Vincent took them rather than go cross-eyed and saw they were tickets for a concert for next weekend. That would work well enough with his plan of taking a trip for Jasper’s birthday at least.
“You’ll take me?” Jasper asked.
Vincent met Jasper’s eyes as he handed the tickets back. “Of course.”
Jasper beamed at him and tucked the tickets into the envelope, which he stuck in the book.
Vincent held his hand out, and Jasper eyed him in confusion before offering the book over. It was heavy and bound in black leather. When he flipped through the pages, he saw they weren’t simply definitions of the more common—and some uncommon—kinks but had details and illustrations too. “Where did you even find this?”
“Specialty shop,” Keith replied. “Want the info?”
“Yes, please,” he said, closing the book. It’d be a nice touch to add to the club. Jasper rolled his eyes before setting his games on top of the book. Vincent didn’t miss the pleading stare that followed, and if not for the fact that seemed to be it for the so-called party, he might not have been willing to leave so soon. There hadn’t even been a cake. “Ready to go?”
“Yup!” Jasper replied too brightly, still on his feet. He grabbed his gifts from Vincent, waved, and turned for the door.
Vincent scooped up the package of fox paraphernalia that Jasper was obviously trying to leave behind before sayinggoodbye. Jasper had a small duffel slung over his shoulder when Vincent caught up to him on the way to the car. Once they were on the road, he glanced over at Jasper, who was slumped in his seat. “Is there anything else you want to do today?”
“Not really.”
“Spaghetti for dinner?” he suggested.
Jasper rolled his head against the headrest to stare at Vincent. “Really?”
“Sure.”
He leaned across far enough to rest his head on Vincent’s shoulder. “Thanks.” He was silent for a few moments before he muttered, “Did you really have to bring the fox ears?”
Vincent drew in a slow breath to make sure his voice was steadily neutral when he asked, “You don’t like them?”
Jasper grumbled and bit Vincent’s arm, then asked, “Do you?”
He had no reason to hide it, but he was still hesitant to answer. It wasn’t only the fox ears that he enjoyed. One of his biggest kinks was role-play, and he’d hoped Jasper would at least be open to that. “Yes,” he finally said.
Jasper was silent for a long moment, then pressed his face into Vincent’s arm with a groan, which was as endearing as it was confusing.
“What’s wrong?”
“Shoulda known you’d want to use them,” he grumbled under his breath.
Vincent tried not to get his hopes up. “Do you not want to?” That might not be an outright no, but it wasn’t an enthusiastic yes either. But then, new things rarely were with Jasper. It was something he hoped would change as they explored a bit more.
“It’s embarrassing,” Jasper murmured, so softly Vincent almost missed it over the sound of the car.
Vincent stifled a soft laugh. He was fairly certain Jasper’s reactions so far meant he actually enjoyed being embarrassed, but had yet to call him out on it. He didn’t press now, either, content to save tormenting him for tonight.
When they reached Vincent’s home, he hesitated before shutting the car off. Jasper already had his door open and a foot out before he realized Vincent hadn’t moved and turned back in confusion. “What’s wrong?”
Vincent cleared his throat against the memory of the sour taste on the back of his tongue. “I don’t mind if you drink,” he said after a moment, “but I can’t have alcohol in my home.”
Jasper tilted his head with a slight furrow between his brows, but then he glanced at Vincent’s chest and arm, where his scars—the legacy of his past history with alcohol was literally burned into his skin—were hidden under his shirt. With a soft sound of understanding, he said, “Okay.”
Vincent wasn’t quite expecting such easy agreement. His surprise must have been obvious, because Jasper made a face at him.
“I’m not interested in drinking anyway. Not really. Noah drinks and smokes enough for the both of us. Among other things,” he muttered.
Vincent hummed softly and finally climbed out of the car. “He didn’t seem to like me much.”
Jasper followed after him with a scowl and shut the car door with more force than necessary. “I don’t care what he thinks. I’m surprised he even showed up. Not like we’ve talked much since I was a kid.” He stalked into the house and kicked his shoes off by the door. “Gonna put these up,” he said on his way up the stairs.
