You must be of legal age as defined by your local law to read this story. Mildly strong language, no violence, and yes, sexual situations. Comments, including constructive criticism are welcomed. Rated R.

Discoveries

Jim and Blair were kissing firmly on the couch, Blair trying to hold on to something other than Jim's ears. His attempts were being hampered by his hands sliding off the near-buzz. Still he kept trying. Jim was not having such problems. Between the grasped hair and cupped jaw, he had the situation well in hand.

*Took long enough.* Finally when he looked at Blair, he saw. Touched, he felt. Listened, he heard. No longer cataloging, Jim was in the moment. It was good. *Very good.* Now Blair's stubble didn't cut into his palm. Perfectly aware, his senses weren't seizing him up. Weren't shouting 'stop' over his wishes.

He hadn't noticed anything had changed until Blair called him on it. Hadn't realized he had been tucking hair behind his Guide's ear. Or any number of other touches. For a time he had shrugged it off. It was simply too strange.

While he would never admit it, it wasn't because Blair was a man. He had been attracted to men before. Lusted after other men, but it always went away. Wasn't something he ever acted on. This felt different.

Jim moved his right hand down to Blair's shoulder and tipped them onto the couch. Sliding the hand along his side and flank and back up, Jim spread his kisses around, not straying from the other's lips for long.

"Jim, man, what is going on?" Blair's eyes were wide as Jim held his face, brushing his thumb across the cheek.

"I don't know." And he didn't, even as he leaned in for a faint kiss. Still didn't when he dropped the hand, holding his gaze to Blair. *Punch me if you have to, just don't leave.*

Blair hadn't said anything. Just slowly went to his room and gently closed the door. Didn't start packing. Didn't make much noise at all, though Jim listened long enough to hear the slight sag of the springs.

Jim started fumbling with the buttons on Blair's shirt, finding another set underneath. *Too many clothes.* Distracted, he started on the second layer before finishing the top shirt.

*Fear?* Jim stopped, hunting through his senses. Blair's heart was racing way too fast. Jim sat partly back up. "Blair, what's wrong?"

"Nothing. Why would anything?" *Just because you've stopped.*

*He's lying.* His heartrate was so fast, Blair was skipping beats.

"Jim." *Damn it, don't get up.*

"Tell me what's wrong." Jim started rubbing the back of Blair's hand.

"I'm just excited." *Human polygraph.* "Anxious."

"Scared out of your mind." Jim got ready to stand. To find Blair clutching his hand. *Stop speeding up.* "Talk to me."

*Come on, Jim. Don't do this to me.* Jim wasn't budging. "It's just new." *At least let's get back to kissing.*

"Hummingbird wings don't flap as fast as your heart is beating."

"This is not a side I like about you." *Should have looked into bio-feedback.*

"Sorry, it's part of the Blessed Protector."

"It's just new, okay? Honest." *Please don't make me say it.* Jim was still judging his vitals. "Fine." His tone made it clear it was anything but. "I'm a virgin. Happy now?"

Jim blinked. "With men." Now Jim's heart was skipping beats. "Uh, this is one of those anthro, BS moments." *He's shaking his head. Why can't I tell he's lying?*

"Come on man. I am not explaining a heart attack. Even if it would serve you right. Jim, you can't zone. I refuse to deal with Simon."

"What about all those women?"

"Well..."

"That nurse that sent you my records."

"I was tutoring her. Do we really have to talk about this now?" *Or talk.*

"What about all those women? Your journal, who was she, the one you showed your journal to?"

"She decided I couldn't even be honest in print." *Like I would ever leave that out.*

*I told him his love life was criminal.* "Sam?"

"Okay, that's a valid question. I think that's why I kept sabotaging myself. Do you really think I'd be that forgetful, repeatedly?" *We done talking yet?* "Jim, where are you going man?" He watched as Jim stopped halfway up and sat back down.

This was not happening. This couldn't possibly be happening. "Blair.... How? Why?" This changed everything. *Everything.*

*How? That's funny.* "Jim, come on. We were in the middle of something." *Whoa, what is that look?* It was a look of loss, sadness, fear and betrayal. Of a person who was alone. Blair tried touching Jim, only to have his hands plucked off dispassionately and returned.

"No."

"Jim." The moment was passing. *Damn it, Jim. Have to freak out on me.*

Blair had been very subdued the next morning. Jim caught the younger man glancing at him. At first, Jim thought it was fear or trepidation. *Shy concern.* The notion of Blair as shy nearly sent him into laughter. *He looks so vulnerable.*

"Jim, are you feeling okay?"

"Blair..." He didn't know what to say. He couldn't explain what was going on. It wasn't lust, but he was so aware of his Guide. How he moved, sounded, smelled. Wanted to touch him. To taste him.

"Jim?"

"Jim. So this is the way it is? Now you don't want to have anything to do with me." He moved to head for his room. Jim clutched at him, keeping him from leaving the couch. "Why bother?"

Jim couldn't let him go. Whether it was because he needed Blair, or because he was afraid the young man would rush off and do something stupid didn't concern him. Thought had nothing to do with it. He had registered Blair trying to leave and automatically restrained him.

"Damn it, Jim. You can't have it both ways." He tried pulling his hands free.

"You won't leave?" Eventually Blair promised that much silently and Jim let him go. "I've got to think about this." Absently he stroked Blair's hair. "I wish you would have told me."

Blair started to speak, and Jim pressed a finger to his lips to stop him. *Soft.* He traced them with his fingertip, feeling the creases and contours of those lips. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"After how you reacted you have to ask?" Most of his anger had bled away. "'Oh, by the way, I'm a virgin.' Sorry,that is not something I wanted to say."

It had taken only a day for Jim's rationalizations to crumble. It might be selfishness, but he wanted Blair. With that determination, the rest was easy.

*As if getting Sandburg to talk, reallytalkis easy.* Not that he blamed Blair for being reticent about some of it. *Like how he almost lost his virginity.* The fourteen year old liked to listen to the girls' locker room, and overheard the planned seduction and dump. His revenge was playing hard to get until Naomi and he moved on.

*Or Grove.* Blair was seventeen, and she was 'short, smart, and sensationally sexy.' Until he found out her mother was a friend of Naomi's.

The rest wasn't so painful. *Actually, it was kind of fun.* Finding out where Blair had been, and what he had been doing before Jim met him was exciting. Apparently one expedition led to another and another, as professors recommended him even while he was a undergrad.

"Well, first I started at Rainier because the high school couldn't offer much except American Government and the state English requirement. So I wasn't really on campus, even though I hung around, and I wasn't exactly in high school as I only had those two classes back to back. Then my freshman year I was in with the sophomores who were two years older than me, having already taken the prereqs. Which meant I was eighteen and hanging out with juniors, so I then had two years of getting onto research projects because I had the background and wouldn't be disappearing."

Jim checked on the food cooking one more time and went upstairs to change. Tomorrow was a well deserved day off for both of them. Tonight... well, they would see. He pulled on a light pair of jeans and a dark blue shirt. Dressed for the evening, he went down to set the table.

Blair turned the key in the loft door. He had to admit that he'd liked the talking they had done in the past weeks. *Oh my.* It wasn't real fancy, not a seduction scene or anything, just a set table and dinner on the stove. *And Jim.* The shirt was one Blair had told him he should get, to bring out the color of his eyes. He wondered where the other man had been hiding the pair of jeans, which were just tight enough not to be loose without being obvious about it.

"Hi, Blair."

"Do I have time for a shower?"

"A short one. Dinner still has a bit to cook." Jim watched Blair head for his room.

*You sneak.* Lying on his bed was an aqua-turquoise shirt and a pair of his black jeans. Exchanging that pair for different black denims, he gathered his shower things together.

Jim wasn't entirely sure how they got through dinner. *He's too beautiful.* Both of them had deployed about every excuse to touch during the meal, Blair going so far as to move his place setting closer to Jim. *You taste good.* His other senses concurred.

*Okay, Big Guy, get us upstairs.* As if answering his command, Jim nudged in that direction. Before he could hesitate, Blair gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. It took them a few stops to get to Jim's room, as use was made of the steps to kiss. *Like this.*

Jim lowered Blair to the bed gently. His heart was quick only with anticipation, and his scent held excitement. Jim joined him on the bed, their heights no longer a problem. When he finally started undoing Blair's shirt buttons there was a small spike in heartrate that evened as Jim continued down the shirt. He kissed down the neck to half-way down the center of the furry chest, one hand rubbing the stomach.

*Time to get this out of the way.* Pulling the tails out of Blair's jeans, he pushed the shirt up and further open. Revealing a tiny gold hoop in the left nipple. *No fooling.* He had been joking, never thinking Blair really had a nipple ring. Pulling the shirt off, Jim outlined the ring carefully.

*Goood.* Blair took advantage of Jim's fascination to finish with the buttons on his shirt. Unwilling to interupt Jim's hands just to get the garment the rest of the way off, he ran the palms of his hands up from the hard stomach to wander Jim's pecs.

*G-d.* He leaned into Blair's hands, encouraging him to continue kneading his chest. Dragging over his nipples. Jim managed to get his shirt off in the meanwhile.

*Yeess.* Now Jim's chest was against his own, and their mouths were together again, tongues seeking and dueling. He let out a hiss as Jim worked on the fly of his jeans, sighing at the partial release from the confines.

Jim worked to undo his own jeans after Blair unsuccessfully fumbled around for a time. Yanking both pairs of jeans off was difficult, compounded by neither wanting to let go. Boxers were much easier as those took only one hand.

*OH G-D!* Completely covered by Jim, he couldn't think but simply writhe.

Jim didn't exist anymore. He was solely the perception of Blair. The smell of Blair, the feel of Blair, the taste of Blair, the sound of Blair, the sight of Blair. Those were all that was left of Jim Ellison.

*Wow.* Jim waited for his senses to start working again. *Intense.* When he was vaguely sensible, he turned to Blair. Whose eyes were completely dilated. He stroked at his hair and tried to ask if he was okay.

Blair summoned enough motion to press closed Jim's lips with several fingertips, and send a smile to his own mouth. Gathered near, he managed to rock his head on Jim's left shoulder.

Sleep claimed them.

Jim woke slowly, his senses slowly unfurling. Warmth of sunlight, softness of the new sheets, *Blair smell*. He stretched out. *Blair?* He wasn't in the bed. Jim sent his senses out. *Probably in the bathroom.* Possibly in the kitchen.

*No coffee brewing, no heart beat.* Jim got up, putting on his robe. He flexed his senses again as he headed down stairs. He looked in Blair's room. *No Blair.* He continued looking around, sending his hearing out into the neighborhood. He saw a piece of paper on the table. Warily he approached it.

'Jim,

I should be back for dinner.

Blair'

The End?

Frameless?
More Fiction