Free Wild Raspberries by Jane Davitt

mean!”
    “Yeah.” Tyler scratched his chin. “So why the show and tell?”
    “The what? Oh!” Dan spread his hands. “I don’t know. You’re not my type, but you’re still, well, you’re kinda hot and I just — I wondered — wanted —”
    “What? Blow me to say thank you? No thanks.”
    He flashed on what that would be like and almost wanted to kneel down just to feel Tyler’s hand stroke his hair with the kindness showing through as it did now and then. “No. Not that. We’re even; I don’t need to. You helped me, I’m helping you.”
    “True enough.” Tyler yawned. “I’m dead on my feet here, boy, and so are you. Go and jerk off in the bathroom if you still feel the need — not on the couch — and get some sleep. And don’t worry; I won’t hear you; the walls are thick.”
    It was amazing how relaxed he felt around Tyler; if his daddy had said something like that to him — not that he ever would have — Dan would’ve just about died on the spot. Relaxed enough that he could admit, “I tried that earlier and I couldn’t.”
    Tyler’s gaze flicked down and back up to Dan’s face. “You don’t look like you’ve got a problem from here.”
    “I do it solo and I — I keep thinking about — I can’t stop thinking about —” He stumbled to a dead halt, his eyes stinging. No. No tears. Not in front of a man who’d fallen off a freaking roof without yelling.
    “How many have there been since you left home?” Tyler sounded mildly curious rather than sympathetic, which kept Dan’s tears in his eyes.
    “Five.”
    “They hurt you?”
    “No. Not really. I wouldn’t do anything but blow them, and most of them were happy enough with that.” He grimaced, remembering the stink and heat of sweaty, none too clean flesh in his mouth. “Two wanted more. Told them, sure; I didn’t have AIDS and they could fuck me bare, and when I said it I just looked at them, like I was picturing them dying, and neither of ‘em believed I was clean.”
    “Clever.” Tyler cocked his head. “Are you?”
    “Clean? Yeah. Never done it bareback in my life; I’m not that dumb.” Never done it at all, apart from that one time, but he wasn’t telling Tyler that.
    “So what would you have done if they’d taken you up on it?”
    “Anything I had to that left them on the ground groaning and me running for the hills.”
    Tyler smiled, a brief, cold twitch of his lips, nothing but approval evident. “Yeah.” He pursed his lips. “You need a weapon.”
    Suspicion hit just as Dan was about to agree. “How do you know I haven’t got one?” His voice squeaked high. “You searched me, didn’t you? After I’d passed out.”
    “You think I’d have let you in my home without doing that?” Tyler shook his head. “I might be way old —” There was a sarcastic inflection to his voice that stung Dan; he’d had teachers who spoke like that and he’d hated it. “— but I’m not dumb, either.”
    Dan took a deep breath and then let it go. There didn’t seem to be much point in arguing over it; it wasn’t like Tyler had stolen anything, after all.
    “I guess not.” Dan gave him a tentative smile. “Well, I’ll leave you alone then. Unless you want something? Maybe I could bring you a bowl of water and a cloth and you could cool off that way? Sort of a sponge bath?”
    Tyler shook his head and then said idly, “You’re not hard now.”
    Weirdest conversation ever . “No.” Dan wasn’t sure why he had been in the first place, no matter how impressive Tyler’s muscles were. He was so tired he could barely stand. “Problem solved, just not the fun way. Again.”
    “What?”
    Dan ran his hand over his cock in an unconscious attempt to reassure himself it was still there, the unwashed stiffness of the shorts catching at his fingers. “I told you; I think about them, and bang. No joy.” He shrugged, feeling too spaced-out to really care. He’d worry about it tomorrow, or the next time it