Chapter 3 – Leon #3
“So, what was the verdict?” Leon asked as he opened both beers.
James followed him into the kitchen, accepting the beer while still holding Yarmen against his chest. “After some heated words and tears on both our parts, we came to an understanding. I thought we already had, but I guess Mom had a few more things to get off her chest. I’m glad we talked, but the timing wasn’t great. ”
Leon set the naan and kebabs in the oven and placed all their combined rice in a microwave-safe bowl, which he set to reheat on low. “Well, you’re here now, and you weren’t even really late.”
James sighed and took a long swig from his beer before walking over to Leon’s side.
He rested his head on Leon’s collarbone, and Leon quickly put his beer down to wrap him up in a tight hug.
Yarmen made his displeasure known, yowling angrily before squeezing out from between them to wander across the countertop.
James set his beer down next to Leon’s and returned the hug with full force.
“Oh god, I needed this,” James said, and Leon wholeheartedly agreed.
They settled down to eat dinner, and James’ shoulders slowly lowered back to their normal height.
The beer turned his cheeks a soft pink, and when he asked if they could watch a few episodes of the drag competition and snuggle, Leon led him over to the couch without hesitation.
It probably wouldn’t hurt to take some time to digest and unwind after a busy week.
Work had been hectic for both of them and showed no sign of letting up until the new year.
Unlike the last time they’d been here, James seemed a little shy, so Leon allowed him to take his usual seat on the right, and Leon sat in the middle seat.
It took a few minutes, but eventually James sank against Leon’s side.
Yarmen joined them halfway into their second episode, and their hands brushed and caressed each other almost as much as the cat.
Their kisses were slower, almost softer, and when one particularly long kiss seemed to work its way through Leon’s blood all the way down to his dick, he asked if James was ready to take things to the bedroom.
Leon couldn’t bear for outdoor clothes to touch his bed, and he appreciated that James agreed. They took turns changing in the bathroom, but when Leon emerged, something had clearly changed. James kept glancing at him and then away, and when Leon took his hand, he found it clammy and cold.
“Do you want to talk in here?” Leon offered, but James pulled his bottom lip between his teeth. “We could also go back out to the couch and talk?”
James’ shoulders rose until they formed a straight line with his chin. “I…don’t know if I can do another hard conversation today.”
Leon’s dick was obviously disappointed to hear this, but thankfully, he had mentally prepared himself for this.
They had taken a risk by having a sleepover on a Friday, which was typically their more subdued hangout after a week at work.
Maybe they could get some of the first-sleepover-jitters out tonight, and that would be one less thing to deal with tomorrow.
“Okay, darlin’, that’s totally understandable. Should we get some sleep? Maybe tomorrow will feel a little easier?”
James fidgeted with his hands, which were hanging in front of him.
“There’s something we probably need to talk about before getting in bed.
” His cheeks heated up, and he raised his hands in front of him to crack the knuckles of his right hand.
“I guess, I mean, we can definitely talk about it in bed–we don’t have to stand here awkwardly–but there’s something we should probably talk about before we go to sleep. ”
Leon also had no desire to stand next to his bed, where he felt miles away from James, even though only a few feet separated them.
He let James lead the way, and when he crawled onto the bed, sitting cross-legged in the middle, Leon followed and sat close enough that their knees could touch, but they weren’t on top of each other.
“So…I know we’re both pretty big cuddlers,” James said.
Oh…was that what he wanted to talk about? Snuggling protocol in bed? That didn’t seem too hard.
“And just so we’re clear, I absolutely love that,” James said. “But I feel like I should call attention to the fact that if we end up snuggling, you’re probably going to notice, uhm…a bit of a difference.”
He waved down at his crotch, which Leon hadn’t looked at since he changed. He was wearing a pair of soft-looking checker print pants with a red tie at the waist.
“Different…?”
James nodded. “Yeah, I don’t sleep in my packer.”
Since James had been the one to draw attention to his lap, Leon dutifully inspected it, and it did seem like his pants were falling flatter against his pelvis than they normally did.
Leon thanked anyone who was listening for putting him in Aspen’s queer crosshairs on Christmas Eve.
He had actually just watched a video on packers the night before.
“Oh, yeah, that makes sense. I bet that would be uncomfortable as hell, especially if it shifts throughout the night.”
“It’s not ideal, no.” James pulled his bottom lip between his teeth for a second before releasing it. “How do you know what a packer is?”
“Aspen, my new friend I told you about, has been sending me videos to watch.”
James' bottom lip stuck out in a small pout. “You’ve been watching videos about trans stuff?”
Leon took James’ hand and pressed their knees together.
“Probably not nearly enough, but I’ve been trying.
I’m sort of new to watching educational pieces like that, but I’m working my way through a series right now.
I’ll try and watch a few tomorrow, so maybe the conversation doesn’t have to be quite as hard for you. ”
He hadn’t told James about his suspected dyslexia yet. He wanted to see what Caden came back with first.
“That’s… I really appreciate that,” James said, his voice coming out like they were on a call with a bad connection. It warbled and broke as James blinked hard a few times.
“It’s no big deal,” Leon said, because it wasn’t. He would watch every single video he could find if it would help James feel more comfortable.
When James had unintentionally said he didn’t feel safe sleeping over, it had utterly devastated him.
He never, ever wanted to make someone he cared about feel afraid or uncomfortable.
Homophobes at work? Yes. Transphobes on the street?
Abso-fucking-lutely. Even random strangers he met could probably use a healthy dose of discomfort.
People who got too comfortable tended to cross boundaries, so he kept his boundaries wide and firm.
But James was different, and so were Leon’s few important people, like Hailey, her mom, and now, apparently, Aspen. Leon would do everything in his power to ensure his people felt safe and cared for. Even if it meant watching hours upon hours of videos.
“It might not seem like a big deal to you, but truly, that means so much to me,” James said. “I still won’t expect you to know everything right off the bat, but I was preparing to have to start at lesson one.”
“We can probably skim over lessons one and two. But anything that has to do specifically with you, I want the full in-depth course.”
James looked at him with wide, exasperated eyes, but his pupils were dilated, and his lips were parted. Leon was pretty sure all he did was stare a second too long at James’ lips, and James tackled him backward onto the bed.
“Darlin’—”
“Thank you,” James breathed before slotting their mouths together.
Leon adjusted his legs to cradle James’ hips, wrapping his arms firmly around James’ back. “I want this to go well for both of us,” Leon murmured against his mouth.
James swiped his tongue over Leon’s bottom lip before kissing him again.
They both tasted like mint, but James also had that clean scent that reminded Leon of laundry hung out to dry in the sun.
The longer they kissed, the more their tastes and smells melded until Leon wasn’t sure whose saliva was whose.
When James threaded his hand up Leon’s shirt, Leon broke the kiss long enough to yank it off and then pulled James back in for more.
James’ fingers immediately went for his belly button piercing, which didn’t feel like all that much, but then his hand dragged up and brushed against one of Leon’s nipples.
He broke the kiss with a gasp. “James?”
“Could we…maybe do more of what we did last time?” James asked, blinking up at him with his gorgeous dark lashes.
They’d already done this song and dance once. If James said he wanted to, Leon wasn’t going to question him again. “Hell yeah. Do you want to stay in all your clothes?”
James paused and glanced down at himself. “I…wouldn’t mind taking off my shirt?”
Leon couldn’t keep the toothy grin off his face. He hoped he didn’t look like the werewolf James and Hailey always accused him of being. James took one look at Leon’s grin and rolled his eyes before yanking his t-shirt off.
Leon barely knew where to look first. There was so much creamy skin for him to explore, he almost wanted to draw a map.
James’ stomach was soft with a dark happy trail leading down into his pants.
He had small pecs with dark pink, pebbled nipples and a smattering of dark hair between his pecs.
While Leon had been expecting there to be visible scars on his chest, like he’d seen in several videos, his skin was smooth.
James must have noticed Leon’s lingering gaze because he absently rubbed a fist under his pec. “I had pretty small tits, so I did periareolar top surgery,” he said, but his voice had gone flat, like how it did when he was talking to his minions about a project.
Now, Leon hadn’t been the best in school. It had taken a lot for him to graduate not just from high school but also from college without any support. He had specifically studied for this, though, and he was so glad he had.