Acceptance Ch 8

Jerry chewed the end of his pencil, frowning as his eyes flicked back and forth between Dev and Jos, unable to hold back his worry at the sight of them. Worry he shouldn’t be feeling, he repeatedly told himself. Jos was fine, and Dev wasn’t out to hurt anyone. Nothing would happen.
     He might not want to hurt him, but it doesn’t mean he won’t. Jerry winced as the annoying little voice he assumed was his conscience spoke up. Damn logic, he thought, annoyed.
Jos had come to school today with a wicked smile on his face, otherwise looking his normal relaxed self. Until Dev had gotten to school too. The instant their eyes had met across the courtyard Jerry had watched with interest as Jos practically lit up with happiness, Dev blushing slightly and reacting in similar fashion.
     It was when Jos had murmured some half finished excuse under his breath and slipped off out of sight with Devon that Jerry had begun to think. It was quite obvious from talking to him that Jos had no idea just how strongly he was attached to Dev. And it was equally clear to Jerry that he had only seen that look, that radiant glowing expression and smug little smile, on Jos’s face once before. And that had not ended well, not by anyone’s account.
     When Jerry had slipped around the back of the school, retrieving Jos and Dev before the bell rang and kids began to wander, he had turned the corner just in time to see the tail end of a soft, gentle kiss. And it was then that he was struck by the realization that Dev had in his power the ability to devastate Jos. And that was something that could not happen.
     Jerry frowned harder as, for the first time in his life, he saw that Jos could care less about the science being taught. His whole attention was focused on Dev, and from Dev’s fidgeting and slight blush the male was very aware of it. Jos ducked his head down, a small smile tugging at his lips, his pencil moving swiftly across his paper.
     Jerry glanced down at the sketch and shook his head, unable to hold back a smile. Jos had apparently got in touch with his inner artist, because he was creating a very fine rendition of Dev’s torso, strategically cut off as low as possible.
     As if sensing his scrutiny Jos glanced up, twisting slightly to look at Jerry. He frowned slightly as he took in his friend’s worry and raised a questioning brow. Jerry silently shook his head, indicating that he didn’t need any help. Jos stared a moment longer, then turned his attention back forward, managing to pull some semblance of interest about him as the teacher turned around and began to address the class just as the bell rang.
      Jerry watched threw narrowed eyes as Jos, normally the last to leave his science classes, rushed out the door, clearly intent on something. He looked over at Dev and saw the same swiftness in the speed at which he was packing up his books. Suddenly Jerry grinned. Jos would be pissed, but this was too perfect an opportunity to pass up.
     Jerry shouldered his bag and hung back around the corner, watching Dev unpack his bag at his locker, moving with more speed than normal. So he was rushing to spend time with Jos, Jerry though. Good sign. Very good.
“Hello Devon, my boy,” Jerry said as he collapsed against Dev’s locker, a grin on his face as he eyed the other male, flicking his gaze down the hall to make sure that the few remaining stragglers were entering their classrooms..
      “What’s up, Jerry?” Dev asked, glancing at him, pausing his flurry of movement a moment before picking it up again. “Aren’t you normally in lunch by now?”
     “Normally, yes. But today calls for a special occasion. You done?”
     Dev shoved the last book into his locker and grabbed his lunch, stuffing it into his bag. “Yeah, I’m finished.”
     “Good.” Jerry said, slamming the locker closed, face suddenly serious. “Come with me. We’re going to have a little talk, you and me, all private like.”
      Dev frowned as Jerry grabbed his arm and began walking them through the deserted halls. “Jerry? Where are we going, man? What are you doing?”
     “What I said before,” Jerry breathed, glancing around to make sure the hall was empty before opening the door to the upper balcony. “We’re going to chat.”
     “Dude, we aren’t supposed to be up here, you do realize that, right?” Dev said, eyeing the door as it closed behind them and plunged them into darkness, suddenly uncertain.
     “Don’t worry,” Jerry said, a smile in his voice as he began to walk up the stairs with sure steps. “I’ve been up here plenty of times before. There’s nothing unsafe about it, they just don’t want kids jumping off. And besides, this is a chat I am sure you would prefer to have in private.”
     “What are we chatting about?” Dev asked, stumbling slightly over an uneven stair.
     “A mutual friend of ours.”
     “Who is?”
     “Joscelin.”
     “Oh.”
     “Yes, oh,” Jerry laughed, tugging on his arm to make Dev hurry up.
     Dev was silent a moment, concentrating on not tripping flat on his face. “Why have you been up here before?”
     “What was that?” Jerry said, shouldering open a door and stepping out onto a small landing, pausing to let his eyes adjust to the light streaming from the stage below as the drama kids shouted and gestured.
     “Why have you been up here before? You said you were up here plenty of times.”
     “Jos was right, you are perceptive,” Jerry said with a grin, leading Dev forward, maintaining his grip on the male’s arm. “And I have found that it’s a wonderful place to have sex and engage in other similar activities. And there’s no need to tense up like that. Jos is the only one who’s taking you. I wouldn’t dream of it.”
     Jerry smiled slightly as Dev finally worked his arm out of his hold, stepping back slightly, glancing around the old, dim balcony warily a moment before turning his gaze back to Jerry. Jerry cocked his head to the side, smile widening as he realized Dev was blushing.
     “Aw, and your cute when you blush too. How nice.”
     Devon scowled. “What do you want, Jerry?” He asked, eyeing the other male warily, uncertain what he wanted.
     “Like I said before. We need to talk about Jos.” Jerry said, his eyes narrowing slightly as he focused on Dev, his face losing its playful cast as he settled into one of the old seats.
     “Why do we need to talk about Jos?” Dev asked, suddenly worrying about how much Jerry knew. Does he know about Friday night? He silently asked himself. Is he mad or something?
    “I’ll start off by saying that I know about Friday night. And Friday afternoon. And Friday earlier afternoon. I’ll also say, because I can see you’re worried, that I won’t say anything about it to anyone. I understand about the whole coming out situation. When the time is right it’ll happen. Until then, I hold my tongue.” Jerry paused, gauging Dev’s reaction, satisfied to see the other male was relaxing slightly, regaining his comfort in his presence.
     “So. About the talk. You are Jos are, the way I see it, together. I don’t care what you two want to call it, that’s how I’m going to refer to it. The thing is, for all that you’ve been friends for years, there is a lot you don’t know about Jos. So just, you know, watch yourself around him. Watch what you say, watch what you do. I don’t want to see him get hurt again.”
     “Why would you think I would-” Dev stilled, falling silent, turning to fix Jerry with an intense look, a shiver of dread raising the hairs on the back of his neck. “Again?” He repeated softly, watching as Jerry’s eyes flickered at the word.
     “Again,” The male finally said, leaning back with a sigh. “He got hurt before. Hurt bad. I don’t want to see anything like that happen, because it changed him, it made him see things differently. And it was hard for him to go through, during and after.”
     Dev slowly lowered himself onto the armrest of a seat, frowning as he stared at the floor, beginning to put pieces together. “Is that why he doesn’t like being on bottom?” He finally asked, looking at Jerry from beneath his lashes as he asked the question.
     Jerry was silent a moment. “That,” he answered with a sigh, “Is Joscelin’s story to tell. You’ll have to ask him.”
      Dev stared at Jerry, meeting the other male’s gaze, seeing the worry and the anger swirling in his eyes. “Why am I here?” He asked quietly, voice low as he saw something in Jerry’s eyes that hadn’t been said.
     “To make sure you know that Jos cares about you more than either of you realize. I know I probably shouldn’t be saying this, that I should be waiting for you two to figure it out yourselves, and that it’ll probably freak you out a bit later. But you have the ability to hurt Jos, because of the way he feels. And I want to make sure you won’t. It’s not that I think you will,” Jerry said, cutting of Dev’s protest. “It’s that I am creating some extra insurance that it will never happen. And it won’t will it?”
     Dev stared at Jerry’s icy tone, seeing a side of his friend that had never been shown before in his hard eyes and slightly dangerous expression, his face in shadows. “No,” he said quietly, meeting Jerry’s gaze challengingly, “It won’t.”
     “Good,” Jerry said quietly, his customary grin flashing across his face as he rose to his feet. “Feel free to come up here any time, by the way. Most people don’t know about it, and I don’t have anyone to bring. Just you and Jos.”
      Dev stared after Jerry was he disappeared down the stairs, heading back to lunch. Turning he stared absently at the drama kids, watching as they gesticulated wildly, sweeping their arms wide and bringing them back in as they expressed their undying, hopeless love for each other. Jerry and Jos used to be together, he thought. I wonder how much Jerry still feels.


     Jos glanced at the door again, restlessly tapping his plastic knife against his lunch tray before glancing down with annoyance and forcing himself to stop.  What the hell was with him today? He thought. He had been absentminded all day, couldn’t even muster a shred of attention for Biology. All he could think about was Dev.
     And now Dev wasn’t in the lunch room, and Jos couldn’t stop fretting, wondering where he was, why he was late, if he was avoiding him, if something happened, if he got distracted, if-
     Stop, he ordered himself. Stop now.
     “Are you ok, Jos?” Alex’s smooth voice asked, sending a shiver down Jos’s spine as he closed his eyes a moment, savoring the sound before registering the words.
     “Yeah,” he sighed. “I’m fine. Why you asking?”
     “Because you’re looking exceptionally distracted today,” Rene said with a grin. “I haven’t seen you this fidgety in a long time.”
     Jos smiled, glancing at the door again and straightening as he saw Jerry saunter in with a grin, purposely walking to close to a table of football players, drawing glares and uncomfortable shifting as he passed.  
     “Hello my monochromatic friends,” Jerry said, dropping his bag to the floor and hooking a vacated chair with his foot, pulling it quickly over and taking a seat next to Jos. “How goes your lovely lives?”
     Rene and Alex murmured that their lives were good, September adding that hers was the most valuable in all the world and was quite beautiful, she agreed, after pausing a moment to consult her dice.
      Jerry grinned and pulled his lunch from his bag, falling easily into the conversation, aware of Jos twitching beside him. “What has you all worked up?” Jerry murmured under his breath, glancing at him a moment before looking back down at his sandwich.
     “Do you know where Dev is?” Jos breathed, starting up the tapping again, visibly forcing himself to stop a second before sighing and letting it go.
     Jerry watched his behavior for a moment, aware that it was drawing attention from the others at the table, who, despite their worried glances, were choosing not to say anything.  “Last I saw him Dev was in the upper balcony.” Jerry said calmly, watching closely for a reaction.
     Jos went immediately still, the sudden change startling. “Why is he there?”
     “Because I brought him there,” Jerry replied, watching with mild fascination as Jos slowly tensed up, then forced himself to relax.
     “Why did you bring him there,” Jos asked in a slightly strangled whisper.
     “Because I needed to talk to him where no one else would hear,” Jerry said, thrown a bit by Jos’s reaction. “You know I would never do anything with him, Jos. He’s yours.”
     Joscelin sighed, dropping his head down slightly. “Yeah, I know. I don’t know, it’s just-”
     “What do you mean they are out of sugar cookies?” September’s voice suddenly rose over the other conversation around them, which continued as normal, people used to her shouting.
     “I mean that there are no more sugar cookies. Or any cookies for that matter,” Rene said, shifting uncomfortably as September glared at her. “They just sold out. I saw when I went up to buy some chips.”
     September was still a moment. “I need my sugar cookie,” she muttered, pulling out her dice as she cast her gaze around the room. She paused, then threw the dice without looking, giving them a quick glance before rising to her feet and striding across the room.
     Jerry watched with mild fascination as she pulled a dollar out of her pocket and threw it down in front of Tim, snatching the sugar cookie out of his hand and grabbing another off the table in front of him before whirling around and stalking back to her seat.
     “September,” Alex finally said. “You just stole two cookies from Tim.”
     “I didn’t steal. I paid.”
     “Without asking,” Alex pointed out, his voice for once having no effect on September’s mood.
     “So? The dice said it was the right choice.”
      Alex shot a glance to the pocket where September normally kept her bag of dice. “I’m sure they did,” he said slowly, shaking his head. “You do realize you paid double price for the cookies, right?”
     “Yes.”
     “OK then. As long as you’re happy.”
     “I’m glad you see it my way,” she said, her voice regaining its normal absent tone as she finished off her first cookie and started on the second. Jerry grinned, shifting to glance at Tim, who was talking to his friends, absently smoothing the dollar between his fingers. Jerry opened his mouth to point it out to Jos and stopped, silenced by the look on Jos’s face.
     He was gazing at the door, completely transfixed, as Dev walked into the lunch room, pausing to say something to some of his teammates who laughed and called something after him. Jos’s entire body was tense, his breathing quick and fast as his eyes ran over every part of Dev he could see, his lips parting slightly as if he were having trouble getting a full breath.
     “Hey Devon,” Rene said, watching his approach in a similar fashion, giving him a warm smile that sparked a vicious flare of jealousy in Jos, momentarily shocking the male before he turned his attention back to Dev.
     “Hey Rene,” Dev answered with his own easy smile as he returned with a chair in hand, setting it down next to Jos. “Hey Jos,” he breathed quietly, his voice slightly breathless.
     “Devon,” Jos replied, voice low, any hint of his earlier excitement gone, replaced by a seductive tone. Jerry glanced over at Dev and caught the end of the male’s look. Shit, he thought. I know what that means. Dev is jealous. And Jos is jealous. This is going to get interesting. Jerry turned his attention back to his lunch, watching out of the corner of his eye as Jos and Dev talked, listening to their low conversation as best he could.
     “What took you so long?” Jos murmured, his foot under the table shifting to brush Dev’s a moment before he pulled it away.
     “Me and Jerry were talking.” Dev breathed in reply, pausing to answer a question Rene directed his way.
     “What were you talking about?” Jos asked, glancing at Jerry a moment before turning back to Dev.
     “Just…stuff. Nothing that important.”
     “Of course,” Jos murmured, clearly not believing. “What took you so long to come down here? Jerry got back at least 5 minutes before you.”
     “I stayed to think some things over, after. And we need to talk about some stuff at some point” Dev said, glancing up as September leaned across Rene to whisper something to Alex, nearly falling out of her chair.
     “OK. Thinking about nothing?” Jos teased lightly.
     Dev snorted, holding back a smile. “Hey, if you tell me about your nothing, then I might tell you about mine.”
     Jerry winced slightly, shaking his head. Dev, for all his perceptiveness, seemed to be startlingly easy to sidetrack and distract, something Jos had developed a flair for in the past few years.
     “My nothing?” Jos asked, fighting back a smile.
     “Yeah,” Dev said with a grin. “Your nothing. You said you would explain that comment about why thinking was bad, but we got kind of…distracted. So you explain that, and I might tell you what I was thinking about.”
     “Might?” Jos said with a grin. “You’re going to have to do a lot better than might.”
     “Maybe. I’m sure I could get it out of you.” Dev said, sounding slightly smug.
     “Do you now?” Jos asked, raising a brow at the challenge. “And what makes you think you can do that?”
     Dev grinned. “I could persuade you. You seem very open to persuasion.”
     “Persuasion, huh? And what do you have in mind?”
     “I would suggest a blow job,” Jerry murmured, rising to his feet a second before the bell rang, grinning down at the pair. “But then that’s just me. I’m sure Dev can find other methods of persuasion.”
     Grinning he headed off to his next class, leaving the two to enjoy each other’s company for as long as they could while everything was still perfect. Because Jerry knew Jos was going to be pissed when he found out about his little chat with Dev. Having been friends so long, Jerry was very familiar with Jos’s thought process and behavior. And he knew that that possessive, jealous, predatory part of Jos’s nature was not going to stay hidden, and it was not going to go over well with Dev unless certain secrets were told.