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“You look terrible,” Kevin told him. “We need to get you cleaned up and bandaged.”
Moose had just gotten his ass kicked by the pair of men he caught trashing Fred Andrew’s equipment.
While Mr. Andrews and the other boys were waiting for the Sheriff’s department to send someone over, Kevin volunteered to help clean Moose up.
“Gee, thanks,” Moose replied.
It was slightly awkward between them, the two of them hadn’t really spoken since Kevin insisted that the football player should stick to what he knew – girls.
They had managed to act normal all afternoon, working together on the site.
Now though, the tension was thick as Kevin fetched the first aid kit Mr. Andrews had tucked away in the office.
Moose took a seat on the couch, as Kevin found what he was looking for.
As Kevin brought a cotton ball with some disinfecting fluid on it to the wound on the side of Moose’s head, the football player hissed.
“Don’t be a baby,” Kevin told him as he wiped the small traces of blood off of his face.
“Fuck you Keller. It stings.” Moose gripped the armrest of the couch.
Kevin bit back his next comment, knowing that after getting beat up like that, Moose honesty deserved to complain. He continued on though, wiping away blood before lifting Moose’s chin up, to see better.
“Thank you,” Moose told him, softly now.
“For what?” Kevin asked.
“You didn’t have to hep me get cleaned up.” Moose pointed out. “We haven’t exactly been on speaking terms lately.”
“Because I rejected you,” Kevin added, saying what Moose didn’t say.
It was silent for a moment, both of them in heir own heads.
“I was traumatized,” Kevin admitted. “Finding Jason's body… I had nightmare about it, after. I didn’t know how to handle it. It wasn’t the time to add a guy who had no idea about his own sexuality, on top of that.”
“Anyone would understand that,” Moose answered. Though he hadn’t taken Kevin’s rejection very well at the time, but now he understood him better.
“Sit still,” Kevin told him, pushing Moose’s hair back with one hand to get a better look at the gash on Moose’s head. It didn’t look too deep, and from a basic first-aid course, Kevin new head wounds always bled a lot, normally looking a lot worse than they were.
Reaching for Kevin’s arm, Moose pulled him in, gaining Kevin’s attention.
“If I asked you again… Would you still tell me to stick to girls?” The question was sincere, Moose looking up at him with big eyes.
Kevin was put on the spot.
After rejecting Moose once, he didn’t think the football player would bother to try to pursue anything with another guy again. Especially not with Kevin.
“I don’t know… Moose.” He sighed heavily, closing his eyes for a moment.
“You’ve had some time to deal with finding the body and everything… Maybe it’s time we try again, or something.” Moose suggested, voice quiet, a little afraid that Mr. Andrews or one of the other boys would come inside any moment and interrupt them. “We can start where we left off, have some fun. See what happens.”
“You do understand, that I don’t just want to have sex, right?” Kevin asked him, not sure if Moose understood that ideally, he wanted a boyfriend.
“Damnit, Keller.”
Suddenly, Moose pulled on his arm again, pulling him close, and suddenly Moose was kissing him.
For a short moment, they were the only thing that existed in the universe.
Kevin was the one that pulled away, taking a step backwards. “You insisted on no kissing,” he reminded the football player.
Moose shrugged. “One step at a time, Keller.”
For a few minutes, Kevin thought hard.
“No more Sweetwater River,” Kevin declared. “Or Lover’s Lane. I’m wiling to hang out at my house, or something. I guess your house is out of the question. But no more shady places.”
“That, I can work with,” Moose smiled a half smile at Kevin.