ⱠɄ₵₳

“Oh.” Was Gabi’s initial reaction to the question, she hadn’t been expecting it. However, as the word left her lips, she realized how rude it sounded. “No– no, it’s not a rude question.” She assured, shaking her head quickly. “I go to college sort of a good distance from here, so I left really for that.” It was the easy answer to give him, the one she had given most people for the last few years. “…but I guess I have some haunted memories here, so I’ve avoided coming back.” Gabrielle admitted, giving the male a small shrug.

“Yeah, I uh...” Luca let out a small laugh, but it was humorless. “I know what you mean.” Over time, he’d definitely considered leaving town on more than one occasion, but he just couldn’t do it. Leaving would mean getting away from the tiny bit of Jeremy he had left - the places where they’d made memories together - and he wasn’t sure he could do that, even if it probably would be better for him. He was still attached to a relationship left unfinished, and he wasn’t sure he’d ever get over it. Especially since those memories were the only ‘proof’ he had that they’d even been together, except for a few, coded text messages, and a stack of sticky notes. 

Whenever Jeremy had slipped out while Luca was asleep, he’d leave a scribbled note on the pillow, accompanied by a small, often crude, stick figure drawing of them. Luca had always found them to be a pretty smart move on Jeremy’s part - he couldn’t get mad at the guy for leaving without saying goodbye if he’d made him smile, right? - and he’d saved all of them in a small box, buried deep in his closet. He hadn’t let himself open it since he’d heard the news of Jeremy’s death, but that didn’t matter. He’d looked at them enough times over their relationship to know exactly what each one said. 

“So... did something change? Wait, let me guess-” Luca held up his hand in mock concentration, before giving his prediction. “You heard that a handsome, sharp dressed-” he gestured to his t-shirt, shorts, and sneaker combo, “-and incredibly witty young man moved to town, and you just had to meet him for yourself?” He laughed again, but this time it was real, even if it was at his own dumb joke. “You’ve been wandering the streets with the excuse of looking for a new study spot, but it was really to find me, I see, I get it now.” Teasing her, Luca held out his arm, nodding back in the direction he’d come from. “Come on, let me treat you to lunch. We can sit and try to avoid our haunted memories, together.” 

Gabi shook her head quickly at the male’s question, realizing just how dumb her remark must of made her sound. “Oh no– well… not technically.” She explained, pursing her lips for a moment. “I grew up here, but I haven’t been back here in years… so I used to know all the good spots, but they just all seem… so crowded now.” She slowed down as she kept explaining, realizing the words didn’t make her sound any less pathetic. “You know, yeah– you’re right.” She waved off her tangent, laughing along with him. “Yeah it sure is… are you from here too?”

“Gotcha.” Luca crouched down, tightening the laces on his sneakers, the ones that always seemed to get undone by the end of his run no matter how taut the loops were. “Not originally, no. I moved here a couple years back.” Flashbacks to a much happier time, when he’d first moved in with Myles and his affair with Jeremy had only just begun quickly flooded his head, before he immediately pushed them out. “Why’d you leave? If that’s not like, a rude question.” 

Gabi almost felt stupid at his answer, wondering how she couldn’t have thought of that on her own. “The library, of course.” She shook her head lightly, letting out a small laugh at herself missing the obvious idea. “I’ll be sure to watch out for the rowdy teens.” She joked, wondering if the spot was a new hideout or if she had just overlooked it as a teen. “Thank you though, I’ve been trying to find a good place for almost an hour now.”

Luca nodded, stuffing his hands into his pockets as he gave Gabi a small shrug. Apparently all the self-isolation he’d been putting himself through after Jeremy’s death had resulted in him losing the minimal people skills he’d had left. “Have you just... been wandering the streets, asking people? Because I feel like there probably could have been a more effective way. Like, I don’t know, maybe using Google, for example?” He let out a slightly forced laugh, trying to show that he was just kidding, and not actually annoyed with her question. “I guess that’s one way to meet people, though.” 

“you better. we could always make it a competition but the prize would most likely be the same.” his eyes followed luca as he moved further into the apartment. of course bentley was ready to start what he had called luca over to do but the bantering wasn’t terrible. “don’t make me spell it out for you. we both know what i’m talking about.” a scoff left his lips as he glanced towards the windows in his living room. “we have plenty of mutual hobbies. we’re both big fans of sex, for one.” the obvious answer. bentley was almost embarrassed he said that. almost. “the tongue thing is absolutely my favorite but not the best part.” his eyes rolled. he could feel the other’s breath on his face as they stood closer. it was calming. “i was pissed off because it wasn’t just tiny bites. you marked up an entire area of my body. it was a bitch to cover up.” with everything going on, bentley wasn’t sure why he cared about people finding out about him. he was a different person than he was in high school. people would figure that out all on their own. his eyes closed briefly at the gentle touch of luca’s fingers. he was so good at making bentley weak at the knees. perhaps that why he continued to pull him back for more. “that would be preferable and i’ll never yell at you for marking me up again. promise.” 

“i don’t know... i kind of like the idea of you telling me exactly what you mean.” luca teased, moving his fingers to the bottom of bentley’s shirt, slipping them underneath. “if i have to choose, though, i’d much rather you show me.” the smirk on luca’s lips did nothing to show any sort of remorse he was probably supposed to be feeling over the hickeys he’d left, but in reality, he was actually pretty proud of it. he knew that it had every time bentley had looked at his neck for the next couple days, he would have thought about him, and that was something that brought a tingle to his chest. it was stupid, and definitely petty, but luca wanted to be on bentley’s mind even if he had to force that to happen. “mmhm.” he finally closed the distance between them, letting the back and forth come to an end and giving in as he kissed bentley, slow and gentle, almost innocently - or at least it would be, if they didn’t both know exactly what he was here for. 

“if that’s the case, i’d say we’re both winning.” his eyes rolled slightly as he took a step back to allow luca to walk into the house. hearing the door shut, he placed his hands together in front of his chest. he wasn’t sure what it was about the other male but he made his heart skip a beat or two. there hadn’t been anyone in a while that he actually enjoyed hooking up with. usually it was one night stands that he met out in the bars or out of town. no one that looked at him like luca did. bentley wasn’t sure how the drunken hook up with luca was turning into sober hook ups and happening more often. he wasn’t complaining, though. the sex was good and luca was hot. “yeah, i mean, why let a good view go to waste?” he half smiled as he moved backwards towards the living room. “no, no, that’s definitely not why i asked you to come over. those are other things that shouldn’t go to waste.” bentley thought about those things when he was alone. more than he really should, probably. “we should stop talking about wasting time and do something that please both of us.” his eye brow lifted. he didn’t have to explain any further. 

“i think i can live with a tie.” luca followed bentley, quiet as he took in the surroundings he’d been getting more and more comfortable with. “oh? and... what would that something be?” he played coy, slowly tugging down the zipper of his hoodie, and keeping his eyes on bentley. “do we even have any mutual hobbies? or... oh-” luca laughed, acting like a sudden realization had hit him. “you meant that thing i do with my tongue, didn’t you?” he stepped in, moving slowly, but not stopping until they were only inches apart. “see, last time that happened, you were all about it, but then you called me the next morning all pissed off about the fact that i’d left marks on your skin.” feeling bold, luca gently pressed his fingers to bentley’s neck, trailing them down to his chest. “guess i’ll just have to leave them somewhere no one will see, huh?” 

there were only two things in his life right now that bentley was really good at doing. the first one was drinking enough so he didn’t have to cope with all the guilt and feelings that swam through his mind every single time he left his house. the second was that he enjoyed sex. more specifically, he enjoyed sex with a male. one male. the only male he had slept with. the details of how it started were all blurry but that was to be expected in bentley’s life. everything had been blurry since that day. he tried to make sense of everything but in the end, not feeling was better for him. in and out of itself, it was messy but luca was the only person that made bentley actually feel like he mattered. something about his smile and his charm and his touch made him feel different than he had in a long time. he couldn’t stop something like that. 

putting down his phone, bentley moved towards the door. he swore after the first time this wasn’t going to become a thing. he wasn’t gay. he wasn’t into guys. he wasn’t anything more than what his parents portrayed his entire life. nothing less than perfect. except he left his perfect self the day he found out about jeremy’s death. his eyes rolled as he motioned for luca to come inside. “is it still a game after the first couple times?” his eye brows rose in question, smile on his soft lips. “also, does it bother you that sometimes i just want to admire you?” around luca, in the privacy of their own places, he could say things like that. anywhere else, he was sure heads would roll. 

“well, if it is, i’m pretty sure i’m winning.” luca smirked, stepping inside bentley’s place and shutting the door behind him. his heart skipped a beat at bentley’s question, letting the words sink in as he was reminded why he  yet again put up with being someone’s dirty little secret. bentley could be romantic when he wanted to be, and luca was a sucker for that kind of thing. well, that, and... bentley’s body didn’t exactly hurt the cause. the guy was hot, there was absolutely no denying that, and exactly luca’s type. strong, chiseled, with a handsome smile and gorgeous eyes to boot. the perfect boy next door. “admire me, huh? is that what they’re calling it these days?” he stepped out of his shoes, keeping his eyes on bentley as if looking away would make him disappear. “that’s why you called me over here? just to stand in the middle of the room and pose for you?” he left his shoes by the door and slowly stepped in closer. “sounds like a waste of all the talents i’ve shown you that i have, if you ask me.” 

And then the door opened. Bentley was on the other side, and he smiled at him, and Luca knew he was fucked. It was always so much easier to pretend to hate the guy in retrospect, when they weren’t together, and Luca wasn’t looking into those damn eyes. "Well?” Luca shifted, tightening the strings on his hoodie, to give his fingers something to do besides reach out for Bentley. “Are you going to just stand there and look at me, or are you going to invite me in to play a game of ‘no homo, but...’?”  @rothisms​

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