Author's Note -
This chapter was kind of a pain in the ass, but I still had fun writing it.
I've received a couple emails commenting on my epic grammar skills. I probably read my manuscripts a dozen or so times before I post 'em (and just as many times again AFTER I post), but I always miss one or two things. Even had to put in a last minute revision for chapter 15, and I still missed shit. It's like one or two errors, but they haunt me at night.
This is coming from the guy who agonizes over whether or not to use an exclamation mark and worries that his switch to past tense narrative will throw off readers, so grain of salt.
I'm using some Spanish and Japanese slang in this chapter, so I'll drop a few quick glosses here.
Acho
and
vato
are Spanish slang for
man
and
dude
, respectively. I can't bring myself to have our boys call each other "baby" (Cory would do it, but it seemed too out of character for Efrain).
Acho
and
vato
seem like a decent compromise, and would allow them to use the petnames around people they aren't out to.
Neko
and
tachi
are Japanese slang for bottom and top.
Neko
means
cat
and
tachi
is a type of Japanese sword. Makes sense, right?
Nekokke
is how the Japanese describe what we call "baby fine" hair.
Neko
and
nekokke
are where Cory's Kitten petname comes from. Incidentally,
Itoshi no Nekokke
(literally "My Darling Kitten Hair"), probably one of my favorite yaoi stories of all time, influenced Cory's character design and the story overall (Kurose Riku from
Ten Count
influenced Efrain's character...along with Geralt of Rivia's haircut from
Witcher III
...Oh, Geralt yous a manbeast). I didn't realize it at the time, but totally I made them a
shiro/kuro
(white/black) pairing. Bonus, fans of yaoi and shounen-ai are sometimes called
fujoshi
and
fudanshi
(meaning,
rotten girl
and
rotten boy
). Romero went full fudanshi. You never go full fudanshi.
This is my longest chapter to date, and probably the longest I've gone so far without an update. Hope it's worth the wait! ~ Dayne
*****
Chapter 16 - El AmorΓo de Acho y Vato
I carefully eased out from under Efrain's arm and out of his warm bed. I padded across the room toward my drawer to get something to wear.
About three weeks into our relationship (the fuckbuddy one, not the boyfriend part) Efrain decided that it was silly for me to carry a bag full of clothes and toiletries back and forth when I stayed over, and that it was even sillier for me to leave early so I could run back to my place to shower and change before class. He cleared out a drawer in his bureau and set aside a space in his closet. Pretty soon, I had a collection of underwear, pajamas, street clothes, and shoes at his place.
As I pulled out a pair of lounge pants to slip on, it occurred to me that I should have known Efrain saw me as more than just a regular hook-up. A toothbrush and a bottle of my favorite body wash kinda pushed the confines of "no-strings," a couple pairs of my shoes and some changes of clothes violated it all together. We'd been a romantic couple before we even thought to add the labels. The thought sent another wave of warm, giddy feelings over me - the kind where I can't think of anything else but cuddling back up to him and kissing him awake.
It's weird, but we kinda regressed to this stage where we spend stupid amounts of time snuggling and snogging. Like, we'd be doing some random mundane thing, then one of us would give the other an innocent peck. The peck would be matched with a nibble, the nibble would become a series of nibbling kisses, the kisses would lead to a tongue seeking entry, the tongue would gently coax its mate into the dance, and so on until it's half an hour later and we're still locked in a tantalizingly gentle exchange rife with longing gazes, soft caresses, and tender sighs. We still fucked like rabbits, if the delicious ache in my hips was any indication, but within all that were the various wonderful emotions attendant to falling for someone. I didn't know about Efrain, but, God, I was falling fucking hard for him.
I guess we owed it to Indie for forcing Efrain and me to open up about what we wanted.
I pulled on a pair of soft fleece lounge pants and a t-shirt. I grabbed my hoodie, too. It was late October, and a hell of a lot colder than Texas. The average high for Blacksburg was the average low for Cibolo. I wasn't quite sure if I liked this. I mean, it would take another month or two for a cold front to mosey on down to South Texas. Everyone back home was still in shorts and shit, while I was already bundled up in my hoodies and begging Mom to send me a winter coat.
I really wanted to get back in bed with my furnace of a boyfriend (he considered the current weather refreshing and was still in his t-shirts most days), but I really needed some water and ibuprofen. I drank a lot more than I meant to last night, but I wasn't suffering too badly. I did figure out rather late that I'm a horny drunk and a lightweight, but I was quite pleased to discover that I never got hungover. No, this had more to do with having a dirty washcloth crudely shoved in my mouth and getting held down while my boyfriend pounded my ass.
Man, last night was fun.
I knew Indie was in the kitchen even before I walked in. I could hear the loud clanking of dishes from Efrain's room. It was his vacuuming that woke me up this morning.
He was at the sink, looking oddly cheerful for someone working his way through a massive stack of dirty dishes. I vaguely remembered a room full of people last night; I think he may have had friends over for dinner or something.
For some reason, the noise seemed too loud for normal dishwashing. The sound of clanking dishes got even louder when I said good morning to him.
He wasn't wearing the dozen or so earrings I'm used to seeing him with, but still had in all his facial piercings - two sets of silver balls straddling the outer edge of his right eyebrow, a bullring through his septum (I still wonder how he blows his nose with that thing), and a little silver ball at either side of his bottom lip. I could see the bar going through his tongue when he spoke. Not going to lie, but I still thought those piercings were sexy as fuck (even Efrain had to admit he's thought about what a blowjob from Indie would feel like).
"Coffee?" he asked. He gestured at the coffee pot with his elbow since both hands were submerged in soapy water jostling dirty pots against each other. The dishwasher hummed and sloshed under the counter.
"That actually sounds pretty good." I always loved cupping my hands around a warm mug when it got cold.
I already knew that Indie was a morning person. He got up every morning, no matter what the weather looked like, to go running. I'd often run into him when I slipped out to shower and change in my dorm room. He was usually on his second cup of coffee or heading out himself. I had offered him a lift to school a few times, but he always politely declined.
"How's the hangover?" he asked sunnily and, for whatever reason, louder than he needed to.
"Nonexistent."