He laid his palm against Joey’s cheek, which looked even paler beneath the tear-stained dirt smudges. “Why’d you run from me?”
“Because, I… ” Joey lowered his gaze and shook his head, refusing to continue.
“Talk to me, Joey.”
“Because I dreamed of this. Of you.” He dropped his gaze. “You’re perfect and you deserve someone perfect like you.”
“Oh, Joey, I’m far from perfect, trust me,” Will said. “But I’m attracted to you and I’d like to see where this goes.”
“But I don’t look like everyone else.”
Will grinned. “I know. And I already told you, I like that about you. A lot, actually.”
“No. I mean… you know…my junk.”
Oh. Oh…. Joey… Will hugged him tight and buried his nose in his silky hair.
“Do you really think that matters to me?”
“It matters to me,” Joey whispered into his chest. “I don’t think I can…”
Can what? A sudden thought crossed Will’s mind. Was he completely missing what Joey was trying to tell him? Oh my god. “Everything… works, right? I mean… it’s okay if it doesn’t… I mean it’s not okay… of course it’s not okay… but we can work around it, right?” There was no response from Joey and Will got a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. Will resolved to himself, he’d do whatever it took to work around any and all medical issues Joey might have. He felt Joey shaking in his arms. “Jesus, Joey, I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” He pulled him closer and somewhere from the vicinity of his chest, he heard muffled laughter.
“Are you laughing?”
He held Joey away from him and the moment they made eye contact, Joey dissolved into a fit of giggles. Will let out an enormous breath and raked a shaking hand through his hair as Joey continued to laugh, gasping for air. The sound was actually musical and Will couldn’t help but grin. He shoved Joey playfully away from him. “Dick.”
Joey howled at that and Will pushed him into the dirt and stood, dusting himself off with a huff. Joey finally regained his composure and grinned at Will as he got to his feet.
It was a different man who rose from the dirt. He wore a shy smile and took the two steps toward Will with a slow, slightly unsure swagger. Will froze, hypnotized by this amazing creature. His pulse quickened and his body responded as Joey pressed a pale finger into the hollow of his throat and then traced a line down the front of his torso. As it passed over the growing bulge in his jeans, Will hissed in a breath. It was too dark to tell for certain, but he was pretty sure Joey was blushing at his own attempt at sexiness and that just made it ten times hotter in Will’s mind.
“Yeah, dude. The equipment I do have… works just fine.”
Will’s mouth went dry. He attempted to keep the mood light, but failed miserably, his voice raspy as an eighty-year-old smoker’s. “Oh. Good. ‘Cause you know, I thought maybe the radiation… ”
Joey stepped closer and there was no mistaking the look in his eyes as he shook his head and pressed himself full-length against Will. “Nope.” His lips popped the ‘p’ and he licked them with just the tip of his tongue. Will watched, transfixed. “It doesn’t sparkle, light up, or shoot glitter. There is one thing you should know, though…”
Will swallowed. “Wh-what’s that?”
“It grows in the dark.”
Epilogue
Joey started unpacking the groceries as Will shrugged out of his coat. He reached into the shopping bag and pulled out a box of condoms.
“What do these do? Light up? Play music?” The first few times they were together intimately, Will had gone out of his way to make Joey feel more at ease about his appearance. The first time, Joey had been so nervous, he literally shook, but Will diverted all the attention onto his own body, covering the bed with an old sheet and asking Joey to paint him with sparkly, edible, body paint. Yeah, that was fun. Since then, it’d become a game between them to see what ridiculous thing they could do to Will’s private parts. Flavored condoms, glow-in-the-dark condoms, wrapping him with mini-lights, edible ink markers, nothing was off-limits. Joey was no longer self-conscious about his own appearance and Will seemed to like his body just fine.
“Sorry. It’s the grocery store. They only carry the normal kind. I do have an idea, though, if you promise not to spoil your dinner.” He reached into the shopping bag again and with a twinkle in his eye, held up a box of glazed donuts. Joey laughed and took the box out of his hand but set them on the counter. As he gazed into Will’s eyes, he grew serious.
“How about we wait until after your parents leave?”
Will’s parents were coming for dinner and ‘game night’ - as they did every other Monday night. For the first time in his life, Joey actually looked forward to Mondays and spending time with family, even if the family wasn’t his - or, maybe because it wasn’t.
In the six months since Will had walked back into Joey’s life, his world had changed dramatically. A week after the emotional night in the park, Will asked Joey to move into his townhouse with him. He’d resisted at first, afraid Will only offered out of charity, but Will convinced him he needed Joey just as much as Joey needed him. He’d mustered the courage to meet Will’s parents and both Will’s mom and dad treated him like a normal person right from the start. They even gave him a job at one of their smaller restaurants and he’d quickly discovered that he felt completely at home in the kitchen. He’d jumped in to help the line cooks during one particularly busy dinner service and discovered he had a knack for cooking. Granted, he was just flipping burgers and dropping fries, but he loved being a part of the process and one of the team. The line cooks slapped him on the back and when Mr. M came in, they told him how Joey had stepped up and called him a ‘natural’. The next day, Will’s dad transferred him to Messina’s and since then, Joey had been shadowing the sous-chef. Tonight they’d said they wanted to talk to him about culinary school. The idea both excited and terrified him.
Will wrinkled his nose. “Why in the world would we want to wait? We have dicks and donuts,” he joked.
Joey gave him an exasperated look as he reached back into the grocery sack and pulled out a small, square, plastic clamshell.
“Blackberries!” he squealed in glee. He clutched the package to his chest and grinned at Will.
“Thought I’d surprise you.”
“Can I eat them or are they for tonight?”
“They’re for you, babe.” Will took the package from Joey’s hands and opened it, picking out one of the huge dark purple berries. He wrapped one arm around Joey’s waist and pulled him against him as he held the berry just out of reach of Joey’s lips. “I want to hear you eat every one, though.”
Joey giggled and gazed into Will’s sparkling, green eyes. Will loved to hear him moan over food. He took a bite and the initial sourness made his mouth water, but it was soon overtaken by the sweet, intense, berry flavor. He closed his eyes and gave his best moan and felt Will harden against him. When he opened his eyes, the sparkle was gone from Will’s, replaced by a green fire that blazed in hunger… for him. He took the other half of the berry into his mouth, taking Will’s fingers with it then pulling off them slowly. He chewed the berry and swallowed, making sure to add some sound effects, and then pressed his mouth to Will’s, giving him a taste. Will pulled Joey tight against him and angled his head, deepening the kiss. He broke away and gazed into Joey’s eyes.
“I love you,” he whispered.
Joey gasped and stared at Will in disbelief. No one had said those words to him since he was a boy.
“You do?” Will nodded, his eyes wide, his expression serious, as if he’d just delivered horrible news. “Say it again. Please,” Joey begged, tears in his eyes. He knew he sounded pathetic, but he had to hear it again.
“I love you, Joey.”
“Oh, god,” he breathed. “I love you too.” It felt so great to finally say it. He’d thought it a million times.
“Yeah?” Will seemed genui
nely surprised. His face softened and the beginnings of a smile flickered and finally took hold when Joey grinned back at him and nodded.
“Huh,” Will mused. “How ‘bout that.”
“How could you not know? Isn’t it written all over my face every minute I’m with you?”
“No.” Will stroked his cheek and Joey leaned into his warm touch and felt like purring. “Maybe I’ll have to spend more time studying your beautiful face,” Will teased. Joey kissed Will’s palm before burying his head in Will’s strong chest.
“I fell in love with you the day you handed me that purple dragon.”
Will laughed. “Um. That would’ve been… let’s see… oh, yeah… the day we met.”
Joey nodded. “Yeah. That was the day. And you’ve been my shining knight ever since.”
The End
www.jayceeedward.com
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Evernight Publishing ®
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Dragons Page 4
