Falling Up

23. Brothers

Jason unclipped the stand that was holding up the hood of the car and stashed it away before letting the lid go, slamming shut. He picked up his rag off the side of the toolbox before scrubbing away at the excess oil coating his hands.

"I just need to clean up," said Jason over at Tyrus, who was once again at the small table in the corner with his laptop open in front of him.

"Take your time," replied Tyrus in a deep, calm voice.

Heading to the office, he opened the door and went through a secondary door leading to an ensuite with a small toilet and shower.

As he took off his greasy overalls, casually throwing them in the corner of the room and getting into the shower, he couldn't help but have a nervous swirling of butterflies chasing throughout his stomach. Tyrus was probably one of the most attractive men he had ever seen in his life and he had trouble getting the image out of his mind of his gorgeous dark brown eyes that commanded attention. The way Tyrus held himself, confident yet modest, and that suit that defined his muscular psyche made Jason want to stare at him all day.

Yet he shook off the thought. The last thing he needed was to be uncomfortable down there for the afternoon, and that was exactly the direction he was heading. So he spent the rest of the shower thinking of his 7th grade math teacher who was a craggy, wrinkly old woman with multiple moles spread awkwardly on her neck. As soon as he imagined her naked, his situation was quickly resolved.

Shaking off the disgusting image, he hopped out of the shower, grabbing a towel from the nearby rack and wrapping it around his waist. Jason paused for a moment, leaning on the counter of the sink and wiping the fog from the mirror in front of him.

What was he doing? He thought to himself as he stared back at the tired reflection in the mirror. He should head home to see Riley but instead he is about to go out again with Tyrus to god knows where. Rubbing his tired eyes with a sigh, he felt the exhaustion and lack of sleep seeping through to his bones. He was just so tired.

A gentle knock at the bathroom door pulled Jason out of his daze before Tyrus's voice echoed outside. "Jason, are you okay?"

"Um... yeah, fine. I'll be out in a minute."

Oh shit. His clothes were in his locker, which was in the office. The exact room it seemed Tyrus was now occupying.

Crap.

He took a deep breath, leaning his hand on the doorknob for a few moments before opening the door and stepping out into the office. There he found Tyrus, casually leaning back against his desk, gazing in Jason's direction.

Making a quick beeline to his locker, he pulled out a fresh set of clothes and placed them on the small bench to the side. In normal situations, he wouldn't care too much about changing in front of other people. It often happened at his previous place of work—but this was different. He felt an unusual sense of vulnerability with Tyrus, where he would otherwise be so confident in himself.

Glancing up quickly, he saw a smirk on the corner of Tyrus's lips, with his eyebrow slightly raised in what seemed to be delight as Jason was clearly being checked out. He gulped, looking back down at his clothes on the bench.

"I'll turn around," said Tyrus in a calm tone as Jason watched him move away from the desk and over to the window, to stare out into the empty plot of land and vacant building next door.

Jason couldn't be completely sure that he wasn't being watched in the reflection of the window, but he removed his towel and hurried to put on his boxer shorts, followed by a quick motion of pulling his dark blue jeans over his legs. Once he had his jeans on, he felt more comfortable and slowed his movements to pull his light grey t-shirt over his head and down his toned chest.