"What, are you gay?"

Sean half choked on his drink as he started laughing, spilling it and tipping his head back. Alex laughed with him, the bursts of it tipping him forward. Sean's giggles subsided only a little when he looked back to Alex.

"No, man, I'm not gay," but he paused to think about that, the grin still on his face. He put the glass on the floor. "But I don't know, man, if there was opportunity ... I probably wouldn't say no."

"So you're bi?"

"I guess. I dunno. I don't really think of it like that, but I've got a duty to experiment, y'know? I'm not gonna rule anything out."

"Yeah, I s'pose."
"Besides, I think Lensherr and the Professor had enough gay between them to be a two man gay pride parade."

Alex spurted his own drink over himself then, the two of them rolling around on Sean's bed in fits of laughter, taking just a few moments too long to calm themselves.

"Why are you so interested anyway?" Sean asked, peering sideways at Alex as he pulled out a small tin and from that some rolling papers, tobacco and the strong smelling planty stuff that one might call marijuana. This was one of the things that Alex liked about Sean. When he'd first met him he just thought that he was kinda dopey. Quiet and only half-interested in anything going on around him. But now he knew why. And not only was he easy to get along with, he had the stuff that helped Alex relax.

Alex watched Sean's fingers as he rolled up their second joint of the evening, following Sean's tongue as he licked the edge of the paper.

"Huh? What?"

"Why are you so interested?" Sean spoke around the joint in his mouth, lifting a Zippo lighter to it.

That was another thing. They'd been doing this for a probably a few weeks now. Getting high in Sean's room. But Alex was always as vulnerable to the weed as he'd been the first time, the effects hitting him harder than Sean, who must be a veteran toker or something. At least in comparison.

"I'm not," Alex said quickly, looking away from Sean's lips to something else, only to find them land on his fingers again, the freckles there and on the back of his hand. He's really freckly.

"I know I'm freckly. I'm ginger too."

Oh, he'd said that out loud. Sean was looking at him strangely now. Strange, but there was that tug at the corner of his mouth too. Sean was amused. Alex put his own empty glass on the floor and shifted slightly, resting against the foot board.

"Yeah."

Sean laughed at Alex's profound and articulate fluency. And the dazed expression that kept clouding his features.

"Alex."

"Yes?"

"What are you thinking about?" Sean's asked wryly, watching Alex curiously, taking a drag on the joint.

"We should go flying again," Alex said decisively, taking the joint when Sean offers it to him, taking a small drag himself.

"What, no, you're way too heavy. And that's not what I meant, anyway."

"You asked what I was thinking."

"Yeah, and I know that you weren't thinking about that," Sean said as he leaned over and tugged the joint back. Alex frowned slightly, eyeing Sean as he takes a puff and leans back against the wall behind him, slowly blowing the smoke back into Alex's face. "You can't stop staring at me."

"You're the only person here. I'm not gonna sit and stare at your crusty clothes on the floor, am I?"

"Dude, you're staring at me. You're totally crushing on me," Sean laughed, falling sideways down the wall, face landing in his pillow.

"What! Dude, no! No! I do not have a crush on you. I do not. No."

It just made Sean laugh harder, encouraging him. He pulled himself up against the headboard so that now they were sat opposite each other, their legs stretched out alongside each other, laughing still.

"Relax, Alex, I might get offended or something," he grinned, enjoying the pink blush that was beginning to crawl up Alex's neck and taint his ears.

"No, I don't mean, it's not that, it's, I'm just not, I'm not into guys," Alex stumbled, the words coming faster than his mouth would allow. He resolutely wouldn't look at Sean's face, embarrassed. Which was worse, because Alex doesn't get embarrassed. Alex plays it cool. Fucking Sean with his fucking marijuana.

"Oh, yeah, course, I know. I guess I just got confused with all the questions about my sexuality and the way you keep staring at my hands and lips," he puckered his lips into a kiss, "But you are 100% hetero, my bad," Sean shrugged and smirked. Albeit playfully. He could almost feel Alex's blush from the other side of the bed.

He lifted the joint and Alex nodded, leaning forward to take it without saying anything. Sean lifted himself forward, onto his knees, moving to straddle Alex's and he held the joint between them. Alex's eyes grew wide and his face alarmed as the space between them decreased suddenly. Sean held the joint between their eyes. Alex lifted his hand towards it but Sean drew it to his own mouth first, blowing small smoke rings out beside Alex's head.

"Alex."

"Y-Yeah?"

Alex wasn't sure what Sean was doing straddling his knees all of a sudden but the proximity was doing things. He hadn't been this physically close to someone without violence being involved in … in a very long time.

"Are you gay?"

Alex shook his head, not trusting his mouth to be any more eloquent than the huge jumble of nonsense that was rambling through his brain.

"Yeah, me neither," Sean said, looking to something on the other side of his room, his voice quietening a little. He looked back to Alex. He seemed to be closer. "But if the opportunity, y'know, came about, I wouldn't say no, I don't think."

Alex swallowed and felt his jeans mysteriously tighten. He tried not to think about it. It was a difficult task, as he was already trying not to count all of Sean's freckles or look at the slight moisture on his bottom lip. It became increasingly difficult when Sean shuffled forward, seating himself on Alex's thighs, the heat of his body spreading through Alex.

"And you're not gay?" he asked again, whispering now. There was a husky element to his voice, which was normally low anyway, but there was an undertone and Alex resolutely refused to identify what it was.

Alex shook his head again, not breaking eye contact with Sean. He was hoping, almost praying that Sean wouldn't move any closer, he knew that he was hard now, uncomfortably so and he didn't have to be completely sober to know that it would kind of be a huge give away if Sean were to feel it.

"But if the opportunity made itself present …?" Sean leaned even closer, his face crowding into Alex's breathing space. Alex could see each of the tiny shadows cast by Sean's fair lashes.

He found his voice, breathy and light and it barely carried in the small space between them.

"We've got a duty to experiment."

Sean smiled wide at that and brought the joint to his lips again. He inhaled deeply and closed the small amount of space between them, pressing his lips to Alex's, kissing him, slow and lazy. He bit down on Alex's lower lip lightly and when Alex gasped his surprise he moved in fast, blowing the smoke into Alex's mouth. He watched as Alex breathed it in and he raised a hand, holding onto Alex's hair as he pulled himself closer, fully seated in Alex's lap. There was an unmistakable shape pushing through the front of Alex's denim and it just made Sean smile even wider as he brought his lips to Alex's ear lobe.

"Hetero, my ass," he muttered, nibbling the lobe and feeling Alex's chest swell under his own. He sucked and bit at it, listening to Alex's breathing get heavier, feeling his fingers running through his red hair, tugging and pushing at the same time, unable to decide whether he wants to pull him off or keep it going. He pulled back to blow over the saliva slick skin and felt the tremor that shook through Alex's legs to his feet.

Raising his eyes Sean asked, "Ticklish?"

Alex's eyes had slid shut, but they half opened, lidded, to peer at Sean.

"You're kind of attractive. Y'know ... for a guy."

Sean laughed and rolled his eyes, giving the joint to Alex as he pushed his face into Alex's neck, intent on tasting as much of his skin as possible.

"You smell really good," Sean mumbled into the space between Alex's shoulder and neck. "Like, really, really good."

"Ah, you're pulling my hair kinda hard."

"You're making me really horny," he whined, but lessened his grip all the same.

Sean started moving his hips then, pushing himself down onto Alex's really obvious boner in time with the licks that he gave to bruise purpling Alex's neck. Alex groaned, long and low, one hand dropping to Sean's waist and one to his hip, pushing back, creating a rhythm. And then Sean started laughing.

"What? What's so funny?" Alex asked, stopping, confused and a little offended.

"Like peaches and cream," Sean said, grinning as if that explained anything. "Y'know, cos you're so pale. Which is weird, cos you're paler than me and I'm ginger. So, it's like peaches and cream."

Alex frowned.

"Cos peaches are orangey. And cream is white. Like you. Not in a bad way, I like it, I think you're kinda hot."

"You are so strange."

"I'm horrrrrrny," Sean whined, pushing down on Alex. Shit nuggets, he'd been so cocky a second ago but as soon as an erection was involved he just needed friction and pressure and then there was his marijuana which was making him act like a fruit loop and it was downright shameful. He'd been proud of how he'd been able to remain simple brain functioning longer than Alex once again.

"Uh, me too, c'm'ere," Alex moaned, guiding Sean's face to his, another kiss as he pushed Sean back onto the bed. Alex spread out over him, settling between Sean's thighs which automatically spread for him. Alex laughed and spoke into Sean's mouth, "You whore!"

"Fuck you!"

"If that's what you want," Alex murmured, watching Sean's face, which creased.

"You're so high," he giggled. "I thought you weren't gay."

"I thought," he drove his hips down deliberately, "we were experimenting," Alex countered, moving, pressing, drawing out gasps and groans and he could feel Sean through their layers of cotton and denim and fuck if that wasn't a turn on.

"We are experi-ah ... exper-exp-ngh ... we are,"Sean panted, grasping Alex's shirt, pulling him down, wrapping a leg around one of Alex's.

They moved against each other, arms, legs, fingers all tangled up in one another and tongues searching and tasting and painting their skin. They were frantic but lazy, needing to get off but lacking the urgency. Feeling the press of each other through too many layers, but it was just enough. Every now and then one of them would remember their lost joint and take a drag, sharing the smoke with the other, kissing through it, sharing their high.

"I kinda wanna see your dick," Sean hummed at some point.

"Yeah? That's a bit gay," Alex panted, nibbling on Sean's shoulder.

"No, really, I wanna see you dick, man. Let me suck you off."

Sean was serious. And hell if Alex was going to let this opportunity float by. He knelt up, reaching for his jeans, unzipping himself when they heard a crash. They both jumped, looking at Sean's door. It had been loud, close, like wood had splintered and Alex yawned as Sean propped himself up on his elbows.

"I'm so hungry," Sean mumbled, licking his lips. Alex looked down at him. He really was a mess. His red hair was tousled and he had hickeys all over his neck and some on his shoulders, hidden by his dishevelled clothes. His eyes were lidded and a little pink around the edges. Alex could imagine what he himself looked like.

Hungry. Alex thought of the huge kitchen downstairs and chocolate and crisps and ice cream and his stomach did some kind of pirouette back-flip.

"Yeah, me too. Let's go and get some food, I'm starving," he said as he moved to climb off of Sean. He completely misjudged the bed space and landed in a mess on the floor, thudding loudly. He heard Sean laughing from the bed.

"I can't, man," Sean whined. His voice sounded fuzzy, his face must have been in the duvet or a pillow or something. "My bed. It's just so … it's just so comfy."

Alex hoisted himself up. Sean was curled around a pillow, his arms and legs wrapped around it and he was nuzzling the top.

"Food."

Sean untangled himself and sat up, picking up the joint that had been forgotten and had burnt a hole in his duvet cover. He put it between his teeth, holding it that way as he grabbed Alex's arms and pulled himself up moving to the door.

On the other side they made their way down the hall to the kitchen, neither of them noticing Hank, Beast now, carrying a broken table. He watched them, eyes slightly wide, mouth open. He couldn't say that the strong stench of weed surprised him but the sweat and pheromones were unexpected. That and the fact that both of them were sporting love bites, mussed hair and Alex's jeans were open and sliding further down his thighs with every step he took.