Page 100 of Ours
“Yeah, Cor.” Derek scooted a little closer as well. “There wasn’t even a question. As soon as we knew you were out here, we left. Even if you weren’t talking to us, hated us, it still feels like you’re…”
“Ours,” Nic finished for Derek, who somehow seemed extremely eloquent with a single word.
“Yeah. Ours,” Derek concurred. “You’ve always been ours, Cory. I’m so sorry for taking advantage of that.”
Nic bumped his shoulder against Cory’s, silently adding his apology to Derek’s. Cory looked up, unable to stop a small smile crossing his face. But sweet words wouldn’t fix everything.
“I…” Cory wasn’t sure what he wanted to say. “I don’t—”
“It’s okay.” Derek stopped him. “There’s alotwe need to talk about. To apologize for. But I think it can wait for the morning when we can get out of here. If that’s okay with you?”
Cory nodded silently.
“Good.” Derek smiled. “Then for now, let’s just…” Derek figured an example was better than an explanation and slid back down to lay on the bed, pulling Cory to move with him.
“Wait a sec.” Nic left the bed for a minute to turn off the lamp they had left on earlier, rejoining the boys on the bed on Cory’s right side.
“Why are we naked?” Cory had just noted their group nudity at Nic’s brief exit.
“Your clothes were soaked. We just wanted to get you warm and dry,” Derek explained before moving closer and putting an arm across Cory’s chest, which Nic mirrored from his side.
Cory felt a lot of things. Happy. Confused. Worried. Safe? He didn’t know what this meant, what any of it meant.Are things just going to go back to how they were before? Can they?
Derek saw the turmoil of emotion cross Cory’s face, turmoil that would undoubtedly prevent the boy from falling back asleep. What Cory needed was a distraction. So, he leaned in, turned Cory’s head by his cheek, and kissed him.
Cory’s eyes were wide as he was kissed for the second time by a “straight” friend. Kissed for the second time ever. Heseriouslyneeded to do more of this. He allowed Derek to kiss him, opening his mouth when he felt the swipe of a tongue against his lips. He was just about to close his eyes when a cough from Nic drew his attention. Tearing himself away from Derek, he turned to look at Nic questioningly.
“Um,” Nic fumbled his words, and so he followed Derek’s lead and kissed the boy as well.
“I—”
“In the morning,” Nic shushed Cory before he started asking too many questions and kissed him again.
In the dark of the cabin, the three boys laid in bed together, holding each other closely, hands roaming, mouths on skin, but no one made an attempt to reach for themselves. No one was trying to get off, dominate, or fuck. They were just … being together. For comfort. Maybe for love? The morning held a lot for them to deal with.
This was enough, for now.
Derek was the first to wake, the morning light creeping in through the cabin windows. The storm had passed, and it was time to deal with the aftermath. Opening his eyes, Derek’s first view was Cory’s face, Nic having spooned him as they slept, all three of their limbs thrown over each other and tangled together.
Derek smiled. He didn’t wanna wake them up. But he needed to be responsible. So, very reluctantly, Derek untangled his limbs from the other’s, rousing them in the process.
“Morning,” Derek greeted, giving them one last squeeze with his arms before releasing them and pulling himself from the bed.
“Mmmmm. Morning.” Cory rubbed his eyes as he leaned up on his elbow.
Nic only grumbled to himself, flipping onto his stomach and turning his head away, determined to get more sleep.
Derek chuckled at the scene as he walked to his phone on the counter.Perfect!He had a signal.
“Can we go to McDonalds for breakfast?” Cory asked as he sat up. “I’m starving.”
Derek cocked his head at the boy who only hours ago was half-drowned after getting lost in the woods.
“We’re going to thehospital.” Derek tossed his phone onto the bed. “Call your mom. She’ll want to meet us there.”
Derek got the two boys up and moving as he searched through the cabin’s closet for something dry to wear. Derek had enough spare clothing that fit himself and Nic, but Cory ended up in an oversized t-shirt and some plaid pajama pants. Cory didn’t have a chance to argue because as soon as he got through to his mom, she spent the next fifteen minutes making sure he was okay and telling him how worried she was. Derek used this to his advantage and got the boys dressed and out the door quickly enough.
Finding Jackson’s Jeep where they had left it, the boys piled in and Derek drove them to the emergency room at the nearest hospital, Hartford General, where Cory’s mom was due to meet them. They got Cory checked in, despite his protests that he was fine, and waited in his hospital room for his mom to arrive. The doctors wanted to run a few tests to make sure, but overall, Cory seemed okay other than being exhausted and slightly traumatized.
