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Spencer thinks he’s going to die. Well, not really, but he’s not happy right now, and it’s hot and muggy and their bus just broke down in the middle of nowhere. Their bus driver seemed rather optimistic at first, but when Spence last went to check on him and the scrubby mechanic Zack found somewhere down the street, things didn’t seem that good anymore.
“I think we’ll die here, old and dry and lonely,” he says and sits down in the grass next to Jon.
“I like it here,” Jon answers serenely, leaning back on his elbows, wriggles his toes and grins at Spence from under his ridiculous sunglasses. “It’s nice.”
Spencer hrms and purses his lips. Across the street an old woman is shaking out her rugs, and from somewhere Spence can hear the voices of laughing children. Behind them, the creek is murmuring quietly and yeah, if Spence were into that sort of thing, he’d probably find it nice, too.
“It could have been worse,” Jon elaborates. “I’m sure they’ll fix the bus soon.”
“Right, and until then I’m melted. You’ll have to scrape me up and put me in a plastic bag.” He wipes his forehead and blows his hair out of his face. “And Ryan ran off, too. I think he’s looking to find a nice farmer’s girl to get old with.” He stops. “Oh god, the heat is making me insane, Jon.”
“Nah,” Jon says and grins. “He went to get groceries with Brendon.” He shifts and suddenly something cold is pressing to Spencer’s arm. Spence yelps and jerks, and then Jon is holding a can of iced tea against his cheek.
“Hey,” Jon says after Spence has finished the last drop and crushed the can. “Let’s go explore a little?”
“Uh, no?” Spence replies and licks his lips.
“You’ll get cooler if you move. Air moving around you and stuff,” Jon says and tilts his head. He does the puppy eyes nearly as well as Brendon.
“Dude, that’s a lie.” Spencer sighs and already knows that he’s going to give in.
Jon reaches over and touches his shoulder softly. “I gave you iced tea. You owe me.” He smiles sweetly and yeah, Spence is definitely going to give in. Maybe exploring town isn’t that bad of an idea. Maybe the moving air thing is true; Jon seems very nature adept. He nods slowly, and Jon pulls him to his feet, their fingers entwined, until Spence pulls back a bit self-conscious.
They wander down the street, shoulders bumping, and Spence still feels hot and uncomfortable, but for some reason also better. Jon seems happy looking at the old houses and vintage shops, taking pictures now and then, and Spence feels like in an old movie. Maybe they can have a Victorian theme for their next tour. That or pirates.
“It’s so tiny,” Jon says, turning to look where they came from.
“It still goes on there,” Spence says and points ahead, where the street is crossed by a few others.
“Yeah, but still. Can you imagine playing in a tiny town like this?”
“Heh,” Spence says and tries to envision them doing their gay circus thing in front of fifty villagers. He laughs and Jon grins at him, reaching out to wrap his arm around his waist shortly before letting go again.
“I know, right?” He ducks his head and Spence swallows, feeling his throat tighten.
They reach the crossroads and stop; there aren’t many cars, so there’s no indication as to where the busy part of town lies.
“Left,” Spence says on a whim, and Jon raises a brow at him, but follows anyway. It’s still depressingly hot, and Spence stares down at his arms, noticing a slight pink coloring. Jon gives him a worried look, rubs his back and then ‘oooh’s at something ahead of them.
“Your instincts are clearly awesome,” he says.
It’s a mini market, with ten or fifteen stalls, all fruits and vegetables and stuff. Spencer frowns. Jon is already digging through his pockets for money, and Spence follows a little reluctantly. He hasn’t heard anything good about those open markets and god knows where this stuff comes from.
“Cherries!” Jon exclaims and drags Spence to a stall to their left. “Hello,” he says to the lady before Spence can protest, and now that they’ve stopped it’d be very rude to ask Jon to not buy anything. Spencer frowns, crosses his arms and watches Jon make small talk while the salesperson shovels cherries into a small basket. Jon hands her a fiver, takes the basket and Spence follows him grouchily down the street.
“She said there’s a very nice place to sit if we—“ he stops as they round the corner; on the left side of the street is a small park, a level lower than the rest of the town, a few benches and some of the biggest trees Spence has ever seen. Jon’s camera clicks, once, twice, and then he’s pulling Spence down the steps toward a green spot at the far end, shielded by bushes and low hanging branches of a willow tree.
“May I invite you in?” Jon says, grinning and lifting the branches up over their heads and stepping aside.
“You’re silly,” Spence answers, but smiles secretly and feels his face flush a little as he sits down in the grass, pleasantly surprised that it’s much cooler down here. Jon joins him a moment later, placing the little basket of cherries between them and taking off his sunglasses. He picks a cherry from a stalk and Spence eyes him warily as he pops it into his mouth.
“I’m sure they have worms,” he says after a moment and Jon shrugs and spits the pit into the grass.
“Additional proteins,” Jon says and takes another one. He breaks it open in the middle and holds it out for Spence to see. “Besides, there are none. See?”
Spence purses his lips and takes the pitless half from Jon’s fingers to pop it into his mouth. It’s kind of sweet and a bit sour, and Spence licks his lips and picks one from the basket.
“Good?” Jon grins at him, putting another in his mouth, and Spence glares at him, laying a tissue out to put the pits in. They eat in silence for a while, Spence still a bit cautious of potential wormholes, until Jon pokes Spence in the side. Spence pokes him back with foot and continues to lick his fingers clean, before he realizes what he’s doing and that Jon is kind of staring.
“Uhm,” he says around the awkward silence. “You were lucky, with the cherries.”
Jon laughs and rolls his shoulders. “You just can’t admit defeat, Smith.” His smile is genuine, though, and contagious so Spencer has to smile as well. He lies back in the grass, stretches out and reaches for another cherry before putting the basket aside. He closes his eyes and feels Jon settle down next to him a moment later, their shoulders, hands, barely touching.
The silence between is not uncomfortable now, and Spencer exhales, inhales, feeling as if a weight he didn’t know was there is sliding off his shoulders. He feels his breathing even out, and then maybe he nods off a bit, not quite asleep but not really awake either. The heat is hazy, but not bothersome around him, and Jon’s presence is reassuring. After some time, a small noise calls him back and he shifts to his side. When he opens his eyes, he’s staring straight into Jon’s.
“Hey,” Spence says stupidly, throat dry, and blinks the sleep from his eyes.
“Hey,” Jon answers. “I was just,” he stops again, bites his lip, eyes flicking down to Spencer’s mouth and Spence can feel it as if Jon just touched his lips. “Your freckles are multiplying.”
Spence blushes a little and reaches up and rubs his nose. “Yeah, I know, sunburn.”
Jon laughs. “A little. They look cute. I like them.”
Spence doesn’t know what to say to that, so he just moves a little closer until their noses are bumping. “Hey, uhm,” he starts, feeling Jon’s breath against his lips, and ohgod they’re going to kiss. He hopes so or he’s going to explode into a million tiny Spencer Smith pieces.
“You,” Jon starts and then Spence leans in a little, their lips nearly touching for a moment, before Jon pulls back again, looking a bit breathless. Spence sighs, blood rushing loudly in his ears. Jon rubs his nose against Spencer’s, grins.
“I can tie a cherry stem with my tongue,” he says, and Spence has to laugh because god, they’re twelve, really.
“Yeah? Show me,” he replies, and Jon is already reaching for a cherry. Spence purses his lips and watches his mouth closely; Jon looks as if he’s chewing on an insect, lips moving carefully, concentration in his eyes, and a moment later he triumphantly holds up a tied stem.
“I don’t know whether to find this disgusting or awesome, Jon Walker,” Spence says, a little giggly.
“Hmph,” Jon says and throws the stem into the grass behind them, then settles his hand carefully, but firmly on Spencer’s waist. “You should appreciate this wonderful talent, really.”
“Yeah?” Spence replies lazily and feels his eyes close again. Jon strokes his waist, fingers grazing now and then over the small slice of naked skin left exposed by Spencer’s T-shirt. Jon pulls him a bit closer, fingers curling over the small of Spencer’s back, tugging until they’re molded into one another.
Spence opens his eyes again and starts, “We’re—“
Jon nods. “Is that okay?”
Spence doesn’t reply immediately, but reaches up to put his hand on Jon’s shoulder before working up his courage and saying, “Could you like, kiss me now?”
And Jon snorts a little but gently rubs his nose against Spencer’s again before closing the short distance between them. Jon’s lips are sweet and soft and Spence opens up a little, tilts his head, and thinks he’s going to die from how their kiss sends shivers down his spine. For a second he forgets the heat and everything else and then his Sidekick starts vibrating in his pocket.
“Crap,” he says and pulls back, sits up and fumbles with his phone. “Ryan,” he mutters after a quick glance at the display.
Jon chuckles and sits up, looking a but ruffled and oh god, Spence can’t stop grinning at him even when he picks up.
They walk back to the bus in silence, shoulders bumping, catching each other’s smiles. Jon’s not taking pictures, the basket with cherries dangling easily from his fingers, and Spencer steals one to suck on the way. When they get back, the motors are already running, and Zack ushers them inside, looking a little stern. Spence sighs happily at the conditioned air and wanders into the lounge, Jon following.
“We brought you cherries,” Jon announces and puts the basket on the table in the lounge. Ryan and Brendon are playing GTA and Ryan seems to be totally kicking Brendon’s ass. Jon flops down next to Ryan, upsetting his balance and Brendon uses his chance. Spence laughs at the following turmoil of Ryan declaring his hatred and Brendon’s cheers, and Jon’s chuckling, and falls down tiredly on the couch next to Jon.
Jon casually slips an arm around Spencer’s shoulder, and Spence plants his head on Jon’s shoulder, watches Ryan and Brendon do a rematch.
“What were you doing?” Ryan asks, putting down his controller; Brendon is pouting, looking beaten and disappointed.
Spence opens his mouth to answer, but Jon’s quicker, saying, “We made out. It was awesome.”
Ryan laughs, and Brendon snorts a little, and Spence gives Jon a look. “We wandered around, bought cherries, nature stuff. Ew.”
Jon’s hold around his shoulder tightens a little, and Spence suppresses the urge to lean in closer.
“Who’s up for some Guitar Hero? Round Robin?” he asks instead, winding out from under Jon’s arm to grab one of the plastic guitars. They play round and round, and of course Spencer always loses, but he does his best. Afterwards they curl up together to watch one of Ryan’s artsy films, and Spence feels his eyes fall shut after the first ten minutes.
“Tired?” Jon asks softly against his ear and Spence nods. He wishes they’d watch those films when it’s bright outside for once, then he wouldn’t always fall asleep.
“I’m gonna go to bed,” he mumbles and stumbles up, tearing at his clothing in the hallway. His bunk welcomes him not as softly as a bed, but still wonderful. He snuggles into his pillow and then suddenly another body joins him in the bunk. He’s not as surprised as he probably should be, but makes room for Jon to press against him.
“That’s uncomfortable,” he mumbles but before he can continue, Jon is kissing him softly, thumbing his chin until Spencer opens up a bit. Their hands roam awkwardly for a second, before Jon’s settle on Spencer’s waist, and Spence curls his fingers around Jon’s neck. They kiss lazily, slowly, learning each other’s nuances, the optimal way to tilt their heads until Spence sighs into Jon’s mouth and breaks the kiss. Jon plants a small kiss on the corner of his mouth, and moves to nuzzle his neck tentatively.
Spence sighs again, inhales Jon’s scent deeply and curls up against him. They shift a bit, pushing, pulling until Jon is pressed against his back, his arms around his waist, the tiny space of the bunk ideally used.
Jon presses a kiss to the small of Spencer’s neck, and Spence says, eyes already closed, drifting off, “Tomorrow, tomorrow,” because they have time.
“Yeah,” Jon whispers against his skin, caressing his belly in circles until Spencer falls asleep.
***