His mouth was on every part of Doyle's body, finding every inch of interest, an expanse of skin and sinew, familiar but not, like him but not, new to him in the strangest of ways. He'd seen it all, at a distance, seen it when it hadn't been his, but he moved in now, with permission, exploring and mapping the sleep-warm skin with his mouth, tasting, k--

Only queers kiss, so he stopped at the edge of Ray's stubbled jaw, bypassing the open mouth, the inviting lips.

Only queers, he reminded himself, and so he moved down again, too tempted by that mouth, by the warm air that escaped as Ray said his name, moaned it softly, making it sound like something foreign, something he would never have recognized as belonging to him.

"Bodie..." and then another word, so soft he almost couldn't hear it, almost...

"Love," a softly breathed exclamation, another name for him that he also couldn't recognize. He wanted silence, not these words, not his name and Ray's romantic declarations, spoken aloud, hanging in the air with the scent of sex and sweat. In the too warm room it was cloying, the word hanging in the air like too-sweet flowers past their bloom.

"Aw fuck!" That was more like it, Ray's voice harsh and strained, the words forced out between panting breaths, and he took pleasure in that, in making Ray come in his mouth, in the way his back arched, his head thrashed against the covers, his hands clenched into fists.

It was the most powerful feeling in the world, to bring Ray off with his mouth, to have his teeth pressing gently into the sensitive flesh, his lips wrapped tight around the hard pulsing length of him, the coppery scent of him, like a newly minted penny, like earth and the ocean, like nothing else, really, nothing quite so perfect, nothing else hit him so hard, taking his breath, making his heart unsteady and his body tremble.

As Ray let go, as Ray let go in his mouth, as he heard Ray say it again, the words becoming one, his name turning into a declaration, an affirmation, "Bodieloveyes!" the thought slipped past his guard, becoming conscious, bright and vivid and impossible to ignore, so vivid that he could taste it as he could taste Ray in his mouth, and he swallowed...

"Love"

But it spilled past Bodie's lips, into the warm still air, too much to keep inside.

Belatedly, he moved back up Ray's body, propping himself above him and looking down at his face, open and vulnerable, his eyes shut, eyelids fluttering as if he were dreaming, mouth still open, panting slightly, and he lowered himself, letting his lips touch Ray's just barely, not ready to make it a kiss, not knowing what else to do, because it was only his mouth on Ray's now, pressed and sealed against those soft lips, that kept Bodie from saying it again.

-- THE END --