#not rlly nsfw. theyre naked 😨

[gokartkid]

misc modern au, post-hookup chalex

“I mean,” Alex took a long drag from his cigarette. He could feel the heat of it on the delicate skin of his fingers, glowing embers in the dimly lit room. The acrid smoke coiled in his chest, frog in his throat as he spoke through the inhale, “it was okay,” and out, clouds blooming up from between his teeth.

“Okay!” Charles sounded appropriately offended, raising his head from where he’d had it pillowed on Alex’s chest, sweaty cheek smeared against hot skin, “what do you mean, okay?” 

He affected Alex’s voice, tone swooping down to be exaggeratedly low and blasé.

His leg twitched where it was pressed against Alex’s, languid and naked stretched across the bed. Alex’s cock was still wet, spit drying sticky in the humid air. Charles was entirely unselfconscious about his body in the way that people who knew that they were beautiful always were. 

He leaned over and plucked the cigarette out of Alex’s hand, taking a long performative drag for himself, eyelashes sweeping low and hollowing out his cheeks. He held it clumsily, loose between his index and middle finger, like he’d seen people smoking in the movies and nowhere else. He held on valiantly for a second before his cheeks bulged out, chest caving in rapid bursts. He bent over, delicate bones of his spine curving as he hacked and coughed onto Alex’s stomach. 

Alex laughed, not unkindly, and like any good friend gave him a few hard slaps on the back.

“Come on, let it out Charlie.”

“That is so not nice,” Charles exclaimed, a look of almost comical disgust on his face; lip curled and brow furrowed inwards, aristocratic nose scrunched up between his eyes, “I don’t get it— why do you even like that?”

Alex shrugged, taking another quick inhale.

“Dunno. Just do.”

Charles made a derisive noise and flopped back down, readjusting himself until his face was pressed into the dip of Alex’s shoulder, turning his face inwards to prod his nose at his collarbone. 

“I am better than okay,” he muttered, after a pause. Charles did that, jumping from topic to topic and back again, expecting — assuming — that he’d be followed.

Alex made a noise, tilting his head back and forth in a so-so motion.

“You’re—“ he paused, thinking hard about how to phrase it. He could feel himself tilting into being too-tired, pins and needles in his fingers and brain swimming through sludge, “well, you’re too pretty to be very good.”

It was true. Charles had the body and face of a model, easy grace that drew people to him like moths to a flame. He’d never had to work for anything as trivial as attention, not like lowly regular people. 

“That’s not true!”

Alex could just see Charles’ downturned mouth from this angle, lips pouting out. 

“Mm.”

“I mean it,” Charles glanced up at him, tilting his head back, “people have told me I am very good.”

“They were being nice, Charles,” Alex shrugged, “and I never said you were bad! You’re okay.”

“That is the same thing,” Charles argued, pinching just above Alex’s ribs.

“No,” Alex said, laughing, “it’s not. It’s not! I swear. You’re like, top 10 people I’ve fucked. Top 5.” 

Charles huffed, lifting himself up to sandwich Alex down against the bed, bony elbows poking into his chest as he rested his chin on his hands. 

Alex had always known he was attracted to Charles, in a vague, nebulous way. It wasn’t weird— Charles was a very attractive person. Alex had just never really thought he’d had a chance, between the endless shitty Grindr hookups that Charles complained about over brunch, and ill-advised flirtations with repressed coworkers. 

Now it’d happened, and— it had been okay. Good. A 7/10, satisfied customer with room for improvement. 

Alex couldn’t let on really how much he’d liked it. Heat curled low in his groin even now as he remembered Charles under him gasping into the sheets, the graceful curve of his back, head turned to the side and his wet mouth against the pillow, his eyes looking desperately up at Alex. 

He coughed, shifting awkwardly underneath Charles’ weight. 

Alex watched as Charles’ gaze dropped to his mouth, once, twice, lingering each time. He tilted his head up, slightly, leaning forward. The air was bitter and filled with the chemical tang of tobacco, humid haze and time moving in slow honeyed seconds.

They made out lazily, Charles licking into Alex’s bitter mouth, fingers drawing up the delicate bones of his wrists until he plucked his cigarette out of his hand, tapping it into the plate on the bedside table. 

Alex stroked a hand down Charles’ side, smiling at Charles’ sharp inhale as he curved away. Ticklish, always had been. 

“Round two—?” Charles muttered against his mouth, the scrape of his stubble against Alex’s chin as he pushed forward needily, “to change your mind.”

“Hmm,” Alex tried to feign disinterest. It held less weight when his hands were roaming over Charles’ body with a desperation to touch, squeezing at lean muscle, “sure. Special circumstances.”