Page 108 of Incubus
“What are you doing?” Nathan said, his voice a whisper just like Sasha’s, even though that much sunlight pouring in had to mean that it was at least midday.
Sasha’s grin widened. He was so close, Nathan could have counted teeth. “Trying to give you a good morning, Sleeping Beauty,” Sasha said. “You wrecked my wake-up kiss, by the way.”
That should have been cute. It should have been funny. But Nathan was only half listening. “You should be resting,” he said, grabbing onto both of Sasha’s shoulders. “Have you eaten anything? How are you feeling?”
Sasha kept on smiling, bringing one hand up to rest over Nathan’s on his shoulder and the other to touch Nathan’s face. “I’m fine,” Sasha said, and his voice and touch were so steady that Nathan had to believe him.
Nathan couldn’t stop from being worried though, even as he tried to forget two days’ worth of panic so he could breathe and maybe play along with Sasha’s easy, familiar flirting. “Tryingto…give me a good morning, huh?” Nathan said, smiling a little crookedly.
“Yeah. How am I doing?”
Fucking incredible, Nathan thought. He moved his hands to the back of Sasha’s neck and pulled the incubus closer. “As far as recent memory serves…this morning definitely beats yesterday.”
There was a rustling noise and something like a cough from above and behind Nathan, and it made him pause before his lips could brush against Sasha’s. Peeking back over his shoulder, Nathan remembered that his brother was sleeping on the couch seconds before seeing Jim’s amused blue eyes and growing blush.
Jim cleared his throat again and formed an embarrassed smile. “Err…just pretend I’m not here,” he said, and rolled over to face the inside of the couch, though his mussed longer hair still stuck out in funny places from out of the blankets.
Pushing up into a sitting position, Nathan huffed, remembering how tired he was and how that was probably why he wasn’t thinking as clearly as usual.
Of course Sasha was disappointed, and sat up next to Nathan, saying, “Ican pretend he’s not there,” with a smile clear in every word.
Nathan turned back to Sasha with a ready comeback. At least he thought it was ready, but the words fell from his tongue after a first true look at Sasha’s body. The incubus was shirtless and barefoot, which wouldn’t have been at all remarkable if not for the very large and loose sleep pants. They looked comfortable and had a drawstring, but it was the pattern that made Nathan pause.
Tiger print. Actual tiger print with black and orange stripes that clashed horribly with Sasha’s red hair.
Nathan felt an uncontrollable chuckle rising. “Whatare you wearing?”
Blue eyes glanced down to where Nathan was staring and Sasha flushed. “Uhh…”
“Are thosezubaz?”
“They’re Schuester’s!” Sasha defended. He whirled on Nathan, pointing an accusing finger. “You left all of our stuff in the car. And I wanted a shower when I woke up. My choices for something comfortable to wear were these or the same pair in purple, okay?”
Nathan was already halfway into a full out guffaw before Sasha finished his first sentence. “Dude, at least purple would match that hair better,” he said, and then brought a hand up to his own hair to scratch his head. Nathan immediately grimaced. “Did you say shower? ‘Cause that sounds awesome.”
Climbing out of his sleeping bag and onto his feet, Nathan arched his back in a great stretch. He felt gross. And achy. And tired. At least the wound on his leg wasn’t throbbing anymore, but Nathan hated sleeping in dirty clothes. A glance down reminded him that he was still wearing the same T-shirt he’d had on during Sasha’s birthday. Laundry time didn’t come often or easy for them, but Nathan had a deep desire to strip and hose himself down.
Sasha stood up next to him, pulling Nathan’s eyes straight to the waistline of those pants. Sasha always wore his jeans a little low, but the zubaz were hanging down so far that they bordered on being indecent. There wasa lotof visible tattoo.
A strangled cough left Nathan’s throat. “You better tighten the strings on those pants, man, or…I think you’re gonna lose ‘em,” he said, pulling his eyes with some difficulty back up to Sasha’s face.
“Oh?” Sasha said, stepping onto Nathan’s rumpled sleeping bag to bring their bodies closer together. “You say that, but the look on your face tells me you’re just wishing that’s what would happen.”
Nathan gulped as Sasha teased his fingers around the drawstring of the loose-fitting pants.
When a barely contained snort rose up from the couch, Nathan came back to his senses and remembered Jim again. It was almost entirely out of principle that Nathan reached down to pick up his pillow, smacked it hard on top of Jim’s head, and left it there.
But, before Nathan could walk away, Sasha was sidling up to him, getting in Nathan’s personal space and pulling Nathan closer by the hips. “Shower. Change. Whatever you need to do,” Sasha said, “but I’m taking that good morning kiss, Nathan. Because I’m stillhereto take it."
Nathan didn’t mind giving in, not today, but he still had to grin and say, “You know, I haven’t brushed my teeth in…” He trailed, honestly stopping to think about that and coming up blank. “I…really can’t remember. Ew.”
Sasha just laughed. “I think I can bear it.”
It was the last thing Nathan wanted to think about as they leaned in toward each other—the last time they kissed, theirlastkiss—but his mind couldn’t help going right back to that moment as their lips pressed together. Somewhere in the back of Nathan’s throat a sob tried to break out, but likehellwas he going to allow that. He wasn’t weak. And he wasn’t afraid anymore. He didn’t have time to be afraid.
Slipping his hands onto Sasha’s hips the way Sasha’s were on his, Nathan found even more reason to be grateful for how low Sasha’s pants were riding. All he touched was skin, real, alive, warm skin, and it made everything better.
Nathan flicked his tongue along Sasha’s lips and pressed further forward. Maybe it wasn’t so hard, pretending Jim wasn’t there. It wasn't as if he didn't know about them.
