((AN:The picture is of Quinten 18yo))
Quinten woke up from his dream hot and guilty.
The dream he had leaked out of him slow, leaving his skin hot and his chest buzzing like he'd swallowed a live wire. He lay there for a few dazed breaths, sheets twisted around his hips, heartbeat still running from something that wasn't real and absolutely should not have felt that good. As he stared at the ceiling. His thoughts drifted in and out of sleep.
Angel his friend.....
laughing in his ear......
His breath on his neck.....
......calling his nickname like it wasn't illegal.
A dream.
They were just friends.
Quinten shoved his flushed face into his pillow and exhaled through his teeth.
Nope.
Absolutely not.
They were friends. That was already difficult enough without his brain making it filthy.
He shoved himself upright and swung his legs off the bed. His muscles ached from conditioning. Calves tight. Lower back sore. Shoulders heavy from drills. Everything in him already felt overworked before the day even started.
His eyes lifted automatically toward the dresser under the TV.
Angel's stupid goblin sat there crooked and grinning. One chipped horn. Ugly little thing.
"Guards loot and bad decisions," Angel had said when he handed it over for Quinten's birthday.
Next to it sat the custom mouthguard Angel bought him too, still untouched in its plastic case. Team colors. Personalized. Expensive enough to make Quinten irritated just thinking about it.
"You grind your teeth when you're stressed," Angel had said. "I'm not letting you crack a tooth trying to act tough."
Quinten never used it.
He used the cheap store-bought one instead.
He told himself it was because the custom one fit too tight. Because it looked better unopened. Because accepting gifts felt too much like owing somebody.
None of those were the real reason.
His stomach tightened remembering the argument afterward on Angel's porch. Warm summer air. Crickets. The two of them standing too close while Angel watched him with that unbearable focus.
"Angel, we're just friends " Quinten had said, flat. "Anything else is.....unnatural."
Angel's face had gone hot and sharp in an instant. "Quin......Don't ever say that shit again. I'm not unnatural and you aren't either." He'd backed off on the volume, but not the heat. "Nothing about us is wrong."
"What?" He let a laugh disguise the anxiety. "There is no 'us'. Stop making it sound weird."
Angel had laughed once, sharp and disbelieving. "Really? Then why were you texting me at one in the morning? Why'd you sneak out all the way over here just to say thanks for birthday gifts?"
Quinten still remembered the heat that exploded through him afterward.
"I said thank you already," he snapped. "I don't owe you shit."
VOCÊ ESTÁ LENDO
A Road Less Traveled
Romance(Ive marked chapters with an asterisk for suggestive material. Sometimes i draw pictures, create spaces in sims, generate pictures for realistic portraits( not for art, i hate ai art) or use Pinterest photos for visuals on wattpad.) I KNOW NOTHING...
