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It was July, a sleepiness stretching over the town along with the heat and dust which Spencer would choke on as walked out onto the melting streets. He’d never been a fan of July. Not a fan of summers in general. He couldn’t stand the heat, he couldn’t stand the thought of being forced to go home to an empty apartment, or to visit his mother who seemed to be worse after each visit, for weeks on end. Although he did admit he enjoyed the extra time he could dedicate to his own research, not that his job ever really stopped him from doing it anyway.
This July was different. This July contained Derek, clad in cotton shirts and bathing shorts and ridiculous hats and t-shirts with the words “I love Vegas” printed on them. “You have to stop buying those,” Spencer told him, rolling his eyes and hiding his smile as Derek straightened proudly after each purchase. “They’re just stealing your money.”
“I don’t care. I look good in them.”
Spencer had to admit there weren’t many things that Derek looked bad in anyway.
Another reason Spencer didn’t like summer was the frequent sunburns he suffered despite mostly hiding in the shade. There was always one careless weekend which left him pink and peeling. He’d gotten better at avoiding them as he got older. Sunscreen and hats and non-white shirts for protection, even while hunched over a book in the shade, although it got harder to stay out of the water with Derek Morgan there, who kept picking him up and running into the somehow still too cold waves as Spencer threatened his life. He was always laughing toward the end of it, after he’d come out spluttering and pointing and frowning in a way he knew wouldn’t last. Because of the trips to the lake and pool Spencer was exposed to the sun in short batches, leaving him with a quite nice tan for the first time in many years.
Derek was obsessed with it. “You have freckles.”
“I do?”
“On your back. Here.” He poked a spot just below Spencer’s shoulder blade. “Here.” Again on his spine. “Here.”
The poke landed too close to his lower back this time and Spencer found himself jerking away. “H-hey! Don’t do that.”
“Why not?” He could hear Derek’s smirk without even seeing him. “Did it tickle?”
“Shut up.”
“Awe, come on. You’ve not shown this at all when I’ve applied sunscreen to your back. Have you been holding back on me?” He poked him again and Spencer couldn’t help the giggle that escaped this time. “Oh my god, you’re so cute. How is a grown man cute.”
Spencer twisted around and held up his hands. “Mercy.”
“Hmm, what’s in it for me?”
It would be so easy to say something along the lines of “a kiss” or anything like it, but this was all new, mostly unexplored, and Spencer wasn’t sure if that was too forward even though they’d kissed plenty of times by then. Maybe it was because they were both shirtless, Derek glistening with oil and water drops, tilting his head in a way at him that made Spencer blush.
He looked away, suddenly fascinated by the water. “You’ll never catch me,” was all he said and he was off, Derek laughing as he chased him into the waves and the freckles were forgotten for the time being.
“Are you asleep?”
It wasn’t late. 4:37 in the afternoon. The room was stuffy despite the rickety fan on the desk, the curtains were drawn in the hopes of cooling the room down, and Spencer lay there feeling Derek’s fingertips on his skin for ten more seconds before he answered. “No.”
Derek hummed, scraping his nails lightly over Spencer’s arm, up and down until he shivered. “I’m bored, but I’m too tired to do anything.” A poke to his shoulder. “You should entertain me, since I’m your guest.”
Spencer let out a laugh. “Is that how it works?”
“Yup.”
“We could plan where to go for dinner?” Spencer had to admit it was fun showing him around his home town, going to places he wouldn’t really go to himself as an old local.
Derek sighed. “Boring.”
Spencer turned to look at him. “Aren’t you picky.”
Derek suddenly grinned. “I know what we can do.”
Spencer’s heart skipped a beat. “What-”
Derek shoved him back to his side. “Stay still.”
“Derek.”
“I wanna connect your freckles. Find constellations.”
“Do you even know any constellations?”
“Sure. Orion’s Belt. Look, there it is.” He poked Spencer’s skin three times before lightly tracing his finger over the same spots again, making Spencer jump. “I said be still.”
“I can’t.”
“Sure you can. I believe in you.”
Spencer rolled over to his stomach and buried his face in the pillow, giggling into it as Derek kept drawing random patterns over his skin, from his shoulder to the curve of his lower back. Not all of it tickled, but it tickled enough that it left him a bit of a mess, unsure of when he would go for a sensitive spot. Giddy and jumpy. He could tell Derek was enjoying himself, although he kept up the pretense of connecting freckles and making constellations throughout the whole thing, laughing between his words.
“Please, it’s hot,” Spencer finally said when Derek remained at his lower back for a little too long, curling his fingers over both sides and leaving Spencer with little space to get away. He’d started sweating, which probably worked against him and made it tickle even worse.
Derek made a big show out of stopping. “Fine,” he said with a sigh, throwing himself down onto the bed again. “Back to being bored then.”
Spencer huffed and rolled over so that he was lying on his back, realizing he was exposing all of his other spots and feeling too tired to care. “You’re so mean to me.”
“Am not.”
“First you call me boring, then you torture me.”
“Mm, you loved it. I didn’t get elbowed a single time.” He scooted closer and pressed his lips to Spencer’s temple, despite his sweat. Spencer didn’t stop him, although he felt self conscious about it.
They remained silent for a moment, finding relief as the fan panned over them over and over. Spencer nearly fell asleep had his stomach not made the loudest sound known to humanity which had Derek cracking up.
“You hungry, huh?” he said, poking at it and making Spencer whine as he jerked away. “Let’s get ready for dinner then. Or do you need a snack first?”
“Will it be an actual snack or will you just offer yourself again?”
“You’re no fun, Spence.”
Derek applied sunscreen onto Spencer’s back with care the next morning, palms kneading into his shoulders and shoulder blades, fingertips pressing into his sides, none of it ticklish and yet Spencer felt on edge. He knew Derek was probably doing it on purpose, and he was expecting the eventual tickle that came as he finished, quick flutters over his lower back and the back of his ribs, making him let out a laugh which was too loud, too panicked, yet short-lived.
Derek was grinning when Spencer turned to glare at him, something about them not being alone at the tip of his tongue, but Derek swallowed it with his lips, fingers spidering up Spencer’s sides before settling at his neck, holding his jaw gently as he kissed him again.
It was already too hot that morning, and so Spencer would blame the heat for the way his face flushed when they parted. “Do you ever get freckles on your front?” Derek asked before he could say anything, and while Spencer didn’t reply they both knew the answer was probably yes. “Speaking of that,” he added nonchalantly. “Do you need help applying sunscreen to your belly? I feel like you’re not doing a good enough job.”
“I frankly feel offended even though I know you’re kidding.
“Who’s kidding?”
Spencer huffed and threw Derek’s stupid Las Vegas cap at him as Derek laughed. “You’re so annoying. I’m leaving you in Virginia next time.”
“Lies. You’ll miss me too much. Who will put sunscreen on you if I’m not here?”
“You do realize I wouldn’t be spending nearly as much time in the sun if you weren’t here, right?”
“And that explains why you didn’t know you had freckles.” Derek poked his side. “Can’t wait until I get to connect them on your front. I’m gonna force you to sunbathe today.”
Spencer shoved him away. “I’m protesting.”
“Oh, you have no choice, pretty boy.”
“Stop acting as if you wouldn’t tickle me without the freckles anyway.”
“But this makes it much more fun, doesn’t it?” Derek grinned and Spencer blushed and they were soon in the water again before Spencer could even protest it.
Maybe Derek Morgan was making him like julys, after all.