GRADIENTS OF INFECTION
STAGE FOUR

Life in that house, Leo decided as he left Blaine’s lab and headed for the kitchen, was messier than life on the streets. Back there, he didn’t know if he would have survived to see the light of another day, that’s true, but in that house? None of the laws, or even the principles of common sense he had always used to live by seemed to be of any use anymore.

What had happened between Cody, Blaine and him was still bothering him one week later. It hadn’t happen anymore – at least that – but the thought kept lingering in the back of his mind, memories resurfacing to his consciousness at the most inappropriate moments. At times they were so vivid he could barely look at his hosts anymore, or even share their same space, even when they didn’t seem to be wanting to make an attempt at getting him inside their bed again.

He wasn’t sure what that night had meant for them, just like he wasn’t sure what it had meant for him. He knew he somehow must have fallen for Blaine. It was clear and, despite how he hated the thought and how he felt ashamed for liking a man that way against every law of nature, he couldn’t lie to himself and pretend Blaine didn’t at least confuse him enough to bring him not to care about his own morality anymore. Cody, though, he was a completely different matter. He was Blaine’s partner, and despite the libertine ways of Blaine’s life they seemed involved in a serious relationship.

How Cody could tolerate his presence in the house was already mystery enough for Leo, how could he cope with dragging him into his own bed? What had been on his mind, that night, what had made him think it was alright, or even just proper to ask him to join in, to share with him what he had shared with Blaine alone up to that moment?

Weirdly enough, Leo wasn’t jealous. He was jealous and possessive at heart, he knew that, but when he wasn’t having sex with Blaine, his brain was still good enough to let him think things straight, which meant he always realized the place he had took in between them wasn’t a place he had the right to occupy. He hadn’t a right to jealousy, and so he didn’t abuse of it, but Cody, Cody had it, and though he did kind of abuse of it in the way he kept treating Leo like dirt every time they met inside the house, he had seemed completely uninterested to make that same right matter when they were together in bed.

This confused Leo. He had no idea how to act around Cody, and this was making things weird with Blaine too. More than once, already, he had found himself thinking about Cody while he and Blaine were together, the touch of Blaine’s fingers arising vivid images of Cody’s face and Cody’s body in his mind. Cody was a mystery he didn’t seem quite able to understand, he confused him in any way, and the speed with which he had started to become quite an obsession for him in the last few days was starting to frighten him.

The idea of spending time alone with him didn’t make him feel very comfortable, but since Blaine had asked him to be more of use around the house, especially with housework, he decided he could at least try. After all, he was a guest in the house, and it wasn’t fair not to lend a hand in keeping it clean at all.

When he entered the kitchen, Cody was washing the dishes. Leo watched him handling carefully the porcelain plates, water dripping in huge, shiny drops down his forearms, wetting the hem of his rolled up sleeves around his delicate, rounded elbows.

Cody was unbelievably beautiful. Everything in him, from his white, fair, smooth skin to his soft black hair, from the pale porcelain perfection of his features to the childish sensuality of his lean, graceful body, seemed to have been conceived to generate astonishment in whoever looked at him. He looked like he was made of the same clay of the angels. The way he moved made something throb inside Leo. There was something sexual in everything, about him. Cody didn’t speak, nor walk, nor draw breath like normal human beings. He wasn’t like him, or Blaine for that matter, he was something completely different, something that made Leo’s mouth dry up as his breath grew heavier and uneven at his mere sight.

“I…” Leo said, knocking on the already open door and clearing his throat when nothing but a wheeze came out of it as he spoke, “Blaine told me I should help out more,” he added, when Cody turned around to look at him, “So… is there something I can do?”

Cody kept quiet for a moment, his deep blue eyes lingering on Leo’s face, shamelessly staring at him, forcing him to lower his gaze. “You don’t have to be kind to me only because we fucked,” he said then, his voice cold as ice as he turned away from him again.

Leo blushed violently, looking up at Cody again. Confusing as the pale curve of Cody’s neck could be, he wasn’t willing to stand being treated like that. This was exactly what angered him so much about Cody, the way his behavior seemed to clash so violently with his appearance. How such words could escape those perfectly chiseled, cherry red lips! How such cold gaze could come from those baby blue eyes! The mere thought irritated him so much.

“Alright, you know what?” he said, frowning, “Whatever, I tried.”

He was about to go, when he heard a sigh escape Cody’s lips, forcing him to stay for a moment.

“Don’t go,” he said, turning once again toward him, “Here. You can help me out drying up the dishes after I washed them. If you’re able not to make them fall on the ground,” he added with a light smirk.

Leo nodded, still angry at the way Cody had treated him but willing to not make a big deal out of it. He was sick of Cody’s constantly judging gaze upon him. He knew Cody had been complaining with Blaine about how useless and spoiled Leo was, and he was determined to put an end to it, even if that meant to undergo an hour long of Cody playing tricks with his head.

He stood beside the sink, holding the wet plates and cutlery Cody passed him and carefully drying them up before putting them on a cloth spread on the table, waiting to be put away. He kept watching Cody the whole time, physically unable to force his eyes to move away from his figure. Even when he felt like hating him the most for the way he treated him, Leo was never really able to stop himself from staring at him as if he was some sort of artistic masterpiece of mother nature.

He had always thought Cody never noticed the way the stared at him, but he should have known better, and it was clear the moment he heard a small scoffed laughter escape Cody’s lips, while a mocking smile curved the corners of his mouth upwards. “Could you be any more obvious?”

Blushing wildly, Leo looked down, holding the plate he was drying more steadily as he put in the drying up process more effort than he had ever done up to that moment. “I don’t know what you mean,” he stammered, swallowing hard.

Cody laughed, reaching out for a cloth to dry his own hands and then leaning against the sink. The clearly oversized shirt he was wearing was loose on his chest, showing bits and pieces of his shoulders and chest, tormenting Leo without even noticing. “Are you in heat?” he asked, tilting his head a bit, his straight, silky hair falling on his cheeks.

“Stop it,” Leo blurted out, putting the plate down before his shaky hands had a chance to let it fall, “I’m not, and I don’t know why you do it, but you’re teasing.”

“Yes, I am,” Cody answered with a slightly wicked smile, “I’m good at it, ain’t I?”

“Good for you,” Leo said, frowning, “Now stop.”

Cody turned around, facing him, his hands on his hips. “Why?” he asked, “Are you troubled by it?”

Leo hated the power Cody held over him. It was different from Blaine’s. Blaine too was perfectly able to confuse him with a smile, or a touch of his fingertips, to the point Leo didn’t even know what to do anymore, but Blaine was something simpler. He was kind to him, he had saved his life, he treated him respectfully, he valued him. What Leo felt for Cody was different, it was an helpless, hopeless attraction he would have rather forgot but wasn’t able to keep at bay. He hated not having control over it, he hated how fragile and exposed it made him in front of Cody, he hated to feel it even as he was clearly being mistreated and tormented. It was degrading and humiliating and he couldn’t stand it.

“You know I am,” he answered, facing him too, anger quickly filling his eyes, “Or you wouldn’t ask.”

“You’re easily troubled, then,” Cody said, laughing at him, “I’m even fully clothed. I wonder what would you do now if I showed you even an inch of flesh,” he added, lifting his shirt a little bit, showing nothing but an inch of the pale, perfect skin of his belly.

Leo blushed even more, looking away. “What’s your angle, here, Cody?” he asked, closing his shaky hands in fists, “I thought you had what you wanted, after you went crying to him and proved your point with both of us. Stop the bullshit and keep washing those dishes.”

Cody curled his lips into a small, playful pout, turning around to resume his work and bending over just enough to show the rounded curve of his ass under his tight trousers. “I’ve got no angles here,” he said, speaking softly, a calm smile blossoming on his lips, “I don’t have to live my life in a constant attempt to defeat you. And that’s because there’s no competition between us,” he smirked, not even trying to hide the mean accent of his voice.

Leo casted him a fiery glance, grinding his teeth. “We’ll see about that,” he says. It’s a bluff, though, and he knows it. He knows Cody’s special to Blaine, way more than he could ever be. At the same time, he’s not sure he would want to actually be more special than Cody for the man. It’d probably feel good to beat Cody at his own game, but it’s clear that, if getting together with Blaine would be satisfying more because Cody would take it bad than because Leo would actually get to be with a man he likes, there’s probably something wrong in the whole thing.

“No,” Cody smiles, not even granting him the slightest look, “You’ll have nothing to see, Leo. He’s not in love with you. He likes you, of course he does, who wouldn’t? Look at you. You’re perfect. Tall and handsome, with those eyes, those curls. I mean, I’d fuck you,” he teased with a smile, “Actually, I did,” he pointed out, forcing Leo to blush again, “So, why wouldn’t he want to entertain himself with you? I can understand that. But if you think there’s something more than this between you, you’re delusional.”

Leo looked down, biting at his bottom lip to try and control his growing rage. “Is this what you tell yourself?” he asked, “To keep calm?”

“That’s what I know,” Cody shrugged carelessly, “You know, Blaine’s messed up in many ways, but he’d never choose anybody over me. That I know for sure,” he said, and then he turned around, searching for Leo’s eyes with his own. “If you push me, I will have him choose, Leo.”

“I’m not the one pushing, here!” Leo yelled, turning to look at Cody again, “It’s you who tease me just for the sake of it! You enjoy fucking with my head! Do I have to remind you that I was minding my own fucking business before you decided to take me in your bed and in your mouth?!”

Cody turned to look at him and, for the longest time, he didn’t say anything. He blinked a couple of times, then stopped the water and finally sighed, passing his still wet hand through his hair, making them damp. “The fact is,” he said, his voice different from before, more honest now, “I like you. You get on my nerves because of Blaine, but other than that I like you. You’re…” he paused for a moment, his eyes shamelessly traveling over the surface of Leo’s body, “…something. Also, I wanted to deal with you, and try firsthand what Blaine was so crazy about,” he shrugged, “Having sex with you was the easiest way,” he said, matter-of-factly.

Leo’s lips parted, his eyes opening wide in shock and outrage, though he realized there was nothing he could say about the way Cody had just spoke to him. He was almost sure there was something offensive in that, but there seemed to be a compliment, too, hidden somewhere. He felt it, and that confused him. “…Well,” he tried, “Still, you messed up with me first. I wanted nothing to do with you, I was perfectly fine when we just ignored each other before.”

“Well, I wasn’t,” Cody said, shaking his head, “Ignoring each other made you distant. That made you a threat, because I didn’t know you. Now I do.”

“So, what do you expect, now?” Leo snorted nervously, wishing for that conversation to be over soon. Cody was victim of a kind of insecurity that forced him to reaffirm his possessions every time he felt them threatened. Leo couldn’t stand it – he was in a bad position enough, already, he didn’t need to be constantly reminded how bad it actually was.

Cody shrugged. “I wouldn’t know, precisely,” he answered vaguely, “I do know now, though, that I can handle you. As I said before,” he moistened his lips and cast him one more long look from his head to his toes, “You’re easily troubled. And I know you like me.”

Leo looked away, unable to stand Cody’s eyes when they were staring so shamelessly at him. “You are beautiful, I won’t argue with that.”

“Of course you won’t,” Cody said, smiling and getting a little bit closer, “Want to bet I know what’s on your mind right now?”

Leo sighed in frustration, closing his eyes. He couldn’t make it. He couldn’t understand why Cody was doing this, and he couldn’t possibly win against him if he kept doing it. It was hard to bear him when he got that close. “There is nothing,” he said, his voice low, hopeless.

“You’re lying,” Cody said, stepping closer again, cornering Leo against the kitchen counter, “You’ve been staring. You’re here, and you look at me, and all you can thing is God, I can’t stand him, and everything you think that you see a flash of me as I go down on you.”

If he didn’t see those flashes before, he surely did now that Cody had triggered the memories to resurface in his mind. He opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, trying to find a way out of that situation, both physically and mentally, but nothing came to his mind, nothing except Cody’s lips closed tightly around his cock as his head moved up and down on him, his hard-on disappearing inside his mouth and then slipping out of it, wetter and harder than before. “Stop,” he whispered, “Please. You proved your point,” he forced himself to smirk, even though he was unable to look at him, “You’re a slut. Now back to the dishes.”

Cody’s reaction was so fast Leo barely had the time to see it happen. “Don’t you dare,” he said coldly, slapping him right on his cheek, “Don’t you dare call me a slut and ordering me around in my house.”

Leo wasn’t used to be hit, and by that point he was already so nervous that his own reaction was nothing but animalistic, instinctual. He pushed Cody on his chest, making him stumble backwards. “Get your hands off me!” he yelled, glaring at him.

“Don’t threaten me, kid,” Cody mocked him after he managed to balance himself again, “You wouldn’t dare to lift a finger against me,” he said, pushing him back.

Leo pushed him back too, walking forward. “Do you want to try me?”

“I already did, have you forgotten?” Cody spit out, slapping him again, “And actually, you weren’t even that good!” he mocked him once more, looking at him with fire in his eyes, “Come on, child, you want to fight me? Is that what you really want? ‘Cause I can give you a fight you’ll never forget. I told you already, you have no idea what I’m capable of.”

That, Leo thought as his head turned for how strong Cody’s last slap was, was undoubtedly true. As it was that Cody had no idea what Leo was capable of too, though.

He turned around to look at him, smirking nervously. “Fine. When you go back to Blaine crying, tell him you asked for it,” he said, letting himself go and punching Cody in his face. “Tell me,” he said cruelly, “How many people tried you, before Blaine? Nobody could turn out as skillful as you are after just one man.”

Cody spit blood on the floor, and then cleansed his mouth with the back of his hand and forearm, a trail of blood lingering on the pale skin of his face and on his lips, making them redder. “I’ve been well trained,” he said, his voice cold as ice as he looked back at Leo, “Thanks for noticing. Does this make you horny? Hit me when you’d only want me to drop on my knees and suck you off until you can’t even remember your name? You’re more fucked up than I am.”

“You’d like that too much, doll,” Leo answered, smirking.

Cody smirked back, licking blood off his lips. “Why, you think your cock’s made of chocolate or something?”

“No, I think you’re just way too happy to have cocks in your mouth,” Leo answered, walking towards him and pushing him against the wall, “Where did Blaine find you, exactly? What is it that you did for a living? Was it this? Sucking cocks?”

Something in Cody’s eyes turned off as he actually recoiled, back against the wall, frowning and looking at Leo with eyes filled with rage. “What,” he said, “You like the idea?” he growled, pressing his hands against Leo’s chest to keep him away, even thought he was in no way strong enough to do it if Leo really wanted to come closer.

Leo knew that, and so he did. “Why not?” he asked, “You are much more pleasant with your mouth rightfully full.”

Cody growled again, lifting a hand and grabbing Leo’s face between his fingers, squeezing his jaw violently. “Shut up,” he said, “Shut. Up.”

Cody was shaking all over, and Leo, being that close to him, could feel it very well. He could also feel how unsteady the grip of his hand was, and so he took advantage of it, freeing himself from his grasp and grabbing him by his neck, slamming him against the wall. “What?” he said, speaking as close as he could to Cody’s face, “You’re shaking all over,” he smirked, “Did that hit home?”

Cody’s hands started to push frantically against Leo’s chest, trying to make him step back. “Get off me!” he screamed, “You’re just a coward! You’re all over me, but you prefer to hit me and offend me instead to admit you want to bend me over and fuck me hard as you can! You’re nothing but a spoiled, petty child,” he kept screaming, tears of rage and shame in his eyes, pushing Leo back, “You’re not even worth my time!”

Startled by Cody’s tears, Leo frowned and took a couple of steps back, letting him go. There had always been a certain weirdness in the way Cody behaved, he was moody, uncertain, unsettled, and his attitude towards somebody could change easily as the weather in the blink of an eye, so his sudden breakdown didn’t really surprise Leo. If anything, it upset him. “Are you kidding me?” he said, “You hit me first, and now that I cornered you, you break in tears? Why don’t you tell the truth and say you’d rather have me fuck you than beat you up, ‘cause at least you know you’d like it?”

“Shut up!” Cody screamed again, stepping forward and pushing Leo hard as he could, again and then again, “You know nothing about me! You know nothing about my life! You came here and put up a fight against me, for my man, trying to steal him away, and when I opened up for you, when I let you in, when I fucking accepted you in our bed, all you could do was turn right back into the asshole you’ve been since you came here first, and tell me you were perfectly fine when we ignored each other!” he kept pushing him back as he spoke, his voice getting higher and higher as his eyes filled with tears, “Don’t you fucking dare judge me, or my behavior, or my past, you ungrateful, ridiculously stupid little shit!”

“You accepted me?” Leo looked at him, his eyes open wide, “That you call accepting somebody? You dragged me into your bed only to prove a point! And then you proceeded to tease me every waking hour just to mess with me because you know you have that effect on me! So don’t play the victim, now, ‘cause you’re not! I didn’t come here to steal your man, he likes me, so maybe there’s not much to steal from you anymore, since he came to me on his own!” He stopped from a moment, looking at Cody, and then growled. “And stop crying, for fuck’s sake!” he barked, noticing the stream of tears falling down his flushed cheeks.

Cody opened his mouth to protest, to tell him he wasn’t crying at all, but then he realized he was, indeed. He could feel the wet, hot trail of his tears down his cheeks, he could feel their salt make the small cut on his lower lip burn like it was on fire. He could taste tears on his tongue, and they were more bitter than he remembered them.

He hadn’t cried in a long time.

“I…” he said, looking up at Leo with lost, confused eyes, “I’ve got to go.” He backed off slowly, scared like a small animal in front of an hungry predator.

Frowning in confusion, Leo stepped forward. “Cody, wait,” he said, hesitatingly lifting a hand towards him, as if to stop him, though, having no idea how to handle such a reaction from Cody, he refrained to do anything else.

Cody backed away even more quickly, apparently trying to run away from Leo’s touch, and in doing so he hit a piece of furniture. The glass jug resting on top of it swung and then fell to the ground, breaking in pieces. Startled by the sound, Cody turned around, instantly focusing on the shards scattered around on the floor. “Fuck…” he whispered, kneeling down to pick up the pieces, so confused not to care that he could cut himself while picking them up carelessly barehanded.

“Hey, slow down,” Leo said, kneeling next to him to help him out, “You’re gonna cut yourself.”

“I’m fine,” Cody muttered, refusing to look at Leo. His eyes were filled with tears that just kept coming, and it was only a matter of time before he hurt himself. So, when finally one of the shards slipped from his grasp and cut his finger, he was the only one surprised by it. He let go of all the pieces of broken glass he had picked up until that moment, and held his hand close to his chest, letting out a small whine as blood tainted his shirt.

Leo looked closely at him, only to find out that there was nothing left inside Cody of the young man who had mocked and teased him up to just a few moments before. Nothing left but a small bag of old clothes and shattering bones.

“Cody… you’re not fine at all,” he tried, helping him stand up, gently, “Let me see.”

“I’m fine,” Cody insisted, looking away, “I told you.”

He seemed so distant, now, locked up and hidden away in some part of his mind that wasn’t even happening in the now.

“You cut yourself,” Leo said with a sigh, holding Cody’s wounded finger between his and pulling him towards the bucket filled with clean water in the sink. “Come on,” he said, cleaning the wound and then wrapping it in a clean rag, pressing the fabric against the cut to stop the slim but continuous bleeding, “Listen, I’m sorry, alright? It’s just— You slapped me. And I got mad.”

Cody didn’t answer to that. He kept his mouth shut, letting Leo drag him around, never raising his eyes over him. His tears kept falling as if he had no control whatsoever over them, and his body was shaking frantically in a desperate attempt to hold whatever was hurting him that bad all inside himself.

“Cody?” Leo called out for him, worry starting to flood his eyes. He brought him closer to a chair, making him sit. “Please, answer me, you’re freaking me out. Should I call somebody? Do you want me to call Blaine?”

For a while, Cody appeared completely motionless. He stared blankly at some point on the floor, his hands still shaking, his lips closed tight, whitening because of the strength he was putting into keeping them shut. Then he opened them, blurting out as if he couldn’t keep the words caged in his throat anymore. “I didn’t suck cocks for a living,” he said, his voice troubled, shaky and broken by sobs. Then he closed his mouth again, tightly as before, scared that if he kept his lips parted he would have started crying loudly.

Leo sighed, closing his eyes for a moment. “I know,” he said in a low, soothing voice, “I mean, I never really thought you did. I was just angry.”

“I didn’t,” Cody insisted, letting out a painful sob the moment he parted his lips. He closed them tight again, swallowing down tears as he tried to calm down. “I told you I like you,” he started again after a moment, “I was messing with you, but I wasn’t lying,” he said, his mouth closing every time he stopped talking, no other noises escaping his lips.

“Alright,” Leo said, nodding and kneeling in front of the chair, “I believe you. I mean, you wouldn’t have done what you did if you didn’t like me at least a little bit. And I like you too, but you already know that. You know I didn’t get angry because of this.”

“You got angry because I slapped you,” Cody said, “I slapped you because you called me a slut,” he clutched his hands in fists so hard that the cut started bleeding again, “And I’m not a slut. You hear me? I’m nobody’s slut.”

“Cody, I know,” Leo said, putting his hands on top of Cody’s to try and stop him from shaking like that, “I know, I was just frustrated because you kept teasing me and then mocking me and…” he sighed, “Why are you taking it this way? I thought you knew what was going on. You were torturing me, how was I supposed to react? It was either call you names or jump on you and ravish you on the spot.”

Cody blushed violently, withdrawing a little and looking away. “I… I wasn’t teasing to torture you,” he said in a small sob, biting at his lower lip as he stubbornly refused to put his eyes back on Leo.

“But because you can’t stand me, yes, I know,” Leo sighed, “I understand that you’re jealous, but the truth is, you don’t even need to be, and God only knows why it costs me so much to admit it, but I’m not really interested in stealing Blaine away from you, so—”

“You don’t understand anything!” Cody snorted, hitting Leo on top of his head with a fist, “I know that already! You don’t need to reassure me on how much Blaine loves me, God, I’ve been with him for years now, if he was about to leave me because he fell in love with somebody else, believe me, I’d notice!” he passed his hands over his face, covering his eyes for a while and sighing deeply as he relaxed against the back of the chair. “You really think me an idiot, don’t you? Some helpless child who has no idea how to deal with anything. And yet you’re the helpless child who can’t even see this has nothing to do with Blaine, and everything to do with you.”

Leo blinked a couple of times, looking at Cody with huge, confused eyes. “…alright, fine,” he said, sitting down on the floor and crossing his legs, “I’m stupid, it’s true, I’ll give you that. Would you mind explaining, then?” his voice sweetening up, “Please?”

Still sitting on the chair, Cody looked down at him. It took him a while to decide what to do, and when he did Leo saw something change in his eyes, some sort of new determination lightening them up, making them brighter and deeper. He thought Cody was going to speak, at that point, but the kid didn’t say a single word. Instead, he slid down the chair, dropping on his knees and placing his hands on Leo’s shoulders to balance himself as he leaned in to kiss Leo lightly on his lips, closing his eyes.

Leo barely had the time to realize what was happening, to feel the softness of Cody’s lips against his own, and in the split of a moment the touch was already gone, and Cody was looking at him from up close, eyes clouded with uncertainty.

“…oh,” he said, blinking, “Oh. That is… oh.”

“I hope that was clear enough,” Cody sighed, “Though your reaction isn’t at all.”

“I’m sorry, I… yes,” Leo swallowed, passing his tongue over his lips and catching nothing but a shadow of Cody’s taste, “Yes, I think I got it now. You… really like me, then.”

Cody nods slowly, eyes fixed on Leo. “I thought I made it clear already. I spent the last… what, nine? Ten days? Throwing myself at you. You thought I was doing it just to fuck with your brain? With all I have to do around the house all day, you think I’ve got time to waste torturing you just for the sake of it? What am I to you, some kind of sick twat?”

“Well, I don’t know!” Leo said, opening his arms in astonishment, “How could I possibly get you wanted to… come on!” he sighed in frustration, “I thought you were messing with me just to mock me when I would obviously fall for it. Geez…” he passed his fingers through his hair, looking away, “Have you any idea of the effect this,” he pointed out, blindly searching for the hem of Cody’s shirt and lifting it up to reveal the childish curve of his belly, “has on me every time I see it? Of course you do! I thought you were using it against me, and then…” he sighed again, letting go of Cody’s shirt and looking back at him. “Why didn’t you just tell me?”

“What would you have wanted me to do?” Cody asked, looking at him, outraged, “Come into your room and sit on your cock at night?!”

“Maybe you could have just told me!” Leo answered, frowning, “You could just say Leo!, I think I wanna have sex with you, and I’m not even joking about it. You can bet I would have understood!”

“I couldn’t!” Cody snorted, hitting Leo on his shoulder with his tiny little fist. “Listen,” he said then, sighing, “With me, it’s… complicated, when it comes to sex. I’m not like… I’m not like Blaine, for example, who just tells you what he wants and lets you have it easy. I wish I could be like that, but I’m not. I’m a mess. I’m nothing you’ve ever seen, and that’s why I’m awesome, but that’s also why I’m a pain in the ass,” he said, offering a small, sweet apologetic smile. “I’ll never come to you and tell you straight I want to have sex, not even if I’m desperate. I don’t do it, I just… don’t. I can’t. It’s not how I’ve been… I mean, it’s not how I do things.”

Leo listened closely, nodding every now and then, and then, when Cody stopped talking, he sighed deeply. “Alright, fine,” he said, “So, can I just assume that you really want us to have sex when you… I don’t know, show your tummy, for example? ‘Cause, I swear, I’m alright with that, I just need to have some kind of code signal, so you or anybody else won’t think I jumped on you for no reason.”

Cody broke in a small, sudden laughter, hitting him lightly on his shoulder again. “You’re so silly,” he said, wiping his tears away. “Not every time I show off,” he explained then, “Sometimes I do it, but then I run away when you touch me. I wish I could give you something sure, I mean, tell you there’s something I do that will unequivocally let you know for sure what my real intentions are, but I don’t work that way. Sometimes I want to do it so, so very much, but I keep saying no like I mean it, though I don’t. And sometimes I can push myself against you for hours but then recoil in horror if you even try and touch me underneath my clothes… I’m…” he sighed, covering his face with both his hands, “God, how messed up am I?”

Leo chuckled, reaching out for Cody’s head, stroking his soft hair with his fingers. “You are, a bit. What about Blaine, though? Don’t you have the same problems with him?”

“With Blaine?” Cody looked up, blinking a couple of times, “Are you kidding me? He doesn’t need to get when I want to get laid and when I don’t, because he’s always trying. And, I mean, literally, always, all the time. Sex is all he can think about. Sex, and his research. But mostly sex. So he’s used to try countless times per day, and he always takes for granted there will be a lot of no and a lot of yes. It’s easier, really.”

Leo chuckled again, sighing a bit as he leaned back on his stretched arms. “Alright, let’s just say I’ll ask you, then. When I’m not sure, I’ll just ask.”

“Let’s hope it’s enough,” Cody said, chuckling nervously as he looked away, torturing the hem of his shirt. “It’s funny, actually. I’ve never talked about these things with Blaine, now that I think about it. Not that I ever needed to. I mean, Blaine’s different. We never really felt like talking this way, before or after we started having sex. With you, I haven’t even started yet and it’s already all talk, talk, talk.”

Leo’s lips curled into a smile, as he looked at Cody straight in his eyes. “We could stop talking, if you wanted.”

Cody looked back at him, his legs shifting slightly. “Do you want to?” he asked, holding his lower lip between his teeth.

“It would be nice,” Leo chuckled, sliding closer to him on the floor, “But we don’t have to, if you don’t want.”

“I don’t know what I want!” Cody answered, blushing a little and then giving in to a sigh, his eyes locked on Leo’s again. “Do you want to kiss me?”

Leo nodded slowly. “Definitely. I’m dying to.”

Cody closed his hands in fists, shifting a little on the spot. Leo could see need rise in his eyes, so it really wasn’t such a surprise when he saw Cody nod and invite him to come closer. He complied, leaning towards him very slowly, leaving Cody all the time he needed to push him away or stop him in any other way, if he wanted, but Cody didn’t.

Their lips touched innocently only for a couple of seconds: they both knew enough, they both had already tasted enough, not to know the best was yet to come. Leo parted his lips, letting his tongue search for Cody’s, and Cody answered to the kiss pretty eagerly, standing on his knees and moving closer enough to finally sit on Leo’s lap. Leo put his hands on Cody’s hips, holding him tightly, hoping he wouldn’t kick him away so soon, and when he didn’t he just kept kissing him, until it was Cody who withdrew slowly, parting from Leo’s lips with a soft sound.

“We’re on the kitchen floor…” he said, rubbing his nose against Leo’s and then searching for another kiss.

“Not a very fancy spot,” Leo said, following Cody’s lips and covering them in bites and small kisses, “I’ll give you that.”

“We can’t do anything, here,” Cody told him, but the way he circled Leo’s neck with his arms and the way he shifted to straddle him seemed to make clear he couldn’t care less.

Leo moaned something, his lips leaving a barely wet trail up Cody’s jawline, to his ear. “Alright,” he said then, “I’m going to try and make it better, then. Will you stop me if I do something wrong?” he asked, and the mere question seemed to made Cody even hornier, judging by the way he started to move on top of him.

“Yes,” he said, breathlessly, opening his eyes and casting Leo an uncertain glance, his eyes clouding with arousal. “What do you want to do to me?”

Leo reached out for the pillows covering the chairs that were closer to them, and tugged at them, putting them down on the floor, under the big wooden table they used to prepare the food to be cooked. “I want to make you feel good,” he answered with a smile, laying him down on the improvised bedding.

“So, what,” Cody asked, chuckling as he settled down, “You’re just going to lay me down on a bed of pink pillows… on the kitchen floor? So romantic.”

“I know, right?” Leo chuckled too, resting on top of him and kissing him lightly on his already puffy lips, “I’m so good at this.”

“Seriously?” Cody chuckled again, his hands on Leo’s shoulders, “Under the kitchen table? When I was a kid, me and my best friend used to hide under the table in the kitchen and pretend we were pirates on a sinking ship. You’re ruining my childhood, just like that.”

“We could pretend to be pirates too, if you wanted,” Leo suggested with a smirk, and then pushed his nose against Cody’s, smiling sweetly. “Seriously, though. Would you rather be upstairs?”

Cody’s lips curled upwards in a small smile, before searching for Leo’s for another kiss. “Nah,” he said, lifting one of his legs and hooking it behind Leo’s back, “I’m fine.”

“Good,” Leo said, kissing him and then sliding with his lips down Cody’s neck, his nose already diving inside the collar of Cody’s shirt. “Can I?”

“What, undress me?” Cody smiled, lifting both his arms, “Please.”

Leo chuckled, pulling Cody’s shirt off him and starting to kiss him again the moment his head popped out of the collar. Cody placed a hand on the back of Leo’s head, massaging his scalp and biting at his bottom lip in between kisses. He started moving quickly against Leo’s crotch, and the moment Leo felt him hard against himself a sudden urge to kiss and bite him all over took control of his body, forcing him to let go of Cody’s lips to travel with his own down the other kid’s chest, kissing every inch of skin he had just revealed down to his navel, in which he started to push his tongue. “God,” he moaned, his hands running up Cody’s sides, his thumbs rubbing his hard nipples slowly, “Look at yourself.”

“What…?” Cody moaned, his breathing already troubled, looking down at Leo’s body settled between his parted legs.

“You’re so beautiful,” Leo answered, biting and licking at the perfect, soft curve of Cody’s belly, “The way you look makes me crazy.”

Cody moaned louder, pushing his belly up against Leo’s face. “Don’t you… want to touch me?” he said, his hips shifting, as if animated by a force of their own Cody had no control over.

“Do you want me to?” Leo asked back, smiling sweetly at first, and then chuckling when Cody’s answer came instantly, with him nodding eagerly, like a child. “Alright, then,” he said, unbuttoning Cody’s trousers and pulling them down, running his fingers up and down his length for a while before properly take a hold of him.

Cody moistened his lips, standing on his elbows and then reaching out for Leo with one hand, dragging him closer to kiss him deeply for a moment, his lips moving accordingly with Leo’s hand. He withdrew from the kiss after a while, breathing heavily in and out and then reaching down between Leo’s legs, rubbing him through his pants. “You’re hard,” he said in a sweet moan, as if anticipating the feeling of his cock against his palm.

“You made me so,” Leo answered, kissing him again, “I’m often like this when you’re around.”

Cody smiled vaguely, placing his hand on Leo’s to push it down, away from his hard-on and towards his opening, as he parted his legs to make room for it. “So it’s my fault,” he said, playfully, “Should I do something to fix it?”

“Would you?” Leo asked, his index finger already pressing against Cody’s opening, opening it up an inch after another.

Cody bit on Leo’s bottom lip, waiting for Leo’s finger to settle inside him before taking a deep breath and smile. “Hand or mouth?”

Leo rested his forehead against Cody’s shoulder, whining in clear pain. If you ask…, he would have liked to tell him, but he knew he couldn’t. And he was aware everybody else, in his situation, would have probably just asked Cody to suck them off, since he himself had proposed it, but he couldn’t. He just couldn’t. So he sighed a little. “Whatever you want,” he said, smiling at his own stupidity.

Cody laughed, amused, as he turned his head to leave a kiss on Leo’s temple. “When I said mouth you died inside a little, didn’t you?”

“You got me,” Leo chuckled, lifting his head to rub his nose against Cody’s smooth cheek.

Cody laughed again, pressing Leo down on the pillows. “Come on,” he said with a smile, “I want to do it.”

“You sure?” Leo asked, lifting himself up on his elbows and watching Cody as he knelt up and started fumbling with Leo’s pants to pull them down, “I mean… You don’t have to—”

“Would you shut up?” Cody chuckled again, pressing a hand on Leo’s chest to push him down, “I said I want to do it. And don’t pretend you’re not dying for it, it’s useless, I know.”

“I’m not pretending,” Leo complained, frowning, “I was trying to…” he tried to explain, closing his eyes and swallowing heavily as he felt Cody’s lips run up and down his hard length, “To…”

“Yes, I know,” Cody chuckled, puffing warm breath on Leo’s already hot skin, licking him fully from the base of his cock up to its head, forcing him to moan loudly. “You like that?” he asked with a smile, his lips brushing against Leo’s cock for a while before he started sucking on it, pressing both his hands on Leo’s stomach, feeling it firm and tense under his palms.

“Yes,” Leo moaned, so loudly he had to bring a hand over his mouth to try and muffle the sound a bit, “God…”

Cody looked up at Leo, the mere sight of him making him tremble with anticipation. He took a hold of his cock, keeping it up with both his hands as he started moving up and down on it, swallowing it whole and then releasing it, his tongue constantly glued to his skin, welcoming him inside his mouth in a warm, wet embrace.

Leo tried to stay still a while, but the way Cody was toying with his erection made it impossible for him to keep up with his good intentions. As he kept one hand on his mouth, trying not to be as loud as he would have wanted to, he started to play with Cody’s hair with his free hand, trying to distract himself from the wave of pleasure that started right from when Cody’s lips were closing around him.

When Cody finally decided he had enough and he could withdraw, he was breathing so heavily he couldn’t just do it through his nose, he had to help himself out with his open mouth. He looked up at Leo, his fists still closed around Leo’s cock, one of them stroking him slowly up and down while the other just kept it steady. “Leo…” he moaned, biting and licking at his own cherry red swollen lips.

“Yes,” Leo answered, reaching out for him with both his arms, pulling him closer, “Yes, God, come here,” he moaned, helping him climb up his own body, which Cody did as if he was a kitten, rubbing against him shamelessly as he searched for his lips, demanding a kiss. “God, I want you so much,” Leo whispered against Cody’s lips, kissing him deeply, one hand running down Cody’s back and slipping between his buttocks, reaching for his opening, which he started to tease right away.

“Oh, God, yes,” Cody said in a relieved moan, sitting abruptly on Leo’s finger and taking it in as he held onto Leo’s shoulders. Leo kissed him again, hungrily, swiftly moving his finger in and out of Cody’s body, curling it when it was inside to open him up as he closed his other hand around Cody’s cock, stroking him steadily. “Leo, enough,” Cody whined after a while, restless and needy, “Please, please, please…”

“Alright, alright,” Leo gave up, chuckling a bit as he sucked Cody’s earlobe inside his own mouth, playing with it, “Do you want to sit on me? Or should I lay you down?”

“I wanna sit,” Cody answered instantly, grabbing Leo’s face between his hands to keep him still as he kissed him wildly, sitting down on him and moaning as he felt the hot hardness of his cock slide between his buttocks. “God…” he whined, rocking his hips back and forth, “Leo, please.”

“I know,” Leo whispered, kissing him back as he took a hold of his own cock to guide it inside of Cody’s body, thrusting slowly but steadily to make way for himself inside him.

“Yes!” Cody yelled, clinging to Leo’s shoulder as he started moving up and down on him. Leo threw his head back, biting at his bottom lip as he felt him close tightly around himself, the friction getting stronger and more pleasant with every inch he managed to gain inside of Cody’s body. “God,” Cody whispered, hugging him close to his chest, “I like you so much,” he added, licking down Leo’s neck and then tugging violently at his shirt to uncover at least a bit of his shoulder to bite.

Leo took care of it, backing away barely enough to cross his arms over his own chest and grab his shirt by its hem, pulling it up and off himself and throwing it away on the floor. The second he was done with it, he attacked Cody’s lips again, kissing him deeply as he finally could enjoy the pleasant feeling of his own bare chest rubbing against Cody’s to the same rhythm he was thrusting inside him with.

Cody screamed, throwing his head back as he felt himself open up for Leo even more, welcoming his cock deep inside his own body and then closing tight around his hardness, sucking it in. He crossed his legs behind Leo’s back, meeting his each and every thrust with one of his own as he gracelessly grabbed one of Leo’s hands and put it back on his own cock, silently begging him to resume stroking him, which Leo did, offering a kiss as an apology that Cody was definitely happy to accept.

As Cody’s voice grew louder and louder with every thrust, Leo could feel himself getting closer to his own climax, and so when Cody started to shiver wildly, clinging to Leo’s shoulders almost desperately, and blurted out a weak “I’m coming”, Leo kissed him tenderly on his cheek and whispered him to go ahead, stroking him more strongly to help him out.

“Let me feel it,” he breathed in a low, husky voice against Cody’s ear, and the kid’s whole body shook in pleasure as he held his breath, coming hard between Leo’s fingers, shooting his load all over both their stomachs as he let out a small whimpering squeal.

Feeling Cody close frantically around his own cock with each and every wave of his own orgasm was enough for Leo to be pushed way beyond his limits. He kissed Cody messily on his mouth as he grabbed both his hips to hold him still as he thrust even more forcefully inside his body, releasing himself with a muffled grunt.

Cody didn’t put a stop to Leo’s thrusts, enjoying the feeling as they became weaker and slower, until finally Leo stopped, breathing heavily against the sweaty, hot skin of Cody’s neck. He rested himself against Leo’s body, his head on Leo’s shoulder, basking in the pleasant warmth of his embrace. He chuckled a bit, amused by how stupidly and pleasantly numb he was feeling, and Leo’s laughter echoed his own, as he hugged him tightly. “God, you sure are cuddly, aren’t you?” Cody commented, backing away just a little to search for his eyes.

“What’s wrong with being cuddly?” Leo asked, tightening his grip around Cody’s waist to keep him close, and hiding his face in the curve of his neck. He had the sweetest smell, the clean scent of his own body now perfectly mixed with his. He wanted to keep feeling it for a while.

“I don’t know,” Cody chuckled, lazily passing his small fingers through Leo’s wild, messy curls, “It’s kind of… I don’t know. It’s weird, isn’t it?” he asked in a laughter, “It’s girly.”

“No, it’s not,” Leo answered, kissing Cody loudly on his neck, “It’s human.”

Cody laughed again, crouching his shoulders to try and protect his neck from Leo’s kisses, as he waved him away. “You’re such a kid, really.”

“Actually,” Sam said, lifting the tablecloth and bending over to look at them, appearing in the kitchen apparently out of nowhere, which could only mean she had been there a while and they had just failed to notice, busy as they were with themselves, “You both are. You want to know what you also are? Lucky that Blaine’s out on some of his crazy errands, or he would’ve heard you, and I bet you wouldn’t have wanted him to find out about this drawn by your screams and moans, would’ve you?”

“Sam!” Cody screamed, clinging to Leo as he almost jumped on him in fear.

“God, Sam!” Leo echoed him, hugging Cody protectively without even noticing and then blushing furiously.

“Hi,” Sam greeted them with a bright smile, “Is everything alright?”

“Hi,” Cody answered, uncertain, “What… What are you doing here?”

“Well, what about you?” Sam chuckled.

“We…” Leo tried, swallowing and clearing his throat, “We had a fight. I mean, before this.”

“A fight?!” Sam laughed, “Sure doesn’t look like it. Come on, get out of there, this is ridiculous,” she said, holding the tablecloth up so it didn’t get in their way as they both grabbed their clothed and walked out from under the table, jumping on their feet to put them back on as quickly as possible. “So?” she said, after they were done, “Who’s going to talk first? Come on, nobody’s going to judge, I’m just curious to understand what’s going on.”

Leo sighed, casting a glance to Cody and then deciding he had to be the one to try and explain the situation to Sam, since the other kid, nervously standing right beside him, his gaze locked to the floor and his small hands closed in two shaky fists, didn’t seem in any way ready to do it. “We were fighting… over Blaine. He slapped me, I hit him, and then… let’s say we were very upset and tried to talk it out, and this happened.”

“You do actually understand this makes no sense at all, Leo, don’t you?” Sam chuckled, arching an eyebrow.

“Cody likes me,” Leo answered, sighing in frustration, “And I like him. That’s why we were always arguing. Does it make more sense now?” he said. He casted another glance towards Cody, and what he saw worried him instantly. He didn’t know why, or how, but Cody had slowly started to shake, and his eyes were dark, lost. He was biting at his lower lip so hard the old cut from his punch was starting to bleed again. He was about to tell him something, but another one of Sam’s small laughter interrupted him.

“Slightly,” she nodded, turning to Cody, “Does Blaine know?”

Cody shook his head.

“You haven’t told him yet?” Sam said, surprised, “I mean, he’s not stupid, he probably noticed…”

Cody looked up at her, raising an eyebrow.

Sam laughed, hands on her hips. “Alright, maybe he didn’t,” she said, “So, may I suggest you try and not do it again in the kitchen? Or wherever else you could easily be seen from unwanted eyes, for that matter?”

“Yeah, thanks,” Leo snorted, frowning at her, “But it’s not like we had planned to do it here.”

Sam bent over again, looking once more at the bedding made of pillow under the table. “Really?” she asked, chuckling.

“Really,” Leo cut it out, grabbing Cody’s hand, “Listen, we got it, alright?” he said, moving away towards the door and dragging Cody with himself, “Not in the kitchen again. We… We’ll talk to Blaine. I guess. Now, we really need to go.”

For a moment, Sam looked taken aback by Leo’s suddenly irritated behavior. She was about to say something, maybe an apology, but Leo didn’t leave her time enough to do it, he just kept dragging Cody behind himself, out of the kitchen, up the stairs and finally inside Cody’s room, where he pushed him in, closing the door behind himself.

“Are you alright?” he asked instantly, turning to look at Cody and getting closer to him, holding him by his shoulders.

“Yes,” Cody answered, his voice nothing but a whisper, his eyes glued to the floor, “It’s fine. I’m… I’m sure I’ve got something to do somewhere, I’ll just… I’ll just go,” he said, trying to break free from Leo’s grasp.

“No, wait,” Leo stopped him, tightening his grip around Cody’s shoulder, “You’re not alright. God, you’re shaking like a leaf! Why did Sam’s intrusion upset you so much?”

“It’s just…” Cody sighed, trying to relax under Leo’s hands, leaning a bit against him, “I was fine, you know? I was feeling so good. It was all warm and sweet and… When she came, you know, the moment was kind of ruined, and it made me think…” he sighed, closing his eyes, “Maybe I messed up. I should’ve told Blaine before.”

“Well, what’s done is done, don’t you think?” Leo sighed too, hugging Cody tightly and cradling him a little, to help him calm down, “We can either pretend nothing happened and talk to him, or we can be completely honest and just tell him, and see where this goes from there.”

Cody nodded silently, just breathing in and out for a while. “I don’t suppose it’s going to be particularly hard, anyway,” he said then, his lips curling into a small sweet smile, “Blaine probably won’t get angry, our relationship is not based on monogamy, as you noticed,” he added with an uncertain chuckle.

“Most definitely,” Leo nodded, placing a small kiss on Cody’s forehead. “Do you want me there with you when you talk to him?”

Cody pulled him closer, hugging him at his neck, standing on his tiptoes as he nodded quickly.

“Alright,” Leo said with a smile, swinging him a little right and left, “I’ll be there.”

“Thanks,” Cody smiled too, letting him go. “Now get your hands off me, come on!” he said, laughing a little, “I’m fine, I promise. Besides, I really have got a lot of things to do, now. I was supposed to tend to the lab, after I finished washing the dishes… and I didn’t finish doing that either, now that I think about it! God, I’ll never make it on time.”

“Calm down!” Leo laughed, “I’ll finish in the kitchen. I promise I won’t break anything.”

Cody chuckled. “I trust you not to,” he said, “Thank you.”

Leo smiled again, leaning in to kiss him one last time on his lips, before turning around and leave the room, running downstairs.

It took Cody two full minutes to wipe the dumbest smile he ever had off his lips, before he could run downstairs too.