LOVE ON TOP [BXB]

3

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Romeo Lopez was close enough to his university that he could actually walk to it. But he preferred to drive his car, just for the luxury of not walking home late at night. Or having to ride the rail. And it overall made more sense to him. He was an art student. He had a lot of shit to carry around with him. Keeping it all in his car between classes and while he worked was better than trying to haul it around with him all day.

He left his supplies neatly organized in the trunk of his car. He disregarded the way the rest of his car looked but the area he kept his art supplies in was always cleaned.

He was an art major after all, so he had to make sure his supplies were taken care of. The rest of his books just took up space but made rather nice paperweights. Not that Camila really approved of him half-assing his other classes.

But he got by and he passed them, and that was all he really cared about. As long as he wasn't failing, the letter grade never mattered to him in his literature courses or those biology classes. Both of those were along Rio's interests, so at least Romeo had some help.

Especially with his new course schedule, he knew he would definitely need Rio's help. He may be enrolled in mostly art courses, but he still had stupid irrelevant classes to take. Stupid shit like math and more fucking math and some criminal justice elective.

He attended UCLA and most of his classmates from high school either attended with him or worked nearby. He was already in his third year, along with Camila and Rio. They had all managed to keep up with each other; mostly due to Rio's cheering on. But it had worked just fine for the last few years (not including the train wreck that was high school) so Romeo was grateful for it.

He spent his days lingering around on campus between his classes. He would waste time sketching because studying was out of the question. On some days he would find Camila and go with her to the workout room. Or he would have a coffee with Rio. He worked at one of the cafes on campus, after he was finished with all of his classes and he would pray his homework load was never too much.

And on days when he really wasn't feeling up to dealing with people, he would run to the parking lot to fuck around with Nolan. They always used his car, despite it being messy. Nolan never wanted to dirty up his own car; which to Romeo was more of a code for he didn't want his boyfriend to suspect anything.

That was the general routine for Romeo's day.

He rolled down the backseat window of his car, letting the cool fall air in. It was refreshing, considering he had been a panting, sweating mess only a few minutes before. Nolan was sprawled out against the seat, leaning against the other door. He was fixing his hair, trying to get it to lie back down in place.

Reaching around to the front seat of the car, Romeo pulled a pack of cigarettes from his bag, along with a lighter. He lit one and took a long drag, breathing smoke out through the window.

"Feel alright?" Nolan asked, peering over the top of the seat in front of him to look into the pull-down mirror. Romeo shrugged.

"I'm fine," he breathed, watching lazy smoke swirl out the window. "The weather is really nice."

"The weather is fucking amazing," Nolan said. "Like your gag reflex."

Romeo awkwardly kicked his leg, laughing halfheartedly. "Shut up. Don't you have class?"

"It was cancelled. So I'm hanging out with you."

"Oh great. Isn't Jacob free?"

"Jacob has class. You know that."

"I cannot keep up with everyone's schedules!" Romeo laughed, flicking ash from his cigarette. "I can barely do mine."

"You're an art major. How is that even hard?"

"I'm an art major with a shitton of bullshit classes," Romeo sighed.

"Speaking of which, how's that going over with your parents?" Nolan asked. "You switching majors and all..."

Romeo inhaled, closing his eyes. He rubbed his head, his brow furrowing into deep lines. "Let's not talk about that. Please."

"Fuck, I'm sorry."

"It's alright. I'm supposed to go over there later tonight, though. Just remembered."

"Going to be brutal?"

"I may not come out of there alive."

Nolan patted him on the leg with a hard hand. "You'll make it through. Your mom was always understanding about this stuff."

"Yeah, she was. But not my fucking dad. He still hasn't let it go."

"Just conceal, don't feel when he bitches at you."

Romeo kicked Nolan again. "How do I even tolerate you at times?"

"Because you're addicted to dick."

"I assume you're talking about your personality."

Nolan mockingly laughed and Romeo blew smoke at his face. They laughed and vented about their classes. Romeo asked about Jacob; Nolan about Rio and Camila. They talked about their jobs, their dinner plans for the evening. And like always they left with an awkward goodbye. Without so much as a kiss; a hug, but never a kiss.

That was a part of their relationship. They could fuck all they wanted, but kissing was reserved for a real relationship. Nolan's lips were only meant for Jacob and he made sure Romeo was well aware. They could bite and suck at each other's skin but never once did they share a kiss.

It was too intimate. And that was a part of himself Romeo didn't want to give up. Not to Nolan. At least not again. He had gone through that heartbreak in high school and he didn't want that dead-end relationship again.

The sex he could handle. Just not the intimacy. Just not a relationship. But there were some days when he wondered, just for a while, what it would feel like to be held again.

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