A Boy Called Cin (4 page)

Dammit. Tom was making Cin like him. A lot. Way more than he'd even intended to. "I don't think you're selfish and I think your sister would understand. I can't speak for her, but I don't absolutely hate my body every second of every day. I hate what it makes people assume sometimes. I hate bleeding out of my vagina, but I think everyone who does that hates it, so I'm not completely sure it counts. What you feel is just as valid as that. Especially since you're passing up sex over it," Cin jokes.

"Right?" Tom's relief is so obvious on his features that Cin wants to kiss him again. He does after a moment, because Tom never said he was uncomfortable with his lips, and Tom responds like that was exactly the right thing to do. He still tastes faintly of the cheap wine they were handing out at the exhibition, and Cin regrets missing the chance to taste him when the wine was better.

"Why me?" Cin asks quietly, when he can finally bring himself to break away.

"I'm gonna guess you know the story of the Prince and the Pauper?"

"Well, you don't look anything like me and I'm not sure I'd actually want to be in your place, so if you're looking for a life swap, you might wanna look elsewhere."

Tom laughs. It's a really pretty sound. "No, I mean, you're way more attractive and people would figure it out. What I mean is that it's kinda lonely being me. You just looked like you could use a cup of coffee. And when you turned out to be an asshole... kind of a turn-on, actually."

"You know you can just pay people for that." Cin leans against him again. Tom is a practical furnace and Cin's always run cold, so between them the air is comfortable.

"Not really the same." Tom turns his head to rest it on top of Cin's, breathing into his hair. In what seems like an act of bravery, he moves his arm around Cin's waist and holds him closer. "I do have a stupid little crush on you. But I'd also like to be friends."

"I believe the term is friends with benefits. Which I could be into."

"Yeah?" Tom rumbles into Cin's hair. "I could be into that, too. Let me take you somewhere nice for the night?"

The promise of a genuinely comfortable bed is almost worth compromising the few principles he has, but all joking with Rachel aside, Cin's not interested in Tom's money. Considering the conversation they just had, he doesn't want Tom to think he is, either.

"No. You slum it with me one night."

"Prove to you that I don't think you're just a toy I can buy?" Tom dips his head to kiss Cin's cheek.

"Prove to
you
that I still don't give a crap about your money." Cin looks up at him. "But also, yeah, that."

"I'm gonna have to sleep in my clothes."

"You can always sleep naked." Cin wiggles his eyebrows.

The clock on the bedside table says 6:44 when Tom wakes, which he assumes is a.m. based on the light coming in through the window. Unless he slept through until summer, but Cin's still curled up beside him, so his first guess makes sense.

It takes him a second to realize that Rachel is climbing into bed on the other side of the room. "I expected you to be gone," she says.

"Me too." Tom clears his throat when he hears how rough it is. "Cin asked me to stay."

"If you hurt him—"

"You'll break my legs, I know." Tom takes the opportunity to breathe in Cin's scent, which is mostly cheap shampoo, but no less appealing for it. "Good night?"

"The best. Girls are amazing. I'm going to turn into a lesbian one of these days."

Tom chuckles. Rachel seems like a sweetheart, but he also wouldn't want to cross her. She looks like she could keep the leg-breaking promise.

"Gimme a clue on the way to his heart? Just a tiny hint?" Tom asks hopefully. Friends with benefits sounds great, but he'd really like to just put Cin in his pocket and take him home with him. Which would be completely unfair and Cin has a life of his own, but still. Tom wants to be a part of it.

"He gets embarrassed when people give him things, so you have to just leave stuff where he'll find it with a note. He's allergic to flowers, so maybe not those. There's a brand of hand cream he really likes, but it's something like eight dollars a bottle, so he won't buy it."

Guilt hits Tom like a freight train at the idea that Cin won't spend eight dollars on himself. "Thanks. When's the best time to escape unseen?"

"Sometime after Cin wakes up and you tell him you're going." Rachel looks at Tom seriously. "Don't leave him without saying goodbye."

Tom nods, aware that there's probably more to that instruction than good one-night-stand etiquette. "You got it. Night. Err, morning?"

Rachel makes a vague sound and then curls up under the blankets, facing away from the other bed. Tom gives her five minutes to fall asleep, which is probably four more than necessary, and then dips his head to kiss Cin's nose. Cin jumps, half-asleep, and then makes a soft sound that's almost a purr.

"Morning," he mumbles, snuggling closer to Tom's warmth. Tom thinks about telling him he's the sweetest thing he's ever seen in the morning, but decides against it, on the grounds that he doesn't want to be dismissed as an old man who's lost it.

"Morning to you, too," Tom murmurs back. It's too soft, too fond, too soon, but he already stopped himself waxing lyrical about how much he likes having Cin curled up next to him and how intimate just sleeping next to someone feels, so he allows himself it.

"I guess you're leaving?" Cin looks up at him, clear blue eyes sleepy for once. Cin's always so alert that Tom suspects it's a sign of trust to see him any other way.

"I can hang out if you want me to? I'm just scared of outstaying my welcome."

Cin laughs. "You're not very good at being a billionaire, are you?"

"Terrible. This is gonna sound ridiculous, but I grew up with nothing. I'm still not used to having everything. I still have nightmares about not having any money sometimes."

Tom can see in Cin's face that he wants to make a smartass comment to that, but his heart won't let him. He leans in and kisses him again, which Tom's starting to think is what he does when he runs out of words. Tom really doesn't mind if Cin wants to spend all day kissing him.

"I wish I could just laze around in bed with you, but my shift starts at eight." Cin kisses him softly, then rolls him onto his back and climbs on top of him. "And it's five past seven now. So unless you're up for a quickie…"

"I would be, but your roommate is back." Tom reaches out to play with one of Cin's curls. "And I've grown out of having sex in front of people who aren't participating."

"Pity. Can you see yourself out?" Cin climbs off him and Tom instantly misses the weight.

"Yeah, of course. Uh. Have a good day at work?" He can't remember
ever
starting work at eight on a Saturday. He wants to offer to pay Cin just to come and lie back down next to him, but Cin wouldn't accept it and he'd probably be annoyed by the fact that Tom even thought of it.

"Can I see you again?" Tom asks when he's halfway dressed. It took a while to work up the courage.

"You're apparently capable of seeing me whenever you want." Cin turns around, the T-shirt he'd changed into before bed still on, but underwear off. Tom stares, because he's exactly the kind of asshole who gets distracted by soft thighs. He watches Cin climb into a pair of clean underwear and then pull on jeans that were hanging over the back of the chair tucked under his desk.

Tom's about to turn away so Cin can put his binder back on in some kind of privacy, but Cin holds up a hand. "I want you to see." Cin plays with the hem of his T-shirt. "If you want to."

Tom nods and sits back down on the end of the bed to watch. Cin pulls off his T-shirt and stands bare-chested in front of him. He has a tiny, soft tummy that Tom mostly wants to poke, and small, firm breasts. Knowing that Cin doesn't really like having them, they do absolutely nothing for Tom. They're just there.

It's a really strange revelation to be having this early in the morning, so Tom resolves to think about it more later.

Cin's already closing the hooks of his binder by the time Tom looks back again, which seems like a really delicate operation. "Does it hurt? To wear that?"

"Only if you do it wrong. It's no less comfortable than a bra, really. Bras are really uncomfortable, though, so probably I'm just used to it." Cin fiddles with the closure on his binder. "I'm not in pain, which I assume is the point."

"Yeah, that was the point." It's a relief to know that Cin isn't spending his every waking moment in pain.

Cin throws a sweater over his head and then lands in Tom's lap before Tom even realizes he was moving toward him. Then they're suddenly kissing again and Tom isn't about to object to that. He loves that Cin is a kisser.

"I have to go now." Cin kisses him again, once more, and then disappears from his lap as quickly as he dropped into it. "You're welcome to see me again whenever the mood strikes you."

*~*~*

Just as Tom's about to text Cin to come meet him by the coffee shop, someone leans against the car beside him. He really should have known that Cin would find him before he was ready and ruin any chance he might have had to spring a dramatic surprise on him.

"I should have known you'd drive the most obnoxious sports car you could possibly buy." Cin hands over a cup of coffee. He'd clearly known Tom was here, but considering how many people had taken what they probably thought were sneaky photos so far, that isn't too much of a surprise.

"I actually drive a way more sensible car normally, but the nice sports car people really,
really
want me to test-drive one of these. So I told them I'd pick it up from the dealership nearest here. This way they might shut up about it, and I figured it gave me an excuse to come see you. Since the mood struck me."

"That's practically romantic." Cin sips his coffee. "Are we having sex this time, or not? Because I'm not exactly voting either way, but I'd like to have a shower first if we are."

There's a part of Tom that'd like to tell Cin to go shower, but it's not the biggest part. It's not that he wants to save himself or anything, but it's kind of nice, this beginning part before they're really
together
together, and he doesn't want to skip over all that. Not that he really thinks abstinence is the key to a good time, but it'd be nice not to have to worry about whether he's about to disappoint Cin again. He's still thinking things through as far as sex goes, anyway.

"Don't bother." Tom looks down at his own coffee, content with his answer. It's only just hit him that bringing him coffee is Cin's way of getting back at him for their first meeting. Although he's beginning to think that Cin's starting to like his attention. "It's been a long couple of weeks. I just wanna hang out with someone… soothing."

"You find me soothing?" Cin raises an eyebrow. "Because I've been called a lot of things, but this is a first."

"I stick by my original adjective. You are soothing. I spend most of my life hanging around yes-men and people who'd literally put a knife in my back if they thought they'd get away with it. You just insult me and refuse to be impressed by anything I do."

"So what you're saying is, you're a masochist? Because we can work with that." Cin winks. Tom blushes a little and decides not to confirm or deny his theory.

"Yeah, well, not today, anyway. Just allow me the pleasure of your company? I can have you back home before you turn into a pumpkin and everything."

"Okay, yeah. I don't have anything pressing to do right now. I will allow you to enjoy my company. On two conditions."

"Name them." Tom's more or less willing to give Cin whatever he asks for.

"Firstly, you're going to need to kiss me before we get in the car. Secondly, we're going to need to get dinner at the kind of place that wouldn't know how to take a reservation if you asked for one. Deal?"

"Deal." Tom leans over, hesitates briefly, not used to initiating kisses with Cin, and then closes his eyes to fit their lips together. It's sweet and familiar, and a little bubble of happiness swells and then bursts in Tom's stomach. Cin is so incredibly nice to touch that it's amazing he's managed to say no to sex with him not once, but
three
times now. On the other hand, just touching him is more than enough.

"Think anyone got a photo? Because I look like hell today."

"No, you don't." Tom takes in Cin's dark circles and wonders if he's sleeping okay or if he's sick or something and immediately feels old. Next he'll be making sure Cin's got a warm enough coat, and then it's all downhill from there. It's hard to be cool enough for a twenty-year-old boyfriend if you're busy mothering him. "Maybe a little tired. Come relax with me for a few hours; it'll fix everything."

"You know, I almost believe that." Cin tosses his empty coffee cup neatly into a nearby trash can, stands on his toes to kiss Tom again quickly, and then climbs into the passenger side of the car.

Cin falls asleep by the time they reach the city limits, and Tom just keeps driving until he finds a lookout point. It's a safe bet that local teenagers come up here to make out, and he likes the idea of that. He hates to think that he's using Cin to make himself feel young, but maybe he is, and maybe that's okay. It might be better than the growing possibility that there's a lot more to it.

There's definitely more to it than that, so it's safer to pretend that this is just a little fun for the beginning of his mid-life crisis.

Cin starts awake when the car comes to a stop. He blinks a few times and clears his throat. "Sorry. Didn't mean to fall asleep on you."

"I don't mind you falling asleep. I took you away to relax. I'm glad you're relaxing."

"Where are we?" Cin sits up and stretches. Tom fixates on the strip of flesh that's revealed when Cin raises his arms above his head. He's starting to regret that he said no to sex, but on the other hand, he can relax as well this way. No anticipation to keep him on edge.

"No idea. Just seemed like a nice spot."

"Seems like the kind of spot where teenagers have awkward sex in the back of old cars. Are we making out? Because I'd be into that. I really appreciated the anonymous donation the shelter got the other week."