Nico could have fucked him the day they met. They’d both wanted it. But they’d synced up so flawlessly in every conceivable way that Nico hadn’t wanted just a one-night-stand with him. Nico knew better than to fuck with perfection. Sex always fucked up relationships and relationships always fucked up sex.
But…was it really fucking with it if he just let himself…touch…a little?
He bit his lip, heart rate doubling as his hand slipped into the open slit of Mal’s tank-top, his fingers tracing the cut of his abs while he pretended to focus on the adorable giant rodent waddling across the laptop screen. He wasn’t sure when his eyes fell shut, but it made it much easier to enjoy the warm, firm skin beneath his palms.
Without his sight, everything else was heightened. His chest heaved, suddenly painfully tight as Mal’s breath hitched. Nico’s fingers shook, terrified to keep pushing but more afraid Mal would tell him to stop. He shifted restlessly beneath Nico’s fingers, stomach dipping as the muscles there contracted. Nico rubbed his cheek against the soft shirt again, noting Mal’s hard nipple now poking through the thin fabric.
He swallowed painfully, biting down on his lip as his fingers dipped a little lower, dancing over the skin just beneath his belly button. He felt so good underneath his palms. It would be so easy to just turn his head and press his lips to the hard nub, wet the fabric with his tongue. Would Mal like that? Would he like it if he scraped his teeth over him, bit down just a little? Fuck, Nico was so fucking hard. If he opened his eyes, would he find Mal was too?
Nico needed to stop this. Mal was amazing. He was the best thing to ever happen to Nico, really. Not many people could say their best friend was their everything. But Mal was. He was the person Nico ran to when he was sad or happy or furious or scared or anxious. Whenever he heard something cool or scandalous, whenever one of their friends did something stupid or dirty, Mal was the first person he wanted to tell. Mal was his confidant, his protector, his fiercest defender.
And nobody knew Mal like Nico.
The others saw him as crazy, as someone wild and unpredictable. Someone who rarely spoke in anything but riddles and, when he did, only a handful of people in the world were smart enough to understand them. Sure, Mal was all of those things, but to Nico, he was just…a house cat. Well, more like an alien from some planet of intelligent felines who had crash landed on Earth and was now stuck there trying—and failing—to masquerade as a human.
Mal was warm and funny and sweet and actually quite normal if he was comfortable around a person. Sure, he wouldn’t stop smacking Nico’s ass, or squeezing it, or sniffing his hair. But it wasn’t that strange. Not when Nico couldn’t stop petting Mal, hugging him, using him as a buffer between himself and the rest of the world at large. Yeah, they were weirdly codependent but…weren’t all best friends, really?
Nico squeaked, eyes flying open, as Mal’s hand clamped down on his wandering fingers, holding them in a vice-like grip. “What is happening right now?” he asked hesitantly, tone neutral like he didn’t want Nico to think he was judging the situation prematurely.
Nico wiggled free of Mal’s hold and flopped onto his back with a groan. “Sorry.”
Nico could feel Mal’s intense gaze boring into him from the side. After a long moment, he closed the laptop, setting it on thefloor. He rolled onto his side, propping his head on his palm as he stared down at Nico. “Sorry about what?”
Nico sighed, forcing himself to meet his gaze. “Groping you.”
Mal rapid-blinked at him in that way he did when he was trying to process a situation. Nico found it adorable, like he was getting a new download from the mothership. “Why are you…groping me, exactly?”
Nico raised a hand and waved it around, his heart still parkouring around his chest cavity. “It’s just been a lot. I’m kind of going through it.”
“Going through it?” Mal echoed like he was rolling the words around in his brain.
Nico nodded. “You know…sexually.”
“Yeah, I got that,” Mal said, voice strained. “Um, why is it so hard–uh–difficult to hookup with someone lately?”
Not just lately. Since the day they’d met. That was how long it had been since Nico had gotten laid. But he wasn’t going to tellhimthat. That was embarrassing, pathetic even. Not as pathetic as the way he was trying to keep from angling his body back into Mal’s space to get that thick, muscular thigh back between his legs. The idea of it pressing against his throbbing dick had him biting back a groan like some virgin.
“It’s kind of hard to explain to people that your platonic bestie sleeps in the same bed as you,” Nico confessed.
“Is that why you go to their place?” Mal asked, his tone darkening.
Nico swallowed, wincing at how loud it sounded. Maybe it was all in his head and Mal couldn’t hear him struggling. “Yeah. Bringing them here just leads to a bunch of questions.”
Mal’s fingers found the hem of Nico’s shirt—well, Mal’s shirt—and worried the fabric between his fingers, his hand occasionally brushing against Nico’s belly, slowly driving himinsane. “Do you want to look for a three-bedroom place when we can afford to move?”
The idea instantly soured his mood. “No!” he all but shouted, earning an odd look from Mal. Nico could feel his face heating under the scrutiny. “I’m just…horny.”
They were all working as much as possible, anxious to save money for the first, last, and security necessary to secure a bigger place in a better neighborhood, one closer to the city where both Shiloh and Mal—and, to a lesser extent, Nico and Levi—had to commute every day. But despite Nico’s complaining, it had never once occurred to him to look for a three-bedroom apartment. His stomach churned. Not having Mal as his body pillow at night wasn’t an option.
“Right.” Nico’s brain rebooted as Mal caught his plump bottom lip between his teeth. Nico wanted to sinkhisteeth into it. “Can’t you just jerk off? That’s what I do.”
Heat punched through him at Mal’s casual confession. It wasn’t news that Mal jerked off. Nico was fairly certain everyone in the apartment did. Even the ‘newlyweds’ in the room next door and they never stopped fucking. Ever.
But the last thing Nico needed was to picture Mal on his back, hand fisting his dick, jerking himself off–in their bed–while he thought of…well, who knew what Mal thought of, honestly. It could have been something weirdly wholesome like fucking on rose petals or some kind of super dirty hentai porn.
Nico secretly hoped it was him.
But even if it was, sex was the one place they just weren’t compatible. While Nico craved someone sweet and doting and loving like Mal in a friend, in bed he wanted anything but. He wanted to hurt, wanted to be dominated. Wanted someone who would spank him until he cried, would fuck him in an alley, someone who would get off on making him suffer. Not that he’dever found that, but still. He was almost positive it was a thing he would like.
