JOHNNY AND EVAN PLUS SEVEN - Part 65
Johnny pan-fried the steaks lovingly, just a few minutes on each side, in a simple marinade of balsamic vinegar with a hint of red wine sauce. He positioned them neatly on plates, then arranged a few spears of steamed asparagus (no butter) next to each steak. The steaks, asparagus, green salads, and goblets of water were on the table and Johnny was just putting out the finishing touch - a dessert plate with nothing on it but one spectacular, hand-made chocolate truffle and a Wusthof paring knife to cut it - just as Evan loped down the stairs and into the dining room.
“Is this okay?” he asked, indicating what he was wearing, which consisted of jeans and a black tee. “I feel underdressed.”
Johnny ran up to him and threw his arms around Evan’s waist and hugged him hard. “You big galoot, don’t you get it? I like your boring fashion choices, it shows that you’re too macho to care. Your manliness is so magnetic!”
“You’re making fun of me,” Evan complained - and in fact Johnny was batting his eyelashes at Evan in a terribly annoying fashion - but Evan put his arms around Johnny and set his chin on top of Johnny’s head and rocked him lightly.
“Only kind of,” said Johnny. “Mmm, you smell so clean and fresh.” Johnny eeled out of Evan’s embrace and moved to the table. “Let’s not let things get cold; everything’s perfect right this second.”
Before Johnny could pull out his own chair, Evan scurried over and whisked it out. Johnny rolled his eyes but he was smiling, and he let Evan push the chair under him. “You’re an Olympian and a gentleman,” he said.
Evan sat down and looked suspiciously at the truffle. “What’s that?”
“A gift from Galina. We have to share. Two truffles would have been overdoing it, apparently.”
“Galina’s going along with all this?”
“Yes, well,” said Johnny, snapping out his linen napkin and placing it on his lap, “I believe it’s her way of letting me know that life is more important than skating.”
“That’s kind of a difference between her and Frank. I’ll always be grateful to Frank for pushing me so hard. Still, it must be nice having someone like Galina or Priscilla for a coach.”
“Galina pushes me.”
“Not like Frank pushes. Trust me on that.”
Johnny crossed his eyes and made a horrible face. It was meant to be Frank but it might have gotten lost in translation.
“How elegant,” said Evan.
“Eat,” said Johnny, deploying his steak knife and fork.
Evan spent most of the dinner alternately staring at Johnny’s nipples and trying to tear his eyes away, which Johnny found extremely amusing. “My eyes are up here,” he said more than once, pretending to be upset.
“You’re the one who dressed like that on purpose.”
“Yet I underestimated its effect on you.”
When Johnny got up to take the dishes to the kitchen and set them soaking in the sink, he thoughtfully brushed up against Evan’s shoulder, giving him an eye-level view of his nipples peeking over the top of the corset. When he came back and brushed past Evan again, Evan snagged an arm around his waist and pulled Johnny onto his lap. Evan’s legs were so long that Johnny was able to curl his own legs up and perch comfortably. He reached for the truffle plate and used the knife to cut the truffle into two neat halves.
“Open up,” said Johnny, and popped one half into Evan’s mouth, and then the other into his own. For nearly a minute they concentrated on savoring the treat. The noises of ecstatic enjoyment were close to orgasmic.
“Come April, I’m going to have a whole truffle all to myself,” announced Evan.
“Me, too,” said Johnny. He relaxed against Evan’s shoulder, burrowing his face into Evan’s neck. Evan’s arms were loosely draped around him. Life was good. “Can I stay here forever?”
“My thighs are already going numb.”
“Oh my, can’t the big strong man deal?”
“Okay, that’s it, get up.”
“Huh?”
Evan grabbed Johnny’s waist and set him on his feet, where he wobbled slightly.
“Evan! What are you - oh.”
Evan stood up and hoisted Johnny into his arms.
“Put me down, you gorilla,” said Johnny. “What are you doing?”
“What does it look like?” said Evan. “I’m carrying you upstairs.”
“Whyyyyy?”
“Because it’s manly and romantic.” Evan hung onto Johnny and started walking.
Johnny squirmed, trying to get Evan to drop him. “Evan, you don’t want to strain something right before a competition.”
“You’re practically weightless. I’m going to buy a whole box of truffles and feed them to you come April.”
“Evaaaaaaaaaaaaan! Stop!”
“Give me one good reason.” Evan didn’t sound like he thought there was any possible reason.
“We have to blow out the candles or the house might burn down!”
That worked. Evan stopped. He thought for a moment. He put Johnny down. “Stay,” he ordered, going back to the dining area and blowing out the candles.
Johnny took the opportunity to dash up the stairs.
“Hey!” yelled Evan, coming to the bottom of the stairs and flipping on the upper-hall light. It was amazing how, even when yelling, he could do it in a monotone.
Johnny was standing at the top of the stairs, looking down at Evan and grinning. “Your caveman act is such a turn-on, Lysacek.” He stuck out his tongue.
“Stop mocking me,” growled Evan.
“Oh? Come up here and make me.” Johnny flailed a bit, just for fun, and disappeared from sight.
Evan ran up the stairs and down the hallway to the master bedroom. As he reached the doorway, Johnny was in the midst of leaping onto the bed. He bounced and rolled around. Evan slammed the door shut and then jumped on the bed and grabbed Johnny, goosing his sides. Johnny shrieked with laughter and batted Evan’s hands away, and then Evan got him in a bear hug and they rolled around on the bed together, each wrestling for dominance. The bed was so huge that even long-limbed Evan wasn’t in danger of falling off an edge.
Johnny so loved that bed.
“Ow, my shin!” Johnny suddenly wailed. Evan released him immediately and Johnny grabbed his leg and whimpered.
“Johnny, what is it? Did I do something?”
“It’s just a bruise I got at the rink, I’ll be okay in a minute. Ow, fuck. It hurts so bad.”
Evan laid on the bed, curled up beside Johnny, rubbing his shoulder soothingly until the pain faded. Johnny tested his leg, stretched it carefully, and then sighed and curled into Evan’s body. “I’m scared, Evan,” he said.
“Of being hurt?”
Johnny nodded.
“You’re not talking about the bruise, are you?”
Johnny shook his head. “Sort of, but not really.”
“Listen to me, Johnny, I’m not going to hurt you, I promise. If I can put up with your bitchiness - and I think I’ve proved that already to everybody’s satisfaction, and be sure to tell me if I’m wrong,” he said sardonically, “then I can put up with anything. Plus your mom totally threatened me in her friendly, polite way.”
Johnny snorted. “Thank you, Mama Patti.” He laid on his back and looked up at the ceiling. The room was illuminated only by moonlight from the windows.
Evan propped his head on one hand and explored the various textures of Johnny’s clothing. “How does this thing even work?” he said, touching the corset.
“You’re smart enough to figure it out,” said Johnny.
Evan’s hand roamed lower, over a strip of bare skin between the corset and the pants.
“If you say one more thing about my ass,” Johnny warned.
Evan snickered and stuck his hand down the pants, which were much stretchier than the jeans had been earlier in the day. “Hey, what’s this?”
“Oh, um,” Johnny started to say.
Evan pulled the pants down a bit to reveal the delicately lacy panties. “Wow, is that girls’ underwear?”
“Overkill?” asked Johnny, suddenly nervous.
“Um, that’s a bit, kind of…”
“Girly?”
“Kinda?”
“I thought you said you liked it.”
“A little bit of it, sure.” But Evan sounded uncertain now. “You’re not wearing a bra, are you?”
“A bra?” Johnny huffed. “Where would I be hiding a bra?” he asked, stretching his arms out. “Do you see a bra under my see-through shirt?”
Evan found himself staring at the perky nipples again.
Johnny smacked him lightly upside the head. “Is there a new set of rules? Because you need to tell me, like, now. The stress is going to make me break out right when I need to be gorgeous.”
Evan touched one nipple and stroked it lightly through the filmy shirt. “You’re always gorgeous. And I have no right to tell you what to do. I’m sorry I said anything.”
“Oh, don’t,” said Johnny. “You’re allowed an opinion. I’ll trade you - you stop popping your collars up and I’ll never wear a bra. Around you.”
Evan’s fingers moved to the buckles of the corset. He started to undo them, one after the other. “How about we just be ourselves and I’ll try not to get freaked out. Truth, dude, I admire your crazy individuality.”
Johnny pushed Evan’s bangs out of his eyes. “One rule,” he said. “Please don’t call me dude.”
Evan’s fingers paused on the final buckle. “I don’t bitch when you call me girl.”
“Do you want me to stop? I will if you want.”
Evan shrugged. “It doesn’t bother me. Much.”
“I’ll stop.”
“No, don’t. It’s funny, actually. I kind of love that you’re bitchy and queenly.”
“I think you mean queen-y.”
“That, too.”
Johnny giggled and arched his back luxuriantly. “I love your monotone. And you can call everyone dude except me.” Johnny stroked Evan’s cheek. “Call me something sweeter.”
Evan undid the last buckle. “Darling? Sweetheart? Honeybunch? Sugar plum? Kitten?” He pulled the corset open and started on the tiny buttons of the shirt beneath.
“Touch me, liebchen,” whispered Johnny.
“Oh god, Johnny,” Evan said, pulling the shirt aside and leaning over to kiss Johnny’s nipples. There were little creases on Johnny’s skin from where the shirt had been pressed against it. Evan smoothed his hand over the skin. He followed it by rubbing his cheek against Johnny's chest, making Johnny gasp.
Johnny grabbed the hem of Evan’s tee. “This, off.”
Evan sat up and tugged the shirt over his head. Johnny sat up and helped him. The shirt hit the floor, followed by the corset.
“Kiss me, you fool,” said Johnny, falling against Evan in a pretend-swoon.
Evan did just that, but he couldn’t help laughing, so it turned out to be a silly kiss. Johnny got up on his knees and straddled Evan, shoving him down to the bed. He pressed his hands against Evan’s toned chest. He touched the equilateral triangle of moles just above Evan’s left nipple.
“This is like a symbol of something. Maybe an angel marked you at birth.”
Evan snorted and pulled Johnny down, hands slipping beneath the shirt to stroke Johnny’s back. “A fallen angel, maybe?”
“Maybe.” Johnny bracketed his elbows around Evan’s head and pushed his hands into Evan’s thick hair. “Did I ever tell you I love how tall you are?” he said quietly, brushing his lips maddeningly slowly against Evan’s, back and forth. The tingling feeling was electric.
Evan slipped the shirt from Johnny’s shoulders and pulled it off, running the backs of his hands over Johnny’s slender arms all the way down. Then he reached for the fly of Johnny’s pants and pulled them down. He rolled both of them over on the bed and yanked the pants the rest of the way off, leaving the girly panties in place although they barely covered Johnny’s cock. He grabbed Johnny’s ass with one hand and pulled him against his own thigh. With the other hand he held Johnny’s head and kissed him firmly.
“Epic,” Johnny managed to mutter around Evan’s tongue, and he popped all the buttons on Evan’s jeans even as he tried to rub his crotch against Evan’s. Meanwhile, Evan was working hard to live up to Johnny’s “epic kisser” comment and making a great go of it, all messy and deep and heartfelt.
“Evan,” Johnny said, pulling away a tiny bit, “much as I admire your Ralph Lauren Signature Undies for Men, let’s get naked.”
“I’m on it,” said Evan, sitting up and hooking his fingers in the lacy panties. “These are growing on me, but they’re not much at coverage.” He pulled them down Johnny’s thighs. “I love your penis,” he said, almost choking on the word.
“Oh, Evan, the things you say.” Johnny lifted his legs so that Evan could get the panties entirely off.
Evan grinned and then squirmed out of his own (Ralph Lauren Signature) briefs and kicked them off.
Johnny stared at Evan’s erection. “Oh, my,” he said. “That’s very nice. But no penetration,” he added.
“Huh?”
“Not before a competitive skate.”
“Oh, okay. Um, what do we do, then?”
Johnny reached out his arms. “Come down here, you big goofy mongoose.”
Evan willingly laid himself on top of Johnny, and Johnny wrapped his legs around the backs of Evan’s thighs. He rubbed gently against Evan. “This feels good. Just… rock me gently, rock me slowly,” Johnny started singing.
“What is that?” Evan asked. But he obeyed, rocking their bodies together, holding Johnny tight in his arms and kissing his too-prominent collarbones.
Johnny kept going: “Take it easy, don’t you know, I have never been loved like this before.” It was a song his mom loved, but he wasn’t about to tell that to Evan. Not right now.
“Never been loved?” Evan growled against his throat. “For real?”
“Oh, give it up, Evan, fuck me already.”
“I thought you said no-“
“Darling, it’s a metaphor. Make me come. Faster. Harder. I’m not going to break. Harder. More. Ouch, that pinches.” Johnny reached between them to adjust something. “Okay, keep going, oh Evan, you feel incredible, you’re so masculine, you’re so macho, you are so big and strong.”
“Stop trying to make me laugh,” Evan huffed, attempting to concentrate on kissing Johnny and failing, losing his rhythm.
“Oh, come on, Mongoose, you are so sexy, you are my hero, no one has ever made me feel like a woman the way you make me feel like-“
“Johnny, do you always talk through - like that other time, um…” Evan was having trouble multitasking, what with trying to fuck Johnny without any actual fucking going on and simultaneously trying to do the epic kissing thing.
Johnny bit Evan’s lip rather hard. “Pay attention if you want to keep me. I like having Renaissance poetry quoted to me during lovemaking.”
“Shut up,” said Evan. “I’m trying to have an orgasm here and you won’t shut up.”
“Make me,” challenged Johnny.
Evan pushed his thigh deeper between Johnny’s thighs, wrapped an arm tightly around Johnny, and put a hand over Johnny’s mouth. That stopped the words but not the sounds, which were flatteringly orgasmic. With Johnny held down so effectively, Evan rocked them faster and harder, until the top of his head banged against the headboard.
Johnny ripped Evan’s hand away from his mouth and gasped for air. “Evan,” he sighed, “Evan, Evan, ohmigod Evan.” He felt vaguely embarrassed by the sentimentality of repeating Evan’s name, but he couldn’t seem to stop his traitorous tongue. He felt his orgasm building to an inevitable conclusion and tightened his thighs against Evan. He was surprised to feel Evan coming first with a manly grunt and a mumbled “My little swan,” and then all he could feel were the iron bands of Evan’s arms pinning him to the mattress and, nonsensically, the sensation of falling over a cliff at the same moment. “Oh goodness,” he panted, coming all over Evan.
He struggled out of Evan’s embrace and rolled onto his back.
Evan seemed apprehensive. “Was that okay?”
Johnny hmmmphed. “Yes, Evan.”
“Better than the other time?”
Johnny chewed on his own lip, not answering.
“You know,” Evan urged, as though he thought Johnny had forgotten. “In the pool cabana.”
“Evan! I know what time you mean, it wasn’t all that long ago and yes! Yes, this was so much better.”
“Oh. Okay. I’m glad.”
They lay for long moments, breathing hard, not speaking.
“Johnny?” Evan asked quietly.
“Oh, what is it?” Johnny said meanly. “Do you need to be cuddled now?” He rolled onto his side away from Evan. Suddenly he wanted to be alone. He’d expected to be less scared, not more, after having sex with Evan for the second time. He closed his eyes tightly and willed the world to fade away: for him to be alone in his own bed back in New Jersey. It didn’t work; instead he felt a finger trailing lightly down his spine.
“Johnny, are you crying?”
Johnny pounded the mattress with his fist. “Of course I’m crying, goddamnit, don’t sound so surprised!” And with that the floodgates opened and to his horror he found he was sobbing like the heroine of a trashy romance novel, covering his face with his hands.
Right on cue, Evan the hero said, “Come here,” and manhandled Johnny until he was turned around and smushed up against Evan’s manly chest. He cried for a long while as Evan made insipid, soothing baby-talk sounds and finally asked, “What’s wrong? Did I do it wrong?” like the world’s most clueless idiot.
“I can’t do this,” Johnny muttered through his hands. He clutched at the sheets to dry his eyes and blow his nose. “Give me some room, you’re like a kraken.”
“Not letting go,” said Evan, nonetheless loosening his grip slightly. “Tell me what’s wrong. I can take constructive criticism, I know I suck at gay sex.”
That made Johnny laugh a little, through his tears, in a clichéd kind of way. “It’s not you, it’s me. I don’t think I can do this again.”
“Do what?”
“I’m not made for being in love, I can’t do it. I need to be alone.” Johnny felt a sudden twinge of alarm, because he knew that he owed an explanation to Evan now, but he so did not want to say it. His heart stuttered for a strange moment and he breathed in sharply.
“Johnny?” said Evan in a worried tone.
Johnny exhaled carefully. “Something you don’t know. That I’m going to tell you. So you know me better.”
“Okay,” said Evan, in the lovingly patient voice that Johnny had once mocked as a monotone but now had come to cherish.
“I gave up love four years ago. I mean romantic love, naturally.”
“Um,” Evan started to protest.
Johnny was in no mood for a motivational pep talk. “No, listen. I’ve slept with some guys since then but I decided I shouldn’t have any more relationships. I can have sex for fun, and anyway it’s mostly with myself, because then at least there won’t be any cheating.”
“Isn’t that drastic?”
Johnny frowned. “I got cheated on, and that’s something I never want to experience again in my life. Ever.”
“Who was it? I will kill him for you.”
“No, it’s not like that, I got over it. Drew and I are friends now.”
“Drew?”
“Not our Drew. God, imagine how I felt when I found out one of your kids had the same name as my first love.”
“First love?” Evan sounded sad and jealous at the same moment. “You said I was the first boy you kissed.”
“Yes, you creep, and after you ran away, Drew found me. He didn’t run away after one kiss. Don’t frown at me, Evan, it’s your own fault. Drew stuck around, he made me feel incredible. He told me we had to keep it secret because it was only for us, he didn’t want to share me with the world or some shit like that. I was a besotted little twerp. For three fucking years.”
Johnny felt Evan’s body stiffen slightly. “Wait,” said Evan. “Drew Meekins?”
“Who else? How many Drews do we know?”
“Drew Meekins?”
“How are you always so oblivious, Evan?”
Evan was silent, presumably working it all out for himself: competitions where the ice dancers were at the same rinks with the single skaters, locker room showers all over the world. “You loved him?” he finally asked.
“I thought I did. Maybe I’m not capable of that kind of love.” Johnny rubbed at his eyes and tried to push farther away from Evan. Evan relaxed his hold a bit more. “He was so full of shit,” Johnny continued, “I can see that now, but I was just trying to learn how to be myself, I knew I was different, that I liked boys and that I liked being pretty even though I got called fag sometimes, and there he was, claiming I was his eternal love but keeping me a dirty secret like he was ashamed of me.”
“The way I acted didn’t help, did it?” Evan asked quietly.
“At least you did it right up front instead of fucking me for three years and then cheating on me.”
“I will kill him,” Evan said darkly.
“You pantywaist, you can’t kill anyone,” Johnny replied with fond sadness. “But you see what I mean? I have issues. Trust issues. Abandonment issues.”
“I can so kill him,” Evan insisted.
“Oh, please.”
“Are you laughing at me?” Evan asked.
“A little.”
Evan got up on his elbows and loomed over Johnny.
“Don’t stare at me right now,” said Johnny. “My mascara is probably a mess.”
“You use mascara?”
Johnny squinted up at Evan in the moonlit darkness. “You’re joking, right?”
Evan grinned. “Yes, I am joking about the mascara, but no I’m not joking when I tell you that I’m going to blow right past your trust and abandonment issues, because I am very serious and I will never ever do anything that hurts you. Like, ever. Um. Ever again, that is. That was a long time ago anyway. If I ever do anything like that again you have permission to smack me a good one.”
“Believe me, I will,” Johnny said, struggling to get free. The tears were all dried up but now he had to pee and get cleaned up and that sort of thing.
“Does this mean I get another chance?”
“Girl, you are so persistent.”
“It’s one of my charms. I’ve been told.”
Johnny put his arms around Evan’s neck and pulled lightly until Evan leaned down and they shared a damp kiss. “Second chance,” breathed Johnny.
Evan kissed Johnny’s pointy nose. “You will not regret it.”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”
“I’m good at keeping promises.” Evan kissed Johnny’s pretty mouth again. “So it wasn’t bad this time, was it?”
“The sex? No, Evan, it was wonderful.”
“Do you mean that? You were talking and laughing, like, the whole time.”
“That’s the best kind of sex, honey.”
“Really? Does that mean we can do it again?”
“Probably not before April,” Johnny said with a sigh. “Wait, you mean round two? Are we young enough? Mightn’t it sap all our vital juices? And then neither one of us would make the podium. Plus I feel sticky and icky. Let’s freshen up first at the very least - mmmph," he stopped as Evan managed to shut him up by kissing him soundly.
So they had a three-way with the master suite’s sex shower. Afterwards they found a dry spot on the sheets big enough to accommodate both of them. Johnny didn’t always like being held in bed; he found it was not conducive to falling asleep. He needed room, and lots of it. He pulled the sheet up to his chest and shoved his pillow into a comfortable shape for his head. Evan respected his need for distance, he was happy to see, close but not touching, on his side facing Johnny. Even in the moonlight, it was clear that there were stars in Evan’s eyes. It felt overwhelming. Trust, abandonment, competitive skating, cheating, false lovers… Johnny was giving himself a headache thinking about it. He tried to think of something sweeter, like Isadora, but that turned out to be a bad idea.
“You realize I’m going to cry like a baby all day tomorrow, right?” he said to the ceiling.
“You realize there’ll be a shoulder for you to cry on, right?” Evan said.
Johnny looked over at Evan, and then something just popped inside him somewhere, some tense, frightened thing. And it was gone, just like that. It felt too easy, too soon, too sudden, so he was careful not to let Evan know. But he shifted closer to Evan and snuggled up against his body. He yawned; he said tiredly, “Is that another promise?”
“Promise,” Evan said, getting comfortable with Johnny’s head on his chest and Johnny’s limbs draping all over him. When Johnny was breathing deeply, seeming asleep at last, Evan murmured with intense silliness, “Sleep, my only one, and dream of my love.”
“I heard that,” Johnny mumbled, not opening his eyes. “I’m gonna kick your ass in Nagano.”
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