AN: Sorry for the missed week! Here is Chapter Seven. Poor Travis is very up and down, I know but he does have his reasons, I promise. :P ...I feel like this chapter is pivotal, but let's see...

~

Travis waited for Jared at the front doors, assuming he'd catch him on his way out of the school. His friends found him first but this time Cal and Brad weren't alone. A few of the other guys were with them, a few girls too. Lana was one of them.

She smiled at Travis as the group slowed to talk to him.

"There you are," Cal said. "We're going to Jeff's place, he has a pool table."

"You can come," Jeff piped up.

Travis tore his gaze away from Lana, looking at the others. Jeff was pretty nice. They'd all hung out before, minus the girls. But their addition was a pleasant surprise. His eyes flew back to Lana. She was still smiling at him and he found himself smiling back.

"Uh, I can't," he finally said.

"Aw, why not?" she asked.

"Because..." Wait, why couldn't he again?

Lana was pretty and she was definitely interested in him. She was tall, almost as tall as he was, with a warm tan and long, straight, dark hair. Until today, they had never really spoken or crossed paths but his eyes had always been drawn to her.

Suddenly someone else caught his eye; a flash of light brown hair streaked with blond from the sun and Jared's gliding walk as he passed them.

"Oh, hey, Jared!" Travis said, not thinking.

Jared stopped and looked back at him, surprise written all over his face as Travis waved at him.

He walked over to his friend.

"We already made plans," he said, dropping an arm around Jared's shoulders. "But next time."

"You could both come," Lana said, looking at Jared, trying to gauge his interest.

For his part, Jared remained very still. He looked up at Travis, those big eyes trying to secretly read him, even though he was being completely obvious. There was no way that Jared would want to go hang out with these people and no way that Cal and Brad would want him around, plus there was the homework issue.

"Nah," Travis said, pushing Jared along. "I'm gonna flunk out of school if I don't  catch up on work."

His friends laughed but he couldn't help but catch the disappointment in Lana's eyes. She waved at him sadly as they all parted ways.

"What was that about?" Jared asked as they started walking.

"What?"

"You could have gone," Jared said.

Travis tore his gaze away from Lana's retreating back and looked at his friend.

Jared was doing that thing; the gentle, careful thing that he did when he was trying not to scare Travis away. He was walking slowly, talking gently and not looking directly at him.

Travis scowled. He wasn't some wild animal that was about to lash out. What the hell was Jared's problem?

He was about to ask him just that when he suddenly realized that his arm was still around Jared's shoulders.

Truthfully, he was startled. He stiffened at the realization that the two of them were walking home, out in the open, nice and close, like a proper couple.

Jared reached up and took his hand, making sure to keep him right where he was. They didn't speak as they continued. Travis even started to relax as they walked.

He pulled his hand away though, when they turned onto their street.

Jared didn't seem to care though. 

"You coming straight over?" he asked.

"I'll go home first," Travis said.

Jared shrugged and they separated as they reached their homes.

Travis shut the door behind him and looked around the dim house, wondering what the heck he was doing here.

His mom wasn't home. The house was still and cold. There was no food ready.

With a sigh, he kicked off his boots and pulled his coat off. He jacked the heat up all the way and went to the washroom.

Without thinking, he was in front of the mirror, playing with his hair, trying to get the strands to sit right. His hood always messed it up. And his cheeks were still all rosy from the cold. It was so annoying. Why did he have to spend all winter looking like he was wearing blush?

Travis pressed his hands to his cheeks, trying to warm them them and then caught sight of the stressed out look in his brown eyes. Finally, he realized what he was doing.

Why the hell was he trying to make himself look good? Who was he trying to impress?

The answer was obvious.

Travis felt his stomach drop.

"Shit," he said aloud.

Why did he care what Jared thought? Jared of all people.

The other boy had already seen Travis at his worst a million times already. Sick, feverish, depressed, hungover. What, was he suddenly going to forget what Travis regularly looked like?

Frustrated with himself, Travis left the washroom, snatched up his bag and shoved his feet back into his boots.

The Burns house was full when Travis pulled the front door open.

Their house was bigger but somehow managed to be cozier and warmer every time Travis came over.

Margaret was standing in the kitchen, cooking something that smelled spicy and delicious.

Henry sat at the table with his laptop, talking to her loudly over the sound of the stove fan. Jared was sitting on the couch playing on his phone.

He jumped up the second Travis walked through the door.

"Hey," he said, coming to stand way too close.

Travis stared at Jared. A bit taken aback. If Jared was going for casual, he was definitely missing the mark.

"Oh, hi Travis," Henry said.

"Hey honey, you staying for dinner?" Margaret asked.

Travis nodded emphatically.

"Yes please."

Anything to avoid his mother's cooking.

"Come on," Jared said. "Let's go to my room."

Jared's words sent an explosion of nerves and anxiety right back into Travis. He let himself be pushed up the stairs, wondering why he'd even come here. There was a party going on right now that he could be at.

Jared shut the door behind him, smiling cheekily.

"You should know I'm not afraid to drag you away from my parents. We'd be stuck down there all night if I let you start talking."

Not noticing Travis' awkwardness, he pulled another chair over to his desk and pulled out his books.

"Okay," he started, "do you want to do calculus first?"

Travis laughed.

"I want to do calculus never."

He pulled his stuff out of his bag and took the seat next to Jared.

Jared rolled his eyes.

"You're going to have to do it, may as well get it out of the way."

Relieved that Jared was being so normal, he found the crumpled sheet of questions that he'd been given at the bottom of his bag and tried to flatten it out.

"Okay, I can do this."

He stared down at the problems, attempting to remember what he was supposed to do.

"It's like this."

Jared pulled out the textbook, pointing out the equation to use.

"Right."

Travis slowly applied all of the figures to the equation. By the time he was done the first question, he was pretty sure his eyes were crossed.

"You did this part wrong," Jared said.

Travis sighed and looked at his phone. Only ten minutes had passed since he got here. Dammit. It already felt like an eternity of math.

"You know... you could always just copy my work," Jared said.

Travis perked up at once.

"Really?"

"Just this time," Jared said. "And you'll have to learn how to do it, anyway. It'll be on the unit test."

"I will, I promise!"

Jared chuckled.

"Okay."

He was leaning an elbow on Travis' chair, smiling happily at him. He didn't look away when their eyes met. Maybe they'd crossed the line of not gazing into each others eyes and this was acceptable now, but Travis couldn't hold the gaze.

He looked down, heart racing. His hands were trembling slightly when he pulled out his English textbook. 

What the hell was happening to him?

He didn't even know what the assignment was supposed to be but opened the book and flipped to their current chapter before stopping, at a loss.

When he finally glanced at Jared again, his friend was still watching him but the smile had slipped off of his face.

Their eyes met and this time Travis couldn't look away.

After an eternity, Jared smiled softly and looked over at Travis' textbook.

"No, it's supposed to be something to do with Hamlet," he said, dropping a hand onto Travis' shoulder.

"Oh."

"Yeah, you can pick the topic but it has to be a thousand word essay."

"Oh, okay."

Travis pulled his notebook toward him, Jared's hand burning into his shoulder.

"What did you do yours on?" he asked.

"Hm?"

Travis looked at Jared again. He had that same half dazed look on his face, his eyes focused on Travis. The second their eyes met, Jared leaned forward. For a split second it looked like Jared was going to kiss him again but then, thankfully, he bypassed Travis' lips and pressed a kiss just behind his ear.

Travis shivered.

"Jared," he said, but Jared's lips parted softly then, trailing kisses down his neck and he forgot where he was going with that statement.

Jared bit the base of his neck gently and Travis gasped, tilting his head away to give more room. Jared's hand squeezed his shoulder as he sucked his neck and the other hand landed confidently on the front of his jeans.

Travis jumped but didn't pull away. If Jared wanted to give him a hand job so bad, it would be kind of weird to stop him, right?

He rubbed him through the front of his jeans until the tightness and the texture were too much and Travis pulled the zipper down.

He didn't even get a chance to pull himself free, Jared did it for him.

About a week ago Travis'd had to hold Jared's hand pretty much the whole way through and now he was eagerly jumping into it, leaving nothing for Travis to do but sit here and take it. No need to convince Jared, no need to talk about what he wanted. That was supposed to be a good thing, right?

Jared moaned as he started to stroke him. He was doing it slowly, fingers skating along the edges, making Travis' dick bob.

Jared pulled away from his neck, leaving him cold and wet and self-conscious. He leaned his head on Travis' shoulder, watching precum form on the tip of his cock while he teased it.

Travis watched with him, fingers digging into the sides of the chair to keep him there. He was over thinking this.

It felt good and Jared wanted to do it. He just needed to relax. 

It would be too weird to just run now when they'd done worse before.

 He just needed to do something with his hands.  

Travis had to force himself to move. He dropped his hand onto Jared's thigh, higher than he planned, thinking he might slide it higher yet, but his palm stuck like cement exactly where it landed.

Jared didn't seem to mind. He let out a soft noise, midway between a sigh and a moan and then dropped his head into Travis' lap.

His lips touched Travis' tip, already wet from kissing his skin.

Travis took a ragged breath.

"Jesus."

"Hey kids." Henry's voice came through the door, muffled for a split second before the door swung open. 

Jared was back in his seat so fast that for a split second Travis didn't know which had happened first.

He sat very still, staring straight ahead, waiting for something to be said. 

"Food's ready," Henry said slowly.

"Kay," Jared said.

The door was shut quietly but the click as it sealed was like an ignition.

"Fuck," Travis said, dropping his head with a thump onto the desk.

"It's okay," Jared said, but his voice was shaking.

"It's not," Travis said. "He caught us. You had your face in my crotch. There's only one explanation for that."

"He didn't see anything," Jared insisted. "And if he did, so what?"

He had that annoying, determined look on his face again, even though he was bright red. Travis wanted to smack him.

"So what?" he repeated. "Your dad just walked in on us."

He choked a bit on the words but they had a less than desired effect on Jared who shrugged and grit his teeth.

"Yeah," he said. "My dad walked in on us and even if he saw anything, I don't care."

Travis gaped at him.

"We can still finish," Jared said, when Travis didn't say anything.

Travis flinched away from his touch, tucking his slackening cock back into his jeans and shaking his head.

"No way," he said. "I'm going home."

Jared's eyes glistened over and he bit his lip.

"You said you were staying for dinner," he said.

His stupid voice was trembling even more now and it only made Travis want to run even faster.

"Tell them I'm sick," he said.

He stood up, stuffing his things into his bag and left without looking back. 

Someone said his name when he was half way out the door but he pretended not to hear. There was no way he could face any of them. Not right now.

How was Jared so okay with his dad knowing? Did he not realize that if it got out, if people knew, it would turn from two friends fooling around into a thing.

What exactly that thing would be, Travis wasn't sure, but it was definitely something to be avoided at all costs.

The house was still empty when he got inside. 

It was warm though, so he went to his room and pulled on pajamas before collapsing on the couch in front of the TV. 

He wasn't watching it, but the noise helped to drown out his thoughts.

After a while though when his mom got home and started asking about his day and school and how he was adjusting, he decided that solitude was best.

His appetite had long left him so it was easy to lay in bed and play games on his phone, waiting for sleep to overcome him.

It never did though. 

Why was all of this so hard for him? He didn't get it. Even before Henry had interrupted, Travis had been having trouble just going with it. What was he doing hesitating accepting a hand job? Why had he had to force himself to sit there and take it as though it wasn't something that he wanted?

If Henry did see--and Travis was a hundred percent sure that he did--what did he think?

Was he home right now thinking that his son was secretly dating Travis? Or would he see through it right away? Travis liked Henry, he respected him, he wished every time that he saw him that Henry was his father. He was a smart man, so he probably knew what was happening right away. He probably knew it wasn't a real thing.

Maybe everyone would know right away.

And if no one thought it was a thing, then what else did that make it? It made it exactly what it was; Travis using his best friend to get off. That sounded so twisted even to Travis that it made him want to rewind all the way back to that balcony in Cuba and undo every stupid move he'd made since then.  

Travis groaned in the dark and punched into his pillow.

He was the one who'd started this. He was the one who wanted it. Jared was complying with every request and unsaid condition that he had given.

He wasn't kissing Travis. He wasn't getting on top of him or pushing him around. He was being gentle. He was giving him blow jobs and hand jobs and he wasn't getting anything in return. 

So why did Travis feel less and less in control?

Why did he feel like it had all gone too far?