Rhapsody on a Theme Read Free

“Come on,” Jayden wheedled, kissing his neck. “It’s already Christmas Eve. You know you want to tell me. Come onnn …”
    “Fuck you,” Darren muttered, squirming; Jayden held him still and started attacking the other side. Darren groaned, and Jayden wrapped his teeth around the jugular and sucked hard until the groan cut off in the middle with a choked sort of noise. He was getting hard; Jayden could feel it. He broke off, kissing the bruise, and smiled against the damp skin.
    “Tell me,” he whispered.
    “Fine, Jesus,” Darren caved; Jayden shifted off his lap, ‘accidentally’ brushing his hand over the front of Darren’s jeans. Darren’s much-tighter-than-they-were-at-the-station jeans. Darren scowled at him, the effect kind of lost between the swollen mouth and the ruffled hair, and swung his legs gingerly off the bed. He’d dropped his bag by the door, and Jayden watched from the bed as he rummaged through it before producing an envelope and returning, handing it to Jayden and toeing off his shoes to sit cross-legged by the pillow, looking laughably lanky on the narrow single bed.
    “A card? That’s it?”
    “Open it,” Darren said, extending a leg to prod Jayden with his foot.
    Jayden tore into the envelope, finding the usual poor-sense-of-humour card that Darren got him (this one, appropriately, involved a sulky-looking little girl in a party hat on the front) and a piece of paper folded up inside.
    “What are you doing?” Jayden asked suspiciously.
    “Just open it.”
    Jayden dropped the card into his lap and unfolded the piece of paper. Darren’s small, spidery handwriting covered it in wonky lines, and Jayden smoothed it out over his knees to read properly.
    Jayden:
    So I’m guessing we don’t have long before the new doctor and the next round of Medicating The Madman…
    “You’re not mad, Darren, stop it.”
    “ Read , don’t give a running commentary. I know what it says.”
    …and we both know apparently my dick isn’t too keen on the anti-ds. So this is a double present. 1) It is a voucher, for sex, redeemable for wherever and however you want it. And by however I mean who takes it, not some weird kinky fantasy! And 2) the proper present part. It can also be redeemed (at the same time or again) for sex without a condom. I know you’ve wanted to try it without for ages, so, merry crimbo and whathaveyou.
    Love you,
    Darren.
    Jayden stared, smoothed it, re-read it, stared some more, then dropped it to push Darren back into the mattress and settle over him, staring at that calm, open face. He looked sincere, and it was bizarre because…because it was this . “Really?” he said.
    “Mhmm.”
    “You’d really…you’d be okay with it? Without protection?”
    “Well, it’s you,” Darren said simply, draping his huge hands around Jayden’s waist and tracing patterns into his jumper with his thumbs. Idle and relaxed. Trusting. “I figure I can trust you. It’s been a while.”
    Jayden laughed. “Yes, but that’s not why you don’t want to.”
    Darren shrugged. “Maybe I need to get over myself.”
    Jayden smiled again almost nervously and kissed him gently. Technically, he supposed, they’d done it once without, but he had taken it, and he’d kind of liked it. It was messy, but he’d liked the closeness of it. But Darren’s one and only experience with it had been when the condom broke that one time, and he’d hated the feel of that, he’d been really grossed out and for ages, Jayden hadn’t had the nerve to ask him to try it bareback. Darren wouldn’t have wanted to, he figured, and maybe it was better to give him the time.
    But the time hadn’t worked. When he’d finally gotten curious enough to ask, Darren hadn’t wanted to. It felt wrong, he had decided, and he would do it to Jayden if Jayden really wanted him to, but no way otherwise. Jayden hadn’t been able to change his mind, not with all his arsenal of wheedling and begging and bribery, and in the