugging as he pulled off his backpack. “I figured you wouldn’t have much, so I came prepared.” Unzipping it, he pulled out few pieces of paper. “Here are the recipes for what we’re making tonight and for some of the stuff we had last week.”
Nick took the pages. “Are Hap’s Nachos in here?”
Monroe nodded.
“Sweet!”
Monroe reached back into the backpack and pulled out a cutting board and a bolt of cloth that he unwrapped to reveal a row of sharp knives.
“Wicked,” Nick said, automatically reaching for the largest one.
“Nope,” Monroe said, slapping gently at Nick’s hand. “Did you not learn from the other day?”
After a second, Nick remembered. “Wash my hands?”
Monroe beamed like Nick was suddenly his favorite student, and Nick felt himself preening a bit - suddenly even happier that his best friends weren’t around to see.
Nick made a show of looking around Monroe. “No flannel apron tonight?”
“That’s my formal apron; I only break that out for special occasions,” Monroe answered without so much as a pause.
A few seconds later, they laughed, and Nick was reminded how much fun Monroe could be once he relaxed. “So what’re we making?” He asked, letting Monroe wash his hands first in the kitchen sink.
“Veggie Quesadillas with Black Beans.”
Nick must’ve looked a little wary, because Monroe gently nudged him with a shoulder. “Don’t worry; it’s easy.”
“Easy for you and easy for me are two totally different things,” Nick reminded him.
“No, seriously. You can totally make this.” Monroe pulled out some green peppers, an onion, some tomatoes, a glass container, a few baggies, and a couple of bottles from the bag. He looked around. “You said you had a pan?”
“Right,” Nick said, happy to be contributing something to the party. He wished he’d remembered earlier about bragging about the pan at the party. He would’ve liked to have had it on the stove already, maybe like they actually used it for more than an extra plate when their other dishes were dirty. He had to look in a couple of cupboards before finding it holding a bag of chips that they must’ve forgotten about, because they totally would’ve eaten them around 3am if they’d remembered about them.
Monroe simply shook his head, making a bit of a production, in Nick’s opinion, about washing it before sticking it on the stove. He looked doubtfully at the dials. “We’re not going to blow up the building if I turn this on, right?”
“Of course not!” Nick huffed, discretely reaching into his pocket to make sure he still had his phone. Just in case.
Monroe didn’t seem convinced, but he took a breath and turned one of the dials. “So we’re preheating the oven to 350 degrees.”
Nick nodded, making a mental note.
Monroe handed Nick one of the containers and instructed him to pour the contents into the pan. “These are precooked black beans. Mine are organic, but you can just buy a can of them or refried beans at the store.” One of the baggie’s contents followed the beans. “This is my homemade taco seasoning, but you can buy a package of this at the store too.” He looked up at Nick. “Can you grab a large spoon?”
Glad that he could find it quickly - large spoons were easier to dig out frozen ice cream than smaller, bendier ones - he held it up proudly.
Monroe obviously held back a laugh and tilted his head toward the pan. “The stove’s on medium heat, so be careful. You just want to mix up the beans with the seasoning. You’ll cook it until the beans are completely heated, usually about five minutes or so.”
Nick stirred for a minute, peered into the pan, thinking that everything was probably mixed enough, then rethought it and swirled his spoon around a little more. “How do I know if it’s mixed enough?” He looked back at Monroe, who was leaning against the island, small smile on his face. Nick couldn’t help but smile back. “What?”
“Nothing,” Monroe said, blinking as he pushed to standing and peered over Nick’s shoulder.
Nick took an unobtrusive breath, enjoying the mixture of some sort of woodsy scent and another, mildly spicy smell that he was coming to recognize as inherently Monroe’s.
“That looks good,” Monroe said, clearing his throat as he stepped back, and Nick thought that maybe he wasn’t the only one who liked getting a little closer.
Monroe talked Nick through the rest of the meal, and in about fifteen minutes, they were sitting down on the sofa, plates in their laps.
“Sorry we don’t have a table,” Nick said, picking up his spoon. He’d never even thought about getting one until he looked around, seeing the place through Monroe’s eyes. Now he noticed how threadbare everything looked, from the scratches on the chair to the dents on the desk and the tuffs escaping from different parts of the sofa.
Monroe shrugged, hitching his plate a little higher on his lap. “You haven’t seen my place. Hap’d be happy with just a mattress on the floor.”
Nick smiled. “The only thing in the entire apartment?”
“Well, he’d probably have a keg too,” Monroe said with a snort. “And he’d need a refrigerator for his beer.”
“Isn’t that why he has the keg?”
“There are times when he needs his beer cold,” Monroe informed him dryly, making Nick laugh.
The rest of the evening went really well. Nick had bribed Rosalee with a much-needed dose of caffeine to pick her brain about Monroe, and he’d bought a fruit salad for desert.
Rosalee had given him great advice, and he sat there after dinner, watching Monroe wax poetic about the different fruits.
“… and this strawberry? It’s too ripe for them to have trucked it in.” Monroe took another bite, surprisingly delicate for someone of his size. He held up and considered the remaining piece - how he managed to get three bites out of one strawberry was pretty impressive. “It didn’t come from that hydroponics place out on route one.”
“How do you know that?” Nick didn’t really care, but he liked watching Monroe suck at the fruit, the way he closed his eyes and moaned when he found a particular piece that he really enjoyed. Nick was half hard, and they hadn’t even kissed yet.
“Despite what some say,” Monroe’s face took on an annoyed glare, “hydroponic strawberries don’t have the same robust taste as ones grown in the ground.” He finished the strawberry and started on a piece of peach, licking a stray drop from his bottom lip before Nick gave into temptation and licked it off himself. “Seriously, where did you get these?”
“Wu has a cousin who owns a small greenhouse a few miles outside of town,” Nick confessed.
“I think a couple of GN grad students have been working out there,” Monroe said.
Nick thought he heard a tone and couldn’t help but investigate. “That sounds like something you might be good at.”
Monroe shrugged, his eyes focused on the bowl of fruit in his lap. “The Fruit and Vegetable Management majors get first dibs at things like that. Besides, I’m busy being Chief Gardener on campus.”
“That sounds pretty impressive,” Nick said, finally taking his first bite of fruit. He was distracted for a moment, because Monroe had been right - it was really good.
He tuned back in quickly and caught the tail-end of Monroe’s next sentence. “ -ounds more impressive than it is, really. It is just a work-study thing.”
“Here,” Nick said, forking over half of his fruit into Monroe’s empty bowl.
“Are you sure?”
Nick wanted to say that as good as the fruit was, he would much rather watch Monroe eat it, but he simply smiled and said, “Just eat the fruit.”
Monroe gave him a large smile and dug right into it. “Just amazing.” He turned toward Nick abruptly. “Did you try one of the strawberries?”
Nick shook his head.
“Seriously. Eat one. I thought I’d never use the word ‘succulent’ for a strawberry, but this - ” he stabbed one with his fork and held it between them, “ - has totally changed my mind.”
Nick bent forward, sliding the piece of red fruit off the fork and letting the flavor burst on his tongue. He savored the taste as he observed Monroe’s stare, the hungry look now turned toward him, and he continued to hold Monroe’s gaze as he chewed.
“You’re right. These are fantastic.”
Monroe continued to stare, fork hovering in midair.
Nick slid a little closer, gently pulling the fork from Monroe’s fingers.
Clearing his voice, Monroe whispered, “This is a bad idea.”
“No, this is a fantastic idea,” Nick whispered back before leaning forward and capturing Monroe’s lips.
And it was good, better than Nick had imagined, and he possessed a fantastic imagination.
He’d expected the scratchiness of Monroe’s beard, but he hadn’t planned on the friction against his cheek to raise the goosebumps in his arms.
His mind barely registering the ‘thunk’ of their, thankfully, plastic bowls hitting the floor, Nick’s focus remained on Monroe’s pressing against him until they were lying on the sofa, Monroe on top of him. It took him a little while to notice that Monroe was using an arm to hold himself off of Nick, and he found that he didn’t like that idea at all.
G R I M M G R I M M G R I M M G R I M M G R I M M
Monroe’d been so focused on the fruit, each bite smelling almost as good as it tasted, that he’d somehow completely missed the smell of Nick’s arousal until Nick had wrapped his lips around the fork, slowly sliding the strawberry into his mouth, humming softly as he focused on Monroe.
And Monroe felt his control slipping. He tried to remember why this wasn’t a good idea, but everything flew out of his mind the moment Nick kissed him. And suddenly he couldn’t get close enough.
He pressed Nick down against the sofa, using an arm to prop himself as he concentrated on delving back into Nick’s mouth, which tasted even better than the fruit.
Using some sort of weird arm movement, Nick dislodged Monroe’s arm, and Monroe almost fell on top of him, barely catching himself.
“You won’t crush me,” Nick whispered against Monroe’s ear.
“So you say, until you can’t breathe.” Monroe pushed himself back up, looked into Nick’s large grey eyes, and promptly forgot what else he was going to say.
Nick sighed. “Fine.” He wiggled from underneath Monroe and flipped them until he was the one on top. “Better?”
“Mmm,” Monroe said, cupping the back of Nick’s head, pushing gently until their lips met again. He felt Nick’s smile as he plundered, all of his focus on the man whose weight his body seemed to recognize and welcome.
Then Nick moved.
Or, rather, he undulated, pressing against Monroe in all of the right places, and Monroe felt the growl press out of his chest when their erections rubbed together.
He’d put himself on self-imposed exile for so long that he was almost undone right from the start. His tight rein on himself started to loosen, and he felt the shift begin. Some lone strand of sense shot a warning to the rest of him that woging in front of Nick would be a really, really bad idea, and with great effort, he gently pushed Nick’s torso off of his. “We need - ” he groaned as Nick used that as an excuse to grind against him. “We need…” What was he going to say?
Evidently, Nick had his own ideas. “I have everything we need in my bedroom,” he whispered as he tilted his head down and took Monroe’s lips again. He reached down, cupping the throbbing bulge in Monroe's pants and squeezing, and all thought completely left Monroe’s head.
He wasn’t sure how long it took for him to register the vibrations from his phone. Even then he wanted to ignore it, but he managed to tear his lips away from Nick and gasp out, “Wait a second. My phone.”
“Ignore it.” Nick suggested, nipping at his neck, something Monroe had never found so arousing before. “That’s why we have voicemail.”
Something tugged in Monroe’s mind, slowly niggling its way forward. “Hap… It might be Hap.”
Nick gave him a look.
“He calls me to check in when he goes out,” Monroe explained, closing his eyes a moment when his movements to get to the phone resulted in other… sensations as he rubbed against Nick.
It’d taken so long that Hap’d left a message.
“Dude, I’m calling like I promised. It’s all good. I’ve been drinking, but I’m gonna stay here at Mark’s tonight. So you just have all the fun you want with your new boy, and I’ll see you tomorrow.” Hanging up, Monroe found that Nick had used the time to free his hands, and he gave Monroe’s butt a giant squeeze.
“Hey now!” Monroe shot to his feet, running a hand over his beard.
“I won’t squeeze your butt anymore if you really don’t like it,” Nick said.
“I liked it way too much,” Monroe mumbled, hazarding a look at the younger man.
Nick lay boneless on the sofa, lips swollen, pupils blown. Monroe could smell the attraction, and it took everything he had to stop himself from grabbing the younger man and taking him right there in the living room.
But it had been too long, and Monroe knew he wanted it too much. He’d end up losing control, and there was no way that was going to work out. At all. “I have to go,” he forced out.
“What?” Nick slid into a sitting position. “What did I do?”
“Too much - well, nothing. I mean I can’t - it is been too long, and I am.” Monroe forced himself to shut up and took a breath. “It’s nothing you’ve done, okay? In fact, you did everything right. Too right.”
Nick’s confusion turned into something that resembled a pout. “Let me guess. It’s not me, it’s you.”
“I’m not good at this stuff,” Monroe tried to explain, waving a hand between them.
“You seemed to be doing quite well,” Nick said.
Monroe groaned, rubbing a hand over his face. “I have to go right now before - ”
“Before what?” The anticipatory look was back on Nick’s face, and it looked way too good on him.
Monroe groaned again and tried not to run for the door. “Thanks for everything. Um, the dinner and the fruit.”
He was down the stairs and out of the building seconds later. He knew it was the coward’s way out, but sometimes the cowards were the only ones left standing in the aftermath.
He didn’t remember that he’d forgotten his stuff until he was back home.
Chapter Note: Veggie Quesadillas with Refried (or whole) Black Beans: http://pickyeaterblog.com/healthy-easy-meals-great-for-college-students-or-busy-professionals/
On to Chapter 4