Satin Summer Nights (Josh)

[Dr. Sean Neville]

As a child, Sean had lived in the suburbs in an area similar to where they lived now: a house in a family neighborhood with a large backyard, albeit in New York instead of in New England. As a result, he’d been able to enjoy all of the traditional outdoor backyard activities: catching fireflies, family barbecues, gardening with his mother.

The telepath also hadn’t had to grow up in New York City. Central Park had been exceptionally unsafe when he had been a college student, but he had been an adult at that point. Trying to use Central Park as a backyard as a child was a dangerous proposition.

“No, that wouldn’t have been a wise idea,” Sean conceded. Fortunately, Josh’s parents had provided enough guidance to prevent him from having done something that dangerous at such a young age.

His smile widened at his partner’s other comment. “You shouldn’t let nature thwart your plans. If you want to snuggle anyway, we can snuggle. It’s such a nice night.”

Having heard and felt nobody approach in the past few minutes, as such, he spoke with impunity. “I could take off my shirt, if you wanted. That would give you reason to have to snuggle with me.”

[Joshua Bernstein]

"Hmmm," Josh mused, leaning forward to move the throw pillow from under his feet to behind his head. "I suppose I don't need an excuse, but I never object to having you shirtless, either."

Even if said shirtless Sean was only in his imagination.

"But you see, you have to let me help you. Do you have buttons or do I just need to slide it over your head?"

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Sean took another few steps into the woods along the path, going as far as necessary to find a large enough stone for him to use as a makeshift bench. Once he found it, he sat down, resting for the duration of this telephone call; it would be nice to rest his feet and knees for a while.

And, since he wasn’t James Campbell, he didn’t mind getting a bit dirty by sitting in the woods in the first place. It was off the ground and would be easy to rise from, when necessary; that was all that he needed at the moment.

“Then we’re agreed on what needs to happen,” he said with a smile.

At the question, he moved the hand not cradling the cell phone to his chest, feeling along the buttons of his shirt. “I’m wearing a polo, so it has three buttons near the top but otherwise needs to be pulled over my head.”

It was too warm for a long-sleeved button-down shirt, and the polo was professional enough to wear around students. “Admittedly, the first button is already undone, but I could button it up for you so that you could do all three. Since your heart is set on helping.”

[Joshua Bernstein]

"I do want to help," Josh agreed, envisioning one of Sean's polos. He was quite familiar with what was needed to take those off, and so he nodded slightly before remembering that he needed to actually verbalize his needs.

"So yes, let's start from the top and unbutton all three buttons before just sliiiiding that shirt over your head so that I can snuggle and keep you warm."

He fingered the top button on his own shirt while he spoke, content to allow Sean to be the only shirtless one for now, but expecting that eventually he would be shedding his top as well.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

“Do you want to take this slow?” Sean asked, as he ran his fingers along the middle button, since the top was already unbuttoned. The pleasure in the activity was the pacing of their talk, as well as the shared fantasy; as such, he wanted them to be on the same page with this. “Or do you want to rush?”

The telepath then unbuttoned the second and third buttons of his shirt, before feeling the warm night air against the top of his chest. He then leaned back a bit, assuming a mock sunbathing pose, as absurd as it might appear given the hour of the night. It was comfortable enough, which was all that he cared about at the moment. He could remove the whole shirt in a bit, if the mood struck; that wouldn’t be entirely improper, since he swam bare-chested; but there was no reason to risk that at the moment.

Instead, they had the shared fantasy.

“Now, what do you want to do with me shirtless?” He asked softly. While they were alone, he wanted that to remain; as such, he couldn’t risk speaking loudly enough to call attention to himself. Just in case one of the other adult chaperones had decided to go for a walk and was within audial range. Or if one of the students had chosen to sneak out after bed check.

[Joshua Bernstein]

"Slow," Josh answered without hesitation. Slow meant keeping Sean on the phone longer, and that was currently a very strong motivating factor. He didn't want to think about after the phone call ended, when he would have to go back to bed alone.

"Oh? Do you want me to do something other than snuggling?" He grinned despite the slight pang of loneliness at the thought that Sean wasn't there, and he couldn't actually perform any of the actions running through his mind at Sean's question. "Mmmmm, but you look so good, it's difficult not to run my hands along your chest. I don't think I have the self-control not to."

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Sean wasn’t surprised that Josh preferred they go slow; Sean did as well. That would allow them to have the most possible time together, which was what the telepath wanted. Since they were apart physically, they needed to make up for it in what capacity that they could. Even if that was only a telephone call and devoted attention.

“I’m happy to do whatever you want to do,” Sean answered softly. He was sincere in that offer. He was happy to let Josh dictate the parameters of this shared fantasy of theirs, since that would add to his partner’s enjoyment and thus would add to the telepath’s as well.

He then smiled again when Josh continued. “I don’t mind if you lack the self-control,” he said, both absolving his partner as well as encouraging him further. The telepath slid his hand across his chest, over his shirt, mimicking the motions that he knew his partner would take if they were together. “I’ve always loved the way your hands felt,” he told the other man softly.

That was the truth. Sean didn’t speak idly about such matters.

“Will you take your glasses off? Or do you want to keep them on?” He asked.

[Joshua Bernstein]

"Have you?" Josh could feel his face heat in pleasure at the compliment, simple as it was; he never did tire of hearing that Sean liked him or enjoyed his company or touch. "I believe that works well, then, since I've always loved touching you with them."

The question gave him pause, and he thought a moment before deciding, "I'm not worried about them breaking if we go slow, but I'll take them off if you want me too."

Once Sean had told him that he liked the way the glasses looked; at the time his vanity had only just been put aside to buy them, and he had been so embarrassed. He had worried they made him look old. Now, however, he was used to them.

And anyway, he had trouble seeing without them.

"But on or off I'm definitely caressing your chest, and I think I'll lean in close so that our noses are touching, and then I'll brush my lips up against yours, gently at first, but I know that never lasts and I don't really want it to. Deepening the kiss is communicating how much I'm attracted to you."

[Dr. Sean Neville]

“You don’t have to,” Sean assured his partner. As he had told Josh when the younger man had first begun wearing glasses a decade ago, he thought that they complimented his eyes. In the intervening decade, the telepath had also gotten used to seeing them on his partner’s face; Josh wore glasses now, and they certainly weren’t a source of shame or embarrassment as far as Sean was concerned. “If you’re not worried about them breaking, then keep them on.”

The smile on his lips grew as his partner continued to talk. Nothing that they said would be worthy of one of this premium telephone hotlines, but that was fine. This wasn’t for other people to judge; it was only between them, and their words had deeper significance.

“I can hear it,” he told his partner. That wasn’t true in this instance, but it was as significant a statement as any other for the sake of this fantasy. That was how it had been for Sean since he’d had his telepathy, and thus for any intimate relationship he’d ever had. “That’s how I know to part my lips for you, so you can deepen the kiss. And I’ll wrap my arms tightly around your back to keep you from going anywhere.”

[Joshua Bernstein]

"Then I'll keep them on," Josh replied, content to leave them on as there really was no danger to them at all.

Sean had mentioned the importance of his telepathy and how influential it was on intimacy before, and so what would have been a bizarre statement coming from anyone else was accepted as natural coming from his partner.

"That you can hear and know what I want without me saying is always nice."

When he'd been younger it hadn't always been; sometimes it had seemed very nice indeed, and other times it had been bothersome. It was one thing for his boyfriend to offer him a massage or coffee when he was tired, but quite another for Sean to propose activities Josh fantasized about but hadn't quite accepted his own interest in.

"I like your arms around me, but I'm not going anywhere, unless my tongue is going in your mouth."

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Sean’s telepathy had proved to be a hazard in several of his past relationships. It wasn’t easy for a non-psychic to adapt to relationships with telepaths, because, as Sean had mentioned many times to Josh over the years, his needs were inherently different from those of non-psychics. The relationships of longer duration had been so because his partners at the time indulged him, if they didn’t quite adapt.

Josh adapted more than others; he’d adapted far more than he had when they were younger. For which Sean was grateful. He could simply be himself with Josh. As such, he smiled at the younger man’s remark.

Telepathy made everything more real.

Despite himself, he chuckled lightly at his partner’s escalation. “I’d meant that to help you keep your balance, not that I was afraid you’d leave me now. But I won’t object to your tongue either.”

The telepath continued to smile to himself, alone in the darkness, before he added, “I’d be a little worried if you actually thought your tongue counted as moving. You’re a bit old to learn that you’re meta and that your power is a prehensile tongue. And we’d both have been woefully inattentive not to have realized before, either.”

[Joshua Bernstein]

"I suppose my balance leaves something to be desired now that I'm no longer young and spry." Josh sighed. "But at least it's still good enough I'm not falling off my bicycle."

One day he would learn to drive, as cycling around Pilot Ridge wasn't always the most convenient method of transportation. He could call taxis, but they typically weren't located in town, and he couldn't just hail one off the streets, so even those were only reserved for special circumstances.

"Ooooh, a prehensile tongue could be interesting." He mused at Sean's commentary. "The things I could do with that. But alas, no, I'll just have to satisfy myself with running my tongue along yours. I realize that pales in comparison to a prehensile tongue but it's the only one I have."

[Dr. Sean Neville]

“If I considered not having a prehensile tongue to be a deficiency, I would be a hypocrite, and I would have left you long ago,” Sean pointed out to his partner, his tone light since he meant this as teasing. The telepath had no particular interest in prehensile tongues, although he acknowledged how they could be interesting. But he didn’t believe in fetishizing other meta-humans’ powers, just as he didn’t want to have his telepathy fetishized.

“I think that should be a fair consolation,” he remarked, shifting on the rock to make his back more comfortable. “Since I always feel close to you when you do that. And while you do that, since you think you can keep your balance, I’ll unwrap one arm from around you so I can slip my hand under your shirt. I have to make a grab for your stomach, after all.”

What would a conversation about intimacy be if the telepath didn’t make a remark about enjoying his partner’s love handles?

“And we can prop up a few pillows to make sure that nobody’s back goes out, since we want this to last for a while.” Of course, Sean’s pillows were back in the cabin, but the telepath was sure that Josh was either on the sofa or in bed, each of which had sufficient pillows.

[Joshua Bernstein]

"It is a good thing you don't mind. I would be very devastated if you left, particularly over something I have no control over."

That this applied to the Break Up escaped him, as he was too caught up in the moment to do much critical analysis. He was speaking straight from the heart here, or at least from intense attraction.

"I can keep my balance!" The attorney laughed, "But do grab my stomach, I grew it just for you."

As sensitive as he was in some areas, and as vain as he had been about the glasses, he really wasn't bothered by his physique. He thought he was in decent enough shape for his age, and even as a younger man, though he had been slim, he hadn't really been fit, only scrawny.

"We can. It's unfortunate that I'm still not very good at propping up pillows without letting go, but as soon as I have them arranged I'll grab hold of you again," He promised, clenching the phone between shoulder and cheek so that he could shift pillows around until he was comfortable. "And this way we can recline, so there's no question of anyone losing their balance now."

[Dr. Sean Neville]

“Yes, it would be.” Sean was then content to drop the topic of discussion, because he was aware of how it applied to The Break Up, and he didn’t want to ruminate on that now. Not when he and Josh were separated by far too many miles and for five days. Not when they were trying to cope with that through a lighthearted fantasy exercise.

As such, he focused on the rest of what they were saying to one another.

“I’m quite grateful for that, you know. That you grew it just for me,” he said, still smiling in the darkness. As he’d said before, it gave him something to grab, and Sean had never been caught up about anyone’s physique. Everyone was healthy, and they were attracted to each other; that was all that mattered.

The telepath also took that opportunity to shift again, propping himself with the hand not holding his cell phone to his ear. It was nowhere near as comfortable as his partner was, surely, but that was to be expected. He waited patiently for Josh to return to the conversation, and then agreed, “Reclining is a brilliant idea. It’s the ideal solution to the problem, and I hope that you can be comfortable in my lap, while we resume our kissing.”