This isn't technically an improv, because it took me longer than one sitting, because I'm not, like, Synchronik or anything.
More Than Words
"don't evah let me go."
Josh woke up on the porch. His head ached, and his arms trembled as he pushed himself up on his elbows and looked around at too much light and woodgrain. His mind mumbled "hangover" because he'd read about those-- but they'd usually woken smelling bitter and strange, and he recognized the glaze sticking his body as only Mountain Dew. Also, they had to ponder and strain before they could remember how they'd ended up where they were, and Josh didn't have to work at that at all. His first thought after "oww" was "blowjob," and then "shit."
He stood on shaky legs. Decided to say "shit" outloud, kicked at the empty soda can that had spilt as he tossed in his sleep. There was a radio playing somewhere inside the house, and wind blowing, and he had to go into the house to change his clothes, and wash up, and call someone to give him a ride home. Tony was long gone. Had been long gone last night.
Josh washed up in the bathroom, and then put the dirty clothes back on when he didn't want to think about having spare clothes in Tony's closet. Hesitated, brushed his teeth with Tony's toothbrush. Couldn't find Tony's deodorant, used his mother's Lady Speed Stick. Didn't find the note, which was tucked underneath the phone, until he was dialing the number.
Chris picked up. "Hup?"
"Hey. It's JC," Josh said, as he read, "when you're always talking like this--"
"Buddy."
"Yeah. Listen. I'm kinda stuck somewhere. Can you come get me?"
"Are you in Canada?"
"uh. No."
"Cool, then. No prob."
Josh folded the note and put it into his pocket. "Okay. I'll be outside. Bye."
"And I'll start checking every front porch in Orlando, and I'll be there in January."
He frowned. "Huh?"
"Tell me where you are, dumbass."
"oh. Yeah, um. I'm at Tony's house."
"Is Tony there?"
"nah."
"Where is he?"
"I dunno, man."
"Why are--"
"Chris. man."
"--right. Okie. I'm on my way."
"Thanks."* * *
"So, hey," Chris said when Josh's seatbelt clicked secure. "You and artboy break up?" Josh didn't answer, and Chris looked over at him studying the glitter of sunlight on the dashboard, and he said mildly, "You need to get over this shit, C."
"yeah," Josh said.
"What happened?"
"There was a," he gestured at his mouth, "a thing."
He jumped when Chris barked a laugh, but relaxed when he didn't say another thing, the whole way home.* * *
Chris' dorm room was gross. There were only splotches of floor that could be seen, amid papers and clothes and comics and records. Old food and legos. Josh knew there were some papers and stuff that it was okay to walk on, and some that it wasn't, and you only knew which was which by following closely behind Chris, to his bed, and sitting where he made space, with your legs curled up underneath you.
Chris led Josh to the bed, shoved a few lumps into the floor, and then went over to the mini fridge. "You want a coke?"
"Mountain Dew?"
He made a face. "That shit'll stunt your growth. It's all, yellow."
Josh nodded at the can of coke in Chris' hand, grinning. "Apparently, Coca Cola stunts your growth, too." Chris smiled and threw him a can, said, "to head," and they toasted and drank deeply. And then Josh realized what he'd said, and choked.
Chris flipped on the small tv which was resting on top of several stacked text books, and turned it to the Disney channel. Josh watched Rhona Bennett's wildly animated, pretty face through watery eyes until he finished coughing, and then he said, "Chris. I don't want to watch this, Chris."
"Sorry, C. I never miss an episode."
"oh, bullshit. Chris--"
Chris smirked at him. "I understand you're going through some kinda special gay growing pains right now, so I won't take your girly bitch-whining personally, but I really never miss an episode. And this is a good one."
Josh grimaced into his coke can. "I'm not. I don't have growing pains."
Chris pointed at the screen, at the trampoline-dancing piece that the network had loved. "Look. I love this skit. Tony and Matt are special friends." Matt was bouncing from his back to his feet and back again, and Tony was standing to the side, watching him, laughing.
Josh spent hours in front of the mirror, exploring his face, moving it experimentally, dancing, looking over his shoulder-- and he still wasn't used to the cameras, would never be, he thought. But Tony was built, and he could smile without his eyes flickering downward, like Josh's did, and he loved the cameras. Matt bounced, and Tony laughed, and they both shone. Tony's bright shirt was open to his waist, and his chest lifted up and down, sharply.
Josh said, "shit" again, and lay back on the bed, closing his eyes.
Chris watched the whole episode. A song came on, and he sang along, and Josh supposed that he really maybe did watch it all the time. He snickered everytime Josh came on screen. When the show went off, the TV went dead-- Josh listened, eyes closed, while Chris got another coke from the fridge, and came and sat on the edge of the bed.
"I cried the first time a guy went down on me."
Josh blinked his eyes open, sat up and looked at Chris, who was looking at him.
Chris smiled. "I dunno. He was some guy I didn't know real well, and-- it's just, it was so close. Y'know?"
He didn't know, had never been there, so he made a movement that was half-nod and half-shrug and realized it looked like a flinch, which was the same answer.
"It was insane, felt amazing. It was different from when girls had gone down, because guys just feel different, and because, I guess, he _knows_, y'know? And then there are the aftershocks, and he's still, in front of you, and you gotta recover from this huge trust it takes to let some guy put your dick in his mouth."
"What did he do?" Josh asked, quietly.
"Like I said, I didn't know him that well. He probably thought it was some straight guy thing."
He nodded and thought, some straight guy thing, and lay back on the bed, again. His neck and back ached from tossing and turning on the porch all night, and even the hard dorm bed was soft in comparison. Chris said, "get some sleep, buddy," and after a few minutes, Josh did.* * *
When he woke this time the headache was gone, but the smell of sunlit wood remained. There was a hand on his face, and his breath stilled and he said, "Chris--" The hand pulled away sharply.
"God, Josh."
He opened his eyes.
"Tony."
"Yeah," he said, pulling away, off of the bed, shaking his head. "Sorry."
"No--" Josh caught a corner of his t-shirt and shook his own head. "What're you doing here?"
"Chris called me."
He said, "oh," and looked around at the otherwise empty, messy dorm room. He let go of the shirt, but Tony stayed, sat. His hand came down to rest lightly on Josh's bicep and squeeze. Josh's hand came up to curl around his wrist.
They kissed briefly before moved Tony pulled away and moved down. He gingerly placed a knee on the mattress between Josh's and a damp, heavy hand on his waist, fingering beneath the sweatshirt. Josh let his head fall back on the pillow, and when he felt the brush of Tony's auburn hair on his stomach, he closed his eyes.
Hands fell to the button of the jeans, and a soft, warm tongue brushed across the skin just above. The zipper slid down, Tony shifted his weight. Hips lifted up in a desperate jump, denim down to mid-thigh, and there was a brief pause where Josh saw Tony on the tv screen again, laughing at Matt, mouth wide and pink and gleaming, behind his eyelids.
Then Tony was sucking him off, sucking his cock, and suddenly Josh was a tightly compact collection of nerve endings, was tiny, and he knew he was because he felt the thrum and damp of Tony's mouth _everywhere_. One arm curled around his own stomach and the other came down to clamp on the other boy's shoulder.
The image in his mind-- because he couldn't open his eyes, couldn't even begin to imagine what that would feel like-- became blowing glass, like there was a point in Josh's chest that was being pulled downward and it was going to pull him inside out on its way out of his body and into Tony's mouth, even though that's not how you make blown glass.
Josh bucked, squirmed sideways-- he might've been trying to get away if the hand on Tony's shoulder wasn't fisted, wasn't pulling down for more-- but Tony was an athlete, scooped up Josh's thigh and propped it with his shoulder, opened his throat, took the hiccuping of this body into him. The small dorm bed creaked with the motion.
When Josh came, he made a sound deep in the hollow of his chest, that point that was being pulled at, like an old sobbing groan pent-up for years.
Both bodies settled back onto the bed, Tony's elbows digging into the mattress on either side of Josh's thighs, and his shoulders shook, a little. Josh's eyes blinked open and, yeah, that would've been way too much. He tugged on Tony's shirt, and Tony followed, fell beside Josh into the pillow.
They shared a lazy kiss-- Josh tasted the alien tang inside Tony's mouth and thought, "way too much," again. They laid together for a long time, silent, and then Tony shifted, turned, nuzzled into Josh's neck. Josh's hand came around to pet the back of his head. He felt like he was breathing with his entire body.
Tony murmured, "You smell good."
Josh snuffled softly into his hair. "It's your mom's deodorant."* * *
Chris sidled up to their table, grinning. He said, "my boys."
Tony looked up from his club sandwich. "Buddy." Josh smiled and scooted over in his booth, but Chris shook his head. He gestured at a booth across the diner, and a guy sitting there-- who Josh recognized from the MMC set parties, but couldn't name, big guy, Superman ballcap-- waved at them, and Tony waved back.
"I just wanted to check up on my favorite starlets. Everything cool?"
Josh glanced at Tony, and Tony smiled at him. He said, "Everything's very cool."
"Good, good." Chris turned to Josh, head cocked, Josh drank too quickly from his mountain dew and coughed a little bit. "You left your jacket in my room, hombre."
"I can come get it tomorrow."
Chris nodded, then turned back to Tony. "You guys behave yourselves, okay? Don't wanna develop a reputation as a marriage counselor or nothin'." He grinned and clapped the table, and then Tony watched the swish of denim as Chris walked back to his table and the guy there said something, and them both laugh. He said, "hey. Is he, y'know."
Josh shrugged one shoulder. "We've never talked about it."
"No? Didn't you guys talk about, the stuff with us?"
He took a long sip from his drink. "Not really."
"So I don't need to be, like, jealous." Josh looked up at his face, which was crinkled in a smile. "Just kidding. I know I don't." He found Josh's hand underneath the small diner table, threaded his fingers through, squeezed. "You're quirky. You'd never hook up with someone you couldn't sing with." He tugged on the hand. "You sing with me."
Josh smiled and squeezed the hand back, and didn't look over at the two men in the other booth, who were throwing sugar packets at each other while they talked and laughed about something huge.
"that's right."
me