"Fuck." Jason gulped as he pulled up to the curb outside of the rented house he shared with his best friend Ryan. He'd been on edge all day. Today was the day that Ryan's little brother was moving in. Being a senior in high school, Nick still lived with his parents, but when a job prompted them to move back to the town that all three boys grew up in, Ryan suggested that Nick live with Jason and himself so he could finish up the semester without transferring. Jason was fine with the idea of Nick living with them. He'd always liked the kid. It was just that lately he was worried that he might like him a little too much...
Jason and Ryan had been best friends since they were toddlers, before Nick was even born. So Ryan's little brother was the definition of off-limits-- and that was before you even consider the fact that he was five years younger than Jason and still in high school. And that was fine. Or at least it had been until Nick had been so unceremoniously pushed out of the little brother box in Jason's brain a few months back. Jason hadn't seen Nick since then and to be honest, he was kind of glad. The last thing he wanted was to do anything to mess up his relationship with Ryan and Jason had a feeling that lusting after Nick might fall somewhere in that category.
But now, here was Nick, standing in the driveway, pulling boxes out of the back of a minivan. When Ryan brought up the idea of Nick moving in, Jason knew that his plan to simply avoid Nick until things cooled off needed amending, but seeing Nick actually moving in (and looking damn good while doing it) really hit home.
Nick hadn't noticed Jason pull up and Jason took the opportunity to watch the boy momentarily. Nick was only a couple of inches shorter than Jason's own six feet. His brown, typical teenager skater-boy bangs clung to his forehead with sweat from the uncharacteristically warm late March weather. Jason felt his cock twitch as Nick lifted the bottom of his sleeveless t-shirt to wipe the sweat from his face, revealing the perfectly flat stomach and chest beneath. Jason drank in the nearly hairless torso, his eyes following the hint of a treasure trail down to where the waistband of Nick's boxers were visible above his basketball shorts. Nick let his shirt fall back into place and straightened visibly when he noticed Jason sitting in his car outside of the house. Jason tried rather unsuccessfully to look like he hadn't been staring. He quickly grabbed his jacket from the passenger seat and got out of the car.
"Hey," Jason said, shutting the car door and walking toward the driveway. "How's it going?"
Nick ran a hand through his hair, attempting to look less nervous than he felt. "Not too bad. I think my help ditched me, though."
Jason almost breathed a sigh of relief when he heard Ryan call out from the side door that led from the kitchen to the driveway. "I didn't ditch you. I just needed a snack." He appeared in the doorway and punctuated his defense with an emphatic bite of sandwich.
"Sure," Nick drawled, rolling his eyes. Ryan shoved Nick's shoulder and Nick mocked offense.
"Jason, go put your stuff down and help us," Ryan said. "You're officially part of the Nick welcoming committee." He pushed a box of clothes into Jason's chest.
Jason grabbed the box with a chuckle and headed inside. As he set the box down in Nick's new room, Jason gave a little sigh of relief. He wasn't quite sure why he had worked himself up so much. With Ryan around, it would be just like old times, Jason reassured himself. This wasn't going to be weird at all.
Jason put his bag at the bottom of the stairs leading up to his room on the second floor and stepped back outside to find Nick and Ryan chatting while Ryan finished his snack.
Ryan turned to Jason and said through his last mouthful of sandwich, "I was just saying that we should have a bit of a house-warming for Nick. Introduce him to our friends and stuff. The last time he was here was New Year's, wasn't it? And I don't think anyone has a real clear memory of that..." Ryan chuckled and turned his attention to the rest of Nick's belongings still in the car.
Jason blanched as he was forcefully reminded of the admittedly quite hazy memories of New Years. His brain flooded with flashes of his tongue seeking entrance into Nick's mouth, his hands on the bare skin under Nick's shirt, and the uneasy look on Nick's face when he had pulled back to say something to Jason before walking away. Ryan had his back to Jason as he was trying to wrangle Nick's bike from the car, but Jason's reaction did not go unnoticed by Nick. Nick's face flushed red and he suddenly became fascinated by a small scratch on the back of his hand. Jason's stomach flopped with regret and maybe a bit of disappointment. He hated to think that he'd pressured Nick into something he hadn't wanted. Jason quickly busied himself helping Ryan to avoid whatever Nick might say or do.
Nick watched the two older boys pull his bike from the back of the minivan he'd borrowed from his mom. He could feel his eyes start to sting and a lump was forming in his throat. "I, um, I'll, er... be right back," he stuttered before rushing inside to the downstairs bathroom he would now be sharing with his older brother and locking the door behind him. Nick should have known better. He did know better. But knowing that Jason didn't feel the same way about their kiss and seeing him react so strongly to even being reminded of it were two different things entirely. Nick leaned against the counter and splashed cool water on his face.
Nick had known this was going to be weird. Living in the same house as the object of his unrequited attraction with his older brother there as watchdog sounded worse and worse the more Nick thought about it. He'd fantasized about that night and come to the memory of Jason's lips on his own and Jason's fingertips tracing the top of his jeans more times than he could count. Nick groaned, replaying the scene in his head for the umpteenth time, as if this time he'd figure out what he'd done wrong.
