A/N: Edited. I think I smoothed out most of the bugs.

Sausagefest

Heath was horny.

He leaned against the rough brick of the mall’s outer wall and stuffed his hands into his leather jacket. The fall wind caught the end of his scarf and he tilted his head back, wincing when his spiked black hair came into contact with the cool brick. He sighed and tried to ignore the unpleasant feeling of sexual frustration bubbling in the pit of his stomach.

It had been three months since he’d ‘quit’ his job at the computer store CompCare. He glared through his sunglasses at the thought of his ex boss and boyfriend. Heath, true to his insatiable appetite for good sex, had obviously cheated on the guy, but he hadn’t reckoned on how it would affect his position at work. He could barely afford the rent on his apartment and had even resorted to considering the possibility of a roommate.

So now here he was, a just barely turned twenty-year-old, who had no job, no career, no future, and no one to fuck. Sure he could hit the local bars but there were only so many times possible to find a potential one-night stand before someone was repeated and it got awkward fast. In his—too big to be a town, too small to be a city—home the selection of men was quite dismal. All the good-looking ones were almost always straight.

Heath was all of a sudden struck with vicious inspiration. He awkwardly dug around in his pockets to find something to write with.

He scowled at the pen that proclaimed “CompCare: We love you and your hard drive” before savagely sketching something onto the bricks.

He dropped the pen and sauntered toward his car ignoring the harsh and hurried cursive that stared after him.

---

“Are you ready to go?” Braxton Bernal inquired. His sister who was one year his senior closed their door for the twenty-eighth time.

“Just one more,” she smiled sheepishly at him and he watched her close it once more with a heavy heart.

“Alright, let’s get going,” he said and ducked down into the vehicle. She opened the car door a final time and slid into the passenger seat beside him. He ignored the way she started locking and unlocking her seatbelt. They were in New Hampshire and she was nineteen so she wouldn’t be in any trouble if he got pulled over.

He started up the car and turned on the radio to fill in the silence.

“Hey Braxton?” Lexi asked shyly when they were halfway to the mall.

“Yeah Lex?”

“Why are we going to the mall, again?”

“You need some new socks, remember? Mom lost your purple ones.”

“Oh,” she wrinkled her nose as though she couldn’t really remember.

Braxton ignored the constricting pain in his chest. Yesterday she had cried and screamed for hours because ‘it was Wednesday and she needed to wear her purple socks.’ Blue or violet ones just wouldn’t do. He knew that it wasn’t good for him to be around his sister a lot because he couldn’t seem to numb himself to it. Every time she exhibited her disorder he either wanted to cry or hit her until she was normal.

Neither one would help and he knew it.

He also wished that he could tell her the one thing she didn’t know about him. He itched so much to ignore his parent’s warnings and simply tell her outright that he liked boys, just like she did.

But he knew that they would be upset beyond all reason. Things between parents and son were rough to begin with and he didn’t want to add the ‘corruption’ of his sister to fuel the fire.

He pulled into the mall and parked near the front. He got out and waited for Lexi to follow suit and close the door. He leaned against the hood of the car as she opened and shut it a grand total of twenty-nine times. Finally Lexi turned away from the car and skipped along the empty parking spots. Her face twisted in agony when she stepped on one of the white lines.

Much to Braxton’s irritation, she traced her way back to the car and started over again. Braxton bit his lip and watched. When she reached a car blocking her path she stopped and smiled a precious smile that wrapped around his heart and squeezed. After that she veered straight for the brick walls of the mall.

Braxton’s jaw clenched but he followed her regardless.

He sighed impatiently as Lexi ran her fingers along the brick wall. She happily hummed numbers under her breath and he was thankful that she hadn’t lost count yet or she would have to go back and do it again.

Braxton closed his eyes and took in the brisk breeze that raised goosebumps on his bare arms. He lost himself for a moment, just enjoying the fact that he was alive. When he opened his eyes his sister was standing still, staring at something on the wall.

“What’s up Lex?” he inquired and looked at the spot on the wall that she was so intent upon.

“What does this mean?” Lexi asked with wide, innocent eyes. Braxton stared at the hastily scrawled graffiti and it stared back.

Life is just one big sausagefest with too much sausage and too little fest. –Heath Malloy

Braxton had the urge to simply let loose and laugh. He wanted to laugh until he couldn’t breathe. He wanted to laugh so hard that he became hysterical… but Lexi was here and he had to think of her first.

She always came first.

That thought was an overprotective one that soon turned sour when he thought of his parents.

Yes, Lexi always came first.

“It doesn’t mean anything Lexi,” he sighed. She didn’t look like she believed him but she let him lead her into the mall regardless.

“I wonder who Heath Malloy is,” she mused aloud more than once and Braxton told her that it wasn’t important.

“But I bet he knows what’s so important about sausages,” she would argue and he would tell her that it wasn’t important. Even when they had bought a pack of purple socks and driven back to their house she was still babbling about Heath Malloy and sausages.

Braxton shook his head at his parents when they asked him who Heath Malloy was and dragged himself up to his bedroom. He could hear Lexi in the other room excitedly telling his parents about some of the people she had seen in the mall and about the mysterious writing on the wall.

He slipped a pair of headphones on and turned up the volume. Beethoven’s Symphony Number 5 in C Minor crashed over him and he drifted off thinking about how true Heath Malloy’s graffiti quote was.

Sweet, blessed darkness overcame him.

He awoke to yelling.

“Where is she?” his mother’s panicked voice resounded throughout the house.

“It’s okay honey, did you check the neighbors yet?” his dad attempted to calm her but Braxton could tell that he was just as panicked as she was. He stumbled down the stairs, half-awake.

“What’s going on?”

His father turned to face him and Braxton’s stomach sank. His father threw his jacket around his shoulders.

“It’s Lex, isn’t it?” His father nodded. The color drained from Braxton’s face.

“Your mother is going to check the Smith’s and I’m off to the Hunt’s. We’ll be back soon.”

“Okay. Is there anything I can do?” Braxton asked feeling useless.

“No. You just stay here. We don’t need two children missing,” his father’s brusque voice stung. His father strode out of sight and Braxton choked back a bitter sob when he heard the door close. No goodbye.

Lexi always comes first, he numbly thought to himself.

He paced around the house for ten minutes, absolutely lost in the pain and depression his sister’s disorder had forced upon his life. He paced for five more, moving as though underwater, before his ears picked up on a dial tone.

Cautiously he tracked the sound down to the phone in the kitchen. He stared at it a moment before his eyes slid to the phonebook. It was open. Heath Malloy’s name was circled.

“Jesus Christ,” he swore and slammed the phone down on the receiver. Anger, humiliation and fear all shot through him at once. He was so angry at his sister for wrecking his life that he considered throwing the phone book away and hoping that she got lost and never found her way back. He was humiliated because of the image of Lexi running around doing odd compulsive things in front of other people who wouldn’t understand. Most of all he was scared shitless because his sister was out there in a world full of people who might take advantage of her.

His emotions raged but the fear won out. He hastily scanned the address that was neatly printed beside Heath Malloy’s phone number and slammed the phone book shut. He grabbed his keys and hesitated in front of the door wondering briefly if he ought to leave a note for his parents.

After a moment of deliberation his face hardened and the door clicked shut behind him.

---

Heath was lounging on his sofa with a bowl of popcorn, watching a pathetically sappy chick flick when someone knocked at his apartment door. He was instantly on his feet and wondering who it could be. He hastily turned off the TV and took a quick look in mirror before answering the door.

A sweet looking girl around his age was shuffling her feet nervously.

“Hello? Is this where Heath lives?” she inquired through the door and something about the way she talked set off alarm bells in his head. It was slow and carefully said as though she had to sound out each and every part of the words that she used.

He opened up and stepped back to scrutinize the girl in front of him. She was a dirty blonde with wide hazel eyes and a cute ski-jump nose. She stood with her hands twisting nervously in front of her and she was singing a lullaby under her breath.

“I’m Heath. Can I help you?” he asked slowly wondering where this girl had come from and how she knew him. He sure as hell didn’t know her.

Despite that a bright smile overtook her face. This was his second clue. Something was fundamentally wrong with this girl. No sane person smiled like that for a stranger.

“I’m Lexi,” she chirped and he found himself backing up as she barged right through him and into his apartment. She turned and shut his door once, and as though on impulse she did it again. Then she seemed to fight with herself a moment before turning away to survey his haunt.

At first he was about to order her to leave but then she flopped on his couch and picked up the bowl of popcorn. For some reason she turned it around in her hands for a few moments before she set it on her lap and dug in. He noticed that she didn’t take whopping mouthfuls like he did, but ate each piece one by one.

He decided to let her stay for the moment.

“What does it mean?” she asked around a piece of fluffy corn.

Heath’s face was one of confusion.

“What does what mean?” was his befuddled reply.

“Your writing on the wall, silly! The one about the sausages,” she rolled her eyes at him.

“Wha…?” he trailed off when it hit him. He’d left his name in that stupid graffiti message earlier today. “Oh, that.”

He studied her for a moment and she met his stare with questioning and eager hazel orbs.

“So are you going to tell me?”

He rubbed the back of his neck and sat down on the other end of the couch trying to figure out what the hell was wrong with this girl.

“I’ll tell you on one condition,” he finally replied. She leaned in eagerly and bounced up and down like a child.

“Yay! What’s the condition?”

“You have to tell me what your diagnosis is,” he said firmly and, just as he expected, her smile faded. She stared at her hands for a few moments. She wore bright green nail polish that was perfectly done.

“I don’t know. Mom and dad won’t tell me and I’m too scared to ask Braxton. He gets really angry sometimes but I know it’s just because he’s sad. Everyone tries to tell me that I’m normal but I know that I forget a lot of things that are important to everyone and then pay way too much attention to things that aren’t supposed to be important. I hate it,” she snuffled a little here and Heath let out a sigh.

At least now he had a better idea of what he was dealing with.

“Your mom and dad don’t know you’re here, do they?” he asked and his voice came out a lot softer than he had intended. Tears filled her eyes and he inwardly panicked. “It’s okay,” he smiled nervously and put his hand on hers. “Do you want to call them?”

She ran the back of her sleeve over her nose and shook her head. She meticulously folded the material up until the streak of moisture was nowhere to be seen. Heath’s brow furrowed.

“Why not?” he inquired and she let out a little hiccup. He could feel his heart melting.

“Because they’re going to be mad at me,” her voice came out small. “Braxton’s going to be so angry.”

“Who’s Braxton?”

“My brother,” and here she smiled shyly. “He’s the best brother in the whole wide world, even if he is too serious all the time.”

“I’m sure he’s worried about you,” Heath rummaged around in his pocket. “Here, take my cell phone and just call home to let them know you’re okay, alright? You don’t want them to worry do you?”

“I—I can’t. It’s got your breath germs on it,” she avoided his eyes and he understood.

“Okay, what’s your phone number? I can call for you,” he shrugged nonchalantly.

There was a lengthy silence before the girl—Lexi he thought she’d said her name was—shifted over to him and gave him a hug. He tried not to let his muscles tense at the contact. It was awkward for a moment before she pulled back and smiled at him childishly. He noticed that her face was blotched and there were some tears still leaking out of her eyes.

“Thank you,” she sniffled. “But do you think it would be okay if we waited a little while? I don’t want to go home right now.”

Immediately the word ‘No,’ was on his tongue but then he took one look at her pleading face and sighed.

“I guess that’d be okay. What do you want to do in the meantime?”

“TV!” she giggled and turned it on. Cheesy romantic melodies floated out of it and her lips contorted for a moment as Heath’s world crashed down around him. A handsome actor was professing his love to a beautiful actress. His heart squeezed and he hastily opened his mouth.

“I wasn’t watching it! I… I… It was my mom!”

“Liar, liar, pants on fire!” Lexi trilled in a singsong voice and shot up to caper around the apartment. “Admit it, you like romance! At first I thought you were kinda scary ‘cause of your hair and the piercings and all but you’re just a softie on the inside, aren’t you?” Lexi stopped her gamboling for a moment and pinched his nose.

Heath glared. “I’ll have you know that my piercings are not scary. They’re sexy,” he snorted disdainfully and licked his snakebites to prove it. Lexi was like a bottle of champagne. The mirth bubbled out of her abruptly and then she collapsed on the couch, clutching her stomach.

“You’re silly.”

“That’s so not funny,” was his deadpanned retort. She rolled over to rest her head in his lap and stared up at him. For some reason it wasn’t as awkward as he figured it would be.

“So what do the sausages mean?”

Heath resisted the urge to smack himself in the forehead.

“Lexi. Do you know what gay means?” he asked and she flashed her teeth at him brilliantly.

“Yes. It’s when you’re really happy!” Heath took a deep breath.

“Not that kind of gay. The other kind.”

“Oh. What kind?” The confusion on her face made him want to bake her cookies or something equally absurd.

“When a boy likes boys or a girl likes girls. More than friends, that is.” he offered wondering if she would understand. He didn’t know if her parents had taken the time to explain sex to her yet, let alone homosexuality. Lexi’s hazel eyes widened considerably.

“You mean like sex?” she breathed as though in awe.

“Yes. Like sex,” he grinned. “Really good sex.”

“Omigosh, you like boys too!” Lexi squealed with delight, putting the pieces together. Her face screwed up in thought. “I still don’t get the sausages.”

Heath pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Do you know what boys have that girls don’t?”

“A penis,” was her innocent reply. Heath’s face was plastered with embarrassment.

“Yeah. That. Actually, would it be okay if I explained what it means without having to explain why it means what it does?”

He had the sudden image of Lexi chattering to her parents about sausages and how they were really, secretly penises in disguise. There was no way that he would be responsible for that.

Lexi mulled it over for about 2.5 seconds before letting out a content, “Okay.” Heath felt a massive weight lift from his shoulders. He tried to come up with a way to make his sausagefest concept make sense and not give too much of it away.

“Okay, so basically what I was trying to say is that there are lots of guys out there who are perfectly handsome and charming but the majority of them aren’t gay like me.”

“Oh,” she tapped her chin and squinted her eyes. “I don’t understand what that’s got to do with sausages, but if you say so.”

Heath breathed a sigh of relief.

“So whatdaya wanna do?” Lexi asked after a short, awkward hiatus.

“I dunno. What do you wanna do?” Heath grinned. He found himself really liking Lexi’s company. He knew that he ought to call her parents or her brother, but he shoved his conscience aside when he saw how delighted the girl next to him was. She must not have had very many friends, he thought with a hint of sadness.

“We could watch the rest of this movie,” Lexi’s mouth was twitching with the laughter Heath knew she was trying to contain.

“Only if you pinky promise not to make fun of me if I cry at the end,” Heath said solemnly and held out his pinky. Lexi hooked her own in his and they shook on it.

Heath nabbed the bowl of popcorn as they shifted around to fit comfortably on the couch and he held it out to Lexi. Her nose wrinkled and he was struck by inspiration.

He turned the bowl around in his hands a few times and then offered it to her again. Her lips quirked up.

“One more time,” she ordered and he had no qualms obeying her command.

Soon they were popping the buttery treat into their mouths as they watched fairytale love unfold in front of them.

---

It was getting late.

Hands roved through Braxton’s mess of brown curls and he hissed when they got hitched in a knot. He gently untangled his digits and then continued to pace up and down the hallway of the apartment building. He’d forgotten the goddamned number of the apartment and he didn’t have a clue as to what he ought to do.

The complex wasn’t completely shabby but it wasn’t exactly spotless either. He didn’t doubt that there were at least a few people of shifty reputation renting here. His eye caught the number 217 and he mumbled to himself, “Why not?”

He swallowed the lump in his throat, let his knuckles rap against the door, and prepared for the worst.

“Who’s there?” a feeble elderly voice called through the door and Braxton sighed with relief.

“Um, hey. Sorry to bother you but I’m kinda lost. I’m looking for Heath Malloy’s apartment,” he offered to whoever was behind the door.

“You’re looking for number 202,” was the reply and Braxton threw a rushed thank you over his shoulder to the door. He rushed down the hall and stood in front of room 202. His heart pounded and his hands were clenched into sweaty fists. He knocked.

Silence greeted him.

He knocked again; louder this time but there was no answer. He leaned in and pressed his ear against the door. A TV’s low murmur reached his ears and he clenched his jaw before grabbing the door handle. He twisted it slowly, careful not to make a sound.

He was surprised when it opened on oiled hinges and revealed a comfortable living room area.

A quick survey of the room gave him the impression of someone who wasn’t exactly well off, but who wasn’t scraping by either. Posters of famous art pieces decorated the walls and flickered oddly in the dim light that floated out of the television screen. Computer parts were scattered everywhere and he would have whistled at the Alienware desktop that sat in the midst of it all if his lips weren’t so dry.

His eyes landed on the couch.

At first it seemed normal enough until he looked closer and saw his sister’s head resting in a man’s lap. His pulse pounded through him and vindictive energy narrowed his vision to the bastard who had undoubtedly taken advantage of his sister.

The man’s face was peaceful and the dark hair that Braxton suspected would usually be spiked was matted in the back where his head lolled against the sofa. Twin rings went through the man’s lips and three sets of small loops glinted on both sides of the man’s ears. A rumpled white dress shirt was unbuttoned in the front to show an odd black shirt that had a strip of fishnet in the middle. The white of the collared shirt contrasted with the dark of the undershirt and with the tanned tint of the man’s skin.

Braxton decided he was going to fucking kill Heath Malloy.

He grabbed Heath by the shirt and hoisted him up off the couch. Instantly a pair of bottomless black eyes snapped open. Before Heath had a chance to defend himself, Braxton pulled back his fist and let it fly at Heath’s face. The man hissed and Braxton suddenly found the breath whooshing out of him as Heath punched him in the gut.

His back smashed against the wall and he let out a soft gasp before he was thrown to the floor. A vice like grip locked his hands above his head and he found that his legs were pinned together.

Heath straddled him and stared down with blazing eyes to inspect the intruder.

Braxton snarled and bucked beneath the sick bastard but to no avail. He sucked in a breath to yell at Lexi to run away but a hand clamped around his mouth. His nostrils flared in and out with exertion and he could feel his lungs burning for air. His back was in agony but he didn’t give up. He let his tongue slide out between his lips.

“Stop it,” the man above him panted with a blaze in his twin void eyes that cut short Braxton’s plans of biting the hand that was cupped over his mouth. The smoldering look that Heath was giving him right now made him extremely aware of the way that Heath was straddling him, and how close they were. “Shut up before you wake her up, okay? Just let me talk for a moment. I don’t know who you are but I have an idea. I bet you’re Braxton, come here to pick up your sister, right?” Braxton silently glared at him. Heath pressed down on him and snarled. “Right?”

Braxton nodded sullenly and shifted uncomfortably underneath Heath. His chest was rising and falling just as fast as the other man’s. Heath’s sharp intake of breath brought awareness to Braxton in a way that flushed his cheeks with something other than exertion. Heath’s crotch was pressed against him and Braxton’s hazel eyes widened.

He had to get Lexi out of here. Even if it meant Heath was going to take everything out on him instead. He let himself go limp and just as he expected; Heath’s grip on him lessened immediately. He arched his back as much as he could and thrashed with his limbs at the same time. It had the desired effect. Heath rolled off of him, though not without a fight. Braxton scrambled up and slid his arms underneath his sister. She jerked to life at the contact.

“Heath?” she immediately asked in a slurred voice and just hearing that swine’s name from his sister’s innocent lips sent revulsion down his spine.

“No. It’s me Lex,” he ground out and before she had the chance to say anything else he dragged himself past Heath who was in the process of standing up. He rushed out of the door as fast as he could with his muscles on fire and with his sister in his arms.

He glanced back once in order to make sure he wasn’t being pursued. Heath was leaned against the doorframe and already Braxton could see the bruise forming around the other man’s eye. He quickly averted his eyes and stumbled in his haste to get outside and to his car.

“Braxton, what happened?” was Lexi’s confused question as he finally broke out of the complex and set her into the car.

“It’s okay now, Lex. I’ll call the police when we get home,” he hopped into the car and savagely turned the key in the ignition. Even though he slammed the car into drive he could still feel dark eyes weighing him from behind.

“What do you mean, call the police,” was Lexi’s frightened response.

He stared straight ahead at the road in front of him.

“That bastard hurt you. Of course I’m going to call the fucking police.”

“Braxton,” she let a scared mewl out and he jerked the wheel to the right as he avoided a piece of rubbish in the road. “Heath didn’t hurt me.”

“Don’t tell me he didn’t touch you because I know he did, Lex,” he growled in outrage.

“Stop!” Lexi screamed and tears were running down her cheeks. He slammed on his brakes to avoid crashing into a truck that was pulling into the intersection. A smattering of angry horns came at him from all directions.

“Why are you defending him?” Braxton screamed at her and his head pulsed with a torrent of betrayal. Lexi stared at him, tears making glistening tracks down her face.

“Because he was nice to me! He let me watch movies and eat popcorn and he listened to me when I talked! You used to listen to me but now you never do! I don’t have any friends anymore and now that I’ve found one you want to take him away!” she sobbed and Braxton clutched the wheel with bloodless fingers. He began to drive once more.

“Anyone who is willing to rape someone is not worth having a friendship with, Lexi. I don’t care what you think,” his voice was calm. Deathly calm.

“Rape?” she asked, confusion overtaking her sorrow for a moment.

“When someone tries to touch you and you don’t want to be touched,” he put emphasis on ‘touch’ so that his sister would be able to grasp his meaning. Her face clouded over with something he realized with confusion, was anger.

“Heath didn’t try to have sex with m—me,” her breath quickened and she began to lock and unlock the doors with the button by the armrest. Her face was a thunderhead. “He’s gay.”

Heath didn’t process what she said until they had pulled into their driveway. He lethargically turned off the car and faced her.

“What?”

“Heath likes boys,” Lexi was still crying but it was primarily anger that danced in her eyes.

Braxton felt like the world had taken itself right out from under his feet.

“You mean he didn’t hurt you?” he ventured after a long silence. Lexi’s hands frantically ran over the button that rolled her window up and down. Cool air ruthlessly blasted at his face and threw emotion out. Logic rushed in.

“No. He didn’t. He told me what the sausages meant and then we had popcorn and watched some movies. He’s such a baby when it comes to happy endings,” Lexi choked up a laugh and her hands began to wring themselves out.

“Okay. Okay, I can deal with this,” Braxton grunted and ran a hand through his hair. He felt miserable. He had jumped to conclusions. Now that he looked his sister over, there were no signs that she’d had sex, no signs of resistance against rape. He had made a terrible mistake.

A massive sigh shuddered out of him.

“Lexi, I’m going to go back to Heath’s apartment to apologize, okay? I want you to go inside. I think mom and dad are already home. Look, they’re coming outside now,” he said and Lexi rolled down her window once more before opening to door to get out. Lexi leaned through the opening after she had shut the door.

“Why do you need to apologize?”

“Because I punched him in the face,” Braxton winced at the disapproving glare that his sister shot at him.

“You’re such a moron sometimes,” she hissed but two bodies wrapped around her and started smoothing her hair down.

Braxton’s mother was cooing over Lexi but his father turned to him immediately after making sure that Lexi was okay.

“Young man, you have a lot of explaining to do. You took off without leaving one word as to where you were going. Do you have any idea what your mother and I have been going through?”

Braxton’s eyes narrowed.

“No dad. And for once? I really don’t care. It’s you who’ve got explaining to do. It’s you who don’t understand. I’m sick of your shit. I’m sick of having fights with you over my sexuality, I’m sick of you treating me like I’m the last thing on your list of priorities until it comes to punishing me. I’m done, asshole. I’ll visit Lexi when I can, but I’m not coming back this time, dad. I’m not coming back.”

With that he slammed the car in reverse and squealed out of the driveway leaving three sets of voices shouting ‘Braxton!’ behind.

---

Heath lay sprawled across the sofa with a pack of ice over his swollen eye. He kept the other one open in a futile attempt to banish the image of the young, male version of Lexi that had burst violently into his life and left just as quickly. He slowly closed the open eye and removed the ice pack from the other one.

Flashing hazel eyes, light brown hair streaked with dirty blonde highlights, and a cute button nose stared at him from the backs of his eyelids. Heath tried in vain to get rid of the image and feeling of Braxton squirming beneath him out of his mind.

The flush that he could feel crawling across his body did nothing to help in his Herculean efforts. Neither did the phantom touch of Braxton’s lips and tongue against his palm. Neither did the downward movement of his hand.

Before he could regain control of himself he was pulling himself out with shaky fingers and he started to stroke himself. The feeling of Braxton beneath him kept coming back, taunting him and tantalizing him. His breathing came quicker as his pace increased and…

Knock.

Heath’s eyes flew open. He nabbed some tissues from the box on the coffee table and wiped the pre-cum off. He hissed as he tucked himself back in and vaulted up, ignoring the fire in his groin. He did a once-over in the mirror and grimaced at the bruise forming around his eye. A pair of sunglasses were an easy remedy, despite the late hour, and he shoved them on before hastily making his way to the door. His erection was already deflating and though it was still noticeable, it wasn’t anything that he would be embarrassed about.

The door swung open to reveal the instigator of his wank session.

A smug smile crept onto Heath’s face. He leaned on the doorway and crossed his arms over his chest.

“Back for more already?”

Hazel eyes glared at him but averted themselves at the sight of his sunglasses.

“ ‘m sorry about that,” Braxton mumbled.

“It’s okay. Check your torso and I’m pretty sure you’ll find that I got off easier than you did,” Heath smirked. Braxton shot him a withering glare. “So… you came back to ask for my forgiveness?” Heath inquired.

“No!” Braxton’s eyes flashed. Heath raised an eyebrow and Braxton sullenly kicked at the worn carpeting. “Yeah. Yeah, I did.”

“I’m guessing that you wrongly assumed that I tried something a bit less PG than offering popcorn and movies to your sister?”

Braxton’s face flushed guiltily and he nodded.

“Did she tell you that I’m gay?”

Braxton’s face turned even redder, if that was at all possible.

“Yes,” Braxton choked out. His eyes darted nervously to Heath’s lips

“Does she know that you’re gay?” Heath continued. Braxton’s eyes flew to his and he began to sputter.

“W—what? How did you—”

“Kid,” Heath interjected with a throaty laugh. “When you get into the double digits partner-wise you learn to see the signs.”

Braxton’s eyes flashed dangerously.

“I’m not a kid,” he hissed and Heath put up his hands in an attempt to assuage the fiery youth in front of him.

“Sorry,” he apologized. His lips slowly twisted upwards, “but you kind of act like one.”

Braxton’s chest began to rise and fall rapidly and Heath watched him clench his jaw. It was definitely a turn on to watch Braxton attempt to restrain himself. Heath almost wished he wouldn’t.

“That,” a pregnant pause, “was uncalled for.” Heath hummed in the affirmative but made no move to apologize.

Braxton fiddled with his fingers for a moment.

“How many guys have you been with?” Braxton’s awkward question elicited an amused snort from Heath.

“Why? How many have you been with?” he threw back, enjoying the reactions he was getting from this childish boy.

“I asked you first!” was the heated reply. Heath shook his head in disbelief.

“You’re hopeless. I bet you’ve only been with one guy at the most. I wouldn’t be surprised if you were still a virgin.”

Braxton’s shocked face was more than enough to affirm Heath’s suspicions. Heath’s avid lust for Braxton was suddenly quarantined into a cage, better to be viewed when temptation was not so close. Just because Heath was just a little jaded didn’t mean that he needed it to rub off onto an innocent.

“And I’m right again,” Heath laughed mirthlessly. The other boy looked absolutely mortified.

“Look, as much as I would love to stand out here all day and tell you about my past conquests I have to ask you if you did what you came here to do. You see, before I was so rudely interrupted I had been attending to some urgent business, if you catch my drift,” Heath gestured to the way zipper was only half up, button undone to show a pair of dark boxers. He watched with a sort of sadistic pleasure as Braxton’s eyes glued themselves to his groin and the younger boy swallowed nervously.

“I—I could help you,” Braxton’s voice came out breathy and uncertain. The dirty blonde boy hesitantly took a step forwards but he stopped when an abrupt laugh carved its way out of Heath’s throat.

“I’m not going to teach you how to fuck men, kid. Go home and find someone who’ll make love to you when he’s taking away your virginity because it sure as hell won’t be me.”

A mixture of wrath and longing overtook Braxton’s face at once. The wrath won out. Heath found himself pushed inside the door by powerful hands. He stumbled back against the side of his couch and caught his balance just in time for Braxton to shoot a hand out and cup him through his jeans.

A shudder of pleasure and pain jolted through him and he gasped. He knew he should have pinned Braxton to the floor again by now but he couldn’t tear himself away from the tingling pleasure that was spreading through his limbs. He looked at Braxton with dilated eyes and heavy breathing.

“That’s where you’re wrong, asshole,” Braxton squeezed Heath through the jeans just a little bit harder. Heath held back a choked moan and tried not to feel as though he should be pushing Braxton away and pulling him closer at the same time. Angry tears accented the fury in his eyes. “I’m not ever going to go home to those monsters again. I don’t care who takes away my virginity because no one’s ever going to fall in love with me, so why wait? My parents didn’t love me so why the fuck would anyone else, huh?” Here Braxton’s eyes dropped to Heath’s lips. He sneered but the corners of his eyes were filling up with contradictory tears. “I don’t want your love,” Braxton spit out the word ‘love’ as though it was venom. His gaze turned faraway and his grip faltered.

Heath took advantage of this and extracted himself from Braxton’s hold, much as his body was loathe to do it. He debated in his head about what to do. Should he try to comfort the obviously bitter boy in front of him or would it end up in a situation where he would undoubtedly take advantage of Braxton? He decided that what he needed was something to distract.

He took a step away from the blonde who was now shaking with bitter, silent sobs. He also told his dick to stop telling him that it needed his attention.

“Do you, uh, need a place to stay tonight?” he offered awkwardly and when Braxton’s hazel eyes shot up with a reproachful yet eager stare he added, “Lexi’s welcome to stay too if you think things are going to be bad. From the way you’re acting it doesn’t sound as though things at home are looking good.”

Heath watched in fascination as Braxton ran a hand over his slick cheeks and through his hair. With an effort that impressed Heath, Braxton pulled himself together. A massive shuddering sigh came out and he nodded.

“I think Lex will be fine but things have always been hard between mom, dad and I. They’re the reason I’ve never dating or anything. I—I told them I wouldn’t come back, but I don’t really have anywhere else to go,” he admitted guiltily.

A light bulb illuminated somewhere in the recesses of Heath’s mind and its happy little beams shot through the heady lust that was still pervading the majority his mind.

“I have an idea, but I don’t know if you think it would be too forward of me.”

“Go on,” Braxton looked curious and Heath fondly noted the boy’s blotchy cheeks. Like sister, like brother. He was a little reluctant to do this because he didn’t know Braxton that well and didn’t know if it would work out, but he figured it was worth a shot even if it meant he’d be dodging the younger boy’s attempts to possibly seduce him.

Fuck it. He was starting to sound like he had a conscience. He might as well go for it because maybe someday Braxton wouldn’t be so innocent and Heath would find him ready for the kind of casual sex that was his forte.

That would be worth waiting for. And so his decision was reached.

“Braxton, I’ve been looking for a roommate. You could stay indefinitely if you helped pay rent every month.”

“Really?” he looked wary at first but when Heath nodded Braxton’s hazel eyes lit up with relief and something altogether ecstatic. He launched himself at Heath and planted a kiss smack dab on the man’s mouth. Heath was too startled to do anything but adjust his now crooked sunglasses when a blushing Braxton pulled back.

“S—sorry,” Braxton stuttered and Heath’s lips twitched into a smile.

“I think before you start celebrating, I ought to lay out some ground rules. Number one: You need to pay for, at the most, half of the rent every month. Number two: Don’t touch my computer stuff. Number three: You have to at least let your parents know that you’re alive.”

Braxton’s face soured at the last one but Heath was sure that it wouldn’t change the boy’s mind. The last one however, might make things awkward. “Number four: If you want to experiment, fine. I’ll help you out if it’s what you want because I’m horny as hell… but I won’t be taking your virginity away, no matter how cute I think your arse is.”

“Okay,” Braxton’s agreement came after a moment of deliberation. “But what makes you think that I’d be on bottom?”

“Because,” Heath’s smile curved wickedly and he pulled Braxton close to him, “you were definitely turned on when I had you on the ground earlier.”

The sexual tension flared between them and Heath was suddenly wondering if he’d be able to live with tension like this twenty-four-seven. Braxton nervously licked his lips and reached up to gently lift the glasses off of Heath’s face.

“Ouch,” he winced at the black and blue that ran a ring around Heath’s eye. “That sucks even more than me being oblivious to my apparently submissive tendencies.”

“It’s nothing,” Heath shrugged lightly and furrowed his brows.

“What about you? Are you going to be okay? I have it on good authority that my punches hit pretty hard.”

“I’ll be fine,” Heath gave a start of surprise when something firm pressed against the front of his pants. “Do you, uh, want me to help you with this?” Braxton asked and cupped Heath once more.

“That would be delicious,” was Heath’s breathy reply. “But, against my usual whorish judgment, let’s take it slow shall we? Have you ever kissed anyone before?”

Braxton’s face turned cherry red.

“You mean when you kissed me a few moments ago, that was your first?”

Braxton nodded. Heath resisted the urge to groan.

“Well, at least you know it won’t be your last,” he murmured instead and set about teaching Braxton the importance of lung capacity when it comes to the art of lip locks. When they finally broke apart, Braxton started to laugh giddily and Heath panted, pressing lazy kisses to his neck.

“Not bad… for a beginner.”

“So I pass?”

“With flying rainbow colors,” Heath nipped lightly at Braxton’s collarbone.

“Awesome,” Braxton shuddered but abruptly pushed Heath away.

“Is this going to go anywhere?” Braxton asked. “I mean, are we just going to fool around and never get attached?”

“That’s how I intend it to be. No offense or anything but I’m not one to settle down and fall in love.”

Braxton’s face portrayed pain for a moment before it turned brutally amused.

“Sure you aren’t,” he said in a tone that sang ‘I know something you don’t know.’ Heath was immediately irritated and realized with a fleeting moment of panic that perhaps Lexi had let slip about his soft spot for romantic movies. Braxton’s voice cut deep into his thoughts.

“Did you ever think that maybe you just haven’t found the right someone yet?”

“No,” he shot back, “And I don’t intend to find them and end up tied to someone who performs the same way sexually, time after time, morphing it into some sort of monotonous chore.”

“Have you ever stayed with anyone you loved for long enough for it to happen?”

“I told you, I don’t do love,” Heath’s voice was a warning and he stiffened. Braxton’s bittersweet expression took him by surprise and he almost cursed when he realized that he was trapped.

“Yet,” Braxton’s fierce whisper set fire to his neck and with that scary, world shattering word, Heath grabbed Braxton’s arse and ground their hips together. He didn’t want to think about what Braxton was saying. He didn’t want to deal with the way that that one word rung with all the truth in the universe.

“I need to ask you one more thing, Heath,” Braxton panted between muffled gasps. “Was what you wrote as simple as it seemed? That quote you put on the wall?”

“The one about the sausages?” Heath asked, exasperated. He wanted to focus on channeling his sexual frustration in the least whorish way possible and hated how uncharacteristic it was for him to want to do so. It didn’t seem as though it was working, anyway. He set about attacking the sensitive area of Braxton’s earlobe.

“Yeah—” a gasp slipped through Braxton’s lips, “I mean, there are different ways that it could be interpreted but I want to know—” another gasp, “which one you had in mind. Did you just mean that there aren’t many gay guys out of the entire male population, or,” here there was a low moan, “or did you mean that life is lonely. That it’s filled with perfectly ‘edible’ or ‘datable’ guys but they’ve all been lacking ‘fest’? Or to put it another way, have they all been lacking ‘love’?”

A tremor washed through Heath and he couldn’t find the strength to pull away from the one person who’d seen through to the very rotted core of him.

“Fucking sausagefest,” his voice was tight and it betrayed him. He avoided Braxton’s questioning eyes and pulled away as gently as he could. The lust still churned in his stomach but he ignored it in a way that he hadn’t in years. “You know where the couch is. Get used to it because it might take a while for me to get another bed in here. Bathroom’s the door by the computer.”

“Heath,” Braxton’s voice was probing but when they made brief eye contact he knew that the matter was closed. “Goodnight then.”

“Sweet dreams,” Heath ran a hand through his hair and disappeared through a door that must have lead to his bedroom.

Braxton walked over to the couch and flopped onto it gracelessly. He wedged one of the cushions under his head and pulled the comfortable throw that hung onto the back of the couch down over him. He calmed the part of him that was still furiously pumping hormones through his system and resolved to be the one to end Heath’s loneliness.

He didn’t know why he was so resolute in his decision, but he was. Maybe it was the way that Heath obviously could have taken advantage of him, but didn’t despite his own obvious need for it. Maybe it was the spiteful, hollow and lonely cursive sketched onto brick that reflected Heath’s insides so well that turned Braxton inside out in the oddest way. Or maybe, just maybe, Braxton was allowing himself to hope that one day Heath would go against his own rules and fall in love.

‘You don’t do love, Heath.’ He thought ‘Yet.’

With that he got comfortable and looked forward to the promise of a future with the perfectly clueless man of his sausage-induced dreams.