Page 45 of Gunpowder

Blair looked up at a mumbled curse and found Wren’s hair still getting the best of him. “Hey, hey. Stop before you pull it all out. Hold still.” Blair crawled over to sit on the bed behind him, but rather than try to embrace him, he pulled Wren’s hands away from their failing task.

Wren huffed but he didn’t protest Blair carefully working through his hair. All of it wasn’t going to lay down without some product but he could at least make it look less like he had spent an hour in a windstorm. One of the longer pieces in the front was having none of it, though. Blair sighed and began twisting it between his fingers.

“Your hair isn’t very long,” Wren said.

Blair waited for more but he didn’t say anything else. “No, not really.”

“You’re good with hair, but I wouldn’t expect yours to need much maintenance.”

Blair laughed. His hair could probably use a little more care than he gave it but it just didn’t matter to him if it stuck out in different directions. “My little sister always had me fix her hair for her. Mom would pull the crap out of it if Hope asked her for help but I was a softie so she would come to me.” He held the end of the section of hair he had braided and did some wriggling to get his wallet out of his back pocket with the other. He took the bobby pin out of the credit card slot and pinned the braid against the side of Wren’s head. He pulled a few strands down to cover the pin. “There you go, all done.”

Wren touched the side of his head. “Why do you have a hairpin? Do you often find yourself rushing to Hope’s aid when she’s having a hair emergency?”

“I used to carry it for picking locks before Julian got me an actual pick set.”

“You know, it’s easy to forget you participate in anything illegal,” Wren said with a taunt in his voice.

Blair glared at the back of his head. “I don’t know how.”

“Because as obsessed as you are with them, you don’t seem like you belong with Incindious.”

The words struck an old chord, sending once buried doubts ringing through his mind, images of his family moving on without him flashing before his eyes, and he moved from behind Wren to stand from the bed. “We should probably get going.”

“You almost seem offended that I don’t think you fit in with a bunch of lowlife criminals,” Wren said, following him to the door.

Blair whirled on his heel. “Don’t call them that!” He actually saw a flash of surprise on Wren’s face and the anger bled out as quickly as it arrived. He knew Wren didn’t mean anything by it—he never did when he started running his mouth. Blair dropped his head against Wren’s chest in defeat. “I didn’t mean to snap, but seriously, please don’t talk about them that way. They look out for me.”

Wren tolerated the affection long enough to pat the top of Blair’s head before stepping away. “Let’s go.”

It wasn’t an acceptance of his apology or an agreement to what he asked, but it was good enough. Blair knew what to expect. They might have been intimate that night, but Wren was still Wren.

Their footsteps echoed in the parking garage as they walked back to the Audi. Wren shifted up as soon as they turned out of the garage and into the street. He drummed his fingers on his thigh for a moment. Then, in such a subtle way that Blair wouldn’t have noticed if he wasn’t watching him, he turned his hand to let his palm face up. His eyes were fixed on the road but the indecisive twitch of his fingers betrayed him.

Blair reached over and took his hand. That warm feeling in his chest just kept constricting tighter, like a vise threatening to crush his heart if he opened it any further.

The Audi glided to a stop at the curb. Blair felt like it had been longer than just a few hours since he left the apartment. He watched the sign flash at the gas station on the corner. He looked at it without really seeing it, too preoccupied with feeling like he finally understood some fraction of Wren, a tiny piece of who he was under the brilliance and the indifference and the boundless sarcasm.

“Earth to Blair.”

Blair unbuckled his seatbelt. “Sorry. I’m just worn out. In a good way,” he added hastily.

“I’ll walk you up.”

He didn’t argue against having a little more time together. Their shadows stretched long and gangly under the yellow glow of the streetlamps. Inside, Wren was slow to ascend the stairs, which Blair expected was more for his benefit than for Wren’s legs that were used to trekking around a hospital all day. The pace left only a minor ache in his thigh by the time he reached his door.

Wren kissed him soundly. His mouth remained closed and his hands sedentary on Blair’s waist, but it was still enough to make Blair’s breath catch until Wren pulled away. It would have been easy to pull him back down and continue; easier still to unlock the door and pick up where they left off at the hotel.

For the night, though, Blair was satisfied, not to mention exhausted. He slid his arms around Wren’s waist to rest his hands on his back. “You should come over next time you’re not tied up at school or the hospital.”

“Are you going to tie me up instead?”

You’d like that, you freak. “I’m gonna make you dinner, weirdo.”

“I’m testing out of another class this week. I’ll let you know when that’s over,” Wren said, draping his arms over Blair’s shoulders

Blair narrowed his eyes. “You better tell me how your exam goes this time!”

“Fine. What are you doing, by the way?” Wren asked.

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