“Yeah, you and me what?”

“That’s what I mean,” Matt’s voice lowered. “You and me.”

Sammy’s eyes widened slightly. Matt almost became worried, then he saw the corners of Sammy’s

lips turn up. “You’re getting ahead of yourself, aren’t you?”

“Huh?” Matt felt his stomach free-fall. The shock must have shown on his face, as Sammy smiled

wider.

“I meant, you’ve going to have to convince me first, Matthew.” He tugged on Matt’s sleeve, pulling

him in. Matt went willingly. As Sammy tilted his face up to meet him, Matt placed a kiss on his lips,

almost hesitant. Sammy pressed into him, fitting their mouths together. Matt sighed into the kiss,

opening his jaw. Sammy followed his movement, allowing Matt to thrust his tongue inside and claim

his mouth. Matt’s sigh stretched into a groan as he pressed Sammy against the bannisters. He could

feel himself growing hard the deeper the kiss got.

The sound of someone clearing their throat was like ice water over his arousal.

“Don’t mind me.” Rachel chuckled, as they flew apart. “I was just wondering where Ryan’s gone.

He’s left me on my own.”

“He, um, he’s upstairs.” Matt felt himself flushing. “Er, Fizz isn’t feeling well.”

“Not feeling well? I hope it’s not that lurgy going around,” Rachel said. “Okay, well it’s quiet for

now, but now the sun’s out, it might get busy soon.”

“Er, okay,” Matt said reluctantly. “We’ll, er, go tell him.”

“Thanks.” Rachel smirked over her shoulder at them as she went back to the bar.

“I suppose we’d better tell Ryan that Ginger’s on his way, too,” Matt said to Sammy.

Sammy nodded, absently wiping his lips.

Matt wanted to kiss him again, but felt a wave of shyness descend. “Come on,” he said, starting up

the stairs.

* * *

There were some days that Ryan knew he shouldn’t have bothered getting out of bed. Well,

technically he was back in his bed now. He hadn’t managed to untangle himself from Fizz. In fact, the

boy seemed to grow distressed when Ryan tried to move away, so he had given up, and laid next to

him. Fizz was behaving like a clingy drunk; he nuzzled his face into Ryan’s neck, and murmured

things that didn’t make sense.

At first, Ryan was near paralysed with nerves. What the hell was going on anyway? Matt had gone

downstairs to call Ginger, and Sammy must have gone with him. They’d left him alone with Fizz.

Ginger.

Ryan winced at the thought of Ginger finding him like this, but what could he do? Fizz kissed his

neck, pressing himself against Ryan’s body. The longer Ryan was trapped on the bed with Fizz, the

more his nerves faded, giving way to arousal. Ryan was mortified to find himself with a hard on, and

he groaned quietly.

If only he’d gone out and got laid like he’d been telling himself to for months, maybe he wouldn’t

be feeling randy from a sick boy rutting up against him. Fizz moved his mouth, kissing along Ryan’s

jaw.

Ryan jerked his face away before Fizz could kiss him on the lips. “Fizz, give me a break,” he

muttered. “Are you on something?”

“Mmm.” Fizz’s breath fanned over his face, icy cold. “You’re a coward.”

“Huh?”

Wide, dark eyes stared back at him. “You’re a coward,” Fizz stated. He had stopped wheezing, his

voice calm and light, and...different. “You should have told him by now. I barely interfered, just a

little here and there.” His lips curved in a smile. “You, however, took any excuse to delay telling him.

Which makes you a coward.”

Ryan’s heart pounded. “Huh? I – I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Fizz still stared at him, unblinking. The smile disappeared. “Don’t fool yourself, Ryan. You’re

more perceptive than you realise. He, on the other hand, is nearly oblivious to everything. In his own

little world, isn’t he? You’ll have to be the first to make a move. But you know that already, don’t

you?”

“W-what?” Ryan tried to move away from that unblinking stare, the icy breath. “I – I don’t–”

Fizz held onto him, and the smile returned, wickedly taunting. “I wanted to be there.”

“Huh? Where?”

“For your first time. I’m sure it will be beautiful.” He pressed himself against Ryan’s body, and

Ryan was shocked to feel arousal there; a hard length mirroring his own. “I wanted to bathe in you.

It’s strong, so, so strong.”

Ryan didn’t know what to do. His hard on had clouded any sensible thought process, and his mind

raced around like a spooked chicken. What Fizz had said worried him, but the boy’s physical actions

smoothed over his worry, calling to his baser instinct. Fizz shifted his hips, aligning their groins

perfectly. A moan passed Ryan’s lips before he could stop it.

Someone cleared their throat. “Um...Ryan?”

Ryan jerked in surprise, looking up to see Matt in the doorway. “W-what?”

“I just spoke to Ginger. He’s coming straight back.”

Ryan swallowed. “Okay. Where is he?”

“Over at The Druids.”

Ryan nodded. The Druids Arms was by The Level, about halfway up London Road. Knowing

Ginger, who walked quickly anyway, he’d hopefully be back within a few minutes.

“Great,” Ryan said. “Thanks.”

“No problem.” Matt retreated again. Ryan could hear his hushed words outside, talking to someone

else. Sammy, most likely. With Fizz still attached to him, Ryan wasn’t sure what he should do. What

would Ginger say when he saw him lying here with his little cousin? Would he be mad?

Well, he was bound to be mad, yet even that thought couldn’t make Ryan’s hard on disappear. In

his current state, the thought of Ginger made his cock throb harder. His limbs felt weak, his head

cloudy. Ryan groaned again in frustration, trying to edge himself away from Fizz.

If he could just escape from the full body contact, maybe that would help. He rolled onto his back,

but Fizz came with him, half lying on top of him. So that didn’t work. Ryan had to concentrate on

something else. Work. The bar. He cleared his throat and called out, “Someone should see if Rachel

needs help downstairs.”

“We already did.” That was Sammy’s voice. Ryan raised his head to see Sammy standing next to

Matt in the doorway of his room.

“And?”

Sammy shrugged. “It’s quiet, she’s fine for now. She did say she wants help soon, though.”

“Right,” Ryan gritted out. “Well...thanks.”

Sammy muttered a reply. Matt said something to him quietly, so Ryan couldn’t make it out. He

wished they’d both go somewhere else. They weren’t exactly helping him. He just knew they were

going to hang around to see what Ginger made of all this.

Ryan sighed heavily, with Fizz leaning on his chest. “Poor Ryan,” the boy said with a chuckle. “It’s

so hard.”

Ryan groaned again. Why me?

Minutes stretched on, feeling like hours. Ryan could hear Matt and Sammy talk out in the hall, but

he couldn’t distinguish their words. Strangely, a bout of tiredness had washed over him, like his

energy had drained away. Ryan felt sleepy and, unfortunately, still very, very horny. He tried to think

of unsexy things. It didn’t help with Fizz pressed up against him, but at least the boy had appeared to

doze for now, and he wasn’t wheezing any more.

That had to be a good sign, surely?

Finally, Ryan heard the familiar sound of the staff door pull open, and footsteps thumping up the

stairs.

“Matt! What’s going on? Where’s Fizz?”

At the sound of Ginger’s voice, Ryan tensed. His hard on wasn’t quite as urgent as before, but it

was still there. He bent his legs a little, hoping the fabric of his clothes would disguise it enough. Fizz

was still laying on top of him, but if he moved away –