It was ridiculous. Although he’d never been a very social person—he’d just learned to pretend and fit into society with time—his childhood had been a pretty healthy one. He had a caring mother and sister, and for some time he’d had a supportive father, too.
He’d also had everything that helps people develop and grow: toys, football, video games, friends, grounded here and there when he’d misbehaved… He didn’t feel like he’d missed anything or like he hadn’t tried all that he wanted to later in his teens.
But still, his brain was reacting as if he had some kind of trauma. He’d seen it in Leah; the way she hid the intrusive thoughts behind fake smiles, the way she struggled and lived in denial some days, simply burying the uncomfortable emotions to pull through life. She had a fucking real reason to respond like that to certain stimuli and situations, though. But him? What had happened to him?
Fucking whiny baby.
“Dude, I’m all sticky and wanna shower too, you know?” Marc knocked on the door of the bathroom, crashing the loop of thoughts that was going nowhere. “And I’d like it to be before dinner.”
“Shithead!” Chris shouted.
“Assclown! Why did you lock the door?” Marc asked as he played with the doorknob. “What if I needed to pee? Which, by the way, I need to.”
“Well, sorry. But I don’t wanna see you peeing while I’m trying to shower and have a minute of peace.”
“Are you for real?” Chris could hear the condescension and the smirk in Marc’s tone. “Do I have to remind you about that one time we were in Zurich and I was taking a shower, but you couldn’t wait because you were feelingsick?”
The guitarist scrunched his nose, hoping he didn’t finish the story he knew pretty well, sadly.
“That diarrhea smelled like death.”
Chris rolled his eyes and a sudden wave of embarrassment he’dneverfelt with this anecdote punched him in the guts.What in the hell?“Are you ever gonna let go of that one?”
“Fuck no. Now get out of the shower and let me in.”
“Jesus, you’re so overbearing.” Chris tittered, mentally thanking his friend for always bringing him back to the light when he was spiraling down.
They had just shared one of the most erotic moments of his life, probably one of his top five fucks to date—wouldn’t tell him that—and here they were now, talking about peeing and shitting as if they hadn’t had each other’s cocks down their throats.
He had to admit, though, that he loved this. It put him at ease seeing how effortlessly they could shift from one mood to the other. Maybe this friends-with-benefits thing wouldn’t be that bad after all.
“My house, my bathroom, my fucking rules,” Marc retorted. “Come on, dude. My bladder is gonna explode and dinner’s gonna be here any minute.”
“So exaggerated.”
“You’ve been in there twenty minutes already.”
Oops! He hadn’t realized it’d been that much.
“Okay, okay… Jeez, such a baby.”
Chris stepped onto the bathmat and dragged the fluffy material under his feet towards the door while wrapping the towel he’d just grabbed around his waist. He stood there, paralyzed, for two seconds that felt way too long. But after taking a deep breath, he finally opened. This shouldn’t be that big of a deal, yet it was.
“About time,” Marc clipped as soon as they were face to face.
Walking past him, he went straight for the toilet and, with no modesty, he grabbed his junk and started peeing. Sigh of relief included.
He was still naked as a jailbird and Chris couldn’t help but shake his head with a silent chuckle.
This was so them, it wasn’t even funny. Shame hadn’t existed in their relationship since the first real but tiny tour the band had done in the bassist’s van six years before. They’d eaten each other farts, burps, and smelly feet for breakfast more times than he was willing to admit when they were getting interviewed. So, yeah, they were above all these pleasantries most people danced around when they started hooking up with someone new.
“I ordered Chinese,” Marc said out of the blue while shaking himself.
“Okay,” Chris mumbled, looking at him through their reflection in the mirror as he dried his hair with a smaller towel.
“Got you that almond pork dish you like so much.”
His mouth watered instantly. “I could survive on that shit.”
