Monday, February 3rd

Bursting through the darkroom door, Eden marched down the narrow aisle to the back desk.

“What are you doing? You can’t-“

A slap across the face silenced the rest and Eden panted, out of breath from running almost the entire way here. Placing a hand over his now red cheek, Kell stared. All Eden could do was stare back. He’d had a million words in his head on the way, but now nothing would come out.

Stretching his jaw, Kell brushed past him to shut the door, then slowly approached, making sure to stay a few steps away.

“You just ruined multiple strips of film. Didn’t you see the red light?” Kell sounded more confused than upset, which gave Eden the tiniest amount of strange relief.

“Why don’t you learn to lock a fucking door?” The question came out loud and frustrated, and maybe a little mad.

Kell laughed, then groaned low, putting his hand back to his face. Eden clenched a fist. He was definitely mad.

“Why are you so angry?” Kell asked. The confusion was lighthearted now, not as bothered by the intrusion and slap as one would expect. This man wasn’t normal.

Eden pulled out his phone and held out the picture in the article. There was quiet for a moment, then Kell took a breath and folded his arms.

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

“What? I look exactly like her! You’ve been playing with me this whole fucking time because of this?”

Both his face and lungs were burning hot. Just because he looked like his ex-wife. He had suffered because he looked exactly like his ex-wife.

“That still doesn’t answer my question.” Kell stepped closer, his tone calm, not fazed by Eden’s emotional outburst. “Why are you so angry?”

Why? WHY?

He froze. Why was he so angry? So what if this man was reminded of his wife? So what if he was drawn to him because of that? So what if Eden had other expectations - other imaginary reasons in his head for the playful flirting?

“Well?” Kell asked, pushing without being pushy.

That voice too, along with the patient and charismatic questioning, made his blood boil. Without thinking, he shouted out, “I don’t fucking know why I’m so fucking angry!”

He felt instant regret for coming here and confronting him. He had started a one-sided argument and didn’t even have anything to argue. His head dropped and he let out a long breath, trying to expel the insanity flooding his mind. Kell huffed out a laugh, not helping his efforts to gain control.

After a few moments of silence, Kell cleared his throat, and Eden finally looked up again. The confusion was gone and the dark brown sparkled again, the usual playful smirk at home on that perfect face.

“You think I flirted with you because you look like my wife. You felt used, and that made you mad.” Taking a long stride toward him, Kell was in his face, his grin bordering wicked. “But, did you stop to wonder what attracted me to my wife in the first place?”

Warm, slightly minty breath grazed his cheek, the brown eyes so close now he could see each individual reflection of red, and Eden’s heart began to pound against his chest. Kell huffed out another laugh at his silence and brushed past him again, returning to his desk. “I thought you were supposed to be on a date.”

“It wasn’t a date,” Eden shot back, not sure why it mattered.

“Oh? Did he know that?”

He turned to glare at Kell, but only saw his back. “What?”

Another light laugh. “I take back what I said about having sense.” Kell looked over his shoulder at him. “Maybe take his picture and have a good look.”

“Whatever.” He didn’t want to play these games anymore. This man was driving him crazy, making him overthink things and act in ways he never had before.

Heading for the door, he halted when Kell called out, “You still destroyed my film.”

“Yeah. And I failed my bio lab because you were fucking some guy in the greenhouse. We’re even.”

Though it would have been locked if you hadn’t been fucking in the greenhouse, and I would have failed anyway.

There was no response and he stomped out, slamming the door closed behind him.

“Ungh... Fuck yeah... You’re so fucking hot.”

His knees hooked over Dean’s arms as the words were loudly moaned out at him, large hands under him to hold him still. Eden let out a small breath.

Please, stop talking.

His upper body pressed into the mattress as Dean’s hips slammed into him, bending his neck and spine with each hit.

“You like that? You like it when I fuck you hard? You want me to fuck you harder?”

Dammit Dean... “Yeah. Fuck me harder.”

Dean only heard the words, too absorbed in his own haze of arousal to notice the bland tone and expression that accompanied them. “Yeah? You like when I drill my cock into you, don’t you? You want me to destroy your tight ass?”

Please, just shut up!

“Yeah.” Using his palms to lift himself off the bed, Eden urged Dean back until he was seated above him. “I want to be on top.”

He ran a finger down his firm chest, tracing the almost invisible line of hair down to his stomach, then grabbed Dean’s hand and guided it to wrap around him. He could feel himself trembling, begging, and that one palm engulfed his less-than-impressive size in a wonderful heat. As he took Dean in deeper, forcing himself as far down against his thighs as possible, the hand tugged at him. It was rough and uneven, Dean too focused on his own pleasure to concentrate. Eden covered the large fingers with his own, steadying the rhythm and matching it with his body.

Hah... Fuck yes... Right there...

“Fuck yeah, ride that big dick.” Dean grunted and moaned, his eyes fixed on the sight in front of him, his free hand clutching at Eden’s waist. His knees bent and he lifted himself off the bed. He was completely consumed yet still trying to reach further inside. “It feels so good when you swallow me with that tight ass... Fuck, it’s in so deep... You like taking it so fucking deep, don’t you?”

Fuck! Dean! Stop fucking asking!

Removing his hand, Eden reached out for his face, desperately pulling him close. “Kiss me.”

Dean was up in an instant, arms around him and tongue shoved into his mouth. It darted around, powerful and wild, and all Eden could taste was cigarettes. He cringed a little at the pungent, smoky flavor, but it was better than letting him continue to speak. Every part of him was tense, trapped in a painful limbo with his body crying out for release. He would do anything for silence.

Leaning in, he clawed at Dean’s back, keeping their torsos tight together. Finally, he controlled their movement and his pace increased. Feeling the tingling sensation run through him at every thrust, slipping against each ripple of his partner’s muscular abs – he was so close now.

Pulling his head away, Dean let out a breath and strengthened his hold. “Fuck. I’m gonna come.”

Shit, no, wait...

Eden felt Dean shudder under him, twitching inside, but he grasped for himself and kept his speed. After a few more moments, he finished, letting a long, relieved breath escape.

Neither moved. They sat in quiet stillness, the seconds feeling like minutes as they ticked by, until Dean dropped his head over Eden’s shoulder. “Sorry. You were so hot sitting on me like that, I couldn’t hold it any longer.”

Eden kissed Dean’s salty neck. “Don’t apologize for that.”

It hadn’t bothered him in the past, but now Eden couldn’t stand the dirty talk and constant questions. He didn’t know why, but it distracted him enough to pull him out of the moment, making it more and more difficult to finish. It would be an easy conversation to have as a couple – what they liked and didn’t, taking care of each other when they didn’t finish together - but Eden felt too awkward to bring it up with Dean. As if he should be grateful to be having meaningless sex at all and shouldn’t complain. He knew that was ridiculous, but he drew lines, and he just couldn’t force that level of communication.

Dean lifted him off, then sat him down gently and walked to the bathroom to clean up. With a soft sigh, Eden stood and followed, resting his forehead against Dean’s broad back as he wiped his chest and stomach.

“What are you doing?” The question was hushed, almost timid, Dean confused by the sudden intimacy. “Do you feel okay?”

Eden wasn’t sure why he’d thought to do this. He just wanted it, and Kell’s words from earlier surfaced in his mind.

“Hey, Dean. Can I take your picture?”

Dean chuckled. “Now? You want a nude photo of me?”

Clicking his tongue against his teeth, Eden hit him in the back, then straightened and took the towel to clean himself. “No. Just your face.”

Tossing the dirty towel to the floor, Eden trailed behind him back to the bed. Each pulled on their briefs and Dean collapsed onto the mattress.

“Why do you suddenly want my picture?”

Eden pointed to the camera bag against the wall. “I just need to practice. And I don’t have a lot of people to practice on.”

He impressed himself with the lie, his reason sounding honest and believable. Maybe he was capable of lying when he really wanted to.

“Oh. Yeah, that’s cool.”

More disappointment. Eden began to feel a nervous knot form in his stomach. Did he really want to look at this picture, knowing in the back of his mind what he would see? Either way, he needed to confirm, though he wasn’t sure what he would do with that knowledge once he had it.

He grabbed the camera and Dean turned on a lamp by the bed, but he shook his head and pointed to the window. “I want you to stand in that light. And I want you to look straight at me.”

Dean obeyed and with a few more adjustments, Eden zoomed and locked onto his face, capturing everything from the shoulders up. A couple clicks later, he turned the camera off and set it aside, then crawled into bed.

“If they turn out well, send them to me,” Dean joked and Eden punched him in the back.

“Just go to sleep.”