Summer '03
There's a patch of skin low on his back that always burns no matter how much sunscreen he uses. No matter what, he ends up with that one red streak at exactly the wrong place, at exactly that point where it brushes against the waist of his jeans and bumps against the back of the chair and becomes a constant low level ache. No matter what, there’s that one patch that he never can quite reach.
“You’re going to burn.”
Joey tilts his head, shading his eyes with a hand as he tries to make out anything other than a dark blur against the hot, white light.
“I’ve got sunscreen on. Besides, you know me. Italian genes, baby. I’m going to brown.” He grins as the form steps forward, able to picture the faint look of disapproval even if he can’t see the face.
“You always miss a spot.” A knee nudges him and Joey slides over slightly, just enough to let him settle down.
“You worry too much, Richardson. That’s why we’re here, remember. Sun. Sand. No cell phones.” Joey grins to himself when Kevin snorts.
“We’re here because you wanted to see a beach again. Damn you, Fatone. I must have been asleep when I agreed to fly half way around the world because you missed summer.” Kevin’s fingers skim down his back and Joey arches into the touch. “It’s not my fault you spent your summer vacation performing.”
“Right. Because you know, you would have turned down the chance.” Joey shifts, pushing back against Kevin’s hands. The feel of those elegant fingers on his skin may be one of his favorite things in the world. He’s developed a serious kink for Kevin’s hands. Not that he’ll ever tell him that. Though he’s beginning to suspect that Kevin knows, at least if the way Kevin always seems to eat something that he has to lick off his fingers when they go out is any indication. He would be more upset about being played if it weren’t for his discovery that Kevin has an equally strong thing for sex in public places. So, it works out. He gets to watch Kevin’s hands, get turned on then follow Kevin into the bathroom on the way out. And Kevin’s mouth is nearly as hot as his hands.
“Do not attempt to apply logic to my whining.” Kevin’s fingers dance on his back, touch gentle now. Joey shivers, tilting his head, eyes adjusting to the light. Kevin’s face slowly comes into focus, eyes glowing in the sun. Joey feels the smile creasing his face, not even trying to stop it.
“I don’t seem to remember you bitching too badly when I handed you the tickets. I seem to remember someone saying “You do realize it’s summer in Sidney?” Joey grins wider when Kevin wrinkles his nose.
“You suck, Fatone. You can’t remember where your keys are but you remember that.” Kevin sighs, failing miserably at looking upset. It would be hard to do, Joey thinks, eyes roaming over Kevin’s face. It would be hard for Kevin to look miserable when he’s tan and there are red highlights in his hair from the sun and he’s no longer looking like he hasn’t eaten in days.
“I remember the important things,” Joey says quietly, watching as a slow smile slips across Kevin’s face.
“Yeah, you do.” Kevin looks around and then ducks down, kissing Joey lightly. “Come inside. You really are going to burn. The ozone’s thinner down here.”
Joey lets Kevin pull him up, shaking his head slightly. Of course Kevin would know that. Of course he would. He probably knows the number of species in Australia and which are endangered and what steps are being taken to curb their eradication and
Joey’s thoughts skitter to a stop when Kevin’s mouth presses against his. He falls back against the wall, hands dropping to Kevin’s waist, holding him there. They get so little time to do this, to simply luxuriate in one another’s presence. Kissing like this, long and slow and deep and so sweet it makes his head spin is a gift. They almost never have the time.
He strokes the skin under his fingertips, then glides one hand up the groove of Kevin’s spine, the sweat that’s gathered there slick under his touch. He cradles the back of Kevin’s head, smiling at the low moan that elicits. He loved Kevin’s hair long, loved burying his fingers in the softness. But he likes this too. He likes the scruff against his palm and the scrape against his shoulder when he wakes in the morning. He likes it all really. He just likes the feel of Kevin against him.
Kevin finally pulls back, licking at his lips. “Bed.” One word and Joey still hasn’t quite managed to figure out how that one three-letter word can contain so much meaning. Let alone how Kevin’s slow drawl gives it so many syllables. But he doesn’t care about that right now.
“Bed,” he agrees and pushes off the wall, grinning as Kevin laughs. He doesn’t do it nearly enough and Joey’s already made up his mind that he’s going to make Kevin laugh as much as he can. Now that he can. Now that it’s his right to do so, to make Kevin happy. He’s going to do it. He knows he can.
Kevin tugs and Joey falls on top of him, kissing him deeply again. He can’t get enough, can never get enough, never wants to get enough of the taste and feel of Kevin underneath him. He knows that he doesn’t have to worry about whether or not he’s too heavy. Kevin’s strong. He doesn’t have to hold back. Kevin can take it.
Those fingers are back, stroking his face, his chest, burning paths down his skin and dipping under the waist of his swimsuit and oh, how did he do it, how did he manage all those months away in the cold and only seeing him when he could manage insane roundtrips there and back. Ten hour plane trips for three hours of peace and how did they manage all those years, all that time prior when they had even less than that. When he would live from phone call to phone call and for those amazing nights and rare weekends. How did they manage to do it?
But it doesn’t matter now. Now he has this whenever he wants. Has Kevin spread out against pale sheets, eyes shining up at him and sweat glimmering at his temples. This is his now. His and only his, whenever he wants. His breath catches and he leans up, memorizing everything about this moment, the smell of the ocean and the feel of the warm breeze on his skin. When they’re back and torn apart from obligations that he can no longer bring himself to care about, he’ll close his eyes and remember the way the sunlight plays on Kevin’s face.
“Kevin,” Joey sighs out, letting Kevin pull him back down. It’s all a tangle of limbs after that, his and Kevin’s jumbled and moving and somehow they manage to get naked. And then he’s the one looking up, brushing sweat out of Kevin’s eyes as they move against one another. It’s slow and gentle, more a rock than a thrust. It’s too hot for anything else, not with the way they have the air conditioning off and the doors to the balconies open wide. That’s what he tells himself anyway. Not the truth. That this is what he likes best. Locked eye to eye and body to body and all the things they never say shimmering around them. Long and slow and strong. And when Kevin finally rests against him, sticky and sated and smelling of them both, he grins.
“Summer, man. I told you this was a good idea.” Joey turns, pressing a kiss to the top of Kevin’s head.
“Mmmmmm,” Kevin sleepily replies. “It was. Even if you get burnt.”
“Even if.” He traces the words on Kevin’s back, finger just barely brushing the skin. “Even if.”