Barbarian - Jericho's Boys #? - Ch. 1 & 2 (Patreon)

This is unbeta'd/unedited. It includes Nico and Mal's first interaction in the tunnel as well as the intro to their book. I'll do another poll tomorrow after you guys have time to read this and you can tell me for sure who you want next though I have a sneaking suspicion I know. 

Chapter 1

Malachi

Mal watched from below as Nico lowered himself into the tunnel entrance, the light from the sun disappearing like an eclipse as Levi pushed the heavy manhole cover back into place. He flinched, fretful, as Nico took the metal ladder a little too quickly for his liking. He kept raising and lowering his hands ready to catch the younger boy if he fell, while also trying not to stare too hard at his ass. But it was a really nice ass.

About eight feet from the bottom, Nico let go, Mal’s heart dropping with him as he landed on the concrete floor of the tunnel, before turning and grinning at him like he’d performed some miraculous feat and not like he’d just scared the shit out of Mal. He blinked at Nico, hoping his face wasn’t acting out the complicated things Nico’s smile did to his insides.

It must have been okay. Nico took his hand like it was the most normal thing to do to a perfect stranger, dragging him deeper into the dimly lit tunnel. Mal’s head was on a swivel as they moved, absorbing every detail. It wasn’t an abandoned train or subway tunnel or—thankfully—a sewer tunnel.

Judging by the grimy subway tiles and the numerous steam pipes they passed, it was a maintenance tunnel, probably still in use by utility workers around the city. Which was a relief. While he wasn’t crazy about the heat or the rainforest-like air quality, they weren’t likely to end up with black lung.

Nico didn't walk beside him, but a bit ahead, pulling Mal along like he knew he wouldn’t protest. Of course, he wouldn’t. Nico’s skin was warm, his hands a little rough and bigger than Mal’s own. He stared at the back of Nico’s head, watching the pretty ringlets bounce against his neck, playing peek-a-boo with a scorpion tattoo at the nape of his neck.

After a moment or two, the other boy looked back at him with another easy grin, his bright blue eyes alight like this was the most fun he’d ever had. Mal’s heart did something complicated in his chest. Nico had the face of an angel. It wasn’t hyperbole. He looked like a painting Mal had seen on a trip to the museum with his seventh grade class. A picture of Lucifer as an angel. Nico was the embodiment of that painting, Lucifer in the flesh. Maybe Mal should take that as a warning. But he too often found himself running towards danger instead of away.

Mal had never seen anyone as radiant as Nico. Lucifer meant light-bearer and Nico was all light. His hair and eyes bright, his skin glowing, his soul radiant. Mal itched to drag him close, to bury his face in his neck, inhale him like a drug. He wanted to taste his smile. He wanted to live in his light. But he didn’t say any of that, because even Mal knew his thoughts were too crazy.

They had only made it a short distance when Nico grinned and asked, “If you had to describe yourself as any toy, what would it be and why?”

Mal rapidly blinked at him, processing the question, spitting out his answer immediately. “Mr. Potato Head.”

Nico gave a surprised laugh and it fell around Mal like rose petals, like bells, like rain. He closed his eyes, trying to commit the sound to memory. When he opened them again, Nico stared at him expectantly, when Mal frowned, the younger boy said, “You have to say why.”

“Oh,” Mal said. “Because my foundation never changes. Who I am at my core is inflexible. My intellect, my beliefs, my view of the world as a whole. But everything else changes based on who I am when I wake up in the morning. All my other parts are interchangeable.”

Nico’s brows knitted together. “What kind of other parts?”

Mal shrugged. “My hair, my clothes, my gender, my accent, my sexuality…whenever I wake up, I’m never really sure who I’ll find in the mirror looking back. Most people find that…off putting.”

Nico studied him, looking him up and down in a way that made Mal want to press him up against those tiles and see if his moans were as pretty as his laugh. He pushed the thought away, trying to concentrate on his words. “Looking like you do? There’s no way people aren’t lining up for you, off putting or not.”

Mal smirked, then shrugged. He wasn’t blind. He was fully aware he was what society found conventionally attractive. He was given the benefit of the doubt more often than not simply because he was born with a pretty face. “Looks only get you so far. Then people want to know who’s sleeping beside them each night. I can’t give anyone that comfort.”

They fell into a tense silence for about thirty seconds before Nico shook the hand he held. “You’re so enigmatic,” he teased, turning to walk backwards, facing Mal. “How was prison?” he asked like that was a totally normal thing to say.

“Could have been worse, I suppose,” Mal said with a lazy shrug. “I’m not a big fan of communal showers,” he said with a lazy drawl. “Or shared toilets.”

Nico scrunched up his nose. Mal’s brain instantly ground to a halt. He wanted to kiss him right there where it crinkled the most. His heart beat faster just thinking about it. He let his gaze sweep the other boy’s body. He wore a black tank top that showed off broad shoulders and muscular arms and wide legged jeans that would have looked stupid on most people but somehow just worked on him.

By the time his gaze crawled back up to Nico’s face, the boy had a knowing smirk on that perfect heart shaped mouth. Mal had been caught. The younger boy cocked a brow. “Are you checking me out?”

“Just looking,” Mal said, hoping he sounded nonchalant and not like he was mentally picking flowers for their future wedding.

“Did you get beat up in prison?” Nico asked, spinning back around to walk beside him once more.

Mal gave a humorless laugh. “People tend to not mess with me.”

“Why? Are you dangerous?” he teased.

Mal dropped his mask for a moment, letting Nico see just how truly devoid of humanity he was when he stopped trying. “Prison is like the jungle. Inmates instinctively steer clear of the weird, crazy or unpredictable.”

“Which are you?” he asked, his tone still amused.

Mal blinked at him. “I’m all three.”

He waited for Nico to freak out or grow nervous but he just laughed again, showering Mal in hearts and flowers. When Mal continued to stare, Nico said, “I know it’s not funny, but my friends are married to a disproportionately large number of papered psychopaths, so weird and unpredictable is kind of my normal. ”

Mal believed what he said about his friends. He also believed that being weird and unpredictable was Nico’s normal. But that wasn’t all of it. “You like it,” Mal said. “You like the danger.”

A statement, not a question.

Nico cocked his head, a smile playing at his lips. “Is that so?”

Mal nodded. “You’re a storm chaser.”

Nico barked out another laugh and Mal saw fireworks. “What?”

He shrugged. “You’re an adrenaline junkie. The kind of person who runs towards danger instead of away. You like the danger.”

Nico stared at him for a long moment. Then shrugged. “Yeah, maybe.”

Mal nodded, letting the silence creep in once more, focused on the odd cadence of their echoing footsteps. Nico tended to scuff his shoe every second or third step and soon the pattern of it became a beat in Mal’s head, something he could dance to.

“We used to come down here to get high and play laser tag,” Nico said suddenly, answering a question Mal hadn’t asked.

“Oh,” he said, uncertain of the appropriate answer.

When the silence dragged on once more, Nico began to fill it, words spilling into the confined space like sand. “Do you like horror movies? I love them. Like love love them. Even the bad ones. Especially the bad ones. There’s something so fucking intense about being scared. Like, you’re probably right about me being an adrenaline junkie cause I think I’m addicted to that feeling, you know? My favorite is Hereditary. Oh, and probably Dawn of the Dead too, but maybe that’s just cause I would happily live in a shopping mall forever. Picking off zombies from a rooftop would only be a bonus. The Conjuring is another favorite and like, yeah, I know it’s kind of cliche, but it’s my comfort horror movie, you know?”

He turned those bright blue eyes on Mal, anticipation lighting his face. How could he stay quiet with his future husband looking at him so expectantly? He really meant to say something normal, to tell Nico his favorite horror movie—Rosemary’s Baby—but what came out was, “Did you know in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, they used chocolate syrup for blood?”

Nico slow-blinked at him once…twice. A pit formed in Mal’s stomach. Was this what it felt like to care about disappointing someone? He hated it.

Nico scrunched his perfect nose once more and Mal decided then and there that he would let the other boy stomp all over his heart wearing six inch heels if he asked. “Gross. Probably better than corn syrup though. So…sticky.”

Mal nodded, grimacing. “Yeah. I hate being sticky.”

“Mm,” Nico agreed. “Me too. Did you know The Exorcist set was haunted. Poltergeist too. I have this really cool documentary about it if you want to watch it with me. I like documentaries, True Crime and movie stuff mostly, the others won’t watch them with me be-.”

“I will,” Mal blurted. Nico’s eyes went wide so Mal kept going. “I’ll watch them with you. Any of them. I-I like documentaries, too. Mostly nature stuff and stuff about aliens.”

Nico gripped his arm, excitement leaching into his voice. “You like alien stuff too? Ancient Aliens is one of my favorite shows.”

“Mine, too,” he said, once more too quick with his answer.

Nico looked at him like he was made of cellophane, like he could look right inside his chest and see how far gone on Nico he was already.

But Nico was a benevolent God, taking pity on Mal, ignoring his obvious crush to ask, “Do you like anime? Please tell me you like anime and not just the bloody stuff like Demon Slayer but the soft stuff like Studio Ghibli. I really need someone who will watch Princess Mononoke with me when I’m sad.”

Mal’s chest tightened, nostrils flaring. Who made Nico sad? Nico should never be sad. He had Mal now. He would make it his life’s mission to ensure Nico was never sad ever again. He’d die first. He’d kill, slaughter millions, make a castle out of their bones if it meant he got to spend his life watching him scrunch his nose so cutely. But, again, he would never say something that insane out loud.

He just needed to say something normal.

I love Studio Ghibli.

“Sometimes I watch those cake smash videos and imagine someone getting impaled on one of the dowels they use to hold up the layers.”

His chest caved in on itself. Why was his brain like this?

Nico stared at him, then began to giggle. “You’re so weird.”

Oh, good, Nico knew already. Mal sighed, relieved. He was weird. No point in denying it. “Yeah.”

“That’s a good thing,” Nico promised, squeezing Mal’s hand.

Mal’s lids fluttered, trying to memorize the feel of Nico’s hand touching his. “Oh, okay. Thanks.”

“You don’t smile much, huh?” Nico teased.

Mal smiled reflexively, like Nico had pulled a cord on his back.

Nico gasped, hand going to his mouth.

Mal’s smile died. “What? What’s wrong?” He looked around for whatever threat had pulled that reaction from Nico.

Nico dropped his arm, then tilted his head. “You have the most adorable bunny teeth I’ve ever seen. Cuter than Ever’s even.”

Mal stared, wheels spinning. “Bunny teeth?”

Nico nodded. “Yeah, like you know, rabbits, hares, Bugs Bunny?” He put his hands in front of his chest like bunny paws. “Those cute fuzzy creatures that fuck like their the last two survivors in a post-apocalyptic dystopia, somehow trying to repopulate the earth.”

“I’m familiar with bunnies, Nico,” Mal said, affect flat.

“Bunny teeth,” Nico said again, with less enthusiasm, then pressed his top teeth against his bottom lip in what Mal could only assume was another attempt at impersonating a cartoon rabbit.

“Is that what you think I look like?” Mal asked, slightly horrified.

Nico’s face smoothed out. “Can’t I just like your bunny teeth?” he asked, a pout on his face, voice exaggeratedly sullen.

“It’s a free country,” Mal said with a wave of his hand. “You can do as you please.”

Nico flicked his gaze up to Mal’s, his pouty face suddenly seductive. “Oh, you don’t want to give someone like me that kind of power,” he promised.

Mal gave him a very thorough once over. “You don’t know what I want.”

Nico faltered, his shoe catching on the concrete. Mal’s hand shot out righting him before he could go face first into the cement.

Nico blinked at him. “You have the reflexes of a cat.”

Mal smiled. He loved cats. “Thanks.”

Nico shook his head, staring hard for a full thirty seconds. Maybe this was why the other boy fell down a lot. He was constantly looking anywhere but ahead.

Just when he decided to say something, Nico tipped his head to the side. “You’re hot.”

“You’re pretty,” he blurted, then snapped his mouth shut, tips of his ears burning.

Nico looked almost shy for a second, then pushed his hair behind his own, non- crimson ear, pretending to be bashful. “Are you hitting on me, bunny?”

Mal shrugged, again hoping he appeared at least somewhat ambivalent. “No. Just stating a fact.”

Nico grinned, looking up at him from beneath sooty lashes. “You’re pretty, too. Way prettier than me, honestly. You’re pretty like a girl. But also really handsome. You’re both.”

Mal pondered this sudden shift in conversation. Was Nico just making an assessment based on fact? Mal was pretty. And handsome, objectively speaking. He would be stupid to pretend otherwise. But why would Nico bring it up? “Are you hitting on me?”

Nico gave him another appraising look. “I could,” he said, then bit down on his bottom lip, dragging his top teeth across it in a way that made Mal’s dick take notice. “I could take you back to my room and let you fuck me. Bet you had quite the dry spell in prison. I bet you’re crazy hot in bed. You’d probably rock my world.”

Mal’s breath punched from him at Nico’s bold statement. He wasn’t wrong. But Mal was crazy everywhere, not just the bedroom. Nico’s words gave Mal permission to let himself wonder about his new friend’s sex life. What was Nico like in bed? Was he strictly a bottom? Was he kinky? Did he like it rough? Mal looked into those pool blue eyes and knew he would do anything to make him cry either with pleasure or pain.

Nico sighed, pulling Mal from his thoughts. “But it would probably get weird. And Levi and Shiloh would be all in their feels about it.”

Mal’s heart shriveled like a popped balloon. “Oh. Okay.” His gaze dragged from down to look at Nico’s pretty pink heart shaped lips. “So we’re not having sex?” he asked, concentrating on sounding bored so hard he worried he might get a nose bleed.

Nico shook his head, coming to a stop. He gripped Mal’s soft hands in his rough ones. His hands were bigger than Mal’s, but that wasn’t saying much. “I think I want to keep you. So we probably shouldn’t put our dicks in each other.”

Nico’s first sentence exhilarated him. His second devastated him. Why couldn’t they do both? He tamped down his disappointment. If not fucking Nico meant keeping him than he’d just have to get used to jerking off in the shower until the other realized they were meant to be.

But there was one thing he couldn’t do without. “Can I still touch your butt?”

Nico gave that bell-like laugh once more. “If you tell me why?”

Mal chose honesty. “Cause I can’t stop thinking about how it would feel in my hands.”

Nico’s brows went up, but then he gave him an impish look. “Sure, as long as you don’t get too attached to it.”

“Okay,” Mal lied easily, stepping in front of Nico to wrap his arms around him, cupping his ass with both hands, letting his eyes fall shut as he squeezed the perfectly jiggly globes once, then again. Nico’s breath hitched against his ear. His hair smelled like coconuts and his clothing smelled like lavender.

Mal swallowed hard, forcing himself to take a step back, some small part of him feeling vindicated when he saw Nico’s slack mouth and unfocused gaze.

When Nico turned back towards the exit, Mal smacked his ass without thought, earning a surprised yelp and a pissy look from the younger boy.

“We’re just friends,” Nico said again, rubbing his sore ass before threading their fingers together. When Mal looked at their joined hands, Nico shrugged. “What? Friends hold hands.”

They did? “What else do they do?”

“Hmm,” he said, pondering his question. “Watch movies, play video games…cuddle?”

Cuddle. As in hold Nico in his arms? He could do that. “Friends cuddle?”

Nico nodded quickly. “Sure, and nap. And play with each other’s hair.”

Mal’s mood darkened. Did Nico do that with all the guys at the garage? “You do this with all your friends?”

Nico gave him a forlorn look. “Nah. I used to when we were younger. It was the only place I could get any affection. But now most of my friends have moved past it or are too busy.”

Mal processed that information. “So you’d only do that stuff with me?”

Nico blinked in surprise, his tone teasing when he asked, “Are you jealous already?”

“No,” Mal said a little too quickly to be believable, his tone sulky even to his own ears.

Nico sighed, lifting their joined hands and biting Mal’s finger hard enough to draw a surprised hiss from him. “Listen, I like sex. A lot. I’m no virgin.” Mal had no idea where Nico was going with this. “But I don’t do relationships. Falling in love is for suckers. My mom taught me that early on. I plan to marry for money.”

“Oh,” Mal said.

“I’ll make you a deal,” Nico said, leaning against him.

Mal cocked his head. “I’m listening.”

“If you promise not to get clingy and to not cockblock me when I need to get laid, I promise I’ll only cuddle and do all those other things with you. Deal?”

Mal had heard of friends with benefits before, but he’d always imagined the sex was the benefit, not the…boyfriend stuff. Still, he had no right to Nico. At least, not yet. If being the only one he used for comfort meant enduring him fucking other people, it was a sacrifice Mal was willing to make. It wasn’t Nico’s fault he didn’t see that he belonged to him.

Yet.

“Deal.”

Chapter 2

Nico

Five Months Later

Nico slammed the apartment door with more force than necessary, locked it behind him like he was being chased. When he slipped his jacket off, he found three sets of eyes peering at him curiously. Shiloh sat curled in Levi’s lap, a bowl of popcorn resting on his legs. Mal sat on the opposite end of their broken sagging couch, blinking at him.

They were all clearly waiting for an explanation for his dramatic entrance. He didn’t even know where to start. Everything was so hard for him lately. When it came to sex, nothing ever went right. Was Mercury in Gatorade or something? Had he broken a mirror, pissed off a witch?

Every date was a bigger disaster than the last.

No, not date.

They weren’t dates.

Fuck.

Levi gave him that infuriating raised brow. “Date didn’t go well?”

Nico huffed out a breath through his nose, irritation rolling through him like he’d taken too much Adderall this morning, his skin was crawling, his heart beating a little too fast. “It wasn’t a date. It was a hook-up. No, wrong. It was supposed to be a hook-up, but just like last time I was…bamboozled.”

Levi snorted into Shiloh’s shoulder, but Nico’s were on Mal. He watched Nico pace, expressionless as usual.

Shiloh giggled. “Bamboozled?”

Nico rolled his eyes. Why did he have to explain everything? “Yeah, you know, hoodwinked, scammed, flimflammed, outmaneuvered, conned, duped-”

Levi cut him off. “We got it, Bugsy. How were you…hoodwinked?”

“I told you not to get him that word-of-the-day calendar,” Shiloh murmured to Levi.

Nico sighed. “His profile said he was hot, kinky and looking for no-strings-attached. Hell, his profile pic was just his torso. Like, is that not the international fuckboi code? Right?”

Shiloh stared wide-eyed. “Uh…Right?” Shiloh asked, sounding like he wasn’t at all sure that was right.

Nico’s gaze stuttered to Mal who continued to study him with those wide feline eyes. He licked his lower lip, resisting the urge to fix his uncomfortably rumpled shirt. His outfit alone should have been an indicator to Ben—Brian?—that he was there for one thing only. He was wearing sweatpants for fuck’s sake. Who wore sweatpants when they were trying to make a meaningful connection? Nobody.

“This guy had more strings than a puppet,” Nico huffed, flopping onto the couch, instantly sinking into the reassuring heat of Mal’s side. His arm came around his shoulders like it was a habit. Nico couldn’t stop himself from nestling deeper. Mal wore that baby pink sleeveless t-shirt slit down both sides, revealing his tanned skin and a constellation of freckles in the shape of the big dipper.

It was one of Mal’s ‘safe’ shirts. He wore the same five shirts on repeat due to his rather exacting specifications. Anything Mal wore had to be soft, loose and tag-free. They couldn’t be scratchy or pill. They couldn’t pull or dig.

Nico often called him Princess after The Princess and the Pea because even the slightest wrinkle in their sheets or fold in his sock was enough to ruin his best friend’s day. Some found it annoying but Mal’s fussiness worked out perfectly for Nico. Their sheets were always perfect and Mal’s shirts were always soft beneath his cheek when they cuddled.

“How?” Levi asked.

How what?

Oh, right. His disastrous non-hook-up.

Nico folded his arms over his chest. “Well, first he started interrogating me.”

Shiloh gave him those wide Bambi eyes. “Interrogating you? How?”

Nico rolled his eyes as he shook his head. “Are you from here? Do you live nearby? Do you still live with your parents? What are you studying in school? Are you hungry? Should we grab dinner? Are you okay like this?”

“What an asshole,” Levi deadpanned, earning another giggle from Shiloh.

“Right?” Nico said. “During a hookup the only questions I want to hear is top or bottom and what is your safe word? How is that so difficult?”

“Maybe you should give up Grindr for FetLife,” Levi said. “Cause you’re kind of a douchebag to these hookups and you come home just as horny as when you left. Only now you’re cranky too.”

“Of course, I’m cranky,” Nico snapped. “I haven’t gotten laid in forever…and I am hungry,” he added begrudgingly.

Mal shot to his feet so abruptly, Nico face-planted into the empty space. “Hey,” he whined, glowering at the taller boy’s back.

“Do you want to eat or not?” Mal asked, pulling out the leftovers from their friend-date to the Korean barbeque the night before.

“Yes, please,” he said meekly, letting himself admire how soft and rumpled Mal looked in his joggers and tank-top, his light brown hair puffy from air-drying after his shower. Mal was obsessed with Nico’s ass, couldn’t seem to get enough of it. But Nico didn’t spend nearly as much time admiring Mal’s ass as it deserved. Even in joggers, the curve of his ass was prominent, the muscles flexing with each motion.

Why would Nico date some loser when he had Mal as his best friend? He cooked for him, cuddled him, always let him pick the documentary or anime they watched, took him out to dinner and paid more often than not, despite Nico’s protests.

If Nico was the type to do relationships, Mal would be it for him. Except for the sex thing. Nico didn’t think Mal would be down for his level of kink. He was so sweet to Nico, so attentive. Practically falling all over himself to make Nico happy.

According to their friends he was also wildly possessive of Nico. He didn’t see it. Sure, he was protective. That was not a secret. And sure, Nico used that to his advantage with the others. But he didn’t think Mal was any more possessive with him than the others. They didn’t see how sweet and loving Mal was. Their friends claimed Nico was crazy. That anyone as violent and sadistic as Mal was during kills would never be docile in bed.

But they didn’t know Mal like he did.

“So did you at least get off before you left?” Levi asked, nuzzling his nose against his boyfriend’s neck, clearly rubbing it in that he could get laid any time he wanted.

“No. I just couldn’t get into it,” Nico muttered. “I just wanted to come home and watch that capybara documentary Mal and I started.

Shiloh and Levi exchanged a long glance, the annoying kind that told Nico they were silently communicating. Nico huffed again, then looked to Mal who glanced in his direction like he sensed his eyes on him. When they made eye contact, he immediately dropped his gaze down to the food he was re-heating, ears going pink at the tips.

Mal was so weird. Not because he made Nico food. He would do that for any of them. He was domestic like that. He showed his affection with acts of service. Shiloh said Mal often did things for people because he was bad with words.

Nico didn’t think that was true at all. He and Mal often stayed up for hours talking about anything and nothing. Mal was deeply soulful when he wanted to be and shockingly silly at times. Not that anyone else knew that. Mal saved that part of himself for Nico. He was happy Mal trusted him enough to just be his weird self. It let Nico be weird too.

Mal still terrified and confused most people who met him, but he was so good with the kids in his dance classes that even the parents had seemed to warm up to him. The kids seemed to love Mal’s spontaneity and his complete lack of shame. Nico envied how nothing embarrassed Mal. Everything embarrassed Nico.

Mal pushed the bowl into his hands. “Hurry up and eat so you can shower. You smell like the subway. I’ll go get the room set up.”

Nico watched him leave, then sat on the couch shoveling beef bulgogi into his mouth. When he glanced at his friends, they were both gawking at him. “Whah” he asked, mouth full.

“Nothing,” they both answered, voices full of mock innocence.

Nico ate another few bites in silence, then lurched to his feet, bowl in hand. “I can’t eat with you two judging me. It’s inhibiting my…digestion.”

He stomped towards his bedroom to find Mal, the two of them snickering behind him.

Maybe Nico and Mal should just get their own place.

###

“You’re not paying attention,” Mal grumbled from above him.

Nico flushed, burrowing a little deeper into his side. “Am, too.”

They both knew he was lying.

Nico had eaten his leftovers, then he’d taken a shower, washing the subway smell and his bad hook-up away before donning his softest boxers and Mal’s old dance jersey. They now curled up in their tiny full-size bed, limbs tangled. He sighed where his head rested on Mal’s chest, then rubbed his face across the soft pink fabric like a pillow, inhaling the scent of Mal’s deoderant and their body wash. It unknotted something inside him. He should have just stayed home with Mal.

Like he could read Nico’s thoughts, he adjusted the laptop resting on his hips, then wrapped his arm around Nico to play with his curls in that way that always made him want to purr.

On their free nights, this was their ritual. Snuggle, snack and watch something they both enjoyed. It was cozy. Comfortable. Easy. Unlike hook-ups. Nico didn’t understand it. Every time he tried to have a one night stand, the guys grew clingy and unreasonable the minute they got their pants off. Nico didn’t want a relationship. He just wanted some rough, no strings attached sex.

That’s why he usually saved his whoring for weekends, as God intended. He and Mal often went clubbing with their friends, drinking and partying, covered in body paint and glitter, yelling over house music that would have made Nico crazy if he wasn’t a little drunk or a little high. At the end of most nights, Nico and Mal were the only two left on the dance floor, dancing to the music long after they’d both struck out and their friends had ditched them.

When the club finally booted them out, they’d hit the all-night diner and binge on appetizers or breakfast food until they were both ready to bust before going home to shower and fall asleep watching anime.

Nico loved it, loved them. But that wasn’t the point.

The point was…Nico was horny. He hadn’t gotten laid in months. It wasn’t a dry spell, it was a fucking drought and Nico was fucking thirsty. Parched, really. Since Mal had come into his life, things had gotten easier in some ways but complicated in others.

It wasn’t Mal’s fault. He’d been true to his word. He’d never once attempted to keep Nico from going home with someone. Though he did seem to panic until Nico made it home at night, which was kind of sweet but wholly unnecessary given Nico’s body count. The murdery kind, not the fucking kind. In fact, Mal was so cool about it, the two would often sit in bed, Nico tucked between Mal’s legs, holding each other’s phones swiping left or right on the other’s potential matches.

But it didn’t matter.

Having a sex life with three roommates in a two bedroom apartment was hard. Having a sex life when you shared a bed with one of said roommates was virtually impossible. He’d tried. More than once to bring a guy home.

Okay, twice.

He’d tried twice.

The first was a third year med student from Kenwick who had made it to his bedroom, before immediately recoiling at Nico’s Spirited Away desk set up. He’d then launched into a tirade about how anime was for nerds and losers and guys who played Dungeons and Dragons. Nico was at least two of those three things so he’d escorted the guy to the door with a fuck you and a have a nice night.

His second attempt was the bartender—Craig—from the club they frequented. He’d known about the roommate situation, been totally down, but when Nico returned from freshening up, Mal was on the couch and Craig was nowhere to be found. Mal had just shrugged and said he’d changed his mind after he’d seen the ‘bed situation’.

What was so weird about two grown men sharing a bed together? Did people not understand the therapeutic benefits of cuddling? It was warm and cozy and having Mal’s arms around him while he slept felt amazing, having Mal’s fingers in his hair was awesome, having Mal’s muscular thigh pressed right against Nico’s very neglected dick was…well, confusing…and frustrating.

Nico wasn’t blind. His best friend was incredibly hot. Like a five alarm fire hot. He’d found Mal sexy the moment he’d laid eyes on him. Who wouldn’t. He had soft brown hair and pretty blue eyes and the body of a Greek god. A body that only got bigger and firmer and more cut the more Mal danced.

And he was always dancing.

It was his literal job.

Nico could have fucked him the day they met. They’d both wanted it. But they’d synced up so perfectly in every conceivable way that Nico hadn’t wanted just a one-night-stand with him. Nico knew better than to fuck with perfection. Sex always fucked up relationships and relationships always fucked up sex.

But…was it really fucking with it if he just let himself…touch…a little?

He bit his lip, his hand slipping into the open slit of Mal’s tank-top, his fingers tracing the cut of his abs while he pretended to focus on the adorable giant rodent waddling across the laptop screen. He wasn’t sure when his eyes fell shut, but it made it much easier to enjoy the warm, firm skin beneath his palms.

Mal’s breath hitched and he shifted restlessly beneath Nico’s fingers, stomach dipping as the muscles there contracted. Nico rubbed his cheek against the soft shirt again, noting Mal’s hard nipple now poking through the thin fabric.

His fingers dipped a little lower, dancing over the skin just beneath his belly button.

Mal was amazing. He was the best thing to ever happen to Nico, really. Not many people could say their best friend was their everything. But Mal was. He was the person Nico ran to when he was sad or happy or furious or scared or anxious. Whenever he heard something cool or scandalous, whenever one of their friends did something stupid or dirty, Mal was the first person he wanted to tell. Mal was his confidant, his protector, his fiercest defender.

And nobody knew Mal like Nico.

The others saw him as crazy, as someone wild and unpredictable. Someone who rarely spoke in anything but riddles and when he did, only a handful of the world was smart enough to understand them. Sure, Mal was all of those things, but to Nico he was just a…house cat. Well, more like an alien from some planet of intelligent felines who had crash landed on Earth and was now just stuck there trying—and failing—to masquerade as a human.

Mal was warm and funny and sweet and actually quite normal if he was comfortable around a person. Sure, he wouldn’t stop smacking Nico’s ass, or squeezing it, or sniffing his hair. But it wasn’t that strange. Not when Nico couldn’t stop petting Mal, hugging him, using him as a buffer between himself and the rest of the world at large. Sure, they were weirdly codependent but…weren’t all best friends, really?

Nico squeaked as Mal’s hand clamped down on his wandering fingers, holding it in place. “What is happening right now?” he asked, voice neutral like he didn’t want Nico to think he was judging the situation prematurely.

Nico wiggled free of Mal’s hold and flopped onto his back with a groan. “Sorry.”

Mal closed the laptop and set it on the floor, then rolled onto his side, propping his head on his palm as he stared down at Mal. “Sorry about what?”

Nico sighed. “Groping you.”

Mal blinked at him in that way he did when he was trying to process a situation. Nico found it adorable. “Why are you…groping me, exactly?”

He raised a hand and waved it around. “It’s just been a lot. I’m kind of going through it.”

“Going through it?” he echoed.

Nico nodded. “You know…sexually.”

“Yeah, I got that,” Mal said, voice strained. “Um, why is it so hard-uh, difficult to hookup with someone lately?”

Not just lately. Since the day they’d met. That’s how long it had been since Nico got laid. He wasn’t going to tell him that.

“It’s kind of hard to explain to people that your platonic bestie sleeps in the same bed as you,” Nico confessed.

“Is that why you go to their place?” Mal asked, his tone darkening.

“Yeah. Bringing them here just leads to a bunch of questions.”

Mal’s fingers found the hem of Nico’s shirt—well, Mal’s shirt—and worried the fabric between his fingers. “Do you want to look for a three bedroom place when we can afford to move?”

They were all working as much as possible, desperate to save money for the first, last and security necessary to secure a bigger place in a better neighborhood, one closer to the city where both Shiloh and Mal—and to a lesser extent, Nico and Levi—had to commute every day. But despite Nico’s complaining, it had never once occurred to him to look for a three bedroom apartment. His stomach soured. Not having Mal as his body pillow at night wasn’t an option.

“No. I’m just…horny.”

“Right.” Mal caught his plump bottom lip between his teeth and Nico thought about how good it would probably feel to sink his teeth into it. “Can’t you just jerk off? That’s what I do.”

Heat punched through him at Mal’s casual confession. It wasn’t news that Mal jerked off. Nico was fairly certain everyone in the apartment did. Even the ‘newlyweds’ in the room next door and they never stopped fucking.

But the last thing Nico needed was picturing Mal on his back, hand fisting his dick, jerking himself off while he thought of…who knew what Mal thought of honestly. It could have been something weirdly wholesome like fucking on rose pedals or super dirty hentai porn.

Nico secretly hoped it was him.

But even if it was, sex was the one place they just weren’t compatible. While Nico craved someone sweet and doting and loving like Mal in a friend, in bed he wanted anything but. He wanted to hurt, wanted to be dominated. Wanted someone who would spank him til he cried, would fuck him in an alley, someone who would get off on making him suffer.

Mal would never do that to Nico. He loved him too much.

“I do jerk off,” Nico muttered, cheeks flaming. “It’s not the same.”

“Oh. Right,” Mal said, continuing to fuss with the hem of Nico’s shirt.

“I just miss…” Nico started, then let his words die.

They were getting into dangerous territory.

“Miss…” Mal prompted.

Don’t do it. Don’t say it. Just…go take another shower and jerk off.

“Kissing…making out. Like even the hookups I’ve had in the past always just, you know, skip right past the foreplay stuff and get right to…it. But it’s, like, hard to demand foreplay when you’ve made it clear you don’t even want to know their last name. You know?”

Mal shook his head. “No, I don’t know,” he said, voice unusually low. “I can’t imagine missing the opportunity to explore every part of you-uh, a person’s body.”

Nico fought a shiver. “Right…”

Nico was weak. He was so weak. He was not only weak but just a shit human. Was it wrong to want this from Mal too? Of course, it was. They were friends. Best friends. If Nico didn’t have Mal he would literally die. Levi and Shiloh claimed they were each other’s soulmates. That’s what Mal was to him. His soulmate. His…platonic…non-romantic soulmate.

“I mean…we could kiss,” Mal said, dragging his gaze up to his, uncertain.

Nico swallowed the lump of sand in his throat. “We’re friends,” he managed weakly.

Mal nodded, fingers leaving the hem of his shirt to skate beneath it to Nico’s belly. “Can’t we be friends who kiss?”

“That’s not a thing,” Nico said, with so little conviction even he didn’t believe it.

“We already do things friends don’t do,” Mal reasoned, fingertip teasing at the hem of Nico’s boxers, making his cock twitch. If he got a hard-on now there was no hiding it.

Nico frowned. “That’s not true.”

Mal’s finger never stopped but he gave Nico a look. “We sleep in the same bed together.”

“Cause the couch is broken,” he muttered.

“We snuggle.”

“I get cold,” Nico huffed.

“We shower togeth-”

“One time,” Nico snapped, cutting him off. “To conserve hot water.”

A smile twitched at Mal’s lips but quickly died. “So what’s so different about us kissing?”

Weak. Weak. Weak. And wrong. And a terrible person. So weak.

“Well, I guess…” he trailed off.

He could hear Levi and the others judging him from miles away. And they should. He was considering Mal’s question knowing every single reason why he shouldn’t.

It was just a kiss, right? They weren’t going to fuck. They were just gonna…make out. High-schoolers did that. Right?

Why couldn’t he be drunk? Why couldn’t they be drunk? Then they could give into their urges. Scratch an itch and then blame it on the alcohol. But they were both sober. Stone cold sober. Nico couldn’t stop staring at Mal’s perfect mouth, could already feel how warm he was, knew first hand that the exact weight necessary to chase away all Nico’s anxiety was Mal on top of him, crushing him into the mattress.

Crushing, not fucking.

“What if it changes things?” Nico whispered. “If you hated me I would die.”

Mal stared at him in that intense way most people hated, but Nico craved it, the way that made it feel like nobody existed for Mal but him. “I couldn’t hate you.”

“What if we have zero chemistry?” Nico said, already angling his face towards Mal’s.

Mal snorted. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

Before Nico could even think of a retort, Mal’s lips were on his. Nico let out an embarrassing sound, electricity zinging through him, lighting up his blood like gasoline. Mal’s tongue licked across the seam of his lips, demanding entrance. It didn’t even occur to Nico to refuse.

He didn’t know what he’d expected—if anything—but it wasn’t the greedy way Mal feasted on his mouth, or the way his tongue worked over his. It wasn’t the gentle way he pushed Nico’s curls behind his ear or cupped his face while he devoured him.

Kissing Mal was confusing, intoxicating, dangerous. Each time he tried to pull away, Mal followed, biting at his lips, sucking on his tongue until Nico was making these half-bitten whines he knew for a fact he’d never made before. He’d really let himself go too long without this.

When Mal’s lips broke from his to explore other territory, Nico buried his fingers in his hair, not to stop him but just to have more of him to touch. Mal bit at his lips, dragged his teeth across his jaw, nipped at the shell of his ear, his fingers splayed on Nico’s belly, unmoving.

His insides were melting like some kind of disaster at a nuclear power plant, his cock hard from almost nothing. Of course, Mal would also be some kind of sex wizard. It was just Nico’s luck.

They needed to stop.

They definitely needed to stop right now.

Mal shifted, now looming over Nico on his knees. His legs fell open with embarrassing ease. The satisfaction on Mal’s face when he saw Nico open for him punched the breath out of him. Mal’s eyes were all pupil, the intensity on his face making Nico throb.

Mal settled between his open thighs, their hips colliding in a way that made them both moan. Mal gripped Nico’s jaw, tilting his face how he wanted it before attacking his mouth once more, tongue pressing inside insistently. Nico’s leg hooked over Mal’s hip, slotting their erections together. Nico’s head was deliciously swimmy, all worries replaced with hunger and a desperate need to get Mal even closer.

Mal’s palm ran along Nico’s thigh, then gripped his ass hard, rolling his hips. Nico’s eyelids fluttered as he let Mal swallow another debauched moan. Lava pooled in his core. He was definitely leaking into his underwear. Their heavy breaths and the smack of their lips each time they parted was making Nico crazy.

Nothing had felt this good in so long.

“Mal…” Nico whispered against his mouth, not even sure what he wanted to say.

Mal bit his bottom lip hard enough for Nico to yelp, then sucked it soothingly. “Yeah?”

“I-”

Nico startled, his word becoming a yelp as something vibrated through the mattress. They both froze, then Mal went to his knees, sweeping his hands under the linens until he found the offender. He pulled his cell phone from beneath the pillow, frowning at the screen. “It’s one of my students…”

It was almost eleven. “At this time of night?”

Mal answered it and put it on speaker. “Casey?”

“Mr. Mizrahi?” a wobbly voice asked.

The voice sounded like that of a young girl. Mal taught students from six all the way to seventeen, so there was no way to discern how old she actually was by that alone. Before Mal could answer, a loud pounding sound could be heard in the background. The girl gave a muffled scream like she’d put her hand over her mouth, making a high pitched keening sound.

“Casey, what is that?” Mal asked, frowning. “What’s wrong? What’s happening?”

“I don’t know,” she wailed. “Some guy is banging on my door and I’m freaking out,” she said, voice shaking, her heavy breaths staticky through the speaker.

“Where’s your mom?” Mal asked.

She whimpered, then muffled another scream as the pounding got louder. “She didn’t come home. She hasn’t been home in two days,” she managed. “He wants me to let him in.”

“Do not let him in,” Nico said firmly.

The girl hesitated at the unfamiliar voice. “Is-Is that your boyfriend?” she asked. “I don’t know what to do?”

“Did you call the police?” Mal asked.

“You know the cops won’t come here after dark,” she said, sobbing. “I’m scared.”

Nico’s heart was in his throat, fear bitter on his tongue. Who was this girl? Where was her mother? How old was she? Who was banging on her door and why? How much time did they have to get to her? They must be in the neighborhood if the cops wouldn’t come.

Mal looked to Nico. When he nodded, Mal said, “What’s your address?”

As the girl rattled it off, Nico saved it into his phone’s GPS. “Try to find somewhere to hide. Somewhere with a lock or that you can push something in front of the door,” Nico said, trying to remain calm.

“We’ll be right there,” Mal promised.

“Please hur-” A huge boom drowned out her words, then a sound like splintering wood sent a shock of panic through him. Fuck. They listened to the sound of scuffling as they both shot from the bed stuffing their feet into whatever pants they reached first, both freezing as Casey screamed.

Then the call disconnected.