Chapter Three
Xavi
Monday was Xavi’s day off, and while he’d usually spend it roaming a second-hand bookstore or going to visit his mami and tias, he’d spent the better part of the day cleaning his apartment.
He didn’t know why he bothered, to be honest. Lulu would mess it all up within hours anyway, with all his stuff.
Scarves and hats and empty energy drink cans, just leaving a trail of overall clutter and untidiness behind that would only disrupt Xavi’s quiet, comfortable, and dead-ass boring life.
Right. God forbid someone should enter his private sphere and disrupt his monotone existence.
But, Jesus, the thought of being with Lulu almost uninterrupted for the next ten days scared him shitless.
It was going to be nothing short of pure torture, because hiding his feelings for his best friend was one thing when they were having Sunday breakfast with Joe and Noah, or at Noches Habaneras dancing, or playing basketball at the park with their companeros.
That was fucking hard enough. But having Lulu up in his face, batting his long, lush eyelashes at Xavi or sticking out his obnoxiously plump bottom lip—yeah, that was something else entirely.
Xavi was sure that pulling out every single hair on his body with a pair of tweezers would be less painful.
Having Lulu around didn’t just mean that Lulu’s stuff would occupy Xavi’s space.
No, there’d be the scent of him, too, and the sound of his melodic voice whenever he was singing, which was pretty much all the time, or the image of his lean, elegant body whenever he did his stretches or dance poses.
There would be that electricity in the air, that tension.
Xavi’s body was so tuned into Lulu’s, like a small, lovestruck satellite spinning around a planet, that Xavi just knew he’d get no peace.
Placing the extra sheets, pillow, and comforter on the pull-out couch, Xavi looked around his small living room.
If he dared say so himself, he had pretty good taste.
It was cozy and a little hip, but not in a hipster way.
More in a way that spoke of his Cuban roots and his love of books, music, and plants.
His place looked inviting, he thought, but what did it matter?
He rarely invited people over, and he never ever brought a date or a hookup home.
Something inside him just couldn’t. It would feel wrong to let someone into his space when he already knew it would never amount to anything more than a few casual dates or getting some physical release.
What was the point in pretending that any of them would ever, could ever, be more to him than just a distraction temporarily passing through his life?
Xavi’s heart wasn’t in it because it didn’t belong to him. It belonged to Lulu.
On his way to his bedroom to put stuff away that was private, because Lulu was snoopy as fuck, a loud succession of knocks sounded against his apartment door.
“Hola, roomie!” Lulu yelled from the hallway as he continued to bang on Xavi’s door. “Rápido, por favor, hermano!”
“Just a second!” he yelled back, quickly throwing a glance at himself in the mirror next to the coat rack, then cursing himself for doing so.
Xavi knew some guys found him attractive; it wasn’t that.
No, the thing was that it didn’t matter.
He’d only ever wanted one guy to notice him, so he’d stopped caring about how he dressed a long time ago.
When he was at work, he wore black or gray pants and a white or gray button-up, which was pretty standard among the male staff.
When he went out, it was mostly black jeans, a black tee, and his old, worn leather jacket, and when at home, it was sweats and a tee or a hoodie.
Today was a white tee and gray sweats kind of day.
When he opened the door, a drenched Lulu nearly fell into his arms, a pool of water already gathering on the floor beneath him.
“Cono, what happened to you?”
“Well, nice to see you too, oso.” Lulu blew past him, throwing him an air kiss. “Shit, I’m drenched, said the little cabaret singer.” Lulu shook his head like a dog, drops of water cascading through the air, some hitting Xavi square in the face.
“I can see that,” Xavi groaned. “And now I am too.” He brushed a hand along his face, his scruff getting a little too long for his liking.
“Awww, you wet for me, papi?” Lulu blinked, sweeping wet strands of hair out of his face, then gathered them in a low ponytail at the nape of his neck.
“Cut it out.” Lulu was a flirt and couldn’t help it to save his life. Some days it didn’t bother Xavi so much, but then there were days when he just felt raw and tired, and it got to him.
Lulu nodded in mock seriousness, digging his teeth into his bottom lip, then snorted out a laugh through his nose instead.
Xavi just shook his head in resignation.
“Let me get you a to—” Xavi said while Lulu gestured to his bedroom.
“I’m just gonna… I got caught in a shower and not the good kind, if you know what I mean.
I’m just gonna go grab one of your T-shirts while you start dinner. ”
“Sure, whatever,” Xavi sighed. “Help yourself, why dontcha?” Lulu in his clothes would just be the icing on Xavi’s fucking shit cake, wouldn’t it?
A naked Lulu in his bedroom, wearing his fucking clothes, his skin still moist from the rain.
Right. Good times. Then it hit him. Lulu, in his bedroom.
The stuff on his bed he was going to put away from Lulu’s snooping ass.
Bolting after Lulu like he’d been electrocuted, Xavi yelled, “No, no, no, no! Don’t go in th—” But of course it was too late.
Because his life was one long shit festival.
“Holy fucking mariachi band! Those are a lot of cocks!” Lulu squealed, clapping his hands excitedly.
“I didn’t think it was gonna be that kinda sleepover, but I’m game, big guy.
” Entering his bedroom, Xavi found Lulu gaping at his dildos.
His dildos. As in plural. Dildos, which Xavi had removed from the drawer in his bedside table, and was going to put somewhere very private before Lulu arrived.
But of fucking course, Lulu had decided that today of all days was going to be the one time he was early for once. When he was never early.
“Just give me a second—” Xavi scrambled toward the bed, mortification eating up his insides.
“I mean it. That’s quite a collection. Are they all yours?” Lulu’s eyes flashed with intrigue and something else Xavi couldn’t quite decipher, but there was no hint of the usual teasing in his voice.
“Well, yeah, I mean… I don’t use them a lot but…” Xavi leaned in over the bed as he started gathering the dildos in his arms. This day was just getting worse by the second.
“Whatcha mean you don’t use them? You have this collection of beautiful cocks, and you don’t use them?” Lulu’s voice was coated with disbelief as he reached for Xavi’s latest acquisition, which was still on the bed. Xavi quickly batted Lulu’s hand away, snatching it up before Lulu could.
“Please don’t touch—”
“Your tentacle?” Lulu piped in. Fuck. Could you die of mortification?
Was it possible? Xavi bet you could if you remained in Lulu’s company long enough, holding a green and purple tentacle dildo in your hand while clutching the rest of your collection against your chest. “I looove your tentacle,” Lulu continued, adding another nail to Xavi’s shit coffin.
“If I had one, I’d use it all the time.” He licked his lips suggestively, his gaze lingering hungrily on said dildo.
“Yeah, well, like I said, I don’t really use them. They’re just… I mean…” Moving backward out of his bedroom like he’d just raided a porn shop, Xavi tried not to look at Lulu, who was still very wet and in his bedroom, eyeing his dildo collection like it was the holy grail or something.
“Well, papi, that’s a damn shame. Owning all these glorious cocks with nowhere to put them. Wink-wink.”
“Will you cut it out! Go grab a tee or something and get the fuck outta my space.” Turning on his heel, Xavi hurried out of the bedroom and down the hallway, but of fucking course Lulu stalked after him like a shark sniffing blood.
“I’m just sayin’. You know if you ever want to practice… or… Besides, you love me in your space.”
“I do not.” Reaching the small kitchen, Xavi scoured the room, then dropped the dildoes on the kitchen counter. Where the hell was he going to put them?
“Do too,” Lulu laughed behind him. “You love me in your space, papi.” He did, didn’t he? Well, he both loved it and hated it.
“Yeah, let’s just leave it at that,” Xavi mumbled, rubbing his face.
“You don’t have to put them away, you know, hermano?
We can just keep them in the bathroom and no questions asked if you stay a little longer in the shower.
” Lulu’s breath was hot, too hot, against his chin, his scent so potent, the combined smell of rain and Lulu’s perfume with undertones of male sweat.
“No!” Xavi blurted. “There’ll be none of that.
” There’s no we, he almost added, but even though Lulu was right up in his face eyeing his dildos like they were fucking popsicles, Xavi couldn’t bring himself to be mean.
It wasn’t Lulu’s fault that Xavi had bought every single one of them, imagining how he’d use them with Lulu in an imaginary world where Lulu would let him.
“Okay, osito, relax. I won’t touch your…
” The tip of Lulu’s pink tongue dipped out of his mouth, sweeping languidly along his bottom lip, leaving a trail of glistening saliva behind.
He had to tilt his head slightly to lock eyes with Xavi, and as he bared his lean neck doing so, that familiar possessiveness rose inside Xavi, clawing its way to the surface, until his skin was itching and he could barely stand to be inside his own body.
He’d always thought Lulu had just the perfect height.
With his five-foot-seven height, he wasn’t exactly short, but just perfect against Xavi’s own six-feet. Perfect.
“Not even the purple one?” Lulu pouted, pointing at the fattest one in the middle of Xavi’s dildo lineup.
“Nope. Not even the purple one.” Xavi couldn’t help chuckling under his breath, the ridiculousness of the conversation suddenly hitting him.
“But it’s so preeetyyy,” Lulu whined. “Not even on… say Fridays?” Lulu’s face lit up because he knew Xavi often hung out with Manu on Fridays.
“Can’t I at least have cockstody on Fridays?
” He batted his long eyelashes as they fluttered their dirty promises at Xavi.
Promises that would never amount to anything.
Xavi crossed his arms in front of his chest, resting his hip against the kitchen counter. “Nope.” He deliberately popped the P, then winked at Lulu.
“Ugh, you’re such a cock hogger!” Lulu whined, and Xavi felt real laughter bubbling in his chest, moving toward his throat.
“But you know purple is my favorite color.” Lulu stuck out his bottom lip, and like always when he did that, Xavi just felt like leaning in and clasping it between his teeth and sucking that delectable cushion into his mouth.
Instead, he just chuckled, “Yes, I’m aware of that because you tell me all the time. ”
“Were you thinking of me when you bought it?” A cute blush crept up Lulu’s cheeks, and although he was a great actor, Xavi couldn’t help but wonder if you could make yourself blush like that or if it could perhaps be a real blush.
“No. I wasn’t thinking of you,” he mumbled, while his heart was screaming, I was!
“I do have moments where I don’t think of you and your needy ass, you know?
” I don’t, Xavi’s treacherous heart continued.
Not really. I think about you all the time.
It was true. He always thought about Lulu.
Whenever he bought a new T-shirt or a new jazz record, he always wondered if Lulu would like it.
“Liar!” Lulu coughed.
“I don’t. Now, will you please go change out of those wet clothes? The last thing I want is to nurse your pathetic, sick ass through a cold.”
“My ass is not pathetic, thank you very much,” Lulu gasped. “It is many things starting with P, but not pathetic.” He started moving backward out of the kitchen, listing things on his fingers. “It’s plump. Peachy. Uhm, perky too.”
“Pretentious?” Xavi grinned.
“No,” Lulu huffed.
“Pompous?”
“No! It’s—”
“Pampered?”
“Uh, are you offering, papi?” Lulu’s almond eyes twinkled with mischief. “You wanna pamper my ass?”
Xavi shook his head, that growing laughter now bubbling over, spilling from his lips.
“I’d rather,”—Xavi’s gaze dipped to the tentacle dildo—“I’d rather choke on a tentacle,” he snorted.
“Hey, I’ll choke you if that’s your thing, Daddy,” Lulu blurted, then clasped his hand against his mouth.
Daddy. Fuck, where the hell had that come from?
Lulu always called him papi; that was kind of his thing, but Daddy?
That was new. Xavi’s dick swelled in his sweats as the two syllables rang through his head.
Dad-dy. Dad-dy. He looked at Lulu, his mouth slightly agape.
The kitchen was suddenly quiet. Too quiet.
Lulu looked as shocked as Xavi was about the slip.
Was Lulu into daddies? Was Xavi? He’d never considered it, but with the way his cock was thickening in his sweats, maybe he was.
Eventually, Lulu smiled tentatively as he shivered. “I’m just gonna…”
“Yeah,” Xavi hummed.
“Don’t wanna catch a cold, you know?”
“Right. I’ll just…” Xavi waved at the dildos. “I’ll get dinner started.”
“Cool. Whatcha cooking?” Lulu licked his lips.
“Chorizo lentil soup,” Xavi murmured, regretting the words as soon as they’d left his mouth.
“Yummy,” Lulu near-moaned, his eyes rolling up into his head. “I love me some spicy sau—”
“Don’t!” Xavi held up a hand, still clutching a dildo in it.
“Just… just get outta here,” he groaned, dropping the dildo on the kitchen counter, setting the built-in vibrator into motion.
For fuck’s sake, why couldn’t he just catch a break?
Just one fucking break. It was going to be five excruciatingly long days.
Five fucking days of pure and utter hell.
“Ten,” Lulu breathed. “It’s ten days, oso.” He smirked before disappearing down the hallway. Right. Ten days. Ten days with Lulu. Reminder to self: stop thinking out loud.