Chapter 26: Twenty-One Questions

The Peterson Residence, 1345 North Grand Street, Fallon Creek, Michigan...

Just like before, the two of them had left the kitchen in a state of utter chaos as they lounged in the living room on the sofas and stared at the television which didn't seem to have anything good on it as Rick took to using more and more spray cheese he seemed to enjoy when he found it again during their collective quest for more food. Beside him, seemingly bored Casey finished off a few sweet tarts and seemed unable to focus on the television program he'd turned to in the first place. He had not known, what all the fuss was about "playing hooky", but he was beginning to prefer being reduced to boredom at school. Rick seemed to be of the same mind as he turned his attention to the half-naked younger boy with messy brown hair and deep blue eyes. He didn't see what he found so appealing about Casey Peterson in terms of his average looks, but the scent that lingered about his body was all that seemed to drive the older boy's unruly lust for him.

Casey sighed as he leaned back against the sofa trying his hardest not to stare at Rick's gorgeous abs that lined his half-naked body or the obvious tent in the front of his jeans. He didn't know much about what it was like to have a boyfriend and to be honest, he didn't know anything about having a girlfriend either, but he found the new experience to be an altogether strange one.

The two of them sat in companionable silence for a few moments as the television played as more background noise than entertainment before Rick suddenly sprayed cheese all over Casey's chest. The strange move caught the younger teen off guard and he nearly leaped from the sofa but found that he'd been pinned by Rick's larger and stronger body.

"What the hell?" asked Casey on the verge of being outraged. "You trying to cover me in cheese asshole?"

"That is the idea yes," replied Rick with something of a wicked grin.

Casey had been about to say something when Rick suddenly used his rather impressively long tongue to lap away at the cheese kissing and suckling the newly cleaned flesh of the younger boy's belly an action that caused him to moan and run his fingers through Rick's unruly dark hair.

The younger lad bit his bottom lip as he stifled a second moan before leaning back against the end of the sofa as Rick continued to lick and suckle his flesh. The all too familiar heat had returned and Casey felt his cock stir as it began to rapidly expand beneath his boxer shorts.

Rick seemed to enjoy the ease of his manipulations working on the younger teen as he finished lapping up the cheese and eventually moved back to his end of the sofa chuckling to himself at how easily Casey had gotten aroused in the wake of him licking the cheese off him.

"Bastard," growled Casey in frustration as he attempted to catch his breath and stared at the television set.

Rick smirked and turned his attention back to the random show as well.

After nearly half an hour and as a result of more boredom, Casey turned his attention back to Rick. He was still rather curious about him and as he glanced in his direction he recalled the strange girl at the school talking about him and his family. She had mentioned something about him being the victim of a mass shooting.

Due to the odd new nature of his sort of relationship with the brooding older boy, Casey began to take an interest in what he'd been told about him.

"Is it true?" asked Casey suddenly with all eyes on Rick.

"Is what true?" asked Rick with an arched brow as he turned his attention away from the television screen and toward his new lover.

"What that girl Rachel said about you...about your family?" asked Casey trying his best to be as cautious about his line of curious questions as possible.

Rick narrowed his eyes at Casey for a moment before he took a deep breath and seemed to calm himself.

"I don't want to talk about it," he replied with barely concealed annoyance. "That's my business and it ain't yours."

Casey sighed.

He knew it would be difficult getting information out of Rick directly but not this difficult after all they'd done.

"My Dad died in a car accident before I was born." said the younger lad attempting to salvage the mood. "They say his head was decapitated in the wreckage and I don't know much about him aside from that...Mom says it's too painful to talk about it but it would have been better than not knowing anything about him aside from his death."

Rick looked at Casey for a moment and ran a hand through his hair. Casey had picked up that it was a form of his dealing with his nervous energy as he sat back on the sofa looking to be deep in thought before closing his eyes.

"I died," he said in a passionless tone. "The greasy bastards shot me in the woods and I remember feeling the blood leave my body, I don't talk about them because I don't remember anything about them other than some stories about how things used to be."

Casey was shocked to hear this. Everyone had been so sure they knew what happened to him only for it to have been worse than even he imagined.

"I...I'm sorry." said the younger teen unsure how to process what he'd just been told.

"I only told you so you stop asking me about them," growled Rick. "I don't remember them and I don't want to think about that day, it's painful enough to be reminded by everyone I come across and told how much I've changed...and how I'm supposed to be."

"No wonder you avoid everyone," said Casey making an astute observation. "I wouldn't want to speak to anyone reminding me of all that either."

Rick seemed to be quite restless as he stood up from the sofa.

"Come on," he said suddenly changing the subject.

"What?" asked Casey caught off guard once again by the shifting moods of his brooding lover.

"I said come on, I feel like fucking and I highly doubt you want me taking you on the floor again," said Rick with a flicker of heat behind his dark eyes.

Casey sighed and stood on his feet.

"First we clean up." he insisted. "No more close calls like last time."

"And what makes you think I'll wait that long?" Rick with an arched brow.

Casey treated the brooding teen to a smirk of his own.

"Because if we clean up now, we can be preoccupied for a good number of hours." replied the surprisingly cunning younger teen.

"You had me at hours," replied Rick as he followed Casey into the nearby kitchen.

The two of them set to work cleaning the entirety of their mutual mess as they playfully teased one another about their plans after the fact.