Page 46 of Gunpowder

Blair didn’t realize he was doing anything until Wren asked and he found his fingers lightly running down Wren’s back through his jacket, over the places he’d scratched earlier. He felt himself turn bright red when he said, “Nothing. I just… I know you wanted it and everything, but I hope I didn’t hurt you too bad.”

Wren rolled his eyes. “You worry too much.” He took Blair’s face in his hands, making it flush even hotter when Blair thought of the reason Wren no longer had his gloves. “Go inside.”

“Yeah, goodnight to you, too.”

His attitude was swallowed up by another kiss, and Wren’s back was already to him when he opened his eyes. He grinned and unlocked the apartment. Then he just stood there, watching the tall, retreating figure until a beeping sound reminded him he had to disarm the security panel. He shut the door and punched in the code. It felt silly, but he was already looking forward to the next time they saw each other. He got to cook for Wren, and the thought filled him with both nerves and anticipation. Even with Wren’s earlier words still hovering in the back of his mind.

Pain is the only thing that feels like something.

What did that even mean? He kicked his shoes off and sat on the couch, knowing he’d have to wind down before he was able to sleep. If Wren had said pain was the only thing that he could get off on, Blair would have figured him for a masochist and that would have been the end of it. The way he put it sounded like more than that. Blair considered the possibility that he couldn’t feel softer touches, maybe had some weird nerve thing going on. Or maybe it was a mental thing and he just didn’t get that turned on unless it was rough. He chucked his phone onto the cushion beside him with a sigh.

Blair saw a light flash in the corner of his eye; the blue notification light on his phone. He wondered how long he’d had an unread text message since he couldn’t remember the last time he had bothered to check. The chime that alerted him to new texts could have easily gotten lost in the background noise of the restaurant or gone unnoticed altogether after they’d got to their room.

He unlocked his phone and opened his messaging screen.

Spencer

Phantom shot up the bar.

Blood pounded in his ears. He read the message two, three more times before he processed it. His brain finally caught up and he pounded the phone icon next to Spencer’s name on the screen. It took a couple of tries before his shaking finger landed on it.

“Kennedy.”

“You could have tried harder to get in touch with me!” he yelled to Spencer’s calm greeting. He would have been a lot more likely to hear his ringtone than the single sound his phone made for a text.

“It’s not like the whole gang showed up. We had it under control,” Spencer said, so calmly that Blair wanted to throttle him.

Blaie clenched his fist on his leg. He was supposed to be at the front of the fights, but in his current condition he wondered how much use he even was to Incindious. “Is anybody hurt?”

“Just my bar.”

Blair sagged against the back of the couch as his panic subsided. Thank fucking god everyone was still in one piece. “How bad is it?”

“Pretty bad. I’d steer clear of it for now, but we’re at Julian’s place if you want to come meet up with us here.”

“I’ll be there in twenty.” He hung up and stared at the ceiling. His apartment was fucking cursed. He swore if he was there for more than ten peaceful minutes, he was bound to get a phone call or a visit to his door that had him running off to deal with an emergency. “I’m gonna move,” he muttered, getting to his feet.

Traffic wasn’t bad that time of night, so he was right on time when he threw the kickstand of his bike down in front of Julian’s building. It was small, housing only eight apartments; likely because they were monstrous in size. He took the stairs as quickly as he could with his leg screaming in protest and knocked on the door to the second floor apartment.

Julian opened the door with a weary smile. “Come on—Woah.” His eyes dropped and then widened. Then he started to laugh, loud and fake. “Look at you, all dressed up and nowhere to go!” He yanked his scarf off and wrapped it hurriedly around Blair’s neck.

Julian pulled him inside and leaned down to his ear as Blair passed him. “Do not touch that scarf,” he whispered fiercely.

All Blair could do was nod, as Spencer had just surfaced from the bathroom. He looked like he had just splashed water on his face, a few wet strands of hair still clinging to his face. “If Felix is going to stick it out at the bar then I guess I better head back, too.” Spencer stopped in front of Julian. “Our addresses shouldn’t be listed anywhere Phantom can access them but I’m going to leave Blair here with you just in case they try anything else.”

Julian crossed his arms. “I don’t like fighting but I’m not totally helpless.”

“Call it the buddy system, then. Just stay put and stay safe, okay?” Spencer ran a hand over the top of Julian’s hair and melted his scowl into more of a pout.

Blair stepped out of the way of the door, but not before he said, “I’m sorry I didn’t get here sooner. With everything going on, I should have kept a better eye on my phone.”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s not like anyone had time to call you once shots started getting fired, and by the time it was over you couldn’t have done anything. Keep this one out of trouble and let’s call it even.” Spencer threw him a smile before letting himself out of the apartment.

Julian had already folded himself onto the couch. Blair sat on the other end and put his feet on the mint green ottoman. There was no questioning that the apartment belonged to Julian. It was cluttered with expensive things that lined the shelves or closets just because they were expensive, and the walls were covered in art depicting various eras of fashion.

Speaking of soft, “What was with the scarf attack?”

“Well your neck looks like you were maimed by a wild animal, and Spencer would have had a field day giving you grief for it.” Julian grinned and scooted closer. “So, tell me all about it.”

---