Chapter 6 The one with the gummy strawberries
Soft morning light filtered through the curtains, casting a cozy glow on the cold November morning.
It had been nearly three weeks since Jared moved into Dylan’s apartment. He didn’t think having a roommate would be something he’d enjoy since he had lived alone for over a decade, but he had to admit that having Jared around was fun.
However, as good as their cohabitation was in helping Jared through this rough patch, it also made it increasingly difficult for Dylan to keep his composure.
With a pounding heart and a throbbing dick, he got up and lazily dragged his feet towards the window. Gazing out at the city awakening beyond the glass while Jared took a shower, his fingers drummed restlessly on the sill.
Dylan had made a conscious effort to stay away from him.
He wanted Jared to feel comfortable, and give him time and space to adjust to this new phase in his life as he found himself again.
The last thing he needed was to feel like he was being stalked by a bloodthirsty creature with no brains.
But with each passing day, Dylan’s longing had grown.
He had an ensuite, but the sound of running water coming from the bathroom in the hallway echoed in his ears, snaking into his pants.
Squeezing his eyes shut, Dylan released a painful breath as his thoughts veered rampantly towards Jared and how he would be lathering up that lean body. How the water would be cascading down all the sharp cuts of his muscles and that cock that had felt so incredibly good under him...
Dylan shook his head, trying to get rid of the images forming in his mind.
Usually, this gesture and his willpower were enough to keep his desire on a leash, but today it didn’t work.
As if he’d been possessed by an incubus or some other raging sexual demon, Dylan walked out of his bedroom and into the hallway.
He wouldn’t storm into the bathroom unannounced, but he ached to be closer to Jared, even if a physical door separated them.
Hell, some days he even saw a number twelve flashing above it, reminding him of their age difference and to stay away.
To his surprise, Jared hadn’t shut it today.
Fuck me.
Hypnotized, Dylan leaned against the bathroom doorframe with his arms crossed. A ghost of a smile played on his lips while he watched Jared move behind the frosted glass.
The bathroom was filled with the soothing sound of running water, acoustic guitar music, and the scent of Jared’s shower gel. Steam had engulfed everything, turning the temperature up and making this utterly sensual moment into a tangible fantasy.
Jared was humming along with the melody, oblivious to Dylan’s hungry gaze.
All Dylan wanted right now was to step behind that glass and taint whatever innocence Jared might have left. To bruise his lips with his. To crash his back against the tiled wall and have his way with him.
When Jared turned off the shower and the glass door slid open, Dylan panicked. He shouldn’t be here, watching him like a creep.
Wanting to run both away from and towards the shower, he found himself frozen on the spot, completely paralyzed.
More steam billowed through the room when Jared stepped out, shamelessly nude, onto the floor mat. His hair was damp, sticking to his forehead and neck. Water droplets were clinging to his skin, gliding down his torso, over his abs, the deep V on his hips...
“Enjoying the view?” he asked, wrapping a towel around his waist.
Dylan’s eyes snapped up to meet his, just in time to catch the playful smirk tugging at the corner of his lips.
Dylan cleared his throat, and trying to regain his composure, made his way to the kitchen just a few steps away from the tiny corridor.
“Sorry man, I’m just too sleepy. Brain not functioning yet.” He grabbed his mug from the cabinet and poured some coffee from the pot, made the day before, into it. “It was so warm there by the door with all the steam…” Lame.
The sound of bare feet tapping on the floor approached.
“I'm not mad.” Jared grinned, big and bright, snatching his mug. “You can look all you want.”
Dylan’s dick punched the front of his underwear when Jared took a sip of his coffee, their eyes deadlocked in a searing blaze.
Fuck me twice.
“We’re gonna be late.” Dylan stole his mug back and gulped the rest of his coffee before rushing into his bedroom. He needed to stay away from temptation.
Dylan had always prided himself on his ability to stay composed in any situation. But today he didn’t seem able to get a grip on his stupid ass.
It wasn’t the first time Jared had made a comment that sounded like straight up flirting instead of a joke.
It’d started out casually. He would flash Dylan a sly grin across the living room when he was making dinner for the two of them, or drop a suggestive comment while playing video games.
It wasn’t super blatant all the time, but over the last few days, he was just tossing them out there with no shame, the playful twinkle in his eyes driving Dylan insane.
Still, he didn’t act on his desires.
He wasn’t timid, and their attraction to each other was an open secret. A growing ball of fire barely contained by the tension breeding in the air. However, there was something... something that made Dylan hesitant.
Part of him was afraid that Jared wasn’t emotionally ready to fuck someone new.
Hell, it had been six years of loyalty devoted to one person alone.
Even when you wanted to move on, that shit could topple you.
It was a process, and Dylan didn’t want to disrupt any of the steps Jared needed to take.
Yet, deep down, he felt there was more to it.
Since Jared had moved in, Dylan hadn’t fucked around at all. And maybe that was part of the issue.
Although he never stuck for too long with the same person, Dylan had a pretty active sex life for a single dude.
But it seemed disrespectful to bring people home to bang when his roomie was kind of in mourning.
Even if it had been just a few weeks, it was so bad, Dylan could almost count the minutes that had passed since he’d last tasted either pussy or dick.
And seeing Jared’s happily hanging between his legs that morning as he stepped out of the shower had only made those urges worse.
Annoyed, Dylan rubbed a hand over his head like that would erase the inappropriate thoughts he’d been having all morning. Just then, Penny approached their workstation, a bright smile curling her lips.
“Look what I have…” she said. “Jared?” she called, shaking a bag of gummy strawberries. “I got the gummies filled with jelly like I promised you.”
If it wasn’t for how uncomfortable he was right now, with his cock half-mast inside a pair of jeans that felt two sizes too small, Dylan would have chuckled at that.
Jared was all about clean eating, but he lived for that shit. Always said that gummies were at the top of his food pyramid. At least the one in a parallel reality where he got to eat whatever he liked, regardless of how unhealthy it was. Pizza was a close second.
Still, he never refused when Penny supplied him with any type of sweets.
“Mate.” Dylan shoved his shoulder gently.
Jared was one of those programmers who, once in the zone, especially if he was listening to music, disconnected from the world. Seriously, he had tunnel vision and anything outside of his screen didn’t exist.
“Huh?” he mumbled, raising his messy blond head as he paused the song blasting through his earphones.
Penny shook the bag again.
“Gimme.” Jared outstretched his arms, flexing and relaxing his fingers like a kid.
Penny handed him the bag with a giggle. “You do really love sweets.”
“I could survive on it for the rest of my life.”
“And you’d die before turning thirty.” Cora grinned, eyes fixed on whatever monster she was creating.
“That’d be a sweet death.” Jared shrugged, humming as he opened the bag. “Oh, man... these are so good.”
“Told you.” Her permanent smile grew. “Anyway, when are we going for lunch?”
“If you wanted to go for lunch, you shouldn’t have given him that. He’s not going to eat now.” Dylan tried to snatch the bag from Jared.
“Hey! Get your mitts off my goods.”
“You’re not going to have room for anything else and then complain that you’re bloated.”
“I have room in me for this and a lot more, babe.” Jared bit down on one of the strawberries, flashing him a heated look filled with the most devious promises.
Without thinking twice, Dylan fell into his game. “What else do you have space for in that tight, lean body of yours?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know, huh?”
Penny and Cora laughed and joked about the latent tension between Dad and Daddy, but their words were mere sounds that Dylan’s brain didn’t register. Lost in the depths of Jared’s eyes, the world around them disappeared.
It had probably only been a few seconds, but to him it felt like an eternity.
Dylan dove so deep into the filthiness connecting their minds that he was ready to explode.
He wanted Jared and wanted him now. His lips on his.
On his pecs. His stomach. Caressing his ass, forcing the tight rim of muscles open with his tongue.
When he finally snapped out of it, Penny and Cora were gone, Jared still hungrily staring at him.
“W—”
“They’ve already gone out for lunch. Do you wanna—”
Unable to take it anymore, Dylan excused himself, mumbling—gritting, really—that he needed to freshen up.
Normally he wouldn’t have said it out loud, didn’t need to expose himself even more, but his brain was glitching. He couldn’t control his mouth or anything in his body anymore.
He made his way to the bathroom, hoping the cool tiled room and the space separating him from Jared would provide some relief for his aching dick.