Heart and Soul - Chapter 51: Chapter 51

Richie took Luca back to the cabins, where they'd left the cars.
Johnny's brother Kevin went with them. Meanwhile, the rest of them had to see their hike to the end. Johnny and Bella were the ones who complained the most about that decision.
It was after dark when Luca returned, with his ankle patched up and medical assurance that he would, in fact, live. He did, however, have a new excuse to sit down and have people bring him stuff.
That day, Carter and Seth fell asleep as soon as they hit the mattress. When Carter's eyes opened again, Seth was no longer lying by his side. But the bed wasn't empty. Carter squinted through the bright morning light to get a better look at the honey-brown eyes smiling down at him.
"Hey," he croaked out.
"Hey," Johnny replied, lips stretching into a smile that made Carter's stomach feel fuzzy.
Carter rolled onto his side. He examined Johnny's tousled hair, falling gently over his face; the glimmer in his enticing eyes; the curve of his inviting lips; the lines of his relaxed body. Carter's stomach came alive again and his chest stirred with that tingling feeling he didn't seem able to stop noticing since that conversation with Seth.
"This is a nice way to wake up," he mused through a lazy smile.
Johnny bit back his own grin, leaning in. Before they could kiss, Carter moved out of the way.
"Morning breath," he warned.
Johnny rolled his eyes. "I don't care."
So, Carter caved. He always did. He was hopeless like that. With Johnny, always.
Johnny deepened their kiss, tangling his fingers in Carter's hair a little too enthusiastically, before he climbed onto his lap.
"Wow—"
Johnny slipped off Carter with a resigned humph, looking a little irritated.
"—sorry to interrupt, but your parents sent me to get you two outside," Seth told them. "I should've probably knocked, though."
"Ya think?"
Carter shot Johnny a reprimanding look at the harsh tone, but his boyfriend paid him no attention.
If Johnny was upset about their morning interruption though, his mood definitely didn't improve when he learned what was planned for the day. Being the last to get ready meant they didn't get much of a say when Kevin and Richie suggested a friendly touch football game.
Luca was also unhappy, but for different reasons. He tried to argue with Tony that he could play, despite his leg—"It doesn't even hurt anymore, old man!"—but his dad wouldn't budge. Jack suggested, with a little grin, that Bella should take his spot. She wasn't amused.
"I'll just keep Johnny and Luca company," Bella said as a final declaration.
"Johnny is playing," Kevin countered.
Johnny snorted, crossing his arms and taking a seat by Bella's side on the porch steps. "No, he's not," he said dryly.
"We're not an even number," Richie pointed out.
"I'll play," Charlie offered excitedly.
Tony picked him up. "No, you're sitting with us, little man."
"I'll play," Lydia offered.
"It's football, Lyd," Kevin remarked.
"So?" Lydia scoffed. "I'm better than Johnny, but you asked him."
"He's a guy."
"Go for his calves, Lydia," Bella encouraged, making Johnny laugh.
"It's touch football. No tackling and no violence," Richie declared.
"Basically, no fun allowed," Frankie joked.
Once they managed to get Luca to sit down between Bella and Johnny, the teams were formed. Carter was playing on Johnny's brother's team, with Jack and Frankie.
He could still feel Johnny's eyes on him throughout the game. Just knowing he was being watched left a tickly feeling in chest, but it was whenever he dared meet Johnny's attentive gaze that he felt his stomach do that little flip-flop trick.
The two of them managed to sneak into the cabin to steal a clandestine moment in Carter's room, after the game. Seth knocked before they could tumble onto the bed together and clothes started to peel off. Carter could feel Johnny's irritation toward his best friend once again, as he left, unsatisfied.
Despite the heat, and the humidity, and the crowded tiny spaces, Carter had to admit the 'cabin in the wetlands' tradition hadn't exactly disappointed. It certainly had its moments.
"When we told you we wanted to take hike, you all whined about it, and now you wanna go without us?" Tony asked, on Thursday, after his children let him know of their independent plan for the day.
"Yeah," Frankie said. "This is going to be a cool hike. No old people."
"I hear you're planning on trying out for varsity football next year," Coach Mason chimed in. "Does calling your coach 'old' seem like a good strategy to you?"
Frankie's lips parted, as though he was going to top that with a witty comeback, but he seemed to think better. Smart move.
"You're not going, young man," Tony stated firmly as he saw Luca stand up.
"Oh, come on—I'm fine," he exclaimed. "Good as new."
"I'll watch out for him," Lydia offered teasingly.
Luca's eyes widened and he nodded vehemently. "Yeah. She could totally fight an army of snakes for me."
Tony laughed, shaking his head. Coach grinned behind him.
"We'll keep him on close watch," Richie told his dad, laying a hand on Luca's shoulder.
To Carter's surprise, that worked. Maybe he'd underestimated the trust his stepfather had on his oldest son.
Despite Frankie's words of over-selling confidence, though, the second hike was much like the first. That didn't come as a shock to Carter, but Johnny seemed quite disappointed in himself after only a few minutes in.
"Why did I agree to come again?"
He and Carter had fallen behind the group again, but they could still see Bella and Seth walking ahead.
"I hate hiking," Johnny groaned. "I hate humidity, I hate the outdoors, I hate living buzzing flying things, and I officially hate the Everglades."
Carter reached for Johnny's hand tentatively. "I'm still happy you came."
Johnny smiled, despite himself. "Our hands are gonna get all sweaty," he mumbled.
"Want me to let go?"
"No..."
Carter grinned, interlacing their fingers. Johnny rolled his eyes, even through the smile, and turned to keep walking. Carter didn't budge, tugging at his hand to make Johnny stumble back into him.
Carter caught with with two arms around his waist and a kiss.
Johnny laughed into his lips, pulling back a little to look at Carter. He was about to say something, but before he could, Carter beat him to it.
"I love you."
There was that rush again.
Johnny's lips parted wordlessly and he stared back at Carter. A nervous tingling joined the surge of warm happiness swimming in Carter's stomach.
"Is that too much, too soon?" He asked, quietly.
Johnny shook his head instantly, smiling broadly. "I love you too."
Carter grinned. They stared at each other like two grinning fools for a few seconds, before one of them finally thought to pull the other into a kiss. Or maybe they both leaned in at the same time. But they definitely kissed. And it was as good as ever.
"Hey!"
They parted to see Bella and Seth standing a few feet ahead. The others were no longer anywhere in sight.
"This hike is going to take a hell of a lot more if you two are stopping to make out every half a mile," Bella said.
"You're just angry, because you're realizing all those tacos are weighting you down," Carter shot back.
Bella crossed her arms, raising her eyebrows in challenge. "I'm not the one falling behind, golden boy."
"I was kind of having a moment," Carter muttered.
"Have your moments another time," Bella retorted grumpily.
Carter scoffed. "You just don't know how to see other people happy. You have to ruin it."
"I only ruined anything, because you're too fucking sensitive."
"Would it seriously hurt you not to impose your opinion on the world when it's not required?"
"Those are always the best times to impose my opinion."
"You're impossible."
"I disagree."
"No one asked."
"Jesus—you really committed to the brother-sister thing, didn't you?" Johnny snapped.
Carter scoffed. "We can't act like brother and sister because, every time I think we're good, she finds something to bicker about."
"I think you missed his point, dude," Seth commented.
"Yeah." Johnny rolled his eyes. "Take it from someone who's had a sister for fifteen years. You and Bella are a textbook case."
Carter's mouth gaped open and he glanced at Seth to see him nod agreeably. His eyes found Bella, before they both averted their gazes somewhere else. They tried to ignore Johnny and Seth's knowing smiles, for the rest of the hike.
Later the same day, Carter crawled into bed next to Seth for their last night before going back home. They were about to turn off the lights, when a quick knock on the door was swiftly followed by Bella sneaking inside.
"What are you doing here?" Carter asked.
Bella shot him a dry glare. "What's it look like? We're switching rooms."
"But—"
"Get off."
Carter slid away, just before Bella climbed onto the bed. Seth was doing a poor job of hiding his smile as Bella waved Carter goodbye. He slipped off his room, making it to Johnny's as quickly and quietly as possible.
Johnny was sitting in bed when Carter came in, with his reading glasses on and a book supported on his knees. He smiled up at Carter as he shut the door behind him and made it to the bed.
"How's rooming with Bella?" Carter asked, crawling over to him.
Johnny slipped a bookmark in, before setting his book aside with a sly grin. "Is that what you want to talk about? Your sister?"
Carter shook his head. He rested one hand on Johnny's face before moving in for a short kiss. He mouthed down Johnny's jaw, attaching his lips to his neck. The familiarity of the action took nothing away from the thrilling feeling in his chest.
Slowly, he moved to place himself between Johnny's legs, hands slipping from his face, down his sides and to his hips. He wrapped his arms around Johnny's thighs and tugged once to pull him down the bed into horizontal position.
Johnny laughed, removing his glasses and setting them over his book.
Carter was quick to get rid of all the clothes getting between them. Most of the offending pieces of fabric belonged to Johnny, but soon Carter had him in just his underwear, head digging back into the mattress and chest rising lasciviously as Carter pulled the last garment down his legs to his ankles.
The first time he'd done what he was planning to do next, Carter had been riddled with delicious doubt and nervous excitement. Now, he took Johnny into his mouth without hesitation, feeling his own groin constrict at the sound he squeezed out of his boyfriend.
"You need to be quiet," Carter whispered against the skin on the inside of Johnny's thighs.
Johnny bit his lip, letting out a sigh. "You're getting really good at that," he offered as a weak excuse.
It had been a while since they'd last had a chance at intimacy, and the last few days dancing around each other had been too much like slow, agonizing teasing, so it didn't take long. Johnny melted into the mattress as he came down from his high and Carter laid down by his side to watch him.
"I need another minute," Johnny breathed, pulling his underwear back up his legs a little limply.
Carter smiled. When Johnny seemed to be recovering, and slowly slipping into sleepiness, he turned on his side.
"Can I ask you something?"
Johnny blinked twice, to open his nearly closed eyes wide, and hummed in response.
"It's just... There's a lot of stuff you know about me that I don't really know about you," Carter let out. "Like, you know Mel was my first and only serious relationship. Despite how that turned out."
"I never had a boyfriend if that's what you're asking," Johnny said plainly, sounding perfectly awake now.
"Right..." Carter played with his fingers, biting his lip. He cleared his throat to try again. "You also know I'm not a virgin, and probably even know how many girls I've been with..." He finished that last part off a little awkwardly, because unfortunately that was the sort of information regarding his life that traveled the fastest around their school.
Johnny's face was neutral, as he said, "Okay... You want to know if I've had sex?"
Carter shrugged. The answer was yes.
"Not really," Johnny told him.
Carter tried to take that in. He didn't really know what Johnny meant by it, or how to stir the conversation where he wanted it to go. Regardless, he tried again.
"When we first started... this... you always looked like you kinda knew what you were doing." He tried a look at his boyfriend. "Like, a lot, actually. Like you had experience."
Carter watched Johnny lick his lips, before answering.
"There was only one guy, during the summer after freshman year," he gave in. "In science summer camp. Sam."
Carter's eyebrows drew in. "Like your car?" He asked slowly.
Johnny's lips curled in an amused little smile. "That was a funny coincidence. Kind of a really good ice-breaker too."
Carter hummed. "Do you still talk to Sam?" He had no idea why that name tasted so bitter now.
"Not really," Johnny replied. "We texted for a while but then we fell out of touch."
"So, you and Sam... hooked up?"
"I guess." Johnny shrugged. "We were roommates for two weeks, and he liked Star Trek too. We didn't even get to know each other much. We never did much, either. Neither of us had much experience—as in, we had none at all. It was mostly just kissing... some hand stuff... and I went down on him, but he never actually returned the favor." He shot Carter a conniving smile. "So... that day in your room... that was actually the first time I did that. Or, had that done to me."
Carter gave into the grin that pulled at his lips. "Yeah?"
Johnny laughed. "That makes you happy?"
Carter shrugged, without bothering to hide the smile. "A little," he confessed. "I kinda like the idea of being your first at something. Is it weird?"
Johnny shook his head, smiling as well. "You're my first at a lot of things, to be honest," he whispered.
Carter couldn't ignore the gushing heat that pooled at the base of his stomach.
"If it's worth anything," he spoke evenly, "there are a lot of things that I did before that still felt like a first with you. Like, the first time it felt right. First time I realized how good everything is supposed to feel."
Johnny let out a long breath that sounded awfully like a sigh. "Yeah... I think that's worth something."
Carter laughed. He bit his lip, forcing himself to get his head focused back on his initial intentions.
"You never had anyone other than Sam?"
Johnny snorted. "Not exactly a master seducer, here," he retorted. "I sort of stuck more to the lanes of antisocial nerd."
Carter laughed. He licked his lips, trying again. "So, you never had sex? Like, all of it."
Johnny relaxed his smile into a more neutral expression. "No."
Carter shifted in place. "Is it something you want, though?"
"I guess... I don't plan on growing into a monk."
"Yeah, I know." Carter laughed, but it sounded embarrassingly like a giggle. He breathed in and, as he breathed out, he closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he said, "What I mean is..."
"I know what you mean," Johnny said, once Carter trailed off. "And the answer's the same." He smiled. "I think it's something I'd like to try... with you."
Carter reveled in the delightful twirl inside his stomach. Johnny looked at him with expectant eyes.
"Me too," Carter said. "I mean, not with me—with you."
Johnny snorted. "Yeah, I got that, champ."
Carter laughed nervously. "Sorry, I'm getting awkward."
"It's fine," Johnny said softly.
"I just... I don't really..." Carter took in a deep breath. "How do we know, like, who does what?"
Johnny seemed to reflect on his question for a few beats of silence. "Are you asking because you have any particular apprehensions you'd like to share?" He asked carefully.
Carter bit his lip. "Maybe," he muttered. "I don't know." He sighed. "That's kind of the problem, I don't really know how this works. With girls it was easier. It was expected, so there was tons of information. From my mom, school... the locker room."
"Okay..." Johnny mused quietly. "I get that," he said simply. "We're not in a race, though. We don't have to rush it. You could take time to... collect information."
"You mean, go online... like you?"
Johnny's expression didn't look entirely sold. "I mean... if you want. But that's not the most reliable. It can end up making you more nervous and confused, if you don't know where to look."
"Then what?"
Johnny let out a laugh. "I don't know. How do you usually sort these issues?"
"I talk to my mom," Carter replied. "Or Seth."
Johnny rolled his eyes, with an audible scoff. "Doubt your linebacker buddy will be any help with gay bedroom matters."
Carter shrugged lightly. "Actually, he's been. Twice already."
Johnny looked utterly skeptical. "Really?"
"Yeah."
Somehow, Johnny didn't look completely convinced with that. He shook it off though, climbing onto Carter's lap, one knee at each side of his hips, and smiled down at him. Carter melted.
"Tell you what," Johnny murmured smoothly, spreading his hands over Carter's naked chest. "If it helps soothe your head a little bit... I'm open-minded about this." He smiled, when Carter looked like he didn't quite get it.
"I mean," Johnny started again, suggestively, "I've sort of thought about it... alone... in my room...," his hands trailed up to Carter's shoulders, "and I think I wouldn't mind to try it like this."
Carter swallowed a moan, when Johnny rolled his hips, generating friction through the fabric of their underwear. Johnny leaned in.
"With you, I think I'd like this," he whispered in Carter's ear.
"Yeah?" Carter breathed.
Johnny came up to smile at him. "Yeah," he confirmed. "Is that something you'd want?"
Carter licked his lips, still feeling the effects of Johnny's little stunt, while under the enticing control of that honey-brown gaze.
"I think so," he answered raucously.
Probably reading the arousal in Carter's face—and feeling it beneath him, within its cotton confinement—Johnny smirked.
"You think?" He taunted.
Carter laughed. "Just get off."
Johnny tilted his head. "Why? I had something planned."
Carter gulped at that tone. He knew himself and he was completely unequipped to resist whatever Johnny intended to do next. Staying quiet was sweet torture, but their night ended up being long and fulfilling.