(no subject)
Ah. It's 1:15 in the morn. I suppose going to bed at 8 made me wake up a BIT too early. No matter... I'll go to bed later.
For now...
As Max said in 'Where the Wild Things Are'...
LET THE WILD RUMPUS START!!
So, first posting of the month, and I hope it's good! A big thanks to everyone who's taking on a day... *hugs*! Remember, if you need any help, contact me or frodosweetstuff for details! Off I go...
Title: Room #237
Pairing: C/Z
Rating: NC-17
Synopsis: Zeke takes a prank a BIT too far, and Casey makes him pay for it.
Tiny Warning(s): some heavy angst, scared!Casey, horror movie talk! Ends as a sweet H/C. :)
Disclaimer: I don't own 'The Faculty', or the other movies mentioned through this post (Faces of Death II, My Bloody Valentine, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Last House on the Left, and The Shining)...none of it's mine!
Author's Note(s): A huge, HUGE thanks to shoesparks, who made an absolutely fantastic wallpaper for this tale! Under the cut as it's very large--along with the story. :D
It was to be expected, but Zeke still groaned and shook his head. The moment he and Casey entered the video store, Casey had made a beeline for the ‘Horror-Thriller’ section. All Zeke wanted to do was get something light and fun, some comedy--even a romance movie, for all he cared--just not another gore-filled massacre-movie.
The problem was, Casey wasn’t just a fan of these films. He was a gore-hound, seeking out new thrills with every trip to the local Blockbuster. The more blood, the better, in Casey’s view. Last week, he’d all but tied Zeke to the couch and put on ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’, which Zeke hadn’t enjoyed one bit. Then there was the gritty and grotesque ‘Last House on the Left’, which had made Zeke throw up a little in his mouth. Each time Zeke gave in, Casey swore that he’d shut it off if Zeke couldn’t take it--but every time, he’d take Zeke’s hand and tell him, ‘it’s okay, Zekie--I’m right here,’ with an amused look on his face. Zeke didn’t like feeling like a wimp, and Casey’s teasing and insistence was starting to annoy him.
While sifting through a stack of used videos for sale, Zeke glanced up to see Casey hopping over with two tapes in his hand. “Hey! I got some,” he said.
“Great. More scary shit, right?”
“’Course,” Casey said, matter-of-factly. He flashed the titles, one being ‘My Bloody Valentine’, the other…
“No,” Zeke firmly stated.
“What?”
Zeke clenched his jaw and tapped the video, ‘Faces of Death II’. “Fuck you. I ain’t watching that.”
“Why not? It’s not much different than--”
“It IS, Casey. It’s snuff film material. You know how I feel about shit like that,” Zeke interrupted. “Get that Valentine crap, even if it makes me wanna puke. But I ain’t watching someone getting their head chopped off--for real.”
Casey sighed, looking put-out. “I’ve never figured you to be some scaredy-cat, y’know,” he teased.
“Oh, please… your making fun of me hasn’t worked so far.”
“You watch ‘em with me, don’t you?” Casey said. He now gave Zeke a small, coy grin; Zeke shook his head.
“I’m whipped, sure. But that stuff will give me nightmares for weeks, okay? Just… don’t.”
“All right… go on and pick something, then. How about ‘Sleepless in Seattle’, or ‘Fried Green Tomatoes’?”
Zeke rolled his eyes but smiled. “Anything but your love of bloodfests.”
~*~
“God…” Zeke muttered as Casey slipped the video into Zeke’s VCR.
“What?” Casey chuckled out. He flopped onto the couch next to Zeke and cuddled close. “Pass the popcorn.”
Zeke took up the bowl and set it on his lap. While Casey began munching away, the first trailer came on, advertising the upcoming ‘remastered version’ of the movie getting ready to play. “Bloody Valentines… is that what you want Friday?”
“Hmm?” Casey hummed past a mouthful of popcorn.
“For Valentine’s Day, idiot,” Zeke said.
“Oh… ohhh yeeea,” Casey drawled. He rested upon Zeke’s chest and looked up at him with a big smile. “I thought you’d forget.”
“Naw, I’ve thought about it.”
“Wow. Then again, maybe I shouldn’t be surprised after your renting ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’,” Casey said, nodding towards the coffee table where Zeke’s movie choice sat.
“Hey man, that’s a classic. And Audrey was fucking hot,” Zeke replied.
“Yea, yea.”
“She was.”
“I’m hotter than her, though--right?”
Zeke snorted and settled into the couch further. He kissed the top of Casey’s head and smiled. “Sure you are, honeybunch.”
It was then that the next preview began; Zeke watched as Jack Nicholson came onscreen in his role as the famous Jack Torrance. “Why haven’t we rented this one? Or do you OWN it?”
“Oh… no,” Casey said. Zeke frowned and glanced down at him, who’d become preoccupied with fingering around the bowl.
“Why not? It’s like--the epitome of classic terror.”
“I watched it when I was eight. This…” he said, nodding towards the screen but not looking at it. “Is one I can’t do.”
“Are you serious? I mean that, are you?” Zeke incredulously replied. At Casey’s nod, he chuckled. “Wow… it’s the one movie I CAN do.”
“Well, good for you. Rent it sometime… when I’m at home.”
Zeke shook his head, almost in disbelief. He found it enjoyable when Casey closed his eyes, trying to avoid watching the axe-in-the-door scene.
~*~
It was a disappointment to have to say goodbye right after their movie watching--without having some time in the bedroom. But rules were rules, and seeing as Casey had some important college papers to fill out before the weekend came, Zeke wasn’t about to bitch about it. It would only be five more days until that Friday, when Casey would be staying overnight… and the next night, something miraculous when it came to the Connor household. Perhaps Casey’s parents wanted some time alone for Valentine’s as well, and getting their son out of their hair was optimal.
Before Casey had gone, they’d shared kisses at the door, and Zeke got the assurance that on Tuesday, Casey would try and come by. “We’ll talk about what to do for Valentine’s, you big romantic sucker,” he’d said with a wink. As long as it didn’t involve beheadings and necks getting slashed open, Zeke didn’t care WHAT they planned.
For now, Zeke needed sleep. His test in biology the next day was crucial, and if he wanted to get the A he needed, he’d be asleep before midnight. A good, solid six hours of sleep was all that he needed for a good grade, and nowadays, he worked for it. Anything to keep his boy happy, and anything to get him out of the rut he’d dug himself into these last few years. It felt good.
He stood in his bathroom, brushing his teeth. He hated the feel of popcorn-skins digging into his gums, otherwise he’d swish with mouthwash and call it a day. As he leaned forward to finish with a spit, he glanced into the mirror.
He almost shivered at the sight of his shower, something that happened every now and again. While he honestly could handle the Jack Nicholson scare-fest, he’d feel cold in remembering the ‘Room #237’ scene. He could only imagine how eight-year-old Casey had taken a bath, how he STILL managed to get in the tub over the years. It was obvious that he could, in fact, manage it. Zeke enjoyed the feel of just-showered-Casey, the scent of his hair and skin. The boy always took one right after a wild romp in the bedroom, even if Zeke didn‘t join him…
Zeke paused and turned, staring into the porcelain tub. Tuesday… they’d most certainly be making up for ‘lost time’. Whenever a week passed without sex between them, they’d practically explode and tear off each other’s clothing, wherever they ended up. In two day’s time, Zeke could just imagine how it’d go. While he usually smiled and went warm in thinking about that, ideas began filling his head.
A simple pulley system, some string and a trip to a sex-shop would do it.
~*~
Tuesday…
Zeke almost felt bad--Casey was being very giving tonight.
“Like that…?” Casey murmured as he kissed down Zeke’s thigh.
Zeke’s nostrils flared and he nodded. “Y-Yea,” he croaked. Casey smiled against the skin and continued rolling Zeke’s balls, giving soft squeezes as he went along. When Casey’s other hand smoothed up Zeke’s stomach to a nipple, Zeke bucked up. “God…”
“So hard, Zeke… you’re so hard,” Casey said in a coy, teasing voice. He brought his mouth lower and hovered just above Zeke’s aching, leaking cock. When his tongue darted out and flicked the tip, Zeke growled. Casey smiled wider and continued lapping away, making each lick more pronounced as he went along. Zeke trembled, swallowed and looked down, watching Casey’s every move. Casey’s eyes lifted and found Zeke’s stare. He moved up and smacked his lips. “Yes?” he cooed.
Rolling his eyes, Zeke grabbed the back of Casey’s neck, lifted from the bed and started a violent, heated kiss. The sly, teasing expression Casey had worn disappeared with Zeke’s biting and sucking at his lips. He then moved on to his neck, shoulder, up again… “Fuck this,” Zeke blurted then pulled himself away and gripped harder onto Casey’s neck. Before the boy could get confused, Zeke slid out from under him, moved to his side and shoved Casey face-down on the bed in one quick swoop of movement.
All Casey managed was a gasp, then a shuddering mmm as Zeke mounted him. The hand on Casey’s neck tightened a bit more, while the other smoothed around one side of Casey’s ass. The boy writhed then raised his body upwards, all to fill Zeke’s hand further; Zeke answered by gripping his fingers hard into the flesh, which made Casey hiss and snarl.
“You like being fucked… a bit too much,” Zeke said once at Casey’s ear, so close that he felt his hot breath come back at him. Without warning, he shoved his hand between Casey’s legs, grabbed the inside of his thigh and pulled him up. It left Casey arced and open… ready.
Casey grunted and moaned once Zeke’s hand dragged up from his cock to his sac, then to his cleft, all to start a slow, playful rub at his opening. It wasn’t long before Zeke let a finger pause then swirl directly over and into the boy, urging his hole to yield to his touch. Casey’s body never let Zeke down. After Zeke paused to spit into his hand, he returned to his ‘work’, and it wasn’t long before one finger went to two, two to three, in just a matter of minutes. Zeke loved watching Casey grow more and more desperate as the act would go on; sometimes he let it drag far longer than was needed, just to see Casey move back and forth trying to get as much as he could from Zeke’s fingers alone. “Shameless,” Zeke muttered.
“I…” Casey breathed deeply. He stopped thrusting, raised his ass further upwards and looked back at Zeke--a look that made Zeke’s eyes cross with want, especially when Casey uttered, “Please fuck my ass,”… like he always did. Not needing any more encouragement, Zeke positioned, pushed forward and began entering Casey’s body.
The moaning and gasping started earlier than usual; a grin shook onto Zeke’s face. Oh yes, the boy was enjoying himself immensely. “Not… even halfway i-in… and you’re already…” he tried saying, but started feeling lightheaded as well. He had to hurry, or things would end MUCH sooner than he liked. With one solid shove, he was fully-sheathed and feeling the tense grip of Casey’s insides clenching onto him.
“F-Fuck…!” Casey groaned.
“Up… move up,” Zeke said. Casey complied as best he could, until he was on all fours. Zeke stilled a moment to find purchase in wrapping one hand around to Casey’s chest, the other between the boy’s legs again. He felt Casey’s knees turn inwards just the slightest bit as he began stroking the hard, leaking muscle. “Fuck me, Casey… go on and fuck me.”
Casey shook, stiffened and pushed back, slowly at first. Zeke kept the rhythm at Casey’s dick smooth and easy until Casey’s pace quickened, and a steady pulse of movement swelled between them in unison. All the muscles in Casey’s back and shoulders tensed and relaxed, tensed and relaxed, hypnotizing Zeke. The boy was more toned-up than most people thought.
“Don’t fucking STOP!” Casey’s desperate yell came, alerting Zeke to the laziness on his part. Snapping out of it, Zeke flared his nostrils with hot breath and he pushed forward, meeting Casey’s thrusting back. It made everything go frantic; Casey panted and gasped with every jerk, while Zeke closed his eyes to keep them from rolling out of his head. ‘Does this to me every… fucking TIME…’ he thought, just before he lost control and felt himself splash Casey’s insides. Zeke moaned helplessly, gripping onto Casey’s waist and pulling him up into his lap. The last few spurts went deep as he impaled Casey upon him; he shuddered and almost went limp--almost. He opened his eyes and focused on Casey’s shoulder, gone moist with sweat.
“C’mon, boy,” he murmured. He spread Casey’s legs open wider then slid the hand up his chest, while the other kept milking the swollen need bobbing between the boy’s thighs. Casey’s hair was grabbed and his face turned towards Zeke’s; he moaned so beautifully when Zeke latched their lips together, where tongues met and tangled viciously. When Zeke lowered his hand again, he went to a nipple and squeezed as hard as he could.
That was all it took; Casey yelped, tossed his head back onto Zeke’s shoulders and came, hard. Zeke tensed up all over again when Casey’s ass gripped onto him, almost squeezing to the point of pain. In feeling the hot-wet of Casey’s ejaculate on his hand, Zeke smiled drowsily. “Yea…” he whispered into Casey’s ear. He kissed it gently as Casey relaxed. “So good, baby…”
“Mmm,” Casey hummed. The usual pale of Casey’s cheeks was blooming with roses, easily seen in the dim light of the room. Zeke caressed the skin and the cooling sweat upon it; Casey sighed and smiled wide. “That was very, very… good.”
“Mmhmm.”
“And very messy,” Casey added. He looked down at his lap, then turned to look back at Zeke. “Shower time.”
Zeke was snapped back into reality; gone was the rapid-firing lust and almost-screams, and the inevitable had arrived. “Yea…” Zeke replied. “Can’t go home like this, can you?”
“Hah, nope,” Casey said. He slid away from Zeke and turned to face him, all glittering-blue eyes, soft sighs and smiles as he leaned in for a gentle kiss. “Comin’ with?”
“Oh… I think…” Zeke started… ‘don’t laugh, don’t fuckin’ laugh…’ “I gotta just lie down. Don’t worry about me.”
“You sure?”
“Yea.”
Casey raised his eyebrows, moved to the edge of the bed and stood. Zeke bit his lip, watching him stretch and go for the door. “Your loss, babe,” Casey said, winking Zeke’s way.
“Uh huh,” Zeke muttered. It seemed like it took ages for Casey to leave the room; once he was safely out of sight, Zeke smiled wide and bit his fist to keep from laughing out loud. He waited until he heard the bathroom door open then shut to throw his boxers on; he hopped from the bed and over to the doorway. Peeking down the hall, he smiled wider. Leaving the small, less-illuminating fan-light on was the best idea he’d had in a while, seeing as Casey hadn’t bothered to flip the main switch--the darker the better. He heard the sink turn on and Casey gargled, almost making him feel guilty. Almost… ‘Your third viewing of ‘Evil Dead’… remember that?’ he reminded himself. Swish, spit… a sigh…
It was almost instantaneous; the metallic scrape of his shower curtain going back was accompanied by a loud thump and an ear-splitting, shrill cry. Zeke almost banged his head into the doorjamb in shock and amusement as Casey kept screaming, followed by yet MORE thumping around. The door was shaking, almost bouncing off of the hinges until finally it was thrown open, and a naked, panicked Casey came out, flailing and wailing. Zeke almost fell on the floor in stepping back; he couldn’t take it any longer, especially when Casey came barreling into the room and threw himself on the bed. Loud laughter escaped Zeke, making him double-over instantly. “Oh my GOD…!” he yelled in hilarity. “I fuckin’… shit…”
The keening sounds coming from the bed made Zeke look over and realize that Casey had not just hopped into bed--but he was now entirely cocooned, head-to-toe, in the sheets and blankets. His amusement died down a little into shaky sighs and chuckles. “Casey? Helloooo?” he drawled. He went over and saw one tiny part of Casey--a toe--sticking out. “You can come out now,” he giggled out, taking the toe in his fingers.
Casey squealed and pulled back sharply; Zeke frowned a little. The indiscernible lump on the bed was quaking, making Zeke feel as if the whole room was shaking. “Hey,” he said, trying to sound calm and comforting. Before he could offer any more assurance, his brow furrowed. The sounds of panic were now dissolving into shallow, tearful sobs. Shit… this wasn’t right. Weren’t they supposed to be chuckling by now? Wasn’t Casey supposed to leap out from under the covers to laugh-yell at Zeke, laughing like a loon himself? “Casey, c’mon out. It’s okay, seriously.”
Inch by inch, the blankets eased down. The top of Casey’s head appeared, with his face following. His eyes were wide and glossy; they focused up to Zeke as if searching for answers. “Wha…” Casey shook out past still-heaving breaths.
Zeke regained his smile and winked. “Gotcha.”
Casey’s upper body moved up, until he was raised on one elbow. He looked from the opened bedroom door into the hallway, to Zeke… the door… “You…” he said. After a swallow, the confusion melted from his face. “You’d…”
“I wish I’d set up a video camera… I SO wish I did--”
“You fucking ASSHOLE!”
Zeke wasn’t expecting the shove; he flopped back and landed on the floor, hard. Shocked, he looked back up to Casey, who’d now sat up entirely. While the boy gathered up one of the sheets around himself, he blinked furiously. “What? It was a joke!”
“FUCK you! Get the fuck out of here!” Casey bellowed.
“What?! This is my bedroom, you can’t--” Zeke went to yell back. He tried finding calm as he stood, and was surprised to see Casey take a step back when he faced him. “Casey--”
“Get OUT! I want to get dressed and LEAVE!”
“So get dressed!”
“No… no, get out of the room! Now!” Casey yelled louder. He then rounded around the bed, still clutching the sheet to himself with one hand--the other pushing on Zeke’s chest. Zeke found himself being shoved to the hallway; once out of the room, Casey jumped back and slammed the door, hard, in his face.
Zeke stared at the trembling wood until it stilled. Once the echo in the hall subsided, he could hear angry mutters and shuffling in the room. This was way off from what Zeke had thought would happen. He looked down the hall, sighed, then stepped to the bathroom door. Looking in, the urge to laugh rose again, but he fought it down. Two towels lay on the floor in rumpled messes; one of them had been hanging on the towel rack, the other presumably chosen by Casey from the closet. Even the bathmat was upside-down and crumpled-up by the toilet, a full three feet away from where it’d been before Casey’s panic attack. Zeke took two steps in then winced at the feel of something jabbing his foot. He peered down at the floor and found a piece of broken porcelain--his soap dish, now made into three large pieces. The fact that he hadn’t cut his foot open made him sigh in relief. Figuring he didn’t need any major injuries, he flicked the light on.
Sweet Jesus… he almost jumped when he saw his ‘trick’ in the corner of his eye. It really WAS scary, wasn’t it? Zeke bit his lip and walked over. The blow-up doll was hanging halfway up from the tub, its old, gray matted wig starting to come off of the plastic. Zeke didn’t remember making it look this convincing…
It was then that he heard the bedroom door open. He left the bathroom behind and saw Casey heading to the stairs. “Casey… stop, okay?” he called. The boy didn’t listen. With a groan, Zeke made his steps double-time to catch up to him. He managed to get a hold of Casey’s arm before he reached the first step. “Calm DOWN. Let’s just--”
With a jerk, Casey wrenched his arm away from Zeke’s grasp and proceeded to speed down the stairs. Zeke, bewildered and shocked, could do nothing but watch Casey leave the house, slamming the door as he went.
~*~
“Hey Stokes.”
Stokely looked up from her fries and reading ‘A Clockwork Orange’ to Zeke. “Oh… hey,” she muttered in a bland voice. Zeke’s throat clenched; Stokely wasn’t know for her animated voice or expressions, but he couldn’t help but feel like Casey had talked to her. Besides Zeke, he talked to her the most.
“So, uh… Casey isn’t in today,” he said.
Shrugging, Stokely stuck a piece of paper in her book. “Yea, I know. I was gonna ask you where he was, but I guess he’s just sick,” she said.
“Maybe,” Zeke muttered.
“Wait… don’t you usually drive him to school?”
“Yea,” Zeke said. Trying to act nonchalant, he sighed deep and long. “I called him this morning, but I got no answer.”
“So? Why didn’t you just go over… that’s what you normally do, right?” Stokely asked. This really wasn’t making any sense to the girl, for good reason. It made Zeke squirm… noticeably, enough for Stokely to cock an eyebrow. “All right. What’d you do?”
Zeke couldn’t keep this up. He sighed again, this time into the bench seat across from the girl. “We had a fight.”
The long pause that followed raised both of Stokely’s eyebrows. “And?”
“He’s just really pissed at me. REALLY pissed.”
Stokely blinked and ran her tongue over her teeth. “Like I asked, what’d you do?”
“Okay… y’know how he’s huge on horror movies?” Zeke asked. Stokely smiled knowingly; Zeke rolled his eyes. “’Course you do. You guys watch that crap together all the time.”
“I’m the one who LENDS him flicks, Zeke. He’s a good student,” she replied.
“Well, thanks--cos’ he’s been pushing blood, guts and psycho-killers on me for months now. It sucks. I don’t like that shit, but like HELL if we leave video stores without some sort of gore festival.”
“Hmm… always took you for the type that would enjoy shit like that.”
“Well, I don’t.”
“’K, then. So what’s the damage?”
Zeke took another deep breath and rapped the stone table with his knuckles. “Well, I decided to get my revenge, that’s all. I pulled a prank on him to give him a dose of his own medicine.”
“Why, does he prank you with these movies?” she asked.
“No. But he practically ties me down to watch ‘em,” Zeke retorted. “Anyway, he got all freaked out and left, didn’t even--”
“Wait, wait--back up. You skipped the shit having to do with WHY he took off.”
Zeke rolled his eyes again. “Well… I found out the other day what horror movie he can’t watch, and ran with it,” he told her. Looking back at the girl, he noticed that her face had paled slightly. “Um… what?”
“You didn’t.”
“Didn’t…?”
“Zeke…” she drawled in exasperation. She began rubbing her face with both hands as she continued. “Your stupid prank had nothing to do with ‘The Shining’, did it?” she asked. Now dumbfounded, Zeke fell mute. His silence seemed to speak for him, as Stokely looked back to him and shook her head. “You’re right. It’s the one scary movie he won’t watch. I knew that… you did too, huh?”
“Well, it wasn’t--c’mon, like it’s some big deal? Give me a break,” he stumbled on words. “It’s just a movie.”
“Oh yea, to me. Maybe to you. Not… to Casey,” she replied. “What scene was it?”
“From ‘The Shining’?”
“No, Zeke, ‘The Little fucking Mermaid’.”
Zeke steeled his jaw and lit a cigarette. “Room two-thirty-seven... with the creepy corpse woman... thing.”
“Oh…” Stokely breathed out. She smacked her lips a moment. “By god, Zeke… that’s breakup material.”
“Wait, what?” he blurted, smoke puffing out of his mouth quick.
“The tub scene. I’m assuming that’s the one you did,” she said. At Zeke’s furrowed brow and shrug, she began picking up her things. With her bag slung over her shoulder, she stepped from her bench and sighed sadly. “If he says one word to you before you die, consider yourself lucky.”
“Wait… wait, wait, Stokes--no, don’t fuckin’ walk away!” Zeke stammered, now rising to his feet and stumbling after her. “Look, I know he’s not gonna take my calls and shit. Can you just let him know--”
“Ohh, no… no, no, nooo,” she drawled with a dry chuckle.
“Stokes, c’mon.”
“There isn’t any amount you can write on a check to me that’ll put me in THAT crossfire, Zeke,” she said. “I say best of luck finding a weakness of his, or something. Stan keeps me out of jail for murder in giving me ‘Bailey’s Irish Crème’ truffles from Godiva when he pisses ME off. Casey likes chocolate, but…”
“However many you want, Stokes,” Zeke said, leaning in close with his hands folded. At her perplexed expression, Zeke sighed. “Half of the Godiva shop at the mall, yours. Just…?”
Stokely smiled and snorted. “I’d said Stan keeps the monster at bay. I’m not dating you, thank god.”
“Right…” Zeke mumbled. He took the last drag from his cigarette and groaned. “Guess I’m fucked, then.”
“Eh, it’ll be a miracle. I’ll just say that. ‘Luck,” she said. Zeke watched her walk to the front steps of the school and walk in. School didn’t hold its appeal on a good day, no matter how much better Zeke was getting at it. Seeing as today was downright awful, he turned to the parking lot instead of heeding the end-of-lunch warning bell.
~*~
Zeke was not going to give up--no matter what Casey threw at him, he was going to counter-attack any chance he got. Not that he had much to give out, when phone calls from Wednesday afternoon into night had gone ignored, and the Connor family had been informed that Zeke wasn’t welcome in Casey’s presence. Even Mrs. Connor had given him a sympathetic look as Zeke had stepped off the porch and went back to his car, defeated.
Stokely had kept to her word; when desperation had taken hold, making Zeke turn to Stan for answers, the young man had blinked fast and shrugged erratically. “I um… Stokes told me not to tell you… anything,” he’d stammered out. The world, Zeke deduced, was against him.
Casey had never been one to stay home from school two days in a row, however. After missing Wednesday, he proved such in showing up for classes the next morning. It didn’t help Zeke much, seeing as every time he tried meeting up with him in the halls or following him into the boy’s lav, Casey had ignored him entirely. They had two classes together, but chemistry and geography hadn’t offered any sort of ‘quality time’, and they didn’t share the same lunch. By the time Zeke was in his last class, he was fuming, and when the end of the day arrived, he’d all but shot out of his seat, run down the hall and took the stairs to the second floor in a single bound. Casey was a dutiful young man who had a locker that was organized perfectly, and he tended to it every afternoon before leaving.
That pattern went broken--the boy had to have known how Zeke always, always met him after school, and had once again purposefully thwarted any attempts Zeke made to meet up by not being there. When the hall had cleared, Zeke walked away, head hung and feeling heavy.
This was eating him up, so badly. Never had he bothered with something like this; years before, one girl had tried a ‘hard-to-get’ act with him, and she regretted it. It’d been the only time… before now. Zeke realized what the difference between then and now was. He could’ve given a damn about Jenny Talbot, his class’ junior prom queen and bitch-supreme. She’d teased and flaunted herself, trying to woo Zeke into some stammered out, ‘Wanna go out with me?’. It never happened, because Zeke just hadn’t cared.
Now, Zeke felt regret--not about Jenny, of course, but the fact that he’d learned to care in the last few months. The sole, lone reason for that was Casey himself. It was hurting Zeke deep-down, even if he didn’t want to come forth and be honest about it. No one knew about their relationship besides a trusted few, so there needed to be a stone-faced approach to it… but he wanted to scream and yell, demand that Casey take his apologies while kneeling right in the middle of the school hallways, begging, pleading and crying.
With the next day being Valentine’s Day, Zeke was ready to give up and take his lumps in being alone. It hurt even more, as he’d expected ‘company’, of course. A few doors down from the exit, Zeke stuck a cigarette in his lips, not caring if a teacher saw him…
“No, don’t worry, Casey’s got that covered.”
The sudden voice to Zeke’s left made him stop dead. Looking over, he realized that he was standing by the school paper’s office, and as always, Delilah’s voice carried over everything around her. Small mumbling replies came, and she groaned loud enough for Zeke to hear. Zeke moved closer and looked in the small slat of the doorway. She stood at a desk, talking to one of the other photographers, Kenny Shore.
“Kenny, you’re going to do the dance tomorrow, okay? No, I don’t… Ken. Kenny, look at me,” Delilah demanded. Zeke had to grin as the boy cow-towed and slumped a bit in facing her. “I’m sorry you already bought the tickets for you and your little sweetie pie, but you’d already committed to doing the paper’s pics for this. Casey’s getting HIS end of next week’s edition at the library tonight, researching. Get over it.”
“But I hadn’t had a DATE for it, now I do!”
“So bring her along while you work, I don’t care. Jesus,” Delilah said. Her turning away signified the end of the conversation; Kenny turned in a flounce and headed to the door.
“Casey doesn’t even HAVE a girlfriend, but oh fiiiine, I’LL do it… whatever,” Kenny said, words dripping with sarcasm.
Zeke moved away quickly and shuffled along before Kenny swung the door open and made his dramatic exit. He couldn’t have cared less about Kenny’s grievances. All he knew was that Casey wasn’t going to be locked in his bedroom or have people working as bodyguards for him tonight.
~*~
It felt voyeuristic to Zeke as he stood at the archway, watching Casey rifling through books at the other end of the cavernous foyer of the library. It was the first time in days that Zeke had gotten within ten feet of the boy without having him flinch and run away. He almost smiled as Casey leaned over a book, his arms tucked over his chest, foot tapping on his chair and glasses slipping down his nose. Sighing, Zeke decided to come forth, carrying the hope that Casey still had a hallowed respect for libraries and kept his voice down.
The boy was so absorbed in his work that he didn’t look up until Zeke was leaning on the table he sat at. “Hey,” Zeke said. Casey’s eyes set on him and stayed there a moment; once that moment passed, he stood up with his book and headed to the copying machines. Zeke worried about having to chase him out into the streets, but all of Casey’s things were left at the desk. Zeke sighed and sauntered over.
Change jingled in Casey’s hand as he put dimes into the machine. He set the book over the screen; Zeke caught a glance at the cover. “Old yearbooks, huh? Is that for the paper?” he asked. Casey didn’t respond, choosing to hit a few buttons and stand in wait for his paperwork. Zeke licked his lips and tried again. “What project are you--”
“Delilah snitched, huh?” Casey snapped, still not looking Zeke’s way.
“No… I… overheard,” Zeke haltingly replied. Casey nodded knowingly.
“That’s right. I forgot what a fucking sneak you are,” he replied.
“Casey…”
“I’m really busy, Zeke, and I don’t feel like talking to you,” Casey said.
“Fine. When DO you want to talk?” Zeke asked.
Casey rolled his eyes and began grabbing up the finished photocopies. While turning to another page in the yearbook, he sighed. “Who says I want to talk, like ever?” Casey coldly replied. “I said that I don’t feel like talking to you, and I didn’t say ‘right now’. Just that I don’t wanna talk to you.”
“And you didn’t say ‘ever’, you just…” Zeke tried, but stopped. “I’m not here to play semantics.”
“And I’m not here to talk to you. I have work to do.”
“Fine. I’ll wait for you outside, then. I’m parked right at the curb, and I’ll give you a ride home.”
“I’m walking home. I have two legs, Zeke,” Casey said in a strained voice.
“Yea, and it’s two degrees outside. Stop being stubborn, for god’s sake,” Zeke told him; he didn’t want to lose his cool, but Casey’s indifference was starting to grate on him. When no reply came from the boy, Zeke turned and left him to finish his project, whatever it was.
Oh, he’d wait, all right… even if it was cold enough to freeze his dick right off, he’d wait. The chill was bad enough that he ducked into the café next door to get a coffee, even though he couldn’t keep his eyes from the window, paranoid that Casey would take the chance and leave with Zeke preoccupied. He rushed through the order, getting lucky with having an astute server get his coffee quickly. After tossing a few bucks into her tip jar, he exited the café and rushed to his car.
It really was cold out, but he wasn’t going to budge. The heater in his car barely worked, but he got in, shut the door and huddled for warmth. After turning the engine on, sure enough, the small trickle of air that came through the vents was more cold than hot, so he turned off the car and held his cup in both hands.
All the while, he kept his eyes on the front door, waiting. He wouldn’t put it past Casey, the library-freak that he was, to have some super-secret exit through the ‘connections’ he had with people here. If the kid WERE to be that sneaky, perhaps Zeke would sit in wait long enough to lose some toes--maybe a limb--and maybe that would get Casey feeling bad enough to talk to him.
It’d been the cup of coffee and three cigarettes later, when finally, he saw Casey coming out. A quick glance to the clock revealed the time at four-after-nine; seeing as the library closed at nine, Zeke almost scowled. ‘He really hoped I’d just leave, didn’t he?’ he thought. And by the looks of things, Casey wasn’t going to acknowledge him, yet again. Zeke clenched his jaw as Casey walked off in the opposite direction. He felt angry enough to turn his key and slam his hand on the horn.
Now, Casey stopped and turned. Zeke could see his tense stance, the stubborn look on his face. Cold winds blew in when Zeke opened his window; he winced as he stuck his head out. “Get in the car, for fuck’s sake!” he yelled to him. Two people passing by gave him strange looks, but he was too frustrated to care.
With a slow, tired-looking gait, Casey walked over to the passenger side. He didn’t say a word as he opened the door and sat down. Zeke tried to be thankful for just that as he put the car in drive and sped off down the road.
‘’K… NOW what?’ he thought more. A cigarette sounded good, at least. He stuck one in his mouth and popped the car lighter in. While waiting, he shot a quick glance Casey’s way; he sat stiff and straight, staring out the windshield with a blank expression. ‘Breaking the ice’ was almost literal, as Zeke’s lips felt like they cracked open when he went to speak. “You wanna go somewhere?” he asked.
Casey snarled a little. “You’re driving me home. That’s what you said you were gonna do.”
“Sure I did. I sat in the motherfuckin’ Ohio winter cold for almost an hour to do so, so you can at LEAST say ‘thanks’,” he retorted.
“Uh huh. Thanks,” Casey mumbled.
Zeke swallowed hard. “So c’mon, let’s go somewhere. You hungry? We can go to ‘Bick’s’, or someth--”
“Just take… me home.”
It was too much. Zeke’s hands clenched the wheel; the drive to Casey’s really wasn’t all that long. Stuffing what he wanted to say in a five-minute-window wasn’t going to work. “Why don’t you tell me what the big deal is? Can you do that?”
“God…”
“Cos’ seriously, it’s either we talk or we break up. Is that what we’re gonna do, Case? Break up?” Zeke asked. Casey went quiet now, frustrating Zeke even more. “Guess we are.”
“I have never been…” Casey suddenly blurted. He crossed his arms tighter over himself and turned, though he didn’t look at Zeke directly, his eyes more set on the wheel. “I’ve gotten the crap kicked outta me by bullies, had my body go balls-first into flagpoles and shit, but nothing--nothing--was as humiliating as what happened Tuesday.”
“Humil…?” Zeke murmured and trailed off. “Casey, it was a joke. That’s all. Sorry if it freaked you out, but…”
“More than a joke, Zeke, and you KNOW it. You set it all up so perfectly, it boggles my mind. You DID get me good, in every fucking way.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“How did you know I was gonna take a shower, Zeke? Hmm?” Casey asked. Zeke blinked furiously, almost losing focus of the road.
“Cos’… we fucked,” he replied.
“Yup. You got off in every which way, made sure of it--everything,” Casey said. “So, you fuck my ass, cum in it, then send me off to the shower.”
“Yea, nice description…”
“It’s what happened.”
“You make it sound like--‘cum in your ass’? Like I USED you or something, and I haven’t fucking done that shit. So don’t start,” Zeke warned.
“So there I am, leaving the bedroom…” Casey went on, undaunted. “I get in the bathroom to wash myself so I don’t go home to my parents smelling like your dick, and this… thing, whatever, pops up outta nowhere, scaring the shit out of me. With you KNOWING I’d be fuckin terrified.”
“Um… yea?”
“And I run out, feeling helpless, heart-attack-horrified and naked, and what did I want? I wanted to get back in bed with YOU, like you were gonna help me,” Casey explained. “I’ve been vulnerable in my life a MILLION times, and I’ve hated it.”
“It was a JOKE, Casey!” Zeke yelled, getting a little satisfaction when Casey flinched. He wasn’t the only one upset, and Zeke wanted to make that crystal-clear. “Just a joke! If it pissed you off, fine, but you’ve raked me over the goddamned coals since then, not talking to me and making me feel like a total asshole!”
“Because you were! For what you did, you were!” Casey bellowed back.
Feeling as if he were going to drive off the road in his anger, Zeke pulled over. The road was quiet, stretching through the more rural end of town, leaving things relatively private. He turned to Casey, gripping the headrest in one hand, the wheel in the other. “So are we breaking up, Casey!? Is that what you want, because if SO, you’d best tell me now!” he yelled. “I’m not gonna sit here and beg you to forgive me every ten seconds--if that’s your big thrill out of this, I hate to burst your bubble, but I ain’t gonna DO that!”
“I was terrified, Zeke! I was absolutely fucking terrified!” Casey practically shrieked. “I’d told you how that fucking movie made me feel, and you took advantage of it to get a few laughs!”
“And you haven’t been shoving all YOUR shit down my throat…? All the crazy-assed slasher flicks that you know I hate!?” Zeke yelled in return. He looked around, an incredulous expression on his face. “God’s sake, I’m scared just SITTING here, all in the dark and shit…”
“Oh yea? And when did I ever pull your pants off and get you screaming and running around in total terror??” Casey rambled out. “Have I ever gotten you in bed, fucked you then pull some sort of… whatever, prank… Jesus…”
Zeke put a hand over his eyes and clenched it over them, hard. “If I’d known it’d get like this… I wouldn’t have done it. Okay?” he said, working hard to keep his voice down and even. It went quiet for a few moments, until Zeke heard a small sniffle. Looking back to Casey, he frowned at the sight of his eyes, gone glossy and looking as if they’d overflow. “Hey…?”
“Damn it,” Casey growled. “I don’t… fucking cry.”
“You are…?”
Casey rolled his eyes, causing a few tears to escape. “Look… I was eight-years-old, okay? I told you that when we watched that… Valentine movie…”
“Just to clarify, it was no romantic-fun-flick. You forgot the ‘Bloody’ part of the title,” Zeke interjected.
“Jesus, FINE, ‘My Bloody Valentine’. Happy?” Casey spat. At Zeke’s silence, he clenched his jaw and closed his eyes. “Maybe it wouldn’t be a big deal to some kids, but I was scared of everything back then. My parents never let me watch horror movies, because even the scene in ‘Fantasia’… with the whole broom-marching and buckets, fuckin’ freaked me out so bad, I had nightmares.”
“Pfft… you’ve come a long way, then,” Zeke said.
“Yea, well… call it overcompensation, I don’t care,” Casey replied. He sank back in his seat and stared ahead, looking small and tense. “But… look, maybe I should’ve told you how bad it really was when it came to that movie. Okay? And I didn’t see the whole thing, either.”
“But… you said you had…?”
“No, I said I’d watched it, but… what the fuck does that matter? My parents were watching it after I went to bed, but hey, I was one of those ‘I want another glass of water’ stalling kids,” Casey explained. “So I tried sneaking downstairs, cos’ I smelled popcorn and stuff… thought my parents would just let me sit with them, if I said I had a nightmare or something. I tried every trick in the book, man.”
Zeke had to smile. “And you called ME sneaky? Shit…” he said. The small, barely-there smile that Casey wore at that was reassuring, but it fled his face as quickly as it’d come.
“Well, I may as well have gotten a nightmare. I was about to get down the stairs when I stopped in the middle, and…” Casey paused. “THAT scene… came on.”
“Which?”
Casey cocked an eyebrow at him, as if to say, ‘are you stupid?’. “The tub scene.”
“Oh…” Zeke murmured.
“Yea. There I am, the biggest wuss that ever lived… just… staring. It was the scariest thing I’d ever seen in my life. I dunno why, it just--”
“No, it’s fucking terrifying, I know,” Zeke interrupted. Casey puffed out a breath and held up his hands.
“Okay, yea, I figured you knew that, seeing as you fuckin’ rigged your shower to scare me, dumbass,” Casey said. “I… Zeke, I couldn’t move. I really couldn’t. And I just started bawling my eyes out. My parents heard it and found me sneaking around on the stairs, and they almost punished me for getting out of bed. But when I didn’t stop crying, my mom got worried and let me stay up--gave me popcorn, put in ’Star Wars’ for me and everything. It didn’t really help when I went to bed later on, or for months after that. It really just… fucked me up.”
Zeke sat back with a long, tired groan. “And you expected me to know about how BAD this was… how?” he asked.
“It shouldn’t have mattered. I didn’t expect you to do what you did,” Casey muttered. “It was even worse than when I was eight… believe me, it took me years to take a bath without thinking about that… scary-assed woman. I always felt, like--extra-naked thinking about it.”
It went quiet, yet again; it let Zeke think hard on the subject. It finally hit him, right between the eyes, and he turned to look at Casey while rubbing his brow. “So… I just… made your ultimate nightmare come to life, huh?”
Casey made a slow, sad nod. “Yea. Pretty much.”
Zeke’s fingers clenched at his elbows as he held himself, tight. “I’m sorry. Okay? I didn’t mean to do that. I just wanted to scare you… I’d even gotten a cheesecake, for fuck’s sake.”
“Huh?”
“Yea. I had a cheesecake in the fridge that I was gonna give you to kiss up afterwards,” Zeke said.
There was a small puff of a chuckle from Casey now, which made the weight Zeke had carried start to feel lighter. “Maybe I should’ve stuck around,” Casey replied.
“Naw… I don’t blame you for leaving,” Zeke said. He looked to Casey and narrowed his eyes. “I’ll just… take you home now. I wanna go home and feel like shit about this for a while.”
Casey bit his lip and turned back to look out the windshield. Zeke sighed, put the car in drive and got them back on the road.
It was less than a minute getting into the small patch of suburbia where Casey lived. Zeke parked at the curb and tried to smile. “Want me to pick you up in the morning?” he asked.
“Yea, okay,” Casey replied. He cleared his throat and put his hand to the lever, but paused to look back at Zeke. “Are we gonna… do anything tomorrow?”
“Hmm?”
“Y’know… Valentine’s, all that crap.”
“Oh,” Zeke murmured. He hadn’t expected this, and it made a smile shudder onto his lips. “I dunno. What did you wanna do?”
“Um… what did you wanna do?”
Both of them snorted at the same time. Zeke put his head back and shrugged. “I dunno,” he said again. “We’ll figure something out.”
Casey smiled back and nodded. “’K,” he said. “See you tomorrow morning.”
“Bye, babe,” Zeke said. He watched Casey get out of the car and head to the house; they didn’t share the usual ‘g’night’ kiss they’d give each other, but Zeke didn’t feel at a loss about it. He did the other usual of waiting until Casey got his front door open, then waved to him before jetting off for home.
~*~
“Aw… c’mere, baby. I’ll keep you safe.”
“I’m fine, what’re you talking about…?”
“You, you’re shaking.”
Casey rolled his eyes. “I’m shaking because you’re rubbing your dick on mine… and it’s getting me off, idiot.”
“N’aw, that ain’t it,” Zeke coolly replied. He pressed the boy to the shower wall and ground their groins together harder. Brushing wet strands of hair from Casey’s brow, Zeke smiled devilishly. “No scary shit goes on in MY shower, Casey-boy. So relax…”
“Uh huh,” Casey said with a snort. His face shifted from amusement to a cross-eyed lust, however, when Zeke reached between their legs to stroke their cocks together in one hand.
“Looks like we can have another go,” Zeke whispered against Casey’s lips before kissing them lightly.
“You promised.”
“Hmm?”
Casey bit his smile and backed up to look at Zeke better. “This was gonna be a small and easy ‘after-sex’ shower… then cheesecake. If I have to put off dessert cos’ you can’t go without seventeen orgasms in one night--”
“You’re harder than me.”
“Ugh, not the point… oh…” Casey moaned out. It couldn’t be helped--not with the way Zeke had started jerking the both of them off. Casey writhed and curled his toes against the porcelain. He went silent now, letting Zeke manipulate his body with expertise. Casey was like clay, so easy to mold and move, to get reactions with every touch Zeke made against his skin. Simple and sensuous… all that he needed.
“L-Love you,” Zeke shook out before they climaxed in unison.
For now...
As Max said in 'Where the Wild Things Are'...
LET THE WILD RUMPUS START!!
So, first posting of the month, and I hope it's good! A big thanks to everyone who's taking on a day... *hugs*! Remember, if you need any help, contact me or frodosweetstuff for details! Off I go...
Title: Room #237
Pairing: C/Z
Rating: NC-17
Synopsis: Zeke takes a prank a BIT too far, and Casey makes him pay for it.
Tiny Warning(s): some heavy angst, scared!Casey, horror movie talk! Ends as a sweet H/C. :)
Disclaimer: I don't own 'The Faculty', or the other movies mentioned through this post (Faces of Death II, My Bloody Valentine, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Last House on the Left, and The Shining)...none of it's mine!
Author's Note(s): A huge, HUGE thanks to shoesparks, who made an absolutely fantastic wallpaper for this tale! Under the cut as it's very large--along with the story. :D
It was to be expected, but Zeke still groaned and shook his head. The moment he and Casey entered the video store, Casey had made a beeline for the ‘Horror-Thriller’ section. All Zeke wanted to do was get something light and fun, some comedy--even a romance movie, for all he cared--just not another gore-filled massacre-movie.
The problem was, Casey wasn’t just a fan of these films. He was a gore-hound, seeking out new thrills with every trip to the local Blockbuster. The more blood, the better, in Casey’s view. Last week, he’d all but tied Zeke to the couch and put on ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’, which Zeke hadn’t enjoyed one bit. Then there was the gritty and grotesque ‘Last House on the Left’, which had made Zeke throw up a little in his mouth. Each time Zeke gave in, Casey swore that he’d shut it off if Zeke couldn’t take it--but every time, he’d take Zeke’s hand and tell him, ‘it’s okay, Zekie--I’m right here,’ with an amused look on his face. Zeke didn’t like feeling like a wimp, and Casey’s teasing and insistence was starting to annoy him.
While sifting through a stack of used videos for sale, Zeke glanced up to see Casey hopping over with two tapes in his hand. “Hey! I got some,” he said.
“Great. More scary shit, right?”
“’Course,” Casey said, matter-of-factly. He flashed the titles, one being ‘My Bloody Valentine’, the other…
“No,” Zeke firmly stated.
“What?”
Zeke clenched his jaw and tapped the video, ‘Faces of Death II’. “Fuck you. I ain’t watching that.”
“Why not? It’s not much different than--”
“It IS, Casey. It’s snuff film material. You know how I feel about shit like that,” Zeke interrupted. “Get that Valentine crap, even if it makes me wanna puke. But I ain’t watching someone getting their head chopped off--for real.”
Casey sighed, looking put-out. “I’ve never figured you to be some scaredy-cat, y’know,” he teased.
“Oh, please… your making fun of me hasn’t worked so far.”
“You watch ‘em with me, don’t you?” Casey said. He now gave Zeke a small, coy grin; Zeke shook his head.
“I’m whipped, sure. But that stuff will give me nightmares for weeks, okay? Just… don’t.”
“All right… go on and pick something, then. How about ‘Sleepless in Seattle’, or ‘Fried Green Tomatoes’?”
Zeke rolled his eyes but smiled. “Anything but your love of bloodfests.”
~*~
“God…” Zeke muttered as Casey slipped the video into Zeke’s VCR.
“What?” Casey chuckled out. He flopped onto the couch next to Zeke and cuddled close. “Pass the popcorn.”
Zeke took up the bowl and set it on his lap. While Casey began munching away, the first trailer came on, advertising the upcoming ‘remastered version’ of the movie getting ready to play. “Bloody Valentines… is that what you want Friday?”
“Hmm?” Casey hummed past a mouthful of popcorn.
“For Valentine’s Day, idiot,” Zeke said.
“Oh… ohhh yeeea,” Casey drawled. He rested upon Zeke’s chest and looked up at him with a big smile. “I thought you’d forget.”
“Naw, I’ve thought about it.”
“Wow. Then again, maybe I shouldn’t be surprised after your renting ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’,” Casey said, nodding towards the coffee table where Zeke’s movie choice sat.
“Hey man, that’s a classic. And Audrey was fucking hot,” Zeke replied.
“Yea, yea.”
“She was.”
“I’m hotter than her, though--right?”
Zeke snorted and settled into the couch further. He kissed the top of Casey’s head and smiled. “Sure you are, honeybunch.”
It was then that the next preview began; Zeke watched as Jack Nicholson came onscreen in his role as the famous Jack Torrance. “Why haven’t we rented this one? Or do you OWN it?”
“Oh… no,” Casey said. Zeke frowned and glanced down at him, who’d become preoccupied with fingering around the bowl.
“Why not? It’s like--the epitome of classic terror.”
“I watched it when I was eight. This…” he said, nodding towards the screen but not looking at it. “Is one I can’t do.”
“Are you serious? I mean that, are you?” Zeke incredulously replied. At Casey’s nod, he chuckled. “Wow… it’s the one movie I CAN do.”
“Well, good for you. Rent it sometime… when I’m at home.”
Zeke shook his head, almost in disbelief. He found it enjoyable when Casey closed his eyes, trying to avoid watching the axe-in-the-door scene.
~*~
It was a disappointment to have to say goodbye right after their movie watching--without having some time in the bedroom. But rules were rules, and seeing as Casey had some important college papers to fill out before the weekend came, Zeke wasn’t about to bitch about it. It would only be five more days until that Friday, when Casey would be staying overnight… and the next night, something miraculous when it came to the Connor household. Perhaps Casey’s parents wanted some time alone for Valentine’s as well, and getting their son out of their hair was optimal.
Before Casey had gone, they’d shared kisses at the door, and Zeke got the assurance that on Tuesday, Casey would try and come by. “We’ll talk about what to do for Valentine’s, you big romantic sucker,” he’d said with a wink. As long as it didn’t involve beheadings and necks getting slashed open, Zeke didn’t care WHAT they planned.
For now, Zeke needed sleep. His test in biology the next day was crucial, and if he wanted to get the A he needed, he’d be asleep before midnight. A good, solid six hours of sleep was all that he needed for a good grade, and nowadays, he worked for it. Anything to keep his boy happy, and anything to get him out of the rut he’d dug himself into these last few years. It felt good.
He stood in his bathroom, brushing his teeth. He hated the feel of popcorn-skins digging into his gums, otherwise he’d swish with mouthwash and call it a day. As he leaned forward to finish with a spit, he glanced into the mirror.
He almost shivered at the sight of his shower, something that happened every now and again. While he honestly could handle the Jack Nicholson scare-fest, he’d feel cold in remembering the ‘Room #237’ scene. He could only imagine how eight-year-old Casey had taken a bath, how he STILL managed to get in the tub over the years. It was obvious that he could, in fact, manage it. Zeke enjoyed the feel of just-showered-Casey, the scent of his hair and skin. The boy always took one right after a wild romp in the bedroom, even if Zeke didn‘t join him…
Zeke paused and turned, staring into the porcelain tub. Tuesday… they’d most certainly be making up for ‘lost time’. Whenever a week passed without sex between them, they’d practically explode and tear off each other’s clothing, wherever they ended up. In two day’s time, Zeke could just imagine how it’d go. While he usually smiled and went warm in thinking about that, ideas began filling his head.
A simple pulley system, some string and a trip to a sex-shop would do it.
~*~
Tuesday…
Zeke almost felt bad--Casey was being very giving tonight.
“Like that…?” Casey murmured as he kissed down Zeke’s thigh.
Zeke’s nostrils flared and he nodded. “Y-Yea,” he croaked. Casey smiled against the skin and continued rolling Zeke’s balls, giving soft squeezes as he went along. When Casey’s other hand smoothed up Zeke’s stomach to a nipple, Zeke bucked up. “God…”
“So hard, Zeke… you’re so hard,” Casey said in a coy, teasing voice. He brought his mouth lower and hovered just above Zeke’s aching, leaking cock. When his tongue darted out and flicked the tip, Zeke growled. Casey smiled wider and continued lapping away, making each lick more pronounced as he went along. Zeke trembled, swallowed and looked down, watching Casey’s every move. Casey’s eyes lifted and found Zeke’s stare. He moved up and smacked his lips. “Yes?” he cooed.
Rolling his eyes, Zeke grabbed the back of Casey’s neck, lifted from the bed and started a violent, heated kiss. The sly, teasing expression Casey had worn disappeared with Zeke’s biting and sucking at his lips. He then moved on to his neck, shoulder, up again… “Fuck this,” Zeke blurted then pulled himself away and gripped harder onto Casey’s neck. Before the boy could get confused, Zeke slid out from under him, moved to his side and shoved Casey face-down on the bed in one quick swoop of movement.
All Casey managed was a gasp, then a shuddering mmm as Zeke mounted him. The hand on Casey’s neck tightened a bit more, while the other smoothed around one side of Casey’s ass. The boy writhed then raised his body upwards, all to fill Zeke’s hand further; Zeke answered by gripping his fingers hard into the flesh, which made Casey hiss and snarl.
“You like being fucked… a bit too much,” Zeke said once at Casey’s ear, so close that he felt his hot breath come back at him. Without warning, he shoved his hand between Casey’s legs, grabbed the inside of his thigh and pulled him up. It left Casey arced and open… ready.
Casey grunted and moaned once Zeke’s hand dragged up from his cock to his sac, then to his cleft, all to start a slow, playful rub at his opening. It wasn’t long before Zeke let a finger pause then swirl directly over and into the boy, urging his hole to yield to his touch. Casey’s body never let Zeke down. After Zeke paused to spit into his hand, he returned to his ‘work’, and it wasn’t long before one finger went to two, two to three, in just a matter of minutes. Zeke loved watching Casey grow more and more desperate as the act would go on; sometimes he let it drag far longer than was needed, just to see Casey move back and forth trying to get as much as he could from Zeke’s fingers alone. “Shameless,” Zeke muttered.
“I…” Casey breathed deeply. He stopped thrusting, raised his ass further upwards and looked back at Zeke--a look that made Zeke’s eyes cross with want, especially when Casey uttered, “Please fuck my ass,”… like he always did. Not needing any more encouragement, Zeke positioned, pushed forward and began entering Casey’s body.
The moaning and gasping started earlier than usual; a grin shook onto Zeke’s face. Oh yes, the boy was enjoying himself immensely. “Not… even halfway i-in… and you’re already…” he tried saying, but started feeling lightheaded as well. He had to hurry, or things would end MUCH sooner than he liked. With one solid shove, he was fully-sheathed and feeling the tense grip of Casey’s insides clenching onto him.
“F-Fuck…!” Casey groaned.
“Up… move up,” Zeke said. Casey complied as best he could, until he was on all fours. Zeke stilled a moment to find purchase in wrapping one hand around to Casey’s chest, the other between the boy’s legs again. He felt Casey’s knees turn inwards just the slightest bit as he began stroking the hard, leaking muscle. “Fuck me, Casey… go on and fuck me.”
Casey shook, stiffened and pushed back, slowly at first. Zeke kept the rhythm at Casey’s dick smooth and easy until Casey’s pace quickened, and a steady pulse of movement swelled between them in unison. All the muscles in Casey’s back and shoulders tensed and relaxed, tensed and relaxed, hypnotizing Zeke. The boy was more toned-up than most people thought.
“Don’t fucking STOP!” Casey’s desperate yell came, alerting Zeke to the laziness on his part. Snapping out of it, Zeke flared his nostrils with hot breath and he pushed forward, meeting Casey’s thrusting back. It made everything go frantic; Casey panted and gasped with every jerk, while Zeke closed his eyes to keep them from rolling out of his head. ‘Does this to me every… fucking TIME…’ he thought, just before he lost control and felt himself splash Casey’s insides. Zeke moaned helplessly, gripping onto Casey’s waist and pulling him up into his lap. The last few spurts went deep as he impaled Casey upon him; he shuddered and almost went limp--almost. He opened his eyes and focused on Casey’s shoulder, gone moist with sweat.
“C’mon, boy,” he murmured. He spread Casey’s legs open wider then slid the hand up his chest, while the other kept milking the swollen need bobbing between the boy’s thighs. Casey’s hair was grabbed and his face turned towards Zeke’s; he moaned so beautifully when Zeke latched their lips together, where tongues met and tangled viciously. When Zeke lowered his hand again, he went to a nipple and squeezed as hard as he could.
That was all it took; Casey yelped, tossed his head back onto Zeke’s shoulders and came, hard. Zeke tensed up all over again when Casey’s ass gripped onto him, almost squeezing to the point of pain. In feeling the hot-wet of Casey’s ejaculate on his hand, Zeke smiled drowsily. “Yea…” he whispered into Casey’s ear. He kissed it gently as Casey relaxed. “So good, baby…”
“Mmm,” Casey hummed. The usual pale of Casey’s cheeks was blooming with roses, easily seen in the dim light of the room. Zeke caressed the skin and the cooling sweat upon it; Casey sighed and smiled wide. “That was very, very… good.”
“Mmhmm.”
“And very messy,” Casey added. He looked down at his lap, then turned to look back at Zeke. “Shower time.”
Zeke was snapped back into reality; gone was the rapid-firing lust and almost-screams, and the inevitable had arrived. “Yea…” Zeke replied. “Can’t go home like this, can you?”
“Hah, nope,” Casey said. He slid away from Zeke and turned to face him, all glittering-blue eyes, soft sighs and smiles as he leaned in for a gentle kiss. “Comin’ with?”
“Oh… I think…” Zeke started… ‘don’t laugh, don’t fuckin’ laugh…’ “I gotta just lie down. Don’t worry about me.”
“You sure?”
“Yea.”
Casey raised his eyebrows, moved to the edge of the bed and stood. Zeke bit his lip, watching him stretch and go for the door. “Your loss, babe,” Casey said, winking Zeke’s way.
“Uh huh,” Zeke muttered. It seemed like it took ages for Casey to leave the room; once he was safely out of sight, Zeke smiled wide and bit his fist to keep from laughing out loud. He waited until he heard the bathroom door open then shut to throw his boxers on; he hopped from the bed and over to the doorway. Peeking down the hall, he smiled wider. Leaving the small, less-illuminating fan-light on was the best idea he’d had in a while, seeing as Casey hadn’t bothered to flip the main switch--the darker the better. He heard the sink turn on and Casey gargled, almost making him feel guilty. Almost… ‘Your third viewing of ‘Evil Dead’… remember that?’ he reminded himself. Swish, spit… a sigh…
It was almost instantaneous; the metallic scrape of his shower curtain going back was accompanied by a loud thump and an ear-splitting, shrill cry. Zeke almost banged his head into the doorjamb in shock and amusement as Casey kept screaming, followed by yet MORE thumping around. The door was shaking, almost bouncing off of the hinges until finally it was thrown open, and a naked, panicked Casey came out, flailing and wailing. Zeke almost fell on the floor in stepping back; he couldn’t take it any longer, especially when Casey came barreling into the room and threw himself on the bed. Loud laughter escaped Zeke, making him double-over instantly. “Oh my GOD…!” he yelled in hilarity. “I fuckin’… shit…”
The keening sounds coming from the bed made Zeke look over and realize that Casey had not just hopped into bed--but he was now entirely cocooned, head-to-toe, in the sheets and blankets. His amusement died down a little into shaky sighs and chuckles. “Casey? Helloooo?” he drawled. He went over and saw one tiny part of Casey--a toe--sticking out. “You can come out now,” he giggled out, taking the toe in his fingers.
Casey squealed and pulled back sharply; Zeke frowned a little. The indiscernible lump on the bed was quaking, making Zeke feel as if the whole room was shaking. “Hey,” he said, trying to sound calm and comforting. Before he could offer any more assurance, his brow furrowed. The sounds of panic were now dissolving into shallow, tearful sobs. Shit… this wasn’t right. Weren’t they supposed to be chuckling by now? Wasn’t Casey supposed to leap out from under the covers to laugh-yell at Zeke, laughing like a loon himself? “Casey, c’mon out. It’s okay, seriously.”
Inch by inch, the blankets eased down. The top of Casey’s head appeared, with his face following. His eyes were wide and glossy; they focused up to Zeke as if searching for answers. “Wha…” Casey shook out past still-heaving breaths.
Zeke regained his smile and winked. “Gotcha.”
Casey’s upper body moved up, until he was raised on one elbow. He looked from the opened bedroom door into the hallway, to Zeke… the door… “You…” he said. After a swallow, the confusion melted from his face. “You’d…”
“I wish I’d set up a video camera… I SO wish I did--”
“You fucking ASSHOLE!”
Zeke wasn’t expecting the shove; he flopped back and landed on the floor, hard. Shocked, he looked back up to Casey, who’d now sat up entirely. While the boy gathered up one of the sheets around himself, he blinked furiously. “What? It was a joke!”
“FUCK you! Get the fuck out of here!” Casey bellowed.
“What?! This is my bedroom, you can’t--” Zeke went to yell back. He tried finding calm as he stood, and was surprised to see Casey take a step back when he faced him. “Casey--”
“Get OUT! I want to get dressed and LEAVE!”
“So get dressed!”
“No… no, get out of the room! Now!” Casey yelled louder. He then rounded around the bed, still clutching the sheet to himself with one hand--the other pushing on Zeke’s chest. Zeke found himself being shoved to the hallway; once out of the room, Casey jumped back and slammed the door, hard, in his face.
Zeke stared at the trembling wood until it stilled. Once the echo in the hall subsided, he could hear angry mutters and shuffling in the room. This was way off from what Zeke had thought would happen. He looked down the hall, sighed, then stepped to the bathroom door. Looking in, the urge to laugh rose again, but he fought it down. Two towels lay on the floor in rumpled messes; one of them had been hanging on the towel rack, the other presumably chosen by Casey from the closet. Even the bathmat was upside-down and crumpled-up by the toilet, a full three feet away from where it’d been before Casey’s panic attack. Zeke took two steps in then winced at the feel of something jabbing his foot. He peered down at the floor and found a piece of broken porcelain--his soap dish, now made into three large pieces. The fact that he hadn’t cut his foot open made him sigh in relief. Figuring he didn’t need any major injuries, he flicked the light on.
Sweet Jesus… he almost jumped when he saw his ‘trick’ in the corner of his eye. It really WAS scary, wasn’t it? Zeke bit his lip and walked over. The blow-up doll was hanging halfway up from the tub, its old, gray matted wig starting to come off of the plastic. Zeke didn’t remember making it look this convincing…
It was then that he heard the bedroom door open. He left the bathroom behind and saw Casey heading to the stairs. “Casey… stop, okay?” he called. The boy didn’t listen. With a groan, Zeke made his steps double-time to catch up to him. He managed to get a hold of Casey’s arm before he reached the first step. “Calm DOWN. Let’s just--”
With a jerk, Casey wrenched his arm away from Zeke’s grasp and proceeded to speed down the stairs. Zeke, bewildered and shocked, could do nothing but watch Casey leave the house, slamming the door as he went.
~*~
“Hey Stokes.”
Stokely looked up from her fries and reading ‘A Clockwork Orange’ to Zeke. “Oh… hey,” she muttered in a bland voice. Zeke’s throat clenched; Stokely wasn’t know for her animated voice or expressions, but he couldn’t help but feel like Casey had talked to her. Besides Zeke, he talked to her the most.
“So, uh… Casey isn’t in today,” he said.
Shrugging, Stokely stuck a piece of paper in her book. “Yea, I know. I was gonna ask you where he was, but I guess he’s just sick,” she said.
“Maybe,” Zeke muttered.
“Wait… don’t you usually drive him to school?”
“Yea,” Zeke said. Trying to act nonchalant, he sighed deep and long. “I called him this morning, but I got no answer.”
“So? Why didn’t you just go over… that’s what you normally do, right?” Stokely asked. This really wasn’t making any sense to the girl, for good reason. It made Zeke squirm… noticeably, enough for Stokely to cock an eyebrow. “All right. What’d you do?”
Zeke couldn’t keep this up. He sighed again, this time into the bench seat across from the girl. “We had a fight.”
The long pause that followed raised both of Stokely’s eyebrows. “And?”
“He’s just really pissed at me. REALLY pissed.”
Stokely blinked and ran her tongue over her teeth. “Like I asked, what’d you do?”
“Okay… y’know how he’s huge on horror movies?” Zeke asked. Stokely smiled knowingly; Zeke rolled his eyes. “’Course you do. You guys watch that crap together all the time.”
“I’m the one who LENDS him flicks, Zeke. He’s a good student,” she replied.
“Well, thanks--cos’ he’s been pushing blood, guts and psycho-killers on me for months now. It sucks. I don’t like that shit, but like HELL if we leave video stores without some sort of gore festival.”
“Hmm… always took you for the type that would enjoy shit like that.”
“Well, I don’t.”
“’K, then. So what’s the damage?”
Zeke took another deep breath and rapped the stone table with his knuckles. “Well, I decided to get my revenge, that’s all. I pulled a prank on him to give him a dose of his own medicine.”
“Why, does he prank you with these movies?” she asked.
“No. But he practically ties me down to watch ‘em,” Zeke retorted. “Anyway, he got all freaked out and left, didn’t even--”
“Wait, wait--back up. You skipped the shit having to do with WHY he took off.”
Zeke rolled his eyes again. “Well… I found out the other day what horror movie he can’t watch, and ran with it,” he told her. Looking back at the girl, he noticed that her face had paled slightly. “Um… what?”
“You didn’t.”
“Didn’t…?”
“Zeke…” she drawled in exasperation. She began rubbing her face with both hands as she continued. “Your stupid prank had nothing to do with ‘The Shining’, did it?” she asked. Now dumbfounded, Zeke fell mute. His silence seemed to speak for him, as Stokely looked back to him and shook her head. “You’re right. It’s the one scary movie he won’t watch. I knew that… you did too, huh?”
“Well, it wasn’t--c’mon, like it’s some big deal? Give me a break,” he stumbled on words. “It’s just a movie.”
“Oh yea, to me. Maybe to you. Not… to Casey,” she replied. “What scene was it?”
“From ‘The Shining’?”
“No, Zeke, ‘The Little fucking Mermaid’.”
Zeke steeled his jaw and lit a cigarette. “Room two-thirty-seven... with the creepy corpse woman... thing.”
“Oh…” Stokely breathed out. She smacked her lips a moment. “By god, Zeke… that’s breakup material.”
“Wait, what?” he blurted, smoke puffing out of his mouth quick.
“The tub scene. I’m assuming that’s the one you did,” she said. At Zeke’s furrowed brow and shrug, she began picking up her things. With her bag slung over her shoulder, she stepped from her bench and sighed sadly. “If he says one word to you before you die, consider yourself lucky.”
“Wait… wait, wait, Stokes--no, don’t fuckin’ walk away!” Zeke stammered, now rising to his feet and stumbling after her. “Look, I know he’s not gonna take my calls and shit. Can you just let him know--”
“Ohh, no… no, no, nooo,” she drawled with a dry chuckle.
“Stokes, c’mon.”
“There isn’t any amount you can write on a check to me that’ll put me in THAT crossfire, Zeke,” she said. “I say best of luck finding a weakness of his, or something. Stan keeps me out of jail for murder in giving me ‘Bailey’s Irish Crème’ truffles from Godiva when he pisses ME off. Casey likes chocolate, but…”
“However many you want, Stokes,” Zeke said, leaning in close with his hands folded. At her perplexed expression, Zeke sighed. “Half of the Godiva shop at the mall, yours. Just…?”
Stokely smiled and snorted. “I’d said Stan keeps the monster at bay. I’m not dating you, thank god.”
“Right…” Zeke mumbled. He took the last drag from his cigarette and groaned. “Guess I’m fucked, then.”
“Eh, it’ll be a miracle. I’ll just say that. ‘Luck,” she said. Zeke watched her walk to the front steps of the school and walk in. School didn’t hold its appeal on a good day, no matter how much better Zeke was getting at it. Seeing as today was downright awful, he turned to the parking lot instead of heeding the end-of-lunch warning bell.
~*~
Zeke was not going to give up--no matter what Casey threw at him, he was going to counter-attack any chance he got. Not that he had much to give out, when phone calls from Wednesday afternoon into night had gone ignored, and the Connor family had been informed that Zeke wasn’t welcome in Casey’s presence. Even Mrs. Connor had given him a sympathetic look as Zeke had stepped off the porch and went back to his car, defeated.
Stokely had kept to her word; when desperation had taken hold, making Zeke turn to Stan for answers, the young man had blinked fast and shrugged erratically. “I um… Stokes told me not to tell you… anything,” he’d stammered out. The world, Zeke deduced, was against him.
Casey had never been one to stay home from school two days in a row, however. After missing Wednesday, he proved such in showing up for classes the next morning. It didn’t help Zeke much, seeing as every time he tried meeting up with him in the halls or following him into the boy’s lav, Casey had ignored him entirely. They had two classes together, but chemistry and geography hadn’t offered any sort of ‘quality time’, and they didn’t share the same lunch. By the time Zeke was in his last class, he was fuming, and when the end of the day arrived, he’d all but shot out of his seat, run down the hall and took the stairs to the second floor in a single bound. Casey was a dutiful young man who had a locker that was organized perfectly, and he tended to it every afternoon before leaving.
That pattern went broken--the boy had to have known how Zeke always, always met him after school, and had once again purposefully thwarted any attempts Zeke made to meet up by not being there. When the hall had cleared, Zeke walked away, head hung and feeling heavy.
This was eating him up, so badly. Never had he bothered with something like this; years before, one girl had tried a ‘hard-to-get’ act with him, and she regretted it. It’d been the only time… before now. Zeke realized what the difference between then and now was. He could’ve given a damn about Jenny Talbot, his class’ junior prom queen and bitch-supreme. She’d teased and flaunted herself, trying to woo Zeke into some stammered out, ‘Wanna go out with me?’. It never happened, because Zeke just hadn’t cared.
Now, Zeke felt regret--not about Jenny, of course, but the fact that he’d learned to care in the last few months. The sole, lone reason for that was Casey himself. It was hurting Zeke deep-down, even if he didn’t want to come forth and be honest about it. No one knew about their relationship besides a trusted few, so there needed to be a stone-faced approach to it… but he wanted to scream and yell, demand that Casey take his apologies while kneeling right in the middle of the school hallways, begging, pleading and crying.
With the next day being Valentine’s Day, Zeke was ready to give up and take his lumps in being alone. It hurt even more, as he’d expected ‘company’, of course. A few doors down from the exit, Zeke stuck a cigarette in his lips, not caring if a teacher saw him…
“No, don’t worry, Casey’s got that covered.”
The sudden voice to Zeke’s left made him stop dead. Looking over, he realized that he was standing by the school paper’s office, and as always, Delilah’s voice carried over everything around her. Small mumbling replies came, and she groaned loud enough for Zeke to hear. Zeke moved closer and looked in the small slat of the doorway. She stood at a desk, talking to one of the other photographers, Kenny Shore.
“Kenny, you’re going to do the dance tomorrow, okay? No, I don’t… Ken. Kenny, look at me,” Delilah demanded. Zeke had to grin as the boy cow-towed and slumped a bit in facing her. “I’m sorry you already bought the tickets for you and your little sweetie pie, but you’d already committed to doing the paper’s pics for this. Casey’s getting HIS end of next week’s edition at the library tonight, researching. Get over it.”
“But I hadn’t had a DATE for it, now I do!”
“So bring her along while you work, I don’t care. Jesus,” Delilah said. Her turning away signified the end of the conversation; Kenny turned in a flounce and headed to the door.
“Casey doesn’t even HAVE a girlfriend, but oh fiiiine, I’LL do it… whatever,” Kenny said, words dripping with sarcasm.
Zeke moved away quickly and shuffled along before Kenny swung the door open and made his dramatic exit. He couldn’t have cared less about Kenny’s grievances. All he knew was that Casey wasn’t going to be locked in his bedroom or have people working as bodyguards for him tonight.
~*~
It felt voyeuristic to Zeke as he stood at the archway, watching Casey rifling through books at the other end of the cavernous foyer of the library. It was the first time in days that Zeke had gotten within ten feet of the boy without having him flinch and run away. He almost smiled as Casey leaned over a book, his arms tucked over his chest, foot tapping on his chair and glasses slipping down his nose. Sighing, Zeke decided to come forth, carrying the hope that Casey still had a hallowed respect for libraries and kept his voice down.
The boy was so absorbed in his work that he didn’t look up until Zeke was leaning on the table he sat at. “Hey,” Zeke said. Casey’s eyes set on him and stayed there a moment; once that moment passed, he stood up with his book and headed to the copying machines. Zeke worried about having to chase him out into the streets, but all of Casey’s things were left at the desk. Zeke sighed and sauntered over.
Change jingled in Casey’s hand as he put dimes into the machine. He set the book over the screen; Zeke caught a glance at the cover. “Old yearbooks, huh? Is that for the paper?” he asked. Casey didn’t respond, choosing to hit a few buttons and stand in wait for his paperwork. Zeke licked his lips and tried again. “What project are you--”
“Delilah snitched, huh?” Casey snapped, still not looking Zeke’s way.
“No… I… overheard,” Zeke haltingly replied. Casey nodded knowingly.
“That’s right. I forgot what a fucking sneak you are,” he replied.
“Casey…”
“I’m really busy, Zeke, and I don’t feel like talking to you,” Casey said.
“Fine. When DO you want to talk?” Zeke asked.
Casey rolled his eyes and began grabbing up the finished photocopies. While turning to another page in the yearbook, he sighed. “Who says I want to talk, like ever?” Casey coldly replied. “I said that I don’t feel like talking to you, and I didn’t say ‘right now’. Just that I don’t wanna talk to you.”
“And you didn’t say ‘ever’, you just…” Zeke tried, but stopped. “I’m not here to play semantics.”
“And I’m not here to talk to you. I have work to do.”
“Fine. I’ll wait for you outside, then. I’m parked right at the curb, and I’ll give you a ride home.”
“I’m walking home. I have two legs, Zeke,” Casey said in a strained voice.
“Yea, and it’s two degrees outside. Stop being stubborn, for god’s sake,” Zeke told him; he didn’t want to lose his cool, but Casey’s indifference was starting to grate on him. When no reply came from the boy, Zeke turned and left him to finish his project, whatever it was.
Oh, he’d wait, all right… even if it was cold enough to freeze his dick right off, he’d wait. The chill was bad enough that he ducked into the café next door to get a coffee, even though he couldn’t keep his eyes from the window, paranoid that Casey would take the chance and leave with Zeke preoccupied. He rushed through the order, getting lucky with having an astute server get his coffee quickly. After tossing a few bucks into her tip jar, he exited the café and rushed to his car.
It really was cold out, but he wasn’t going to budge. The heater in his car barely worked, but he got in, shut the door and huddled for warmth. After turning the engine on, sure enough, the small trickle of air that came through the vents was more cold than hot, so he turned off the car and held his cup in both hands.
All the while, he kept his eyes on the front door, waiting. He wouldn’t put it past Casey, the library-freak that he was, to have some super-secret exit through the ‘connections’ he had with people here. If the kid WERE to be that sneaky, perhaps Zeke would sit in wait long enough to lose some toes--maybe a limb--and maybe that would get Casey feeling bad enough to talk to him.
It’d been the cup of coffee and three cigarettes later, when finally, he saw Casey coming out. A quick glance to the clock revealed the time at four-after-nine; seeing as the library closed at nine, Zeke almost scowled. ‘He really hoped I’d just leave, didn’t he?’ he thought. And by the looks of things, Casey wasn’t going to acknowledge him, yet again. Zeke clenched his jaw as Casey walked off in the opposite direction. He felt angry enough to turn his key and slam his hand on the horn.
Now, Casey stopped and turned. Zeke could see his tense stance, the stubborn look on his face. Cold winds blew in when Zeke opened his window; he winced as he stuck his head out. “Get in the car, for fuck’s sake!” he yelled to him. Two people passing by gave him strange looks, but he was too frustrated to care.
With a slow, tired-looking gait, Casey walked over to the passenger side. He didn’t say a word as he opened the door and sat down. Zeke tried to be thankful for just that as he put the car in drive and sped off down the road.
‘’K… NOW what?’ he thought more. A cigarette sounded good, at least. He stuck one in his mouth and popped the car lighter in. While waiting, he shot a quick glance Casey’s way; he sat stiff and straight, staring out the windshield with a blank expression. ‘Breaking the ice’ was almost literal, as Zeke’s lips felt like they cracked open when he went to speak. “You wanna go somewhere?” he asked.
Casey snarled a little. “You’re driving me home. That’s what you said you were gonna do.”
“Sure I did. I sat in the motherfuckin’ Ohio winter cold for almost an hour to do so, so you can at LEAST say ‘thanks’,” he retorted.
“Uh huh. Thanks,” Casey mumbled.
Zeke swallowed hard. “So c’mon, let’s go somewhere. You hungry? We can go to ‘Bick’s’, or someth--”
“Just take… me home.”
It was too much. Zeke’s hands clenched the wheel; the drive to Casey’s really wasn’t all that long. Stuffing what he wanted to say in a five-minute-window wasn’t going to work. “Why don’t you tell me what the big deal is? Can you do that?”
“God…”
“Cos’ seriously, it’s either we talk or we break up. Is that what we’re gonna do, Case? Break up?” Zeke asked. Casey went quiet now, frustrating Zeke even more. “Guess we are.”
“I have never been…” Casey suddenly blurted. He crossed his arms tighter over himself and turned, though he didn’t look at Zeke directly, his eyes more set on the wheel. “I’ve gotten the crap kicked outta me by bullies, had my body go balls-first into flagpoles and shit, but nothing--nothing--was as humiliating as what happened Tuesday.”
“Humil…?” Zeke murmured and trailed off. “Casey, it was a joke. That’s all. Sorry if it freaked you out, but…”
“More than a joke, Zeke, and you KNOW it. You set it all up so perfectly, it boggles my mind. You DID get me good, in every fucking way.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“How did you know I was gonna take a shower, Zeke? Hmm?” Casey asked. Zeke blinked furiously, almost losing focus of the road.
“Cos’… we fucked,” he replied.
“Yup. You got off in every which way, made sure of it--everything,” Casey said. “So, you fuck my ass, cum in it, then send me off to the shower.”
“Yea, nice description…”
“It’s what happened.”
“You make it sound like--‘cum in your ass’? Like I USED you or something, and I haven’t fucking done that shit. So don’t start,” Zeke warned.
“So there I am, leaving the bedroom…” Casey went on, undaunted. “I get in the bathroom to wash myself so I don’t go home to my parents smelling like your dick, and this… thing, whatever, pops up outta nowhere, scaring the shit out of me. With you KNOWING I’d be fuckin terrified.”
“Um… yea?”
“And I run out, feeling helpless, heart-attack-horrified and naked, and what did I want? I wanted to get back in bed with YOU, like you were gonna help me,” Casey explained. “I’ve been vulnerable in my life a MILLION times, and I’ve hated it.”
“It was a JOKE, Casey!” Zeke yelled, getting a little satisfaction when Casey flinched. He wasn’t the only one upset, and Zeke wanted to make that crystal-clear. “Just a joke! If it pissed you off, fine, but you’ve raked me over the goddamned coals since then, not talking to me and making me feel like a total asshole!”
“Because you were! For what you did, you were!” Casey bellowed back.
Feeling as if he were going to drive off the road in his anger, Zeke pulled over. The road was quiet, stretching through the more rural end of town, leaving things relatively private. He turned to Casey, gripping the headrest in one hand, the wheel in the other. “So are we breaking up, Casey!? Is that what you want, because if SO, you’d best tell me now!” he yelled. “I’m not gonna sit here and beg you to forgive me every ten seconds--if that’s your big thrill out of this, I hate to burst your bubble, but I ain’t gonna DO that!”
“I was terrified, Zeke! I was absolutely fucking terrified!” Casey practically shrieked. “I’d told you how that fucking movie made me feel, and you took advantage of it to get a few laughs!”
“And you haven’t been shoving all YOUR shit down my throat…? All the crazy-assed slasher flicks that you know I hate!?” Zeke yelled in return. He looked around, an incredulous expression on his face. “God’s sake, I’m scared just SITTING here, all in the dark and shit…”
“Oh yea? And when did I ever pull your pants off and get you screaming and running around in total terror??” Casey rambled out. “Have I ever gotten you in bed, fucked you then pull some sort of… whatever, prank… Jesus…”
Zeke put a hand over his eyes and clenched it over them, hard. “If I’d known it’d get like this… I wouldn’t have done it. Okay?” he said, working hard to keep his voice down and even. It went quiet for a few moments, until Zeke heard a small sniffle. Looking back to Casey, he frowned at the sight of his eyes, gone glossy and looking as if they’d overflow. “Hey…?”
“Damn it,” Casey growled. “I don’t… fucking cry.”
“You are…?”
Casey rolled his eyes, causing a few tears to escape. “Look… I was eight-years-old, okay? I told you that when we watched that… Valentine movie…”
“Just to clarify, it was no romantic-fun-flick. You forgot the ‘Bloody’ part of the title,” Zeke interjected.
“Jesus, FINE, ‘My Bloody Valentine’. Happy?” Casey spat. At Zeke’s silence, he clenched his jaw and closed his eyes. “Maybe it wouldn’t be a big deal to some kids, but I was scared of everything back then. My parents never let me watch horror movies, because even the scene in ‘Fantasia’… with the whole broom-marching and buckets, fuckin’ freaked me out so bad, I had nightmares.”
“Pfft… you’ve come a long way, then,” Zeke said.
“Yea, well… call it overcompensation, I don’t care,” Casey replied. He sank back in his seat and stared ahead, looking small and tense. “But… look, maybe I should’ve told you how bad it really was when it came to that movie. Okay? And I didn’t see the whole thing, either.”
“But… you said you had…?”
“No, I said I’d watched it, but… what the fuck does that matter? My parents were watching it after I went to bed, but hey, I was one of those ‘I want another glass of water’ stalling kids,” Casey explained. “So I tried sneaking downstairs, cos’ I smelled popcorn and stuff… thought my parents would just let me sit with them, if I said I had a nightmare or something. I tried every trick in the book, man.”
Zeke had to smile. “And you called ME sneaky? Shit…” he said. The small, barely-there smile that Casey wore at that was reassuring, but it fled his face as quickly as it’d come.
“Well, I may as well have gotten a nightmare. I was about to get down the stairs when I stopped in the middle, and…” Casey paused. “THAT scene… came on.”
“Which?”
Casey cocked an eyebrow at him, as if to say, ‘are you stupid?’. “The tub scene.”
“Oh…” Zeke murmured.
“Yea. There I am, the biggest wuss that ever lived… just… staring. It was the scariest thing I’d ever seen in my life. I dunno why, it just--”
“No, it’s fucking terrifying, I know,” Zeke interrupted. Casey puffed out a breath and held up his hands.
“Okay, yea, I figured you knew that, seeing as you fuckin’ rigged your shower to scare me, dumbass,” Casey said. “I… Zeke, I couldn’t move. I really couldn’t. And I just started bawling my eyes out. My parents heard it and found me sneaking around on the stairs, and they almost punished me for getting out of bed. But when I didn’t stop crying, my mom got worried and let me stay up--gave me popcorn, put in ’Star Wars’ for me and everything. It didn’t really help when I went to bed later on, or for months after that. It really just… fucked me up.”
Zeke sat back with a long, tired groan. “And you expected me to know about how BAD this was… how?” he asked.
“It shouldn’t have mattered. I didn’t expect you to do what you did,” Casey muttered. “It was even worse than when I was eight… believe me, it took me years to take a bath without thinking about that… scary-assed woman. I always felt, like--extra-naked thinking about it.”
It went quiet, yet again; it let Zeke think hard on the subject. It finally hit him, right between the eyes, and he turned to look at Casey while rubbing his brow. “So… I just… made your ultimate nightmare come to life, huh?”
Casey made a slow, sad nod. “Yea. Pretty much.”
Zeke’s fingers clenched at his elbows as he held himself, tight. “I’m sorry. Okay? I didn’t mean to do that. I just wanted to scare you… I’d even gotten a cheesecake, for fuck’s sake.”
“Huh?”
“Yea. I had a cheesecake in the fridge that I was gonna give you to kiss up afterwards,” Zeke said.
There was a small puff of a chuckle from Casey now, which made the weight Zeke had carried start to feel lighter. “Maybe I should’ve stuck around,” Casey replied.
“Naw… I don’t blame you for leaving,” Zeke said. He looked to Casey and narrowed his eyes. “I’ll just… take you home now. I wanna go home and feel like shit about this for a while.”
Casey bit his lip and turned back to look out the windshield. Zeke sighed, put the car in drive and got them back on the road.
It was less than a minute getting into the small patch of suburbia where Casey lived. Zeke parked at the curb and tried to smile. “Want me to pick you up in the morning?” he asked.
“Yea, okay,” Casey replied. He cleared his throat and put his hand to the lever, but paused to look back at Zeke. “Are we gonna… do anything tomorrow?”
“Hmm?”
“Y’know… Valentine’s, all that crap.”
“Oh,” Zeke murmured. He hadn’t expected this, and it made a smile shudder onto his lips. “I dunno. What did you wanna do?”
“Um… what did you wanna do?”
Both of them snorted at the same time. Zeke put his head back and shrugged. “I dunno,” he said again. “We’ll figure something out.”
Casey smiled back and nodded. “’K,” he said. “See you tomorrow morning.”
“Bye, babe,” Zeke said. He watched Casey get out of the car and head to the house; they didn’t share the usual ‘g’night’ kiss they’d give each other, but Zeke didn’t feel at a loss about it. He did the other usual of waiting until Casey got his front door open, then waved to him before jetting off for home.
~*~
“Aw… c’mere, baby. I’ll keep you safe.”
“I’m fine, what’re you talking about…?”
“You, you’re shaking.”
Casey rolled his eyes. “I’m shaking because you’re rubbing your dick on mine… and it’s getting me off, idiot.”
“N’aw, that ain’t it,” Zeke coolly replied. He pressed the boy to the shower wall and ground their groins together harder. Brushing wet strands of hair from Casey’s brow, Zeke smiled devilishly. “No scary shit goes on in MY shower, Casey-boy. So relax…”
“Uh huh,” Casey said with a snort. His face shifted from amusement to a cross-eyed lust, however, when Zeke reached between their legs to stroke their cocks together in one hand.
“Looks like we can have another go,” Zeke whispered against Casey’s lips before kissing them lightly.
“You promised.”
“Hmm?”
Casey bit his smile and backed up to look at Zeke better. “This was gonna be a small and easy ‘after-sex’ shower… then cheesecake. If I have to put off dessert cos’ you can’t go without seventeen orgasms in one night--”
“You’re harder than me.”
“Ugh, not the point… oh…” Casey moaned out. It couldn’t be helped--not with the way Zeke had started jerking the both of them off. Casey writhed and curled his toes against the porcelain. He went silent now, letting Zeke manipulate his body with expertise. Casey was like clay, so easy to mold and move, to get reactions with every touch Zeke made against his skin. Simple and sensuous… all that he needed.
“L-Love you,” Zeke shook out before they climaxed in unison.