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“Here.”
Without looking up, Rhett reached and took the outstretched sucker. He popped it into his mouth and focused on trying to squeeze the formula he needed for the exam onto the index card. “Can you skip this song?” he asked with a tug of the earbud cord dangling between them. “Not a big fan.”
“Don’t–you’re gonna yank it out of my ear,” Link complained quietly, but he shuffled their music all the same. Kiss From A Rose started, and Rhett nodded appreciatively. Calm enough music to take notes to.
The library was quiet thanks to considerate students such as themselves. The fervor of finals approaching had the building packed to capacity, huddled in study rooms and fretting in corners. Link had arrived early enough that day to secure them one of the smaller two-person tables, and ever since they’d been hunkered down. It was going on hour six.
Cherry, Rhett noted as he sucked on the sugary sweet. He turned it over thoughtfully on his tongue, when–yeah. There it was yet again, the bizarre worn-down spot where Link’s tongue had worried against the sphere, making it lopsided. Rhett pulled it out to inspect it.
He didn’t expect Link to take it from him and put it back in his own mouth. Rhett snapped his head up to glare, but the guy wasn’t even paying attention–had just assumed it was being offered in his periphery. His annoyance melted into fond amusement.
The whole sharing lollipops thing had started earlier that day. Link had opened his backpack and pulled out an entire bag of them, fishing one out and abruptly putting it away without offering one to Rhett. When Rhett complained, Link had offered the one from his own mouth with a smirk. The younger one hadn’t anticipated Rhett taking it without hesitation. Then they just… hadn’t stopped, once Rhett felt bad and gave it back to him.
This was probably lollipop number twelve or so. Link said they helped him focus. Rhett simply liked the taste.
Link held the deformed red sucker between them, and Rhett snorted. “What’re you doin’ to it?” he whispered, pointing at the eroded side.
Blinking, Link looked up. “What? I’m suckin’ on it. What kinda question is that?”
“Is your spit actually acid?” poked Rhett, smirking. “It’s not a worry stone for your mouth. You anxious or somethin’?”
“I am studying,” Link sighed and pushed it into Rhett’s fingers. “C’mon man, tryna focus.”
“S’like your tongue’s gettin’ a workout over there or somethin’,” marveled Rhett. He took it and placed it on his own without meaning to–without considering what it might’ve meant to caress the exact spot where the shape and give of Link’s care had lavished rough attention on the candy. The curve of it was obvious and weirdly comforting. Like a pair of worn-in jeans.
Much to Rhett’s horror, the notion that he was kissing Link deeply flicked through his head. Faces close, breaths mingling, Link exploring whatever shape his tongue would have left for him, in turn–Rhett shoved the sucker to his molars in panic and bit hard while his cheeks flared. The sucker split with a crack.
The noise drew Link’s attention and he looked up, eyebrows pinned high as Rhett tugged the lollipop from his mouth and held it between them. It was cleaved clean in half, and Link groaned.
“Thanks,” he intoned, giving Rhett a deadpan stare. “You lopped off the side I was workin’ on.” Despite the scolding, he pushed it past his lips without hesitation and returned to his textbook.
Rhett held the offending piece in his mouth, still, wondering what part of his brain had so readily supplied those terrifying images–and whether it was the same part of his brain that coaxed him to run his tongue over it once more as he watched his best friend and roommate study.