Ch. 29 – Hurt and Comfort

Chapter Twenty-Nine – Hurt and Comfort

Jamie never dwelled on unpleasant thoughts for long. His furry friend had announced his visit, which meant that he could look forward to an evening of pleasant happenings, instead. After his talk with Angus, and a bit of debate with himself, he had arrived at the conclusion that it was better to trust the people who had been working in the entertainment industry for a lot longer than him. His shorts – his real shorts – were now getting steady attention, and the few comments on how great he was at playing drums had made his initial anger fade to nothing. Since he wasn't the sort to hold a grudge anyway, it was a lot better this way.

"Come in," he shouted when Cottontail knocked energetically, threatening to knock down his door.

He had been so busy putting together a somewhat romantic dinner – if real pizza instead of mini pizza could be considered that. The wine made a difference, as well as the naughty intentions in his mind, which he could dress up as romantic overtures.

"Jamie," the bunny boy called from behind, "are you all right?"

Jamie turned to face his guest, startled by the anxious tone of the question. "Hey, just because I wanted to do something nice for our dinner together, you don't have to assume that I'm not all right," he joked.

It seemed like only then Cottontail noticed the nice setup Jamie had been working on for the last ten minutes, after the pizza got delivered.

"I'm talking about what they did to you on LiveFeed," Cottontail said, his eyes moving from the table to Jamie, and then back to the table.

"It's fine," Jamie waved, "it was just the company's way to bump me in front of their audience. I'm a bit favored by the gods."

"Favored? That's not what this is about, Jamie!"

"Hey, not so loud. You make me want to gag you a little," Jamie joked.

It appeared that his joke didn't land. Cottontail stared at him from behind his mask with judging eyes.

"I appreciate how much you like getting your panties in a twist over something like this. I know you're doing it for me." Jamie put down the wine bottle and moved over to Cottontail. He caught the guy by the shoulders and squeezed them. "You worry about me, don't you?"

"Of course," came the reply, filled with righteous indignation. "It can't be helped."

"Hmm, interesting," Jamie purred. "But I'll be fine. Come here, give me a kiss."

Cottontail allowed the kiss, but he was still full of questions. "They put you in a bad light. Don't you really care?"

"I do, but it's nothing I haven't heard before. There's that little gossip page you have running on campus--"

"I'm not running it."

Jamie stopped for a moment. "I wasn't saying you were. But that thing has talked shit about me at length. In comparison, I think that this shitshow on LiveFeed is a lot less bad and it helped me a great deal, anyway."

"Helped you how? By making you out to be a guy who fucks left and right without caring about anyone's feelings?"

"That's a stretch. That's not exactly what those people are saying."

"And that's the problem. They might not be saying it, but the way the information is presented insinuates that you are worse than you truly are. Doesn't it bother you? At all?"

Jamie put one arm around his guest and guided him to the table. "No, and please don't be disappointed. There's nothing wrong with making the best out of a bad situation."

"If the bad situation was artificially created--"

"Hush, I don't want to hear another thing. You did a great job with editing my shorts, and now they're getting the attention they deserve. Yes, I know, it may not be for the right reasons, but they are getting more and more popular."

"Those people are there because they want to drool over you," Cottontail accused.

"Is this you being jealous? Take a seat." Jamie forced Cottontail into a chair and he moved to sit across from him. "Thank you for helping me with my career."

"Your career as a reality TV star?"

Jamie didn't allow his smile to waver or his hand holding the wine glass. "You know what I mean. But I understand how you might feel hurt on my account. Don't worry; I plan on offering you all the comfort I can manage tonight."

"That was supposed to be my line," Cottontail said but picked his glass up nonetheless. "I hope you get everything you hope to get out of this, Jamie."

"Stop being so serious," Jamie teased. "You're ruining the mood."

"I don't want to do that."

"Then be a good boy. Let's enjoy ourselves, and then you can complain to me all you want."

***

He shouldn't have been so surprised. After all, Jamie took things as they came to him and let his laidback attitude take care of the rest. But there was something else lurking under the surface, something he wanted so much to bring to light. He wasn't kidding when he was saying that he wanted to know the real Jamie Vayne. So far, he was getting closer, but not close enough. Whatever Jamie didn't want to reveal about himself remained hidden. If asked, he couldn't quite explain why he was so bent on this mission anymore; in the beginning, it had been a means to get something out of Jamie so he could comply with his brother's insistence that he make a fool out of the guy in Xpress. Now, he was doing it for his own sake. And that was definitely dangerous.

Several options were possible. One, he could accept that he was falling hard for Jamie – if it hadn't happened already – and deal with the disappointment later. Two, he could fight it – and fail and deal with the disappointment later. Or three, he could start feeling disappointed right about now because of his own failure to get to know the man behind the man.

"What are you thinking about so seriously? Even with your mask on, you look like you're pondering the end of all life on Earth."

Because he was now the proud owner of several bunny masks, he no longer ran the risk of traipsing around the place in his pink suit. He only slapped one of those on when he was close enough to Jamie's place and, especially in the evenings, he had no trouble sneaking around.

They also allowed Jamie to read his reactions quite well. It was a downside, but all was fair in love and war, as the saying went.

"I'm always serious," he replied.

"Yeah. That's accurate," Jamie agreed. "I don't think I've ever met someone in my life as serious as you. Not one as serious as young as you, at least."

"Does it bother you?"

"No." Jamie got up slowly and moved over to where he was sitting. It took him all of the upbringing bestowed upon his head to resist the way Jamie's fingers wrapped around the back of his neck, squeezing gently, signaling him that he could relax and stop hiding.

Awareness was everything, of surroundings, other people, and especially their hidden intentions. Not that Jamie hid his intentions; according to him, he wore his heart on his sleeve. So why wasn't he loving anyone? It would have been so easy. Easy people loved easily. It wasn't so in Jamie's case, which only made him believe that when it happened – if it ever happened – Jamie would fall so hard nothing would be able to put him back together the way he had used to be.

A shake of the head was enough to make Jamie move his hand away. It was sad that he needed to push away this guy he liked so much. It was more than like, but it wasn't a feeling he intended to unpack anytime soon.

He yelped as Jamie grabbed him from the chair he was sitting in, effortlessly extracting him from his seat and throwing him over his shoulder. And he did all that without upsetting the nicely set table; in a space as small as this that had to count as a special skill.

"What are you planning?" he asked, trying to sound as insufferable as he possibly could.

"You seem so upset over what LiveFeed is doing to me – your words, not mine – that you look in terrible need of getting some well-deserved comfort."

He sucked in a breath. "Okay."

He was supposed to be the one offering comfort, only Jamie seemed difficult to hurt. What had he to offer then?

***

"You can't be this shy after the things we've done together," Jamie said while taking his guest out of his clothes. He had to be careful about the mask or he risked having his little prey try getting away when all Jamie wanted was to ravish the guy properly.

"I don't know. The lights are on. I feel pretty exposed."

Jamie grinned and let his fingers moved over the naked body under him. "Because you worry I don't find you sexy?"

"It's more than that. There's an important difference of experience between us. Maybe you're used to having sex in all sorts of ways and in all sorts of places with all sorts of people--"

The bunny boy needed to shut up. "You really, really-really make me want to get a nice gag for you. I'm sure you'll still be trying to send your outrage to me through judgmental looks, but I'm not the sort to fall for that sort of trick."

"How is it a trick?"

"It's doing things to me." Jamie moved over to recline by Cottontail's side. He was still fully dressed and had to admit the pleasure to be found in postponing things sometimes. Also, there was something he wanted from this guy, something more than a quick roll in the hay. Not that he was ever quick – the single gay guys of Sunny Hill could vouch for that. He pushed the thought of all those others away. It seemed bothersome now to have all that experience under his belt. A ridiculous thought flashed through his mind; if he hadn't known so many other guys before, this moment would feel exciting and new.

It was still exciting, he decided, even though it wasn't new. His fingers moved with expert ease over the hills and valleys of the body next to him, but the tingling he sensed in their tips was different. He was tuned in to the other; he could breathe in and out to the same rhythm that made his partner's chest rise and fall.

"What do you see when you look at me?" came a raspy question.

"A guy in a mask," Jamie joked. He could tell Cottontail was displeased with his answer, so he hurried to correct it. "A guy I really enjoy being with. Tonight, I don't want to be anywhere else or with anybody else, but here, with you."

"How can you be so romantic when you know you can't commit?"

Cottontail was serving back to him some of the things those people in the shorts posted by LiveFeed were saying.

"Who says I can't?"

"Okay, so that was a poor choice of words. You won't. You resist any sort of commitment because it's not for you. You're always leaving, aren't you, Jamie?"

It was true to some extent. He wasn't the sort to spend too much time in the same place, so maintaining friendships and the like over the years had proven impossible. His relationship with the Mitches had been, weirdly enough, a long one compared to other connections he had made in his life to the present day. When viewed in that light, it should have been more difficult to get rid of them, but it had been easy. That had to say something important about his personality and the way he took things in life. By all the evidence, he appeared to be the guy who could never be serious about anything.

"Why are we talking about things like this now?" he asked. "I wanted you here tonight so badly after you called, because we're totally in the clear to have sex without a rubber. How does that sound to you?"

"Blunt," Cottontail said, "but efficient."

It was Jamie's turn to be startled when his bunny boy seized him by the front of his t-shirt and gave him a searing kiss. It wasn't just a figure of speech – the other guy's lips were burning, and the eagerness ignited by the kiss was enough of an incentive to get him out of his jeans in record time.

Any more words would be wasted between them. Cottontail was all over him, not even letting him undress completely. His long fingers were on his cock, stroking it. The thing wasn't even fully hard when the bunny boy took him in his mouth. His enthusiasm was so great that he choked on his first try.

"Hey, take it easy," Jamie said with a chuckle.

"I want to suck you off until you blow in my mouth," Cottontail said, smacking his lips. "Oh, damn, Jamie," he whispered, "do you have any idea how much I've wanted this?"

"You've mentioned it a couple of times," Jamie joked. "I won't stop you, but please be careful not to choke on my dick. Also, be careful with those teeth."

"What teeth?" Cottontail made sure to lick Jamie's cock thoroughly from the base to the tip. He was all warm mouth and slick tongue wrapping and wrapping around the whole length with a clear intention in mind.

To drive Jamie nuts. This time, it would be a hard call to allow Cottontail to get his rocks off, while he lay there and watched. There was no guarantee that he wouldn't want to take matters in his own hands and fuck that pretty mouth playing with him.

"You can be as wild and free as you want with me, Jamie," Cottontail said, taking a short break from the task at hand.

It was as if he could read his mind. Maybe the bunny boy was the observant type, and that explained things. Jamie didn't know but was pretty damn sure that a direct question wouldn't receive a proper answer. The guy in question, inspector, bunny, whatever he wanted to be, was slippery to a fault.

"You know," Jamie said in a low voice, "I should start getting worried about you and your intentions. You might be luring me in too deep."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Cottontail was not shy at all as he slurped on Jamie's cock and smacked his lips in satisfaction at the end of each to and fro.

"You might make me commit and, when you're through with me, where will that leave me?" His voice as light as a breeze, but he was aware his words were not.

"We won't ever get that far."

Jamie grunted while Cottontail tested his limits once more by taking him further in. "How can you be so sure?"

Cottontail threw his head back and used the cock in his hand to rub the precum leaking from the tip all over his cheeks, lips and chin. "We're worlds apart. That'll keep things nice and tidy."

"What worlds apart? We're in the same room."

"For now. Things have their ends."

Jamie had no idea what to say to that. A bundle of mystery and contradictions – that would be a good way to describe his bed partner. It made him think, and when his cock was being sucked by a pretty dude with the intention of making him blow, he wasn't big on thinking.

He'd do that later. For now, he'd take this comfort – which he hadn't asked for since he wasn't hurt – and allow his sweet partner do his best.

"Like that," he whispered faintly as Cottontail experimented with his tongue, licking all the right spots, focusing right under the head and sucking up all of the precum as if he couldn't get enough of it.

He needed to help the guy a little, because his need was becoming way too urgent to ignore. A little push, and it looked like his bed partner was getting used to it. Now Jamie used both hands to hold the masked head and bucked his hips off the bed to get more of his cock inside the generous mouth driving him mad.

Cottontail was getting good at this. Jamie had trained him and now couldn't help but feel a little stab of jealousy at the thought that others might get to enjoy the bunny boy's newly acquired skill. What, was he stupid now? The moment was here, and they had to get everything they could out of it.

In this case, the experience of receiving a perfect blowjob from a guy who thought himself to be as far from perfect as the Earth is from the sun.

"Here's your reward, babe," Jamie grunted when he could no longer control himself.

***

A win was a win, and damn, it tasted good. Elation was too little a word to describe what he was feeling right now as Jamie erupted in his mouth because he, a nobody, was blowing him even though his experience with doing this sort of thing was negligible.

He had done it. He had made Jamie Vayne come in his mouth, and the ragged whispers of praise raining over his head assured him that he had done a good job.

There had been so much for him to swallow. But he wanted more. He wanted to taste it on his tongue, to feel it for more than a few mere seconds. No one knew what he was doing right now, that he was enjoying himself so much without being judged or having someone look over his shoulder.

He was telling Jamie to be wild and free. It looked like he was better at taking his own advice, because for a moment or two there, he felt as if he was no longer touching the ground and was only soaring.

TBC