Big Dump

Jonny

“Shame,” Thom said, smiling, looking at the notepad on his lap.

Colin craned his neck, looking at the faint pencil sketches, then sat back, taking a drink from the bottle, “What?”

“I wish I could draw better,” Thom trailed his finger over the white paper, the ghost of a smile still on his winter-burnt lips. Across the room, Jonny was talking to a girl at the bar.

“The question is, are you trying to draw her or him?” Colin rolled his head to the side to look at his friend’s profile.

“How about them both?” Thom met his eyes, quirking an eyebrow.

“Thom-the-voyeur,” Colin smiled.

“Well, perhaps him in more detail,” Thom buried his eyes in the notepad again, biting the pencil.

“Thom-the-pederast.”

“D’you think that?” Thom scratched the back of his neck, looking at Jonny again, “He looks young, but there’s not much of an age difference between us,” he cocked his head a bit, “You have to admit, however, he is beautiful.”

“Perhaps we see different things.”

“What else is there to see?” Thom asked, amused, “Besides his neck, and jaw, and shoulders,” he smiled dreamily, “Besides his chest and small waist. The way his fingers move when he plays cello, the way he looks when he listens to music, the way his eyes close slowly when he is at the instrument.”

Colin rubbed his cheek against the fabric of the sofa, his gaze settled on his brother, traveling to all the places Thom mentioned.

“Terrible shame,” Thom lowered his eyes back to the notepad, where Jonny’s imperfect profile lingered unfinished. He made a few faint pencil markings, the tip following the outline of Jonny’s lips, sliding onto his chin and traveling west along the jaw line.

“Just a beautiful boy,” Thom murmured softly, “That happens to be in my life.”

“Could you be in love?” Colin asked, the side of his face still pressed against the sofa, the hair clinging to the material slightly.

“I don’t know,” Thom shook his head slowly.

“Is she bothering you?” Colin continued and Thom’s eyes flicked to the girl Jonny was talking to. He looked at her for a couple of moments before shaking his head, blank expression on his face.

Colin hummed slightly in his throat and turned his attention back to Jonny. As he was watching, his younger brother got up from the stool and looked around the room quickly, before settling his eyes on Thom and smiling warmly.

Of course, Colin thought, closing his eyes from the wave of feeling in his body. The girl was the least of their concerns.