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The timer’s about to go off, but the pie looks ready. Bitty cracks open the oven door, and the warm, rich scent of butter and fruit spills out, filling the kitchen. Steam rises from the openings of the lattice, and he can see the rich red of the fruit underneath. The crust looks perfectly browned. God, this oven is a dream.
He pulls the pie out and sets it on the stove to cool, then makes a fresh pot of coffee. He leans back against the counter, phone in hand while he waits for enough coffee to drip through for him to snag a cup. He scrolls through Twitter, checks his notifications, and taps out a few replies.
So, okay: it’s reading week, and he really ought to be studying. It’s only Monday, though, so he has tons of time. It’s not like he didn’t at least think about how he’s going to structure that paper this morning while he was cutting up fruit for this pie. He totally did. Sort of.
No, seriously, he has tons of time. He opens his texts.
Jack: Going to talk to Whits tonight about the plan for June. Maybe Parse too.
Bitty smiles and taps out a reply. LMK how that goes. Hope practice went well! He adds a few hearts for good measure and presses send.
Parse had apparently said he was up for coming out when Jack did, but Bitty remains skeptical. He can’t imagine Parse putting himself in the line of fire if he doesn’t have to, and fully expects him to let Jack test the waters first and then come out later, like it’s no big deal. Jack, on the other hand, has apparently decided that this is the noble thing to do, and is willing to fall on that particular sword for the better good.
Bitty’s stomach flips a little: the thought is both exhilarating and terrifying.
Lord, he loves that boy to death.
There’s a sound from the front of the Haus: the front door opening, followed by footsteps coming toward the kitchen. Bitty shuts off his phone, then turns to pour off a cup of coffee before sliding the carafe back in place.
A few seconds later, Becks’ head pops through the doorway. “Whoa, it smells amazing in here.”
“I just pulled a pie out of the oven,” Bitty says, smiling over at him. “Want a slice?”
“Yeah, thanks.” Becks sits at the table and watches Bitty cut into the pie with wide eyes.
“Careful, it’s still really hot.” And you were early, he doesn’t say.
“Is this… strawberry rhubarb?” Becks asks when Bitty sets a slice on the table in front of him. “Dude, that’s my favorite.”
“Is it?” Bitty says, as innocently as he can manage.
“Yeah, my mom always made it for me.” He leans forward and inhales. “Christ, this smells even better than hers.”
“Aw, I’m sure it doesn’t,” Bitty says. (He’s sure it does.) “So.”
“So,” Becks repeats. He picks up his fork, then raises his eyebrows at Bitty. “You didn’t have to bribe me for deets, bro.”
“I’m not bribing you!” Bitty puts a hand over his chest in mock offense. “I promised pie for this conversation, that’s all.”
“Yeah, sure.” Becks laughs, then digs into the slice of pie. “What do you want to know?"
"Whatever you wanna tell me." Bitty lifts his coffee mug to his lips.
“So like… Whitton and Parson are super weird about each other, eh? What's up with that?" He blows on his forkful of pie, then shovels it into his mouth anyway.
Bitty winces a little: that has to be hot. “What do you mean, weird?”
"Well," Becks says through his mouthful. He pauses long enough to chew and swallow. "Like, they’re so totally into each other, but they’re always fucking other people. I mean?”
“It works for them,” Bitty says with a shrug. Lord, the idea of doing that with Jack is just… he’d rather face the business end of a skunk, frankly. “They don’t get to see each other that often, so maybe it’s better than always being alone, or… always wondering what the other person is up to.”
“Yeah, I guess. But Christ, the pet names they have for each other are ridiculous, eh? They're worse than my sister and her boyfriend."
Bitty blinks at him. "Wow. That's…" He isn't actually sure what that is.
“Goddamn, this is good.” Becks takes another bite, and his eyes roll back in his head a little.
“Thanks.” Bitty lets himself feel a tad smug: he’s got this boy right where he wants him. "So you had fun, then?"
"Chyeah." Becks grins. "So, okay, I've hooked up a decent amount, but I haven't ever, like, had sex for that… long? I mean, usually it's like a blowie in the washroom, right? But that was like, on a bed." He shakes his head in apparent amazement.
Bless your closeted little heart, Bitty thinks. "So that was good, right?"
"Oh, dude.” Becks looks a little starry-eyed. “Is it weird to say that was the best sex I’ve ever had?”
“Not at all.” Bitty is totally going to make Whits that pecan pie he’s been begging for.
Becks pokes at the pie with his fork. “So, like, you want actual deets or—”
“Yes,” Bitty says, probably a little too quickly. He tries to lean forward without looking like he’s leaning forward.
“Well, after you and Jack left, he was kinda hardcore flirting, right? And he asked me if I had anywhere I needed to be. I was like, nah, and he was like, you wanna get out of here, and I said—”
“Honey, you can skip this part.”
Becks looks surprised. “Oh. Anyway, he drove me to his place. And his apartment is pretty sweet, eh? You’ve probably seen it, but I was like, dude. I didn’t know Jack lived in that building too until the next morning. I was like, whoa, what are the odds? And Whitton was like, bruh, we’re on the same team. Which, like, I guess that makes sense.”
Good lord, but this boy is an awkward pancake. Bitty stifles the urge to pat him on the head and smiles at him encouragingly.
“Anyway, I thought we'd just get each other off and I'd have to figure out how to get home after. But he wanted to make out for a while first, which… I mean, I haven't done that since I was sixteen, right? And like, maybe this is a weird thing to say, but Whitton's a really good kisser, you know?"
"Yeah, he is." So okay: Bitty loves Jack more than anything and has zero complaints in that department, but Taylor Whitton? Definitely made an impression back on New Year's Eve. Bitty hadn’t even meant to kiss him that second time, but it was just so—
"What?"
"Nothing." Bitty waves a hand dismissively. “What happened after that?”
“And just when it was starting to get good, he was like, so my boyfriend wants to Skype with us while we're fucking, is that okay? And I was like, bro, are you serious? Cause that's some freaky shit, right? But then I was like, hey, whatevs. I'm gonna get laid either way, so why not? And then his boyfriend pops up on the screen and it's like, Kent fucking Parson. I legit freaked, because bro. He's like… I mean? Fucking Parson, god. I didn't even know he was gay."
Bitty presses his lips together hard for a full second to stop himself from saying one of the half-dozen things he dearly wants to say. He takes a large sip of coffee. "So Parse showed up, and then what?"
"He wanted to like, direct it all, you know? It was kinda weird at first, but then it was like, super hot, right? Because neither of us knew what he was gonna say next. And, bruh, the shit he said…" Becks shakes his head and flushes. "Like some of that? I didn't even know people did."
“Really?” Bitty’s tempted to ask what Becks means, but he’s honestly not sure if he wants to know how dirty Parson likes it. He’s fairly certain he wasn’t that way with Jack, but then, it’s not like Jack would tell Bitty that. Or much else about his sexual history, really.
"And we were both super into it, you know? Holy shit, I was like, ready to nut for a solid fucking hour, but he wouldn’t let us and… we didn't? Not until he said we could and, I mean, that’s like some porn-level shit right there." He takes another bite of pie. "And I thought we were done, but that was just round one."
"Oh my lord." Bitty says, staring at him.
“So then we’re just kind of hanging out, like, all naked, right? We’re just talking, and then he wants Whitton to lick me, everywhere.” Becks leans forward a little. "And I mean everywhere, Christ.”
Bitty grins over the rim of his coffee cup. “Uh huh.”
“Swear to god, I was hard again so fuckin’ fast. So then he wants me to fuck Whitton, but like, I'd never done that before, you know? So I thought, shit, can I just fake my way through this? But like, it didn't matter, because he told me exactly what he wanted me to do, and it was… I dunno, crazy hot." He shakes his head and laughs. "Like, I didn't even touch his dick and he came so fuckin’ hard. I didn't know that was possible."
“Me either,” Bitty admits — he’s always thought that was a porn thing too. Maybe he should make Taylor two pies and take advantage of the sugar coma to pump him for information.
"Christ." Becks presses his hands over his face for a moment. “And that was round two. Round three was an hour later. He made us shower, drink a bunch of water, eat some carbs, then call him back.”
“Shit,” Bitty says, hand over his mouth now.
“And that’s when the toys came out.”
“Toys?” Bitty’s eyebrows are approaching his hairline now.
“Yeah, like, some of that shit I didn’t really know existed.” Becks looks thoughtful for a moment. “Have you ever been tied up?”
“Uhhh… no.” Not that he hasn’t thought about it, but— “Wait, what?”
“So Whitton really likes it, I guess? It freaked me out a little, ‘cause like, it seems like you could hurt somebody like that.”
“Yeah,” Bitty says, and drains his coffee cup. This is quickly crossing the line from deets into none of his damn business. If he hears much more, he’s not gonna be able to look Taylor in the eye. “So like, overall, you had a good time?”
“Yeah. I was a little weirded out the next morning. I mean, I’m not used to waking up next to somebody, especially after we did all that.” He looks down at the plate in front of him and smiles. “But it was nice. And we did some more stuff, just the two of us. God, he’s good with his mouth.”
Bitty can absolutely imagine that he is.
Becks sighs. "But now it’s like… how am I gonna just hook up with random dudes after that? The bar has been fucking raised."
"Yeah, I guess a quickie in the bathroom during a kegster isn't really gonna measure up anymore."
Becks looks up at him. "Wait, you knew about that?"
"Oh, honey.” Seriously, bless this boy’s heart. “It's a small campus, and I used to date the president of the LGBT Athletes' Association. I know more than I probably should about a lot of people."
"Huh." Becks takes another bite of pie. “So you knew and you never said anything?”
“I was waiting for you to tell me.” Bitty shrugs. “I reckoned you would when you were ready.”
Becks is quiet for several seconds. "So like... The dating thing. You, uh... you'd recommend it?"
Bitty smiles and leans back in his chair. "Yeah, definitely."
“And like… I mean, if I wanted to do it on the DL, like…”
“You can,” Bitty says. “But I can tell you it’s a lot more fun when you don’t have to hide it.”
Becks nods, then twirls the fork between his fingers. “I guess you’d know.”
“You have no idea.”
Becks looks up again and smiles a little wickedly. “So I hear Jack’s got a pretty big dick.”
Bitty gapes at him for a full second. “Oh my god, I am not going to talk about my boyfriend’s dick!” His face is burning, though, which probably tells Becks all he needs to know.
“Oh, so the deets only go one way? I see how it is.” He stuffs the last bite of pie in his mouth, then sits back and smirks.
“You bet your hockey butt they do.” Bitty picks up the empty plate and takes it to the sink. If there’s anything he’s sure of, it’s that Jack would be mad as a wet cat if Bitty talked about their sex life like that. Or he’d be disappointed in Bitty. Or worst of all, he’d feel betrayed, and he’d close himself off even more than he does already.
Bitty sets the dishes in the sink and frowns. That raises another question: would Taylor be pissed if he knew Becks had told Bitty this stuff? Bitty rinses the plate, then slides it into the dishwasher.
Okay, honestly? He knows Taylor better than that. He could call right this minute and ask what happened between him and Becks, and Taylor would probably tell him. In even more explicit detail.
Bitty closes the dishwasher. The main point of all this was to make sure Becks was okay, that Parse and Taylor had taken good care of him. It was one of the main points, anyway. More or less.
He turns around. “So you’re okay, right? It was a good night, and you’re glad you did it?”
Becks smiles. “Chyeah. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Just making sure.” Bitty leans against the table next to him. “I would’ve cut off their baked goods if they hadn’t taken good care of you.”
Becks laughs. “I’m glad you use your powers for good.”
“Nobody messes with my frogs.” Bitty brushes the hair back from Becks’ forehead. “You know you can always talk to me, right? About any of this stuff.”
Becks smiles up at him. “Yeah, I know.”
Bitty ruffles his hair. “Okay, I’ve got about a gallon of cherries that need pitting for this cobbler. You gonna help?”
“Nah, I gotta study. I’ll help eat it, though.”
“Yeah, I figured.” Bitty rolls his eyes. The frogs are good about cleanup, but cooking is definitely not their jam.
Becks stands and turns for the door. “Thanks, Cap.”
He’s gone before Bitty can do more than grin at him in response.
“These boys,” he says, shaking his head. Speaking of studying, he’s got some he needs to do too. But he’ll pit the cherries first. He can do that and listen to music, maybe wait for Jack to text him back. He’s got all week, anyway. He can take one day off for baking, right? Maybe he can think about the next vlog he wants to record.
He picks up his phone and makes a note to get the stuff for a pecan pie. He’ll just have to sneak it to Providence without Jack finding out.
*****